February 2013
February 2013
FACULTY REPRESENTATIVE ASSEMBLY MEETING
February 8, 2013
Attendance: Brian Burnett, David Moon, Andrea Hutchins, Mandi Elder, Jeff Spicher, Bob Durham, Craig Elder, Kathy Blair, Monique Dooley, Morgan Shepherd, Pam Carter, Rebecca Webb, Suzanne Cook, Curt Holder, Anna Kosloski, Christina Martinez, Edgar Cota-Torres, Sheri Trumpfheller, Laura Marshall, Dorothea Olkowski
Call to Order / Approval of Minutes:
Motion to approve the minutes from November 9, 2012 meeting by Mandi Elder
Seconded by Pam Carter
Motion passed with 15 in favor and 2 abstentions
Reports of Visitors:
Brian Burnett, Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance:
Census was Wednesday and we are at 5.6% growth in enrollment. We are one of the few schools in the state that are up in enrollment. The next UBAC (University Budget Advisory Committee) meeting is February 14 and anyone is welcome - these meetings are open. They meet every 2 weeks in the spring to work on the budget. The state continues to recover financially and we may get the money back that was cut from us last year; our piece is about $100,000. We could get $1 - $1.4 million in new state money. We would treat this money as one-time money and build our budgets around not getting the state money. We are looking for a 6% resident and 4% non-resident tuition increase for next year to fund salary pools for faculty and exempt employees at 3.1%. Classified staff may get a 3.6% raise, even though the governor has recommended a 3.1% increase. Benefit increases will be the same across the board for all employees. We are optimistic about a 5% enrollment increase next year above what we've done this year. We are also working on increasing our retention rates, especially since we dropped this year. A sketch of the new academic office building was passed around to the assembly. It will be built where the old SBDC building is now located and which will be torn down this summer. We have already discovered that we need a fifth floor for this new building. The two most affected current buildings for the move-in to this new office building will be Dwire and Columbine, with the biggest departments affected being LAS and SPA. The new office building should be ready for move-in in August of 2014. The new dorms will be ready for move-in during the second week of August. The Lane Center for Academic Health Sciences, now under construction on North Nevada Avenue, will open in January of 2014. The new parking garage will begin construction very soon and should be done in March of 2014. We received an academic award for excellence for our athletic department from the NCAA - 90% of our athletes are successful and graduating. We have about a 9200 head count for Spring and we are hoping for a 10,000 head count for Fall and increasing our operating budgets about 3%.
David Moon, Interim Provost:
There's a bill that is currently in the state Senate regarding community colleges offering bachelors degrees, which we absolutely oppose. Even though that legislation is very limited, it would raise many concerns, one being how could they offer those degrees at the same competencies? There are many academic and financial considerations and it is a matter of bad public policy, especially for all the four-year higher ed institutions in the state. The Chancellor intends to exercise political capital to keep this from becoming a reality. Another area of concern is the Massive Open Online Courses and their impact on higher ed. The Chancellor's office has established working groups to review this trend and discuss how we would verify learning and how rigorous these courses actually are in comparison. Spring semester grew too in course offerings, which is more atypical and another indication of the need for constant enrollment management. Our new Provost, Mary Coussons-Read, officially starts on Monday, March 4, 2013. We do have new co-chairs for the General Education Phase III Taskforce and they are Jeff Ferguson and David Weiss.
Michael Larson, Associate Vice Chancellor for Research & Innovation:
A new campus-wide program known as the Undergraduate Research Academy is being established to further scholarly programs across the campus, which also distinguishes us from community colleges since we offer higher ed with research. Not all undergraduate departments have graduate programs and we only have 5 PhD programs. With this initiative, we are getting the undergraduates involved in research. The kick-off for this program will take place on Mountain Lion Research Day, April 5, 2013. In submitting applications, the students will need to be a sophomore or junior now so that they'll be a junior or senior during the program, and they need to have a mentor and project. The student will be supported for the entire year.
Officer Reports:
President's Report
EPUS is working on draft of course forgiveness
Vice-President's Report
Nominations are open
Past President's Report
Not present, no report
Reports from Standing Committees:
University Budget Advisory Committee
Faculty Minority Affairs Committee
Library:
No one present - no report
Intercollegiate Athletics:
No one present - no report
Sustainability:
No report
PRIDE:
No one present - no report
Misconduct in Research, Scholarship & Creative Activities:
No one present - no report
OLD BUSINESS
None
NEW BUSINESS
None
Adjournment:
Motion to adjourn the Faculty Assembly Meeting by Bob Durham
Seconded by Pam Carter
Motion passed unanimously
Meeting adjourned at 1:25 p.m.