May Updates from University Governance

Dear all,

It’s the last week of classes! We want to follow up with an informational update on our most recent activities.

COACHE Faculty Satisfaction Survey

About 120 faculty joined governance leaders and Provost Bichelmeyer and Chancellor Girod last week to discuss the recommendations for improving faculty satisfaction produced by the COACHE Advisory Team. For those unable to join, you can access the slides from the event and a spreadsheet with a timeline for next steps designed by senior leaders on the survey website. We believe firmly that these recommended actions can produce positive change for our faculty and are grateful to the team members for their hard work in this initiative. We also appreciate senior leaders engaging closely with the process and advancing next steps.

Excused Absences Policy

Many of you joined us last week for the informational session on the excused absences policy (USRR Article II). We appreciated all the different questions and dialogue that took place during that session. You can view a recording of the session and access a document explaining the policy and best practices around it on our website.

Faculty and University Senate Leadership Elections

The University, Faculty and Staff Senates held their leadership elections last month. We are excited to welcome our incoming leaders:

• University Senate President, Kristin Villa (School of Pharmacy)
• Faculty Senate President, Victor Gonzalez (CLAS)
• Staff Senate President, Chris Wallace (Lock, Access, Security & Technology Services)
• University Senate President Elect, Becci Akin (School of Social Welfare)
• Faculty Senate President Elect, Sam Brody (CLAS)
• Staff Senate President Elect, Teri Chambers (Biodiversity Institute)

4-Day School Week Update

We have heard from several of you about the USD 497 4-day school week possibility. While the school district’s decisions are outside of the scope of our activities, we have put together some informational resources on the 4-day school week proposal to keep you up to date.

Opportunities For Your Engagement

University Senate Special Session

University Senate is hosting a special session with guest speaker Travis Goff, Director of KU Athletics, on May 4th at 3:15 p.m. on Zoom. He will give an update on KU Athletics and answer community questions.

Join via Zoom: https://kansas.zoom.us/j/97871612506

• Meeting ID: 978 7161 2506
• Passcode: 956978

Docking Staff Satisfaction Survey

As many of you know, KU UPS and USS employees participated in a Staff Satisfaction survey in conjunction with other KBOR institutions. The survey was sent to 3,105 employees and had a response rate of 54%. The Staff Senate has appointed an Advisory Committee to begin turning the data into actionable recommendations. To provide all interested staff with the opportunity to contribute directly to the recommendations, the Docking Advisory Committee is launching a series of forums to share the results and collect further feedback. The main purpose of these engagement sessions is to dialogue around solutions and elicit ideas. The schedule is below:

• Tues., May 9th, 12:30 ­– 1:30 p.m.
• Fri., May 19th, 10:00 – 11:00 a.m.
• Wed., May 31st, 11 p.m. – Midnight
• Tues., Jun 6th, 12:30 – 1:30 p.m.

Join via Zoom: https://kansas.zoom.us/j/96143272714

• Meeting ID: 961 4327 2714
• Passcode: 895138

In the meantime, you are welcome to view the Preview Reports, which highlight all of the results from the survey. Please plan to join us at one or more of the forums to share your experiences and recommendations on how to make KU a better place for all employees.

Thank you for all you do,

Ani Kokobobo, University Senate President

Nate Brunsell, Faculty Senate President