Progress And Effectiveness Report

Previous PSA Activities

Performance pay plan: The PSA had previously asked permission to present its performance pay plan to county staff and the Catawba County Board of Commissioners. Permission was denied. At the November 2000 CVCC Trustees meeting PSA "volunteered" to assist in a presentation of this item to the county commissioners. Trustees did not accept the offer.
Pay equity: With assistance from PSA a resolution was developed and approved by the CVCC Board of Trustees strongly supporting equitable salaries for faculty and staff and to encourage the NC General Assembly to bring all NC Community College personnel to a competitive national salary rank. The current budget passed by the NC General Assembly did use the wording "faculty and professional staff", and an additional raise was designated for community college faculty and professional staff above the standard state raise. This "faculty and professional staff" wording has gained endorsement of the NC Community College Faculty Association.
Improved Phone System: The PSA worked with the administration to try to make CVCC's phone system more user-friendly.
Established Career Tracks and Standards: The PSA met with the Director of Human Resources to discuss this issue. The PSA has gone on record supporting the hiring of a full-time staff development director for the college, and an internal posting of all job openings at CVCC.
Improved heating/cooling and ventilation system: The college did upgrade the system on the West Wing of the Administration Building. The PSA will continue to advocate for institutional improvements, such as heating/cooling & ventilation system, building upgrades, etc.
CVCC Vision/Long-range Goals: The Director of Institutional Research, Planning and Effectiveness, worked with the Executive Planning Commission to establish/refine these goals. Anne Williams was the PSA representative on this commission.
Campus Signage: Significant improvements have been accomplished. New exterior directional signs are in place on main campus, and room numbers are now in place in most areas.
Compensation Issues: The PSA developed a performance pay plan similar to the one being used by the faculty for additional county supplemental pay. The plan was "approved" by the CVCC Administrative Council (Nov 98) and the CVCC Board of Trustees (Spring 1998). The plan still has not been funded. The plan has "general" support from Administration and the CVCC Board of Trustees, yet this support has not translated into concrete request for funding. This issue was presented again to the CVCC Board of Trustees at the November 2001 meeting as part of an overall PSA update. Again the Board seemed receptive, yet made no specific response. The PSA board and as many members as possible will attend the public budget hearing of the Catawba County Commissioners in May 2002 to lobby for concrete funding. The PSA continues to write letters to state leaders to encourage them to use the wording "faculty and professional staff" rather than "community college faculty" when designating future pay increases, and of the critical role community colleges and professional staff play in education and retraining of workers during this economic downturn.
Improved Communications: The PSA meets at least annually with Dr. Garrett D.Hinshaw to outline the organization's goals and seek updates on progress. Official minutes of the Administrative Staff meetings are probably a result of the PSA and the Support Staff Association publishing their own versions.
On-campus staff development opportunities: The PSA continues to work with the Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs, the faculty and staff to coordinate on campus staff development. The PSA has representation on the college-wide Staff Development Committee; and has participated in these on campus activities.
Recommending members of the PSA to serve on college committees: The PSA now has a seat on the Administrative Council and has received appointments to several college-wide committees.
Computer Technical Support: The PSA continues to advocate improved computer support. We are extremely pleased that CVCC has now hired a full-time Web Master. Server upgrades are still needed to handle the increasing demand.
PSA Information Brochure: A brochure was developed and is distributed to all new professional employees.
Leave Policies: The PSA will continue to look at present leave policies and compare them to policies of other North Carolina community colleges and make appropriate recommendations to CVCC administration. Vacation days and operating hours will also be compared.
State-wide Networking: PSA continues to encourage networking of professional staff. Individual members of various state associations have been encouraged to support "professional staff" goals. Specific cooperation with the North Carolina Community College Student Development Personnel Association (N3CSDPA) was a key factor in the budget addressing "faculty and professional staff". Samples of CVCC's PSA brochure were distributed to the Executive Board of N3CSDPA to help encourage establishment of professional staff organizations at other community colleges.
Recognition of Outstanding Professional Staff: Dr. Harry Cook was nominated by PSA and CVCC for the new system-wide staff award. PSA is in final planning stages for its own CVCC Professional Staff Member of the Year award.