Giving back and advocating for staff
Employee Forum Chair Katie Musgrove is working to expand the Forum’s reach across campus and to continue to build a bridge with the administration in support of Carolina’s staff.
Katie Musgrove was elected chair of the Employee Forum in June, took over in July and presided over her first meeting in August — all during one of the most challenging times at the University.
Musgrove, a business officer in the UNC School of Law, followed in the footsteps of the previous chair, Shayna Hill, who stepped down at the end of June. Hill stayed an extra year to provide continuity of leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Musgrove joined the Forum as a delegate in 2015. In her first year, she created the community service committee, where she served as committee chair for three years. She then served as vice chair of the Forum for two years.
Following her first meeting as chair, The Well spoke to Musgrove about her plans for the coming year.
What are the biggest challenges facingCarolinaemployees?
Employees have been dealing with a lot of stress, both personally and professionally, because of the pandemic. That’s been exacerbated by the number of vacant positions on campus right now. We’ve not been able to fill a lot of those. Staff are taking on extra duties, and it’s taking a toll.
Those stressors, the staff turnover and the lack of staff retention efforts on campus have left the remaining staff overextended. Burnout is a big concern.
What role do you think the Forum plays in addressing those?
Overall, the Forum’s mission is to seek to improve the lives of staff, faculty and students on campus. We do that by advocating with the chancellor and administration to constructively address those concerns. We’ve been doing that throughout the pandemic, advocating for staff with the administration on some of those COVID administrative decisions, making sure that staff are prioritized and protected. We want to make sure that the staff is taken into consideration in these decisions.
The Forum works closely with the Office of Human Resources, and they share updates at our monthly meetings. We engage with them regularly and are currently advocating to try and fill some of those vacant positions on campus, although we’re facing some difficulties because of the UNC System-level guidance. Filling those positions is critical to campus operations, and it would benefit staff morale immensely. We want to do everything in our power to ensure that we get the staff the support they need. It’s not fair to staff to be taking on two and three jobs.
The Forum has worked to build a bridge with the administration and one result is the creation of the Staff Advisory Committee to the Chancellor, which provides consistent opportunities for staff to be involved in the decision-making process by meeting, collaborating with and advising the University’s leadership team. How is that going?
STACC is still new. I think it has been successful in its short tenure. It has allowed us to further engage with the chancellor in some important and hard conversations. I’m looking forward to continuing those conversations with Chancellor Guskiewicz this coming year because we’re not done with COVID. There’s a lot of important work to be done.
In addition, I’m now a co-chair of the Campus and Community Advisory Committee with Faculty Council Chair Mimi Chapman and Student Body President Lamar Richards, though Shayna will continue to serve on CCAC. I think CCAC has been immensely successful in its mission to advise the chancellor during the pandemic. The combination of faculty, staff, student and community voices provided invaluable feedback on campus and plans around COVID concerns like masking, testing and all the academic schedule fluctuations.
My hope is that CCAC will continue beyond the pandemic. I think a committee with a diverse perspective can be invaluable for the administration to engage in matters of importance for all people at Carolina.
What are your goals for the Forum this year?
The first thing is continuing Shayna’s legacy to advance the Forum’s reach on campus. She implemented roundtable conversations with the chancellor and provost during the Forum’s regular monthly meetings. Shayna also developed a closer relationship with Faculty Council, working with them on issues of joint concern for faculty and staff.
I hope to do my best to ensure that staff are valued and prioritized on this campus. Staff are the backbone of this University. I got to see the best of our 8,700 staff members when I served as community service chair the first three years I was on the Forum. The staff are one of the most powerful, passionate and engaged groups and they care deeply about Carolina.
