Stephanie Downs, senior coordinator for ISU wellbeing and worklife, updated the Professional and Scientific (P&S) Council on participation in the Adventure2 program during the group's Nov. 7 meeting. Adventure2, now in its eighth year, provides resources and activities designed to help employees with their physical and mental well-being.
Registration in the program has grown from just under 2,000 employees in its first year to nearly 3,500 by the close of last year. More employees have registered for the program and taken the well-being assessment this year than a year ago, she said.
"The well-being assessment is important because it allows us to see where we are strong in the offerings we provide and where there are needs," Downs said.
Seventy-two percent of P&S staff registered for Adventure2 this year with merit employees second at 57%. Thirty percent of P&S staff have completed the well-being assessment and 35% have participated in an activity.
Proposed bylaw changes
In other business, council president Jason Follett introduced proposed changes to the council's rules and bylaws on behalf of the executive committee. Generally, the changes would better align the council's committee structure with the current needs of P&S employees and use councilors' time more efficiently. In recent year, council leaders have struggled to keep council seats filled. Councilors will vote on the proposals at the December meeting. As proposed, the changes would:
- Return three vice president positions (compensation and benefits, communication and community relations, and diversity, equity and inclusion -- DEI), to committee chair status. Several years ago, the council elevated three committee chair positions to VP with the intent of alleviating university demands on the council president's time and creating areas of expertise for those vice presidents.
- Merge two committees (DEI, peer advocacy and policy) to form the community relations and advocacy committee. This also centralizes the council's communications function again, rather than delegating it to each committee. The change results in six standing committees instead of seven.
- Standardize councilors' term length at three years. This eliminates one- and two-year terms designed to assure that about one-third of council seats were up for election each year.
- Simplify the process for filling vacated council seats for the remainder of a fiscal year. Instead of a nomination and vote process at a council meeting, the council president would make the appointment, which takes effect as soon as the appointee accepts. The governance committee would continue to be the group that maintains a roster of eligible nominees based on the council's most recent election results.
