Happy Holidays, UAAD members! It feels as though I just sent my “welcome to the fall semester” message and now here we are, wrapping up the semester and holiday gifts! It has been a busy four months and things do not show any signs of slowing down when we flip the calendar to January 2017. Highlights of the year thus far include a university-wide staff and faculty senate president’s breakfast hosted by President Bounds in September and another scheduled for January 27th. Chancellor Green has had two Town Hall Meetings this semester, the second of which was called to discuss the current budget issues facing the University. He indicated the point of the meeting was educational and informed the group that we are all in this together. The budget process was explained and the reasons for the shortfall were reiterated. The Chancellor discussed the hiring freeze process and announced that the exemption list will continue to be developed for mission critical positions and reviewed on a monthly basis, going forward. His discussion was at a UNL level but he did discuss President Bounds’ efforts at a system level, which includes framing efficiencies across the University. This includes setting up a variety of task forces that will work over the next two and a half months to find ways to recapture state dollars.
In response to the Chancellor’s Office, a committee has been formed and is meeting regularly to discuss a 100% non-smoking policy at UNL. UAAD and UNOPA presidents are part of the members representing UNL staff. Discussions have started and will continue through the next several months with all constituencies represented in the conversation and process.
We have not surveyed our membership for a number of years and the UAAD Board agreed that this is an ideal time to gather information with Chancellor Green scheduled to share an hour with us at a special meeting Feb 8th. If you have not done so already, please complete the survey so that we have the results when we return from the shutdown. We will provide a summary of the results to the Chancellor prior to his presentation as this will help frame the questions he may have about the role of UAAD as well as assist the Board in addressing issues raised in the survey. To complete the survey, please use this link: https://ssp.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_6Kb3tzwZEYLWAo5
We look forward to having you join us the annual Graze & Mingle on Dec 21st at the Pixel Hub in Henzlik Hall. The registration is at:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/uaad-graze-and-mingle-2016-tickets-30128314600
It is only necessary that you register if you plan to purchase the Val’s pizza lunch. You do not need to register if you plan to bring your own lunch. We ask that you make sure you send your money to Kacey Nelkin Pedersen prior to the luncheon. Bill Nunez, Chief of Staff and Associate to the Chancellor will be our guest speaker. We will eat lunch and mingle from 11:45 to 12:15, when Bill will begin his presentation.
Founder’s Day is February 15th in the City Campus Union, Colonial Room A from 11:45-1:00. We are in the process of finalizing the speaker and the lunch and will let you know as soon as all of the details are complete. In the meantime, we are continuing to accept nominations for the Oldt and Donaldson Awards. The deadline for accepting nominations has been moved to Jan 20, 2017. For nomination criteria and requirements, please see UAAD website: http://uaad.unl.edu/awards For questions regarding the awards or nomination process, please contact Jerry Doyle at jdoyle3@unl.edu or Jeff Sherrill at jeff.sherrill@unl.edu
An email was sent to all Managerial/Professional staff in November, who are not current members of UAAD. This was an invitation with information about the Association from which we received several new members. Remember that we are always accepting members so continue to share information about UAAD with your UNL friends and colleagues.
Community Outreach is accepting donations through Jan 31, 2017 benefiting the People’s City Mission for gently-used or new winter wear, such as hats mittens, scarves, gloves or coats for all ages. Collection sites include 1901 Y Street, 314 Canfield, NIC Ste 2220,103 Ag Hall and 151 Whittier. We are also accepting new or recycled holiday cards to be used to provide holiday greetings to the elderly within the local community. Deadline is December 21st. Please send or deliver items to Jenny Schnase at 1901 Y, CC 0605. You can also drop off your items at the Graze & Mingle luncheon.
The UNOPA/UAAD Joint Meeting is hosted by UNOPA this year and will be Tues, Jan 10, 2017, 11:45-1:00 at NET. The presenter will be Jeff Maul, VP and Exec Director of Lincoln Convention and Visitors Bureau. The topic will be “Lincoln Events and Tourism Growth”. UNOPA will be sending information about registration and lunch as it becomes available.
I want to personally wish each of you a wonderful and safe holiday season with family and friends! Enjoy the break and be refreshed with renewed energy when we return in January 2017! UAAD has many things planned for the coming year and we hope you are able to participate fully and often!