February 2011

FACULTY REPRESENTATIVE ASSEMBLY MEETING
February 11, 2011

Attendance: Brian Burnett, Homer Wesley, David Moon, Andrea Hutchins, Andrew Czaplewski, Peggy Beranek, Katie Kaukinen, Amanda Sinclair, David Weiss, Rita Hug, Bob Durham, Rebecca Webb, Trellis Moore, Sheri Trumpfheller, Christina Martinez, Julaine Field, Michele Companion, Suzanne Cook, Catherine Kelly, Tom Huber, Daniel Worden, Barbara Frye, Lonnie Schaible, Barbara Prinari, Eddie Portillos, Don Morley, Ron Fitz

Call to Order / Approval of Minutes:

Motion to approve the minutes from December 10, 2010 meeting by Amanda Sinclair
Seconded by Michele Companion
Motion passed unanimously

Reports of Visitors:

Brian Burnett:
Governor John Hickenlooper and Lt. Governor Joe Garcia, who is also a high-ranking official of the Colorado Commission on Higher Education, are working diligently on the state’s budget proposal.  State revenues continue to remain weak.  With the transition in governorship, the legislature is waiting to see Governor Hickenlooper’s proposal to attempt to balance the budget.  At this point, there are no mid-year cuts on higher education.  We are preparing for a $9 million cut next year, but it probably won’t be as high.  The governor’s office is trying not to cut higher education below $500 million.  We are fortunate to have both Governor Hickenlooper and Lt. Governor Garcia as such strong supporters of public higher education.  It is still too early to tell anything specific on the state budget since much work is done in mid-March and April, when more current revenue forecasts are available.

Homer Wesley:
As our new Vice Chancellor of Student Success and Enrollment Management, Homer comes to UCCS with over 30 years experience in Student Success.  The ISIS system transition has had its challenges, but it is a good interactive system with the other CU campuses and has much more reporting capabilities than the former system.

Admissions and Records has been restructured with John Salnaitis as the Director and Tracy Barber and Jason Maxwell serving as the key ISIS support experts.  A turnaround processing time of two weeks to complete a student application file is their goal and they are creating better efficiencies to attain this goal.  They are currently processing 200 applications per week as compared to 150 per week previously.  Additional evaluators have been hired as students are reviewed individually for application.  The ratio of admitted to enrolled has been 38% and we are working to increase that ratio.  The head count is up 3.4% for spring.  As enrollment-driven counts continue to increase along with the expectation that enrollments will increase 2.5% in credit hours, classroom utilization may need to be addressed along with office space.

David Moon:
The General Education Taskforce goals were approved and we are now moving on to the implementation phase.  At this point, we are working on solidifying the committee chairs.  The phase II committee is set and this same committee will be working on actual course practice determination next fall.  They will also meet with the colleges to work with their requirements.  The whole process will probably take about 1-1/2 years.

Officer Reports:

President’s Report
No report

Vice-President’s Report
Faculty Assembly elections are coming up in March.

Past President’s Report
No report

Reports from Standing Committees:

EPUS Report:
No report yet – have not met since December

Personnel & Benefits:
Report attached

Faculty Advisory Committee on the Budget:
UBAC has not met yet

Minority Affairs Committee:
Report attached; new committee chair is Edgar Cota-Torres

Women’s Committee:
Barbara Prinari is the new representative replacing Dorothea Olkowski; final stage of faculty survey will be out in March; there are mini-grants still available; CU Women Succeeding Symposium will be held at UCCS on February 24-25

Non-Tenure Track Faculty:
Report attached

Academic Computing:
No one present – report attached

Library:
No one present – no report

Intercollegiate Athletics:
No one present – no report

Sustainability:
All-campus read programs are being discussed; Freshmen Seminar will be using the all-campus read book (No Impact Man) in their programs; nominations will be solicited for the campus Sustainability Award

PRIDE:
No one present – no report

OLD BUSINESS

None

NEW BUSINESS

None

Adjournment:

Motion to adjourn the Faculty Assembly Meeting by Michele Companion
Seconded by Andrew Czaplewski
Motion passed unanimously

Meeting adjourned at 1:15 p.m.