-: This before.
So Alan, you're gonna have to help me,
but we'll call the meeting to order at 12:21.
Approve the minutes. You all got the minutes and the notes
or the minutes from the previous meeting with the agenda.
And so now I have to vote to approve them.
Can I have a motion to approve the it?
-: I motion to approve but with an amendment to the date?
-: That'll come after.
-: Okay.
Does anyone second that motion?
-: I second.
-: Thank you.
Discussion.
Just to the date should be October 1st.
I opposed to the day of today we debank.
-: You hadn't brought that up.
I was gonna mention, that's fine.
-: Going, that's today. Minutes from today.
Okay. So do we approve before?
All those in favor?
Anyone not in favor or reciting unanimous.
That's good.
Great.
So now we have our public comment period.
-: Is there anyone here from the public comment?
-: Amanda's hand raised?
I dunno, that may have been from voting.
-: Amanda, is your hand up from Legacy
or did you have a comment or question?
-: Sorry. Nope, that was from voting.
-: Excellent. -: Okay.
-: All right.
-: Well, no public comment period.
We'll move on to meet and greet with Linda Schadler
-: Right on time. Almost.
-: James Provost.
So thank you for inviting me.
I am going around to as many units on campus as we can think
of to say hello so that you know what I look like
and to talk about few things that I'm trying
to focus on in my four, six, eight, 10 or 12 months
in this role. TBD.
And then actually one of them ties into something
I just wanna get a little feedback
on from you all based on some feedback I've already gotten.
So in addition to just trying
to keep the campus momentum going in all the directions
that we have been going, I'm focusing on four things.
One is the graduate college.
As you know we're trying to increase the number
of graduate students and strengthen our graduate programs.
So working with folder on the structure, the financing,
the policies coming out of the graduate college
and I think we're making some progress there.
So having a good time on that part of it.
Second is finding places where administrative units
and academic units can better partner for student success.
So a great example
of success would be the course in CAS
and the course in STEMS for students
with below about a 2.3 GPA
where they are being taught in a very focused way.
Time management, study skills, resources,
radical self-care.
And that's primarily administrative units coming
into the academic units to support that program.
Places where maybe we wanna see a little bit
more integration might be around student conduct
or the CARES program
or looking for all sorts of ideas
on how to better lead to student success
with that integration.
The third thing is digitalizing our systems.
So we have some great examples, course leave
or high submitter proposal or you know, external grants.
A few other things where it's really digitalized.
You submit online, you could track it.
Signatures happen online, you know,
approvals back and forth.
People some processes
and people admin would be another example.
But there are a lot of processes on campus
where we take a word file, we turn it into a PDF
and we're emailing it around
and it's often hard to track what's going on.
So looking for some low hanging fruit
to be putting those new processes in place
or you know, different way of putting that process through.
We're getting a demo from InfoReady I think next week,
which is the new process the graduate college has been using
for even just submission of approval
for faculty into the graduate college.
And it seems to be a nice system.
So that might be a,
and that's supposed to be very easy to use.
So we're gonna take a look at that.
And then last is campus climate.
And I wrote, I honor our common ground values
in our relationship with faculty and staff around employment
and shared governance.
So that's recognizing
that we have three union negotiations going on.
But also for me, I came from a campus six
and a half years ago
now that did not have functional shared governance,
and it really limited the university's ability
to move forward and communication,
and therefore getting the best decisions made
because there wasn't a great mechanism for getting input.
So I really respect UVMs even though conversations
are not always easy around faculty shared governance
and staff shared governance.
And so I just wanted to make sure I said that.
And lastly there it's, "I wrote Celebrate UBM
more with levity and lighthearted fund."
So some simple things that we've already started to do.
The president's office gets flowers from events
that have already happened and there's sometimes four
or five bouquets sitting there.
So I've started to put a little thank you note
and deliver those two units
around campus actually so far Waterman and CAS.
So, but I will start to extend the circle.
And so looking for other ideas
about what we can do that's doesn't cost a lot of money,
that might help build community
and celebrate each other more.
We work in this beautiful place with incredible people
and we turn out an incredible students.
So how do we celebrate that more and one example
or idea that has come forward,
I think you all are calling them affinity groups as a plan
for how we bring faculty and staff together around hiking
and knitting and other things that people like to do.
I got an idea from the libraries
or even just teams that people can join where you post,
"Hey I'm gonna go hike final a mountain at, you know,
noon on Sunday, wanna come, anybody wanna come?"
Sort of like meetups before the UVM community.
And I talked to Chris Layman about this idea
and I think that it's moving forward in some form
where the idea would be that the funding
for the affinity groups
and I'm not sure that's the what we wanna keep calling them.
But anyway, those groups that y'all,
that some of you have talked about anyway,
funding would come from HR
but the idea would be that the faculty senate
and the staff council would kind of form a joint committee
to lead that, not have it led by a staff person.
I think we feel that the funding's there,
but if we want it to have longevity
and agility to move with people's interests,
you don't want it under a specific administrator
who might change at any moment
and might have a different feeling.
If it's in this, in the shared governance purview,
then I think that has more stability
and will more as the interest
of the faculty and staff change.
But I'm open to many other ideas.
One thing I think I'll be doing is walking
around with Rally Cat on the last day of classes,
which will be a big Green and Gold day handing
out meal cards to the top few people I see
who have really green and golden it out.
But, and then that might become a more regular event
but we're gonna just try it for the last day of classes.
So interested in other ideas you might have around that.
Yeah, thanks to Kelly for letting me take her bases
around campus 'cause they haven't all come back yet,
so if you happen to get one, please return
it so that we can give some to the next people.
That's my spiel.
I'm happy to take any questions or comments or ideas.
-: Yeah, I'd be curious to know what we could do to get a,
like a bigger response around Green and Gold Day.
'Cause I feel like there's a lot to work with there
and Spirit is such a connector for staff
and students and faculty
and like you were saying celebratory, right?
So I think we need that. We need to focus on the joy.
-: Yeah so I would love to say every Friday's Green
and Gold Day, we haven't done that yet.
But maybe that would be something for the staff council to,
to start announcing
and say, "Hey let's make every Friday Green and Gold day."
And you know, maybe we could do a clock test.
Oh that's the walking around with Rally Cat
would be whoever I happen to see, you know.
But we could do something more formal.
-: Who was doing the door decorating?
Is that social committee?
-: Yeah.
-: And maybe we can weave that into something like that.
-: And so far the things that I would be handing
out are things that are just sitting in the Provost's office
that weren't used for some event in the past.
Like I haven't invested any new dollars
and we we're actually make sure the meal cards work.
It's how old they are but if not,
we're hoping we can exchange them that work.
And the other thing I have is these wooden boxes
that have a wooden pen in them are really cool.
I think that the power of the staff
to have an impact on the students
and the faculty around this is huge.
