Staff Council met on Tuesday, November 27 at 8:30AM in Alumni Auditorium. Below are the meeting minutes (approved on December 18, 2018) for your review. These minutes can also be found on the K: Drive, located at K:\Staff Council\Staff Council – Meeting Minutes\June 2018 – May 2019 (Note for Windows 10 users: the K: drive is now the P: drive on your machine). Please send any recommended revisions to Cullen Bostock at cbostock@champlain.edu prior to the December 18 meeting.
I. Welcome – Call meeting to order (Jean Marie Severance, Chair, Staff Welfare & Advocacy Committee)
- The group observed a moment of silence in recognition of the student life lost over the Thanksgiving break
II. Approval of the October meeting minutes (see on Staff Council Blog at https://staffcouncil.champlain.edu)
- A motion was made to approve, motion was seconded, and the October 2018 meeting minutes were unanimously approved
III. Committee Updates
Staff Council Executive Board
- Shaylea reminded the group of the Community Resolution put forward by Faculty Senate in support of Staff. The Resolution can be found on the Faculty Senate webpage (https://sites.google.com/a/champlain.edu/facultysenate/home) and acknowledges a number of constraints experienced by Staff and acts as a call to action from senior leadership.
- Laurie Quinn expressed her intent to provide a formal response to the resolution at the December 5 Faculty Senate meeting, which staff are welcome to attend.
IV. Green Mountain Higher Education Consortium (GMHEC) Project Ensemble Update – Diana Matot
- Diana began her presentation by sharing the GMHEC mission “To create and foster collaborative opportunities by serving as an agent for economic and educational initiatives that bring value to all members. The power of each school working collaboratively on non-competitive matters will increase the quality of services and lower administrative costs.”
- The Project Ensemble refers to the effort for each member institution to collectively seek and integrate enterprise systems for Advancement, Finance, and Human Capital Management (HCM). This collective effort will result in overall cost savings, allow each institution to learn with/from each other, and provide for an expanded support network.
- Diana detailed the project scope as it relates to each system/department:
Advancement
- Champlain Lead is Roland Palmer
- Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT is the new information system that will be implemented, which is scheduled to go live on March 15, 2019. Training has already begun with those who will be using the system and will continue until the go-live date.
Finance
- Champlain Lead is April O’Dell
- Oracle is the new information system for finance. This system and its features will address needs related to requisition/buying processes, invoice processing, budgeting/reporting, P-Card reconciliations, and chart of accounts construction and reporting.
- Go-live date for the panning & budgeting aspects of the system is scheduled for February 8, 2019, while the finance system go-live is scheduled for March 3, 2019. Training has begun for both aspects. Considering this system effects many different areas, there will be broader functional trainings and support sessions held through DareU beginning in December and periodically throughout Q1 of 2019.
Human Capital Management (HCM)
- Champlain Lead is Jackie Greer (Andrew Dubuque is the GMHEC Project Lead)
- Oracle will replace Workday as the new HCM system. Modules include Core HR, Benefits, Time Management, Payroll, Compensation, Learning, Talent Acquisition, Goal Management, Career Development, Performance Management, Talent Review & Succession Management, and Workforce Planning in PBCS.
- Current focus is on building out the user experience (UX) and planning training programs. There is a lot of excitement around the self-service and “one stop shop” capabilities of this system. The specific go-live date is currently undetermined but projected to be some time in Q3 of 2019.
- Diana emphasized that this system will impact all Champlain College employees. Look for information on general and specific functional training sessions beginning in 2019.
Student (Phase 2)
- Champlain Lead is Greg Davis
- Oracle will be the new technology for student processes. The Student module is currently in development.
- Members of GMHEC are participating in feedback sessions for Oracle’s Student Design Group and monitoring the current state of the product and Oracle’s roadmap for future implementations. Project Leads in Admissions, Registrar, Financial Aid/Student Accounts and Student Life assisting the work being done in Advancement, Finance and HR where/when needed. Oracle will be providing a demo to the Working Group in mid-December so we can gauge where the product currently is according to our needs
- More information and updates regarding this phase of the project will be shared in 2019.
- Diana concluded her presentation by discussing the 3 phases of transition: Ending, Losing, Letting Go (1); The Neutral Zone (2), and The New Beginning (3). She also expressed that the best way staff can engage during this transition is to be curious. There will be multiple sessions posted on the DareU calendar, specific to each of the project areas as well as broader discussions on managing transitions.
