This year has seen heightened activity in most of the groups reporting to me. These are summarized in the Sections below. The work reflects quality performance on the part of outstanding human resource and medical professionals. They serve MIT well.

I want to pay special tribute to Joan Rice who retired as Vice President for Human Resources in May 1999 after more than 27 years at MIT. Her hard work, professional leadership, wit and humor are legend. She was a major architect of our community and one of its leading champions. She called us all to high standards and to kindness. We wish her well in her retirement.

A number of staffing changes took place in the Personnel Office. Wayne Carloni joined the Personnel Office as Applications Development Programmer, Valerie Chu-Stone had a change in appointment status from temporary to regular, Patricia Brady transferred to the Executive Vice President area as Senior Project Director for the Executive Vice President. Kenia Franco, Virginia Hillen, Shelly LaVallee, Stephanie Neal-Johnson, Cynthia Vallino, Bonnie Lee Whang and Susan Ziemba left to pursue positions that provided greater interest.

As of June 1, 1999, of the total of 32 administrative staff in the Personnel Office, 10 (31 percent) are members of minority groups and 20 (63 percent) are women. (In 1998, of the total of 37 administrative staff in the Personnel Office, 11 (30 percent) were members of minority groups and 26 (70 percent) were women

As of June 1, 1999, of the total of 20 support staff in the Personnel Office, 6 (30 percent) are members of minority groups and 16 (80 percent) are women. (In 1998, of the total of 22 support staff in the Personnel Office, 6 (27 percent) were members of minority groups and 18 (82 percent) were women.

Phillip L. Clay (Interim Vice President for Human Resources)

The focus of the Medical Department continues to center on our mission: quality care and a low barrier for our patients, availability to the entire community and efforts to contain costs. Internally, in the Department and at MIT, and externally in a complex and ever changing health care system, we are hard at work to achieve these goals. A number of noteworthy accomplishments and continuing initiatives, some directly related to our Strategic Plan, deserve mention in summary:

The Department-wide effort to upgrade our information systems is being implemented. Among its virtues will be decentralized appointments allowing more responsive interactions between patients and their providers. We will also be able to benchmark clinical activities in comparison to other health care organizations and to track internally clinical results and finances by lines of business.

A point-of-service, satellite facility at Lincoln Laboratory will be in operation by September, 1999 thanks to the vision, cooperation, planning and efforts of groups at the Medical Department and at Lincoln Laboratory and the cooperation and assistance of senior administration of MIT. The facility will include a fitness area and a medical clinic. Staffing will primarily be by deployment of existing personnel in internal medicine and pediatrics. We hope that the facility, convenient for Lincoln Laboratory personnel and families residing in the western suburbs, will help to increase MIT Health Plan enrollment and provide more convenient access for care.

The Department-wide ComMITment to Care effort, our "customer service" initiative, continues as a consolidated effort by four implementation groups that are setting priorities in major areas of clinical services to our patients as well as interactions among staff. This activity will be ongoing but benefits have already been recognized in areas such as quality improvement, annual reviews of personnel, and requirements mandated by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO).

Student health education and care remain a top priority. Expansion of student participation in MedLINKS to over 100 advisors now makes it realistic to plan for an advisor in every living group. A Student Health Education Advisory Committee has contributed a number of suggestions, including activities during Residence/Orientation week and mailings to entering freshmen and their families to provide expanded information on alcohol and substance abuse and to encourage more questions in the mental health and stress areas on the health form sent home.

In patient care activities the Mental Health Service has revised procedures for urgent clinical needs and to improve communications among staff. The Dental Service has attracted more students for care with significant discounts and has developed a referral agreement for specialized dental care with the Harvard Dental Clinic. A software program and pamphlets describing breast disease matters, including cancer, have been developed in response to the needs of our patients.

Escalating drug costs led to a careful evaluation of our pharmacy activities and resulted in a decision to continue this service at MIT as a major benefit and convenience. Cost containment efforts remain an integral part of our Pharmacy program.

The merger of the MIT Clinical Research Center (CRC) with the larger Massachusetts General Hospital Clinical Research Center has prompted a review of the Department's overall responsibility for clinical activities of the CRC.

A decision was reached not to proceed with a Medicare Part A application, nor to offer a Medicare Senior Plan. We will, however, continue to care for our elderly staff and retirees as part of their Medicare insurance program, as individuals. We are also examining a program of respite care for the community that would help patients and their caring families and provide additional inpatient revenue.

We are actively in preparation for a JCAHO survey that occurs every three years. The last two surveys resulted in high marks and special commendation. Working with a consultant we are reviewing all of our

outpatient and inpatient activities and updating patient care and safety procedures mandated by the Joint Commission.

The Environmental Medical Services (EMS) celebrated 50 years of activity at MIT in May, 1999. In addition to an historical and scientific program, the new EMS library was dedicated in memory of the first director of EMS, Dr. Harriet Hardy.

