President Mark Huddleston attended the December meeting of the PAT Council, thanking councilors for their service and answering questions posed by representatives on behalf of their constituents. The council also elected new officers, with chair Judy Quist and vice chair Steve Myers both agreeing to serve a second term.  Returning councilor Stormy Gleason is the new secretary.  

Questions from the PAT constituency included how best to support the request being made of   state lawmakers to restore the USNH budget, which was previously cut by 49 percent, to $100,000 million.  

Huddleston told the council more than 1,100 people have signed up to be advocates of UNH, writing letters and making phone calls on the university’s behalf, telling legislators what they did last session was wrong.  

“The best way to help is as an individual,” Huddleston said. “The least helpful way is as a group, signing a petition. …Individuals can actually help move the needle.” (To be a UNH advocate visit http://www.unh.edu/president/higher-education-works-new-hampshire ).  

There was a question regarding future plans for a staff SIP (there aren’t any) and whether there has been any movement on the issue of PAT employees having to use leave time during the December break (there hasn’t). Regarding a question of increasing the number of graduates in science and technology, Huddleston offered an update on a STEM forum held recently in Manchester where USNH and the Community College System of New Hampshire pledged to double the number of STEM graduates in the Granite State by 2025. (N.H. Workforce Needs Discussed at STEM Forum).   

In other news, the council welcomed the following new representatives: 

District 7:    Christina Rowland, housing

District 9:    Katie Makem-Boucher, physics department

District 11:  Dan Corbeil, voice technologies central

District 13:  Julie Simpson, Research Integrity Services

District 14:  Christine Dupere, COLSA Business Service Center

District 16:  Stormy Gleason, dean’s office, Liberal Arts

District 17:  Jennifer Hammond, technology, service and consulting

District 21:  Carol Main, vice president for finance and administration office