November 1, 2010
SUCCS Update
HUMAN RESOURCES has created a website dedicated to the State University Civil Service Systems (SUCSS) Audit and the UIC Job Analysis.
IN RECENT audits, the SUCSS auditor determined that while many jobs were correctly classified as Academic Professionals, 24 were not appropriately classified as AP and required conversion to Civil Service, and that others were questionable as AP positions.
IN LIGHT of this finding, the campus was required to convert the 24 jobs identified by SUCSS as having been classified as Academic Professional in error to appropriate Civil Service classifications.
HUMAN RESOURCES FAQs indicate that additional conversations will take place over the next several months.
OF NOTE, Civil Service employees do not have Notice Rights, a benefit of being an Academic Professional. Notice Rights would be lost for APs who are converted to Civil Service. Also of note, seniority for the converted Academic Professionals will be based only upon the length of their current position, and not reflect any time spent in prior AP appointments.
THE UNIVERSITY agreed to comply with the recommendations put forth an audit report by SUCSS: develop processes to ensure tighter position management protocols for APs; immediately transition jobs incorrectly classified as Academic Professional to Civil Service as quickly as appropriate in order to move towards full compliance; and evaluate and document each AP job with appropriate job descriptions.
THE SUCSS auditors have requested a listing of all Civil Service and Academic Professional employees on staff.
THE SUCCSS audit will require a review of each position description/PAPE to ensure that the duties, qualifications, etc. are current and most accurately reflect the work performed. The position description/PAPE is considered current only if updated within the last three years.
IF THE auditor specifically requests to meet with an employee during
the onsite visit, the position description/PAPE will need to have the employee's signature.
THE CAMPUS also has committed to evaluating all Academic Professional positions, creating job descriptions for each, and establishing related postion management processes. The position evaluation and job description development process is a major undertaking with an imperative for completion as soon as practicable.
A VARIETY of other web pages pertain to the audit and job analysis as well:
CHANGES TO the notification of appointment.
FREQUENTLY ASKED questions (FAQ)s about the Civil Service audit, job analysis, exemptions, and conversions.
JOB ANALYSIS for Academic Professionals--Post SUCSS audit
compliance (PowerPoint).
OFFICIAL MESSAGE from UIC senior leaders.
RELATED UNIVERSITY resources.
YOUR ROLE in the UIC 2010 Civil Service audit process.
Senate Examining Proposed Reorganization
THE UIC Senate is examining proposed changes to the University's administrative structure.
UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT Michael Hogan outlined his plan for restructuring university leadership at the Sept. 23 meeting of the Board of Trustees.
PROPOSED CHANGES include adding “vice president” to the titles of the three campus chancellors, creating the position of vice president for health affairs, and expanding the duties of the vice president for technology and economic development to include research.
HOGAN HAS asked senate leaders from all three campuses to weigh in on the plan. University trustees were scheduled to vote on the proposed changes at the board’s Thursday, Nov. 18, meeting in Chicago. The UIC Senate, however, on Oct. 28 passed a motion asking the Board of Trustees to postpone their vote on consolidation and centralization.
UIC SENATE Executive Committee members held a series of meetings for APs, faculty, and others to share their opinions, but they also invite comments to committee chair Dr. Philip Patston.
UNIVERSITY TRUSTEES do not need the approval of the three campus senates to move ahead with the proposed changes, but they are seeking their advice, Patston said.
A STATUTES Dialogue website has been launched, complete with discussion board, survey, and frequently asked questions. Go to http://www.uillinois.edu/StatutesDialogue/.
--Christy Levy and William S. Bike
Pension Funding 'Will Get Worse Before it Gets Better'
A panel of experts discussed Illinois' pension problems Sept. 14.
FOUR PANELISTS tackled Illinois’ pension problems Sept. 14, and all agreed public pensions are the unmanageable factor in the State’s budget. The event was entitled "Public Policy, Politics and Pensions: Addressing Illinois' Desperate Fiscal Situation" and was co-sponsored by UIC United, the UIC chapter of the State Universities Annuitants Association, and the Academic Professional Advisory Committee.
UNDERFUNDING OF its five pension plans accounts for nearly half of the State’s $14 to $15 billion deficit, said R. Eden Martin, president of the Commercial Club of Chicago, at a forum sponsored by UIC United and the Academic Professional Advisory Committee.
