Happenings Across the Institute

About 50% of IPS staff attended one of the recent statewide staff meetings. This is a summary of the discussion points with a few additional tidbits of information that have developed since the meetings finished.

Outreach and Engagement Model – This is an initiative of the UT System Strategic Plan, Goal Three on Outreach and Engagement. Each campus and institute is developing a one-page model that describes how we "do" outreach and engagement. IPS staff can check-out our latest draft at http://intranet.ips.tennessee.edu/

 

The Horizon Project –  What are the big, compelling problems that IPS might attempt to address in five to ten years?  This effort is taking us through a process where we are taking a big-picture view and then getting significant feedback from staff and stakeholders. Crime, Education, Leadership, Social Responsibility and Local Government Finance are all currently being considered.

Baldrige teams and Strategy Implementation Teams – Baldrige Teams are short-term teams that are focused on updating our Baldrige applications that will be submitted next summer. We are applying for the Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence Level Three Recognition as part of our "accreditation" process. Strategy teams are long-term teams that are focused on initiatives of our strategic plan.

Budget update – Our budget information is on the Intranet at http://intranet.ips.tennessee.edu/2010_budget.asp.  Overall we are going into a good budget year with a 2.5% increase in base funding, 1.5% salary pool, and $500k for LEIC. The president is committed to helping to increase our funding again next year.

Salary plan – The new UT salary schedules were effective July 1.  They are posted on the UT HR web site at 

http://humanresources.tennessee.edu/compensation/schedules/index.html.  A condensed version with IPS-specific information is also posted on our intranet site at:

http://intranet.ips.tennessee.edu/2010_budget.asp. We will use these to set IPS target salaries using our standard ten-point scale for all staff.

 

We are distributing a 3.0% salary pool. 

• 1.5% is across the board to every employee with a $750 minimum increase. 
• A 1% pool is being distributed for market and internal equity as we continue to move all staff toward their target salary. 95.5% of all staff will be at or above target after these increases.
• A .5% pool is being distributed as one-time bonuses for merit, based on annual performance reviews that recognize our highest performing employees. These employees will receive $1400, $1000 or some percentage thereof based on percent time worked.

Every employee will receive a letter, hopefully before the end of July, indicating their new base salary.

 

Lots of great things are happening across the Institute. Thanks to all the great staff who represent the University so well to our customers.