FY24 Chair Alainna Talton Considers the Year That Was
It has been a pleasure to Chair the UCSC for the last year. I have been a part of the council for 12 years and there have been a lot of ups and downs but mostly ups in my tenure here. The council was created to be a haven for the staff. This is the place where we come to air our grievances and work on plans and solutions to fix things that we feel could use some improvement. In this past year, we have done that. We made ourselves more visible and were put in front of groups we had not been a part of in the past. Our membership continues to thrive.
The Communications committee completed 2 newsletters this term. Our hope in the future is to get 1 done a quarter. Staff Development had 4 brown bag sessions this year ranging from a broad range of subject matter. Educational Awards had several fundraising efforts and collected $5,584.00 towards scholarship awards. We received a Presidential commitment of $50,000 for 3 years. Scholarship awards recipients received $53,000 and we held the rest to go towards candy for next year and also a new database to use for scholarship applications. Staff Recognition committee hosted our Annual Workshop on July 19th. The workshop was about Wellness. Mental, Physical and Financial wellness are all important to your daily life. During the workshop, we honored 9 employees with Spot Light awards to deserving staff who exemplify what we do here at UTHealth and what we stand for. Everyone knows someone who goes above and beyond to help their peers and our patients. The Elections committee which maintains our memberships and puts on this event (the retreat) every year. Each year we honor the departing members and also welcome in new members to the council. Also, we hold our elections or our officer positions. I believe our budgetary audit was our biggest challenge this year. In order to make our processes clearer and more concise we have made changes to our bylaws. These additions to the bylaws will ensure that we stay within UT policy and guarantees we stay on the appropriate timelines in the future.
As we look to the future my hope is that we continue to grow and thrive within the council. Our goals are also as we grow our membership and also continue to make this a better place for classified staff to work. Thank you for your efforts and all of your participation in making this year so successful.
Alainna D. Talton