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Q: How do I describe the mission of UTSC? What it is, how is helps, what it has done, and what it can do.
A: From the website: Staff Council’s mission is to promote a positive, collaborative work environment via assessment, prioritization, and communication of staff needs. The purposes are many:
- To serve as a representative advisory council;
- To provide a vehicle for communication of interests, concerns, and issues that affect staff;
- To present recommendations to University leadership;
- To provide nominations to University Standing Committees
Also see UTSC accomplishments and our orientation for new reps.
Q: What are realistic expectations for UTSC accomplishments?
A: Committees are expected to provide a report for President Fenves at the end of the term year.
Committee projects should have measurable impact and benefit campus as well as staff.
The more an accomplishment benefits campus rather than just staff, the more ambitious it can be.
Q: How do we measure success of UTSC and the projects?
A: We gauge success in a few ways:
- Metrics for specific projects
- Staff awareness of UTSC and its accomplishments
- Access to/influence on Campus leadership
- Continuing funding for projects from the President’s Office
Q: What is UTSC's scope of influence?
A: Issues that affect staff in more than one department or geographic area of campus. For more info, see UTSC Bylaws: http://staffcouncil.utexas.edu/organization/bylaws/
Q: How to get managers to support UTSC time?
A: Your manager must support at least 4 hours per month, per our Bylaws, HR, and the President’s Office. Beyond that, it will be up to your manager. Showing them UTSC accomplishments (https://wikis.utexas.edu/display/utsc/UTSC+Accomplishments) may help, as these accomplishments have benefited all staff and oftentimes all of campus.
Q: What do we do when we get elected? What is the welcome/onboarding process?
A: The UTSC Resources Chair hosts two orientations after each UTSC election.
Q: What are things we can change without requiring leadership support/resources—“low hanging fruit”
A: UTSC reps can raise their constituents’ awareness of available campus resources for handling staff issuesstaff issues and professional development.
Q: Why is the UTSC general meeting structured the way it is?
A: Meetings are set up to give updates on UTSC business and issues important to staff.
Q: Who is allowed at UTSC general meetings and who can ask questions or raise issues?
A: Our meetings are open to the public. Anyone can ask questions or raise issues, be it in-person or via social media (Twitter, etc.). For more info, see UTSC Bylaws, section V.
Q: When are webcast videos uploaded?
A: They're immediately available; you can find them here.
Q: What are the Districts/where are they?
A: See our list of Districts and Representatives. The "Departments in District" column will show the exact departments within a given District.
Q: Can we broaden who can serve on UTSC: student employees, temp staff, faculty?*
A: See UTSC Bylaws, section II.b for info on UTSC’s constituency. UTSC meetings are open to the public; improvements in UTSC communication and outreach should help address this concern.
Q: How do we get the word out in general?
A: Refer to:
- The How to Succeed as a Rep handout.
- Regroup email system: https://utexas.regroup.com/
- Regroup documentation: https://wikis.utexas.edu/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=112330717
- Also flyers, posters, talking to constituents, and/or hosting a brown bag lunch to talk about issues.
Q: How do I engage constituents that are non-English speaking, shift workers, non-Main campus, temp employees, non-computer users, researchers, or other siloed/isolated/remote units?
A: That is something a committee could look into. The main problem to solve is tools and procedures for reps to use to effectively reach constituents in these groups. Note that per UTSC Bylaws, section II.b, temp employees are not UTSC constituents, but they can attend general meetings to be heard.
Q: How are UTSC guest speakers chosen?
A: Based on current events and constituent interest. The more your constituents tell us what they want to hear about, the better we can serve them.
Q: Redistricting: What is it, how do we get involved?
A: This has been largely taken care of recently by Jeannie Farahnak, former UTSC Vice Chair.
Q: UTSC budget—how is it allocated/funded?
A: UTSC gets budget from HR for running UTSC itself (badges, annual retreat, etc.). UTSC recently got a budget from the President’s office for funding yearly projects, such as the Professional Development Grant.
Q: Why does UTSC use Regroup instead of UTLists?
We believe in a set of core values that help us, as your elected representatives, decide what projects to work on, how to communicate with stakeholders, and build and maintain trust within the community.
Advocacy
- Serving staff by representing their best interests to the university community
- Fostering a pathway of communication between upper administration and our constituents
- Seeking diversity in membership, perspectives, and ideas when representing staff culture
Collaboration
- Creating a sense of community by forging effective partnerships with campus stakeholders
- Executing projects that are valuable to the organization
Transparency
- Maintaining honest and transparent communications and processes
- Remaining accountable to ourselves and to our constituents by holding open meetings and publicizing our decisions
- Intentionally sharing unbiased information with our stakeholders
The purpose and goals of UTSC:
- Provide a forum to present interests, concerns, and issues affecting staff;
- Pose advisory recommendations to UT leaders as a representative advocate;
- Create a sense of community by forging effective partnerships with campus stakeholders, including selecting nominees for University standing committees;
- Maintain honest and transparent communications and processes.
Also see UTSC accomplishments and our orientation for new reps.
Q: What are realistic expectations for UTSC accomplishments?
