May Meeting Minutes
May 7, 2026
Time: 1:01 pm

1. Call to order, Eric Kurt, CAP Chair
2. Speaker 1: Becky Hinrichs, Illinois Human Resources

• Update on Supervisor Fundamentals. This 6-workshop program for supervisors with 3 years of experience or less remains on track to launch in September 2026. Workshops include: Step Into Supervision, Building Trust and Team Culture, Everyday Performance Management, Navigating Challenging Employee Situations, Resolving Conflict, and Restoring Culture. Each class will admit 40 participants, with no hybrid sessions.
• CAP members are invited to participate in July pilot sessions with prework and live facilitation. There will be a registration for these sessions. This will provide early insight into content and an opportunity to shape final refinements.
• Impact will be measured through knowledge, behavior, and curriculum efficacy within 3-6 months after engagement.
• Refer to Supervisor Fundamentals information sheet for additional details, including dates and locations.

3. Speaker 2: Chris Ochs, Director of Faculty Staff Assistance and Wellbeing Services

• The Faculty-Staff Emergency Fund is a grant to employees experiencing a short-term financial emergency due to a fire, domestic disturbance, medical emergency, etc.
• Fund drive runs from April to June. The goal is to raise $40,000. It’s a great way to give back to colleagues and campus, and it’s tax deductible. To donate, visit https://payment.giving.illinois.edu/faculty-staff-emergency-fund-turns-crisis-into-hope
• This fiscal year they’ve given $43,000 in grants, including the taxes for the grant so that is covered for the employee.
• For application guidelines and additional details about the grant visit https://humanresources.illinois.edu/about/culture-learning-engagement/faculty-staff-assistance-and-well-being-services/emergency-funding/

4. Review and Approval of Meeting Minutes, Eric Kurt, CAP Chair

• Approved by general consent without objection

5. Chair Remarks, Eric Kurt, CAP Chair

• Reminder that Chancellor Isbell will be at the June CAP meeting on 6/4; May 12 is the last day to submit questions to CAP for his visit
• Matt Spindler from ACES/Illinois Extension agreed to serve and was selected as the AP representative for the President’s Search Committee. Congratulations, Matt!
• July CAP meeting is cancelled (7/2)
• Association of Academic Professionals (AAUA)—A group of AP’s is sending out a confidential survey to understand compensation, benefits, and workplace protections. Be on the lookout for this survey and the chance to share your input.
• APRIL UPPAC meeting updates
  • Retirement virtual conference videos are available until May 30^th at go.illinois.edu/December prerecording
    Note that SURS retirement appointments are scheduling out 12 weeks in advance!

• Annual benefits choice open enrollment is happening until June 1
• HB 4673-Tier 2 Retirement Enhancement bill currently dead
  • Federal law/rule—our pension (SURS) must be as good or better than Social Security
  • Cost of Living increase in SURS grows at a lower rate than Social Security
  • 2032 is potentially the first year retiree benefits could be less than SS
  • Any retiree whose SURS benefits are below SS would need to be moved to SS
• CAP District Election results announced

District​	Rep 2026-2029​
District 01 ​	Marissa Brewer​
District 03 ​	Jamie Thomas-Ward​
District 05​	Chaya Sandler​
District 06​	William Catalano​
District 09​	William Schlaak​
District 10​	Lisa Goodpaster Lahners​
District 11​	Beth Meschewski​

• AP Senate Election results announced

District​	Senator 2026-2028​
District 02​	Kerri Green​
District 04 ​	Tai Josek​
District 06​	Carl Baker​
District 08​	Matt Petruszak​
District 10​	Manuel Rodriguez​

• All AP senate committee positions were filled at the elections last Monday. Results will be announced at the next meeting.
• Eric’s chair term is coming to an end! Eric extended his thanks to the CAP Executive Committee, district representatives, and members who participate in meetings. Thank you also to Brian Farber who serves as our liaison and takes time to research questions any time we have them.
• Overtime Exempt CS/AP Differences
  • Report for information—Eric shared a progress report. The intention is for this to be an ongoing discussion.
  • A list of OT Exempt CS and AP differences was compiled using known differences between them to examine how these differences might be addressed. It was not the intention to equalize every point of difference, but to prioritize the differences that CAP would want to work to address.
  • Discussions will continue, and HR will conduct a Peer Benefits review (looking at peer institutions) starting in 2027
• CAP Officer Elections—After this meeting, a nomination form will be open for 2 weeks for Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary, Grievance Officer, and Assistant Grievance Officer. The form will be emailed out. If there are multiple nominations, an announcement will be made at the June meeting about elections.

