July 21, 2026 Minutes

University Staff Senate

July 21, 2026 | 3:30 - 5 p.m. | Rhatigan Student Center Harvest Room (142)

Senators in Attendance - In Person

Ana Abente, Krissy Archambeau, Joseph Asbridge, Katie Austin, Monica Bergkamp, Anne Marie Brown, Caitlin Bruner, Ann Burger, Gabriel Fonseca, Raven Garrison, Zachary Hendrich, Courtney Henry, Christopher Leonard, Daniel Ludlow, Brady Marzolf, Sarah Mathews, Jacob Mendez, Kendra Nguyen, Chukwunenye Nweke, Jessica Pierpoint, Lyndsay Pletcher, Sadi Roberts, Kim Sandlin, Preston Schroeder, Kelley Smetak, Megan Steele

Senators not in Attendance

Sara Mata, Angela Blackerby, John Keckeisen, Nathan Johnson, Caitlin Nolen

Call to Order
1. Welcome and Introductions
2. Congratulations to all the new senators and returning senators
Announcement and Installation
1. Executive Committee Election Results
2. Installation of President
3. Installation of Executive Committee
4. President Elect – Christopher Leonard
5. USS Representative – Joseph Asbridge
6. Secretary – Kendra Nguyen
7. Vice President – Katie Austin
8. Installation of New Senators
Guest Presenter
1. David Miller, Senior Vice President for Administration, Finance and Operations
  1. Welcome to the 2026-2027 staff senate. Thanks to your willingness to serve and represent your constituents. Your work doesn’t go unnoticed. Your character and passion helps make the campus a jewel of our community.
New Business
1. Action Requested: Approve Nominees for At-Large Senators Appointments
  1. Preston Schroeder (term to expire June 2028)
  2. Sadi Roberts (term to expire June 2028)
  3. Daniel Ludlow (term to expire June 2028)
2. Installation of New At-Large Senators
  1. Motion – Anne Marie, Second Chuck
Discussion
1. Staff Senate Website
  1. We will be updating the website with the new senators – typically pulls from your WSU profile.
  2. Communication will go out when that update is happening
2. Review Staff Senate Teams
  1. All senators should have access to the staff senate teams channel
  2. Resources that you will primarily need will be in the 2026 folder
3. Selection Process for Staff Senate Committees
  1. Gabe will send out a link to the Senate to rank what committees you would be interested in. Also included will be committees where a staff senator has a representative on.
4. Expectation of Staff Senate Meetings
  1. Gabe would like to have an expectation for all senators to be in-person for senate meetings. We will continue to provide a link for general public to view the meetings.
  2. Would like to open up to discussion for thoughts/feedback
    1. Hope to have more robust conversations when senators are all in-person
    2. Discussion on if they are not able to attend in-person, they would be considered absent.
    3. Committee meetings can be held virtually.
    4. Question on whether there are any considerations/exceptions for things that come up. – If you absolutely have to, you can, but not to abuse the option.
      1. Do we have a percentage of meetings expected in-person?
5. Using Your Constituents Lists and Expectations on Communication
  1. The constituent lists are being updated to reflect your areas.
  2. The updated list will live out in the Teams channel
    1. We will keep these updated as much as possible
  3. President will continue to send a welcome email to new staff and copy the senators.
  4. Monthly highlight emails – expectations to send that out to your constituents in a timely manner.
    1. Kendra will send these out that will include instructions
6. Recap from President’s Executive Team Retreat
  1. Gabe attended the PET retreat.
  2. Highlights
    1. Budget realities continue as they are in higher education.
    2. Continue to find ways to work with budget we are allocated
    3. It is an election year so changes in Kansas legislature will also change up priorities at the state level.
    4. Continue to be transparent of tuition and fees
    5. Conversation about how to increase tuition revenue – i.e. online courses, etc.
    6. Reviewing WSU Tech student pipeline – how to transition WSU Tech graduates to University
    7. Discussed a lot of things that we need to stop doing as an institution (just because we have always done it, doesn’t mean we need to continue doing it)
    8. Discussion about compensation – how are we communicating and how are deciding where we put investment into
    9. Discussion about needs based aid
    10. A strong push for implementing merit-based compensation for FY28 – there will most likely be a lot of conversations on how that will be implemented
      1. Some internal practices will need to be reviewed and shift to accomplish this – such as performance review
      2. Question about those groups that are grant funded – what are the expectations
      3. Question: Is merit-based compensation going to replace market-based compensation? – conversation that they should mirror each other and not replace one or the other
      4. Question: Is there conversation that prior to this implementation, will there be communication going out that this will be happening to ensure that staff will be more on-top of completing evaluations and put more weight on the importance of completing them.
      5. Question – ensure that goals measurements are able to capture work that is hard to measure, i.e. staff whose work is completely grant/contracts
      6. Gabe recommended that representation from different staff perspectives
      7. Question – What if there are leaders that are not supportive in the process.
        
        Potentially have training/concrete expectations that these are being done
        
        Have an appeals process for staff person to submit to review
        
        Have checks & balances process
      8. Question – if budget doesn’t allow for providing increases, is the department on the hook to figure it out? Or is there going to be dictation of only the amount of increase as budget allows are the only ones that get it?
      9. Comment – how will this impact work culture? As we are trying to implement this, this will impact work culture?
      10. Question – does a “5” equate the same across all departments?
      11. Question – Is merit-based an increase to your base salary? Or is this a one-time reward?
    11. Legislative Priorities for Spring 2027
      1. Big question currently - Who will these leaders be?
      2. Gabe will send them to full senate once they are available
    12. Academic Affairs Master Plan – more information to share when available
7. Question – has there been any update to FY28 fiscal outlook, are there more information on whether there are staff layoffs, etc.?
  1. Gabe will follow-up with David Miller
Old Business
1. None
Senate Committee Updates – No updates since committees have not been formed
1. Awards and Recognition
2. Communications and Website
3. Elections
4. Policy Review
5. Professional Development and Service
6. Scholarships
7. Shocker Strive
Campus/University Business
1. Academic Forum - no meeting
2. President’s Budget Advisory Committee - budgets are done.
3. Human Resources - no meeting
4. Legislative Affairs Update - no meeting
5. Parking & Traffic Appeals
  1. A trend seeing that there are guests for events that you are hosting assuming free parking. They will get ticketed – such as the YMCA, those appeals will be rejected.
  2. Question – is there any communications that go out regarding parking information
    1. There is some communication, but we could continue to improve sharing updated information about parking
    2. President’s Executive Team, Dean and Constituency Heads - no meeting
    3. Rhatigan Student Center Board of Directors - no meeting
Kansas Board of Regents
1. Kansas Board of Regents - no meeting
2. Kansas Board of Regents Staff Council - no meeting
Adjourn/Upcoming Meetings and Events/Shoutouts
1. August Meeting: Tuesday, August 25, 2026, | 3:30PM
2. Fall Address: Wednesday, August 12, 2026, | 2:00PM, Miller Hall
3. STRIVE Conference 2027: March 26, 2027 | 8:30AM
4. Check the Events Calendar for upcoming events on campus