September 2016
September 2016
FACULTY REPRESENTATIVE ASSEMBLY MEETING
September 9, 2016
Attendance: Susan Szpyrka, David Moon, Barbara Prinari, Maja Krakowiak, Monique French, Norah Mazel, Tom Zwirlein, Rhonda Glazier, Kerry Peterson, Jill Bradley-Geist, Matt Metzger, Joe Wehrman, Lori Notestine, Pam Carter, Jugal Kalita, Michelle Dorne, Suzanne Cook, Ann Amicucci, David Havlick, Leilani Feliciano, Kacey Ross, Christi Piper, Michael Landon-Murray, Monica Yoo, Kimbra Smith, Christine Robinson
Call to Order / Approval of Minutes:
Motion to approve the minutes from May 6, 2016 meeting by Norah Mazel
Seconded by Pam Carter
Motion passed with 16 in favor, 0 opposed and 2 abstentions
Reports of Visitors:
Susan Szpyrka, Senior Vice Chancellor for Administration & Finance:
The Board of Regents are on campus today and yesterday for their first meeting of the academic year. The Chancellor is with them currently at Gateway Hall (formerly the Public Safety Building) for the dedication of the McCord-Herbst Student Veteran Center (formerly the Student Health Clinic). We have the largest freshmen class ever enrolled for Fall 2016 – a 26% increase from the freshmen class enrolled for Fall 2015. This is a record; as well as an overall 6.8% increase in enrollment over 2015, bringing our enrollment count to 12,068 students. Over the summer the Leadership Team has been reviewing the creation of a benchmark policy for hiring instructors at no lower than $40,000/year starting September 1, 2016. This figure will need to be reviewed and may continue to be adjusted according to baseline market values. Preliminary census data indicates a 6.5% increase in head count and a 6.3% increase in credit hours. The census data on non-resident students is inflated due to the military structure of resident/non-resident status, so we don’t actually know that till the end of the semester. The Board of Regents approved the new student fee plan yesterday and there are significant restrictions on usage, so be sure to check the VCAF Budget website for information on the Student Fee policy. Internal Audit checks these so be sure to follow the timelines and restrictions. Policy Manager Anja Wynne is now handling all policy conversions to a standardized template and getting them ready for lockdown in preparation for the HLC campus visit. Policies will now have a scheduled review every 3-5 years. We have 25-30 policies undergoing review this year. Leadership Team, Staff Council and Faculty Assembly (EPUS) will be involved in the review process and representatives will be on the review committee. The VCAF website continues to transform with the addition of new information, including a section on Budget Transparency, which offers more transparency in the budget process and is good to review and check the data. We will be looking at current non-tenure track faculty to adjust for uncompensated merit, which will be a long process. We will be looking at salary adjustments for current faculty to bring within range accordingly. We are also reviewing the tuition benefit for possible intercampus usage – can you use your benefit at other CU campuses. We have already met with an advisory group and are in discussion and research on this topic with campus CFOs. There are many differences to consider on all the campuses, but we are working on finding a resolution.
David Moon, Senior Associate Vice Chancellor for Undergraduate Education & Academic Planning:
The HLC visit is scheduled for November 14-15, 2016 and the recommendation is to plan to be as available as possible. They are basically here to verify that the Assurance Argument words are true-to-form in real life. They are very interested in all levels of experience at UCCS. There will be meetings on each criteria: 1) mission and integrity together, 2) educational mission – quality and evaluation; 3) resources planning and institutional effectiveness – budgeting and strategic planning; general education. Some people will be targeted to go to specific discussions. There will also be prep sessions given ahead of time to invitees and an all-faculty open meeting will also be held. The HLC site visitors’ sole purpose is to determine whether or not we meet each criteria; if there are concerns (which will need follow-up); or if we do not meet the criteria (which results in a 2-year probation recommendation). The Assurance Argument will be in lockdown on October 17. We have been reworking the assessment process by adding a group of reviewers and changing the governance of it. We did an evaluation in Spring and although the progress made was good, there were other suggestions for improvement. Now we are scheduling conversations about assessment in order to keep the dialogue open and improve learning for the students, and we highly encourage faculty participation.
