December 2023

December 2023

December 2023

UCCS Faculty Representative Assembly Meeting

Friday December 8, 2023

Attendance: Aaron Corcoran, Andrew Subudhi, Angus Chassels, Assma Sawani, Camilla Troudt, Chrissie Bailey, Claire Rau, Constance Staley, David Anderson, David Moon, David Weiss, Elisa Thompson, Emily Mooney, Esther Lamidi, Fernando Feliu-Moggi, Gordon Stringer, Haleh Abghari, Ilaheva Tuaone, Jacqueline Berning, Janet Giddings, Jena McCollum, Jennifer Sobanet (guest), Jennifer Zohn, Jian Ma, Joel Tonyan, Jon Caudill, Karin Larkin, Kathy Kaoudis (guest), Kevin Laudner, Kristi McCann, Kyle Gruenhagen, Kylie Rogalla, Laura Austin-Eurich, Les Tekamp, Lynn Gates, Marek Grabowski, Margaret Harris, Matthew Jabaily, Michael Kisley, Minette Church, Monica Yoo, Nancy Marchand-Martella (guest), Nicholas Tapia-Fuselier, Norah Mazel, Rebecca Wood, Regina Winters (guest), Rhonda Glazier, Robin Kempf, Rosely Conz, Stephanie Hanenberg (guest), Suman Lakkakula, Susan Taylor (guest), Suzanne Cook, Tabatha Farney, Zhe Li

 

Call to Order / Approval of Minutes

Les Tekamp motioned to approve the November 2023 minutes; Karin Larkin seconded; passed. 

 

Reports of Visitors:

Jennifer Sobanet, Interim Chancellor

  • The Chancellor thanked Faculty Assembly for its support and said she is honored to be given the opportunity to stay at UCCS and work with all of us. She said she is committed to shared governance, our mission, our students. In her role as chancellor, she wants to continue uplifting faculty. She said that if faculty see things she should be doing differently, please tell her and that her door is always open. She expressed her desire to continue engaging with faculty and intends to find more avenues for engagement.  Chancellor Sobanet said she is here to be a servant to the institution and looks forward to continuing to work with us all. 
     
  • The Chancellor named Dr. Homer Wesley as the Interim Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs. The division wants to do some restructuring of how they’re organized and Homer intends to help with this. 

 

Nancy Marchand-Martella, Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

Updates about Grievance Committee

  • The provost reminded Faculty Assembly that we do not have a campus wide policy for grievance. The FA Grievance Committee cannot investigate or adjudicate grievance issues, but they can receive grievances and decide where a grievance should go next (OIE, HR, etc.). The provost also reminded everyone that we have a Faculty Relations Manager, Mary Cousins-Reed. Faculty are encouraged to set up a meeting with Mary to discuss any issues they have. The provost thanked everyone on the Grievance Committee for their work on the grievance policy. She looks forward to future meetings with the committee to get the policy over the finish line. 
    • Question about viewing the bylaws of the Grievance Committee. 
      • If you want to see the bylaws for the Grievance Committee, they are currently in the FA Team but not on the website yet. 
  • Nancy announced that the deans will now be meeting with the cabinet every other week. The Chancellor really supports this. Tighter connections and relationships will help with communication, etc.
  • Update on APS 5060, policy that allows creating additional titles for IRC faculty members. The provost highly encourages all IRC faculty members to attend listening session on December 14th at 11:00am. Monica will be sending out details.
  • Provost Office will be conducting open forums with all colleges next semester. Any department that would like to invite Nancy, please reach out to her. Look for college-level invites to come out soon. 
  • Update on UCCS Online. Developing incentives for faculty to create online programs, certificates. This is currently in the planning mode, and they are still determining what they can actually do from a budgetary standpoint. We will get an update on micro-credentials and stackable credentials soon. A new Request for Proposals for online programs/courses is now available. 
     
  • Update on Differentiated workload policy. David Moon will deliver differentiated workload policy within next week. The provost is really serious about reinforcing the work that faculty do that is not compensated. 
  • Question about associate degrees for transfer students (answered by Susan Taylor)
    • State request for Associates of General Studies
    • If students who attended UCCS in the last 10 years earned, haven’t attended elsewhere, and earned 70 credit hours and met other criteria, they can be awarded this degree.
    • Students cannot seek this degree, but it is permitted that four-year institutions can confer this degree. 
    • Borne out of state initiative to assist Coloradans in earning a credential to support profession growth. 
       

