Employee Recognition Committee Meeting
February 10, 2009
3:00-4:00pm
Library East Conference Room
Minutes
Attendees: Debra Fetzer, April Hines, Naomi Young, Brian Keith, Rita Smith, Barbara Gundersen, Ben Walker
UFCC Approval
- The group discussed this at some length. The final decision is to support this request, but the group recommended sending a note to the dean to request administrative support for future years.
Holiday Party
- The party was budgeted for $2,500, but only spent $1,822.68. The extra could potentially be used for the Spring Picnic or for other recognition events.
Gloria's Retirement Party
- There was a question of whether this was ERC funded. Ben thought that it was, but is following up with the appropriate staff. According to Human Resources staff, there are no other planned retirements for this year.
Remaining Planned Events
- Currently, the Spring Picnic, Employee Excellence Awards, and Convocation are the only remaining planned events. The group discussed the Employee Excellence Awards, and in the previous year they were announced in June, with a July deadline. The awards were then presented at the Convocation in August.
Impact of Budget Cuts
- Our current budget is $9,190. If we needed to absorb a 10% cut, that would lower our amount to $8,721. There has been no discussion regarding this possibility, but there was some question as to whether this might happen in the next fiscal year. However, it was pointed out that this group is funded through foundation money, and that there will be no recall for this year. This did stimulate a discussion on the amount of funds left over and the need to generate more publicity for the group.
- The IT proposal was approved, but the party has not yet occurred. The group felt that heavily publicizing both this event and the UFCC event would help to generate some interest. When the events happen, we should take plenty of pictures, and in the email advertising these pictures, include a link to the ERC homepage.
- Also discussed was an idea to purchase cupcakes for each staff member in the library, along with printed flyers publicizing the committee and what it offers. No final decision was made on this idea, but it is a possibility for generating some interest.
- The group discussed purchasing balloons or other items for the Spring Picnic. The intent would be to make sure it was clear that these were from the ERC to get staff attention and provide for some inexpensive advertising.
- Iona Malanchuk's award was discussed; the group wanted a way to recognize her for that. A plaque with her name and the details of the award were mentioned, as was a poster of the actual New York Times article. The group asked April to solicit input from the other staff at the Education Library and report back for the next meeting.
- Jim Liversidge's "Most Interesting Person" award was also mentioned. The group discussed a poster or plaque of the article that was featured in Insight magazine.
- The group also felt that asking the dean to write a brief note congratulating recent MLS graduates would be appropriate. These could also be mentioned at Convocation. Similarly, one suggestion was to have the Associate Dean of Development write a letter to those who served on the Student Scholarship selection committee.
- The final suggestion was to create bookmarks, with an image from DLC along with information about the ERC. The idea was that it should be something that could catch staff attention. Ben agreed to find out how much bookmarks might cost.
Recorder: Ben Walker
