University Staff Senate 

April 21, 2026 | 3:30pm-5:00pm | RSC Room 142

Senators in Attendance – In Person

Monica Bergkamp, Anne Marie Brown, Trang Bui, Aaron Coffey, Kevin Duffy, Gabriel Fonseca, John Keckeisen, Christopher Leonard, Daniel Ludlow, Sarah Mathews, Susan McCoy, Jacob Mendez, Kendra Nguyen, Chukwunenye Nweke, Lyndsay Pletcher, Kennedy Rogers, Stacy Salters, Preston Schroeder, Kelley Smetak

Senators in Attendance – Virtual

Sara Mata, Nathan Johnson, Angela Blackerby, Sadi Roberts, Corby Redington, Whitney Crager

Senators Not In Attendance

Krissy Archambeau, Jessica Pierpoint, Margaret Rees, Courtney Henry, Kimberly Gutierrez, Zachary Brown,

Guests

Julisa Khan, Melanie Tidball, Olivia Kerschen, Abigail Burgess, Tiffanie Henderson, Debby Hindsdale, Andrea Gartman, Francine Angell, Lee Ann Birdwell

  1. Call to Order
    1. Approval of Minutes – Electronic
      1. Motion to approve – Gabe, 2nd Anne Marie
    2. Announcements
      1. For the first time, the Kansas Science Olympiad is sending 3 teams to Nationals! Two middle school teams & one highschool. Thanks to everyone who volunteered.
  2. New Business
    1. Athletics Update with Clay Stoldt and Kevin Saal
      1. Athletics Quality Assurance System
        1. Has established a Quality Assurance system – takes data from a variety of sources. A committee is assembled to review and ensure that we are meeting goals. 
      2. Student-Athlete Academic Performance
        1. We are meeting and exceeding goals of meeting student athlete GPA
          1. Academic Progress Rate: 990
          2. 12 Teams: Perfect 1,000 APR
          3. Graduation Success Rate: 89%
        2. Shockers in the Community
          1. Set strategic objectives – set a goal of 1,000 community service hours, doubled
        3. Shockers Competitively
          1. Have increased ranking in national rankings in the last several years.
          2. Goal is to be a top 100 program.
      3. Student-Athlete Experience Assessments
        1. Program surveys are administered twice each year to student athletes
        2. Overall the we are at a 3.5 or better in a 5 point scale
        3. Net promoter score is the percentage of the 9’s & 10s and subjects the percentage of score of 6 and below. WSU Net Promoter Score is +42
      4. Questions & Answers
        1. What is the process of setting goals for each new year?
          1. We assess a semester’s worth of scores into the next semester to track progress.
        2. With a lot of the discussion of financial issues, what can we do to get the excitement funding back “in the black"
          1. A the end of the day you must win basketball games. Made some difficult personnel decisions several years ago. We have hired a coach that has a trend of improving programs that he has overseen
          2. We are currently in a more competitive and expensive league. Athlete recruitment is important and having a program that encourages athletes to come to and stay in Wichita.
        3. Has there been a cost assessment comparing when an athlete decides to enter the transfer portal vs staying?
          1. The cost assessment would start at the beginning of the recruitment process. We believe the dollars are best spent on retention.
        4. The question about social scene response? Is this internal to WSU? Wichita? Athletics?
          1. Boiled down to a “Mass Street” an “Aggieville” – a vibrant social scene that is close to campus.
          2. Athletics has implemented some event coordination to help provide the “social scene”, but balancing over tasking staff as well.
        5. Do most of your athletes live on or off campus?
          1. Most off campus
        6. Comment – This year was the most athletes that volunteered at the Science Olympiad Event, much appreciated!
        7. If there are any additional questions, let Jacob know!
    2. Open / As Arises
  3. Old Business
    1. Listening Session Overview
      1. Wrapped up the last listening session last week. Jacob has been working on consolidating all the notes/themes.
      2. Shoutout to Anne Marie for attending all sessions and to all the senators that also attended the sessions.
      3. Some feedback shared by attendees:
        1. We’ve heard consistent concerns about lack of communication across departments, especially when policies or requirements change.
        2. There is confusion about what information is correct and where to find it, along with inconsistent advising and messaging.
        3. Overall, there is a sense of ambiguity across campus.
        4. Staff shared significant stress related to budget uncertainty, including not knowing when decisions will be made.
        5. There are questions about layoffs, reductions, and early retirement, and how different areas are handling cuts.
        6. Concerns were also raised about spending priorities and funding decisions.
        7. Staff are experiencing increased workloads, often taking on additional responsibilities due to unfilled or reduced positions.
        8. There is a perception that more work continues to be added, along with concerns about workload differences.
        9. Some staff expressed that they do not feel appreciated.
        10. There is confusion around HR policies, including notice periods, appointment types, and the difference between layoff and termination.
        11. Policies are described as difficult to find and interpret, with questions about consistency in how they are applied.
        12. Concerns were raised about course availability, including not enough seats and required courses not being offered.
        13. Students are being directed to take courses elsewhere, sometimes paying out of pocket or without aid.
        14. There is concern this may impact retention and tuition.
        15. There are concerns about lack of coordination across departments, with changes being made that affect others without notice.
        16. Staff shared that it is unclear where to go with concerns, and asked about opportunities to speak in meetings or participate in open forums.
        17. There is also a desire for more visibility and engagement from leadership.
