COMMITTEE: Faculty Welfare
MEETING DATE: October 9, 2008
PERSON PRESIDING: B. Southard
REGULAR MEMBERS IN
ATTENDANCE: K. Dubose , A. Hegde
, S. McGhee, M. Nasea, A. Peery
EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS IN
ATTENDANCE: C. Gold, B. Henze, L.
Ingalls, J. Toller
ACTIONS OF THE MEETING:
Agenda Item: Approval of
minutes
Action Taken: Minutes of the September 11 meeting were
approved as written.
B. Southard reminded the committee members that a
revised list of the Faculty Welfare Committee members with their updated
telephone numbers is now available on the committee’s website.
Agenda Item: Medical
Insurance for New Hires (M. Nasea and J. Toller)
Discussion: Revisions were
proposed to amend Part VI. of the Faculty Manual
Sentences 8-10 now read:
The only exception would be
an employee starting in August with a nine-month contract. This employee will receive his/her first
paycheck in September and therefore coverage would be effective the first of
October. The employee may start coverage
September 1st but must pay the full cost.
Amend sentences 9-10 to
read:
This employee will receive
his/her first paycheck as early as possible but no later than September 15
while his/her coverage will become effective by no later than September 1. The employee may start coverage at an earlier
date but must pay the full cost.
Amended sentences 9-10 will
read:
This employee will receive
his/her first paycheck as early as possible but no later than September 15
while his/her coverage will become effective by no later than September 1. The employee may start coverage at an earlier
date but must pay the full cost.
The change to the revised
sentence was moved by M. Nasea, seconded by J. Toller and approved unanimously.
A related discussion on this
topic highlighted the need for the university to popularize the concept of
COBRA for faculty and non-faculty members entering ECU, and also for graduate
students who will be passing from ECU in search of other jobs.
Agenda Item: Benefits Satisfaction Survey Report (J. Toller)
Discussion: J. Toller stated that more time was required
to complete a summary of the benefits survey before it is made available on the
Faculty Senate website. Individuals interested in further exploring the survey will
be asked to contact J. Toller for more information.
Agenda Item: Mentoring (M. Nasea)
Discussion: M.
Nasea mentioned that mentoring has been an important issue for this committee
since 2004. Nevertheless, there is still more work to be done. The work conducted
by the Center for Faculty Excellence for new and incoming faculty members was
mentioned and appreciated. Bonnie Mani, a faculty member in the Political Science
department, has been working on the issue of mentoring and is interested in
meeting with the subcommittee, which consists of M. Nasea, S. McGhee and A. Peery. J. Toller and Dorothy Muller will also be consulted.
Future Agenda: Following S. McGhee’s request that
clearer goals be defined for the sub-committee, the following goals were
chalked out for this year:
1) Understand and research the current practices of
mentoring that are followed by the different departments on campus. This shall
be done by contacting all the chairs from the different colleges.
2) Revisit the prior survey and revise it to reflect the
newer needs of mentoring.
3) Implement these changes and consult with the Center
for Faculty Excellence to make mentoring more effective for ECU.
Agenda Item: Changes in 403(B) plans
Discussion: J. Toller mentioned that ECU will now have
only two vendors for 403(B) plans: Fidelity and TIAA-CREF. These vendors have been retained due to their
presence on the web and the fund options that they offer. Additional discussion
of retirement plans revolved around two questions:
1) What happens to the investments of retired faculty
members who had their accounts with AIG? Are the funds safe?
2) Does the university have any plans on rehiring
retired faculty members who may be in need of work due to loss of retirement
funds?
Solutions: J. Toller
reported that the local vendor of AIG was very optimistic about the situation
with AIG. The subsidiary AIG agencies do not seem to be hugely affected by the current
financial crisis.
L. Ingalls seemed optimistic
about rehiring faculty members who may be in need of work.
The Faculty Welfare Committee
requested that there be over-communication so that people affiliated with ECU are
assured of their finances in times of crisis. Financial experts may be invited
to an open forum where they can discuss this issue.
Agenda Item:
UNC Tomorrow, Response on Faculty Recruitment and Retention.
Discussion: The report on increasing enrollment has been
completed. B. Southard and J. Toller are a part of a subcommittee on faculty
recruitment and retention and they seem to have enough information to put together.
In the meeting it was reported that the chairs of the various departments were
happy with the recruitment efforts due to their ability to offer competitive
salaries to the faculty members.
However, a few factors were mentioned that negatively impacted recruitment
efforts: lack of support from the administration for start up funds and lack of
a sabbatical policy were two that were reported.
Agenda Item:
Faculty Salary Study
Discussion: J. Toller reported that presently ECU does
not have a good way to measure and track salary changes. However, due to the
advent of Banner, in the future comparisons between the past and the present
salary structures will be made possible. The need for more transparency within
the units and colleges was considered important in this discussion.
Meeting adjourned at 5:30.
Next meeting: November 13,
2008
Items to be discussed:
B. Southard will work to develop an agenda for the next
meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
Archana V Hegde