Dental Service, Gregory A. Stoute, D.M.D., M.P.H., Chief

A provider compensation program, based on revenue generated and quality indicators, is now in use for determining provider salaries. As part of the Medical Department's initiative in ComMITment to Care, the Dental Service has been working closely with Charles River Consultants to improve teamwork and interpersonal skills among members of the Dental Service. We also have entered a referral agreement with the Harvard Dental School's faculty practice to provide speciality services to the MIT community that are not readily available here.

Medical Service, William A. Ruth, M.D., Chief

Excepting some turnover of physicians in the After Hours Service, there have been no personnel changes in the Medical Service this past year. Two major projects have been underway. The first is planning for the Lincoln Lab satellite medical facility which has an opening anticipated for late September, 1999. The second major project is the implementation of the new IDX computer system which should be fully functional by the end of summer, 1999 and will, among other things, allow decentralizing patient appointments which should make for more appropriate decisions regarding need for timely visits to see the patient's own physician. Another improvement in services has been the recent acquisition of the AT & T Translation Service. This can be accessed by telephone during a patient visit where communication barriers exist. Translations are available in approximately 150 languages, requiring a matter of minutes to dial up the service.

After Hours Service, Howard M. Heller, M.D.

The After Hours Service continues to provide 24-hour urgent medical care with physician availability on site during nights, weekends, and holidays. The volume of visits remains similar to last year. In addition, scheduled appointments on weekends allow patient waiting times to be significantly less, improving satisfaction as well as efficiency. Among modifications in our treatment programs, a newer method for treating minor lacerations which provides superior results and less patient discomfort has been introduced.

Inpatient Medical Service, Elaine L. Shiang, M.D.

The Inpatient Unit continues to play a vital role in the care and management of MIT patients. During this past year, there were 717 admissions of which 46 percent were students, 31 percent MIT Health Plan members, and 15 percent Medicare recipients. The Clinical Research Center had 204 combined 24-hour and 12-hour research admissions for a variety of studies of metabolism, cardiovascular and neurological disease. Clinical integration with Partners Healthcare and the Massachusetts General Hospital has been a key factor in making clinical care more efficient. In this past year, the Clinical Research Centers at MIT and the MGH have informally merged and this has led to a number of projects related to common interests and will also result in some increase in the use of the Inpatient Unit for Clinical Research Center patients. Hospice care, which is offered to MIT patients, is another invaluable service to the MIT community. A new policy is being developed which will take effect during July, 1999 and should provide additional benefits to the community and to the affected individuals.

Obstetrics and Gynecology Service, Lori A. Wroble, M.D., Chief

During this past year, patient visits and deliveries, as well as Gyn surgeries remained approximately similar to the previous year. There has been a slight increase in Cesarian section rate as well as in primary Cesarian sections.

New handouts as well as updates of other printed information have been developed by provider and support staff to help to inform patients who come to the service with specific problems. Our practitioners continue to participate in community activities including IAP, premedical student advising, MedLINKS advising, participation in HST program, "Introduction to Clinical Medicine," HMS primary care mentorship program, precepting MGH nurse practitioner students, and supervising residents at Brigham and Women's Gyn Clinic.

Pediatrics and Student Health, Mark A. Goldstein, M.D., Chief

In the area of student health, patient care has been an important focus. A study of international students and barriers to mental health care at MIT indicated that cross cultural issues were affecting how students looked at mental health. In response to this and to a campus suicide, the student medical report has been revised to contain more information about mental health issues. In addition, freshman are now being asked if they would like information about MIT Mental Health Service. All entering graduate students will receive biographies of all primary care physicians to help them select a primary care physician. Freshmen are still assigned primary care physicians and many of them receive personal notes of welcome from their assigned physicians. It is noteworthy that Harvard University Health Service will institute a primary care assignment for freshmen beginning this year. Athletes now require cardiovascular screening. In cooperation with the Athletic Department the Medical Department will begin this program, a requirement of the NCAA. The Student Health Service continues to work with a student group gathering information and advice as to how best to serve students.

Another area for student activities involves education. Incoming freshmen and their families were sent information about alcohol and alcohol poisoning and this will be a yearly event. In addition, we are now requiring hepatitis B vaccination for all students. A quality improvement effort on immunization levels at MIT has been completed and presented at a national meeting. The effort to improve immunization levels can lead to almost 100 percent compliance. In addition, MIT and Medical Department groups concerned with alcohol misuse on campus have presented information at a regional meeting and also here on campus. Finally, the Pediatric Service was involved in several studies, including the use of one-dose of a single antibiotic compared to ten days of a combination antibiotic in the treatment of middle ear infections. A second study involves epidemiology of cough and whether persistent cough is related to a contagious disease called pertussis. Information from this study was presented at a national meeting of the Infectious Disease Society in October, 1998 and the Society for Adolescent Medicine in March, 1999.

Environmental Medical Services, Robert J. McCunney, M.D., Director

In 1997, the EMS adopted a strategic plan to expand its focus into three areas above and beyond its normal responsibilities at MIT. These include the introduction of monthly grand rounds, the formation of an academic curriculum committee, and expanded training initiatives primarily through interactive and Web-based programs.

