- Hello staff, I'm Jon Reisenweaver.
I'm sure many of you know me
and I've been around the university for 25 years now.
I'm gonna be running for president of staff council.
I've been on staff council for three years now
and have learned quite a bit
and hope to learn more in the coming years.
I'd like you to know a little bit about me
and my thoughts on some of the topics
that we've been working on, as well as maybe areas
that we can improve or shift our direction a little bit.
A lot of people around campus and on staff council
have brought together great ideas
which we've been able to champion to the administration
and do some work on and see lots of improvements.
Now more than ever,
because we're in such a challenging time,
we need to make sure that we remain good partners
with the faculty and the administration
for the betterment of the university.
We've been able to get a seat now
at most of the decision-making tables
and our voice is heard.
We need to continue that and maintain good communication
with the leadership and with the faculty,
and really be treated and heard as equals.
It's something that we've worked so hard for
and we're finally making headway
and it's something that we need to continue to do.
Something else that is very near and dear to my heart
is supervisory training.
The previous staff council president, Steve Lunna,
was very passionate about it, and I believe in it.
As a supervisor myself, I've had to learn a lot on my own
which leads to gaps in my own knowledge and my own training.
The professional development and training department
has put together a great supervisory learning series
but that's not really enough.
It doesn't lead to consistent leadership abilities.
Leadership within the department really needs to
have some consistent support,
guidance and help from your supervisor.
Every supervisee kind of leans a little bit
on their supervisor, and as a supervisor,
we need to be able to help.
We can't be floundering around,
learning as we go all the time.
There will be a period of that in the beginning
when we're new supervisors always
because we're still trying to feel the job out.
But if we have good training, everyone will benefit,
not just the supervisors.
We'll get consistent leadership,
people that we can look up to and go to
that we know, if they don't have an immediate answer,
they know exactly where to go to get the answer to help us.
And that's something that we need to have for everybody.
Right now, people are very busy
and there's a lot going on in the world.
We need to remember we're here for the students.
That's why we have jobs.
We're working with faculty all the time.
Many of us in staff, we provide nearly all the materials
and things that faculty are using
and relying on to instruct the students.
We provide that.
We get help, we work all the time with the faculty.
We do what we can with the administration.
We help them as much as we can.
They do what they can for us.
And frankly, right now,
it's not everything that we want it to be
but it doesn't mean it's all bad.
We all have to remain partners for the students.
They're why we have jobs,
they're why we're getting paychecks, they're why we're here.
Things are challenging.
Yes, I've said that a few times, but they really are.
But when we can all work together,
it will really help the university as a whole
and the students.
So those are just some of my thoughts.
Thank you very much for watching.
Have a great day.