After a small turnout of voters, the Professional and Scientific Council will be welcoming 12 new or re-elected members to their group.

The last spot to be filled, a representative in external affairs, will be appointed by the council president.

Although only 21 percent of the P&S staff voted in the election, Director Kevin Kane was pleased with the results.

“The council is represented from people all over the university,” said Kane, program manager at Academic Information Technologies. “P&S works hard to get equal representation from all departments.”

Debbie Bahr, project assistant for the Institute for Social and Behavioral Research, said the P&S Council serves as a resource and support for P&S employees. The council identifies and communicates the needs of its employees and co-workers and provides information and advice in response to those needs.

The council is represented by the departments of academic and research, business and finance, extension, external affairs, Institute for Physical Research and Technology, the Ames Laboratory and student affairs.

Bahr said the council is made up of 30 members, depending on the size of the P&S staff. Each member represents more than 70 employees of the Professional and Scientific department.

Tim Eggers, field specialist for the cooperative extension field, said the council works to improve issues such as the early retirement incentive policy and employee issues. Representatives work with the provost office and Human Resources Office to discuss and work out concerns.

“We do get into individual people’s concerns and try to help both sides reach some sort of resolution,” he said. “We just try to represent employee concerns to the administration.”

Brent Brueland, extension program specialist in agronomy, said it also works to offer open forums for the faculty and staff.

“It’s been really good,” said Brueland, graduate student in agricultural education and studies. “I have learned about how the administration works at ISU.”

P&S Council hosts open forums on topics of relevance to P&S employees. The forums are usually held from noon to 1 p.m. on the first Thursday of the month, he said. Announcements regarding topic, time and location are made via e-mail. All P&S employees and guests are welcome to attend.

The next forum will be May 3 with a presentation by four programs which received funding from the Retention and Recruitment grant program administered by the P&S Council. More information can be found at the P&S Council Web site at www.iastate.edu/~ps_info/.