Just huge. So if you're willing to partner on this
and come up with million ideas, I would be thrilled
because you hear the smiling faces
that they see every day when they get things done.
So.
-: No we could figure that out between,
'cause we have community engagement
and maybe that lives there so that seems like
more campus centric.
And I'm happy to come to anything
and yell, you know, go chat them out
or whatever you want me to say.
-: We've also, we didn't get a chance
to talk about this last night
when we were talking about the food insecurity,
but we've tried to partner with events
with donations to Rally Cat too.
Like I don't know if we've had a lot of traction.
We definitely have it for the Ben, the holiday Bizarre
and the benefits fair.
I think I saw, I think the benefits fair is gonna do it
but when we do like the tours,
have we started collecting things
when we do the campus tours?
-: Not that I know.
-: We'll might be able to do that too.
So.
-: Yeah, I'm hoping we can also just get a better partnership
with Vermont Food Bank.
-: Question from Elise Liv has her hand up in Teams.
-: Hi.
-: Hi there. My name is Liv. Nice to meet you.
I'm sorry I'm not there in person. I'm over in Waterman.
So hello from Waterman.
Something that I'm on the Community Engagement Committee
and I know that's something that we talked about last year
and I think is still something that we wanted
to explore this year was potentially a volunteer day
or volunteer time
or potentially volunteer paid time for the UVM community
to come together either in, you know,
their current groups within their own departments and units
or kind of collaborate across departments
and units to connect more with the community.
But that's something that I feel like could be a potential
great partnership on.
I'm not sure exactly Linda
if that's something that would fall under you
or if that's an example that you'd be looking for,
but just wanted to put that on the table.
I know there's a lot of moving parts with that one so.
-: Yeah, I mean it's a great idea.
You're right, there's moving parts in terms
of keeping offices staffed while we do it.
But let me talk to Patty and Chris about it.
The campus I came from, we did that
and it was really meaningful.
It was usually just a half a day
but yeah it was good.
-: And then a second comment is just that as part
of the staff appreciation week that happens in September,
we bought a lot of free cones from the dairy bar
and we have quite a few of those left over.
So if you're looking for other handouts potentially
while you're with Rally Cat, let me know.
We have them in human resources.
That could be something else to give out.
-: That's awesome. Yes. Nothing's better than ice cream.
Thank you for that offer.
-: Thank you.
-: A comment in the chat from Cindy,
we might wanna have explain a little bit more.
She says how about a pay it forward incentive?
-: Can you explain a little more?
-: Well maybe.
-: I mean I know what pay it forward is,
but I'm wondering what you mean
for how we incentivize it here.
-: I don't know, I have, I'm just kind of putting
it out there to see what anybody else thinks about it.
I love the idea of paying it forward
and I think it catches on pretty quickly
so we could maybe tie it into a green and gold theme
or any special events either you know,
the getting food for Rally Cat Cupboard.
I don't know,
I think we would need some brainstorming.
-: We do Staff Years of Service Awards
and a lot of people are choosing
to potentially not select a gift
for their Staff Years of Service Award.
So they could choose to pay that gift forward
potentially rather than them collecting the gift themself.
That could be an opportunity.
-: Yeah, good idea.
And then a couple years ago our division had,
we made up some just really basic appreciation kind
of peer to peer appreciation cards
and we could send one to either a team
that we worked with that we really appreciated
and it wasn't just within our division
but we could send it to you know,
the Athletics Department saying like,
"Hey you guys do a great job putting the games on."
Or to the print mail shop or a job they did
or the custodian who just really takes a good,
takes good care of your office or your building.
But just little cards that you could have at your desk,
and whenever you felt like giving somebody
some extra thanks, you can do it.
I think that thing is strong.
-: And Sam's a couple years ago we did warm fuzzies
and cold prickly, you know the little ball
with the eyes on them?
The bubble eyes.
-: Well yeah I still have one.
-: Maybe we could get Rally Cat warm fuzzy stick.
Maybe a little bigger than the ones
something silly We could do a crappy project making.
Alright, well I don't wanna take up too much
of your time and thank you very much.
Those are great ideas then.
Thank you for the friends and family.
and yeah,
Kelly's got some great things she's gonna share.
Thank you have a good day.
And also for two.
It's really open.
-: It's really real lost.
-: Yeah. Where do you want me to,
do you have a clicker to advance the slides?
-: My mouse.
-: I let you know what I need you to advance.
-: That would be the way to go.
-: Are we gonna be looking over here?
-: Yes. -: I don't know.
-: Need to move a little bit.
-: Whether I can make this work.
-: Am I in anybody's way that...
-: Let's see where it goes.
Yeah, I'm excited to hear it again. It's new, it's improved.
I've heard
So I, should we introduce Kelly?
You want me to introduce Kelly?
-: I'm Malley, Head of presidential events
but you have a different title.
Senior Coordinator, Presidential Events and Protocol now.
-: Thank you. And Kelly's here to talk
with us about commencement.
-: Can you all see that in Teams Land?
You can see it but you don't see it here.
-: Yes we can.
Yep.
-: Right. Hang out.
Play with some settings here because we can't see it here.
Where I did just stop sharing it so it's okay.
-: Struggled and I made it with Ellen's help.
Maybe as a gift someone could get me the book Robert Hood.
-: Oh I never thought to do that.
-: Right. Look at that.
It's like, I dunno what I'm doing-
-: Screen's here.
-: You don't have like
where maybe I should sit next to Alan.
We're gonna do musical chairs
just 'cause I feel like that might be easier.
I think tap on.
-: Yeah, it's perfect.
-: You guys still see the the PowerPoint Teams Land?
-: Yes, we can.
-: Thumbs up. -: Excellent.
-: So thanks for the intro Jen,
I'm gonna warn you this is scripted
'cause I have so much information I need to get through.
I wanna make sure I cover all.
So lots of information on this presentation.
You probably argue it's all important.
Just a quick little bit about me.
I've been a staff member at EBM for 16 years now
and I've been planning UVM's Commencement for 13, including
during the COVID pandemic.
So I recognize how important this rite of passages
for our students and their families.
UVM has consistently
provided an incredible commencement weekend experience
for our grads and their families
and we wanna continue with that tradition
in making this memorable,
meaningful and special for everyone involved.
Numerous factors have led us to look at a new model
for commencement that's being proposed.
Note this is a proposal still the process is ongoing,
but I'm gonna stress that change will have to happen
for reasons I'm gonna outline in the presentation.
So.
-: Sure.
-: All right, you can do it one more time.
So why are we re-imagining commencement?
The 2024 Commencement was extraordinary if you were there,
we had a record turnout.
The weather cooperated attendees were in a celebratory mood,
but we had some fundamental issues
with our current commencement model
and some serious constraints to help frame our constraints
to provide some background for anyone who's unfamiliar
with UVMs traditional commencement,
I'm gonna provide some information
on how commencement
has looked over the past several years post COVID,
and for several years before the pandemic.
