April 2008

FACULTY REPRESENTATIVE ASSEMBLY MEETING

April 11, 2008

Attendance: Pam Carter, Jim Null, Monique French, Jenenne Nelson, Suzanne Cook, Jackie Berning, Sonja Tanner, Morgan Shepherd, Tom Napierkowski, Lindy Crawford, Tom Zwirlein, Josh Dunn, Paul Sondrol, Glenda Reimer, Eddie Portillos, Judith Rice-Jones, Bob Durham, Ron Fitz, John Harner, Kelli Klebe

Call to Order/Approval of Minutes

Report of Visitors:

Vice-Chancellor Peg Bacon:
Peg announced the hiring of Teri Switzer as the new Dean of the Library and said that the search for a Dean of Nursing.  She also announced the appointment of Kee Warner as Associate Vice-Chancellor for Diversity, and that Jeremy Haefner is leaving for a new position elsewhere and the campus will be searching internally for this position. She also mentioned our students attending the Colorado Undergraduate Research Forum at the Air Force Academy tomorrow (Saturday).

Vice-Chancellor Brian Burnett:
Brian gave the Assembly a budget update.  He said the long-bill passed both houses of the state legislature and is on the way to the Governor, and that the Science and Engineering Building should be completed by May of 2009.  He also announced that there will be a special Board of Regents meeting on April 22 regarding salary issues for Faculty and staff.

Associate Vice-Chancellor for Administration and Finance Susan Szpyrka:
Susan reported that the Events Center is in the design phase, but that the budget on the project is shrinking.  The planned budget is 7.1 million dollars (5 million bonded, and 2.1 million from the President).

OFFICER REPORTS

President’s Report, Jim Null
Jim reported that the turnout was good for the President’s visit and that he hoped to invite him down again soon.  Jim also said that Faculty Council has forwarded to each dean and college a proposal to eliminate the IW grade as it is currently not used very much in the CU system. It takes a vote of 80% of all schools and colleges to change the uniform grading system.

Vice-President’s Report, Jackie Berning
Jackie announced the election results for next year’s Faculty Assembly.

Past-President’s Report, Tom Napierkowski
(No Report)

Committee Reports:

EPUS:
Kelli Klebe reported several items of discussion at the March meeting.  The committee discussed the content of the report sent to Faculty Assembly concerning the Administrator Evaluations.  Working with Institutional Research to get a summary of the processes and outcomes, the committee hopes to send the report to Faculty Assembly for review at the May meeting.

The committee discussed the mentoring policy sent to EPUS from the Provost Office.  The proposed plan adopts an informal strategy with documentation about mentoring activities.  With limited resources, EPUS members thought that, rather than a more formal campus wide structure, the less structured process should be implemented.  EPUS recommended to David Moon that the policy should include a yearly report from the Deans to the Provost about what mentoring activities are being done.  This helps ensure some accountability that mentoring is being done and helps the campus decide if a more formal mechanism needs to be in place in the future.  EPUS will review the formal policy by email and recommend that the Faculty Representative Assembly vote to approve the mentoring policy.

The committee discussed the report of the Faculty Work Taskforce that was sent from Faculty Assembly to EPUS at the March meeting and that the report should be sent to the full faculty for consideration.  The report of the task force suggests alternative ways for thinking about faculty workload to be considered and adopted by the full faculty.  EPUS recommends that the following actions take place:
1. The report should be sent to the full faculty for consideration (vote by Faculty Assembly and Faculty Representative Assembly to be determined by the Faculty Assembly Executive team).  This should be done at the April full faculty Assembly meeting.
2. There should be open campus meetings and forums where discussions can take place about this policy.  Presenters can be faculty representative members or members of the taskforce.
3. Each primary unit should meet to discuss the report’s recommendations with the goal of the primary unit providing information on whether the faculty workload model presented in the report:
a. would be adopted by the unit
b. would not be adopted by the unit, but the unit would not oppose other units adopting it
c. would not be adopted by the unit and the unit opposes the campus adopting this model
4. The primary units and Deans should provide information back to the Provost about concerns and recommendations that would need to be considered if the campus adopted this model for faculty workload.  The report should be presented before October 1, 2008 in order to see concerns can be addressed before the full faculty vote.
5. A full faculty vote on adopting the model should occur before November, 2008.
6. Should the faculty vote to adopt this model, appropriate campus policies need to be revised or written in order to implement this model.  The policies should be revised and voted on by Faculty Representative Assembly (or the full faculty as the Faculty Assembly deems appropriate).

