Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences

CMC February Meeting

Monday February 11 2019 @ 12:30 pm

February

11

Mon

2019

12:30 pm

Event Type
Meeting
Availability

Closed to Public

Audience
  • CIRES employees
  • Host
    CMC

    Attendance 

    Mistia Zuckerman, CMC chair (NSIDC)
    Alessandro Franchin, CMC co-chair (CSL) 
    Jonathan Kofler, CMC Secretary (GML)
    Eric James (GSL)
    Antonietta Capotondi (PSL)
    Eric Adamson (SWPC)
    Andrew Badger (Main Campus)
    Carrie Bell (NCEI) 
    Nathan Campbell (CIRES Admin)
    Gaby Petron (GML)
    Aaron Sweeney (NCEI, non member)
    Joseph Katich (CSL)
    Michael Toy (GSL)
    Dawn Umpleby (Earth Lab /NC CASC)
    Adam Woods (NCEI)
    Molly Hardeman (visitor)

    2/11/2019:  Location: The Taj Restaurant, Basemar Shopping Center, Boulder
    Meeting called to order at 12:38 pm
    CU Family Housing Update
    Alessandro (Ale) Franchin is in process of obtaining more information about CU Family Housing.  The Postdoctoral Association of Colorado (PAC) is also considering doing something regarding the housing limited term situation.  Ale would like to invite PAC to a CMC meeting so that we can coordinate since we have a lot of overlap and common interests.  Some discussion ensues with some points raised.  An undergrad student climate survey came out and found that housing was a big issue.  The university has a priority structure for determining who receives student housing. Gaby Petron points out limited housing resources is at the root of the problem. What is the solution?  Dawn Umpleby points out that there may be certain requirements that the university meet for the state.  Housing is a political battle because it is partially provided by money that comes from the state.  Eric Adamson is in faculty/family/student housing.  There was a questionnaire that came out in the previous couple years requesting feedback on various means of addressing housing issues including possibility of faculty/staff owned housing on university owned land with shared appreciation in the future south CU expansion.  Eric also attended a focus group run by outside advising firms for CU last week. The focus group was comprised of 6 faculty/staff and 3 students. Emotionally charged focus group, particularly on the part of faculty/staff. People for whom housing was a lifesaver, were very upset/scared after being notified of the recent change in housing policy.  Someone points out that Faculty should care about housing for Post-docs for the health of the university.
    Ale reads his statement which is intended for Waleed and on a shared document.  Jon Kofler suggests adding a clear request to the end of the statement.  Ale’s wish is for Waleed to bring the statement to Chancellor and ask him to review the policy.
    Motion: Mistia bring Ale’s statement to Christine, and then have her bring it to Waleed.  Unanimously approved.
    Post-docs faculty should care about this for the health of the university.
    “Graduate and family housing”
    CIRES Bikes
    Mistia would like to donate a bike from NSIDC to CIRES outreach to give to CIRES fellow. She would keep one at NSIDC and have another for a visitor.  Lucia can store it at the NOAA building.  Bicycles that reside on campus and stay in one location for more than a day are frequently vandalized, stolen or stripped of parts.  One bike on main campus was stolen twice. 
    Travel Policy
    Ale: There are lots of complaints, and should we do something about it.  Discussion ensues. There are some grey areas, are weekend days counted in the number of personal days?.  Do travel days count as work days?  Has the policy changed the policy that you allows you to pay the airfare difference?  Is there an appeal process if you are denied a travel request?.  Dawn Umpleby asks how does it compare to universities policy?  Action item:Mistia and Antonietta are going to develop a list questions about the new travel policy.
    Donating Leave time
    Joe Katich - Is there such a thing as auto enroll if you are up against use it or lose it annual leave to be able to donate it to those who need it.  After some discussion, conclude we should bring this up to BJ Thompson is able to make a CMC meeting and discuss what policies and mechanisms are in place and see if there are things that can or should be changed.
    Salaries
    Ale received an email from John Rush with the salary ranges for RS1. The salary range spans below $50k to greater than $100k with the median at $70k.  Ale raises the point of transparency and someone points out that when salaries are published and there is more transparency, less inequity occurs. Dawn Umpelby points out part of the discrepancy could be because some people are migrated to RS1 from the RA track, and that the funding source could play a role too.
    Focus Groups  
    No news, awaiting a future CMC meeting where Susan Sullivan can attend. Action item: Mistia will invite Susan to the next CMC meeting.
    2019 Outstanding Performance Awards (OPA) (OPA Chair)
    The committee is fully together including non-CMC representatives. Nate added some successful submission information/guidelines and examples to the online submission forms.
    2019 Rendezvous Nate Campbell (Chair)
    The Rendezvous is May 17.  Dawn Umpleby is the co-chair this year.  Going over the room limit is a concern this year, and it should be insured that CIRES employees get first priority to attend the event.   It is also possible that all the posters cannot be accommodated due to limited space; last year we came within one poster of the limit. After discussion it is concluded for the time being that first come/ first served for poster submissions should be implemented with a number of submissions available listed on the submission website.  However 97% of abstracts come in the night of the deadline which could make this tricky. Dawn has created a google drive document for sign up to volunteer positions.  Each CMC member should sign up for 2 slots.  Vegan food options was suggested and action item: Nate said he would look into vegan food options for the Rendezvous.
    Onboarding(Mistia)
    BJ Thompson is hiring a person to help him with on-boarding and he wants the CMC to wait until she is onboard to join a CMC meeting for a discussion of this topic. Ale brings up the need to get in touch with new hires as the CMC, and say something that everyone agrees with that explains our role (make a statement for new hires).
    Government shutdown(Mistia)
    A short discussion about what if anything should be done about the possible upcoming shutdown, during which someone notices Waleed has sent out an email, which ends the conversation.
    Membership
    Mistia - we ran out of time to discuss CMC membership.
    Meeting is adjourned 1:54 pm.