Commencement weekend is an incredibly complex event
that brings over 15,000 people
to celebrate each spring and each year the schedule
and locations of events alter depending on the number
of graduates in each college school and other circumstances.
So the venues times number
of tickets receptions can change every year
to accommodate changes in our graduate numbers
and their needs.
-: Excellent.
-: So in general, there are 11 ceremonies over two days,
two ceremonies on Saturday and nine ceremonies on Sunday.
The university Commencement Ceremony, which is also known
as the Main Ceremony,
is the university wide event where all students,
including undergraduate, graduate,
and medical degree candidates are invited
to attend historically students process
and sit with their college school
at the university Commencement Ceremony.
Since 2004,
this ceremony has taken place on the University Green
with numerous exceptions,
including the years of 2020 and 2021 during the pandemic.
Before 2004,
the Commencement Ceremony took place at Centennial Field
and various other locations
before that depending on class size and other logistics.
So changing venues and locations has occurred a number
of times over the last 30 years.
The main ceremony typically includes
the following components, remarks by the president,
a commencement speaker, governance leader, remarks,
Student Faculty Awards, Honorary Degree presentations,
and Degree Conferral by the President.
No diplomas are given out at this ceremony
so no students cross the stage
or have their names called, with the exception
of student award recipients, the ceremony is not ticketed.
It takes place outside on the University Green,
rain or shine.
And as of recent years in the event of severe weather,
the ceremony is canceled
and a modified live stream
with only a small audience takes place instead
of a ceremony on the Green,
there's no space large enough on campus or off
or on campus in Chin County
to hold the ceremony in the event of severe weather
and tinting is not an option.
The Green typically sets 8,000 chairs.
And attendance at the University of Commencement Ceremony
has varied over the last several years.
In 2024, we estimated there were 12,000 attendees,
which is most definitely our record.
We think this is most likely due to the graduating class,
not having any type of high school graduation as seniors
during the COVID pandemic.
And they were very eager to celebrate.
In 2023, we estimated closer
to 5,000 attendees in 2022 4,000,
same with 2019.
And in 2018 it rained heavily, so attendance was quite low.
This one, the Nine Individual College School ceremonies
include our graduates receiving diplomas
as they cross the stage, as their name is called.
This is where official photographs of graduates are taken
as they cross the stage.
And these are ceremonies or college school specific.
Some college schools have commencement speakers,
others do not.
Some have specific student awards, others don't.
Deans typically give remarks at these ceremonies
and they take place off and on campus.
So that includes the University Green,
Patrick Gym, Gutterson, Ira Allen Chapel,
and the Flynn Ceremonies have also taken place
at the DoubleTree, but we outgrew that space since 2023.
All of the spaces we use have varying capacities.
Ceremonies move around each year between these spaces
as we know more about numbers
and the different populations in each college school.
I actually don't get a list of graduates until early March.
So a lot of this can sometimes be estimating
the Patrick Leahy Honors College Scholars Recognition
also takes place typically on Saturday afternoon
and honors college students who participate are part
of all undergraduate college.
So that was a really brief explanation
of what our commencement currently looks like,
but you get the idea.
It's a multifaceted and complex event.
I'm not gonna review some of the considerations,
and constraints.
The team that plans this event with me have kept in mind
as it's become clear to us that change is necessary.
Change that we are seeing at a national level
as universities try to improve the commencement experience
for students and their families.
-: Last one.
-: So over the last several years we've been concerned
about how different some of our graduates
and their families experiences have been.
As outlined just now,
some college school ceremonies are on campus, some are not,
some are outside, some are inside.
A few are air conditioned and most are not.
Some are ticketed and some are not.
And some graduates get four tickets and others get six.
We're also very behind in national trends
regarding adopting technology
to make our commencement experience efficient, professional,
and personal for our graduates.
We use this technology in 2021
during the commencement ceremony we hosted
during the pandemic and was extremely well received
and successful.
However, our current commencement model makes using
this technology difficult to implement logistically.
Very importantly, we are committed
to making our ceremonies accessible.
Many locations make this difficult to accomplish
or accomplish in an ideal way.
A good example is Waterman.
Currently for the College of Arts
and Sciences ceremony.
If a student is in a wheelchair, then must make their way
to the handicap accessible interns
of the Waterman Building on College Street.
Enter the building,
then take the elevator up to the third floor to wait
and enter the back of the stage for their moment
and then exit back the way they came back
to the University Green student seating.
All of our current commencement venues
have accessibility issues,
looking at access to water, accessible seating,
parking, stage access, bathroom access and heat.
I'll take a moment now to illustrate a few other challenges
with some additional examples.
The University Green has uneven surfaces
and is mostly grass.
This makes it very difficult
to navigate if you were in a wheelchair
or have mobility limitations.
Additionally, although very beautiful,
the Green's physical space in buildings on university row
cause audio challenges for those who are hard of hearing.
Access to the building
and especially handicap accessible bathrooms is challenging.
The only handicap accessible entrance
to the building is on the College Street side.
So attendees who need a handicap accessible bathroom
must travel quite a bit of a distance
to the indoor handicap accessible bathroom.
While we do have two restroom trailers on the Green,
only one trailer has one handicap accessible stall.
We've looked into adding additional trailers,
but our water sources are very limited on the Green
even though a river runs under it.
And we don't have a water source
for a third trailer.
Gutterson and Patrick Gym poses great issues
with accessible seating.
The majority of seating built in both locations for guests
to include bleacher seating with very limited floor seating
and Gutterson egress is not ideal for anyone
with mobility issues
and ramps must be built for wheelchair users to enter
and exit floor seating.
And Patrick Gym, the only area
for accessible seating is the back row of the room.
For all of our on campus venues, we have to truck
and water to meet the needs of the number
of guests we host on campus for both indoor
and outdoor spaces.
Our infrastructure is unable to support large events
and water consumption.
The weather in May is unpredictable.
We've had snow downpours and most recently high heat.
We've also been lucky for several years
that we didn't have any torrential rain or thunderstorms
or lightning for outdoor ceremonies.
But it is a real possibility and has happened
and will be a reality again at some point in the future.
Vermont's weather has become more
and more unpredictable recently, as we all know.
After numerous consultations
with the National Weather Service
before commencement, we used to be able
to make the weather call
for our outdoor ceremony several days before the event.
Now our team would not be comfortable doing that
and making that call so early.
An important detail I'd like to stress
is that with our current commencement model,
in the event there is severe weather,
the University Commencement Ceremony becomes a live streamed
with only a small audience
of approximately a 100 people, which could be consisting
of our platform party guests and our honorary degree guests.
And it would be an alternative indoor venue.
The College of Arts and Sciences ceremony
would also move indoors to the Davis Center
for an alternative commencement event
that does not mimic a ceremony.
At this time with the on-campus infrastructure
we have to work with
and the schedule for commencement.