Major highlights of the past year, in addition to these three new activities, included a 50th Anniversary celebration of the institution of EMS and with it an historical and scientific get-together, as well as dedication of the EMS library in honor of Dr. Harriet Hardy, its first director. EMS provided extensive support to MIT in preparation for the Environmental Protection Agency visit that took place this past year.

EMS was selected as a training site for Occupational Medicine residents from Harvard School of Public Health with approval from the accreditation council for graduate medical education. New personnel joined EMS this year in administrative service and biological safety and are now well integrated into the service. A number of publications and books have been developed by individuals in EMS and in addition, Dr. McCunney has been elected President of the American College of Occupational Environmental Medicine to serve for the academic year beginning July, 1999.

Health Education Service, Margaret S. Ross, M.D., Physician Liaison

The Health Education Office serves two major functions. The first, and perhaps most important, relates to student health education and the second to a variety of activities that involve the overall MIT community. The budget was restructured this past year to reflect more fairly the costs involved in providing health education activities in each of these areas. The resource collection of the service has continued to grow responding to provider requests, needs of the patient population, and expansion of information that now is available online. A variety of spring and fall workshops were developed and some of these expanded into the summer.

In student health, the MedLINKS program expanded to now include 109 individuals. While not every living group is represented by MedLINKS individuals, this is the goal of the health education service. Student health educators were intimately involved in Residence/Orientation week and in a variety of outreach efforts to the freshmen class beyond that first week. A new project developed by Rosanne Guerriero, Health Educator for Students, organized around subgroups of MedLINKS, is inviting patient feedback to focus on areas that deserve more attention. In addition to MedLINKS, continuing education involved nutritional training, teaching and information sessions on repetitive stress, colds and flu. Project ACT (Access Create Trigger) in the living groups took off with a total of 14 workshops over the course of the year. UpFront staged 10 performances on alcohol, dating violence, sexual assault and there were six issues of NewsLINKS published during the year, focusing on student health education issues.

Finally, we continue to organize the Department's contributions to IAP, with close to 100 presentations by members of the Department and selected visitors.

Mental Health Service, Peter A. Reich, M.D., Chief

The Mental Health Service had a busy year with many new patient visits. An operations group was begun which has worked on long-range planning but also on a more specific current issue of urgent care. A low barrier program has been enhanced to facilitate availability of a physician as well as appropriate communications with other members of the department for individual cases.

A staff library has been refurbished, a more efficient communication reporting system of on-call clinical activities has been instituted, and a new form for charting clinical telephone contacts enacted. The Service adopted a computerized scheduling system that has improved our availability and, combined with new encounter forms, this system will enable the service to retrieve useful data for self study. In serving the wider MIT community, consultation to fraternities and other independent living groups was added to the many consultative roles already in place.

In addition to the above services, the Mental Health Service provides a significant activity in the Personal Assistance Program organized primarily through the efforts of Dr. Ronald Fleming. As in previous years, this involved training and orientation to groups of MIT supervisors, as well as to division staff, group staff, and Human Resources personnel at Lincoln Lab. Training regarding risks of alcohol and substance use to holders of commercial drivers licences and selected supervisory personnel as part of MIT's program to meet the Department of Transportation requirements on drug and alcohol testing was also provided.

Surgical Services, Lawrence T. Geoghegan, M.D., Chief

The 20 percent increase in surgical cases in the previous fiscal year has been maintained in this past year. There continues to be a large number of women with breast problems (between 15 and 18 new patients per month). For this reason, a considerable amount of emphasis has been placed on both teaching and education of patients and staff in breast disorders. Two pamphlets on breast disease have been completed and Dr. Geoghegan presented two breast cancer teaching sessions to primary care physicians.

Nursing Service, Laureen K. Gray, R.N., C.S., Chief

The Nursing Service continues to provide clinical care seven days a week by nurse practitioners, physician assistants, registered nurses and nursing support staff throughout the Medical Department, CRC and Lincoln Laboratory. Community service continues to be a focus of the Nursing Department, including freshman orientation, new student registration, clinical support during graduation ceremonies, flu vaccine clinics in the fall, participation in IAP activities, and collaborative outreach programs with our Health Education Department, providing information to our community of students. Several of the MIT nurse practitioners and physician assistants precepted graduate nursing students from the MGH Institute of Health Professions and other academic institutions in the Boston area. The Nursing Continuing Education Committee continues to provide ongoing programs to enhance staff development. Members of the Nursing Service have initiated and implemented quality improvement programs such as immunizing our pediatric population.

Clinical Research Center, Lee H. Schwamm, M.D., Associate Director

This year the Clinical Research Center began to explore a more structured relationship with the Massachusetts General Hospital's CRC, and this relationship has, in fact, been highly successful. The reputation of the two CRCs is excellent and the strengths of each institution complement those of the other. The CRC continues to report to the Medical Department for medical matters, including licensure. Representatives from the CRC serve on the major committees of the Medical Department including the Medical Executive Committee.

Lincoln Laboratory Medical Service, Bruce J. Biller, M.D.

