Salem Chapter Newsletter President's Message - Amy Everitt - April 2011

Hi everyone,

Health Insurance Re-Enrollment We are in the midst of re-enrollment for health insurance and I would like to share with you some details that were recently brought to my attention: 1. If you live out of state, you are not required to re-enroll 2. If you are considering one of the options that offer the 3 month "no pay holiday" - please be aware that the income saved is taxable income!! Therefore, the savings will not be as significant as it may appear. 3. If you do not re-enroll, you will be defaulted into one of the less expensive plans AND you are not eligible for the 3 month "no pay holiday". You must opt to enroll in one of these options to receive the no pay benefit.

The Sabbatical Repeal bill has a hearing date scheduled for late September. The MSCA is working in conjunction with the Council of Presidents to get this hearing date moved up so that we do not come up against the time crunch that we experienced this year and the resulting failed efforts to get this bill passed. The Optional Retirement bill has not yet been scheduled for a hearing.

A workshop on promotion and tenure will be held on Tuesday, May 17 from 9-10:30 in Marsh Hall 210. I hope you will plan to join us if you are a candidate for review next year.

Committee nominations are now being requested. You should have received this request under a separate email and we are sending out hard copies through campus mail as well. Nominations will also be accepted from the floor at the chapter lunch on May 2, 11:00-1:00 in MLK. There is a lot of activity on campus and we need to fill every seat to keep the faculty voice strong!

Finally, I want to personally thank everyone who participated in the NEASC process. Patricia Buchanan deserves a very special acknowledgment for her work with editing the self-study. Several faculty and librarians were also involved with co-chairing or serving on standards committees. Based on the site-visit meetings with the team, it was clear that the document accurately reflected the state of the campus. The faculty and librarian turn-out for meetings was phenomenal and sent a very strong message about how committed we are to our students, our institution, and our disciplines. Congratulations to you all!

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Good luck with the final push to the end of the academic year - it's coming, I promise!!
Amy

Amy L. Everitt,
Ed.D., ATC Professor, Sport & Movement Science Department
Salem State University
MSCA/Salem Chapter President
MSCA Vice President 978.542.6576