Staff Advisory Committee report focuses on parking, workplace relations, training initiatives

Recommendations were submitted to Interim President Blumstein last fall; committee's recruitment drive will begin later this month

Faculty and students aren’t the only ones performing research on campus.

For the past year, the 20 members of the President’s Staff Advisory Committee (SAC) have been hard at work exploring such issues as parking, service excellence, workplace relations, employee recognition, and outreach and communication. Their research culminated in the presentation of recommendations to Interim President Blumstein last November, and Blumstein responded to their recommendations in late February.

SAC member Jane McIlmail recently shared the committee’s recommendations and Blumstein’s responses. Among the highlights:

• Establish shuttle-served satellite parking lots. Blumstein noted in her response that such lots are among the options being studied in a broad review of campus parking.
• Create an Academic Department Managers Board for the purpose of sharing information and best practice. Blumstein referred this recommendation to the Office of Human Resources for further study. Other recommendations regarding service excellence within academic departments have been forwarded to Provost Kathryn Spoehr for review.
• Educate and train supervisors and managers, especially those newly promoted into these roles. Blumstein referred this recommendation to Human Resources. A training program for this purpose could be blended into programs currently offered by the Office of Training and Development, Blumstein noted.
• Elevate the Brown Says Thank You award to a more prestigious level, and revamp the nomination process for the award, now called the President’s Achievement Award. A SAC task force collaborated with Training and Development to implement these in time for last year’s Brown Says Thank You ceremony.
• Hold University-wide staff meetings hosted by the president or a senior administrator once or twice a year.

As important as the annual report are the committee’s other efforts, McIlmail said. These include:

• Publication of a resource manual, which was handed out at last year’s
Staff Development Day. The manual points staff members in the right direction for such things as event planning and maintenance requests. McIlmail said the SAC plans to update the manual and put it online.
• Hosting or co-hosting a number of forums when needed, such as the benefit forum held when Harvard Health withdrew its insurance coverage in Rhode Island.
• Participation on the presidential search advisory committee. SAC member Jill Lawlor represented Brown’s staff during the search. McIlmail said the SAC hopes to find other committees on which a SAC member can serve.
• Advised Computing and Information Services about staff needs in regard to computer training, and how to market such training sessions to staff.
• Co-sponsor of last October’s Wellness Fair, with the Benefits Office.
• Collaborating on a rewrite of "Some Confidential Employee Services for Brown Employees," a pamphlet provided by the Office of Employee Relations.

The committee’s ongoing work, McIlmail said, includes:

• Diversity initiatives. The SAC is a co-sponsor of this year’s Celebration of Community, to be held in April. Members of SAC will take notes of conversations held during the event’s roundtable discussions on diversity, and will present a summary of these notes to Blumstein.
• Exploring ways to provide benefit information to new employees for their review in advance of the Orientation Meeting.
Ann D'Abrosca • Providing a brochure about SAC to new employees at their Orientation Meeting.
• Creating a handbook for academic department managers. This work is being done in conjunction with department managers and the dean of the faculty.