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OA Council Year in Review 2024/2025

At the end of last summer, we outlined a number of goals for OAC’s work during the 2024-2025 academic year based on the feedback we received from OAs from our Spring 2024 OA Survey and other channels. We wanted to close out the year by reporting on our progress toward those goals. 

GOAL 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 paired with merit and propose process refinement for merit. 

Compensation & OA Merit: In September 2024, a new 3-year compensation plan was announced for OAs, meeting the Council’s first goal, which was to get a new multi-year plan of pay increases in place for OAs. In the months that followed, the Council had several meetings with the President, Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration and CFO, and the Chief Human Resources Officer to provide feedback from OAs. In April, adjustments to the plan were announced, heeding the Council’s request to have year two of the plan changed from merit only to across the board, and we received a commitment from leadership to consider improvements to the merit process for OAs. In addition, the timing of the salary increases was moved up to take effect on September 1 rather than October 1, and for the third year, the merit pool was increased from 3% to 3.75%. We also received a commitment that the OA increases will stand despite the planned cuts to UO’s budget. 

The Council will continue to work with the Administration in the year ahead to re-examine and refine the merit process for OAs.  

Advocacy: The Council did a deep dive into the history of the OA Council and established a clear understanding of where the Council fits within the overall governance structure of the institution. We are an Administrative Committee under the Office of the President charged with advising the administration regarding OA concerns and priorities.  We also worked to claim our seat at the table of shared governance by regularly reporting out at Board of Trustees meetings and attending Senate meetings. We had a presence at the UO Benefits Fair in October and established a relationship with All Campus Advising Association (ACAA,) a key constituency of OAs.   

GOAL 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. 

Symposium: Every year, the OA Council designs a professional development symposium around a topic of interest and importance to OAs in their work at UO. These symposiums have been extremely popular, and again this year, both the morning session and the afternoon session were fully booked. In partnership with HR Learning and Development, Office of the Provost, and Center for the Science and Practice of Well-Being, OA participants came away with a more concrete understanding of flourishing in the broader context of the Oregon Rising framework, how flourishing is measured, and tools to support flourishing in their units, which is especially timely given the upcoming budget cuts. 

OA Stars: We love highlighting the work of OAs! We are wrapping up our evaluation of the ninety-nine nominations received, and award recipients will be honored at the Fall listening session. 

OA Career Progression: This year, the Council met with the Senior Director of Talent Acquisition and Classification & Compensation to better understand the Oregon Equal Pay Act and what that means in terms of recognizing OAs for time/experience at UO.  While we understand time and experience at UO is not considered a bona fide factor that can be used in determining pay, we will continue to advocate for OA career progression at UO.  Towards that end, we initiated a conversation around partnering together on a resource or toolkit specifically designed for OAs to help OAs better leverage their skills and experience to help themselves advance in their careers. We are looking forward to continuing this work in 2025-26. 

GOAL 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. 

OA Networking: The Council hosted our winter social in Eugene in February, and for the first time, another social in May at the UO Portland Campus.  Both were well attended and wonderful opportunities to connect with OAs across campus. 

OA Affinity Groups: This year, in response to feedback from the Spring 2024 survey, the OA Council began soliciting ideas and interest in affinity groups. We are looking forward to continuing this work in 2025-26. 

OA Classification: As the advocacy body for OAs, we wanted to be responsive to the interest we have heard about OA classification and unionization. We took time to educate ourselves and meet with a number of experts to put together information and resources to help OAs better understand what it means to be classified as an OA. You can check out those resources here. 

Onboarding Resources: The OA Council is putting together an email to send to all new OAs to let them know about the Council, and to provide them with information about their classification. We are in the process of refining the email and anticipate being able to send that out beginning in the fall. 

It has been a remarkably busy and successful year for the Council! We close with a heartfelt thank you to our outgoing council members: Ann Craig for serving as one of the Professional Development Liaisons, Fatma Ali and Tash O’Brien for their work as Engagement Liaisons, and Julia Cohalan for serving as one of the Co-Chairs. We have selected their replacements and look forward to onboarding them over the summer and announcing the new membership of OA Council in the fall. Until then, we wish you all rest and vacation this summer as we gear up for what is sure to be another busy year ahead.

Best,
Officers of Administration Council