October 9, 2020
Fellow Staff Members,
As you may be aware, new Assembly members are normally elected each spring. However, when shelter-in-place orders were mandated this March due to the spread of COVID-19, we decided to postpone our elections until the situation stabilized. Current members who were terming out and/or coming up for re-election committed to serving on the Assembly until such time could be arranged for a new election cycle. That time has now arrived.
This fall, the USC Staff Assembly will hold out-of-cycle elections. The election of Staff Assembly members is a two-part process. First, we ask all staff to submit nominations, and then the staff members who receive the most nominations are added to a final ballot.
PART I – NOMINATION PERIOD
Between October 19 – 28, 2020, you will receive an invitation to submit nominations for Staff Assembly. During this process, you may nominate your peers as well as yourself. In order to be eligible to participate in Staff Assembly, a candidate must be a full-time, benefits-eligible, non-union staff member. Beginning on October 29, 2020, the Rules and Elections Committee will contact those receiving the most nominations to confirm their willingness to serve. All those who are nominated must confirm their willingness to serve by November 4, 2020. Once the group of nominees is confirmed, the final ballot will be created.
PART II – VOTING FOR FINAL CANDIDATES
Voting is scheduled to take place between November 9 – 18, 2020. Ballots will be tallied starting November 19, 2020. Staff members receiving the most votes will be contacted to reaffirm their willingness to serve between November 23, 2020, and December 6, 2020. We plan to have the new Staff Assembly 2020-2021 confirmed in time for our last meeting of the calendar year, tentatively scheduled for Friday, December 11, 2020.
We thank all current Staff Assembly members for their service during these unprecedented times and we especially want to express our gratitude for our eight members who are terming out.
Bertha Arce
Vanessa Ault
Nicole De Vera Mata
Anette Jeltsje Jacobs (Communications Chair)
Erin Jebavy (Transportation Chair)
Theodore Low
Naomi Martinez (Environment & Safety Chair)
With a total of 32 seats to fill this election cycle, we hope that you will consider nominating a colleague or even yourself. Service on Staff Assembly is a fulfilling way to become more involved and represent the interests of staff to university administration. The average time commitments for Staff Assembly members are 4 – 5 hours each month. This includes the monthly General Assembly meeting, typically held on the last Friday of each month from 9 am – 11 am. Committee meetings are held monthly and typically run for an hour. Some tasks may result from the committee meetings- and some additional time is spent reviewing e-mails and reading meeting minutes- which accounts for the extra 1 – 2 hours per month listed above. Service on Staff Assembly is official USC work and is considered paid time. The decision to serve on Staff Assembly should be taken seriously, and those who are unable to meet minimum attendance requirements will be removed and replaced by the next eligible alternate. It is up to each individual to ensure their ability to meet the minimum requirements.
Staff members who are interested in learning more about the nomination and election process are encouraged to join the “So, You Want to Run for a Seat on Staff Assembly” workshop on Thursday, October 15th at 3:30pm. Click here to register. If you have further questions, please email us at staff.assembly@usc.edu.
Thank you and Fight On!
2019 – 2020 Executive Committee
Erika H. Chesley, President
Brian Mico, Vice-President
Katie Boeck, Secretary
Renee Almassizadeh, Parliamentarian
Anton Akulov, HSC Representative
Michael Gorse, Rights and Responsibilities Chair
Gloria Halfacre, Scholarship and Awards Chair
Shannon Hinojosa, Compensation and Benefits Co-Chair
Erin Jebavy, Transportation Chair
Anette Jeltsje Jacobs, Communications Chair
Paul Lee, Staff Appreciation Chair
Naomi Martinez, Environment and Safety Chair
Richard Schroth, Compensation and Benefits Co-Chair
Phil Turner, Rules and Elections Chair