If you are interested in promoting the general welfare of the university, providing input on issues impacting staff and encouraging communication across campus, consider becoming involved as a senator.

Meetings of the staff senate are held once per month during the academic year (August – May). Senate meetings are normally one hour in length. All meetings take place during regular working hours.

Senators are encouraged to become involved in one of several committees that have been established. The work of these committees takes place outside of regular senate meetings. The time required of committee members varies depending on the focus and charge.

Any full-time, unclassified ULM employee, with a minimum one (1) year of ULM employment as of Feb.1 of the current year, may run for a Staff Senate seat.

The one (1) year eligibility date is set by the date the nominations for elections opens – February 1.

For example, to be eligible for the Staff Senate elections, with the nominations opening on Feb. 1 each election year, the nominee must have started working full-time at ULM on Feb. 1 of the previous year or earlier. For the 2012 election, the one (1) year eligibility starts February 1, 2011.

In the event of no one meeting the one-year eligibility requirement, eligibility requirement moves to six (6) month employment as of February 1 of the election year. For the 2012 election, the six (6) month eligibility starts August 1, 2011.

Per Article III of the ULM Faculty Senate Constitution:

“Full-time (75% and above) faculty with the rank of instructor or above, excluding administrative officers and budget unit heads at the University, are hereinafter referred to as General Faculty. Membership in the Faculty Senate shall be restricted to General Faculty.”

Any faculty members not represented by the Faculty Senate are represented by the Staff Senate.

Yes. Classified employees are not covered by the Staff Senate, since classified employees are represented by Civil Service.

In addition, seven (7) ULM administrators are not represented by the Staff Senate:

• University President
• Executive Assistant to the President
• Vice President of Academic Affairs
• Executive Vice President
• Vice President for Student Affairs
• Chief Business Officer
• Director of Athletics

However, in the spirit of Shared Governance with Civil Service, the Faculty Senate and the President’s Office, a non-voting liaison from each group will be invited to Staff Senate meetings. The non-voting liaisons are appointed by their respective groups, and are not counted in the number of Staff Senate seats available.

In 2012 the total number of Staff Senate is 22 seats, although not all seats are available in any given election cycle (see FAQ #10.)

Representation of each “Organizational Unit” is based on the number of eligible unclassified employees working within an organizational unit. At a minimum, there are two (2) base seats available for each organizational unit.

In addition, another Staff Senate seat is available for every 20 employees working in a organizational unit, with a maximum of five (5) seats total, including the base seats.

Since Academic Affairs has a significant of employees, both unclassified staff, and unclassified staff with faculty rank (see FAQ #4), one (1) base seat is allocated to each group within Academic Affairs.

Staff Senate terms are for two (2) years.

An “Organizational Unit” is how the Staff Senate determines representation. See the table below for how possible representation in 2012 could be allocated.

Employee Count Source: ULM's Department of Human Resources, as of January 31, 2012

Staff Senate seats available for nomination for the 2012 - 2014 term, by Organizational Unit (see FAQ#8) is:

• Academic Affairs – 4 (all non-faculty rank)
• Athletics – 4
• Chief Business Office – 1
• Executive Vice President – 3
• President's Office – 0
• Student Affairs - 2

Total available seats: 14

To be elected, a candidate needs only a plurality (the most votes), not a majority (50 percent +1 vote.) If a dead-heat tie occurs, the tie-breaker procedure is:

• Tie-Breaker coin toss by the Staff Senate President. Candidate with employment seniority get to call “heads” or “tails”.

Beginning on Wednesday, Feb.1, 2012 at 8:00 a.m. and running through Wednesday, March 21, 2012 at 5:00 p.m., you can nominate yourself or a fellow co-worker to run for Staff Senate seats.

The form is available at www.ulm.edu/staffsenate/nomination.

No confidential information is required, and nominations are accepted online only.

Yes, you may nominate any co-worker from another Organizational Unit.

As a courtesy, please discuss your intent with your co-worker prior to nominating them.

You can check your eligibility online at www.ulm.edu/staffsenate/eligibility.html.

The eligibility list is provided by Human Resources and provides the following information:
• Name
• Department
• Organizational Unit
• Faculty Rank (if applicable)

You can use this information to determine yours or a co-worker’s eligibility to be nominated.

For any eligibility questions, please email the Staff Senate Election Committee at staffsenate@ulm.edu.

The committee will review your eligibility and respond to you within two (2) working days of the request.

Yes.

As long as you are are a full-time, unclassified ULM employee on the days of the election, you may vote in the Staff Senate elections.

The Staff Senate election will take place online starting at 8:00 a.m., Tuesday, April 17, 2012 and will end Wednesday, April 18, 2012 at 5:00 p.m.

You may vote using any Web browser with Internet access, either on or off-campus.

Starting this year, you will also be able to vote using the ULM app, available free for your smart device at ulm.edu/app.

All voting is done online and all eligible voters will be sent an email with a link to go online to vote. A link to the voting site will also be available on the Staff Senate Home page (www.ulm.edu/staffsenate), and starting this year, you can also vote using the ULM app, available free for your smart device at www.ulm.edu/app.

The online voting is set up on a secure, encrypted Web page, and to vote you will need to enter the username of your ULM email address – everything prior to the @ symbol – and email password.

For example, if your email address is jdoe@ulm.edu, you would enter jdoe in the login box.

If you have forgotten your password, you must have it reset by the ULM Computing Center. You can call the ULM Computing Center Help Desk at ext. 3333 between the hours of 7:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

The Computing Center cannot “look-up” your password. They must assign you a new one. Passwords cannot be "reset" via an email request.

You can vote only for the candidates within your Organizational Unit.

Based on your login, your voting screen will present only the applicable candidates for your Organizational Unit.

You may vote only once.

One you click the “Submit Votes” button within the ballot, your selections are tallied and you cannot vote again or change your vote.

At this time, all voting must be done online.

ULM's online voting process is secure and encrypted. The University and the Computing Center cannot determine who you voted for, only that you voted.