From the Dean: Farewell to Janet Jedlicka!
Yesterday we held a reception to honor Dr. Janet Jedlicka who will be retiring at the end of this month. She has served ably as the chair of our Department of Occupational Therapy for the past 17 years and has been a faculty member at UND for an additional 3 years. Renowned for her dedication to her profession, students, faculty, and staff, she will be missed, along with her frequent four-legged companion Buddy. We will miss you both! There will be an announcement forthcoming soon about the new leadership for the Department.
To bookend the retirement ceremony for Dr. Jedlicka, this week the Center for Rural Health held this year’s iteration of its annual Scrubs Academy. Officially known as the Rural Collaborative Opportunities for Occupational Learning in Health (R-COOL-Health) Scrubs Academy, the event is a four day/three night camp held on the UND campus open to North Dakota students who have completed grades 6-8. The Academy encourages students, who participate in hands-on activities and receive information related to a variety of healthcare professions, to pursue a career in healthcare.
So, just as we were wishing Dr. Jedlicka well as she retires from the health arena, we (hopefully) are welcoming a wide variety of young students to consider the wider variety of health careers. As the Carter Family put it, “May the circle be unbroken!”
As this academic year comes to a close at the end of this month, we have been busy finalizing two important pay issues for our faculty and staff. The first is a market equity adjustment to salaries that the recently concluded North Dakota Legislative Assembly authorized for state employees. The SMHS received around $1.9 million in such funding for the coming biennium, and our Office of Administration and Finance has been hard at work coordinating with all of our departments and units so that we can make sure all of our team members are receiving fair and equitable pay.
The second pay issue has been the determination of merit increases for all employees. As you may recall, the legislature authorized and funded a 6% merit pool for the coming first year of the new biennium (academic year 2023-24). UND has indicated that all employees (faculty and staff) with acceptable job performance will get at least a 4% increase, with the possibility to receive up to 7% for outstanding performance this past year.
We received recommendations and feedback from the heads of all of our departments and units and we anticipate that the finalized numbers will be input into the system very soon. The market equity adjustments will be effective June 16, 2023, and the merit increases as of July 1, 2023. Both of these salary adjustments by the legislature are most appreciated and will help to keep the School competitive in the currently very tight market for human capital.
Joshua Wynne, MD, MBA, MPH
Vice President for Health Affairs, UND
Dean, UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences
