Presenting staff concerns to the administration and representing the staff in budgeting and university governance were among the top priorities of staff, according to a recent staff survey.
The UCA Staff Senate recently published its 2009 Fall Survey. It looks at the priorities for the Staff Senate along with the staff’s views of social events. Staff also evaluated the past performance of the Staff Senate and graded the administration.
“The Staff Senate Executive Committee will use these survey results to guide our decision making and to focus conversations with the Administration to address the concerns of the staff,” said Larry Burns, interim president of the Staff Senate. “We understand that this survey represents a snap-shot in time, so we will be doing this survey again in March. We seek input from staff all the time, so I hope they will talk to one of their Senators about any questions or concerns they have.”
Survey responses suggested Staff Senate’s priorities regarding money should be staff scholarships and staff development and recognition. The priorities of the current administration should be staff raises and building financial reserves, the survey stated.
“The survey gave us an idea of what we were doing right and what we needed to improve on,” Burns said. “We will renew a focus on staff development by diverting our own funds to that task, as well as seeking other opportunities to address this important need. We will be doing the same belt-tightening that the rest of the university is doing; however, we will be using the results of this survey and other comments and concerns to determine the best use of Staff Senate funds and time. We hope to be able to exceed the expectations of the staff while also being great stewards of the funds.”
About 240 staff members responded to the survey. At the time of the survey, there were 205 non-classified, 506 classified and 120 extra help staff at UCA.
The complete survey can be reviewed at: http://www.uca.edu/staffsenate/documents/Staff_Senate_Fall_Survey_2009.pdf
Also, the Staff Senate is now accepting applications for its three scholarship programs.
For at least the past four years, the Staff Senate has awarded over $4,000 in scholarships each year to staff and their dependents.
“The Senators work very hard to find ways to keep these scholarships funded,” Burns said. “It is important to keep education attainable and affordable, especially for our staff and their dependents. We are proud to provide these scholarships and hope to do so for many years to come.”
The scholarships are:
- The Staff Senate Employee Scholarship assists a full-time UCA staff employee in pursuing a degree at the University of Central Arkansas. The application is available at: https://www.uca.edu/web/forms/view.php?id=153
- Staff Senate Scholarship for Dependents is for dependents of full-time UCA staff employees who meet the eligibility criteria for the staff fee waiver as outlined in the staff handbook and are pursuing a degree at the University of Central Arkansas. The student must be in good standing academically and must have completed at least 30 hours of college credit with a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.5. Information about this scholarship is available at : https://www.uca.edu/web/forms/view.php?id=154
- The Lilly Harmon Staff Senate Scholarship is for a full-time staff employee in pursuing a degree at UCA. The Lilly Harmon Staff Senate Scholarship was established in memory of long-time UCA employee, Lilly Harmon. A copy of the application is available at: https://www.uca.edu/web/forms/view.php?id=165
The deadline for all scholarships is May 3, 2010.
“In order to keep with the mission of Staff Senate and to foster staff development and education, the staff senate this year will focus on providing more scholarship dollars and awards for active staff members,” Burns said. “We hope this focus will lead to more degree attainment among our staff and relieve some of the burden or higher tuition and books costs.”