The Lincoln Lab Medical Clinic saw 3549 patients during this past fiscal year. There were 17 urgent or emergent patient visits requiring triage. Fourteen health education programs were offered at Lincoln Lab during the spring and fall on a wide range of health and wellness topics. The illness of a nurse practitioner created staffing challenges that were met by the rotation of other MIT nurse practitioners. We look forward to the opening of the new Health and Wellness Center in the fall.

Clinical Operations and Administration, William M. Kettyle, M.D., Associate Medical Director

Providing excellent health care at reasonable cost for students, faculty and staff of the Institute continues to be the major goal of the Medical Department. Expanding hours of operation and the planned addition of enhanced services at the Lincoln Laboratory facility will allow more convenient availability of medical services for our community. Evening hours and scheduled appointments on weekends continue to be popular with our patients. Efforts to streamline patient scheduling procedures are underway to decrease waiting times and improve access to clinical care. A new information system is being phased into operation. Planning for the implementation of the new system has led to a review of our current scheduling procedures and should help improve access to care for out patients. Decentralized scheduling of patient visits should also improve the quality of clinical care, improving the likelihood of matching the patient with the appropriate provider for the appropriate length of time.

Affiliations with the Partners Healthcare Network and the Massachusetts General Hospital enhance access for our community to outstanding tertiary care when needed. Our quality improvement program is being reviewed and improved to make it more responsive to the needs of our patients. Working from an evidence-based foundation, focused reviews of clinical care path with simultaneous education are designed to improve the quality of care we provide.

Members of the Medical Department actively participate in many campus activities. Pre-med advising, MedLINK mentoring and active participation in IAP programs are some of the activities in which members of the Department participate. Several members of the Medical Department teach in the HST program. Also, several members of the Department have been involved in continuing efforts to provide education, care and advice with regard to issues surrounding the use of alcohol and drugs in our community.

The MIT Health Plans, Mary P. Smith, Director

The MIT Health Plans and the Department, in response to focus groups and community interest, received approval for an expanded medical facility at Lincoln Laboratory. Construction began this spring with an anticipated opening date of mid-September, 1999. This new site will offer internal medicine and pediatric care in the beginning stages of operation and will possibly add other clinical services at a later time. With this second site available for Health Plan members it is hoped that additional Lincoln employees, as well as MIT employees who live in the western suburbs, will choose one of the two MIT Health Plans for their care. A grand opening event is scheduled for October 20 and additional marketing efforts this fall will hopefully attract more interest in the Health Plans.

There continues to be demand for competitive premiums even as overall health care costs rise, particularly with hospital and pharmaceutical costs. The pharmacy copayment for the Health Plans will rise from the current $6 copayment to $10 per 30-day supply effective January 1, 2000. Federal and state legislation for the managed care industry will be watched closely by the Health Plans management team so that any required changes in benefits, mandates or patient/provider practices can be implemented in a timely manner.

Administrative Operations and Management, Annette Jacobs, Executive Director

The ComMITment to Care program began implementation activities in the past year which will continue into the future. Four major areas have received attention in the past year:

• Departmental standards for care.
• Clinical practice organization.
• Evaluation of services. In this area we began an ongoing random patient sample survey in the fall. This survey will allow us to collect information by providers within an area and to compare ourselves to similar organizations.
• Training. There will be a variety of training sessions held for all Department staff in a number of areas including communications, team building and diversity.

In coordination with the Health Plans, the provider side of the organization is planning for the opening of the MIT Medical/Lexington site at Lincoln Laboratory. The providers who currently practice at the MIT Medical/Cambridge location will spend some time at this facility and we are recruiting for additional providers to help serve the pediatric population.

Marketing efforts continue. The Health Plans had a major renovation of the membership handbooks to try to make them more interesting and readable for members. A new brochure was developed for graduate students in keeping with the marketing themes of the Department. We are planning a large ice-cream social for R/O week to acquaint freshmen with the primary care providers in the Department.

Expense control continues to be a major emphasis. A recent analysis of our pharmacy costs showed that we do well in our costs for procurement and distribution of pharmaceuticals, but continue to have the industry-wide problem of costs escalating at a greater rate than income.

Staff Personnel Changes June 1, 1998 through May 31, 1999

Appointments

Terminations

Promotion

Enhanced teamwork and individual commitment by members of the Medical Department have resulted in a year of progress in the face of increasing pressure from regulatory and financial demands. The Strategic Plan put forward four years ago continues to be enacted and/or modified and we are currently revisiting that plan in the light of progress and current reality. We have a continuing responsibility to MIT, to our patients, and to our students, their parents and spouses to honor our mission to provide the highest quality care with the lowest barriers to that care, ever mindful of cost. We are not interested in duplicating other health care organizations. We are dedicated to being responsive and responsible for health care and health education for the MIT community. The work of the Department could not be accomplished without the dedication of all the individuals serving it. Leadership teamwork has included the selfless and thoughtful dedication of Annette Jacobs, William Kettyle, M.D., Laureen Gray, R.N., C.S., Peter Reich, M.D., Anthony Rogers, and Mary Smith.