Ravinder Singh, CU Faculty Council Chair:
He introduced himself to the assembly as the Chair of the CU System Faculty Council, which is similar to Faculty Assembly but on a system level, and which has nine committees with two or three members from each campus on each committee. As Chair, his main duties involve interacting with the Board of Regents and President Benson, nine Vice Presidents and four Chancellors. He has been a faculty member of CU Boulder for about 19 years and involved with Faculty Council for about 8 years on the System EPUS Committee, which he served as Chair for 5 years. He stated that there are very many issues of concern that cross all employee areas, and he reminded everyone about the importance of shared governance – “it is as strong as you participate.”
Monique French, Associate Professor / FCQ Redesign & Pilot Program:
She is a member of the FCQ Redesign & Pilot Program, which CU Boulder established to review the FCQ process in order to have a better instrument to improve teaching and make it more electronically accessible. There are three working groups involved in this committee: pilot design, communication and technology. The committee requests your help by completing the FCQ Redesign Survey (14 questions). A pilot program will begin this Fall with specific chosen classes to also get student input on the instrument piloting. As faculty responses to the pilot help to steer the design of the new FCQ, this committee will send updates to the faculty throughout the year. More information, including full committee membership, is available on the FCQ redesign website.
Officer Reports:
Vice-President’s Report
No report
Reports from Standing Committees:
EPUS:
The committee needs a new chair; Mark Malone is stepping down from the role.
Personnel & Benefits:
No report; have not met yet
Faculty Advisory Committee on the Budget:
No report; have not met yet
Faculty Minority Affairs Committee
Women’s Committee:
Women’s Faculty Brunch will be held on Saturday, 10/1, 11am – 1pm at the Heller Center
Non-Tenure Track Faculty:
No report; have not met yet
Teaching with Technology:
No report; have not met yet
Library:
Not present - no report
Intercollegiate Athletics:
Not present – no report
Sustainability:
No report; have not met yet
PRIDE:
Not present – no report
Misconduct in Research, Scholarship & Creative Activities :
Not present – no report
Reports from Representatives:
A. First Conversation at Clyde’s:
1. Monday, September 12, 4:00pm – 6:00pm; Ann Amicucci, Michelle Dorne and Kacey Ross are the coordinators.
B. Other items:
1. The Chancellor would like to conduct a faculty survey on employee satisfaction; please send the suggested items you would like the survey to address to Barbara by 10/10/16; perhaps a Qualtrics survey could be sent for anonymous participation – Monique will work on developing that with the college FA representatives
2. Focus groups on FCQs – participation needed, contact Monique
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
None
NEW BUSINESS
Discussion of size and composition of the Faculty Representative Assembly – according to Faculty Assembly Bylaws, the number of representatives should be 5-10% of the faculty body. The current faculty body consists of 487 faculty members and 5-10% of that total would be 24-48 representatives. We currently have 17 faculty representatives, so we should increase the number of college representatives by bringing the number up to 3 representatives per college (since each college has approximately 45 faculty members), except for Library and SPA, which have much smaller faculty counts so the 1 representative for each is fine. LAS, which is the largest college and has 7 representatives currently, has the largest faculty count (286) and should be divided into 3 categories: Arts & Humanities (110 faculty); Social Sciences (91 faculty); and, Natural Sciences (84 faculty). Representatives would have to be elected from each of those areas as follows: Arts & Humanities – 5 representatives; Social Sciences – 4 representatives; and, Natural Sciences – 4 representatives. This new composition would increase the number of faculty representatives to 27. Further discussion will continue at the October meeting.
Motion 1 :
The Sustainability Committee moves to update and approve its bylaws.
(Motion passed with 20 in favor, 0 opposed and 1 abstention)
Adjournment:
Motion to adjourn the Faculty Assembly Meeting by Norah Mazel
Seconded by Monique French
Motion passed unanimously
Meeting adjourned at 2:08 p.m.