        18. Operational concerns include lack of clear processes, documentation, and training, along with concerns about knowledge loss when positions are vacant.
        19. Questions were also raised about facility support and workload.
        20. There were concerns about job requirements not aligning with duties, particularly around degree expectations.
        21. There is recognition that many roles rely on on-the-job training.
        22. Additional items raised include questions about layoffs and notice timelines, early retirement updates, equity between staff and faculty, staff participation in governance, custodial workload, and long-term facility planning.
      4. Themes
        1. Communications is an issue – not all information is shared, lots of confusion, inconsistency
        2. Budget Uncertainty – not knowing process, different areas doing things differently
        3. Workload Increase
        4. Confusion about HR Policies – notice periods, appt types, oftentimes hard to locate information
        5. Course Availability – not enough seats filled in required courses to where we are shutting down our course, students are getting referred to other schools and essentially the other schools are making money off of that course
      5. Good practice, look at continuing to do these in the future. Look at having different time options (after work hours, etc.) and possibly have specific themed sessions.
  4. Senate Committee Updates
    1. Awards and Recognition
      1. No updates, information about the President’s Distinguished Awards should be coming out soon. Awards ceremony will take place on May 6th.
    2. Communications and Website
      1. Kendra & Stacy met and have concluded the pdf remediation stuff for the website. The final piece will be converting agendas/minutes will be webpages.
    3. Elections 
      1. Still waiting on one more person to accept the nomination, once we get the final acceptance we will announce the new senators.
      2. Once the new senate is installed, we will have an election for the executive committee.
      3. At-large senators will be elected in the next session.
      4. Shoutout to Caitlin Allan in ITS for helping making the process smooth.
    4. Policy Review 
      1. New Draft Policy 8.23 / University-Initiated Involuntary Student Leave of Absence”that the committee reviewed and provided feedback.
      2. Small change to Chair Election policy
    5. Professional Development and Service 
      1. Planning on having a gardening walk event this semester. Working with the landscaping staff to coordinate. More information to come.
    6. STRIVE Conference 
      1. Feedback was overall positive. A lot of responses liked the RSC as the venue.
      2. Area of concern, around 20% of registrants didn’t show up.
      3. Towards the end of the day the sessions were very poorly attended – so we may look at only having morning sessions.
    7. Scholarships
      1. No update.
    8. Chair Policy and Procedures Ad Hoc Committee 
      1. Meeting scheduled for tomorrow.
      2. A townhall is scheduled in Woolsey on April 27th to discuss the Chair Policy
  5. Campus/University Business Updates & Discussions
    1. Advisory Budget Committee 
      1. Updates below – system is open to start the budgeting process.
    2. Human Resources (Joint with Faculty Senate)
      1. Future of remote work discussed; high-level conversations about limiting it, but no decisions or actions taken yet
      2. No decisions yet on distribution of the 1% GU compensation pool
      3. Some supervisors are not allowing elected senators to attend senate meetings despite prior approval
      4. Recommendation: affected employees should contact their HR Business Partner (HRBP) for guidance
      5. LinkedIn Learning contract will not be renewed; current contract expires June 2026. While the contract is ending at the university level, you can access for free through the Wichita Public Library if you have a library card.
      6. Campus Climate Committee is restructuring to focus more on employee experience and data-driven survey tools
      7. HR plans to introduce a “Stay Interview” process over the summer
    3. Legislative Update + KBOR Briefing 
      1. Session ended early Saturday April 11th shortly after midnight. No major changes occurred since the last update other than they did not attempt to override the veto of SB 254 which would have eliminated the in-state tuition for undocumented students. Major changes to the SGF budget for the 2026 session include the following:
      2. 1% pay pool increase for employees for the SGF portion of the budget
      3. Extension of current $5M and $7M for aviation related research that was due to sunset
      4. 2.5% cut to each research university
      5. Elimination of the student success program funding
      6. Eliminate any DEI mandates in curriculum by Fall AY28 unless they are explicitly stated as a requirement and certified by KBOR to the same.
      7. Each institution must submit a plan by January 2027 to reduce spending on administrative (non-instructional or student support services) by 10%.
    4. Parking Appeals + Traffic Appeals 
      1. No updates
    5. President’s Meetings
      1. Meeting rescheduled.
    6. RSC Board of Directors 
      1. The first phase of construction to get the CAC Theater more ADA compliant is underway and I believe it will be open for the Fall semester (where groups can start reserving it now).
      2. Sushi Do is successful and will be staying in that spot in the RSC.
    7. Admins Coming Together 
      1. No updates
    8. UPS/USS Presidents Council (KBOR)
      1. No updates
    9. Library Appeals Committee
      1. Jacob is on the committee, meeting scheduled in the next few weeks.
  6. Announcements
    1. CAPS is putting together a running group & meditation group – more information to come
    2. Comment – A lot of electrical issues in buildings, fires recently, is there someone on maintenance that could be talked to.
  7. Adjourn/Upcoming Meetings and Events/Shoutouts
    1. May Senate Meeting: Tuesday, May 19, 2026 | 3:30pm-5:00pm | RSC 142
    2. Check the Events Calendar for upcoming events on campus