FAC110901

FACULTY REPRESENTATIVE ASSEMBLY MEETING

November 9, 2001

Attendance: Mark Malone, Don Morley, Sue Byerley, Michael McLeod, Patricia Keilbach, Ceil Malek, Lesley Ginsberg, Jenenne Nelson, Ron Fitz, Tom Bellamy, Susan Taylor, Dan Ponder, Lea Gaydos, Pam Shockley, Sudhanshu Semwal, Tom Zwirlein, Tom Napierkowski

CALL TO ORDER/APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Mark Malone called the meeting to order. A discussion followed on the problems associated with getting the Silver and Gold to the UCCS campus in a timely manner. Ron Fitz advised that he is going to have a student employee working with him and they will be looking into ways, such as a courier service or the student employee, getting the Silver and Gold to our campus a lot sooner.

Motion by Mark Malone to approve the minutes from October 12, 2001.
Moved by Dan Ponder to approve the minutes from October 12, 2001.
Seconded by Susan Taylor.
Motion passed unanimously.

REPORTS OF VISITORS

1. Chancellor’s Report, Pam Shockley

Pam stated that the Blue Ribbon Panel met yesterday, but before she gets into that, she has 3 items she would like to address.

• There will be a session by the Coleman Institute tonight on campus and Pam is encouraging everyone to attend.

• Next week there will be meetings of the Capital Development Committee. We have delayed all capital projects and after the meetings, we will have more information about what is likely to happen.

• Pam is guardedly optimistic about the budget. Revenue projections come out on December 20. If we retain students and have a good spring enrollment, we should be o.k.

There was a 2-hour Blue Ribbon session yesterday. Pam made the presentation with input from faculty, administrators and staff that was gathered over the last several weeks. The presentation will be available for viewing in the library today. It is important to review the questions with the response in order to understand the flow of the presentation.

Pam was happy to report on the thrust of 2 sets of issues:

• The wording of our role and mission to include the words “Southern Colorado” and “research” replacing language that limited us to serving Colorado Springs and omitted research, and

• What are we doing to diversify, retain and graduate our students.

Mark Malone stated that we were represented very well by the Chancellor and that all her prior work as VCSS really saved us.

Pam stated that it was very encouraging for the support we have regarding the requested changes in our role and mission. We are governed by our role and mission, so it is important that these changes take place.

Don Morley reported that CU-Boulder is capped on enrollment and that UCCS has been designated the CU growth campus. Those not accepted at CU-Boulder are sent here for admission if they meet our requirements.

Pam advised that the presentation is a political document so please keep that in mind when reading it. Pam would like to thank so many people for their time and energy in the preparation of this presentation. She will be putting out an e-mail to the campus advising that the material is now available for viewing and her thank you.

Pam is not sure when the bill will come out. She states that we have strong support in our delegation and the community for our role and mission change. She will be making presentations to the community and would like to make one to the campus.

Tom Bellamy added that Pam did a good job especially at deflecting questions that pit us against USC.

Pam stated that it is better public policy if we collaborate with other institutions in areas of high cost or specialty programs, as we have many demands for them such as music, nursing, engineering and business. If we collaborate, we can meet the needs of enough high school students to serve all in Southern Colorado.

Pam noted that there were quite a few faculty members at the presentation and that all the Regents came for our presentation. Regent Rutledge along with everyone else there was very supportive.

2. VCAA Report – Tom Bellamy

The searches for the Deans of LAS and Engineering are underway and moving forward. Tom met with the committees and states that they are very strong with good participation.

They are very close to identifying the part-time staff person for the Sponsored Programs office. The search will be starting as they have state approval.

Mark Malone feels this is a very positive change and that faculty should support it. It is needed to generate funds and to have better support to get and run grants.

Tom asked that if you hear anything that will help to make this transition go smoothly, please let him know.

The Masters Degree in Applied Geography went through with no questions. There was strong support for this addition. It will go to the Regents in December and to CCHE in January and students can be recruited for the fall semester.

The 1% rescission really didn’t hurt us due to the over-realized fall enrollment, however, Tom is asking Deans to be careful with travel and operating budget funds in case of cuts in the spring.

