April 2009

FACULTY REPRESENTATIVE ASSEMBLY MEETING
April 10, 2009

Attendance: Jackie Berning, Andrew Czaplewski, Peg Bacon, Jim Null, Pam Shockley, Brian Burnett, Pam Carter, Suzanne Cook, Josh Dunn, Kelli Klebe, Sue Byerley, Linda Watts, Monique French, Morgan Shepherd, Tabatha Becker, Andrew Ketsdever, Sonja Tanner, Michele Companion, John Harner, Travis Peterson, Andrea Hutchens, Bob Durham, Eddie Portillos, Barbara Frye, Ron Fitz

Call to Order / Approval of Minutes:

Motion to approve the minutes from March 13, 2009 meeting by Andrea Hutchens
Seconded by Travis Peterson
Motion passed unanimously

Reports of Visitors:

Pam Shockley:
Update on state of budget – negotiations have been long and drawn out. The $300 million cut to higher education was rescinded, however, the budget is still $300-$400 million from balancing.  At a minimum, there will be some increase in the overall cut to higher education.  There is $104 million one-time stimulus money to use as backfill; $52 million this year and $52 million next year, but this is not continuing base money.  Enrollment figures are up and applications for fall are good as well as our retention statistics.

We are 87% full in housing, which indicates good retention and a better overall ability to recruit.  Our research work and our work on stimulus package ideas are going well and have resulted in cooperative cross-campus relationships in working on grants.

It is a challenging time not knowing how much tuition flexibility we’ll have so we’re trying to err on the side of low tuition, since we currently have a 33% increase in students whose expected family contribution is zero.  Across the board, all applicants and continuing students show a 5% decrease in family tuition contribution.  We are pushing for more permanent solutions due to the one-time money temporary fix.  For every dollar coming in, .75 comes from students and less than .25 comes from the state.  Still, I believe that we are stable, though the budget changes daily.  Our base budget will be worse off than before so we need to model financial strategies.

May budget forums have been scheduled and all faculty and staff are encouraged to attend.  Colorado is one of the top best states in this situation – most other places are worse.

Peg Bacon:
There is a special forum today at 2:00pm with federal and state relations representatives to discuss the stimulus opportunities.

We have received 3 system awards for faculty – 2 President’s Teaching Scholar awards (Andrea Herrera and Paul Harvey) and 1 Chase Community Service award (Abby Ferber).

Dr. Dandapani has been promoted to Dean of Engineering and Applied Science and officially starts his new role on July 1, 2009.

Candidates for the Vice Chancellor for Student Success and Enrollment Management will be on campus in the next few weeks.

The Ph.D. in Applied Science will be going to the regents in April or May.

Departmental RPT criteria is being reviewed with David Moon and Kee Warner.  Participation in Mountain Lion Research Day was very good and appreciated.

Michael Larson has done a good job in assembling many stimulus discussion groups.

Brian Burnett:
Budget details are moving very fast.  The new Science and Engineering Building is 99% finished and should settle the last week of April.  The move-in process should start around finals week with the opening scheduled for the beginning of August.

The renovation of the Science Building should begin in August and that money is secure.  All construction funds are secure.

The West Lawn sod quad below the Science and Engineering Building will be developed with some volunteer help from faculty and staff for a “sod and suds” project.

The new Event Center should be ready by December for basketball.

We are going to the Regents subcommittee on capital improvements on 4/15/09 to put projects in the queue for stimulus money. They include:

1) $6 million renovation of the east wing of the Engineering building.

2) $15 million of NIH stimulus money for the first phase of South Hall by University Hall.

3) explore TRW for research space.

North Nevada underpass (Mountain Lion Crossing) project is moving along as well as the addition of a road out to Heller (North Campus Heights – proposed name, needs to be approved by Regents).  Costco plans on opening the end of October along with several restaurants and Kohls and Lowes plan on opening the first quarter of 2010.

The CU Foundation system-wide is freezing all salaries for next year in response to the budget situation.

Officer Reports:

President’s Report
Report attached

Vice-President’s Report
Andrew Czaplewski thanked faculty for their service to Faculty Assembly.

Past President’s Report
No report

Reports from Standing Committees:

EPUS Report:
No report

Personnel & Benefits:
Finishing up the salary and equity grievance policy; still need members from LAS, COE and Beth-El

Faculty Advisory Committee on the Budget:
Bob Durham briefly mentioned the current state of the budget

Minority Affairs Committee:
Report attached

Women’s Committee:
No report – no one present – have been told there will be a member soon

Non-Tenure Track Faculty:
Report attached

Academic Computing:
No report

Library:
No report – no one present

Intercollegiate Athletics:
The women’s basketball coach resigned; working on athletes being able to register early to avoid game conflicts

Sustainability
Report attached
Vicki Schober, Medical Director of Student Health Center, discussed the smoking issue on campus and the work of the Tobacco Task Force Committee.

PRIDE:
Report attached

OLD BUSINESS

None

NEW BUSINESS

Spring Final Schedule – several ideas were discussed. It was decided to review some options by May – Jackie will talk to Steve Ellis first. Some of the options put on the table were:

moving semester start date to Martin Luther King day (Monday)

scheduling finals later on Friday or Saturday

shorter exam times

expand Student Testing Center hours during finals week, maybe add a couple of “dead” days.

Course Forgiveness Policy – Boulder rescinded this policy but we still have it – should this be revisited?  This policy allows students to remove up to 10 credits (with grades of D or below) from their transcripts.  It was decided to wait on the new SIS system and Faculty Council discussions.

MOTIONS

1. The Faculty Representative Assembly approves of the revisions to the Reappointment, Promotion and Tenure Policy (200-001) and recommends that the campus implement this policy.   (passed unanimously)

Adjournment:

Motion to adjourn the Faculty Assembly Meeting
Motion passed unanimously
Meeting adjourned at 1:50 p.m.