Personnel and Benefits:
Tom Zwirlein said the committee will meet next week.

Budget Committee:
No Report.

Minority Affairs:
The committee meets today.  Eddie Portillo will be the new committee chair.  The committee is continuing with the “Newcomers” project for new faculty.

Women’s Committee:
No Report.

Non-tenure Track Faculty:
Suzanne Cook updated the Assembly on the continuing issue of salary compression for senior instructors.  She also said that she has been attending the Associate Dean’s Council regarding establishing contracts for instructors specifying their specific duties (% service, % teaching).  Suzanne also noted that Professional Development is something important to Non-tenure Track Faculty.

Academic Computing:

David Anderson said that the report is the same as last month’s.  To wit: The software to manage Paw Prints is being obstinately noncompliant, and if a solution is not found soon, IT may have to rethink its plans for that system.  Also, Jerry Wilson has registered the campus iTunes U, but has not received the acceptance and contract expected.  Also, the sweeping (archiving) of files that contain SSNs will begin shortly.  David also reported that price quotes are being solicited VolP (phone systems) from vendors, and surveys are planned to assess campus needs for such a system.  Finally, A Desire2Learn (http://www.desire2learn.com/) demonstration is scheduled for April 25, from 1-3 pm.

Library:
No Report.

Intercollegiate Athletics:
No Report.

Sustainability Committee:
Judith Rice-Jones reported that enthusiasm for sustainability has lead to the multiplication of committees related to the topic.  To focus on efforts in this regard, the committee and Sustainability Office have proposed a new organization emphasizing three major areas of the campus Sustainability Plan: Academics, Leadership, and Operations.  Also, the committee, in partnership with the Interim Provost, will soon send a call for applications to help develop a short sustainability plan that can be presented to classes that want a better understanding of the concept.  She reminded the assembly that Earth Day is April 22, from 10:30 to 2 pm, sponsored by SEAS (Students for Environmental Awareness and Sustainability).  Judith also said the campus is invited to nominate people from UCCS who, through their actions (biking, hybrid cars, etc.) promote a sustainable lifestyle.  Transparency and transportation issues were also mentioned (ongoing public meetings regarding the campus Master Plan, more bike racks and information on alternative transportation routes to campus).  Finally, she noted upcoming events: Earth Day (April 22nd), SECRES (April 24th) at Colorado College, Tutt Science Center, “Power to the People, America’s New Electricity Choices”,  Carol Lombardi (Webcast), Earth Day, Palmer High School (April 26th – Sold Out), and the Colorado Renewable Energy Society hold its annual conference in Pueblo (June 6-8).

OLD BUSINESS:

None.

NEW BUSINESS:

Issues/Motions.
Tom Huber, chair of the Task Force on Research, Promotion, and Tenure presented a summary of the Proposal for Standards for Promotion and Tenure, including broadening the “research” category to include different types of scholarship and to introduce a “professional practice” category where appropriate, and to introduce the faculty responsibility statement (FRS).  Discussion followed.  The following motions were introduced and voted on:

A.  The Faculty Representative Assembly recommends that the Report of the RPT Taskforce be sent to the entire faculty for consideration and discussion.

B.  The Faculty Representative Assembly recommends that the Provost office and the Deans facilitate open campus discussions about adopting the recommendations of the RPT Taskforce for changes in how we evaluate and assign faculty work.

C.  The Faculty Representative Assembly recommends that changes in the model to evaluate and assign faculty workloads must be voted on by the full faculty.

The Motions Passed.

Adjournment:

Motion to Adjourn.
Motion Passes.
Assembly Adjourned at 2:00 pm.