The Council of UC Staff Assemblies, also known as CUCSA, is excited to announce members of the 2022-2023 Delegation. Two staff representatives from each campus, the Office of the President, UC Agriculture & Natural Resources, the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, and three elected officers constitute the UC-wide assembly that is dedicated to improving communications between UC staff and administrators. The Council’s objective is to provide a staff perspective to decision-makers about matters affecting staff, such as benefits, change management, diversity, wellness, and engagement.
The 2022 election for Chair-Elect and Operations Officer was held on June 3, 2022 during the Quarterly CUCSA Meeting hosted by UC Berkeley. John Bodenschatz, Director of Finance for the UC Irvine School of Humanities with more than 20 years of UC service was chosen as Chair-elect. Jen Bowser, Sustainability Engagement Manager at UC San Diego with nearly eight years of UC service was elected as Operations Officer. Dennis McIver, a Financial Services Analyst II at UC Riverside with nearly seven years of UC service, took office as CUCSA Chair on July 1. “CUCSA has a distinguished tradition of advocacy and service for UC staff that spans nearly five decades. I am humbled and eager to continue this tradition and help UC move forward with John, Jen and the rest of the delegation,” said McIver.
As leaders of the CUCSA delegation, McIver, Bodenschatz and Bowser meet quarterly with the campus staff representatives to discuss best practices and areas of concern to raise with UC senior leadership. They also attend regular Board of Regents meetings and meet quarterly with the UC president and vice president of systemwide human resources.
The new officers have a combined 35 years of service to the University of California and are looking forward to representing staff interests to the Regents and the President. John Bodenschatz stated, “I am especially proud to be the first UCI Chair-Elect in 20 years, and I will be glad to find new ways to elevate CUCSA’s voice and to focus on improving staff experience to improve employee retention at our campus and for all UCs.”
Some of CUCSA’s past achievements include establishing a systemwide Staff Engagement Survey, successfully lobbying for a Staff Advisor to the Regents, supporting benefits for nontraditional families, improving staff post-employment benefits, reversing changes to retirement health care plans, improving parental leave benefits, soliciting a pay increase for policy-covered staff, and other initiatives.
The last couple of years have been particularly challenging for organizations to retain employees. With that in mind, the Council has formed three workgroups to dive deeply into total compensation, advancement, wellness and the staff experience to provide a broader view on retention, as well as solutions to address it. The Retention Workgroup Leadership is composed of Shira Minerd of UC Santa Barbara, Nathan McCall of UC Santa Cruz, and Jeremy Brooks of UC Berkeley.
A fourth workgroup, led by Jeremy Thacker of UC Irvine, will focus on developing a new strategic plan for CUCSA. The team will review historical documents and make recommendations by next summer for how CUCSA can continue to strategically drive forward change and sustain momentum towards deep rooted priorities.
The majority of CUCSA delegates also serve concurrently on their local campus staff assemblies in a leadership position. They play an integral role in amplifying the voices of staff and elevating the issues that are most important across the UC system. Jen Bowser just completed her term as Chair of the UC San Diego Staff Association. “I am so grateful for the opportunity to have served as a CUCSA delegate for UC San Diego and to have represented UC staff for the past two years. I look forward to continuing staff advocacy for another year in my new role as CUCSA Operations Officer.” Jen will now lead the CUCSA Internal Operations team overseeing social media, alumni engagement, government relations, and data and records.
The next quarterly CUCSA meeting will be held September 7-9 at UC Irvine. The delegation will have the opportunity to meet with Chancellor Howard Gillman, Chief Human Resources Officer, Ramona Agrela, and former Staff Advisor to the Regents Jason Valdry among others.
More information about the delegation and the campus representatives can be found on the Council of UC Staff Assemblies website.
MORE ABOUT CUCSA LEADERSHIP
Chair Dennis McIver is a Past President of UCR’s Staff Assembly and a Past Chair of UCR’s Black Faculty And Staff Association (BFASA). Dennis is also Co-Founder of the Black Leadership Alliance Council at the University of California (BLAC@UC). He serves UCR’s Graduate Division as a Financial Services Analyst and has more than 15 years of higher education experience including student advising, academic records, admissions, and athletic compliance.
Chair-Elect John Bodenschatz has worked for UCI for more than 20 years, serving in areas ranging from Financial Services to the School of Law to Neurobiology, before serving as Director of Finance for the UCI School of Humanities. John is interested in improving workspaces through teambuilding and the application of technology to update status quo practices to best achieve positive outcomes for individual employees, the workplace team, the academic unit, and at the University level. Professionally, John has highly valued his time as an assessor for the UC Management Skills Assessment Program, and in helping to develop a video series highlighting staff and their career paths at UCI. Outside of work, John spends his time on hobbies ranging from woodworking and making jewelry to serving on a community garden repair and maintenance committee and hosting charitable events in his neighborhood of University Hills, including co-organizing the 2021 Fresh Food Fair.
Operations Officer Jen Bowser manages sustainability engagement efforts, coordinating various conservation outreach and educational programs for students and staff on the UC San Diego campus. Before her career in sustainability, Jen was a Senior Accountant in UC San Diego’s General Accounting Department. Jen was born and raised in Western Massachusetts. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Western New England University. In 2014, she moved to San Diego from Boston, where she had worked in Financial Services at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). There, Jen revitalized the HSPH sustainability team, EcoOpportunity and co-chaired the group from 2009 to 2014. She has been an executive board member of the Staff Sustainability Network (SSN) since she began working at the university in October 2014. As part of her role with SSN, Jen joined the UC San Diego Staff Association Executive Board and was nominated Chair-Elect in July 2020 and served as Chair from July 2021 to June 2022. Jen values community, and sees her role on CUCSA as fostering a workplace that is supportive, safe and rewarding for all staff.