Retirees Rights and Benefits FY2016
Committee Details:
Committee: Retirees Rights and Benefits
Committee Category: Standing Committees of the University Senate
Fiscal Year: 2016
Committee Description—
Retirees Rights and Benefits: This committee works to promote communication with retirees, support their participation in the life of the university, inform retirees of their rights, and otherwise improve the experience of retirees both as an acknowledgment of valued service and as an important asset for the university.
The Committee on Retirees Rights and Benefits shall be composed of two active faculty members, one of whom shall serve as chair; one retired faculty member; one active and one retired unclassified professional staff member; and one active and one retired university support staff member. All of the aforementioned shall serve three-year staggered terms. The committee shall also include the President of the Endacott Society or designate, and an ex-officio, non-voting member from the office of the Provost.
Members—
Chair: Clint Chadwick, Business (2018)
Faculty: Suzanne Rice, Ed Leadership & Policy Studies (2016)
Faculty: Ted Frederickson, Retired Faculty (2016)
Unclassified Staff: Ruth Hatfield, EDU Social & Bio-behavioral SSC, (2018)
Retired Unclassified Staff: Barbara Menke, (2018)
University Support Staff: Janet Mears, Comptrollers Office, (2016)
Retired University Support Staff: TBD, (2017)
Tom McCoy, President of Endacott Society (or designee)
Ex officio, non-voting: Mary Lee Hummert, Vice Provost, Faculty Development
Charges—
Approved by SenEx: May 27, 2015
Approved by University Senate: September 10, 2015
- For further information or to schedule a meeting with SenEx to discuss charges or the committee’s work, contact SenEx Chair Michael Williams mikewms@ku.edu.
- Minutes of each meeting should be e-mailed to the Governance Office (govern@ku.edu) as they are approved. The minutes will be posted to the Governance web site.
- If the committee is recommending a change to university policy or rules, SenEx must officially receive that recommendation by March 29, 2016 in order to meet timeline requirements for full review by Governance.
- Please send a report of the committee’s actions on each of the charges, as well as any recommendations the committee wishes to make concerning charges or membership for the following academic year, to University Governance, at govern@ku.edu, and submit the final report by April 15, 2016.
Standing charges:
- Promote all appropriate means of communication with retirees, with special emphasis on seeking information from them about their needs and concerns.
- Consult with SenEx about views and concerns related to retirees.
- Seek feedback from retirees and University offices about the Retirees Handbook and work with staff to ensure that it remains current. (ongoing)
- Maintain an open line of communication with both the Endacott Society and the provost’s office whose representatives are members of the committee, with representatives of the committee offering to meet at least once each semester with the Endacott Society.
Specific charges:
- Determine whether and how privileges that now exist for retirees (parking permits) can be extended to the spouses of deceased retirees. While it is recognized that spouses of deceased retirees are not eligible for KU email addresses, could they be entered into the KU Alert System? Determine the number of individuals who would be eligible for this benefit.
Donna Hultine, Director of Parking and Transit, is receptive to the possibility of allowing the widows and widowers of retired KU personnel to purchase retiree parking permits. It needs to be determined if there is any policy or legal reason for not doing so, and whether such a change would require action by the Parking Commission.
- Since the information available for retirees often differs, unit-by-unit, study the possibility of setting up an official KU website for depositing "information for retirees". Links to “The Handbook for Faculty and Other Unclassified Staff”, “Information for Retirees and Prospective Retirees”, the Endacott Society's homepage, and the Chair of the RRB Committee, as well as FAQs about retirement could be made available there.
- Consider whether to continue to work directly with HR and the Office of the Provost to expand the HR “Exit Survey” to include questions specifically related to retirees’ concerns and to determine whether there is a mechanism to encourage broader use of the survey by those who are retiring.
- Participate in the oversight of the effort to make KU more “retiree friendly,” which includes both KU retirees and retirees from other institutions moving into the Lawrence area.
- Work toward uniform policies across the University in such areas as awarding emeritus status and hiring retirees.
Meeting Minutes—
n/a