SAC Meeting Minutes, February 10, 2022

Staff & Administrative Council Committee
Meeting Minutes
Thursday, February 10, 2022, 12 p.m.

Present: Albrecht, Andrew; Alvia, Manuel; Barone, Regina; Derenzis, Lewis; Dominguez, Leandra; LoPresti, Anthony; Pace, Marie; Palladino, Rick; Rosenberg, Jessica; Saccoman, Ana; Scaccia, Anthony; Tascio, Peter; Woisin, Victoria.

Excused: Beyrer, Brian; Byrne, Kyle; Carruth, Martise; Davis, Bryan; Jaccino, Helena; Pace, Marie; Qaush, Zeqaj; Sannella, Marissa; Stewart, Mark; Wenchell, Laurie

Call to Order

February 10, 2022 12:03 pm- Lewis Derenzis

College Council Standing Committee Updates

College Council
With NYS Education Department lessening their requirements to obtain University Status (now only 1 Doctorate Program needed) College Council has approved Iona submitting the application to become a university. Discussion around next steps. NYS has to decide, and they are expecting it would not be before 7/1/22. Things are moving forward with the Bronxville campus and timeline for offices moving. (Reported by A. Saccoman)

Academic Affairs
Has not meet. (Reported via email by L. Wenchell)

Athletics
No one present to report.

Budget
Has not meet (Reported by L. Derenzis)

Diversity
Working on the “Diversity Spotlight Event”. Reviewing some nominations and looking for a guest speaker. (Reported by M. Alvia). Anthony LoPresti has volunteered to take Emily’s place on the committee.

Enrollment Management
Has not meet. (Reported by R. Palladino)

Environmental Sustainability
Meet Monday 2/7, discussed 3 electric charging stations that will be added to campus. (Reported by A. Albrecht)

Human Resources and Compensation
Has not meet. 1/14 a discussion took place to discuss policies (Reported by A. Saccoman) *Action Item- what happened to the compensation study, is it still going on? A big factor of people leaving is the low salary.

Institutional Advancement
Two replacements are needed to sit on this committee. Lewis will send out email for Volunteers.

Libraries and Information Technology
A pipe broke in the Library and some damaged was sustained in the Library. Faculty was asked to provide input for needed classroom technology. (reported by J. Rosenberg, A. Albrecht)

Student Life
Next meeting 2/18/22 (reported by P. Tascio)

Old Business

Lewis asked that those providing committee updates, kindly forward their committed reports to Regina for preparation of the minutes. With the departure of Brother Ford, the vice chair – Lewis Derenzis becomes Chair. An election was held to fill the vice-chair position and Anthony Scaccia was elected the new Vice Chair. No open issues were passed on to Lewis as information is obtained, he will communicate between College Council and SAC.

New Business

SAC election process- to begin. Anthony – Vice Chair will work with HR to get list of eligible employees. Peter Tascio has volunteered to help with the election process. It has been hard to get Non Exempt members to Join and replacements for Non Exempt members especially difficult. Discussed changing process- to having individuals respond if they want to serve, once they have been nominated. Therefore, only adding people to the ballot that are interested? It was discussed and recommended to have election committee make calls rather than just email those elected. During calls we can discuss what SAC is and why they should serve etc. Also recommended to have HR speak up SAC perhaps do a post card. *Action item- please email Lewis your thoughts on how to best fill the two open non-exempt positions.
Group agreed it would be beneficial to have Guest Speakers attend some meetings. For starters, Lewis will reach out to Kevin Curnin and invite him to a future meeting.
More security presence in the Columbia Parking lot, especially with traffic going in the wrong direction and illegal parking. Anthony mentioned that security is working with IT to purchase cameras to capture license plates for these type of situations. *Action Item- committee will reach out to Adrian in Security so he is more mindful of these issues.
Pulse of the College- Changes due to Covid taking its toll on people personally and professionally. With folks leaving more work being put on top of folks already stressed, is causing concerns and exhaustion. How do we effectively move forward? Especially with the addition of Bronxville and looking at the additional work ahead. Folk asking if the Loftus dinner is back on for this year? Regina will try to find out.
Announcements- Will look into adding a zoom option for our next meeting March 3rd.

Meeting adjourned 12:44 (Scaccia/Tascio)

Please provide any updates and corrections. If no updates provided in 3 days, these minutes will be considered approved. Next meeting March 3, 12:00 pm. – End Zone