Arnold N. Weinberg

The activity of the Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Office (AA/EO) has been in operation for the past year and a half. The office continues to provide assistance to the Institute in the areas of affirmative action, equal employment opportunity and cultural and racial diversity. The office has functioned in a variety of ways to support the Institute's schools and departments. Two primary functions have been to assist in recruitment, hiring, advancement, and retention of underrepresented minorities and women; and to develop strategies to promote and enhance understanding, sensitivity and acceptance for diversity among students, staff and faculty.

The early efforts of the AA/EO Office, which were to initiated discussions within Personnel and to establish contact through the support of the personnel officers with the leadership of each department within Human Resources, has expanded to several groups within the various schools and departments. These initial meetings were held with the administrative leadership teams of each of the Institute Schools and Departments and were followed-up by meetings with other staff throughout the year. The personnel officers assisted the AA/EO Office with arrangements for these meetings and the Personnel Department's goal to integrate affirmative action and diversity practices with all personnel functions have been the focus.

Affirmative action/diversity discussions with the extended staff within departments visited have been enhanced by the use of the "Intuitively Obvious" video series, developed by Clarence Williams, and have elicited lively discussions. Those who have participated have gained a deeper understanding of the source and nature of many of the issues and concerns that revolve around race and gender relations at MIT. The AA/EO Officer has partnered with the Assistant Director for the Department of Facilities in the delivery of Diversity Training Sessions to the administrative, support and service staff of that department. These classes represent offerings from the Facilities' Learning and Performance Training Guide, are promoting a positive awareness and acceptance of diversity within the department and serve as a means to address diversity in the performance management process.

The AA/EO Officer continues to have membership on the Committee on Campus Race Relations and has taken on the role of co-chair for the Education Sub-committee. This sub-committee will identify resources to the main body for further education and information in the areas of race relations. The Office has provided mediation support to employees and students who have raised claims based on gender, race or culture-related concerns.

In support of MIT's minority recruitment efforts, the Office provides assistance as requested for specific position openings, has attended local job fairs and special interest conferences for contact with qualified applicants. This activity has added increased numbers of minority applicants to the Personnel Restrac data base. This support is intended to enhance the full-service assistance expected from the Minority Recruitment Program that the AA/EO Office has initiated together with the Personnel Officers and to create additional opportunities for hiring underrepresented minorities

Regina A. Caines

Recommendations that resulted from the comprehensive review of the MIT Retirement Plan were approved by the Executive Committee of the Corporation, and implementation of those changes began. As a result, the first phase of outsourcing almost all 401(k) Supplemental Plan services was completed, including the transfer of $1.7 billion in 401(k) Plan assets from the daily management of Wellington Management and others to Fidelity Investments. Oversight of the investment of these assets was transferred from the Trustees of the MIT Retirement Plan to the newly-formed 401(k) Plan Oversight Committee.

The Benefits Office continued its efforts to provide retirement planning and investment education services by sponsoring seminars and workshops on investment fundamentals, estate planning and Social Security in October 1998 through March 1999. These sessions on campus and at Lincoln Laboratory were attended by 3,174 employees and retirees. Fidelity Investment Company provided investment educational seminars that were attended by 1,264 employees.

Other outreach efforts included a Health & Wellness Fair during which eight information sessions were offered over four days on topics such as Diet & Metabolism, Sports Medicine, Men's & Women's Health issues, and Tai Chi, a benefits update presentation to the Working Group on Support Staff Issues and a presentation sponsored by the Family Resource Center called, "Adapting your MIT Benefits to Your Family's Needs". This year's annual Medicare supplement plans panel discussion included a representative of the Health Care Financing Administration who addressed the new Medicare + Choice programs.

This year marked the successful completion of several projects designed to improve business processes by streamlining transaction processing to and from the Benefits Office. Children's Scholarship and Tuition Assistance transactions are now being sent electronically from the HR Cyborg system to SAP. These projects eliminate duplicate data entry for over 5 million dollars worth of transactions and reduce the time it takes to generate checks for employees from 1 week to 1-2 days. The New Hire Benefits self-service application was also implemented. New Hire Benefits self-service allows new MIT employees to make their initial benefits enrollments via the phone or the web. This eliminates form completion by the employee and data entry in the Benefits Office. The implementation of this system required development of new internal reports and procedures to support the enrollment of newly hired employees.

Continued development of the Benefits Office web site now includes access to 401(k) as well as health and welfare benefits information for employees. These applications ensure that employees can not only obtain a great deal of helpful information about their benefits on the web, they can also view and make changes to their current benefit choices.

Changes were made to the plan provisions of the Children's Scholarship Plan as a result of the loss of governmental financial support for the program. These changes were communicated to the MIT community.

Faculty and Staff Information Services (FASIS) has the responsibility to acquire, maintain, and provide employment information about faculty, staff and other persons affiliated with MIT to ensure the currency, privacy, and accuracy of this information. In addition this office serves as the department liaison with computer support groups in the development of long-range computer systems.