6. Human Resources Report, Brian Farber , Chief of Staff & Special Projects, IHR Administration

• Staff Professional Development Fund. Visiting professional staff are now eligible and the website is now updated. Apply at https://humanresources.illinois.edu/employee-experience/current-employee/learning-development/

QU 4 Apr
Amount Awarded: $4,450.00
9 recipients (2 CS, 7 AP)

TOTALS to date for FY2026:
Amount awarded: $59,275.08
124 recipients (52 CS, 72 AP)

• HR Policy Updates—A reminder to check the top of e-week for announcements about pending changes to CAM policies, along with invitations to comment on proposed changes. https://emails.illinois.edu/subscribe?emailId=1795463542
• HR-12: Approved Public Service Activities is now redirected to the relevant policies. The redirect will remain in place for 1-year. After that, the policy will be removed from CAM.
• Anniversary Awards are on schedule and 2026 anniversary codes are live until February 2027. An updated list of unused codes for 2025 recipients was just received and they will have until May 31 to redeem them. https://humanresources.illinois.edu/employee-experience/current-employee/recognition/anniversary-awards/
• Chancellor’s Staff Excellence Awards— https://humanresources.illinois.edu/employee-experience/current-employee/recognition/chancellors-staff-excellence-award/15 winners were honored this year at a reception on April 30, receiving $1,500 (after taxes) and a commemorative award. As you may know, the selection committee is made up of CS and AP staff members from across the institution. Our thanks to CAP’s own Rae Fletcher who serves as the AP co-chair this year.
• Illinois Orientation for New Employees (IONE) https://humanresources.illinois.edu/employee-experience/new-employee/onboarding/orientation/ The last in-person orientation of the academic year was 4/20 and a virtual session will be held on 6/23. No IONEs in May or July, but we will resume a regular schedule in the fall with a mix of in-person and virtual options.
• Reminder: Use your floating holidays! They must be used by June 30 (end of the fiscal year) and do not carry over into the new fiscal year. Unused floating holidays will expire at the close of the business day on June 30, so supervisors are encouraged to support staff in scheduling this time off in advance.
• It is now Performance Management season https://humanresources.illinois.edu/services-and-information/processes/performance-management/ . In accordance with HR-56, written performance reviews are required annually, and any employee who does not received one should approach their supervisor to request one. IHR publishes a standard performance review instrument and provides self-guided training for employees on goal setting and writing a self-review through our Instant Insights  Also, I am pleased to announce our recent new supervisor resource in the Guidancae on the Go Series for supervisors, Conducting an Effective Performance Review.
• AI Professional Development Series – https://humanresources.illinois.edu/ai-professional-development-series/

Illinois Human Resources offers Foundational, Intermediate, and Leader learning for employees building AI skills. Explore hands‑on tools like Copilot and ChatGPT in cohort‑based workshops. Start with Foundational or go deeper with Intermediate. Registration is now open.

• Fall 2026 Supervisory Skills applications are now open at  Call for Applications: Illinois Supervisory Skills Program | Fall 2026. Must be a 75% FTE and currently supervise status or student employees.
• Crucial Conversations for Mastering Dialogue training is available June 9-12  Register for Crucial Conversations Training Cost $350 • June 9-12, 8:30am–12:00pm • Seats reserved on a first-come, first-served basis
• Follow the Federal Updates Steering Group https://federalupdates.illinois.edu
  • I want to highlight a recent update which discussed a widespread rumor of Immigration enforcement officers in the C-U community (rumor spread widely the weekend of April 25). That recent notice stated in part “At this time, university officials have not confirmed any federal immigration enforcement activity on campus. We are monitoring the situation closely and will continue to share verified information and available resources with our campus community as appropriate, including when university officials confirm relevant activity affecting campus or university operations.” The notice also announced a webinar on April 27 (I was able to attend), which confirmed that there have been no reported incidents of immigration enforcement at the Illinois campus.  To date, no Big Ten school has verified ICE activity on their campus. Even the University of Minnesota reported that ICE did not have presence on campus when they were in the twin cities. Obviously past performance is no guarantee of future success, but knowing this might help calm some anxiety.

6. Academic Senator and Senate Committee Reports, Eric Kurt, CAP Chair- SEC Updates

• Senate committee elections were held on Monday and there were quite a few changes. The SEC continues to meet throughout the summer, and the Senate will resume in fall. As Chair of the Committee on Committees, Eric will continue to serve on SEC and report back.

7. Adjourn

 

Submitted by: J. Thomas-Ward