- A question was asked whether or not the Student project group will reach out to the community for input during the building/planning phase. Diana noted that the group will go through a similar process redesign/reimagine (PRR) that they did with various stakeholders for the phase 1 project ensemble areas. The Student portion of the project is still in the early stages of learning the capabilities of the technology.
V. Career Collaborative Presentation on Career Outcomes (Class of 2017) – Tanja Hinterstoisser
- Tanja began the presentation by noting that all of the statistics shared were collected and disseminated in adherence to National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) standards and protocols. NACE defines response rate as the percentage of First Destination Survey responses, which are administered 6 months following graduation. The next step in the process is to perform research to verify results which, when combined with the survey response rate, becomes the College’s “knowledge rate”. Lastly, NACE defines career success as students being employed or pursuing continuing education.
- The Class of 2017 consisted of 496 graduates. Tanja shared that, with a knowledge rate of 88%, 90% reported being employed, and 4% reported currently being enrolled in continuing education, making a career success rate of 94%. Tanja also highlighted that 88% are in career-relevant jobs (i.e. relevant to the area of study they pursued at Champlain).
- According to NACE reports on the Class of 2017, Champlain is above national averages in employment (90% compared to national average of 63.7%) and career success (88% compared to 81.2% national average). Additionally, Champlain reported significantly less graduates still seeking employment or continuing education in comparison to the national average (6% and 15.4%, respectively)
- Experiential Learning continues to prove to be critical in ensuring career success. At Champlain, 9 out of 10 students complete at least one experiential learning activity and almost one third complete at least three.
- Against national trends, starting salaries for Champlain graduates has grown by 15.5% since 2014, from $38,837 (2014) to $42,814 (2017). Tanja emphasized that 52 graduates received a promotion within the first six months on the job (reported salary and/or job title change).
- Champlain College continues to retain almost half of its graduating class to live and work in Vermont. Specifically, 45% of 2017 graduates stayed in Vermont (77% of Vermonters stayed in the state, 32% of non-Vermonters stayed). Some of the reasons for staying in the state included job opportunities/placement in their field (34%), love for the culture of Burlington/VT (24%), and proximity to family/friends (20%). Alternatively, reasons graduates reported leaving included job/education opportunities out of state (36%), proximity to friends/family/hometown (43%), and high cost of living in VT (8%).
- For a complete report of career success statistics, including a breakdown by academic division, please visit https://www.champlain.edu/career-success/success-statistics.
- A question was asked regarding how career relevancy is defined and/or determined. Tanja replied that during the verified research process, the graduate’s program of study at Champlain is considered. Often, the team will compare with the graduate’s reported job title, description, and/or industry of employment. If unsure, the team will verify relevancy by reaching out to the individual.
- The question was asked whether relevancy is taken into account when discussing experiential learning opportunities as well. Tanja expressed that often times the experiential learning opportunities that are taken for credit tend to be career-relevant. However, the statistic used in this report is not broken down by relevancy. Alternatively, experiential learning can be broken down by type (i.e. on-campus/off-campus, internships, etc.). The team does put effort into separating experiential learning from part-time employment (e.g. retail cashier, etc.) that graduates may have had during their educational career at Champlain.
VI. The Triple E Conversations: Exciting, Engaging, and Empowering – Jean Marie Severance
- The conversations held at the October Staff council meeting regarding the Great Colleges to Work for survey results provided the foundation for and helped shape the discussions Rich Boyer (Modern Think representative) had with various Champlain College community groups.
- This week’s topic had Staff providing thoughts on the Performance Management process. Jean Marie acknowledged that, while the process and tool (Workday) will remain unchanged this year, the inevitable future transition to Oracle presents opportunity for the College to rethink how the evaluation process is administered. Attendees were invited to write down their thoughts, ideas, concerns, related to the following questions on notepads displayed throughout the auditorium:
- When have you felt most engaged in a performance review process (at Champlain or elsewhere)?
- What would you like to change about our current performance review process? The sky’s the limit! This isn’t just about the questions asked or the tool used, but the entire process.
- Findings and next steps related to these small group conversations will be shared at the December Staff Council meeting. Staff who were not present at the meeting are also invited to share their thoughts with members of the Staff Welfare & Advocacy Committee.
VII. Closing – if you have questions, feedback, ideas – please speak to me or one of our Executive Committee members
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- Meeting Minutes