P&A Consultative Committee (PACC)
May 18, 2023
Minutes of the Meeting
These minutes reflect discussion and debate at a meeting of a committee of the University of Minnesota
Senate; none of the comments, conclusions or actions reported in these minutes represent the views of,
nor are they binding on, the senate, the administration, or the Board of Regents.
[In these minutes: Welcome; P&A Chair and Chair-elect Reports; Introduction of Incoming
PACC members; P&A Leadership and Subcommittee Share-Out; Wellness Program
Measurement Tool Discussion]
PRESENT: Adolfo Carrillo Cabello (chair), Whitney Taha Frakes (chair-elect), Toni Abts,
Chelsie Bohlman, Marti Fasteland, Monica Kocon
REGRETS: Scott Creer, Amanda DeLisi, Stacy Doepner-Hove, Nancy Sims
GUESTS: Laura Fiero, wellbeing consultant, Total Rewards, Office of Human Resources
OTHERS PRESENT: Kit Breshears, Maureen Long
1. Welcome
Adolfo Carrillo Cabello, chair, P&A Senate/P&A Consultative Committee, welcomed committee
members and began the meeting.
2. P&A Chair and Chair-elect Reports
Carrillo Cabello updated the committee on work that he and Whitney Taha Frakes, chair-elect,
P&A Senate/P&A Consultative Committee, have recently engaged in, including:
● Updating language in the Regents Scholarship - Summary of Access Barriers for P&A
Employees after working with Office of Admissions personnel on clarifying processes
and concerns.
● Accepting an invitation from the Board of Regents (BOR) for the chair of the P&A
Senate/P&A Consultative Committee to deliver an oral report at the June 9, 2023, BOR
meeting. Carillo Cabello noted that he would like to highlight all members of PACC in
his report and include member photos, to increase visibility of PACC and the work that it
does. He asked members to let him know if they had concerns or reservations, or items in
particular that they would like him to highlight in the report.
3. Introduction of Incoming PACC members
Carillo Cabello invited incoming PACC members to introduce themselves. Kit Breshears,
incoming chair elect, said he is Communications Director in the Earl E. Bakken Center for
Spirituality and Healing and has been at the University since 2010. He said he is looking
forward to doing a lot of listening and learning from PACC members. He added that he cares
deeply about diversity, equity, and inclusion, and is continually advocating for increased
transparency around how the University deals with employee relations issues with diversity,
equity, and inclusion components.
Carrillo Cabello said he believes it will be important to make a more concerted effort to
understand the expectations of the new generation of employees coming into the University.
Breshears agreed and said he has been in discussions regarding “implications of social media on
mental health” in his department and feels the University is lagging in taking concerns of the
younger workforce entering the University seriously.
Chelsie Bohlman noted that the Communications Subcommittee co-chairs had been working
with Maureen Long, incoming chair of the subcommittee, to acquaint her with the
subcommittee’s operations and procedures. Long is the Director of Alumni Relations in the
Medical School.
5. P&A Leadership and Subcommittee Share-out
Prior to this meeting Carrillo Cabello and Taha Frakes invited subcommittee chairs/co-chairs
to reflect with their subcommittees on the following three prompts:
● One primary success achieved this year
● Mechanisms used to achieve that success
● One area in need of further attention
Carillo Cabello and Taha Frakes began the discussion by sharing their responses to the
prompts using these slides:
● Having guiding principles is a way to handle the significant amount of work that
PACC, subcommittees, and the P&A Senate are asked to engage in, helping provide
focus for advocacy efforts.
● Guiding principles can provide consistency when transitioning between academic
years, administrations, and relevant issues while they assist in prioritizing advocacy
efforts.
● When in a position of leadership, there are opportunities to become aware of broader
conversations taking place, to learn about issues that affect different groups and the
University at large, and to understand how to elevate the voice of constituents when
there are limited resources and competing interests.
● When advocating for your constituents' concerns, it is valuable to engage in the topics
other people/groups are talking about. How can you frame your advocacy in terms that
relate to what other groups are engaged in? How can you keep the concerns of your
constituency relevant?
Carrillo Cabello shared how the guiding principles set out at the beginning of his term helped
him maintain focus during long term projects such as socializing the Regents Scholarship -
Summary of Access Barriers for P&A Employees and the Workforce Reinvestment: Rebuilding
a Better U for Employees resolution.
Next, Toni Abts, co-chair, Outreach Subcommittee, recapped the subcommittee’s response to the
prompts (slides five and six of the slide deck).
