May 2010 Board Minutes Wick Alumni Center
Members Present: Agnes Adams, Jim Carr, Jack Goebel, Herb Howe, Jim McShane, Tice Miller, Jerry Petr, Kay Rockwell, Mel Thornton, Stan Vasa, Dan Wheeler, and Delivee Wright
Herb Howe, President, called the meeting to order at 1:00 pm.Jack Goebel, Benefits Chair, introduced invited guests, Keith Lauber, Director of University Accounting, and Greg Clayton, UNL Director of Benefits and Risk Management. A question and answer period followed concerning the heath insurance benefits for retired faculty. Points made included:
Benefits are part of faculty compensation. UNL, by law, cannot compensate faculty who are not working.
Active faculty health insurance benefits are the same as for retired faculty who stay on the UNL plan; at age 65 Medicare becomes the primary payer.
Full pharmacy (full formulary) benefits make UNL insurance plan more expensive as others have additional Part D plans provide significantly less generous pharmacy coverage. Also, insurability proof is not a requirement for retirees who stay on the University plan.
Impact of changes in federal policy is not yet clear; may make costs higher.
Now 850 retirees stay on the UNL plan; they may be ill and do not risk moving to another plan or may be comfortable with the known people.
Cobra plan that is not subsidized is about $450/mo so a retiree’s plan that was not subsidized would be near that price.
Emeriti not living in Nebraska or the U.S. can stay on the plan.
The Dental Plan is stable in costs; it does have annual limits.
No vision plan is available.
If all retirees were in the same pool with active employees, the future liabilities could be in the one billion dollar range; this would affect other financial issues for UNL. If UNL doesn’t pay subsidies, there is no liability.
Membership Committee Report: Mel Thornton reported: 209 annual members, 154 Life Members, 36 New Members, 135 Spouse Members, and 267 Inactive Emeriti for a total of 801 Emeriti.
He also reported that Al Zechmann, Mathematics, is not on the membership list, but has been designated Emeritus by his department since May 15, 1998. No record can be found. SAP system was new about that time so he may have been lost. The membership list is updated the middle of each quarter. Mel requested that Board Members look at the web site membership list for other possible omissions. Herb will send names of new Emeriti to Kay Rockwell for the New Faculty coffees.
Memory Moments: Prof. Peter Worth, Art and Art history
Minutes: Del Wright reported no changes. Approved as posted.
Treasurer’s Report: Agnes Adams reported:
Balance Carry over: $4,442.48
Total received: 1,190.00 (9 life; 3 dues; $260 March lunch)
Bank Balance 5,632.48
Wisherd Fund-spendable 28,389.87
Wisherd Book Value: 55,166.87
Old Business:
Emeriti in Action Project: The exhibit and reception was successful with two deans and Chancellor Perlman in attendance. The exhibit was professionally done by Joan Barnes and Mike Hare and the cases were nice looking. It was suggested that it should be repeated periodically; recognizing that it takes the work of dedicated members because it is a lot of work. It was also suggested that we do an annotation of each project beyond the title. (No one was assigned to this task.)
Jim McShane moved, and Kay Rockwell seconded a motion to officially thank Bob Fuller, Lowell Moser, Joan Barnes, and Mike Hare for the fine work they did on this project. Motion passed by acclamation.
Oral History: Tice Miller reported that four interviews have been conducted and expects to have ten completed by this summer. Jim Kendrick is doing full duty videotaping each one. A question arose about the criteria for selecting interviewees; age has been one factor suggested. Tice said he would be prepared in the fall to offer some recommendations. He said we need a way to do large numbers because all are worthy of being interviewed and archived. The library dept. of archives is taking the disks for proper handling.
Qualification for Membership: A change in the Emeriti Bylaws was proposed at the last Board Meeting and presented for discussion at the April Member Emeriti meeting. It will be voted on in Fall 2010.
Current: Membership shall consist of dues paying emeriti of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and dues paying collegial members.
Proposed: Membership shall consist of dues paying UNL retired academic-administrative personnel (Regents Bylaws 3.1.1.) who have been granted emeritus/a status and dues paying collegial members.
Further discussion clarified that there would be no change from including honorary life memberships for (surviving spouses) and new members who receive one-year free membership.
New Business:
1. Assistant Treasurer. Nancy Aden has been asked and has accepted the position of Assistant Treasurer to serve as backup for the Treasurer. Herb Howe requested that the Board members think about identifying an appropriate person to be an Assistant Webmaster to work with Jim Kendrick.
2. Nominations: Suggestions are needed for nominations for President-elect and for the elected Board Member for the Association. These need to be presented in Sept. and finalized in October. The President-elect should be from City Campus if we continue the alternate campus presidency. Please give ideas to Lowell Moser, Past-President. Duties include:
President-Elect is program chair.
President presides at meetings; and guides the organization
Past President chairs the nominating committee.
All three constitute the Executive Committee.
Committee Reports:
Member Relations - New Emeriti Coffees: Kay Rockwell reported the last meeting ended with an interesting tour of the library storage. She suggested that the entire Association might enjoy this tour. The next meeting is open to all Emeriti and will be a Coffee and Tour of Wyuka Cemetery, 9:30 am, Tuesday, May 18, 2010. Meet at the main building. Other suggestions for tours included Summer Repertory Theatre, Meadowlark, and Sheldon Sculpture Garden events. Jack Goebel said Bruce Currin had volunteered to guide a group to visit new areas on campus. Dan Wheeler will follow up on this with Bruce Currin.
Benefits: Jack Goebel reported a concern from Bob Fuller about whether the use of the UNL American Express Card was an emeriti benefit. His particular need was met; however, the board did not take up further discussion.
Faculty Senate: Barbara LaCost, Prof. of Educational Administration, has been elected President-Elect of the Faculty Senate. No Lake Award was made this year. If we know of deserving faculty we can nominate him/her.
The meeting adjourned at 2:30 pm.