The Office continues to process approximately 14,000 transactions for appointments and changes. In addition, the office continues its role in the processing of salary review, in the servicing of data requests received from within the Personnel Office and the MIT Community, in responding to external employment verification requests, and in the production of the staff telephone directory.

There are two main computer systems in the Personnel Office. The Cyborg Human Resource system and the Restrac Employment Management system. There were no major system upgrades this fiscal year. Both systems are Year 2000 compliant.

This year the office was involved in several major technology projects that are described below. Many of the projects were managed by Steve Scarano, Assistant to the Vice President for Human Resources, Information Systems.

The purpose of the Salary Reviews Automation Project was to design and develop a system that would support the annual salary review process for each of MIT's non-academic, non-union payroll groups. The team members included individuals from the Compensation Office and FASIS. The result of the project was the development of an internet-based system which enabled authorized personnel in MIT's departments, centers and labs to access and review current salaries' information, project salary increases, and submit final recommendations electronically, as part of one seamless automated process. With this internet-based system, the Compensation Office conducted three pilots during the period of October 1998 through March 1999.

Steve Scarano was responsible for managing the effort to design and implement an Internet-based electronic system to support the reclassification of administrative positions to the new compensation model. In March 1999, Softscape, Inc. was selected for the development of the production version of the MIT Compensation System. It is anticipated that the Compensation System will be piloted in the next fiscal year.

Serving as Project Manager, Steve Scarano performed the requirement's analysis, package selection, and management of the implementation of the Optix Server Filesystem. The primary objective of this project is to introduce electronic imaging systems technology as the means to better manage and utilize approximately one million personnel and benefits-related documents that are accessed on a daily basis. This project required the cooperation and assistance from many individuals in the office. A considerable amount of time was spent preparing the files for scanning. This enormous task was supervised by Cynthia DeSimone, Mary Markel, and Andrea Surette. This project will be completed in the first quarter of the next fiscal year.

Other accomplishments include the implementation of an online resume entry, the streamlining of the referral process, the installation of the NT server, and the redesign of the Personnel Office web pages. The implementation of the online resume entry has reduced the paper-flow of mailed resumes to the office by 60 percent.

The Office continues to provide technology support to all areas of the Personnel Department.

During the year there were several changes in personnel. Virginia Hillen, Senior Programmer Analyst, left the Institute after five years of service. Shelley Lavallee, left the Institute after four years of service and Bonnie Lee Whang rejoined the staff as Retirement Benefits Administrator. Sharon Clarke and Brenda Mahon joined the benefits services staff as Benefits Administrators and Wayne Carloni joined our staff as Applications Development Programmer in January. Of the 29 people in the Benefits and Systems group, 69 percent were female and 34 percent were members of a minority group. The Benefits and Systems group consists of three areas within the Personnel Office: the Benefits Office, the HRIS group and the Family Resource Center.

Marianne Howard

The Family Resource Center offers faculty, staff and students a broad range of services to assist with child care and schooling, normal parenting concerns, family relocation, and balancing work and family. In addition, the Center participates in a number of institutional, local and national work/life initiatives and makes available information and research on these issues. Center staff includes two part-time co-administrators and one full-time senior office assistant; Sandie Woo joined the Center staff as Senior Office Assistant in November, following the departure of Malika Bristol. The Center has maintained 33 percent minority representation on its staff.

Services offered by the Center include office consultations, informational "briefings", seminars, and discussion groups; the Center maintains and provides access to multiple referral databases, resource packets, and a lending library. This year the Center added 400 new MIT student and employee families (including 38 faculty, of whom many were relocating to MIT) to its list of current clients, now totaling roughly 4,400. Over thirty seminars and workshops were offered on topics including adoption, job flexibility, child development, balancing work and family, multicultural family life, parenting, emergency/back-up child care, and schooling. Referral databases, which include regular and back-up child care, schools, camps, and special needs services, were expanded, and the development of on-line access to several of these databases is underway.

As an internal resource on work/life issues, Center activities this year included contributions to Institute discussions of job flexibility, child care, and faculty work/life issues. Center staff served on numerous Institute committees, including, recently, as co-chair of the MIT Council on Family and Work, and as members of the Child Care Planning Committee, Stata Center Design Team, and Executive Committee of Technology Children's Center. Externally, the Center continued to play a leadership role in several national professional organizations, including the National Parenting Education Network, the College and University Work/Family Association, and the Alliance of Work/Life Professionals.

Kathy Simons, A. Rae Simpson

DISABILITIES SERVICES OFFICE

The Disabilities Services Office (DSO) is responsible for providing effective disability services and programs for students, faculty, employees, and visitors at MIT. These services include physical and communication access, academic accommodations for students, and the identification and implementation of reasonable accommodations for employees.

