PRINTED ON CEPAC LETTERHEAD

 

 

 

 

 

April 15, 2004                                                                                       Bonnie White, Chair

Student Health Service

Montana State University-Bozeman

Bozeman, MT 59717

406 994 5573

 

 

Dear President Gamble,

            Firstly, the Classified Employees Personnel Advisory Committee (CEPAC) would like to thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to meet with us once again.  Your input and feedback are essential to our work, and the complimentary report you gave of our presentations to the Board of Regents was much appreciated.

            As you know, time was short at yesterday’s meeting and we were unable to cover everything we planned to discuss.  As agreed, we now have pleasure in delivering the remaining information to you.

When Bob, Sara and I met with you on March 11, you suggested researching the possibility of kiosk-style online information stations for retrieving email.  You thought this might make things easier for employees who don't use computers in their regular job, and place communications in a more ATM-familiar environment.  Mark Sheehan, Director ITC, was very helpful when Sara contacted him in this regard.  He said ITC has little experience of kiosks, but thought something could be found that might work.  Sara’s recommendation is that, realistically, the economics of instigating a kiosk service might not be justified compared to e-mail account provision/training on existing hardware, bearing in mind the staff numbers involved. 

Mark went on to say that in a year or two MSU should be able to offer email read by a computer-generated voice over the phone.  This would require only basic telephone skills and no computer access at all.  The estimated cost would be $15 set up per phone and $5.25 per month thereafter.  Each staff member would require a dedicated phone line so there would be additional charges where a dedicated phone line needs to be established. 

Would you recommend further action in this regard and, if so, how would you like us to proceed?

We regret having had insufficient time to discuss classified staff recognition with you personally yesterday.  Here are a few ideas CEPAC has to offer:

  • staff from different jobs/departments could be invited to lunch with you periodically.  Selection of lunch participants could be derived from the prize slips from the fall semester when the administration hold the barbecue (an extra slip could be included or draw from the slips that were not drawn for a prize).  I would suggest starting with the departments in alphabetical order the top and the bottom when drawing the two names.  It would require some tracking, but hopefully would not be too difficult.  It might take a couple years or more to go through all the departments and this would depend if the lunch meeting was held every month or every other month.
  • for the Chronicle to include (monthly perhaps) a small article on a classified employee that highlights their contribution to MSU and local activity involvement. This might provide acknowledgment of the impact one person makes in both communities (possibly assisting with the issue you identified at yesterday’s meeting of local residents not recognizing the contribution the institution makes to the community).  People could be identified by supervisors and from MAP bonus applications or the employee recognition candidates and winners.  Selection would be confidential and with the administration and staff member's permission.  Perhaps other means of identifying a person could also be used.
  • a letter from you marking 5, 10, 15, 20 etc years' longevity (more realistic, perhaps, than the banquets you described in Vermont).
  • something apparently spontaneous would be nice.  Perhaps random selection of the classified staff of a department (or an individual - but departmental recognition might be more beneficial to morale) to receive ad hoc recognition in the form of flowers, chocolates, or a big plate of cookies.  The gift should come from at least the VP level with a card explaining the purpose of the celebration.  If this were adopted by the VPs, each department within the division could perhaps be recognized as often as once a year, though without calendar “regularity” to maintain the appearance of spontaneity.                   

 

We hope this information is useful to you, and look forward to continuing working together on these issues.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

 

Bonnie White

CEPAC Chair

 

Signed by Bonnie White, CEPAC Chair, on behalf of the Committee:

Eileen Baker                                                     Matthew Blazicevich

Ray Byerly                                                       Sara France, Secretary

Ellen Huber                                                      Daniel McGuire

Robert O’Driscoll, Vice Chair                           Sharon Pielaet 

Clara Sprague