November 3, 2017
Tracy Sikorski Becomes APAC Chair
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Tracy Sikorski is APAC
Chair.
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“I SEE my primary responsibility as Chair to
set the tone and agenda for APAC for the next year,” Sikorski said. “I also am
responsible for liaising with the Chancellor’s Office, Human Resources, and
other campus officials on behalf of APs. I am also chair of UPPAC, the
University Professional Personnel Advisory Committee, the organization that
works to represent APs for all of the University of Illinois Campuses.”
IN HER new post, she said, “I hope to bring new
solutions for Academic Professional issues such as the impact of job analysis
and new professional development opportunities. I also hope we are able to
bring in new members to APAC.”
ONE OF APAC’s biggest challenges, Sikorski
said, “is how to best represent our current constituents while not alienating
our former constituents who have been converted to Civil Service. We also have
declining participation, as the AP employee class has declined and current
members have more than their share of responsibilities on their plate.”
SIKORSKI noted that she does not “plan to make
any changes to APAC, but if the committee members believe that changes are
necessary, I think it is my responsibility to listen to them and discuss
possibilities.”
SHE SEES her role “as a way to become more aware
of what is happening on campus, and to specifically be able to advocate on
behalf of APs during such an uncertain time in the higher education landscape.
APs bring critical skills to their positions—skills that allow the campus to
function efficiently and effectively and to be held in high regard by the
higher education community. It is essential that we continue to invest in APs
so we can continue to grow as a global, Research I university.”
WHEN NOT working at her UIC or APAC jobs,
Sikorski is studying for a PhD. “I also attend my children’s cheer, running,
baseball, and soccer events,” she said. “I have two sons and a daughter, a mini
golden doodle named Ollie, and two kitties.”
SUAA Rep Addresses APAC, Advocates for Membership
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Arlene Norsym, Secretary
of SUAA.
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THE UIC SUAA chapter consists of approximately
1,600 members. Statewide, SUAA has a membership of more than 15,000,
representing more than 200,000 individuals.
NORSYM EXPLAINED that SUAA monitors and advocates for
legislation that affects pension, health insurance, and other employee and
retirement benefits for State Universities Retirement System (SURS)
participants. It also supports legislation that would revise the rules for Tier
II employees, those hired after Jan. 1, 2011, to provide a more equitable set
of benefits as related to final salary period, retirement income automatic
annual increase (AAI), and early retirement reduction.
SHE NOTED that it was SUAA attorneys who won
recent legal battles over the State trying to make retirees pay for their
health insurance and over pension cuts. Thanks to SUAA, pension “reform” Public
Act 98-0599, which would have cost pensioners part of their pensions, was ruled
unconstitutional by the Illinois Supreme Court. SUAA won a lawsuit that
preserved the 3% compounded AAI for Tier I employees (those hired before Jan.
1, 2011) and retirees.
NORSYM EXPLAINED that it was SUAA that protected the
service credit of furloughed University personnel a few years ago, resulting in
the University allowing them to contribute to their pension even for days they
had been furloughed.
SUAA PREVENTED a bill from becoming law that would
have started abolishing tuition waivers for University personnel, also
continues to lobby against repeal of the 50% tuition waiver for dependents of
current employees at State universities.
NORSYM ALSO noted that SUAA lobbies against
attempts to change the “pension clause” in the Illinois Constitution, which
says that pension and retirement benefits “shall not be diminished or
impaired.”
SUAA ALSO provides legislative updates to members
through mini-briefings.
NORSYM ENCOURAGED employees to join SUAA. Annual
membership is $44 per year, which can be paid through payroll deduction or in a
lump sum.
FOR MORE information on membership or SUAA, email
suaa@suaa.org, call (217) 523-4040, or log
on to www.suaa.org.
Onesima Martinez is Newest APAC Member
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Onesema Martinez, APAC’s
newest member.
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“I JOINED APAC to become more involved in helping
UIC and other AP employees in voicing our opinion of thing happening on
campus,” she said. “I want to help if I can concerning policies and procedures,
and to inform AP employees about any new information, events, changes, or
policies.
“I WANT to be informed,” Martinez continued. “I
hope we learn from each other and spread the word to other AP employees. I hope
to become more knowledgeable and be able to make a difference for AP employees.
I also hope to network.”
MARTINEZ’S TOP issues as an APAC Member are audit
conversions, pensions, and future salary increases.
WHEN NOT at UIC, Martinez spends time with her
husband, Brian Guzman; son Ricardo Elias Moreno, 18; son Aiden Xavier Guzman, 2; and granddaughter
Yuritzi Sophia, 7 months. She, along
with her siblings, had been a caretaker for her mother, who recently passed
away. Martinez also enjoys finding recipes to cook healthy meals.
