Staff Advisory Council
College of Food, Agricultural,
and Environmental Sciences
EnVision Articles

http://cfaes.osu.edu/staffadvisorycouncil

by Betty Aylsworth and Cathy Zirkle

Everyone is encouraged to visit the Staff Advisory Council's web page at http://cfaes.osu.edu/staffadvisorycouncil.   Accessible since late last year, the SAC web site was created by the group’s Web Page Task Force (Susan Sommer, Debra Gallagher, Anne Groves and Shelley Whitworth) to keep FAES staff members informed of the council’s mission and activities, including council by-laws, meeting minutes, membership directory, task force lists and enVision articles.  In addition, a college staff listserv was established to promote communication among the entire FAES staff.  The listserv, containing over 1200 email addresses manually entered by one member of the council’s Listserv Task Force, was first put to the test last fall.  Following this introductory message to the staff listserv, approximately 300 changes were made to the list of email addresses.  The Listserv Task Force (Ann Lighthiser and Regina Vann) proposes that one or two messages be sent to the listserv each month and all information relayed via the listserv be pertinent to the FAES staff body.  All messages sent to the staff listserv must be approved by the SAC Listserv Task Force, SAC Chair (Thad Welch) or SAC Communications Director (Cathy Zirkle). 

In February, Vice President and Dean Bob Moser charged the Staff Advisory Council to create “a set of guidelines that will contribute to the improvement of the staff reward system in our college.”  Toward this end, Dr. Moser suggests the council study the current CCS and A&P reward system, determine possible areas of flexibility, and recommend changes that will complement recent changes to the faculty reward system.  Already in place on the council is an Employee Rewards Task Force (Christine Nielsen,  Regina Vann, Marjorie Dellinger, Anne Groves, Mabel Kirchner, Barbara LaMoreaux and Pat Patterson), to undertake this important request from the Dean.  A survey for the College of FAES Staff is currently being designed by the council’s Survey Task Force (Rita Bowers, Carol Bunn, Cindy Crawford, Sherri DeCant, Marjorie Dellinger, Ted Gastier, Kathy Mohler and Carol Sowers) to determine staff needs in the areas of professional development and employee recognition and rewards. 

A direct product of the college’s Project Reinvent initiative, the SAC has been involved in activities of Project Reinvent since March, 1999.  Two members of the Kellogg Evaluation Team were invited to visit the February meeting of the SAC.  Adrian VanMondfrans and Rosemary Lysaght, representatives of the Western Institute for Research and Evaluation, separated the 25 member SAC into two subsets and interviewed the groups separately to gain staff perspective on the Project Reinvent process and outcomes.