Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences

June CMC Meeting

Monday June 11 2018 @ 2:00 pm
to 4:00 pm

June

11

Mon

2018

2:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Event Type
Meeting
Availability

Closed to Public

Audience
  • CIRES employees
    • Host
    CMC

    Attendance

    Mimi Hughes, CMC chair (PSL)
    Mistia Zuckerman, secretary (NSIDC)
    Antonietta Capotondi (PSL)
    Alessandro Franchin (CSL)
    Nate Campbell (CIRES Admin)
    Tanya Peevy (NOAA/GSD)
    Susan Lobb (GSL)
    Aaron Sweeney (NCEI)
    Carrie Wall (NCEI)
    Jonathan Kefler (GML)
    Brandi McCarty (CSL)
    Amanda Morton (Admin/Outreach)
    Chelsea Thompson (CSL)
    Dawn Umpleby (EarthLab)
    Eric James (GSL)
    Carrie Morrill (NCEI)
    Kathy Lantz (GML)

    2:07pm - The meeting was called to order.
    Pronoun Stickers and Diversity and Inclusion trainings
    Feedback about the pronoun stickers.  Discussion followed about ways to get more people to attend the Safe Zone training.  Agreement that topics were more uncomfortable in trainings later in the sequence. There are few suggestions.    
    CIRES Rendezvous
    Linda was worried about the final rush, and it was crazy.  What would work better? Who cut the discussion about diversity and inclusion from Waleed’s talk?  Nate acknowledged that they were worried about his talk about it being too long, but why would they not leave one slide in there?  The food was good this year but many people were left without. Nate said that they ordered 20% more food. Lucia said that the UMC has repeatedly underserved in the NOAA building.  Even the cookies were minimal per person. The room was overseated, so that is not an indication of how many people filled up.
    This year only Nate and Linda went through the checklist.  In two years, Nate will no longer be in that position and could use a committee or a Vice Chair of Rendezvous.  Mimi mentioned that the Rendezvous Chair was taken from the bylaws because it can change. Action item: Mimi said that we will identify two people (Rendezvous chair and co-chair) for next year.  The feedback forms go to Nate.  Nate mentioned that once they randomized the posters and it made people mad.  
    OPA Awards Web Form
    Suggestions
    • Consider word or character limits? Currently, there is no word or character limit.  Typically, the responses are too short and it would help to have a minimum word count.  Everyone agreed this is a good idea. Carrie Wall will propose a new length at the next meeting.  
    • Ensure supporting letters include the name, affiliation, and how they are in a position to support the nominee(s)/science.  
    Carrie Wall discussed how she receives nominations and has no additional information about the affiliation of the nominator to the nominee.  Mimi asked if we should put guidance on whether it is internal or external. Discussion ensued. The council reached consensus to say “We highly recommend that science/engineering nominations have their recommendations come from people both inside and outside of CIRES/NOAA”    
    • Consider adding language to define the OPA as an annual award (i.e., work was completed within a certain period of time or centers on a recent event/publication, etc).  Perhaps the directors would like to create another award (something like a “career” award) which would be less focused on a specific chunk of work or publication, and more for an outstanding employee.  The council discussed whether (or how) such an award would be advertised.
    • Mimi suggested that we put up a couple of examples of nomination and detailed bullets about what an OPA nomination is supposed to address.  It would be a lot easier to use one of this year’s winning nominations as an example.

    >Chelsea will coordinate the discussion/brainstorm about the mentorship program together with Tanya, Ale, Mimi, and Jon.

    Do we want to add language to the OPA that will make it a little more specific to years?

    Maximum accrued vacation time
    Discussion regarding whether CIRES employees could be warned when they are approaching the maximum number of accrued vacation hours. For all of CIRES, employee vacation time will be moving to My Leave.  Nate said that CIRES has already been told that it will not be customized for different departments. There is a cap of 352 of annual leave hours, which is enforced at the end of CU’s fiscal year (end of June/beginning of July).  Suggestion that CIRES could send a general reminder email about the vacation leave cap to all employees several months ahead of the end of the fiscal year.
    J1/J2 visa - work permit issue
    Mimi asked that if CMC members have foreign nationals in their cluster to find out from them a few things regarding their onboarding process: What would have been helpful for them to know? What could CIRES administration have helped them with? and What do they want CIRES admin to know?  Mimi is meeting with Christine this month to discuss this issue.
    Schedule
    The upcoming schedule was discussed.