Societies function better when there is order and peace.  This tenet holds true with the gathering of people or any deliberative assembly, including Staff Council!

Parliamentary procedure supplies a common body of rules that provide processes through which organizations can work out satisfactory solutions to the greatest number of questions/issues in the least amount of time. The general principle of parliamentary procedure is that the majority rules. Historically, parliamentary procedure existed as far back as the 13th century in the English Parliament, but in The United States it was not implemented until 1876, when “Robert’s Rules of Order” was published by Henry Martyn Robert. The Rules outlines procedures for various situations that may arise in decision making, allowing members to smoothly run a meeting while considering all perspectives.

More to come on parliamentary procedure in the next issue!

Alan Slinkard | BCSC Parliamentarian

Off

CU �鶹ӰԺ Staff Council is calling on you to consider serving your fellow staff by nominating yourself, or one of your colleagues, for a three year elected term on the council.Service entails a minimum commitment of between five and seven hours per month, so it is wise to speak with your supervisor beforehand about how serving as a representative may affect your work unit. Take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the Staff Council website. If you are passionate about making a positive impact on campus, then look for the nomination form arriving in your inbox on February 3rd and get involved.

If you feel you are ready to nominate yourself or a colleague now, use the �鶹ӰԺ Campus Staff Council to directly access the nomination form that will be coming to everyone’s inbox on February 3rd.

Off

At their monthly meeting last week, December 11th, �鶹ӰԺ Campus Staff Council approved their letter of support for the Right to Fair Compensation and Comprehensive Benefits.

Off

At their monthly meeting yesterday, October 9th, �鶹ӰԺ Campus Staff Council unanimously approved their letter of support for Youth Climate Action.

This resolution has been approved by the following CU groups:

• Climate Reality Campus Corps of CU �鶹ӰԺ
• CU Chapter for Citizens’ Climate Lobby
• United Government of Graduate Students
• �鶹ӰԺ Faculty Assembly

Off

At their monthly meeting yesterday, October 9th, �鶹ӰԺ Campus Staff Council unanimously approved their letter of support for the Los Seis Sculpture.

Off

Kathleen (Kat) McGovern will be joining Margaret Kneebone and Earl Lambeth in the rarified air occupied by honorees who have been awarded Lifetime Membership on the CU �鶹ӰԺ Staff Council.

Kat is retiring after working at CU as a Journeyman HVAC Mechanic/Machinist for the last twenty-four and a half years. While she told us it was a “fluke” that she got a job with the university, those of us who know her might claim it was more likely a stroke of divine intervention.

A quarter century ago, it was uncommon for a  woman to be programming and running computerized numerical control (CNC) machines and doing the heavy lifting required for milling parts for industrial applications. Prompted by a friendly manager at the company she worked for, Kat decided to apply for a job at CU. After filling out the application, she was asked to come back to be tested for her skills, along with nineteen other qualified male applicants Kat scored second highest among the group and CU offered the job to the guy who scored first.

A few weeks later, the phone rang at Kat’s house and the person on the other end of the line offered her the CU job. Apparently, the fit wasn’t right for the person they hired. Kat thought a friend of hers was playing a practical joke, and quipped, “Yeah, right! Very funny!” and hung up. Moments later the phone rang again. “Don’t hang up! Seriously, this is Andy Ernst at CU, and we are offering you the job--for real”. As they say, the rest is history.

Many of you have interacted with Kat, be it in the context of HVAC work, or in her role as  Facilities Management Staff Council representative, where she has served for seventeen of her twenty-four years here at CU.

Kat exemplifies authenticity. She says what she means and means what she says. Those of us in Staff Council have noted the integrity she brings to conversations when she questions Council direction and seeks to understand more fully the issues under debate. Kat exemplifies commitment. She is proud to acknowledge the receipt of her nineteen-year sobriety chip. The tattoo on her forearm is a constant reminder for her of her unique brand of spirituality, and the date her sobriety began.

Serving humanity will be a primary component of Kat’s retirement plan. She looks forward to furthering her regular volunteer work with an international prison ministry, . Kat makes regular visits to the Denver Women’s Correctional Facility, leads a bible study fellowship, leads an alcohol recovery class at Flatirons Community Church, and raises money by selling various handcrafted items and photographs of her creations in order to help fund travel expenses to remote international ministries for the Kairos Pastors.

Lest you think Kat will dispense with activities pursued solely for the pure fun of it, know that she will still be found tooling about on one of her “scooters”. Currently, her main ride is a new-ish Spyder CanAm, but she can be found on occasion aboard her 2012 Harley Davidson FLD Dyna Switchback, on which she has already amassed 67,879 miles as of this writing.

One of the ways Kat mixes her passions for giving, and for riding her motorcycle, is by participating in the annual , a coast-to-coast fundraising motorcycle ride to raise awareness about veteran’s issues. As Kat put it, “It is a passion I intend on doing again; I have gone all the way three times, in remembrance of all who served and the men and women who gave their all”.

Kat, you are truly an inspiration to all that know and love you! We wish you all the best and will look for you as you continue to help marshal at Commencement, and when you grace us with your presence at the monthly Staff Council meetings. Godspeed!

Off

Haga clic para leer en español

As your Co-Chairs, we hope you enjoy this first �鶹ӰԺ Campus Staff Council (BCSC) Newsletter of academic year 2020. We look forward to meeting you at great community events throughout the year: from our Ice Cream Social in September to our Staff Council Speaker Series where we discuss important issues and highlight experts from our CU community. We always welcome the opportunity to connect with all of you!

We are honored by the opportunity to represent staff in important discussions about the future of our campus and recognize we must work together to make CU a better place. Staff Council aims to host amazing events on campus like annual staff Field Day and Staff Appreciation Breakfast to celebrate our coworkers. And we advocate for staff on important issues such as childcare on campus, improving employee benefits, affordable housing for staff, and professional development.

BCSC serves the most diverse part of our CU �鶹ӰԺ community - about 4,000+ staff members and growing. We represent all staff voices and want to hear your views. In a time of disheartening divisiveness in our society, we believe in the full, respectful expression of differing views by everyone, and in the value of compassion and compromise for making a community thrive. As your Council, BCSC fully supports diversity and inclusive excellence initiatives, and sponsors community service projects including the campus Blood Drives, Coats for Colorado, and the campus Diversity Summits.

Staff Council is here to serve you! We need you to share your voice. You can reach us through email at staffcouncil@colorado.edu or by reaching out to your Staff Council Representative directly. We strongly encourage you to get involved in the conversation and help us build a community across this campus because you don't have to be an elected or appointed representative to volunteer to help at one or more events or attend any of our council or committee meetings that can be found on our calendar page. We want to make CU a better place to work and in order to do that, we all need to be part of the conversation.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”
-Margaret Mead

Deb Prestianni, Heather Martin & John Kelly

To learn more about our chairs and representatives, including those newly elected, visit our Representatives page.

Off