The best backup plan we have for College of Arts
and Sciences will be to split the college into two groups
during their ceremony time,
having them arrive at different times to the Davis Center
for a commencement experience.
Upon arrival, the students and their family members data
and align to receive their diploma
and make their way to a decorated stage
where graduates will wait
to cross once their name is called.
Family members of the graduates would cheer them on
and take photos in front of the stage
and a professional photo would also be taken.
This would not be a ceremony
and there would not be a large audience.
Students would not be able to cheer on their peers
in this backup plan.
I recognize this is not an ideal backup plan,
but there are simply no venues large enough on campus
to host College of Arts and Sciences Ceremony
or the University Commencement Ceremony should they need
to move indoors even if we ticketed them.
Additionally, none of our campus ceremony venues
are air conditioned and there are real health
and safety concerns to consider with these locations
due to the consistent heat, with the exception
of the University Commencement Ceremony and College of Arts
and Sciences Ceremony,
all other ceremonies are held up indoors.
And of those nine, only two are in air conditioned spaces.
To give an example, the temperatures for College of Arts
and Sciences in 2024 were a mild 76 degrees.
At the time of the CAS Ceremony.
Yet we still had several heat related calls to UVM Rescue
as we do every year when it's hot at commencement.
In the sun,
it feels about 20 degrees warmer.
Additionally, even when the temperature is reasonable
outside the temperatures in our un-air conditioned spaces
are not.
With a healthy enrollment
and high retention rates,
our commencements will continue to grow,
but many of our spaces are at capacity.
For example, if 20 graduates moved from College
of Agriculture and Life Sciences to Rubenstein,
we would need a minimum of 140 additional seats
at the ceremony venue for graduates and our guests.
To me, it is not an acceptable solution to continue
to reduce the number of tickets for our ticketed ceremonies,
which we have had to do for the last several years.
I'd like to take a quick moment
to talk about national trends.
I attend the North American Association
for Commencement Officers or NACO National Conference
and I get to hear about the challenges
and solutions institutions across the United States
and Canada are implementing
to make their commencements a success.
It is clear that every institution has a challenge.
A few things I learned in 2024
is that institutions are making or considering major
and creative changes
to their commencement ceremonies models.
I was actually really blown away by some of the creativity
and different things people are doing
and many institutions are also moving outdoor ceremonies
to indoor venues wherever they can due to weather, health
and safety concerns.
I had a little bit of an example of a cautionary tale
of one institution's path to change.
In spring of 2023, UC Davis moved their ceremonies
to the Golden One Center in Sacramento,
which is 20 minutes away from their campus
after they canceled their outdoor ceremony
on campus at 9:00 AM the year before due to heat.
It's like all over the news, just Google it.
I'm a strong advocate for being proactive
and instead of waiting for something to happen
to make a change that we get ahead of it.
So what's important to our graduates and families?
From a survey we administered to our spring 2024 graduates
and families who had just experienced commencement as well
as conversations brainstorms, we've heard
that the following components of commencement are important
to our graduates and families.
These include receiving their diplomas,
hearing their names called crossing the stage, celebrating
with friends and families and with our college schools
and obviously for families seeing
their graduates where regalia.
To be clear, this does not mean
that other components are not important
or have value to our graduates and families,
but these top five components are collectively
the most important that we saw.
And this is what we were focused on while crafting
this new proposed model.
This one. Additionally, we've heard that the amenities
and components that are important
to our commencement attendees are length of ceremony,
parking close to the venue, air conditioning
and concessions, or food and beverage.
The only venue we currently use
as air conditioned is the Flynn Downtown.
Also be a good one moment to point out that parking
for commencement is an incredibly well orchestrated
but complex feat that has its challenges
with some parking far away from some ceremony venues.
We used 22 buses
and 31 golf carts to move people around campus
and downtown Burlington
for all the ceremonies throughout commencement weekend.
I've included on this slide what parking looked like
for 2024.
Each color represents a different campus lot.
Our team of transportation
and parking professionals do an outstanding job
of navigating accessible parking for our attendees,
but our accessible parking lots are less than ideal,
specifically for the main ceremony
and College of Arts and Sciences
and our accessibility needs have grown and continue to grow.
So how do we meet our community's needs?
Considering these constraints
and the feedback we've received thus far,
we have put together a proposed solution
after many iterations that while extremely different
from what we do now,
offers our graduates UVM Community and guests,
the opportunities to connect, celebrate,
and gather in a meaningful way.
In addition to hosting events on campus on the Friday
of Commencement Weekend,
we're proposing that we move college school ceremonies
to the Champlain Valley Expo Center
for UVM's re-imagined commencement for 2025
and no longer have a main ceremony on the University Green.
Many of our constraints will be addressed with this move
as the expos infrastructure
already includes air conditioning,
one level accessible parking venues
and ample parking,
as well as addressing comfort and capacity.
The new proposed model also ensures that each graduate,
every single one of them,
is guaranteed to receive the experience
of a full commencement ceremony.
Regardless of whether.
Here's our proposed proposal for the weekend.
On Friday the 16th of May,
all events will take place on campus including
a campus open house, which will be college school oriented
and organized by the college schools to showcase campus
or classrooms learning spaces
and will provide an opportunity for faculty, staff,
and administrators to celebrate with students
and families on campus.
Right now, there are many events
that are taking place all across campus
and the intent would be to have those moved
to this Friday afternoon time.
The plan is to use existing campus buildings
and infrastructure to host this event.
The timing would be in the afternoon, could be 2:30
to 4:30, but that's not set yet.
We'd work closely with each college
and school to determine exactly what this would look like.
And some ideas include poster presentations, lab classroom,
studio tours, self-guided tours, meet
and greets of faculty, staff, and administrators.
It's also become clear
to us as students love photo opportunities.
So there would be photo opportunities across campus.
Ones that we have now and added ones as well.
Following the open house would be a food truck festival
on the Davis Center Green that would be open
to the entire UVM Community.
The timing of this would be approximately 4:30 to 6:30,
and then at 6:30 there would be a procession
for those in attendance from the Davis Center
to the University Green for an event on the Green.
This event is still in development.
We're working with students to determine
what this could look like.
But the goal would be to make this student centric
where graduates can gather with their friends
and celebrate with one another
on the historic University Green.
Additionally, on Friday morning
or early afternoon, we'd schedule
the Patrick Leahy Honors College Scholars ceremony.
On the 17th and 18th,
we'd host the commencement diploma ceremonies
at the Champlain Valley Expo Center
and they'd be organized by college.
The focus would be diploma distribution with each student
crossing the stage, having their name called receiving
their diploma and having their photos taken.
We would use technology to ensure a streamlined experience
for graduates to include a grad card with their name
and a QR code with a pre reported name pronunciation
that we guarantee is pronounced correctly and lower thirds
for the screen.
Deans will give remarks
and rather than a single commencement speaker,
the college schools
could have a speaker at their ceremonies,
much like they do now.
