President's Message to Staff: February 2020

February 1, 2020

MONTHLY COMMUNICATION: February 2020

UNM Staff:

Happy Black History Month! As the month progresses I want to encourage you to check out all of the activities planned to celebrate!

Late February will mark the end of the New Mexico legislative session, and it will bring clarity to both the state budget and UNM’s appropriations for Fiscal Year 2021. There are a number of things I want to address related to the legislative session, so let’s start with those.

Legislative Update
After a very successful UNM Day, the legislature looks poised to provide UNM with a modest budget increase, and 3% compensation for faculty and staff. The new funding model will allow for this 3% funding to translate to a 3% salary increase for all of us. The model isn’t perfect: the university will still have to dedicate money to this endeavor in order to make sure that everyone (North Campus and Main campus; I&G-funded and not-I&G-funded) see 3% increase. You’ll recall that we requested 5% in compensation funding, but that is not what made it into the budget.

I also want to address an important topic related to compensation for the current fiscal year. President Stokes, and UNM Government Relations, honored their word in requesting and advocating for 1% in compensation funding tied to this fiscal year. You’ll recall that this ‘unfunded 1%’ was due to the model used by the legislature when calculating compensation funding, which has been partially addressed by the current model for FY21. Despite their efforts that 1% request was not recommended, and did not make it into the budget.

Compensation is a complex issue making it difficult to articulate through email communication. Please reach out if you’d like more clarity on the recommendation for this upcoming fiscal year (FY21), or about the 1% that applies to this current fiscal year (FY20).

If you’re looking to express your opinion to your legislator, the Staff Council Government Relations Committee is hosting three postcard-writing events where they will help you find your representatives and write to them!

The dates are:

• Main Campus – February 7th from 12pm-2pm in the Student Union Building (SUB) Satellite
• South Campus – February 11th from 12pm-2pm in the Student Services Center (SSC) Waiting Area
• North Campus – February 12th  from 12pm-2pm  in the Health Heart Bistro (1st floor of Domenici Building in the cafe)

Hiring Around Campus
As many of you will have seen, President Stokes has announced that the role currently held by Dr. Roth (HSC Chancellor) will be broken up into several roles moving forward. This is something that many of you expressed interest in seeing happen, and it’s a great example of the influence that we can have when we speak up! Your input is being sought on this search via a survey, and I hope that you will consider taking it.

I’m also serving on the hiring committee for a new Policy Officer, to be situated under the Vice President for Finance and Administration. This role is critical for how Staff Council can make a difference on campus! Working with the previous Policy Officer Staff Council was able to successfully lobby for the Paid Parental Leave Policy, and we routinely share information about policies going out for comment in our eNews (sent every Tuesday from Staff Council). It’s an important role on campus and one tied very closely to the overall effectiveness of an organization like Staff Council. Faculty and Staff are equally represented, and I welcome your input regarding what you think makes an ideal candidate.

UNM Seal Design
Don’t forget that tomorrow is the final day to express your feedback regarding the five seal design finalists! My favorite design is ‘A’, and we’ve had nearly 6,000 expressions of feedback so far! Be sure to rank your choices by tomorrow! Once the data has been analyzed the Seal Committee will forward the recommendations to the President and Board of Regents for final selection.

Gateway Center
You also may have heard that there is a proposal to host Albuquerque’s Gateway Center on a property owned and adjacent to UNM. As should always be the case, the university is hosting several forums to get feedback from our community on the advisability of this proposal. The first of these forums will be held tomorrow. Additional forums will be held next week and I encourage you to attend so that a fully-informed decision can be made about such an important decision.

Gateway Center forum dates:

• Friday, Feb. 7, noon: Domenici Hall, auditorium (livestreamed)
• Tuesday, Feb. 11, 1 p.m.: SUB, Atrium (hosted by ASUNM)
• Wednesday, Feb. 12, noon: SUB, Ballroom C (livestreamed)
• Thursday, Feb. 13, 5:15 p.m.: UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center, auditorium (livestreamed)

Staff Council Elections and Diversity
Soon Staff Council will hold annual elections. In even years councilors representing precincts (based on the Vice Presidential Reporting Structure) are elected for a two year term. If you have ever considered becoming a part of making change on this campus, I would encourage you to nominate yourself and run! You can also find your current representative here.

I also need your help – when organizations like Staff Council reflect the staff we represent, the organization flourishes. We know this and we are taking it seriously: at last month’s Staff Council Business meeting we created a standing committee for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to inform our work with Human Resources, the Vice President for Equity and Inclusion and the Vice Chancellor for Diversity on issues of staff concern.

My hope is that this committee will help to recruit work closely to ensure that Staff Council will focus on issues related to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion long after my term as Staff Council President.

As always, I look forward to hearing from many of you during the next month and don’t forget that you can engage with us by following along on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. 

Respectfully,

Ryan E. Gregg
Data Manager | Admissions
President | UNM Staff Council
greggr@unm.edu 
scpresident@unm.edu