A New Academic Year is Here

Welcome to Fall term, the academic year is off to an engaging start full of activity!

The OA Council (OAC) is an elected body that represents the UO’s diverse group of unclassified professionals to promote and facilitate communication, identify and address pertinent issues, share information, enhance professional identity, and create opportunities for collegiality.

OAC is committed to advocating for the needs of our constituents. At the close of last academic year and over the summer, OAC met with stakeholders and UO leadership to highlight what we heard in the OA survey administered by the Council last year. Specifically, OAC has been focused on communicating the need for a transparent longer term pay increase plan for OAs, the need for a pay increase prior to January 2025, the need to address salary compression, and the need for a cost of living/across the board increase over merit. As we saw in the plan announced this morning, university leadership has heard those concerns.

The OAC’s 2024-25 goals are in active development and are based on OA input and continuing work from 2023-24. OAC preliminary 2024-25 goals were presented to the Board of Trustees at their September 17th meeting and thematically focused on the following:

  1. Compensation: partner with university leadership to develop a clear plan of multi-year scheduled pay increases for OAs with a preference for COLA/ATB over merit and propose process refinement for merit.
  2. Professional Development: promote the professional development and career progression of OAs. Facilitate the design of clear career progression paths for OAs. Cultivate ways for OAs to highlight and receive recognition for time/experience at UO within hiring and compensation processes.
  3. Flourishing: cultivate a sense of belonging for OAs at UO, develop and share common onboarding resources specifically for OAs, including networking and mentoring resources. Encourage support and community building for remote work. Facilitate networking events for OAs and connect OAs with each other and relevant affinity groups.

As OAC did last fall, we are making plans to host an Information Session/Fall Open Meeting. This will include an update and Q&A with President Karl Scholz and campus leadership, discussion of the OAC goals for 2024-25, and the presentation of this year’s OA Stars.  Please look for more information about the OA Council Fall Open Meeting and the OA Council Goals in our next email!

Sincerely,
OA Council

 

Mission of the OA Council

The OA Council (OAC) is committed to advocating for the needs of our constituents. The OAC is an elected body that represents the UO’s diverse group of  professionals to promote and facilitate communication, identify and address pertinent issues, share information, enhance professional identity, and create opportunities for collegiality.

If you have any questions, concerns or comments please do not hesitate to reach out to the OA Council.