Mission Statement

The mission of the College of the Liberal Arts Staff Advisory Committee is to represent the interests of the staff to the Dean. The committee will make recommendations to the Dean including those that aim to enhance the work environment, improve processes, develop best practices, better utilize resources and encourage interdepartmental communications.

Goals and Objectives

The goals and objectives of the College of the Liberal Arts Staff Advisory Committee are to encourage more open communication, increase networking opportunities, increase opportunities for leadership, improve climate for the staff, provide a voice for the staff on issues that concern them, develop strategic planning goals related to the staff, provide administration with a resource on issues affected by the staff, and administer staff awards programs.  

Membership

The Staff Advisory Committee (SAC) will represent all full-time staff (fixed term and standing) of the College of the Liberal Arts.

The committee will consist of one representative from each of the units listed below.

Additionally, the Dean may appoint one to two additional members to promote gender balance and diversity and to ensure inclusion of representatives of all staff classifications. An ex-officio member from the Liberal Arts Administrative Services Department will be appointed by the Dean.

It is the responsibility of the members to solicit ideas from their unit for the committee, represent their unit’s perspective, and keep their unit’s staff members informed of the committee’s activities.

College staff who are not members of the committee may be invited to serve on a subcommittee in order to obtain the expertise of a particular staff member.

 

Election of Membership

The committee will prepare a ballot for each staff member. The ballot will include the names of all of the staff members within their unit that are eligible to serve on the SAC.  Each staff member will vote for a representative from their unit by completing the ballot and sending it to any committee member. Ballots will be tallied by the committee and elected members will be announced at the spring college-wide meeting.

Officers and Terms

All terms will be two years and will begin June 1 and end May 31. At the first meeting, a chairperson, co-chairperson and recording secretary will be elected. The chairperson will serve one year as chairperson, the co-chairperson will serve his/her second year as chairperson, and the recording secretary will serve one year as secretary.

First year only—The steering committee shall serve a one-year term if not elected by their work unit as their representative. All remaining members (excluding chairperson, co-chairperson, recording secretary who will all serve two years) shall draw straws to determine the length of their term— one year or two years.

Representatives may be elected for two consecutive two-year terms. They may be elected again after not serving for one, two-year term.

If a representative leaves the unit or college, it is the responsibility of the unit to replace their representative. If no representative is named within a reasonable time frame, the Dean will then appoint a representative from the unit.

Attendance and Participation

Serving on the committee should be considered a privilege. Participation on the committee should not count against personal time; rather it should be considered part of the job responsibilities of the members. It is expected that members will be present at all meetings and actively participate in the discussion and in all activities. Advanced notice of an absence must be given to the chair. More than three absences in one year will be addressed by the committee, possibly resulting in replacement. 

Committee and College-Wide Meetings

Committee meetings will be held at least one each month. College-wide meetings will be held in the fall and spring semesters. The Dean will be invited to the June meeting of each year, to the college-wide meetings, and to other meetings as appropriate. An agenda of items to be discussed will be given to the Dean in advance of each meeting.

Staff members may submit items for the committee through their representative, any committee member or the Committee’s Web site. 

All items will be brought before the committee for discussion and consideration. All submissions will receive a response but anonymous submissions will not be addressed or considered by the committee. The committee will only address items of general interest and not those pertaining to individual staff members or units.

Items of general interest and discussion may include but are not limited to