Over the past year, the DSO has completed the development of administrative forms and Institute policies and procedures to provide accurate guidelines for students and faculty requesting/receiving services. In developing these policies, it has unified the entities providing academic access at MIT by defining a more efficient and consistent system for obtaining services. These entities would include the DSO, Adaptive Technology for Information and Computing (ATIC) Lab, the Learning Disabilities Specialist, and the Office of Undergraduate Academic Affairs. Due to recent court rulings, we were also able to develop a precise guideline for appropriate documentation for students applying for accommodations due to a disability. This has eliminated a great deal of controversy between the DSO and students, parents, and evaluators.

The MIT Handbook for Students with Disabilities will be published this August. In addition, the DSO has created a manual providing in depth information on daily procedures of our office; a Faculty Resource Series designed to help faculty understand individual disabilities and enhance classroom learning for the student; and is in the process of designing a series of 3 fold brochures for various services, departments, and specific student disabilities. We have also worked with the Libraries to develop polices in providing library access to all students. The DSO has assisted 141 students with disabilities during the past academic year.

The DSO works with the personnel officers, departments heads, immediate supervisors, and outside agencies as well as conducts ongoing presentations to the MIT community on their responsibilities to provide necessary accommodations during the hiring process; to identify reasonable accommodations when appropriate; and to make sure position descriptions do not impermissibly screen-out persons with disabilities. A total of 62 employees identified themselves as individuals with disabilities and requested accommodations.

Responses to the needs of employees with disabilities remains decentralized. To meet these needs, a working group has been formed between the DSO and representatives from worker's compensation, benefits, long term disability, and ADA compliance at both the main and Lincoln campus. There are two goals of this group; one is to provide training to this group on handling complex disability cases; the other is to develop red flags within each process where it would be appropriate to bring in one of the other departments for consultation. We have had a training with an ADA attorney to give us feedback on current cases. Through this working group we have found that communication between our offices has greatly improved.

Barbara Roberts

Employee Relations consists of three areas within the personnel department; Personnel Services and Employment, Labor Relations, and Compensation. Our mission is to serve MIT by providing consulting, advising, strategic planning and administrative services in the areas of employment, employee relations, compensation and labor relations. We are committed to creating a professional work environment where employees are treated fairly in support of MIT's mission of excellence in education and research.

In the 1998—99 fiscal year, the Compensation Office participated in 38 external salary surveys conducted by universities, associations, and consulting groups from across the country, and responded to over 100 email or phone requests for position-specific salary data. As in previous years, the Office conducted two major surveys with approximately 25 participants each. These MIT survey results continue to provide us with a solid basis in determining our market position, and in developing our review allocation proposals to the MIT Corporation's Executive Committee. In addition to using our own surveys to determine market position for the Administrative and Support Staff, we incorporated several external salary surveys to assist us in preparing the allocation proposals.

Nine salary reviews covering approximately 5,795 Campus employees were conducted. Testing of a new web-based automated review system began this fiscal year, and was conducted during the Faculty, Sponsored Research, and Support Staff reviews. Feedback from the testing departments was favorable, and we strive to have the automation completed during the coming fiscal year.

A total of 77 administrative positions were classified or re-classified this fiscal year. The total number of active classification positions that currently exist in the Institute's Administrative Staff Classification System is 989.

The Compensation Office continues the work began in May 1998 to redesign the Classification and Compensation System for Administrative Staff. The project is approximately 75 percent completed, and we expect to complete the work and begin a rollout to the community in the late summer and early fall.

The Office of Labor Relations is responsible for negotiating and administering the collective bargaining agreements covering approximately 1,400 MIT employees in five bargaining units. Labor Relations also represents MIT in grievance arbitrations, and in some cases, before administrative agencies in employment-related cases.

On September 30, 1998, the Institute signed a new agreement expiring June 30, 2001, with the Security Officers Independent Union (SOIU). The wage increases in the agreements were consistent with MIT budgetary guidelines.

The Institute is still negotiating with the MIT Campus Police association (MITCPA) for a successor agreement to the agreement that expired June 30, 1997. The prior agreement has been extended while bargaining continues. The Institute has also commenced bargaining with the Research, Development and Technical Employees' Union for a successor agreement to the agreement that expires June 30, 1999.

The number of grievances rose slightly from the previous year. One arbitration case was decided, with the arbitrator rendering a split award for the Union on some issues and for the Institute on others. One arbitration case is awaiting the filing of briefs. Eighteen grievances have been filed to arbitration and have yet to be heard.

During the year, two cases were filed before the National Labor Relations Board. These cases are in addition to five cases that were pending before the Board. During this same time, one of the pending cases was withdrawn. Four cases remain deferred to arbitration no arbitration date yet.

In addition this Office provide advice and counsel to departments, centers and laboratories contemplating business design changes that impact collective bargaining issues and continue to work closely in support to various re-engineering efforts.

This group consists of 7 personnel officers, 1 employment officer and 5 full-time and one half-time staff assistants.

In addition to the day to day duties of advertising job openings, providing assistance with staffing including applicant tracking and interviewing, employee job counseling, policy interpretation, performance management assistance, salary administration and conflict resolution, much time was spent this past year supporting the Institute's Reengineering effort and working on improving our processes through better use of technology.

