FAC091203

Faculty Representative Assembly Meeting

September 12, 2003

Attendance: Gudrun McCollum, Radha Pyati, Rick Petersen, Carole Flint, Jim Spice, Susan Taylor, Rebecca Duray, Robert von Dassanowsky, Pam Shockley, Chip Benight, Jim Henderson, Rogers Redding, Sue Byerley, Charlie Wang, Don Klingner, Charlie Shub, Ron Fitz, Laura Quinn, Don Morley, Kelli Klebe, Michael Brunn

Call to Order / Approval of Minutes:

Motion by Don Morley to approve the minutes from May 9, 2003.

Seconded by Susan Taylor.

Motion passed unanimously.

Reports of Visitors;

CHANCELLOR'S REPORT:

We are on target with fall enrollment.

Spring budget will be challenging.

We have been able to put a 10% reserve aside to deal with budget.  It is critical to maintain reserve.

Budget appears to have stabilized.

Pam, Jim and Rogers have visited 19 high schools in Denver in the last couple of weeks.  They have received a very good reception.

Construction groundbreaking for parking and housing will both be in October.  Parking will be completed this summer and Housing will be completed in August.

The Bennett house will host training for the fire department which will help in the cost of removal.  The Bennett house does not have any historic status and Mr. Bennett was notified about its removal.

We will be taking financing plans to the Regents for the Science and Engineering building and plans for tuition.  It is too early to know for sure if we can finance the cash portion of the Science and Engineering building.  If we don't go to the Regents with this now and get approval we can not move forward.

NISSC has a step up in appropriations next year.

University Hall purchase was completed this summer.

VCAA REPORT:

Things we will be working on this year are shared governance, the academic master plan, extended studies, and promotion & tenure guidelines.  We will be looking for volunteers to be on the Extended Studies task force.

Debbie Sagan will be the new Director of Civic Engagement.  She has a lot of community based experience.

VCSS REPORT:

Graduate enrollment was disappointing.  The number of applicants has gone down.  We will be looking at what we can do now to improve this.  The tracking system is not very good for graduate student applicants.

CCHE is proposing new admissions standards for all four-year institutions in Colorado.  They are recalculating the numbers in the index.

Robert Wonnett will become Dean of Students.  There will be someone hired at a lower level with the salary savings from Ron Wisner to be a coordinator for a lot of the student activities.

JIM SPICE (Public Safety Liaison):

jspice@uccs.edu, or extension 3012

Things he can help with: crime prevention program, classroom/workplace violence, RAD instructor, CPR instructor.

Officer Reports:

President's report. Kelli handed out her report.

Vice President's report. no report

Past President's report. Don Morley is working on a shared governance task force.

Reminder from Kelli Klebe to please have your reports in writing.

Reports From Standing and Special Committees:

NTTF- Carol reported that there was a nice turnout at the retreat.  They will continue some efforts from last year, communication, standardizing procedures, benefits & promotions, standardizing names and titles.  They look forward to a good year.

EPUS- no report

Personnel and Benefits- They will be meeting on 10/6/03 and electing a chair.  A benefits counselor was hired.

Minority Affairs- no report

Committee on Women- They are establishing their membership...Next month they will be setting the agenda.  There is a welcome brunch on October 12.

Athletics- The athletic advisory committee has met.  In the NCAA graduation rate of the 96-97 class we had 63% of our student athletes graduate compared to 38% of all students.  Student athletes are doing as well as or better than the general students.  They are still working on the excused absence policy.  They are looking at the exit interview process and support and intervention for at risk student athletes. The soccer team opener is today at 4:00 at Sand Creek. Is anyone looking into prevention programs (ex: violence, sexual assault) for the student athletes?  There is nothing formal at this time.

Budget- There will be quarterly budget meetings with units for checkpoints, budget management and planning opportunities.

Academic Computing- no report

Library Advisory- no report

Awards- no report

Old Business:

The grant course buyout was sent to Tom Bellamy.  It is not know where it is now.  This should be looked into.

New Business:

Shared governance. There will be a special committee that will work with Staff Council and PESA.

Questions/concerns:

• Participation in shared governance reflected in the merit/reward structure

• Is anything type of policy in place now?  There is not an integrated shared governance document

• UBAC as process model

Motion

The Faculty Representative Assembly requests that the Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs takes the necessary actions to complete a salary comparison between UCCS Faculty salaries with salaries of the Regents-approved UCCS peer comparison group and report back to the Faculty Representative Assembly.

Moved by Don Morley

Seconded by Charlie Shub

Discussion

Motion passes unanimously

Announcements and Questions:

Is there anything faculty government should address?

• Grants and contracts

• Policy on differentiated workload, there is a wide variation across departments and colleges.  (Personnel could make some recommendations)

Adjournment:

Motion to adjourn the meeting.

Motion passed unanimously.

Meeting adjourned at 2:00 pm.