PACC members discussed possible other avenues for outreach and recruitment:
● Begin recruiting efforts earlier in the academic year
● Reach out to P&A staff serving on governance committees other than the P&A Senate
and the PACC
● More intentional collaboration with other P&A Senate subcommittees
● Improve onboarding processes (welcome letters, etc.) when bringing in new senate
members and governance members in general
● Connect with governance groups on all give system campuses; connect leadership to
leadership among the campuses
Monica Kocon, chair, Professional Development and Enrichment Subcommittee (PD&E),
provided an overview of PD&E’s discussion regarding the prompts (slides seven and eight of the
slide deck). Included in the slide are links to the subcommittee’s 2022-23 End of Year Report and
the 2023-24 Workplan for the subcommittee. In response to a question from Taha Frakes
regarding subcommittee member involvement in planning events, Kocon said it was difficult to
get anyone to do the “heavy lifting”, especially during and after COVID, when the
subcommittee’s events were moved to an all online format.
Carrillo Cabello asked that the committee move to the next agenda item and that the
subcommittee share-out continue after the invited speaker.
6. Wellness Program Measurement Tool Discussion
Laura Fiero, wellbeing consultant, Total Rewards, Office of Human Resources (OHR) began
her presentation noting that during the current Wellbeing Program redesign, OHR has had a
number of requests from various governance groups and others with whom they’ve consulted
for information regarding how the success of the program is being measured. OHR, in
collaboration with Colleen Manchester Flaherty, chair, Senate Consultative Committee and
Faculty Consultative Committee (SCC/FCC) and Jean Abraham, professor and interim head,
Division of Health Policy and Management, has developed an employee survey collect that
data, with these five desired outcomes:
● Identify to what extent the incentive drives employee participation
● Education and awareness of the six dimensions of wellbeing
● Drive participation in our programming and resources
● Get a pulse on employees’ net thriving scores (current state of wellbeing and hoped
for future)
● Employees’ viewpoints on wellbeing and the University of Minnesota’s culture
Fiero said OHR is working with the Office of Measurement to distribute the survey in
September 2023 and, hopefully, every September thereafter. Fiero then asked committee
members if they had questions or comments.
Committee members and Feiro had a robust discussion regarding how to best frame the
survey in order to maximize employee response, especially during a time when employees
are experiencing “survey burnout.” Suggestions included:
● Clearly state the desired outcomes and what the survey is intended to measure
● Incentivize participating in the survey
● Consider combining this survey with the annual Employee Engagement survey and
other surveys such as the recent (launched in February 2023) systemwide Campus
Climate Survey
● Be aware of any equipment or access limitations employees may have if a computer
or other technology is required for participation in the survey
● Consider system campus/University of Minnesota Extension specific surveys
● Recommendation to work with the University Survey Advisory Team who analyzes
survey requests and frequency to guard against employee survey fatigue
Carrillo Cabello thanked Fiero for the discussion and added that the P&A Senate would be
eager to collaborate with Feiro and OHR in getting information to its constituency, for
example, through monthly P&A newsletters.
The subcommittee share-out portion of the meeting resumed. Marti Fasteland, co-chair,
Benefits and Compensation Subcommittee (B&C), presented B&C’s response to the provided
prompts (slides nine and ten of the slide deck):
● A notable success was pre-meeting preparation which made meetings run more smoothly
and discussions more robust. Prior to each meeting, B&C co-chairs provided
opportunities for subcommittee members to submit questions/comments on the upcoming
topic. These questions and discussion points were then provided to guest speakers in
advance of the meeting.
● B&C members were able to give constructive feedback to presenters and feel their
feedback was heard and implemented in a number of cases (for example, clarifying
language on the OHR website to support a flexible work culture).
● Fasteland referred committee members to the B&C jamboard regarding goals for next
year and said smaller working groups within the subcommittee may be better situated
than the entire B&C subcommittee to take on some of these specific goals.
● Continued advocacy for being intentional about including all five system campuses and
University of Minnesota Extension when seeking presenters for PACC and P&A Senate
meetings.
○ When people introduce themselves and their place of work, everyone should name
the campus they work on.
○ Encourage perspectives from those who implement policy from a “ground-level,”
not just senior administration.
Chelsie Bohlman, co-chair, Communications Subcommittee shared information from the
subcommittee’s discussion regarding the provided prompts (slides nine and ten of the slide
deck):
● Information from surveys sent the last two years indicates that constituents most value
the P&A newsletters and the P&A Senate Recap emails as means of communication.
● Onboarding for the new Communications Subcommittee chair, Maureen Long, has
started.
● The subcommittee is seeking more autonomy to develop and implement its ideas.
● The subcommittee would like more collaboration with other subcommittees.
Taha Frakes thanked the chairs and co-chairs for the presentations and noted that a common
theme from all presentations is the desire to work more collaboratively across subcommittees.
She asked PACC members if they would be willing to meet a few times during the summer
months to start the year off strong with the subcommittee cross-collaboration theme, and PACC
members were receptive to the idea.
Carrillo Cabello thanked committee members for a productive year and the opportunity to serve
as chair and, hearing no further business, adjourned the meeting.
Geanette Poole
University Senate Office