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Archived Suggestions
:: June 2007
Suggestion: 980
Subject: Diplomas
Forwarded to: Registrar
I am not sure who to talk to about
this so I thought I would try here. Why is the "H" in
Houston not capitalized on our diplomas? I graduated with a
BS last May and will soon graduate with a MAIS and every
time I look at it...it just looks wrong to me. The "H" looks
like this : University of Houston-Victoria, but on the
bottom of the diploma where it says "Issued by
the....University of Houston-Victoria.. the "H" IS
capitalized. Is this some mistake or is there a reason for
this?
Response: Thank you for your
questions. The "H" in Houston in the "header" (i.e.,
University of Houston-Victoria at the top) is an upper-case
"H". It is a hand-drawn calligraphy type-set that has not
changed on our diplomas for over 30 years. The font in the
body (i.e., "Issued by the … University of Houston-Victoria)
is a different type-set, "Engraver's Old English." I hope
this answers your questions.
Suggestion: 981
Subject: Pay Compensation
Forwarded to: Human Resources Director
The university is always boasting to
its employees at each function about the excellent benefits
and pay that the employees receive. While the benefits are
great, it is disheartening as an employee when the annual
raises are 3% merit, which barely cover cost-of-living
increases and if employees receive promotions throughout the
year through reclassifications because they warranted the
promotion due to increased responsibilities and workloads,
they are not eligible for the merit raise. I find it hard to
believe that employees are paid competitively--compared to
other employees in comparable positions throughout the state
because employees at UHV appear to receive raises based on
longevity and loyalty--not experience and education. When an
employee is doing particular job duties, and then a job
announcement posts that covers the same job duties (offering
$5000 more for the new employee), how is this fair and how
does it boost existing employee morale? To me, this practice
is appalling and unfair. Employees should be compensated
based on their experience, their education AND their
longevity--not just annual merit raises. How does a 3%
increase encourage employees to better themselves and
benefit the company?
Response:
The general compensation
philosophy is to fairly compensate staff to attract, employ
and retain qualified individuals. In keeping with this
philosophy, a market analysis and turnover analysis is
conducted biennially to identify UHV’s relationship to the
external market. We are currently conducting a market
analysis for FY08 and recommendations will be sent to the
budget committee at the end of this month. Based upon these
analyses, recommendations are submitted to the budget
committee for pay structure adjustments and pay equity
increases endeavoring to maintain the competitiveness of UHV
staff pay plans and staff salaries with relation to the
external market, considering budget constraints. Pay
equity increases have been based upon longevity to address
compression caused by increase in pay grades, or pay
structure adjustments, to keep the UHV staff pay plans
competitive with market. The current pay plans are designed
to be merit-based and an employee must be meritorious before
receiving any pay equity or merit adjustment. In FY06, the
overall average staff adjustment was approximately 8% after
the market analysis was conducted.
In regards to your question about a
“job announcement posts that covers the same job duties
(offering $5,000 more for the new employee), how is this
fair and how does it boost existing employee morale?” Please
keep in a mind that a job announcement does not describe the
complete job description and may not reflect all the duties
and skills required for the position. If you have a question
about a specific job posting and how it relates to your
position, please call me and I will compare the two
positions for you in more detail.
Please do not hesitate to call or come
by Human Resources anytime you have a question.
Suggestion: 982
Subject: Staff Concerns
Forwarded to: Human Resources Director
Please do something about the working
environment at UHV. If we have such a wonderful place to
work, why are we getting no information from administration,
have so much negative "hall talk," and have so many staff
leaving?
Response: Administration is looking
into better ways to communicate with the university
community. Also, please refer to Suggestion Box response
#977, Archived Suggestion Box, May, 2007, as to why staff
are leaving.
Suggestion: 983
Subject: New Positions in the School
of Arts & Sciences
Forwarded to: Vice President for
Administration and Finance
What is up with all the new positions
in A&S? Did all these positions go through the budget
process, and where is all the money coming from? I didn't
think we had that many new students in A&S. None of the
other schools are adding this number of positions.
Response: The new positions are for
UHS-Sugar Land. The University of Houston-Downtown is
pulling out of Sugar Land. UHD has the majority of the
students at that location. The School of Arts and Sciences
will take over the Criminal Justice Program and is pursuing
program authority at Sugar Land from the UH System Provost
Council for Spanish, English, and Gaming (new). The School
is also expanding biology into the forensics area. The
School of Business will take over the BBA. Currently the
staffing levels for A&S in Sugar Land are not at the level
we anticipate needing for recruiting and advising. One
position that has been advertised is a vacant position for
that person moved over to the UH System staff in Sugar Land.
The School of Business has requested that funds be set aside
to hire faculty and staff, if needed, to handle the expected
new students in the BBA program. With a combination of
additional State funds, additional tuition and fees, and
increased enrollments for next year, UHV has the funds to
hire the additional faculty and staff. So the Budget
Committee did approve the positions in order to help ensure
success in Sugar Land for both the Arts & Science and
Business Schools. We did not get the elementary education
lead in Sugar Land, that went to UH. So we did not have a
need to add staffing for that School. More students equates
to additional funding from the State which equates to a
stronger University.
Suggestion: 984
Subject: New PeopleSoft - Student Side
Forwarded to: Registrar
The new people soft system is not user
friendly as far as I am concerned. I have my new ID, and
have not changed my password, but it still won't let me in.
It gives me an invalid user ID or password response. So much
for improved technology! I think that until the kinks are
worked out, we should have access with our university ID. It
would also be much more convenient if matters like this
could be solved via email or a web page, rather than having
to try to call and get someone on the telephone. It seems to
me that using a web service or answering questions via email
would add convenience and simplify the process.
Response:
Thank you for
your comments. As with any new system there are going to be
kinks to work through, as well as a learning curve for all
users (students, faculty and staff). We posted multiple
emails to the UHV Student List Serve that provided both
telephone and email information to receive assistance, as
well as a PS navigation/registration demo on the "MyPeopleSoft"
page. I hope you were able to work through the issues you
were experiencing and was able to enroll. If you are still
experiencing problems, please contact me at worthamt@uhv.edu.
Thank you again for your comments.
Suggestion: 985
Subject: Recent Survey
Forwarded to: Vice President for
Finance
The recent survey that was distributed
out the finance office could lead to greater responses if
respondents could remain anonymous. Many do not trust how
information will be used by upper administration.
Response: The person is probably
correct. This will be the case in the future. The survey was
sent out by the Administrative Assistant who did not realize
that there was a method to send with anonymous reply. All
responses were received by her, posted to a spreadsheet, and
email deleted. No names were revealed to anyone else.
Suggestion: 986
Subject: Personnel Issue - No Public
Posting
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