 

Kathy Kaoudis, Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance

  • Debrief from UBAC meeting, talked about scenarios for the FY25 base budget. We received Increase of 1.9 percent in state funding (not that much; won’t address all our needs). 
    • New step and range system in Classified employee system. 
      • 3 percent raise across the board. The VCAF says this will cost $250,000 for 3 percent raises. Step and range system will cost more than $700,000. Seeking more state support for unfunded mandate. Kathy said that Classified employees are some of our lowest paid and deserve this, but it is a further strain on our budget if unfunded.
    • $14 to 17 million that we have funded ongoing work with one-time funds. 
      • Grateful for one-time funds, but because enrollment hasn’t grown, we need to decide which of these one-time funded initiatives we want to continue and fold into the base budget. This will be the topic of January’s UBAC meeting and the discussion will continue through the spring. 
    • Working on new tuition structure. Will want faculty, student, shared governance opinions on proposed new structure. Hoping it can go in place in 2025 academic year. 

 

Reports of Officers:

Report of the President – Monica Yoo

  • Faculty Assembly and Staff Association will have a social event on Saturday, January 27th. Basketball games (men and women’s), skybox in Gallogy reserved for event. Family can attend too.
  • A Faculty/Staff mixer will take place this spring. Monica is looking for volunteers to help with setup, decorations, etc.
  • Monica wanted to say thank you to the Grievance Committee for all their work.
  • The IRC Committee will be meeting with the provost and FAEC to talk about APC 5060, the new IRC faculty titles policy. Please attend if you can, whether IRC or tenure-track. It will take place online at 11am on December 14.
  • We still need people to join Parking Committee from faculty, looking at new fee structure. 
    • Kylie Rogalla is willing to serve. 
  • We still need someone from College of Business to serve on cross-campus RPT committee. Contact Monica if you are interested in serving. 

 

Report of the President-Elect – Joel Tonyan

No Report.

 

Report of the Past-President – Minette Church

  • Minette announced that a policy on policies committee is being formed. 
    • Minette Church (chair) and David Moon are forming the committee.
    • At system level, there’s a policy on policies. This committee will create one at the campus level. 
    • Stay tuned for more info. 
  • Minette also created a lecturer-l list for FAEC to communicate with lecturers.

 

 

Committee Reports

    1. EPUS Report
    2. CMRSC Report
    3. FEIC Report
    4. UBAC Report 
    5. COR Report
    6. FACT Report
    7. SUSTAINABILITY Report 
    8. FAWC Report 

 

Unfinished Business

1. Strategic Enrollment Management Plan –Regina Winters & Susan Taylor

  • This was a breakout activity that took place during the Faculty Assembly meeting. 

 

New Business

1. Motion 1: The EPUS Committee moves that the Faculty Representative Assembly endorse UCCS Campus Policy 200-015: Faculty Assembly Governance. (attached) 

  • Long road to voting on this motion, developed early on in Minette’s term, change in Provost and budget required bringing it back through FAEC, EPUS, and now here for vote. 
  • Brings us into compliance and codifies the offloads in a way the old policy did not. 

 

MOTION PASSED.

 

2. Motion 2: The EPUS Committee moves that the Faculty Representative Assembly endorse UCCS Campus Policy 900-003: Distribution of Facilities and Administrative (F&A) Recovery from Externally Sponsored Programs. (attached) 

  • Taking executive directive and making it a campus policy. 

MOTION PASSED. 

 

3. Motion 3: The EPUS Committee moves that the Faculty Representative Assembly endorse UCCS Campus Policy 900-006: Principal Investigator Eligibility on Sponsored Programs. (attached) 

MOTION PASSED. 

 

4. Motion 4: The Instructional, Research & Clinical Faculty Committee moves that the Faculty Representative Assembly approve its updated bylaws. (attached)

MOTION PASSED. 

 

5. National Collegiate Health Assessment student data – Chrissie Bailey, Stephanie Hanenberg, & Amanda Allee 

a.     2023 NCHA Data Highlights
i.    Survey administered March 1 0 22, 2023, and had 11% response rate. 
ii.    Administered every two years. 
iii.    Data should be used to assess the needs of our students for program development. 

                 a.    Attached PowerPoint has data highlights. 
                 b.    24 percent of students report serious psychological distress.
                 c.    50 percent report moderate. 
                 d.    50 percent report loneliness. 
                 e.    32 percent report high stress.
                 f.    48 percent reported moderate distress.
                 g.    Suicidal ideation, 32.7% indicate active or past ideation.
                 h.    12% report some self-injurious behaviors. 
iv.    Growing mental health needs since pandemic, anxiety, depression, ADD/ADHD. 
 

 

 

Motion to Adjourn

Les Tekamp motioned to end the meeting; Minette Church seconded; passed.