Please join us for our Annual Fall Listening Session. We will hear from senior members of the University Administration, including President Scholz, and give OAs a chance to share their thoughts with the OA Council, Senior University Administration, and each other.
 

OA Fall Listening Session 
Tuesday, November 12th 
2:00 PM – 3:30 PM  
EMU Ballroom (in-person)
All OAs are Encouraged to Attend
No RSVP Required *   

Additionally, this time is when we will formally recognize our 2024 OA Star Winners!  

* Remote viewing link to be shared via email prior to the event for remote viewing. 

OA Star Selections 

Thank you to everyone who participated in the nomination process to recognize this year’s OA Stars. The honorees will be recognized at the OA Council’s Fall Listening Session on November 12th and this portion of the program begins at 3pm. The honorees will receive a certificate and have already enjoyed a seat in the presidential suite at a home football game earlier this season. 

Officers of administration selected to receive OA Star Awards excel not only in their positions and departments but also embody a spirit of collegiality and vision, working with peers and partners across departmental and divisional lines. They strive for continuous improvement and look to build relationships and solutions that improve the university for all stakeholders. Thank you to all who nominated OA Stars for 2024! 

Below is the full list of this year’s award winners.

Cecile A. Gadson 
Cody Weaver 
Emma Bjorngard Basayne
Evey Lennon 
Jonathan Jacobs 
Luis Ruiz
Nick Mahlum 
Patty Smith   

You can read the highlights from their nomination entries here. 

Goals for the 2024-25 Academic Year  

After careful deliberation and based on the feedback collected by OAs through various channels, the OA Council has selected the following goals to strive toward for the 2024-25 academic year. If you have ideas about how we can reach these goals, would like to help, or have any questions, please let us know.

Compensation
Professional Development
Flourishing 

You can read more about each of these goals here

Thank you to everyone who participated in the nomination process to recognize this year’s OA Stars. The honorees will be recognized at the OA Council’s Fall Listening Session. The honorees will receive a certificate and have already enjoyed a seat in the presidential suite at a home football game earlier this season. 

Officers of administration selected to receive OA Star Awards excel not only in their positions and departments but also embody a spirit of collegiality and vision, working with peers and partners across departmental and divisional lines. They strive for continuous improvement and look to build relationships and solutions that improve the university for all stakeholders. 

Below is the full list of this year’s award winners. 

Cecile A. Gadson
Dr. Gadson is a licensed psychologist and the African American and Black Student Specialist at the University of Oregon Counseling Services. Dr. Gadson is an inspiration in the effort she has put into making connections, network, and work collaboratively with campus and community partners and agencies to develop programming and resources to support university student health, well-being, and success. 

Cody Weaver
Cody is the definition of a relationship builder who is able to build strong working relationships beyond his department, encompassing colleagues, contractors, vendors, and industry professionals. His collaborative, thoughtful, and caring approach in all communications helps build a more positive and supportive campus environment. 

Emma Bjorngard Basayne
Through a holistic approach to advising, Emma is making an impact on the lives of many by consistently going above and beyond expectations. She is a beloved advisor in the COE who advises and coaches students through difficult decisions around academic, professional, and sometimes personal issues. 

Evey Lennon
Evey is a leader who is a forward-thinking individual who has worked to push the library into the future of its versatility, adaptability, and fiscal consciousness. Every is the epitome of a creative, positive, and collegial partner and it comes through in the results she is able to achieve on a regular basis. 

Jonathan Jacobs
In a challenging year for enrollment and financial aid, Jonathan helped create financial models that enabled the University of Oregon to deliver more scholarships to deserving students. These scholarships were critical to keep UO competitive and help students finance their dreams. 

Luis Ruiz
Luis’s work with study abroad scholarships highlight his efforts to ensure opportunities for historically marginalized groups. His assistance to students eligible for the Gilman scholarship – exclusively for Pell Grant students – stands out. He meets one-on-one with students to advise on the requirements, provide guidance on applications, and follow up as needed. Due to his efforts, UO consistently ranks among the top ten Gilman-awarded universities, among larger institutions like UCLA and NYU. 

Nick Mahlum
Nick’s exceptional work at the School of Journalism and Communication (SOJC) is making a profoundly positive impact on our campus. His dedication to creating a welcoming and efficient environment for both current and prospective employees is unparalleled. During the interview process, Nick consistently goes above and beyond to ensure candidates feel valued and at ease. 

Patty Smith
Patty Smith serves as the Executive Assistant within the Department of Physical Education and Recreation and is a vital member of the department’s Leadership Team. She thrives in her role within the department, she brings people together and inspires them to do their best. 

Congratulations to this year’s Stars and thank you for your contributions to our community! 

After careful deliberation and based on the feedback collected by OAs through various channels, the OA Council has selected the following goals to strive toward for the 2024-25 academic year. If you have ideas about how we can reach these goals, would like to help, or have any questions, please let us know.

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.

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.

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.

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

In the Spring of 2024, the OA Council surveyed OAs; this started out as a Health & Wellness initiative, focusing on engagement, belonging, satisfaction, and similar topics, however the questions of pay and unionization couldn’t be left out of the equation when asking about the current concerns of OAs. The report lists the findings of the multiple-choice questions, as well as the themes found in the open-text response questions.

