Administrative Senate faces challenging priorities

By George Mauzy

Before the academic year began, chair of Administrative Senate Dorothy Anderson knew that most of the efforts of the group would be spent on the implementation of the new Administrative and Professional Pay Plan Project.

The plan is scheduled to be completed over two or three budget years and will cost the Ohio University approximately $75,500. Administrative Senate will attempt to help the University accomplish the four major components of the project: titling and classification of positions, market benchmarking, assigning grades to administrative jobs and transitioning to the new plan.

"This new pay plan is very important because the current compensation plan is old and outdated," said Administrative Senate Chair Dorothy Anderson. "We will move from a point system to a market-based system. That is the goal of this new compensation plan."

The Administrative Senate's executive committee and University Human Resources staff members devised the proposal for the project and presented it to Vice President for Administration Gary North.

Helping administer the new pay plan is just one example of the many functions of the Administrative Senate. According to its constitution, the mission of Administrative Senate is to provide its constituents with representation, communication, protection, educational opportunities, recognition and collaboration.

Administrative Senate established the following priorities for the 2002-03 academic year:

• Assure that total compensation of administrators is maintained or increased
• Develop a system of online voting for administrative senate elections
• Re-evaluate the role and purpose of senate standing committees
• Broaden the professional development opportunities for administrators

"We have come up with some challenging priorities and I look forward to working with the senators to make them successful," Anderson added. "Ohio University could have major challenges this year because of a lack of state funding, but I believe that if we all work as a team, and are inclusive in our decision-making, we can continue to move ahead and be successful."

To be eligible for membership to the Administrative Senate, an Ohio University employee needs to be on a presidential appointment with more than 50 percent administrative duties. The organization annually has 33 senators with 30 representing the Athens campus and three representing the regional campuses. Each senator's elected term is three years.

The Administrative Senate Executive Committee is made up of five officers who have the power to act for the senate and serve as a liaison between the senate and its constituents. Officers are elected to one-year terms and may succeed themselves one time. The 2002-03 Administrative Senate Executive Committee members are Chair Dorothy Anderson, Vice Chair Jean Witkowski, Treasurer Chris Morris, Secretary Wendy Merb Brown and Advisor Maggi Channell.

Administrative Senate meets the first Thursday of every month.

George Mauzy is a media specialist with University Communications and Marketing.