“AND IT’S going to get a lot worse before it gets better,” he said.
HOW SERIOUS is the problem?
JOHN MCCARRON, contributing columnist for the Chicago Tribune, cited a story in Illinois Issues magazine arguing that pension issues are “one of the greatest financial challenges the State has ever faced” and threaten to reach a “tipping point” for a “fiscal slide into bankruptcy.”
HE NOTED that California’s unfunded liabilities are seven times as large as ours, but Martin responded, “California is also a lot bigger than we are.”
CUTTING THE overall budget is no answer, said panelist Ralph Martire, executive director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability. He noted that Illinois is 45th of the 50 states in what it spends on education, and ranks “at or near the bottom” in spending on human services.
WHAT TO do?
“IT’S REALLY no issue,” Martire said. “We are one of the lowest-tax states in the nation. We need a tax increase.”
ILLINOIS POLITICIANS have been lying for 30 years by pretending that “we can have public services without paying for them,” he said. “Why don’t we stop buying the malarkey?”
BY RAISING the income tax three-to-five percent and hiking the sales tax, “we can solve a significant part of this problem,” Martire said.
ILLINOIS LAWMAKERS “have ignored the need for increased revenue with one exception, and used funds due the pension systems to pay current expenses,” said Addison Woodward, a member of the Illinois Board of Higher Education and former chair of psychology at Governors State University.
PENSIONS HAVE been reformed twice, he noted, yet each time that became “an excuse to use savings yet to be realized to offset current payments.”
MARTIN NOTED that Governor Pat Quinn is proposing a 1% increase in the State income tax, but said a 5% jump would be needed to overcome the gap created by underfunded pensions.
“IF WE continue to muddle along, the pension funds are going to run out of money starting in nine to ten years,” he warned.
MARTIN ADVOCATED a combination of pension reform and tax increases.
A MEMBER of the audience asked whether, given the present state of the economy, this is “a terrible time to raise taxes.”
NO, REPLIED Martire, adding, “The worst thing you can do during a recession is cut spending. That means less wages and salaries for public workers.”
McCARRON SAID the issue of public pensions, national in scope, is grist for anti-spending, anti-debt Tea Party enthusiasts.
“POLITICS WILL will be about who can harness [citizens’] anger” as people face “a future of less for their children,” McCarron said.
WITH MORE than 165 attendees at the event, extra chairs had to be added to accommodate the overflow crowd. Close to 70 participated via live webcast. UIC United Program Director Donna Knutson, Social Director Rose Kirk, and APAC’s Jacquie Berger arranged the event, and to UIC United Past President Irv Miller moderated the discussion.
AN ARCHIVED video of the program may be viewed here. UIC United’s Jim Limber produced the video. Eden Martin's PowerPoint presentation may be viewed here, and Ralph Martire's presentation may be viewed here.
--Gary Wisby, UIC News, gwisby@uic.edu; William S. Bike also contributed to this article
Representative Will Burns Looks at Budget Crises
Representative Will Burns.
ALTHOUGH THE Gubernatorial candidates’ views on the State budget crisis got a lot of examination during the recent campaign, it is the Illinois General Assembly—State Senators and State Representatives—who will end up doing the heavy lifting to try to improve the situation.
REPRESENTATIVE WILL BURNS of the 26th District (the South Loop and Bronzeville in Chicago) recently looked at issues important to UIC.
HE SERVES on the State House’s Health and Healthcare Disparities and Health Care Availability Access committees, and also is on the Appropriations Committee for Elementary and Secondary Education. As such, he keeps an eye on UIC, which is both a healthcare provider and an educator for former elementary and secondary school students.
BURNS IS the former Education and Tax Policy Manager for the Metropolitan Planning Council and was Community Outreach Coordinator for State Senator Barack Obama. He also serves on the board of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability.
CONCERNING THE State budget crisis, Burns said that more budget cuts would be coming. The State, he said has “to continue making cuts where we can afford to make cuts. We’ve cut over $3 million in general revenue spending over the last two years. That’s significant because you’re looking at a base of about $23 to $24 million in spending. That’s not chump change.”
TO BURNS, cuts are necessary because the State has not “had the revenue to keep up with the cost of doing business even during good economic times,” let alone the current crisis, he said.