Faculty would be invited to participate.
Outstanding Student Leader Awards,
which are usually awarded the main ceremony,
could be awarded at these ceremonies.
And if there are posthumous degrees,
they would be presented here as well.
The president would confer degrees at each ceremony.
And we are proposing that the honorary degrees be awarded
at the Graduate College Commencement Ceremony.
The commencement diploma ceremonies will be one
and a half hours for every undergraduate college school,
graduate college of you a little bit longer.
And a quick note that Larner College of Medicine
will continue to have their ceremony at Ira Chapel
for a number of reasons.
Every ceremony will be ticketed
and each student will receive tick six tickets each
with the possibility of more.
We've created a mock schedule of how things could look.
This is not final.
It has some tightening up
and some shifting that we need to do, but it's an example.
We've allotted an hour for doors open,
and lineup time,
arrivals and departures would be staggered
for each ceremony and group.
So each college school has a ceremony
and CAS will actually have three ceremonies.
These would be replicated ceremonies
that would be split up by academic program.
So faculty and students would be invited
to participate in a ceremony where their program is.
So there are two event spaces at the expo for ceremonies
and additional space for lineup.
Expo South has a capacity of 3,720 people
and Expo North 2,976.
Blue Ribbon Pavilion
would be designated as a lineup location.
For comparison's sake,
our current commencement venue capacities are as follows.
Patrick Gym holds an absolute maximum of 3,200 people,
but this is tight and people would be sitting
beyond the stage.
Gutterson holds a max of 2,400 people
and the Flynn holds a maximum of 1,411.
The ceremonies would be staggered through Saturday
and Sunday in both Expo North and South.
Here's some photos of what the space looks like.
There's the burgers up there, those aren't permanent.
That's just to show that you can do all sorts
of fun decals just so we can really outfit it in UVM,
this is an exterior view and overhead of Expo North
and South and their shared courtyard.
This slide shows some photos of what the empty space
of Expo North looks like.
It has its own concessions area, bathrooms, water outlets,
as well as entrance.
This is the same for Expo South.
All spaces in the facility are fully air conditioned
and there is also parking
and lots of it right next to the Expo Center.
The facility is accessible one level, no stairs
and will allow for staging with ramps on both sides
of the stage in both Expo North and South.
This will ensure every graduate will be able to enter
and exit the stage the same way.
We have so many options on how we can transform the space.
This is a super simple AutoCAD rendering we put together
to show how it could look with some backdrops and lighting.
We can do a ton more than this,
but this is just to give you an idea and sense of space.
And I do love that our acting provost
is the one who's up on the screen.
Next slide.
So before I take questions,
I wanna note the steps we've taken
to get to this point in sharing this proposal with you.
We met or presented to
or had conversations starting this summer
with university leaders,
college school commencement coordinators, the university
and services professional staff, provost,
leadership team,
deans and their staff in small group meetings,
Registrar's Office,
faculty senate, CAS faculty, SGA, senators
and Leadership, GSS, President
and Vice President, Strategic Communications, Foundation,
vendors today, staff council.
And we continue to have many discussions
with campus partners
and will continue to have conversations
with partners like transportation
and parking, police services, ETS, custodial, Physical Plan,
print mail bookstore, Davis Center, UVM, dining and more.
Since I presented to the Student Government Association,
we've received some very strong feedback from students
and their families and we're taking this feedback seriously
and working on next appropriate steps to fully recognize
and understand the collective feelings of students on campus
regarding what they need and want.
This includes a survey to students with senior standing
and our summer grads who are part of this cohort
that was actually launched this morning
and will be open for a week.
I must stress this process is ongoing
that will continue to evolve.
However, we recognize that families need to plan
or adjust plans already made.
So moving as quickly as possible to finalize our proposal
for final review will happen within the next few weeks.
-: Yeah, yeah.
-: In team, in the team that plans
and implements commencement at UVM
didn't come up with this proposal arbitrarily.
We spent several months in discussion exploration
and by brainstorming to come up with a plan
that would allow each graduate
to ensure a commencement that they have earned.
We recognize this is a big change for many of us,
but we believe a necessary one.
And I think if we continue to work together as a community,
we can create an exceptional experience
for our student graduates as their last experiences
as UVM students.
That's it. I'm happy to take anyone's questions.
-: Yes.
Is it still gonna be broken up graduate degrees on Saturday
and undergrad and Sunday? It seemed like a-
-: Yeah, so they'll have to be ceremonies on both Saturday
and Sunday.
So to a transfer of undergrad graduate. Yeah.
Well graduate has one ceremony.
So they would continue to be on Saturday
and Larner College of Medicine would be on Sunday.
And so those would typically be commencement ceremonies
where they would have their degrees converted there too.
But some undergrads will have on Saturday,
and some will have on Sunday.
-: Yes, it's gonna be basically a mix of both days.
-: And a lot of those 2020 grads
that graduated this past year have their ceremony
at Champlain Expo.
They did a wonderful job but it was outside, inside.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. They were all in cars.
-: Yes.
-: Yep. They gotta go across the table. They did.
Yeah. It's different. I think it's good.
-: Yeah, I mean I think the challenge
with it is that it's really different from what we do now
and you know, there was criticism
that we didn't survey this particular group of students,
which it's a broad list.
Like I don't have a list.
We just basically send it to anyone
who has a specific number of credits.
So they may or may not be graduating.
You know, my driver is that I wanna make sure everybody
has a commencement experience,
and the CAS plan right now in the event
of severe weather is a real nightmare.
Like it's hard when you're like,
I wanna have this thing on the Green
and you're envisioning perfect weather to think about,
and the fact that there may be a downpour or it's canceled
'cause of thunder lightning
and to be like,
"What I really don't want is what we're proposing."
But if we got there that day they'd be very upset.
Right. So it's a tough thing to explain
and also it's like it's a gamble, right?
Like every year it's a gamble
and people don't always recognize that.
'Cause we've had incredibly good luck with the weather
for many years now.
-: But I remember having to get was Heather before you?
-: Heather come from Water, from Costco.
-: Oh yeah. -: All the Water runs.
-: Well we aren't even allowed to do that.
Like, that was emergency situations because in 20,
Jen Mainelli or Jen Maine mailed us,
but when we were at Virtue Field for 2021,
which is one of the years, we didn't have it on the Green
'cause that was technically our COVID commencement
and it looked very different.
But we were in Virtue Field
and it was the hottest place in the United States of America
in May on one of the two days that we did it.
And it was absolutely miserable.
And then you're talking about 300 students
at 10 different ceremonies in Polyester Grounds
that are made out of recycled plastic.
You know, it was like someone did a thing,
it was like on the turf, which is plastic.
It was like 140 degrees.
So like, like that's a real, those are real concerns for us.
And it doesn't feel like it's getting cooler.
-: Huh?
Yes. Would you still have like the golf cart?
