THE UNIVERSITY Professional Personnel
Advisory Committee (UPPAC), which consists of the member Academic Professional
committees of each University of Illinois campus (Chicago, Springfield, and
Urbana-Champaign), on July 28 endorsed the Council of Illinois University
Senates Statement of Concern regarding Civil Service reclassifications of
Academic Professionals.
THOSE THREE Universities’ committees, including
UIC’s Academic Professional Advisory Committee (APAC), previously had
individually endorsed the Statement of Concern.
FOR SEVERAL years now, at the
request of the State Universities Civil Service System (SUCSS), the University
of Illinois has undergone an assessment process in which many Academic
Professional positions and personnel are being converted to Civil Service
positions and personnel.
THE STATEMENT reads: “The Council of
Illinois University Senates is gravely concerned about the actions of the
Executive Director and staff of the State Universities Civil Service System
(SUCSS) toward reclassifying principal Administrative/Academic Professional
positions within universities, as well as their adversarial audit activities
and threat thereof, without adequate and widespread consultation, including
with the Presidents, Chancellors, Faculty leadership, and Human Resource
Directors of the respective campuses.
“THESE ACTIONS strike us as both arbitrary
and capricious, and lacking in the transparency we expect from our public
bodies.”
IN THE audits of UIC jobs
conducted in September 2008 and in the spring of 2009, SUCSS determined that
some jobs selected for review were inappropriately classified as Academic
Professional (AP) positions and therefore had to be converted to an appropriate
Civil Service (CS) classification.
UIC AGREED to comply with the
recommendations put forth in the audit report by SUCSS, develop processes to
ensure tighter position management protocols for APs, transition jobs
incorrectly classified as Academic Professional to Civil Service, and evaluate and
document each AP job with appropriate job descriptions. This process became
known as the Job Analysis. See https://www.hr.uic.edu/classification_and_compensation/jobanalysis/.
THE UPPAC endorsement comes after the resignation of Tom Morelock from his longtime position as Executive Director of
SUCSS and his replacement by Bruce A.
Finne, now Interim Executive Director.
IN ADDITION, there have been some changes in Human Resources (HR) at UIC. As
described in an email from Mark Donovan,
Vice Chancellor for Administrative Services, the UIC Human Resources
reporting structure was moved from the Office of the President and returned to
UIC campus leadership. HR now reports to Donovan’s office.
“THE CHANCELLOR has asked that I begin a thorough examination of our HR
practices,” Donovan wrote. “We must identify opportunities to improve HR
service delivery to the campus by working with stakeholders and campus
leadership.”
DR. MICHAEL Ginsburg, a 37-year veteran of UIC, is Interim Associate Vice Chancellor for
Human Resources, succeeding Robert
Crouch, who has left the University.
UPPAC HAS opened a dialogue with the new SUCSS leadership, and APAC has done
the same with the new UIC HR leadership.
“CHANGE PROVIDES an opportunity for a fresh look at issues, and UPPAC and APAC
look forward to working with the new leadership of SUCSS and HR,” said Colleen Piersen, Chair of APAC and outgoing
Chair of UPPAC.
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