MARTINEZ has worked at UIC since 2004. She said,
“I started with the Division of Nephrology, working in the National Institutes
of Health Chronic Renal Insufficiency Cohort Study” [NIH CRIC]. “This was a
research study for patients with kidney disease. I did the hands-on for
research, recruiting patients, case report forms, screening, baseline, phone
visits, an data entry. In 2008 I moved to Hem/Onc to do invoice vouchers, POs,
etc. In 2010, I became the director.”
APs Represented on Two Search Committees; New Senator
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Jacqueline
Berger, Julie Kong, and Kathleen Stauffer are representing APs in various
capacities.
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UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATION wanted Academic Professionals on two
high-level search committees, and requested APAC to appoint them. As a result, Jacqueline Berger, Director of Research
Communications and External Relations for the Office of the Vice Chancellor for
Research, is the AP rep on the search committee for the Vice Chancellor for
Administrative Services. Julie Kong, Director
of Research Services, School of Public Health, is the AP rep on the search
committee for the Vice Chancellor for Research.
THE UNIVERSITY Senate term of one of three AP Senators,
Marelet Kirda, Assistant to the Vice
Chancellor for Research, ended earlier this year. Kathleen Stauffer, Assistant Dean for Administration, College of
Urban Planning and Public Affairs, was elected to the Senate to succeed Kirda.
APAC Meetings Scheduled
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Chancellor Michael
Amiridis will attend the April 2017 APAC meeting.
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SUAA Has New Website
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ONE BIG change is the Members Only section. This will be easy for the membership to use once you have entered your membership information.
THE WEBSITE will interact with the SUAA database in updating dues, reports, and other information normally provided to Chapter Leaders.
SUAA HOPES that you will be able to find things easier and that you will use the website as a go-to place for legislative information, alerts, events, and helpful suggestions.
TO LOG in, all you will need to do is set up your password. This is an easy task. It is all personal to you. Click here to create your password. Once created, you can log in here, using your Username and new password.
WHILE YOU you are logged in, SUAA asks you to complete your profile.
AP RESOURCE SPOTLIGHT
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The Library of the Health
Sciences is available for use by APs.
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THERE ARE two libraries on the Chicago campus, and
APs may use them.
THE RICHARD J. Daley Library is at 801 S. Morgan St.
and is open from 6:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Call (312) 996-2716. The Library of the
Health Sciences is at 1750 W. Polk St. and is open from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. Call
(312) 996-9163.
BOTH HAVE cafes featuring food and drink.
THE IDEA Commons is a collaboration space on the
first floor of the Daley Library with meeting spaces, a performance area,
movable furniture, and more than 100 computers, as well as an Instructional Technology
Lab and Media Lab.
GET HELP from librarians on site or through live
chat at library.uic.edu.
THE CONTINUING CRISIS
Big retirement
payouts tiny part of big pension mess, State
Journal-Register, May 27, 2017: http://www.sj-r.com/news/20170527/big-retirement-payouts-tiny-part-of-big-pension-mess
How to curb
Illinois university scandals, Chicago
Tribune, June 23, 2017: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-illinois-university-niu-rauner-consolidate-edit-jm-20170622-story.html
The Decline of
the Midwest’s Public Universities Threatens to Wreck Its Most Vibrant
Economies, The Atlantic, Oct. 15,
2017: https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/10/midwestern-public-research-universities-funding/542889/?utm_source=atlfb
What Americans
of every age should know about the state of retirement today, Morningstar, Oct. 19, 2017: http://www.morningstar.com/news/market-watch/TDJNMW_20171019618/what-americans-of-every-age-should-know-about-the-state-of-retirement-today.html
Rauner looks to
Washington for the power to change pension benefits, Chicago Tribune, Oct. 23, 2017: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-met-bruce-rauner-washington-20171020-story.html
Vol. 10, No. 3 November 2017
APAC News is published by the Academic Professional Advisory Committee of the University of Illinois at Chicago.
ISSN 1946-1860
Editor: William S. Bike
Chair: Tracy Sikorski
Vice Chair: Colleen Piersen
Secretary: Mary Berta
Treasurer: Kimberly Mayfield
Web Chair: Jeff Alcantar
http://www.apac.uic.edu
ISSN 1946-1860
Editor: William S. Bike
Chair: Tracy Sikorski
Vice Chair: Colleen Piersen
Secretary: Mary Berta
Treasurer: Kimberly Mayfield
Web Chair: Jeff Alcantar
http://www.apac.uic.edu
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