'Cause I mean even though there's a lot of parking,
like it's large scale.
-: Absolutely. Like you know, people drive to campus now,
so the thought is that they would drive
directly to the Expo.
We also recognize some people don't have cars,
whether they'd be students or guests
and they're staying Downtown.
So you know, we'll be talking about devising
to have some buses providing service from Downtown
and campus to the Expo and back. Yeah.
-: And then you talked about those boards,
outside of the Expo,
South and North where you could put art.
-: Oh yeah. Yeah. So would the idea be to kind
of create a UVM like atmosphere?
Like around UVM Centric inside like coming into it?
And then inside too.
I mean it's hard if you've been there for like the fair
to be like, oh this is a glorious location,
but like truly it is an event center, right?
Like that's the whole point is that it is a concrete shell
that you can do so much with.
So I think that with this team is super creative,
we can make it look amazing, very celebratory and fun.
It'll look better than Patrick Gym
and Gutterson can tell you that much.
-: Is there a big cost differential doing it?
-: Not that I have seen yet.
You know, the Green is extremely expensive
because you're basically creating an event in a place
that has absolutely zero infrastructure
to support a large event, right?
So we have to bring in the power,
we have to bring in the water,
we have to set 8,000 shares out unevenly on ground.
And the labor to do that, it's challenging
'cause every rail is a different number.
You know, you've gotta bring a stage in and set it up
and close off entrances and exits and bring the power out.
I mean, even internet, we have to put boosters
out because we're live streaming this event.
So there's an incredible cost to that.
I think that this first year at the expo will be,
there'll be expenses involved
in it to get it to where it needs to be.
And some of those things can be reused after that year.
So I think that this year
it will not really be a cost savings,
but I don't think that like
it will be like, it's not the driver.
But I do think in the long run when we're not creating
an event out there is no infrastructure,
we will see some savings.
Colleges will also, he spends a lot of money on food
for our receptions.
So I mean I don't know if you're taking money from us yet,
but it could be for colleges-
-: Start offering.
-: Yeah. Yeah. Your right.
I didn't mean to put any ideas in your head
but, well I mean even the receptions are problematic
because as Jen can attest to the fact
that the Harris Mill isn't big enough
and so there is a line wrapped around the building
and food ran out in 30 minutes.
So it's like are we really serving everyone the best
way in this way?
So the biggest issue is that like our spaces
aren't working for us anymore.
Like our current model
with how we're doing things is not working
and we can't, we physically can't do it the same this year.
So we have to make some decisions.
I think it'll be interesting to see
what we get back from the student survey
about what's truly important to them.
This has evolved numerous times since we started talking
about it several months ago.
And I'm sure it will continue to evolve.
Like I think it has to, my biggest concern now is timing.
We have families who are already very upset
that there might be a change for May
because they've already booked hotels
or done travel plans.
So we wanna make sure we're giving people ample time
to either make their travel
or change it with this new model.
It's the same weekend,
it's just that they might have around a certain day.
-: Yeah, I mean a lot of people
are here for the weekend already,
but there are some people who may drive up that morning,
you know, so we wanna be sensitive to that.
And we do offer on campus family housing
and we'll continue to do that.
And that's at University North Heights.
So it's air conditioned and we'll you know,
likely expand it as as much as we can. Yes.
-: Do you have the ability to livestream the event
behind the stadium?
And the reason I ask because that is a flat surface.
So when you have the whole crowd sitting,
like you're not gonna see.
-: Yeah, everything, every ceremony,
even now everything we do is live streamed.
So all 11 ceremonies are live streamed
and then in the expo
what will happen is there will be video screens
that hang down from the ceiling like halfway
back for people to see.
So like we have so much we can do if we wanna outfit
it in video screens and video walls.
Certainly accessibility. Yeah.
-: Corrine, do you have a question?
-: Yes. I'm curious what the concerns
are that you mentioned.
If it's just, if it's the change in location in general
or if there's something more specific.
I'm also wondering if the change in location would mean
that fewer volunteers are needed or the same amount
and if it's UVM security
that would also be needed at the other location in addition
to on campus.
-: Yeah,
so we will definitely need staff volunteers,
but it's really like we don't have volunteers anymore.
We pay everyone that works commencement
unless it's a part of their job.
So there will most definitely
still be a call going out for that.
It's an over two day period of time.
So I can't tell you if it's the exact same number
of people we'll need, but we are definitely gonna need
a workforce so that won't go away.
We always work with ADA for security.
I'm not sure who's contracted over at the expo.
There would still be a security company involved like
we have every year and UVM
and police services would still be involved
as it is a university event.
I don't think I answered
all of them though about the concerns.
I think that the concerns are definitely like
the schedule, right?
'Cause people look back at previous years
and they're like, "Well Sims was then."
So that's when they'll be now even though we don't publish
the schedule on purpose
'cause we don't actually know when they're going,
but people make assumptions so people have made plans.
I think that's one of the biggest concerns people
have that we're hearing from.
Our students feel a connection to the University Green
and they've expressed their discontent
with potentially not having a main ceremony there.
And but that is also what we're trying to create on Friday.
It's like what we're hearing
is that students wanna celebrate
with their friends across college school,
which we don't actually currently do.
Right now it's very college, school specific
and they want to be on the Green.
So we're trying to create an opportunity
that would be meaningful for them to have that there
and they will all be here on Friday. So.
And yes Jen.
-: Have you thought about options
for family activities for Saturday in the event
that your ceremony is on Sunday?
Yes. No, I mean as in I think a lot
of families make their own plans.
Like they have their parties at their house,
they go out to dinner,
they have their own celebratory events specifically
with their friends
who they're not necessarily in the same college with.
So yes,
there's a gap there from Friday to Sunday.
Oh. But a lot of people are here already.
-: Yeah. -: Doing their thing.
I mean every like restaurant in Burlington
is booked solid for the weekend.
So they're celebrating, they're doing their things.
We haven't really received any feedback
about that piece so far.
I know you're putting me on Sunday, that's why I'm say
you I know nothing, you never know.
-: So no central celebration, just college specific.
-: Yes. Like they essentially
all become commencement ceremonies
and the interim president would be all of them
or a president.
Wow. The plan.
You mentioned honorary degrees.
-: Yes.
-: How are you gonna split those up?
-: I'm not, they're gonna be at the graduate college.
-: Oh, you must have said that. Okay.
-: Yeah, so that'll be a bit of an elevated ceremony.
They're looked at as advanced degrees.
So they take place at the graduate college.
-: That's amazing.
-: And I did note like no commencement speaker
for like there's no university wide,
but all the college schools typically
have commencement speakers.
CAS does not, but most of the others do have a speaker
that they bring in already
and that's actually very important
to their college school identities.
-: Just for my own understanding,
you mentioned a couple times that there's concessions.
I should just, it alarms me a little bit
but are, would you offer concessions?