Tom stated that there was some discussion about moving the Academic Review Committee, which handles program reviews, to the administrative office. He would like to keep this as a faculty committee and Mark is looking for someone to chair this committee.

3. VCAF Report

Covered in Tom Bellamy’s report.

4. President's Report – Mark Malone

Mark provided a handout outlining his report.

5. Vice President’s Report – Don Morley

No report today.

FACULTY COUNCIL REPORT (system wide)

Included in Mark Malone’s President’s Report.

REPORTS FROM STANDING COMMITTEES

6. EPUS - Tom Napierkowski

EPUS reviewed vacant and under-funded faculty positions and stated that EPUS is asking for clarification as to where the money will go. Will the salary saving stay in the college or will it have to be re-allocated.

7. Salary Oversight, Unit Merit, Personnel & Benefits - Don Morley

Don advised that Richard Blade asked the Personnel and Benefits Committee to also be the Salary Oversight Committee. This committee oversees how faculty members are rewarded. Steve Chambers is working on web pages with information on the dollar amounts for all faculty members, their promotion, merit, rankings, chair’s evaluations, Dean’s evaluations and other reviews. Each college is responsible for submitting their information. Each person will receive a password to the web page and he/she will be able to see the comparison between colleges without seeing the names of individuals. This will include both tenured and non-tenured track faculty information. Technical aspects are being hammered out and Don will check into the security of this information being on the web.

Unit Merit is being worked on to see if it can be simplified and how to better distribute the unit merit money. Right now the process is cumbersome and time consuming for Deans, departments and faculty. They are kicking around the idea of a simple process to identify unit merit and use the money to bring that unit up. Another issue is determining what is a unit. There are many concerns that are being worked on.

Al Ramirez has been elected Chair of the Personnel and Benefits committee to replace Don Morley.

8. UBAC – Tom Zwirlein

UBAC has looked at the Professional Golf Management Program and unanimously endorsed the program, which is progressing along.

UBAC is working with the IT Strategy Committee on their ongoing under-staffing needs.

They have started to look at the budgeting process due to the rescission and there is a low likelihood of any new initiatives. The VCAA office brought forward proposals on Summer School and Extended Studies. Tom Bellamy is working on these proposals and all schools and colleges will have to do projections on the budget.

There is a university forum on November 30, 2001 on energy. Discussion will be on saving energy – and money on campus. The forum will be at 9:30am in the Theater of University Center.

REPORTS FROM SPECIAL COMMITTEES

9. Minority Affairs – Michael McLeod

This committee has a commitment for an opportunity hire program and is having extra meetings to put a policy in place to hire qualified instructors, tenured and non-tenured.

10. Women’s Committee – Susan Taylor

The Women’s Committee is hosted their annual fall brunch. They are now gathering speakers for spring and if you have any ideas, please contact Susan Taylor. Lesley Ginsberg was elected as the new chair of the Women’s Committee.

11. Non-Tenure Track Faculty Committee – Cecile Malek

This committee is putting together an agenda and strategy. A concern that was brought up is that in 1999 50% of student hours were with tenured faculty. In 00/01, that number went down to 44%. Ceil stated that tenured and non-tenured faculty need to work together and she will give a more comprehensive report at the next meeting.

Mark Malone asked Ceil to attend the next Faculty Assembly Executive Committee meeting to discuss her findings on the above numbers.

12. Academic Computing Policy Committee – Patricia Keilbach

Mark introduced Patricia Keilbach who is now the elected chair of this committee. She will report for the IT Council at the Faculty Assembly Representative meetings.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Mark Malone advised that the Library Advisory Committee is now filled and that Richard Blade is still representing the budget Committee.

NEW BUSINESS

None

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND QUESTIONS

Dan Ponder will be on leave next semester and is trying to find someone to replace him for 1 semester as the representative from LAS.

Ron Fitz advised that the Silver and Gold is working on its last issue before Thanksgiving. He also advised that the Holiday Service Project is in gear with their Adopt a Family, Gift Baskets, Giving Tree and Holiday Gift drop boxes around campus.

ADJOURNMENT

Motion by Mark Malone to adjourn the meeting.
Moved by Lea Gaydos to adjourn the meeting.
Seconded by Don Morley.
Motion passed unanimously.
Meeting adjourned at 2:10 pm.