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Senate President's UpdateTable of contentsNo headers
Good afternoon. It is an honor to speak to you on behalf of the Faculty/ Staff Senate. Thank you for joining us today. We are here today to recognize the “core” of this institution…instruction…and in doing so—the faculty. We are a student-centered institution, one where students come to learn, gain knowledge and to grow into responsible young men and women. I want to begin by asking you to take a second to look at the people around you: there are some familiar faces you’ve known for years, but there are some new faces, those of faculty, staff and especially students. This College is changing, and every person in this room has a role to play and a contribution to make in how the next few months and years will unfold—in how our institution will ultimately be defined. We’re all stakeholders in this transformation. I want to take a few moments to thank the Faculty and Staff for the exceptionally outstanding hard work everyone has contributed to the college over the past year. It is because of this hard work that the college is moving in the right direction. However, we cannot rest on our laurels. We must continue to strive for excellence, not only in our service to the college and community, but as educators in the classroom. I’m proud to be a part of such a talented faculty...and to have the privilege to work with so many wonderful people from the staff members to the VPs to the President. As President of the Faculty/ Staff Senate, I pledge to work with all constituents within the college to bring about positive change. I would like to end with a quote from U.S. President Barack Obama: "Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek." Thank you,
On behalf of the Faculty/Staff Senate I am honored to inform the COM-FSM community of our 2012-2013 representatives. The Faculty/ Staff Senate representatives are:
The Senate serves as a forum to discuss and debate new and existing policies or issues affecting the College, especially faculty and staff. Its members include all COM-FSM employees, whether full-time or part-time, with the exception of the President.
As members of this Senate, you are all encouraged to visit and check the wiki (http://wiki.comfsm.fm/Senate) from time to time and actively get involved by browsing through the minutes, reports, resolutions, and other information to be uploaded here, posting your comments, asking questions, raising relevant issues, offering suggestions, and participating in online discussions.
You may also bring your concerns to the Senate's attention by contacting your campus representatives, or by sending your email to senate@comfsm.fm.
Finally, I would like to thank the outgoing Senate officers and representatives for all the hard work they did last year.
Christopher Ross Perkins
President Faculty/ Staff Senate
Dear Senate members,
ON SUMMER CONTRACT PAY President Daisy responds to concern by faculty from all campuses regarding this year's summer pay. Date Posted: May 16, 2012
The college will implement for this summer only, the same incentive provided last summer, a 20% increase above the current compensation schedule. COM-FSM President Joseph M. Daisy communicated this information to the working group that was tasked by the Senate's Faculty Subcommittee to meet with him last April 27, 2012 in order to discuss the Summer contract pay. The group was composed of Senate President Resida Keller, Dr. Richard Womack, and Prof. Dana Lee Ling and Rafael Pulmano.
In his email message, the president said he was pleased to have met with the group several weeks ago and to learn of the concerns related to the summer pay for faculty. He expressed appreciation for the perspective that they provided and also the professional and respectful tone exhibited throughout the discussion.
According to the president, as this issue will likely take many more minds to appropriately address, he encourages representatives from the faculty to engage in further discussions and plans for consideration to permanently resolve the summer pay issue for faculty.
He said that, as promised, he had looked into the options available now, that a 20% increase at this time is merely a temporary solution, and that he looks forward to a timely resolution of concerns related to the summer compensation for faculty.
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UPDATE ON SENATE ELECTION – EXTENSION OF NOMINATION & CANDIDACY SUBMISSIONS This message was originally sent by Senate Secretary Rafael Pulmano to all faculty and staff via email on May 4, 2012. Date Posted: May 4, 2012 TO ALL FACULTY & STAFF
Prof. Resida Keller, President of COM-FSM Faculty/Staff Senate, announces that as of yesterday morning, the senate has received the following: NOMINATIONS
DECLARATION OF CANDIDACY
Other announcements and updates: EXTENSION OF DEADLINE FOR NOMINATIONS/DECLARATION OF CANDIDACY
INFORMATION DRIVE & CAMPAIGN PERIOD
SENATE ELECTION
FOR THOSE WHO ARE STILL UNDECIDED
NOMINATION / DECLARATION OF CANDIDACY FORM
QUESTIONS? SUGGESTIONS?