-: Yeah. -: You would?
-: Yes.
So like Sodexo would be there offering more options
than they do now because they have two full kitchens.
-: Can you eat inside the-
-: Yeah. So that's cleanup.
-: Okay.
But there's also outdoor space two,
we're talking about putting a tent up outside.
-: Okay.
-: To mainly partially to block
some of the ugly because I know it's like it's not,
it isn't beautiful there,
but we're not there for the like for the affair.
We're in a specific area.
-: Yeah.
-: But deep fried area.
-: What your real question
Is or candy.
Open up the Maple part.
That's right next door.
-: That would be cute. Yeah, it's very good mind. Yeah.
-: What are some of the trends
that you got at the conference?
-: People are doing like crazy new things.
So for an example,
one school has done it really well
and they're now in their third year
of doing it as University of Albany did away
with their individual college school ceremonies completely.
And on Thursday
and Friday students sign up for a 45 minute time slot
and they go to their large building on campus,
which has been completely transformed and outfitted
and all these different photo opportunities.
And and people are there,
like faculty are there taking pictures with them.
And like they have like some examples would be,
they have like the plant wall that's like their colors
of orange or it's yellow and purple and shimmer walls
and they have like a big poster sign that's like, thank you.
And every language
and the shape of the world map,
they have a really cool magazine plexiglass thing they made
that said like U Albany magazine.
And like you can go in behind it and like do a pose
and then it ends with a stage
and on the stages when someone calls their name
and they have the picture with their diploma.
So it's like a mimicking moment of crossing the stage
and hearing your name called and having your photo taken
and your family and friends are there.
But you have like many minutes so you're able
to take pictures with your family on stage
and with whoever's there
and there's like a million photographers everywhere.
And so they're just getting all these photographs
and where you're with your family
and you're going through this experience together.
And then they still have a main ceremony
on Sunday morning that's outside.
I don't know if they have a backup plan, probably not.
But that's what they started doing.
I mean I think that their feedback was,
there are some people who certainly would prefer
to have a more traditional experience,
but they've also gotten really good feedback.
'Cause otherwise they wouldn't keep doing it. Right.
They did. So that was kind of a radical thing
that I've found also Case Western,
which is a higher number
of graduate students in undergrad, but they still have both.
It's kind of like, it's kind of a flip flop from us.
They have many issues with their facilities as well,
not being air conditioned or not big enough or whatever.
They have kind of a disastrous commencement experience
a few years ago.
So they now have a student only ceremony on Thursday
afternoon or Wednesday, I can't remember.
And like they wear T-shirts.
But it is essentially their main ceremony
where they do honorary degree, have a commencement speaker,
student awards, a million different people speak.
And that's on I think Wednesday or Thursday.
And then on Friday, Saturday
and Sunday they have smaller school college ceremonies.
But there's no like university wide where there are guests.
It's like a student only thing.
And then the smaller college school things
where they cross the stage and get diplomas.
-: So has your feedback been around not having that kind
of singular event?
-: Well, yes.
So, far I've really only heard back from about 75 people.
So when you think about 3,400 graduates
and 15,000 people, that's not a huge number. Right.
But what we are hearing is pretty themed
and that they're feeling like
they need a main ceremony on the Green
or something of significance on the University Green
where they can celebrate together.
There's a misinformation, right.
'Cause they're, I wanna celebrate with my friends.
Well you're still organized by college
and school at the main ceremony.
So there's like
that I can't give you when I have an organized,
not chaotic experience for everybody.
So that's really the most of it is the most of the feedback
that we're getting with that.
And I think people really don't like change.
Like we all know that. Right. It's really hard.
I think when you, for the people who it's important to,
when you envision something for so long being a certain way
to have someone tell you that that's not gonna
be that way specifically for this event
as they experienced during COVID.
It's like you're taking something fundamental away
from them.
And I recognize that it is really hard to think about this.
I've also had months
to work on mourning this thing on the Green
like many months.
And I'm kind of over it. Right.
At this point I'm ready to like move on
and be like, "Let's make this other thing
great if we're gonna do it."
It's really cool though that you are going to take
their first year experience
and Yeah, close it out with their last year experience,
and have them both be at Twilight Center.
I don't know if everyone knows about that though.
So like our first year students when they come here
after their, they arrive like Wednesday, Thursday
and they go through this kind of whole orientation process.
And then traditionally and historically the night
before class starts, we have this thing called convocation,
which is to welcome our first year
and is for first years only.
It now takes place on the Davis Center Green
in Andrew Harris Common Green at the amphitheater there.
And it's a very brief 15 minute ceremony.
And then the entire class
of first years processes down university place that's closed
to the University Green.
And they have a twilight induction ceremony
where they read the, our common ground pledge
and become inducted members of the UVM community.
And it's a candlelight vigil and it's really lovely
and beautiful and like you're right.
Like that's their first moment
and then four years later they come and they bookend it.
And so we wanna make that Friday thing
and our proposal is special and as that is right.
Meaningful as that experience of,
I think it has to be the same.
It doesn't have to mimic it,
but I think it is like kind of a bookend to it all.
Is there anything we can help with? Like-
-: I mean, I think being positive about the potential changes
and understanding that they're being driven by care
and concern that our students, all of them, every single one
of them have an experience that is good for them
and that they get it right.
Like I get, I get really worried about CAS,
our largest college schools.
It's like almost half of our student population.
And what would happen if their ceremony got canceled
on the Green and we used to be able to ticket
at it was four tickets per graduate
and then it became two tickets per graduate in the event
of severe weather where we'd move it there.
But we can't do that anymore.
We can't, like we can give them like one ticket
and that's like not a real thing.
So I think that's my driver.
It's just making sure that people get the experience
that they do deserve.
Even if it looks different from what it has been.
And I think also the accessibility piece is super important.
All we see our accessibility needs getting
greater every year, right?
Like our parking lots are spilling over
and we're like, we used to just have to use behind
Peer Spalding house.
Like the college visitors street lot was all we needed
and now we need part of Waterman two.
And you know, it's using wheelchairs
to take people across the green doesn't feel great.
We always get complaints about audio
'cause those buildings just bounce sound off.
It's like this cavern of audio challenges.
I mean there's a lot of things like there's a lot to it.
But you know, for me,
I think it's making sure we give a really great
experience to our grad students.
And for me as an event planner,
what is the best way we can do that
and meet everybody's needs, not just one specific group.
-: Yeah. I have a question. -: Yes.
-: I have to say I, I went to UVM
and I didn't go to the ceremony in Green,
but I did go to my college one
and then I had two graduate degrees that were in,
you know, industrial spaces.
It was really fun, you know, so, I only happen,
but is a finite number of like,
will the school continue to grow?
Will we need to go through this exercise again
to find a bigger space?
You know, I think the, the sort of.
-: I think that we have room to grow with the expo,
which I think is good.
I think things may shift, right?