A: Committees are expected to provide a report for President Fenves at the end of the term year.
Committee projects should have measurable impact and benefit campus as well as staff.
The more an accomplishment benefits campus rather than just staff, the more ambitious it can be.
Q: How do we measure success of UTSC and the projects?
A: We gauge success in a few ways:
- Metrics for specific projects
- Staff awareness of UTSC and its accomplishments
- Access to/influence on Campus leadership
- Continuing funding for projects from the President’s Office
Q: What is UTSC relationship with UT Leadership?
A: The UTSC Officers (Chair, Vice Chair, Parliamentarian, and Secretary) meet with the President, CFO, and AVP of HR monthly. The Officers also meet with other upper-level administration as needed. The better UTSC serves the interests of campus, the better those relationships get.
Q: How to get managers to support UTSC time?
A: Your manager must support at least 4 hours per month, per our Bylaws, HR, and the President’s Office. Beyond that, it will be up to your manager. Showing them UTSC accomplishments (https://wikis.utexas.edu/display/utsc/UTSC+Accomplishments) may help, as these accomplishments have benefited all staff and oftentimes all of campus.
Q: What do we do when we get elected? What is the welcome/onboarding process?
A: The UTSC Resources Chair hosts two orientations after each UTSC election.
Q: What are things we can change without requiring leadership support/resources—“low hanging fruit”
A: UTSC reps can raise their constituents’ awareness of available campus resources for handling staff issues and professional development.
Q: Why is the UTSC general meeting structured the way it is?
A: Meetings are set up to give updates on UTSC business and issues important to staff. The structure of the meeting is also part of our UTSC Bylaws.
Q: Who is allowed at UTSC general meetings and who can ask questions or raise issues?
A: Our meetings are open to the public. Anyone can ask questions or raise issues, be it in-person or via social media (Twitter, etc.). For more info, see UTSC Bylaws, section V.
Q: When are webcast videos uploaded?
A: They're immediately available; you can find them on our website.
Q: What are the Districts/where are they?
A: Districts are a semi-arbitrary division of the UT campus. When districts were originally drawn, they were based on a combination of campus/building location, department functions, and funding source. As departments and groups have reorganized, the districts have gotten "messier" and similar groups have gotten separated from each other. Some groups have moved off-campus or to different buildings.
Some districts are small and contain fewer than 100 people, while other districts are large and contain over 400 people. In general, there is one Representative per ~100 people in a district.
There is a redistricting effort currently in place to regroup departments. (To see which districts are under each Representative, go to the List of Current Representatives page, then in the "Departments in District" column, click on "View.")
Q: Redistricting: What is it, how do we get involved?
A: This is a work-in-progress being spearheaded by Jeannie Farahnak, former UTSC Vice Chair. Jeannie has been working with the IT folks to get districts better aligned, but the project has been delayed because of the Workday implementation. Once Workday is launched, we will have new districts.
Q: Can we broaden who can serve on UTSC: student employees, temp staff, faculty?*
A: Our UTSC Bylaws, section II.B show who are constituents are. Our purpose is to serve the staff of UT Austin, as other groups often have their own governance and their own specific needs. For example, students are governed by the Student Government group and faculty are governed by the Faculty Council. UTSC meetings are open to the public and anyone who attends could be recognized by the Chair to speak their concerns.
Q: How do we get the word out in general?
A: Refer to:
- The How to Succeed as a Rep handout.
- Regroup email system: https://utexas.regroup.com/
- Regroup documentation: https://wikis.utexas.edu/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=112330717
- Also flyers, posters, talking to constituents, and/or hosting a brown bag lunch to talk about issues.
Q: How do I engage constituents that are non-English speaking, shift workers, non-Main campus, temp employees, non-computer users, researchers, or other siloed/isolated/remote units?
A: That is something a committee could look into. The main problem to solve is tools and procedures for reps to use to effectively reach constituents in these groups. Note that per UTSC Bylaws, section II.B, temp employees are not UTSC constituents, but they can attend general meetings to be heard.
Q: How are UTSC guest speakers chosen?
A: Based on current events and constituent interest. The more your constituents tell us what they want to hear about, the better we can serve them.
Q: UTSC budget—how is it allocated/funded?
A: UTSC gets budget from HR for running UTSC itself (badges, annual retreat, etc.) and from the President’s office for funding yearly projects, such as the Professional Development Grant. The Staff Council Executive Committee decides how to spend this money each year.
Q: Why does UTSC use Regroup instead of UTLists?
A: UTLists is an opt-in email system that must be maintained manually. Anyone who is part of that group can send messages to the group and could cause an increase in spam or inappropriate emails sent to campus.
Regroup is an opt-out email system that is tied to our HR system and is updated each week as employees move around the university. As new employees start, employees leave, or employees change departments, this list is updated automatically. Regroup also limits A: We don’t use UTLists because Regroup is set up to limit who can send messages, reducing spam or other unauthorized use. Also, UTLists is opt-in while Regroup is opt-out.
Q: What is UTSC relationship with UT Leadership?
A: The UTSC Chair speaks with Directors and the President’s Office monthly. The better UTSC serves the interests of campus, the better those relationships get.