Co-Chairs

Letter from our Chairs - Leading through Change

Eryn Van Poole — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 20:29:30 +0000

Letter from our Chairs - Leading through Change Eryn Van Poole Mon, 01/27/2025 - 13:29

Hello Campus Staff and Research Faculty,

We hope your Spring semester is off to a good start.

As we navigate a period of change and transition on our campus and across the country, the Staff Council Tri-Chairs, along with our Executive Committee, want to reaffirm our unwavering commitment to advocating for the needs and priorities of our ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� staff and research faculty community. Our campus leadership changes present both challenges and opportunities for our community and we remain steadfast in our dedication to advancing the goals that we have set forth to better your experience as a part of ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ��.

Our priorities continue to be:

Staff Advocacy: Ensuring that your voices are heard and that your perspectives are represented in key decision-making processes. We are committed to being strong advocates for your needs at all levels of the university.
Benefits Assessment: Evaluating the benefits offered to staff to ensure they are competitive, equitable, and supportive of your well-being and professional growth.
Transparency ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� Pay: Collaborating with campus Human Resources to provide transparent and clear communication about compensation practices. This includes advocating for equitable pay structures that reflect the value of your contributions to the university’s success.
Equitable Experiences: Fostering a welcoming and supportive environment where every staff member feels valued, respected, and empowered to thrive.

We recognize that periods of transition can create uncertainty. We hope you will join us in identifying opportunities to strengthen our collective resolve to continue to work together on the issues that are most impactful to you and your colleagues. We are committed to ensuring that staff concerns remain at the forefront of university priorities during this time.

To achieve this, we invite you to engage with us in this effort. Your feedback, insights, and participation are essential to our success as a representative body. Whether through attending Full Council or Committee meetings, sharing your thoughts via our contact us page, or reaching out directly to your Staff Council representatives, your involvement allows us to better advocate for the issues that matter most to you.
In February, we are offering additional opportunities to engage with Staff Council. Please join us on February 12th from 12:30-1:00 pm (MST) via Zoom for a virtual Open House with your area representatives. This is a great opportunity to provide feedback about your experiences at ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� and raise issues or topics of interest with your representatives. If you are interested in joining Staff Council, we are also hosting 2 Staff Council information sessions in February to learn more about what it means to be a Staff Council representative.

As always, thank you for your dedication and contributions to our university. Together, we can ensure that our community continues to thrive and that your voices are heard.

With appreciation and commitment,

Crystal Cyr, Jessica Sandoval, and Mike Williamson
Staff Council Tri-Chairs

Off

Traditional

White

Letter from our Chairs

Eryn Van Poole — Tue, 08 Oct 2024 16:37:09 +0000

Letter from our Chairs Eryn Van Poole Tue, 10/08/2024 - 10:37

Hello Campus Staff,

Happy Fall, and although it sounds odd to say almost a month into the semester, happy start to the academic year!

Although the Fall season and the academic year have just started, Staff Council has been hard at work since our new cycle began in July. Since July, we’ve established our officers for the year and are working on establishing our committee chairs, goals, and budgets. We’ve also had multiple meetings with campus leaders, including our first Shared Governance meeting with Chancellor Schwartz and the other shared governance groups on campus: CU Student Government, Graduate and Professional Student Government, and the Boulder Faculty Assembly.

There’s quite a lot of change happening across campus. We acknowledge that change can be difficult, especially when multiple changes occur simultaneously. We want you to know that Staff Council and Staff Council leadership are working hard and that our mission and vision remain steady. Additionally, campus leadership continues encouraging and supporting our work as a shared governance body.

Staff Council has been working hard to determine our focus (foci) for the year. During our retreat in August, we identified some high-level themes that staff have voiced concerns about; from there, we’ve worked to narrow those high-level themes down to some more specific areas and have determined some actions that our Staff Council can take to start addressing some of these concerns. The three major themes and potential areas of action are as follows:

Increased transparency around compensation.
- Understanding the processes for pay, promotion, and hiring across the campus in an attempt to help staff better understand the landscape and help the campus move toward more consistency of processes.
Understanding staff needs and wants related to benefits and perks.
- Reviewing current benefits and perks offered, determining which benefits and perks staff want and use, identifying barriers to staff wanting to utilize the various benefits and perks already available.
Continued focus on employee wellness, especially regarding work fatigue and burnout.
- Creating better understanding of work modality requirements, expectations, and needs in service of creating a more equitable approach to work modality.

Finally, the Chairs have been participating in various campus committees to ensure staff voices are heard and considered when plans and decisions are being made. The chairs are currently serving on committees focused on sustainability, DEI, and civic engagement. If you’d like more information about the work being done in these committees, please contact us.

As always, we appreciate the work you do and the voices you bring to ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ��. If you’d like to share questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to contact us.

Sincerely,
Crystal, Jessica, and Mike

Happy Fall, and although it sounds odd to say almost a month into the semester, happy start to the academic year!

Off

Traditional

White

Letter To Staff Community Regarding Marshall and Middle Fork Fires

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Jan 2022 23:50:12 +0000

Letter To Staff Community Regarding Marshall and Middle Fork Fires Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 01/03/2022 - 16:50

We hope this message finds you and your family healthy and safe during this difficult time. The Marshall and Middlefork fires have forced tens of thousands to evacuate, while destroying hundreds of homes in its path. As chairs of Staff Council, we would like to express our support and offer our assistance and advocacy to our staff community who have been impacted by the fire.