Like gross small school business
and Sims specifically in CALS are hot right now.
And I think it just depends on where the programs are
and the interest is.
I think that in this event, if we're able
to spread it over two days, we're gonna be good for years
to come until someone builds me our new reading, our stadium
that meets my needs, which I believe will never happen
because we don't live in a place
that even has a million people the entire State.
If you think about it like
that is the challenge of Vermont
is that we don't have a space to do these large events
that we don't have to have a backup weather plan for.
And you know, so that's a disadvantage for us compared
to some of the other schools in the Northeast that are close
to large cities where they can have it at, you know,
like correct for Fenway Park,
which is where some people have it,
you know, so Madison Square Garden, like we don't have that.
So we have the expo though
and I'm actually grateful for that.
-: What's the largest attendance group you mentioned Cass?
-: Yeah so that's, they have three ceremonies. Oh.
Because they already exceed the limit of those pavilions.
-: Yeah. Like we couldn't have one ceremony
for the whole group.
Yeah. Which is not an uncommon thing.
Schools do that all over the country
where they will split a school into different programs.
-: Then how do you do that by like-
-: They already did it.
They already figured it out.
So like they just looked at their numbers of senior standing
and said, "Okay, here's where we think we divided up."
-: Yeah.
Thank you.
-: Thanks for having me.
I feel like I took way more time than it's allotted.
But you can do, Monica is be positive about it.
And say the team is doing the work to make sure that you
and your family or your family
and your child get the best commencement experience.
Like wherever it's going to be,
we are committed to making it awesome.
That would be the theme that.
-: I think we can do that.
-: Thank you.
Thanks for having me.
Okay. It's great. Sure.
-: For the nice honor.
-: Yeah, it's beautiful there.
Interesting.
My big arrow is that's where we're, but I don't know.
-: All right, we have three agenda items left.
So committee updates, officer updates,
council member concerns and comments.
And we have four minutes.
So what, what do you guys think you wanna hear about?
What's most important to you?
-: Probably the officer.
-: Okay.
What was the last one, Mike?
Concerns? Council member concerns?
Right. So council updates,
the biggest update I think we can all just make
sure that everyone has a really good understanding
about is the benefits fair and open enrollment.
It is what we call an active enrollment.
This is a huge change at UVM
where once you got hired, you just never looked at it again
for your benefits
and moving forward, including this year,
you have to log in,
you have to assess every benefit you have,
whether you wanna keep it, whether you wanna drop it,
whether you wanna add it.
Some of those benefits have new
and different offerings for different populations.
Most specifically the health insurance,
non-represented staff will have a choice of four plans.
And if you know people
or are a person who has a choice on those plans,
I think the most important message
we can get at there is meet with somebody to discuss
what those plan changes would look like
and how they would impact your paycheck
and how they would impact your family
and how they would impact your visit.
Because those plans are very different
than what we have right now.
And my greatest concern is just that people
who have been under the current plan,
if they're interested in making a change,
that they are truly informed
about what that change would look like.
I don't want anybody showing up at the doctor's office like,
"Oh my God, I didn't know that was gonna be my copay."
"Oh my God, how do I build this deductible base?"
And in all fairness, I think that HR has expressed
to us that their expectation is just start creating options.
They don't really expect a lot of transition
because they do understand that people need time
and they're actually working on creating different models
so that people can, you know, play What's it like
to have plan A, what's it like to have plan B?
The other update that I think is really important
to share is that we have a couple senior leadership
positions open.
So the CIO search
and most recently spoke with Jonathan
about in our last meeting.
That has been challenging for the university.
IT is a very, very competitive market.
People outside of university settings get 80
what of money to work in those jobs.
So attracting talent at what we're willing to offer
and what we're able is potentially a barrier.
So that search remains active
and I think it's important.
This was really eye-opening
for myself to kind of have that perspective
because we hear about the union
and negotiations and salaries
and there's a lot of talk about senior leadership positions.
And what just became really painfully aware to me is that,
you know, we have senior leadership roles at the university
that we need to have filled for operational purposes.
And that because of the larger market on a national scale,
you know, it's not that UVM necessarily wants
to pay these high salaries,
it's just what we have to do to get the people
here to keep the doors open.
And that was a little humbling for me.
Okay. Thank you.
The senior leadership position
for communications is open.
Joel Siegelman is stepping down.
The plans are, just to use an interim,
Alex is gonna be served as the interim
mostly because we are in a presidential search
and a lot of times these leadership roles are aligned
with senior leadership
and also trying to minimize
the change in within a time period.
Right spread it out.
Any other questions based on what we submitted
in the documents
or any other topics
that might come up from senior administration?
Hope everybody saw the ad for the President
that Ron Lumbar signed out on Friday.
The search committee had the opportunity to evaluate
that document before it went out
and the information
that was provided from the individuals who commented
was included.
So we have very, very collaborative process.
So that's just me reporting out as a member
of the search committee
that a lot of the ideas about engagement
and community voice is really being taken to heart.
This is the second time,
the first time was in having the survey
and the listening sessions and now.
So I feel very confident that the process
is moving forward in the best possible way
and keep, keep the comments coming, the surveys still open,
keep your thoughts open
about what we can have as agenda items with HR.
We have governance meetings that are,
I feel very successful between faculty senate,
student government
and graduate students and staff counsel.
We had a meeting last night, it was just a half an hour,
but very productive to get those key voices in the same room
about concerns regarding food insecurity.
We talked about last night a little bit
about healthcare options and how that's being played out.
So please communicate
with your constituents on, on that.
I feel like we still have a lot of room
to work on the whole trickle down and you know,
and involve larger people.
So any final thoughts before we close it out?
-: Is that meeting you just talked about, will those,
are those minutes posted anywhere
or are you just giving a recap here for us?
-: You know, I think they kind of started out as,
we wanna give you a quick update
because we have this encampment on campus.
-: Okay.
-: So that's a really excellent suggestion.
I'm not sure that we have anybody taking minutes.
So I'll bring that back to the team to find out
what the best way is to get
that information out. Thank you.
-: And if it's just that you give us the update,
that's also useful to us.
-: Yeah. Yeah.
But that would just be for staff council, right?
So those, you know, maybe there's a role
in having something that communicates
it to all of those groups.
So. Excellent suggest. -: Thank you.
-: I'll just put in a plug
for signing up for the volunteer links
that Alan sent out for the Holiday Bazaar
and then,
no.
-: Oh yeah, that's fine.
-: Oh, and then newsy tickets are still left to sell.
-: Okay.
Yeah.
And just refer to staff line for like actual activities
that the different communities
have going since we didn't do an update today.
And the Wine Tour was turned down by Risk Management.
Opportunity to find something new. Right?
-: Cheer below quorum so the meeting is adjourned.
I still talk but the meeting is officially adjourned.
-: All right. Think so I have 135 or?
-: Yeah. -: Perfect.
That was a lost doing out.