HE IS looking for the State to adhere to the performance-based budgeting model. Performance budgets use statements of missions, goals, and objectives to determine if and why money should be spent, allocating resources to achieve specific objectives based on program goals and measured results.
“ONE THING I’m excited about is performance-based budgeting, which requires us to look at those things that really do add value to the State and align our resources with that,” he said.
EDUCATIONAL INSTIUTIONS add value to the State, Burns believes. Illinois, he said, needs to “invest in education--early childhood education, kindergarten through grade 12, and higher education. An educated population is what’s going to attract business; that’s what’s going to keep Illinois at the cutting edge-- our ability to have a highly qualified workforce.”
HE DOES not shy away from discussing a tax increase, saying, “I support an income tax increase for the purpose of investing in public education, including higher education, because it’s an investment in our State’s long-term future.”
CONCERNING OUR pensions, Burns feels the two-tiered system that will result in higher retirement ages for those hired after Jan. 1, 2011, was necessary. “We passed a major pension reform bill this spring, which increased the retirement age for certain public employees and makes other changes in the cost-of-living adjustments in the pensions, and other reforms,” he noted.
“WHAT’S IMPORTANT about that is that it reduces the State’s long-term liability, and the pension system’s, by several hundred billion dollars. That’s critical, because if we’re looking at putting our pension systems on track and making them sustainable, we have to look at benefits for future employees,” Burns said.
“SO I think those reforms are an important step, but we also have to look at making sure we right our State’s fiscal equation—again, investing in education. We have to make sure we have the revenue to do that, we have to find efficiencies in the budget, and at the same time we right ourselves, we also must put ourselves on the right path to sustainability,” he explained.
WITH THE State owing the University millions of dollars, Burns favors the State borrowing to pay its bills.
“I DID vote for a short-term borrowing bill down in Springfield, and the House of Representatives passed that bill,” Burns noted. “But the Senate did not take action on it. That short-term borrowing bill would have allowed the State to pay a lot more of its bills this summer and in the fall, so we could have paid the University of Illinois and paid social service providers and others who have been doing great work for the State.
“IT DIDN’T pass, but we’re hoping it will pass during the fall veto session so that we can unload our backload of bills,” Burns noted.
“IT’S A better deal for the State to do short- term borrowing than to not pay its bills, because if we don’t pay our bills, we are liable for interest under the Prompt Payment Act after a certain period of time,” Burns said.
THE STATE, Burns explained has outsourced “a lot of our responsibilities to the not- for-profit sector. When the State fails to pay its smaller social service providers have to go on the private market to borrow money in order to make payroll. But banks aren’t loaning money.
“WE’RE BALANCING our budget on the backs of schools and community-based organizations, which is not the way anybody should want the government to be run,” Burns concluded.
--William S. Bike
APAC, CCSW Events Coming
THE BUILDING Community and Education Subcommittee (BCES) of APAC and the Chancellor’s Committee on the Status of Women (CCSW) will co-sponsor two events of interest to Academic Professionals.
THE SPEED Networking Event will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 9. It is aimed at bringing together APs interested in meeting their colleagues on campus, having a few minutes of one-on-one discussion to learn about what other APs are doing, and making new connections. An earlier Speed Networking Event was held on March 4, and was very popular. Time and location to be announced.
A CAREER Advancement/Professional Skill Building event will be held at a spring time, date, and location to be announced. APs are concerned about UIC’s lack of structured career advancement and the difficulties in obtaining promotions at UIC. The event will focus on career advancement and professional and personal skill building.
FOR MORE information, contact Laura E. Myers of BCES at lemyers@uic.edu.
Profile: Mindy Reeter
Mindy Reeter (right) and her children.
MELINDA “MINDY” REETER is the Director of the Office for Human Research Oversight at the Peoria campus of the medical school and an APAC member. UIC’s APAC represents Peoria campus APs as well.
HER DEPARTMENT supports the Institutional Review Board (IRB) that oversees the human research being done at local/regional hospitals. Human research is regulated by federal rules.
REETER HAS been in the State Universities system for ten years; previously, she worked at the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in Springfield. She has worked at the Peoria campus for the past seven years. She likes looking at proposed research studies and seeing how they fit into the federal requirements. And, she enjoys helping people revise their projects so that they do meet the federal regulations.
