February 2015
February 2015
FACULTY REPRESENTATIVE ASSEMBLY MEETING
February 13, 2015
Attendance: Pam Shockley-Zalabak, Mary Coussons-Read, David Moon, Michele Companion, Monique French, Mandi Elder, Joe Postell, Mark Malone, Tom Zwirlein, Rhonda Glazier, Margaret Harris, Peggy Beranek, Morgan Shepherd, Monica Yoo, Pam Carter, Rebecca Webb, Suzanne Cook, Curt Holder, Cerian Gibbes, Karen Livesey, Stephanie Spratt, Anna Kosloski, Stephany Spaulding, Norah Mazel, Dave Anderson
Call to Order / Approval of Minutes:
Motion to approve the minutes from December 12, 2014 meeting by Mandi Elder
Seconded by Anna Kosloski
Motion passed with 15 in favor, 0 opposed and 1 abstention
Reports of Visitors:
Pam Shockley-Zalabak, Chancellor:
HB 1319 update - moving through the legislation process; there is a counterpart bill taking all out of state out of the configuration, which would be harmful and would lower our completion rates. We are interdependent to maintain our funding levels. El Paso county might help with piece of legislation. There were about 402 higher ed capital development projects this year and only 4-6 will be funded. We are in the top 2 with the VAPA development project because we have raised the money of $10 million. There is expected to be no capital development funding next year. The Board of Regents meeting will be held in Boulder next week. Based on the new funding formula, we have been asked for 3 cluster (metrics) examples: 1) Student Success cluster - including retention, graduation rates, low income, first generation - all measurements of success; 2) Revenue/Economic Vitality cluster - what else are we doing to bring money into campus other than tuition and fees; and, 3) Research & Partnership cluster - what are we doing in creative work, research and grants, and partnerships. We are concerned that our retention rate is not where it should be. The University of Texas at Austin has a similar profile as UCCS. Dr. David Laude, Senior Vice Provost for Enrollment & Graduation Management at UT/Austin, has been working in these areas and will be here for a campus visit on April 24. The Masters of Accountancy will be going to the Board of Regents next week for approval. The online initiative is very important and the Chancellors are presenting an update on the process. We are in agreement that it should stay on each campus and not be located at a separate campus. Every high school will have a minimum of 12 credit hours available from a CU campus - this is becoming more organized and concrete. We were sharing Charlie Sweet, our Senior Legal Counsel, with the Boulder campus, but he will be returning to UCCS as our primary legal counsel on March 15 and will be working with Health Sciences here in particular. Tom Zwirlein and others have been looking at retirement plans and there will be beneficial changes forthcoming. There will be informational sessions held on each campus and some meetings with leadership are being set up now. The changes involve better management of funds and fees in the plans with better education and representatives assigned to each campus. The Anthem breach is a major concern and those affected will be provided with two years of protection. The CIOs from our system need to be communicating with additional information to keep us as safe as possible.
Mary Coussons-Read, Provost:
Thank you for participating in the recent Faculty Retreat on February 5th; there will continue to be an ongoing conversation in elevating undergraduate research and scholarship. There is an Undergraduate Research Steering Committee whose looking at what do we do with what's going on already and a progress report is being framed for distribution. We are looking at doing a professional development workshop working with students and it will be scheduled on a different day to get others who couldn't attend this recent retreat, and then doing a follow-up after Finals are over. The progress report is not an official document, but rather a way to hold us accountable for action. We are also looking at the RPT criteria to ensure that we value this activity and make it affordable for students. This is an inclusive conversation for all faculty and will be tied to the Compass Curriculum. In the EPUS report there was a discussion about policies and we are eager to discuss this issue and ensure that the process is clearer. The non-tenure track multi-year faculty contract went out for review and came back with lots of changes and will go back to the non-tenure track faculty committee for their review. A clear copy has also gone to Legal for further review and then on to Leadership Team for review again.
Venkat Reddy, Associate Vice Chancellor for Online Education & Initiatives:
We are working on building an online initiative at each campus, not at a separate campus. This is not a future initiative but a current one which is already in process. We will not compromise quality and we will be using our own faculty. We will have a CU system-wide website and one of our goals is to improve student retention. We currently have 7 master degrees, 1 doctorate degree, 5 undergraduate degree completion programs and 21 certificate programs already online. We are planning to offer 9 fully online undergraduate degrees plus 2 fully online master degree programs for 2015-18.
Officer Reports:
Vice-President's Report
Elections are in process, nominations close March 1
Past President's Report
No report
Reports from Standing Committees:
Faculty Minority Affairs Committee
Women's Committee:
Not met yet; annual workshop will be held in April
Library:
Not present - no report
Sustainability:
Not present - no report
PRIDE:
Not present - no report
Misconduct in Research, Scholarship & Creative Activities :
Not present - no report
OLD BUSINESS
None
NEW BUSINESS
- Representatives' Reports - none
- Teaching with Technology Committee
- Motion 1 : Change the name from "Academic Computing" to "Teaching with Technology"
(Motion passed unanimously with 17 in favor, 0 opposed and 0 abstentions) - Motion 2 : Change the status of the committee from a Regular Standing Advisory Committee to a Regular Standing Committee, and change section 6 of the Faculty Assembly Bylaws to reflect this status.
(Motion passed unanimously with 17 in favor, 0 opposed and 0 abstentions) - Motion 3: Approval of the committee bylaws
(Motion passed unanimously with 17 in favor, 0 opposed and 0 abstentions)
Adjournment:
Motion to adjourn the Faculty Assembly Meeting by Pam Carter
Seconded by Stephany Spaulding
Motion passed unanimously
Meeting adjourned at 1:52 p.m.