SENATE ELECTION FOR ACADEMIC YEAR 2012-2013 This message was originally sent by Senate President Resida Samson Keller to the faculty and staff representatives at all campuses and to the entire college community via email on April 23, 2012. Date Posted: May 2, 2012
Hello everyone, As the end of the semester nears, it is time for us all to start thinking about Faculty/Staff senate and whether we would like to step up and serve our fellow faculty and staff in the senate or if we know of someone who would be great at representing the rest of us here at the college. At the end of the academic year, we elect members of the college community (both staff and faculty) to represent us on the Facutly/Staff senate, an organization which all of us are members of. The faculty/Staff senate members then try to collectively represent the faculty interests and concerns to either the cabinet or even further up to the board, in an effort to ensure that our concerns and our rights are fairly addressed each year. So, election for new reps to the faculty/staff senate is here. The following dates have been established for Faculty/Staff senate elections across the college and ask that if you are interested in serving on the senate that you keep in mind these deadlines: 1.) If you are interested in serving on the senate for the upcoming 2012-2013 Academic year, FILING OF CANDIDACY or SUBMISSION OF NOMINATIONS will begin on April 25th to May 2nd. We want a committed and willing senate who can advocate our concerns and rights so see your current Faculty/Staff senate reps at your respective campuses for more information. Forms for filing of candidacy or submission of nominations will be sent out electronically to all campus reps and campus directors and may also be available at the business office desk at the national campus. NOTE: State campus reps, please send us a list of your final candidates by the 2nd so that we will have a complete list of all candidates to post. 2.) On May 3rd, an official list of all candidates will be posted via email, the wiki and also through our website. Candidates will then be able to campaign from the 3rd of May up to the 8th of May. During this period we will also have an information drive so that you can find out more information about your candidates. 3.) ELECTIONS: May 9th---Elections will be held by secret ballot on May 9th. Ballots will be available at the business offices of each respective campus so that when employees go to pick up their checks, they are able to cast their votes. State reps, please prepare a ballot box and ballot forms will be sent to you electronically for you to print out prior to election dates. PLEASE ENCOURAGE ALL TO VOTE. This is the last responsibility of the Faculty/Staff senate reps prior to stepping down from their posts. Also, please keep with this timeline so that all new reps will be in place before the new academic year starts and an orientation meeting can be held for new reps. 4.) COUNTING: Counting of the ballots will be done on the 11th of May by the current facutly/staff senate reps and announcement of the new reps will be posted immediately after the counting is complete. State reps, please send in your results at the completion of your counting so that a college-wide announcement of new reps can be done. Individuals will be informed and orientation dates will be announced. *NOTE: Campus directors, please relay this information to any current faculty/staff senate members who may not have access to this email. Also, we ask for your help and support in this year's election activities so that we can have representatives in place prior to the start of the Fall semester so that they can have a head start in fulfilling the responsibilities on behalf of the college's faculty and staff. AGAIN, IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN SERVING YOUR FELLOW COLLEGE STAFF AND FACULTY, MAKE YOUR INTENTIONS PUBLIC AND FILE FOR CANDIDACY. Resida Samson Keller College of Micronesia-FSM
ON SALARY FREEZE AND SUMMER CONTRACT Update on Faculty's Meeting with President Daisy to Discuss Salary Freeze and Summer Contract Pay Date Posted: April 30, 2012
In behalf of the faculty senate, Prof. Richard Womack, Dana Lee Ling, Resida Keller and Rafael Pulmano, met with President Joseph M. Daisy at his office on April 27, 2012 at 3:00 PM. The president welcomed the group, and Dr. Womack began by providing background information about the salary situation at COM-FSM from long before the recent job audit up to the present.
President Daisy listened intently, asked questions, thanking the group for sharing this information while at the same time giving assurance that he'd been doing his homework and is looking at possible options.
After learning that some faculty had to teach extra classes and also teach during Summer to cope with the high cost of living in the FSM, the president expressed that faculty shouldn't be working on extra load to make a living. The president wants to have salary options with costs presented to him. He is open to ideas, he "gets" that the faculty are underpaid and the ramifications for recruiting and retaining qualified faculty.
The president indicated he realized full-well the recruitment and retention issues are serious, as well as a declining sense of "good morale". Womack noted that with having to maintain overloads etc...to make ends meet--working paycheck to paycheck when announcements like---the accreditation course shall be put in one's evaluation and the work many are doing is NOT put in one's "permanent file"--it rubs folks--the wrong way. Faculty are perhaps becoming too sensitive---but for a reason.
Lee Ling suggested that the college avoid going back through another salary study and use the current tracks which are four percent per step, one percent per substep, and simply extend the track beyond step 20. That would not incur any immediate cost. He also suggested "cutting off" the bottom of the track and hiring in "higher" on a track to make salaries more competitive. Womack argued that the cut-off should result in a salary on par with Marshall islands.
