Skip to Navigation
University of Pittsburgh
Print This Page Print this pages

May 17, 2001

SAC extends officer terms to 2 years

Staff Association Council (SAC) voted to extend officers' terms of service from one to two years. But SAC voted down a bylaws amendment to allow officers to run for the same office more than three consecutive terms.

The latter vote means that Richard Colwell cannot run again for SAC president. Colwell has served three, one-year terms in that office, the maximum allowable. However, Colwell was nominated as a candidate for vice president for steering. Josephine B. Hatley, Carol F. James and James Jackson also were nominated for that position but declined to accept the nominations.

Because he is running unopposed for steering v-p, Colwell told the University Times, he will decline to serve as immediate past president, and will have only one vote on SAC's executive committee. Ordinarily, the immediate past president is one of five officers of the staff council.

Current vice president for steering Barbara J. Mowery was nominated for SAC president. She is running unopposed.

Current treasurer Tammeka A. Beattie and current vice president for communications Maureen Jenkins are running for re-election to those positions. Beattie is running unopposed after nominee Carol Hodgkiss withdrew her name from consideration. Jenkins faces a challenge from Joyce A. McDonald.

Ballots for officers are distributed to all SAC members and votes are tabulated and certified at the next SAC meeting, scheduled for June 13. Officers' terms take effect at that June meeting.

SAC also announced its new membership roll at the May 9 meeting. New members begin serving two-year terms on July 1. The new members are: Patricia Ambrose, Medicine; Karen D. Battle, Computer Learning Center; Geoffrey A. Bonina, English; Paul H. Bramson, Research Conduct and Compliance; Kimberly J. Farrah, Dental Medicine; Eugenia Ann Goff, University Relations, Graphics, Marketing, and Printing; Carol Jackson, Medicine; Deborah Joan Jackson, Nursing; Derek Kevin Jones, Law; Susan Menzer, Medicine; Nancy Lee Penney, Medicine; Angela M. Peskie, Research Conduct and Compliance; Rachel Roebuck, Africana Studies; Margie Ruffing, Medicine; Joan F. Schanck, Nursing; Joyce A. Selden, Surgery; Gwendolyn L. Watkins, Community and Governmental Relations, and Barbara A. Zischkau, Institutional Advancement.

Under SAC bylaws, new members must be approved by Human Resources, something that usually is a formality.

Members whose two-year terms expired and were renominated for an additional two-year term are Colwell, Marilyn DiPaola, Hatley, Hodgkiss, Elizabeth A. Homonai, James, Jenkins and Louise C. Tkach.

SAC introduced its new secretary, Mary Beth Mengel. She replaces Irene Marinakos, who left the University.

In other SAC developments:

* Colwell said that SAC officers are preparing a letter asking Human Resources to evaluate the two-year-old staff classification system and pay ranges for staff jobs. "Hopefully, we'll get an increase in the pay ranges," Colwell said. He said that Human Resources agreed to review the staff system annually when it was first established to ensure that the pay ranges reflected the market value of employees and that long-term employees could not "max-out" at the top of the pay ranges. The request from SAC is a formality, Colwell added.

* The council agreed to sponsor "Bears for Children's Hospital" as its signature charity project. Staff relations committee chair Audrey Portis said SAC is working through Pitt's Volunteer Pool to coordinate efforts to furnish new stuffed animals to patients at the hospital.

* Pitt Kennywood Day is July 21, said Lydia J. Howard, chair of the SAC programming and planning committee. Tickets are expected to go on sale at the end of this month. Only valid Pittsburgh campus staff I.D. holders can purchase discounted day-long tickets ($11.50).

Flyers will be distributed to staff with information regarding T-shirts, ticket purchases and planned activities, Howard said.

* SAC agreed to move the starting time for meetings' public sessions to 12:15 p.m. instead of 12:30. Closed meeting sessions continue to begin at noon.

–Peter Hart


Leave a Reply