Good morning UNL Staff,
Welcome to another edition of our Staff Senate newsletter! As we embark on this new semester of collaboration and shared dedication to our university’s mission, it is with great enthusiasm that we come together to update, inspire, and connect with each other. This newsletter serves as a conduit for information, a platform for celebration and a testament to the remarkable contributions of our diverse and talented staff members.
In our last newsletter, found here, we discussed the work and successes that our first full year of the UNL Staff Senate held. We are utilizing that momentum to catapult us into this new and fresh year. We envision 2024 being a year of advocating, serving, and engaging with UNL staff.
The Staff Senate began a strategic plan in 2023. Our first aim was to Elevate the prominence and establish the Staff Senate as THE representative body for University staff members. Our action steps included objectives like creating an awareness/branding campaign and communication strategies; creating a promotional campaign around getting to know your senators; and increasing staff senate’s participation on campus. Those are the goals that we discussed in the last newsletter and how we brought those into reality.
One partnership I would like to highlight was our fall semester project with the Bouy Program. UNL Students in the College of Journalism worked with our Communications Committee to create branding and marketing tools to elevate our presence. The work completed through this partnership sets us up for long-term success.
We are continuing to move forward with our strategic plan and our identified action steps. Our next goals will support:
- Communicating about Staff Senate using a united voice.
- Provide tactical staff representation across campus by creating a mechanism for identifying opportunities to engage.
- Encourage all members of the campus community to engage with Staff Senate when needing staff representation.
Communicating in a united voice has been woven into our initial mission to raise awareness and prominence of the senate across campuses. This will continue to be a focus as we move forward. Additionally, we have been welcomed into several other campus entities as staff representatives. However, we are not in all the committees, opportunities, or discussions that the senate feels would be beneficial for staff. We will continue to collaborate with those stakeholders to come together and expand our representation.
Encouraging all members of the campus community to engage with Staff Senate is also an integral part of our work. Modes of communication, like our website or newsletter provide overarching information. However, there are almost sixty senators who are willing to engage in dialogue with staff members. Please continue to look for those opportunities to engage in your own districts or in university events such as Employee Wellness Fairs, and the All-Staff Conference.
The groundwork completed in 2023 is already yielding positive results. Over the past few weeks several staff members have connected with the Staff Senate via conversations with individual senators, correspondence sent to committees for dispersal, and Executive Committee members being sought out. Topics of discussions have included budget decisions and concerns, proposed legislation, parental leave, and committee representation. In each of these instances, I want to assure staff members that we are continuing to gather information, closely monitoring initiatives, and continuing to engage in ways we are able. This is an on-going process, and the Staff Senate is being as nimble and responsive as we can.
We will continue to keep you informed of the changes, challenges, and celebrations within Staff Senate. I ask that you continue to engage with your district representatives and bring forward your concerns or celebrations.
Finally, please take a moment to visit our website at staffsenate.unl.edu. Our Communications Committee has completed considerable work on the website to make it more complete and improve the navigation. You will now see tabs at the top of the page that will direct you to the nomination & elections page, and the Staff Senate Recognition page, which highlights annual awards.
Please direct questions and concerns to staffsenate@unl.edu. Also, continue to share and encourage other staff members to sign up for this newsletter. Click here to sign up for the Staff Senate Newsletter.
Thank you for the opportunity to share our vision as we move into this monumental second year. I look forward to all that we accomplish as a united staff voice in 2024.
More details at: https://staffsenate.unl.edu/