December 2012 Issue

Next P&A Senate meeting:

Friday, February 1st, 9:30am-11:30am, location and speakers TBA [watch for an email from your P&A Senator].

Special Note from the P&A Chair, Ann Hagen

Greetings from the P&A Senate! 2012 has been a busy year and we aim to keep our going in 2013. At their December 2012 meeting, the Board of Regents discussed the proposed changes to the University's most prestigious education awards. Those changes include expanding eligibility to instructional P&A staff. The Regents' Committee on Staff, Students, and Faculty affairs was quite open to the changes and the proposal passed without contest this month. We get the final answer in February 2013 meeting when the full Board votes on the proposal, but I fully expect we will start the year with a big WIN for P&As!

On behalf of the P&A Senators, I wish you a calm end to 2012 and exciting prospects in 2013!

FINAL REMINDER! Nominate Outstanding Teachers

Pending final approval in February, both faculty and P&A teachers will be eligible to be nominated for the 2013 Horace T. Morse-University of Minnesota Alumni Undergraduate Education Award and the Award for Outstanding Contributions to Postbaccalaureate, Graduate and Professional Education. See the official announcement. While January 17 is the deadline for submitting nominations, all nominations must come through a college office, which will have earlier deadlines.

P&A Outstanding Unit Award

It's not too early to begin thinking about a unit that could be nominated for the P&A Outstanding Unit Award (OUA). Nomination forms will be available in January 2013.

Opportunities to be part of U Governance

P&A Senate: The P&A Senate Outreach Committee is working on restructuring the representative units for the Senate. With changes to System Academic Administration and other units we want to be sure that all P&A colleagues are represented in the P&A Senate. In February the Senate will vote on the proposed changes so that units will be able to elect representatives that would start in July. Keep an eye out in spring to see if your unit has an election - it is a great chance to be part of the governance structure of the University. Learn more about the P&A Senate.

University Senate Committees: Committees are the critical point at which University policies and decisions on intellectual property, tenure, grading, evaluation of instruction, the budget, allocation of indirect cost funds, athletics, electronic privacy, salaries, openness in research, health insurance, and many other matters important to the University community are debated and resolved. Click here for the brief application and a description of the committees. The application deadline is Wednesday, January 9, 2013.

Reminder! Take advantage of UPerks

---- Special U of MN employee discounts currently focused on the opportunities available near the Twin Cities campuses ----

Snippets from the Spring 2012 Survey of U of MN P&A Employees

Of the P&A employees responding to "Under what kind of appointment contract are you employed?"

86.4% Annual renewable
2.8% Multi-year renewable
4.6% Continuous
4.0% Do not know
2.1% Other

PROFESSIONAL AND PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES

P&A Brown Bag Presentation

Tuesday, February 19th, 12:00PM-1:00PM
During this fun filled teaching-focused session, you will have opportunity to hear from two speakers from the College of Education and Human Development on the Twin Cities campus ~ Dr. Michelle Everson will discuss designing and teaching hybrid and online courses and Mary Beth Kelley will share a variety of cooperating learning activities geared for college-aged students.

Please join us for the P&A Senate Brown Bag at 325 Education Sciences, 56 East River Road, Minneapolis or via UMConnect. View previous P&A Brown Bag Sessions online.

PROFESSIONAL & ADMINISTRATIVE EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT

James Skurla

James Skurla is the Director of the UMD Bureau of Business and Economic Research (BBER) in the Labovitz School of Business and Economics. To learn about about how James makes a difference at the U, see P&A Employee Spotlight.

Katie Cook

Katie is the Enology Project Leader in the College of Food, Agricultural, and Natural Resource Sciences. To learn about about how Katie makes a difference at the U, see P&A Employee Spotlight

This e-mail was sent to all current P&A staff at the University of Minnesota by the P&A Senate.