A salary statement was introduced and overwhelmingly approved at the Professional and Scientific Council's May 2 meeting. Council members hope to distribute the document to university administrators as salary budget decisions are being considered.
"It's kind of late in the process to have any kind of specific recommendation for salaries, in terms of the way the budgets are put together," said Dan Rice, chair of the compensation and benefits committee. "We decided to have a salary statement, rather than a salary recommendation, in resolution form."
The salary statement's (PDF) list of priorities includes recommendations to:
- adjust the P&S salary matrix and move the range by the same minimum percentage increase selected for satisfactory performance reviews
- use the salary pool only for performance- and merit-based increases
- stop using salary pool dollars for salary corrections (such as retention, equity and reclassification)
- consider equity among employee groups when making salary adjustments
- maintain retirement, health and other benefits at current levels
Search for HRS VP
Warren Madden, senior vice president for business and finance, told council members that no interim appointment is planned for the associate vice president for human resource services position. In April, David Trainor announced his resignation from the post, effective this summer.
Madden said he intends to put together a search committee "fairly quickly," and likely will use a search firm to help identify the best pool of candidates for the position.
"Programs and budgeting decisions will move forward," he said. "I'm open to input and suggestions. There will be a lot of activity going on over the summer."
Other business
- Three council officer posts were filled, each with a one-year term: Dick Pfarrer (residence hall coordinator, residence department) as secretary; Stacy Renfro (program assistant, Center for Biorenewable Chemicals) as vice president for university and community relations; and Lisa Rodgers (purchasing agent, U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory) as vice president for university planning and budget.
- Council president David Orman reported on upcoming proposals that would realign the work of some council committees. As proposed, he said the peer advisory group would become a full standing committee, and meet monthly. The committee also would assume the council's peer mentoring initiative for new council members, and oversee the P&S affinity groups (currently, about 27 are active) that started up at this year's professional development conference. In addition, he recommended that two committees -- policies and procedures, and compensation and benefits -- meet jointly since they address many of the same issues.
