P&S COUNCIL NEWS
January 16, 2004

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DEADLINES AND REMINDERS
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Not the Caucuses, But Still Important

Beginning Jan. 20 through Jan. 28, professional and scientific staff are encouraged to vote electronically on amendments to Article VI and Article IX of the Constitution of the P&S Council. Amendments are described below. Log in to AccessPlus, click on the "employee" tab, and then on "voting."
http://accessplus.iastate.edu/

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DO YOU KNOW . . .?
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If you have an employment-related concern, you can contact the P&S Council's confidential peer advisory committee. They'll make sure you get the help or answers you need.
http://www.pscouncil.iastate.edu/PeerCommittee.html

You don't have to be a member of the P&S Council to participate on a standing committee. Committee membership is a valuable way to serve your peers without participating in all council activities. Check out the possibilities!
http://www.pscouncil.iastate.edu/Committees.html

The P&S Council's Compensation and Benefits Committee needs some new blood - yours! This group works to assure a fair and equitable financial reward system for P&S staff. For more information, see the council's website.
http://www.pscouncil.iastate.edu/CandBCommittee.html

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COMMITTEE HIGHLIGHT
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Compensation and Benefits

This committee

• develops and recommends revisions to Iowa State's P&S compensation plan
• is a liaison between the P&S staff and the university's annual budgeting process
• assesses and recommends action on issues like leaves of absence, professional development, insurance, retirement, merit/P&S staff salary overlap, salary compression, health care coverage gaps for Extension employees, early retirement, and P&S pay matrix and classification system.

What's this group done for you lately?

Based on the committee's research, the P&S Council recently asked Iowa State's administration for an extensive review of the university's P&S classification and compensation system. As a result, an outside consultant is now collecting information and will have a report by the end of January.

To help educate P&S staff about the P&S classification system, the committee is developing a list of "Frequently Asked Questions," soon to be posted on the P&S Council's website. http://www.pscouncil.iastate.edu/CandBCommittee.html

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PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
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Article VI

Representation. Representation on the council shall be determined as follows: At each regular Professional and Scientific Council election, each of the organizational areas within the university as designated in the bylaws shall be entitled to elect one representative for each 75 P-base positions or fraction thereof on the December 31 payroll.

Article IX

Eligibility of Representatives. All employees as defined in Article V are eligible for election to the council.

Representatives from the various areas shall be employees in the area with which they are affiliated, and shall be nominated and elected by the eligible employees of that area as defined in Article V. Any representative who changes area affiliation, loses P-base status, or assumes a position exempt from professional and scientific policies and procedures, shall resign from the council. Any representative who changes area affiliation, and has time remaining on a term of membership on the council, may continue serving on the council until the end of the Iowa State University fiscal year following the next regular Professional and Scientific Council election.

Employees holding faculty rank shall not serve on Professional and Scientific Council and on Faculty Senate concurrently.

Explanation:

If a Professional & Scientific Council member changes area of affiliation, the current Constitution of the Professional and Scientific Council requires a P&S Council member to resign from council the first day of the new position. The amendments above will allow him or her to continue serving on council until the end of the fiscal year following the next regular Professional and Scientific Council election, if he or she so chooses. This will be helpful so that the P&S Council will not spend so much of its time seeking replacement interim members and to keep membership consistent during the year.

Example:

A person was elected to serve three years (July 1, 2001 through June 30, 2004) on P&S Council to represent the Academic and Research area. During the second year of the three year term, the council member accepted another P-based position in the IPRT/Ames Lab area. According to the current Constitution of the Professional and Scientific Council, by accepting the new position in another area, this person has to resign from P&S Council effective the first day of the new position. The amendment described above would still require the P&S council member to resign from P&S council; however, the council member would be given the option of continuing to serve on P&S Council until the end of the fiscal year following the next regular election (June 30, 2003).