Resolution: EA R2: Fostering Meaningful Employee Engagement

Date01/04/2018
ActionReturned by the President
Notes

Dear Ulysses,

Thank you for your patience as I, in consultation with Chairman Harrison, considered the recommendations contained in EA Resolution 2: Fostering Meaningful Employee Engagement. We discussed the Employee Assembly’s requests to add a second employee-elected trustee to the Board of Trustees and to create a new board committee focused on workforce issues.

Chairman Harrison and I share a commitment to the staff employees of Cornell, as do all the members of the Board of Trustees. We appreciate the Employee Assembly’s efforts to highlight issues of importance to the workforce, and we value the work that the EA does to gather input and share concerns with me and with Vice President Opperman. Chairman Harrison also has informed me that trustees find their meeting with EA members each year very informative and helpful.  

I discussed your request to add another employee-elected trustee with members of the Committee on Board Composition and Governance. A review of 30 research institutions, including Duke, Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Stanford, Dartmouth, Emory, Johns Hopkins, Rice, and MIT, indicates that no other peer institutions have employee-elected trustees serving as voting members on their boards. Cornell is unique to have this category of membership. We gave serious consideration to the EA recommendation, but after discussion decided not to increase to number of employee-elected trustees. 

We also considered your request to add a new board-level committee on the workforce” strategically focused on engaging staff in the mission of the university, workforce trends and patterns affecting the financial health of the university, and assessing the impact of university decisions on the workforce.”  We agreed that these very important issues are best managed through your ongoing work with me, and more regularly with Vice President Opperman. The board looks to its annual meeting with EA members each March and to the EA annual presentation to the full board each May to hear directly from you.

Ulysses, I greatly appreciate the time I have spent with the Employee Assembly and look forward to our continued partnership. Thank you again for your patience as Chairman Harrison and I considered this resolution.

Sincerely,

 

Martha E. Pollack

President, Cornell University

300 Day Hall

Ithaca, NY 14853

Tel: 607-255-5201

www.cornell.edu

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