Emphasis was placed on improving the office's web page and adding several on-line features to improve access and streamline processing. Most of the Office's forms were put on-line, some such as the Personnel Requisition and Ad Request Forms were made interactive. We also added on Exit Interview Form that can be filled out on-line and submitted to our office anonymously. In addition we worked with several departments to improve MIT's presence on the web as an employer by listing our job opportunities with Careers.Boston.Com, the Boston Globe's on-line job listing, and enabling prospective applicants to apply for MIT jobs on-line.

Since January 1999, when we first introduced on-line applications, approximately 70 percent of all applications are coming in through the web and our on-line system.

During the past year approximately 7,523 applications for positions were received and processed. Of this number, 855 individuals were hired for positions listed through the Personnel Office, with 149 of these involving internal candidates. Kenneth Wolff, Employment Officer, who primarily assists hiring managers in filling support staff vacancies, reviewed 1,412 applications for support staff positions and interviewed 117 candidates.

Some 177 unemployment claims were processed this year for former campus employees. We work closely with the representatives of the Massachusetts Department of Employment and Training to provide timely information to employees who terminate and may be eligible for benefits, including individuals in departments impacted by funding or staff restructuring related to re-engineering efforts. Manchester Partners International continues to provide employees with outplacement and career counseling assistance.

During this period, two people, Kenia Franco and Dorothy Purdy left Employee Relations and one person; Joyce McDonald joined the group. Of the 20 people in the group, 65 percent were female and 25 percent were members of a minority group.

Robert J. Lewis

The Human Resource Practices Design/Development (HRPD) Project, sponsored by the Vice President for Human Resources, was initiated in 1996 to support the changing needs of the Institute. The MIT Human Resource Principles adopted in 1994 provided the foundation for the work of the core team and the various project teams whose work is embodied in the project. The project scope did not include academic or off-campus positions. The final reports of the HRPD project were delivered in February 1999.

Members of the core HPRD team in 1998—99 were Patricia Brady, Project Director/Team Leader, Melissa Damon, Margaret Ann Gray, Alyce Johnson, Barbara Peacock-Coady, Mark Cason-Snow, and Maureen Bednarek.

The output from the project includes recommended enhancements to existing human resources (HR) practices, new strategic HR approaches, and customized tools and resources for modernizing the Institute's HR management. The recommendations for changes to the Institute's classification and compensation programs, delivered in the fall of 1997, are under development in the Personnel Department under the direction of Nora Costa, Manager of Compensation.

During the last two years, the core team learned about the theories of effective HR management and the applications that have worked well in practice in other organizations. Through empirical research and engagements with several areas of the Institute, it was possible to define HR practices specifically for MIT. Based on results achieved through January 1999, the core team recommended that MIT continue development and complete implementation of an integrated system of competency-based HR practices over the next three years.

The two defining attributes of the proposed new system are first, that it is based on job designs that encompass both technical and behavioral competencies; and second, that is it integrated. Paying attention to behavioral competencies makes it possible to match individuals and jobs more satisfactorily for all concerned; for example, it allows technical competencies to be applied more successfully. Integration occurs on at least two planes: (1) among the several HR practices (such as linking performance management and compensation); and (2) across the boundaries of technology, strategic planning and day-to-day activities in ways that will help MIT manage the operating budget more effectively.

An HR Implementation Resource Team (IRT) was established in May of 1999 to guide the introduction of competency-based recruitment and pilot the recommended new HR practices in selected central administrative areas. Its members are Maureen Bednarek, Mark Cason-Snow, Alyce Johnson, and Barbara-Peacock Coady.

Patricia A. Brady

The mission of the Performance Consulting & Training Team (PC&T) is to work with departments, laboratories, centers, and offices to enhance their abilities to achieve business goals. To this end, PC&T was involved in numerous internal consulting projects throughout the year. Most of their work involved helping their internal clients plan and implement organization change.

Some clients who used the team's consulting services include the Center for Cancer Research, the Department of Facilities, Endicott House, the Executive Vice President's Office, the Finance & Treasurer's Office, Financial Systems Services, the Graduate Education Office, the Human Resource Practices Development Team, the Industrial Liaison Program, Information Systems, the Libraries, MIT Medical, the Office of the Dean for Students & Undergraduate Education, and the Working Group on Support Staff Issues.

PC&T also offered professional development courses for MIT employees. Courses were divided into major categories: Skill Development (including financial management courses), Interpersonal Communication, Competencies, Individual Development, Teams & Groups, and Leadership. Approximately 1500 employees enrolled in the 42 titles; most courses were repeated due to demand.

Related to training, another activity of PC&T was the operations of the MIT Professional Learning Center (W89) where classes were held for computer, SAP, and professional development courses. The center increased usage this year and anticipates continued demand for the various classrooms.

PC&T initiated two special programs this year. The first was on project management; PC&T sponsored the certification of 5 MIT employees to teach courses on this topic throughout the Institute. The second was on meetings skills and facilitation skills. This program, which is just beginning, offers a train-the-trainer program for MIT employees as well as support for meeting facilitators.

Margaret Ann Gray