New Staff Council President Loyola Chastain says it’s a good time to serve. “I thought when President Schmidly came that it would be a great time to serve as Staff Council president, because it would be an opportunity to work with him on new initiatives,” she said.
Chastain is manager of academic advisement in the Anderson School of Management. She served as a staff councilor for the first time in 1998, and has continued to participate on the compensation committee since then, advocating for staff pay and benefits. She said that any staff member can serve on Staff Council committees, which organize around various aspects of employee life.
Chastain said compensation is always Staff Council’s number one issue. In addition to advocating for pay increases, the group is pushing for a statewide compensation study. Chastain said that staff salaries should be compared with peers in higher education, particularly for positions that don’t have parallels outside academia, such as academic advisors.
As Staff Council president, Chastain is also a board member of the New Mexico Higher Education Staff Association. At a recent meeting, the board discussed tying compensation to the Cost of Living Adjustment or Consumer Price Index. Chastain said that would give the numbers meaning, rather than advocating for an arbitrary percentage increase.
In 2001, Staff Council passed a resolution urging the creation of a university ombudsperson. Chastain said she spent this summer working on a respectful workplace policy, but hit a stumbling block because without an ombudsperson, there’s no one responsible for investigating allegations of workplace bullying. That may soon change, as Chastain has discussed the issue with President David Schmidly and she says he supports either creating a new position or adding ombudsperson to the responsibilities of an existing position.
Chastain said she’s also interested in finding out what UNM can do to make it easier for more people to try flex schedules or telecommuting. Following a pilot of an optional four day compressed work week this summer, the Division of Human Resources recommended continuing UNM’s previous policies allowing flexible scheduling.
In addition to staying on top of these ongoing issues, Chastain said it’s important to respond to new issues as they come up, address problems staff bring to the council, and keep constituents informed and aware.
Progress has recently been made toward accomplishing two Staff Council goals.
For about two years, Staff Council has been working to align UNM’s spring break with Albuquerque Public Schools. President Schmidly got behind the proposal, and on Aug. 29, UNM, APS and Central New Mexico Community College announced an agreement which, in addition to creating a seamless educational experience from kindergarten through graduate school, will explore aligning the calendars of all three.
Chastain is also pleased that staff and faculty will soon be able to use Lobo Ride stickers to ride the bus for free, a goal Staff Council began advocating for last spring.
Chastain has been at UNM 16 years. She said her work in the Anderson Advisement Center is fulfilling. “In the Advisement Center you can do the smallest thing for a student and they’re so grateful, because it’s huge to them. It’s a job of instant rewards.”