In coordination with the The Chancellor’s Office we have included an informational website that can provide you with resources and answers to any questions you may have as we regroup, and rebuild our community.

We understand the road to recovery is long and healing will take time; however there is one thing that is constant in our organization. The ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� staff is the strong and resilient backbone of Boulder campus that can be counted on to be here, as we continue forward.

With that said, we would like to remind you the spring term will begin on Monday, Jan. 10, with fully remote academic instruction for the first two weeks of the semester. This remote start will allow leadership to provide the support needed to our impacted students, faculty and staff. It will also help us provide resources to staff (both remote and on campus) in support of recovery efforts.

Last, we send our hearts out to every member of our community. Please take care of yourself and each other. We will make it through this better when we are together. Thank you for working shoulder to shoulder to help our community recover. We see you and we appreciate you.

Sincerely,

Jasimine Evans
Kelsey Draper
Quiana (Ana) Martin

Boulder Campus Staff Council Tri-Chairs

Off

Traditional

White

Buffs Together - A Letter from Your New Chairs!

Anonymous — Mon, 23 Aug 2021 23:02:29 +0000

Buffs Together - A Letter from Your New Chairs! Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 08/23/2021 - 17:02

Welcome to Fall semester! This past year was like no other. As we look ahead to another academic year, we are preparing ourselves and working to drive the university forward. We would like to reiterate our commitment to helping shape ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� to be a better place for all staff everyday.

Before we can look too far ahead, we must first acknowledge the dedication and hard work that CU staff members display every single day. From the moment the pandemic first hit, to the excitement of welcoming students back in full capacity this fall, staff at ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� have been at the frontlines, looking out for the larger ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� community and each other, and ensuring that our community roars back stronger than ever. Staff are the backbone of our campus. We are especially thankful to all those who made the sacrifices necessary to keep campus up and running during the pandemic.

Some of us are beginning to come back to campus, some will remain remote, and some never left. Your Staff Council is here to ensure that all your voices are heard, that you feel supported, and that you are a valued member of our herd. Some challenges are known and are being addressed, such as the details surrounding return to work and hybrid work schedules. Other obstacles and challenges will no doubt present themselves as we go forward. Together, we will face all challenges presented to us and become a stronger community because of it.

All Staff Council committees have rolled up their sleeves and gotten to work as we begin programming for the upcoming year. Whether it be the recognition, equity, inclusion, or the future of work, the staff at ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� can be assured that their staff council colleagues are committed to this work and will continue to advocate on behalf of all staff at CU.

We want to encourage all staff at ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� to get involved and join the conversation. With Staff Council, you have a voice. We will listen, we will advocate, and we will make sure ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� staff voices are heard when decisions are being made. From the search of a new CU president to working with campus departments such as Parking Services, to sharing everyday concerns with university leadership, your ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� Staff Council will be bold, will be strategic, and will never back down from a challenge.

Everything we do will be done through the lens of equity and inclusivity. Shoulder to shoulder we will press on.

Please feel free to contact Staff Council at any time. We continue to wish you and yours well.

In Solidarity,

Kelsey Draper, Jasimine Evans, Quiana (Ana) Martin

Off

Traditional

White

A Message from your Staff Council Co-Chairs, Jessica Gammey and Heather Martin

Anonymous — Tue, 21 Aug 2018 06:00:00 +0000

A Message from your Staff Council Co-Chairs, Jessica Gammey and Heather Martin Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 08/21/2018 - 00:00

Staff Council kicked off the 2018-19 year with their annual retreat on August 7th in the SEEC Building. The all-day event serves as a time for new members to learn about staff council and for all representatives to form their committees for the year. Click here to learn who your rep is. All full council and committee meetings are open to staff; join us to see what we are all about. Click here for meeting schedules.

In early summer 2018, Boulder Staff Council (BCSC) made available an anonymous survey to gain awareness of topics of interest to ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� staff. Our goal with the survey, dubbed the Pulse, was to establish Council priorities and initiatives for the 2018-2019 academic year and guide our efforts related to staff engagement.

Based on the Pulse survey results, and the parallels drawn from the University of Colorado Staff Council (UCSC) Climate survey completed in Fall of 2017, the top three focus areas for the 2018-19 Boulder Campus Staff Council (BCSC) are (1) Diversity, Inclusion, and cultural competency; (2) Support of staff professional growth; and (3) staff wellness. Many of our initiatives will address more than one of our top three priorities.

We look forward to serving the staff and our Council in the coming year and to collaborating with the many groups across campus to ensure ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� remains an employer of choice in our community.

Jessica Gammey has been with ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� since February 2014 as a project coordinator and now an assistant project manager for Planning Design and Construction. Before coming to CU, she served as Volunteer Program Manager at World Triathlon Corporation (IRONMAN) and Director of Marketing and Public Relations for a non-profit sports management company in Wisconsin. With experience in event management, promotion and business development, since coming to CU she has chosen to focus on logistics and project management while gaining experience in the construction industry.

Heather Martin has been with ��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� since September 2015 as a faculty assistant in the law school. A certified mediator and ABA paralegal, Heather previously worked for the Los Angeles County Bar Association, holding several roles prior to being named manager of volunteer and business development services for their then nonprofit affiliate, Center for Civic Mediation. In this role, Heather worked with a volunteer network of 500+ attorney and non-attorney volunteers, preparing them to provide free mediation services in greater Los Angeles County. Heather also worked with several LA County schools, implementing and staffing on-site peer mediation programs. Currently, Heather works directly with law faculty to provide support for their scholarship, research, and teaching.

Off

Traditional

White