Staff Council Update: January 17, 2023

Current Middlebury Staff Council (MSC) Projects:

• Communications Committee – We created a new online form where staff can submit their interest in joining a committee, joining staff council, or submitting feedback/questions/proposal. We continue to work on moving archived minutes over from the old website to the new one, and we are working on representative highlights so you can get to know your representative better.
• Compensation Committee – MSC continues to work with HR and is providing feedback for the HR January update. The Leadership Alliance Academic Committee shared a memo they sent to members of the Senior Leadership Group on compensation feedback.
• Events – Co-sponsored with HR a successful Gingerbread competition in December that was featured in the Addison Independent. Sweet Structures Build Community.
• HR6 Committee – The committee has worked with HR this fall to restructure. MSC members now meet to identify issues and then reach out to HR around specific topics to address. Caitlin Goss then identifiers the HR members that can best work with MSC on the identified topics. This change was made to increase the communication between MSC and HR and increase the committee’s effectiveness.

Upcoming Events (VT):

• 1/18 - Afternoon at the Snow Bowl (alternate weather date January 25)
• 2/15 - Afternoon at the Rikert Outdoor Center (alternate weather date February 23)

Upcoming Events (CA):

• 1/29: Middlebury Institute Poetry Box Reveal with International Cultural Gatherings and ICAPP

Meeting Updates:

• 12/20 Leadership Alliance Update – see the  12/20 Tear Sheet (BUILD session on employee engagement survey)
• 1/4 Staff Council Working Meeting (closed)
• 1/10 Staff Council and Senior Leadership Group (closed)
• 1/11 Faculty and Staff Councils Joint Meeting (closed)
• 2/1 at 2 PM ET/11 AM PT – Open MSC Meeting with Mike Thomas on the Papercut Initiative (Zoom only). See the MSC Calendar for the full open meeting schedule.

Employee News:

Welcome to the new staff.

Representative Spotlight: BOB COLE

Bob Cole has been on Staff Council for three years as the District M* representative, where he currently serves as the chair of the Elections committee and is an active member of the Communications Committee. Bob also served as the Vice President of the Staff Council his first two years. Bob is the Director, of Exploratory Initiatives & Partnerships in the Office of Digital Learning & Inquiry and joins us from the Monterey Campus at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. He has worked at Middlebury for 21 years.

When asked what drew him to join Staff Council, he stated, “I was inspired to join Staff Council back in 2019 by our local Staff Advisory Team (SAT) who made it a priority to lay the groundwork for defining and strengthening the Institute’s representation in shared governance spaces. As a representative for MIIS on Middlebury’s Staff Council I serve in an ex-officio capacity on SAT which seeks to build community, support information sharing, and advocate for staff. It’s been a privilege to engage in the work of building relationships, collaborating across distance with staff colleagues on the Council, and representing the voices of Institute staff.”

Bob’s favorite Middlebury resource is the Our Green Thumb community garden. He says, “If you get a chance to visit the Institute, you’ll have to spend some time in Our Green Thumb community garden.” You can learn more about the garden in this news story.

Fun fact about Bob: He is an avid bike commuter and loves his commute to and from work along the Monterey peninsula coast.

Consider joining Bob as a representative on Staff Council. Simply fill out this form to submit your interest.

* District M represents the Middlebury Institute staff