REETER’S INVOLVEMENT with APAC developed when a UIC colleague suggested she use her “fire-y redheadedness” for something useful and because “Peoria should have a voice.” Since her election, she has been impressed by several APAC accomplishments but is most impressed by the APAC listserv. “I would be sheltered completely without it!” she said.
SHE WOULD like for APAC to help “bridge the gap” and “define the needs of the satellite campuses,” Reeter said, and she hopes to serve the Peoria campus in accomplishing this.
REETER HAS been married to her husband, Matt, for twelve years. The couple has three children, Emily (age 11), Kate (age 9) and Owen (age 6). “I never knew I was a dog person,” Reeter said, but noted the family is complete with Murphy, a yellow lab.
--Ivone De Jesus
Articles Archive Established
HAVE YOU seen an article in the media that you feel would be
beneficial to all Academic Professionals? Send the article or the
Internet link to it to Holly Burt, 220 LIBHS, MC 763, haburt@uic.edu,
and she will place it on the APAC News Articles Archives at
http://www.uic.edu/orgs/apac/news.html. It may also be considered
for "The Continuing Crisis" section of APAC News.
WE HAVE archived older news articles that you may want to reference at the URL listed above, and have added a quick link of useful information regarding University policies and links of interest at http://www.uic.edu/orgs/apac/policies.html .
WHEN YOU go to the APAC website, look to the left-hand margin under “News.” Once you are on that page you can see in the upper right-hand corner “News Articles Archived,” and on that same page you will see “UI/UIC Policies and Links.”
President Hogan Has Blog
UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT Michael Hogan has a blog: visit http://prezrelease.uillinois.edu at your convenience to review recent entries. President Hogan writes about a variety of topics and updates the site frequently. He accepts materials at presmike@uillinois.edu.
The Continuing Crisis
Editor’s Note:“The Continuing Crisis” is a section of APAC News which links to news pertinent to the State budget crisis as it affects the University and Academic professionals. These news outlets are not affiliated with or endorsed by APAC.
UNIVERSITY OF Illinois, faculty group at odds over claims on administrators' numbers, pay, says the downstate News-Gazette of Sept. 9. See here.
PRESIDENT HOGAN outlines leadership structure reconfiguration, possible reduction in administrators. See here and Sept. 29 UIC News story.
RESTRUCTURING NOT intended to make campuses all the same, President Hogan said in the News-Gazette of Oct. 19.
CONCERNS ABOUT reorganization plan. See Oct. 21 UIC News.
THE U OF I Board of Trustees finalized the budget for this
fiscal year and launched the FY 2012 budget amid trepidation about the STATE’S PERFORMANCE in providing the University's appropriation. See Sept. 23 UIC News.
STATE COMPTROLLER Dan Hynes says Illinois budget deficit now may reach $15 billion: See here.
SOME AT U of I-Champaign disappointed with President Hogan's view of University situation. See Oct. 20 News-Gazette.
Academic Professional Resource Spotlight: More for Your Money
IT’S NOT easy managing your money. It takes time and planning. The University of Illinois Extension’s More for Your Money website can help you think about and set goals, know your income and expenses, create a spending plan, use credit wisely, manage your debts, and save money.
VISIT THE website.
Election Aftermath
Professor Dick Simpson
PROF. DICK SIMPSON, head of the Political Science Dept., will present “The 2010 Election and What it Means to You” at the UIC United Fall Brown Bag session Thursday, Nov. 11, from noon to 1:30 p.m. in Room 605, Student Center East, 750 S. Halsted St.
PARK IN the Halsted St. Parking Structure across the street. Five-dollar parking stickers wTheill be available for purchase. Bring your lunch. Coffee, tea, and cookies will be served. For more information or to RSVP, Call Mary Bartucci at (312) 421-2491 or e-mail Donna Knutson at markanddonna@uicalumni.org.
Vol. 3, No. 8, November 2010
ISSN 1946-1860
Editor: William S. Bike
Writing Staff: Ivone De Jesus
Chair: Michael Moss
Vice Chair: Jennifer Rowan
Secretary: Jill Davis
Treasurer: Virginia Buglio
Editor: William S. Bike
Writing Staff: Ivone De Jesus
Chair: Michael Moss
Vice Chair: Jennifer Rowan
Secretary: Jill Davis
Treasurer: Virginia Buglio
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