Present: Stacy Allie, Barbara Burrell, Sharon Howard, Carol Patch, Regina Rahn, Jan Rintala, Lorraine Scurti, Debbie Smith-Shank.
Absent: Karen Baker, Virginia Cassidy, Sally Conklin, Deborah Haliczer, Kathy Hotelling, Glenda Jones, Lisa Kay, Amy Levin, Doreen Mace, Julie Robertson, Natalie Santiago, Lise Schlosser, Denise Schoenbachler, Josephine Umoren, Randi Wolfe (on leave).
The meeting was called to order at 1:05 p.m. by Vice-Chair Carol Patch in Altgeld 203. Debbie Smith-Shank made a motion to approve the minutes from the November 9, 2005 meeting. Barbara Burrell seconded the motion. The minutes were approved unanimously.
Introductions were made for the benefit of our guest, Dr. Michelle (Micki) Emmett. Dr. Emmett is the Assistant Vice President for Student Services and has been asked by President Peters to serve on the American Council on Education (ACE) Office of Women in Higher Education’s Illinois Network. This group has been dormant for a few years and is now attempting to be resurrected. They have met once and been given a charge to return to their campuses. Having been a past PCSW member she felt one of the ways to get a pulse of women’s needs on campus, and issues that are still of great concern to women, would be to attend PCSW meetings. We welcome Micki to join us.
Steve Cunningham (Associate V.P. Admin & Human Resources), Fred Schwantes (Vice Provost for Resource Planning) and Ivan Legg (Provost) joined us to discuss the findings and analysis of the Faculty Salary Equity Task Force Report Summary. During the 2002-2003 academic year, a task force assembled to review potential salary equity issues among faculty, specifically potential issues related to gender and ethnicity. A summary of that report was distributed to members at today’s meeting. This task force was divided into two working groups: a quantitative and a qualitative group. This model was said by Dr. Schwantes to put us ahead of other universities and was described as a “cutting edge” study and a “milestone for our university”. The findings reported in the executive summary indicated that overall faculty salaries at NIU may be below those of other universities, but that there were no significant findings of disparities related to gender or ethnicity. There is more of an issue related to overall equity when cost of living is factored in. The date hiring correlates with the salary growth, i.e. positive budget period results in higher annual and merit increments. Comparisons were made with ‘peer institutions’, most of them public institutions. Regression analysis was used to analyze quantitative data. Commission members requested a copy of the full report in order to be able to identify ‘quality of life issues’ that the PCSW may wish to investigate further. Dr. Cunningham responded that release of anything other than the summary would require President Peters’ approval. He would check to see if there was a way he could get a listing of the issues reported to the qualitative workgroup for that purpose.
Affirmative Action Diversity Resources Report: No report.
Campus Climate and Quality of Life: Carol Patch reported that the committee has not focused on a direction as yet.
Personal Professional Development: Two Networking Luncheons are scheduled for Spring: February 24, 2006 (Brigid Lusk) and March 31, 2006.
Research: Jan Rintala reported that the group was discussing interest in women faculty promotional lines, hiring ratios, exit rates. They will have a better idea of defining their goals once we have the results of the salary equity task force report.
25th Anniversary Gala Event: Josephine Umoren met with President Peters to discuss the vision of the PCSW regarding the Gala. President Peters is very supportive and has offered $2,000 seed money, funding for a speaker and support of his staff to assist in planning. A date of April 27th has been set for the event and we are looking into reserving the Ballroom. The awards for the 25 Amazing NIU Women will be presented at this time and the past Stricklin award recipients will be honored in some way. President Peters suggested several speakers: Gail Collins, (Times, Editor); Deloris Simpson (Inspirational speaker). Rebekah Kohli is checking to see if it would be possible to schedule Oprha Winfrey. Another suggestion was Joan Allen, an NIU alumnus. A buffet style meal will be served at a charge of $20 per person. Meals of the awardees and guests will be paid by PCSW. We are checking into having a CD made of the amazing women to be played during the event and given to each of them. We are also checking into a women’s music group for entertainment. Room decorations and programs are also being discussed. Newspaper coverage and promotional pieces are being pursued. Total cost of the event is estimated to be $4,000 plus speaker. Funding will be discussed at the January meeting when more members are present.
Awards and Recognition: Over fifty nominations have been received for the Outstanding Women Student Awards. We have gotten several inquiries regarding the 25 Amazing NIU Women Award nominations but have not received any nominations as of yet.
A motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Barbara Burrell and seconded by Lorraine Scurti. The motion was approved unanimously. Carol Patch adjourned the meeting at 2:40 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Betty Baugh