The president noted that the step increase freeze would have to remain in place for now. He noted that the FSM Congress is looking to appropriate $700,000 to assist the college and that it would not look appropriate if the college received the 700K and then turned around and used it to pay for step increases. Womack noted that the faculty had expressed a willingness to make a one year sacrifice, but that an end date to the step freeze was desired. Recruitment and retention are already problematic, the freeze only exacerbates the problem.
On Summer contract pay and committee work, the president noted that for Fall and Spring, regular full-time faculty are being paid regular pay spread over 12 months, while peforming various tasks in addition to actual teaching - serving on committees, advising students, etc. During Summer, full-time faculty sign special contract with job basically confined to teaching only.
The president expressed an interest in exploring whether summer pay could simply be regular term pay. This would obviously be for the future. He presented a number of possible scenarios under consideration, and asked the faculty to also come up with options of their own for management's consideration. The president wants committee work to continue during the summer, and suggested maybe a stipend for non-teaching faculty who have committee work during the summer.
Lee Ling noted that all faculty are currently part-time in the summer and part-time faculty do not have committee duties at the college, thus the stipend might be due to all faculty who serve during the summer.
The president said he would ask Academic Program Director Karen Simeon and Comptroller Danny Dumantay to put numbers on his desk to find out as to what a 20% incentive would cost. He requested that he be given until Monday (April 30, 2012) to look into the financial implications of a similar increase in summer pay given last year, but expressed his desire for a continuing dialogue.
ON SALARY FREEZE This is the text of the memorandum sent by Chairman Kasio Mida of the COM-FSM Board of Regents, to Professor Resida Keller, Faculty/Staff Senate President, in response to her letter to the Board, addressing the salary freeze issue. (Click here to see scanned copy of this memorandum.)
March 29, 2012 MEMORANDUM: TO : President, Faculty/Staff Senate FROM : Chairman, Board of Regents SUBJECT : Clarification on Salary Pay Freeze
Best wishes to you and your colleagues. The intent of this communication is to respond to your letter of February 17, 2012 regarding the recent decision of the Board of Regents to put a freeze on step increases for all employees of the college in the 2013 Budget and the steps the administration took to arrive at this decision. Please know the Board of Regents (BOR) carefully considered the February 17, 2012, letter you submitted on behalf of the Faculty/Staff Senate.
With regards to the first question on pay increase or step increases for all employees, the board approved the recommendation that there will be no step increases to take effect only for the budget year 2013. The reason was in response to the JEMCO Resolution for $700,000 dollars annual decrement for the college for the next four years. The plan was for the college to work closely with JEMCO and the FSM Government to reinstate the funding or seek alternative funding.
Your second question was about if and when, the salary freeze ends, will the salary of employees move up one step or two steps? The administration recommended that because $700k will be reduced from the 2013 budget, there would be no funding to address this shortfall. If the FSM government funds the $2.8 million, the Board will re-examine its decision on the freeze of step increases.
The college administration reported to the board in the January 2013 Board of Regents meeting that the 2013 budget followed the budget development process. Unfortunately, the college prioritization plan was not completed and PRC was also going through its transition to review the new budget. The 2013 Budget needed to be submitted to the FSM President's Office on January 15, 2012 as called for in the FSM budget timeline. The college recognizes its shortcoming with regards to the development of the 2013 budget. We have processes in place to ensure people are involved and people are encouraged to be engaged in the work of the committees. By all efforts, we must be sure to keep all faculty and staff aware, informed and involved in these important deliberations.
Last Friday, March 23, 2012, the college appeared before the JEMCO mid-year meeting here in Pohnpei to find ways to postpone the implementation of the JEMCO resolution and seek support to also lift the IDP freeze. As you may have aleady known, we were not successful in this effort. At this point in time, we are not able to determine whether the freeze will be for 2013 only.
COM-FSM is not alone in facing the serious financial challenges that all other colleges in the US and the region are facing. As we move forward, it will be clear to all of the subsequent funding challenges faced by the college.
Thank you for your inquiries and hope to continue to work closely with you on matters of great importance to the institution.
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Date posted: April 23, 2012
PRESSING ISSUES This message was originally sent to Senate Faculty/Staff Representatives via email Date: January 13, 2012 2:11:31 PM GMT+11:00 Subject: Updates and pressing issues
Dear Senate members:
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