Faculty Senate Meeting, January 16, 2024

Minutes

2023/2024 FACULTY SENATE

Tuesday, January 16, 2024

2:00pm – 3:00pm

Virtual Meeting-Zoom

• Call to Order

There was a call to order at 2:03 PM

Roll Call

1. Present:
   • Ed Boog (SCS)                             (8) Danielle Donato (SA)
   • Chelsie Martinez (SA)               (9) Cruz Laudenslager (SCS)
   • Glenn Heath (SCS)                          (10) Marinn Clampit (SCS)
   • Jim Lowe (SCS)                             (11) Monica Aguilar (SCS)
   • Crystal Chang (SA)               (12) Kristi Robertson (SA)
   • Eric March (SCS)
   • Michele Casella (SA)

1. Absent:

• Gar Casale (SCS)
• Tillery Williams (SA)

1. Quorum established.

• Approval of Minutes – October (No meeting on November or December) Glenn moved to approve, Eric seconded the motion, and it was passed.
• Guest for January – Eric J. Gilliland; Chief Human Resources Officer

Introductions were made by members. The following is a summary of some of the questions and answers.

1. What can we do to speed up hiring at SA/SCS – we lose good candidates when the recruiting process goes on too long?

We can evaluate or streamline the process because it is important to make the process better. We need to figure out how to reach out to highly qualified candidates and continue to have a healthy pool.

1. Do you work primarily in Las Vegas?

Yes, for now, and eventually that will include trips to Reno. He has a vision for how HR should look.

1. How did Nevada State handle remote work when you were there?

He wrote the policy for Nevada State Remote Work. Faculty had to abide by the state policy. They wanted to provide accessibility as a public agency and services did not decline as their customers’ needs were met. It made a big difference.

2025. What additional measures are being taken to improve the performance evaluation process? Have items like a standard template been adopted, a training overview created, and timelines adhered to?  When should we anticipate more communication on this topic? We need to evaluate employees differently from merit pay. Evaluations have not been evaluated by both employers and employees and managers. We are working toward making it better and giving people a rating. Huron adopted the standard form for the year but did not use it for the future. There will be a communication coming out about the survey. There should be focus groups for an open dialogue working towards new management programs. There will be a new process for January 2025.
2026. Did he receive our information from our retreat last year? What are the next steps? A link was provided to him during the meeting. He did not have an opportunity to review the Huron study. This can serve as an opportunity to evaluate it further. In the meantime, he wants to finish this evaluation process. The next steps should be to establish goals and address them and then go back and include them in the study. We must be able to evaluate the performance of employees, using both employee/manager input, to bridge the gaps in work performance. Also hosting a focus group to help in a future process to streamline it.
2027. Will we have a standardized onboarding process for new employees?

It is being evaluated and a checklist is being developed to incorporate it in the process.

1. In your first few weeks at NSHE, have you observed any obvious HR related issues for potential improvements?

There will be improvements and compensation for classification but there are challenges with our outcomes. There are best practices for classification and compensation philosophy and our value. We need to research and find other institutions or agencies as a basis of comparison. What is our culture and our branding and how we can reach out to other employers. All of these are not quick projects and will take time for our HR Team to establish.

1. What’s the first thing you want to/will tackle as the Chief HR Officer?

If we don’t get the compensation corrected people will leave. We are working to research best practices and working to fill and maintain positions. We have an opportunity to redefine who we are.

1. Do you have a 1/3/5-year plan for what you would like to get done at NSHE? Compensation for Classified positions.

Take a lead in divergent programs based on best practices and the onboard piece and just get through year one. Big picture there should be more people in HR. Evaluating and identifying on delivery of benefits to evaluate consistency.

1. I’m glad to see that we hired someone from one of the NSHE institutions. What do you think was your best accomplishment at NSU and CSN?  And do you think that is something we need at NSHE (if it doesn’t already exist)? 

He developed the procedure to reimagine HR. We have to embrace our culture and brand.

Eric concluded that has an open-door policy and asks that we invite him back anytime.

• Comments
• New Business

New Chair for SA/SCS – We will be looking for a new Faculty Senate Chair in July.

• Next Meeting

Tuesday, February 20, 2023, at 2:00 PM via Zoom

• Adjournment

There was a motion to adjourn by Ed and seconded by Glenn. Meeting was adjourned at 3:04 pm

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