November 13, 2019 Minutes

The November meeting took place from 9:00 – 10:30am on Wednesday, November 13, 2019, in Benson 401B/D.  View the slides here.

Guest Speakers:

JOHN CURRIE (Director of Athletics)

  • Previously at the University of Tennessee and Kansas State
  • Following his graduation from Wake Forest University, Currie started his professional career at Wake Forest in 1993 in the Deacon Club.

Student Athlete Guest: Luke Masterson (Football) – Double major in Economics & Communications. Luke expressed his gratitude for the support of staff and faculty around campus.

 5 Goals of Athletics

  1. Create a world class student athlete experience
  2. Finance, Inclusion, compliance, & safety
  3. Bring value to community
  4. Winning championships
  5. Having the best fan experience in North Carolina
  • Winston Salem is one of 64 cities in America that has a power 65 university
  • Spaces that have been given as gifts (ie.. McCreary Tower, Sutton Sports Performance Center) have really impacted our ability to capture top-recruits and bring fans to games.
  • “I’m a Fan” campaign – very grassroots approach which enables people who are passionate about WF can help spread the word about athletics
  • Bulk rate price for tickets.  People taking an active role in inviting a new neighbor to experience the Wake Forest game day atmosphere.
  • Faculty & Staff season ticket discount rate has been extended to individual games at 20% off.  
  • Receive a t-shirt and a $10 concession credit for the next game.

 QUESTIONS

  • Talk about the fan experience and bringing new fans onto campus.  The area in between the campus and the football stadium, baseball arena, and coliseum is still undeveloped and unattractive. Will that be addressed in the future?
  • The area was purchased in the 2000’s and was never developed.  Athletics has four major projects that they are focused on
    • Finishing the work around Manchester, Pruitt, and the Miller Center
    • Updating Joel Coliseum, which was built 30 years ago, and was purchased by the University in 2013.
    • Deacon Blvd. & Baity Street.  Figuring out the plans for this is a high priority.  Possibly tearing down the buildings in that area and putting a park as a temporary plan.
    • What to do for the East side of the stadium.
  • Graduate Student Community groups feel very disconnected from Athletics, how will you address them or how can they start to feel a connection to athletics?
  • Right now there is a Student Fan Advisory committee made up of representatives of the undergraduate community working on this.

MELISSA CLODFELTER (Assistant Vice President, Campus Engagement and Professional Development)

  • WakeListens Program
    • Encouraged Wake people to take the WakeListens survey from March 25 – April 12.  This was the first survey completed in the past ten years of this nature.
    • Responses and participation rates were very good.  Initial results were shared with the Cabinet, Leadership Summit, and Deans
    • This Semester – Through December 31 Cabinet members and Deans will share data with faculty and staff into their campus areas.  Some larger departments will also receive survey information.
    • Spring Semester – Improvement opportunities will be determined and prioritized. 

RESULTS

  • Overall score: 63%
  • Benchmarks: 68% Carnegie: Research Institutions / 76% Great Colleges
  • Participation Rate: 55%

RESULTS BY THEME

  • 76%  Pride
  • 75% Job Satisfaction, Supervisors/Department Chairs
  • 74%  Facilities
  • 69%: Teaching environment
  • 68% Compensation Benefits & work/life balance

See all results at: https://hr.wfu.edu/wakelistens/ 

QUESTIONS

  • Is it possible to see these answers broken down by demographics (faculty and staff breakdown)?  See it more related to your own area. 
  • Are there any plans to drill down further with the difference in opinions for faculty and staff?  Yes, we will see more of this but not sure of the timeline.
  • What is ModernThink’s role in this and will upper administration take their advice or build a strategic plan?  ModernThink manages the survey and gives us the data. We will be creating our own action plan and ModernThink will make suggestions to us but we will have the final say on what is implemented.

STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Communications – Added well-being dimensions into the newsletters and an ongoing pro humanitate section that will be featured in the newsletter.

Events –  Spoke on the food side of things and how we can switch it up for this year’s event.  Planning to partner with communications to start spreading the word.

Fringe Benefits – No updates.

Membership – No updates.

Pro Humanitate – No updates.

OUTSIDE COMMITTEE REPORT-OUTS

Capital Planning Advisory – No updates.

Faculty Senate– 

  • September 18 meeting – outlined the functions of the Faculty Senate.  The recent malicious emails were discussed. Updates were given on the Koch Foundation and Gift Acceptancy policy. 
  • October 16 Meeting – I.S. came to explain what their process is and what is deemed offensive content with regard to the recent malicious emails. Fringe Benefits Committee said they were given little time to make an informed decision.  They chose the 5% increase for health insurance and 7% increase for dental option due to a number of factors, including prescription prices being impacted.

 Parking & Transportation – No updates.

Tree Advisory – Next meeting is December 9.

Council on Inclusion and Diversity – Met this week and spoke on the different groups that are meeting.  If you are interested in seeing the minutes you can visit: www.community.wfu.edu. 

Finance Advisory – Has not met yet, and will likely be disbanded once the new University Priorities Committee is formed in early 2020.

Campus Rec Advisory Board – Mandy gave the same presentation that was given to the SAC in September.  They have found that staff are more likely to utilize the fitness facilities than faculty.  Repairs in facilities specifically to the rock wall (due to the flood from a burst pipeline recently) are being planned.

Professional Development Advisory Board – Monica Rivers & Missy Campbel are new colleagues in this area and they spoke on new classes they are implementing. 

UPDATES

  • Sarah Wojcik-Gross is meeting next week with Kim Crewey and Jon Wise to discuss the idea of a payroll-deductible meal plan for staff and faculty.
  • Welcome two new members, Kawana Neufville and Suzanna Hawks, replacing James Gravely and Kathy Carstens who have both left the University.
  • No December meeting. Happy Holidays!

ATTENDEES: 

  • Abbinett, Jennifer
  • Bresnahan, Olivia 
  • Brewer, Briana
  • Clingenpeel, David
  • Clodfelter, Melissa
  • Crist, Alex
  • Dam-Regier, Elizabeth 
  • Flowers, Kim
  • Holdson, Heather 
  • Hutcherson, Jennifer
  • Hutton, Kathleen
  • Lai, Sandy
  • Moore, Jon
  • Myers, Leigh
  • Robinson, Leigh Anne
  • Shannon, Ellie
  • Sheppard, Noel
  • Struble, Eudora
  • Todd, Wesley
  • Trethaway, Lauren
  • Vestal, Buffi
  • Willard, Amy
  • Wojcik-Gross, Sarah
  • Zakaria, Sarah

 

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