Key highlights:

• Nearly 500 OAs responded to the survey; this represents approximately one third of all OAs.
• 91% of OA respondents desire an OA pay increase plan. To be communicated 6 months – two years in advance (desire for a similar multi-year plan implemented in 2022).
• OA respondents feel that merit increases should fall under a separate process and not paired with or in place of an Across-the-Board increase (or Cost of Living Increase). There were a number of comments to provide context.
• OA respondents expressed concern about recent SEIU increases and how this compresses OA salaries, including OA supervisors who supervise SEIU staff.
• 51% of OA respondents favored OA unionization, 23% are against unionization while 26% of respondents had mixed feelings or felt they needed more information.
• 85% of OA respondents feel somewhat or extremely engaged with their work.

There is still analysis continuing on the survey data; as you all provided many thoughtful comments and ideas that we are using to focus our recommendations, our discussions with UO Administration, and our goals for the OA Council.

We hope you will take the opportunity to read the report: OA Council Survey Report Spring 2024.

Thank you to all who joined us on May 15th for the OA Leadership Symposium on Cultivating Belonging and the afternoon workshop on the Five Paths to Leadership. Materials from the symposium are posted here:

OA Council Leadership Symposium 2024 Slide Deck Slides from the morning speakers

Five Paths to Leadership Overview of paths and scoring

Handout: Design and Implement Effective Meetings i.e. all these paths are in the same meetings!

For those unable to attend the Symposium, the Five Paths to Leadership self-assessment tool is a resource available to all in the UO Community. UO Staff, Students and Faculty can log in to Academic Impressions with their Duck ID, and explore various resources, including The Five Paths to Leadership Self-Assessment.

OAs across campus are amazing stars! Each year, the OA Council recognizes Officers of Administration who have made an exceptional and positive impact on the University. We invite you to participate in this process by nominating up to three exceptional OAs for an OA Star Award! Honorees will be recognized at the fall OA Council’s open meeting and with the option to attend a fall Oregon home football game.

Officers of Administration selected to receive OA Star Awards distinguish themselves by applying their professional efforts for the betterment of the entire institution and the university community. They excel not only in their positions and departments, but they also embody a spirit of collegiality and vision, working with peers and partners across departmental and divisional lines. They strive for continuous improvement by building cross-campus relationships and offering creative solutions that improve the University for all stakeholders.

Join the OA Council in highlighting and celebrating star OA work across campus and nominate up to three OA Stars  by Monday July 15, 2024 at 5:00 p.m.

8:30 a.m. – noon main session (including breakfast)
noon- 12:30 Lunch (for afternoon registrants)
12:30 – 2 p.m. Afternoon session: Five Paths to Leadership

All OAs are invited for to the Council’s Spring Leadership Symposium: Cultivating Belonging!  The symposium consists of a morning and afternoon session. You can attend either session or both and will need to pre-register for the session(s) you plan to attend. Details and links to register are below. Space is limited for each session, please register early.

We hope you join us and if you do, wear a name tag and bring business cards if you have them!

Main Session: Cultivating Belonging 8:30 a.m.-noon, Rise and Shine breakfast buffet 8:30-9:00 a.m., register below via MyTrack:

Information and resource sharing from OAs and leaders across campus. Topics will include*:

• OA Star nominations
• OA Council priorities and progress
• Experiencing a state of belonging
• Discussion with campus resources and leadership on OAs cultivating a state of belonging

*The symposium is an in-person event. Zoom participation is only available in the main session from 9-10:30 a.m. Zoom link will be shared via email to the OA listserv the week prior to the symposium.

REGISTER FOR THE MAIN SESSION HERE

Afternoon Engagement Activity: Five Paths to Leadership Workshop, Noon – 2:00 p.m.
Noon– 12:30 p.m., taco bar lunch buffet for those registered for this afternoon session
12:30 p.m.- 2 p.m. Five Paths to Leadership workshop, register below via MyTrack:

• This is an optional hands-on experience offered in collaboration with the Office of the Provost, UO HR, and the OA Council. Space is limited to the first 75 registrants for this session.
• The Five Paths to Leadership self-assessment allows you to uncover your predominant leadership style, identify areas of growth and understand how your leadership changes under stress. Participants will complete the self-assessment ahead of time and bring their results to the workshop.
• During this 90-minute session we will build your understanding of the five predominant leadership styles so you can better understand yourself and others. We will apply our learning to a deeper understanding of how to design an effective meeting that maximizes engagement.

REGISTER FOR THE AFTERNOON SESSION HERE

In the interest of building a sense of belonging and loving our OAs, the OA Council will host a Winter Social event on February 14 from 2-3 pm at the Ford Alumni Center – Tykeson Family Hall (Lower Lobby Area). Come drop by for light refreshments to meet and enjoy the company of your fellow OAs, and while you’re there, stop and get information from folks in HR Benefits and from the Wellness Collective. We plan to provide some sweets and treats, so please add the information to your calendar. We look forward to seeing you!