March 2010

FACULTY REPRESENTATIVE ASSEMBLY MEETING
March 12, 2010

Attendance:

Andrew Czaplewski, Jackie Berning, Peg Bacon, David Moon, Jim Null, Pam Carter, Suzanne Cook, Peggy Beranek, Michele Companion, Tom Huber, Christina Martinez, Tom Napierkowski, Andrea Hutchins, Bob Durham, Andrew Ketsdever, Eddie Portillos, Don Morley, Clint Fisher, Ron Fitz

Call to Order / Approval of Minutes:

Motion to approve the minutes from February 12, 2010 meeting by Andrea Hutchins
Seconded by Bob Durham
Motion passed unanimously

Reports of Visitors:

Pam Shockley:
A national federal data base report that compares us to 31 similar characteristic peer institutions, none of whom are in Colorado, continues to show that our graduation rates remain on par with our peers despite our budget cuts and financial situation. Our Pell grant eligible students, our first generation students and our students of color graduation rates all exceed our peers and are the same rate as our majority population, indicating that the quality of our education remains high. In addition, for the third year in a row, we are number one in the state for successful student pass rates on professional license exams in all disciplines. We are accomplishing this with 42% fewer staff and 21% less expenditure per student than our 31 comparative peer institutions.

This past week at the Regents meeting, it was discussed and they are advocating a 7% tuition increase, which is about a $400 increase per student. This was based on the population and income level of our students and families.

The next two budget forums at the end of March will outline the entire plan of our strategy through the cliff effect. We do see our way through the cliff effect. We will run out of stimulus money by next December but philanthropy has remained strong. We have completed the checkerboard process of moving and filling in staff positions across campus and there will be no furloughs or pay reductions. However, the increase in benefit payments will reduce pay since there are no raises to offset this adjustment.

Our best case scenario is that we will have $8 million left in our state funding budget next July compared with $23 million state appropriated funds in 2008. However, we do have many more students, much more tuition revenue, many more grants and contracts and more entrepreneurial activities so that auxiliary monies are coming back into the general fund.

Our applications for summer are up 67% and we are currently running very strong for fall. The general consensus is that we can make it, but it will be tough. The Regents have endorsed our plan.

Peg Bacon:
Commencement is scheduled for Friday, May 21 at the World Arena. Faculty participation is encouraged and is very important to the students. There are also more active ways to participate in the ceremony now so that it is not just a passive event.

The Academic Innovation Initiative Taskforces are continuing to work on their assigned tasks and the General Education Taskforce co-chairs are here to update the Faculty Assembly on their initiatives. In April there should be three other taskforce recommendations.

Susan Taylor and Steve Tragesser:
Susan and Steve are the co-chairs for the General Education Taskforce and a general overall report was distributed to the Faculty Assembly. Initiatives are being introduced which will go to a full faculty vote. Bob Durham suggested that changes to the existing General Education goals be highlighted for easy comparison to the new suggested revisions.

David Moon:
The Integrated Student Information System (ISIS) is close to full implementation; replacing the current student information system (CIW). The first phase is in place and fall registration will occur in the new system, while summer registration will take place in the old SIS system. By 3/1/10, 102,000 existing records were moved to ISIS and by next week all of the current fall applications will be moved to ISIS. By 4/26/10, fall registration will be done with ISIS through student portals. Course identification numbers will be changed from 3 digits to 4 digit course numbers, adding a trailing zero. Class rosters, class and exam schedules and grade rosters will all be available on the new system. Once implementation is complete, ISIS and other learning management systems will communicate and share information more effectively.

Officer Reports:

President’s Report
Report attached

Vice-President’s Report
Faculty Assembly elections are coming up and the ballot will be sent out to all faculty shortly.

Past President’s Report
Elections for Faculty Council President are underway and this position is usually rotated among all the CU campuses. Be sure to give any nominations from our campus to Catherine Kelly right away.

Reports from Standing Committees:

EPUS Report:
EPUS will be working on changes to FRPA (Scholarly Reports); vetting the General Education Task Force general education assessment and goals; and reviewing Student Academic Ethics Code per deans’ request

Personnel & Benefits:
No report – no raises

Faculty Advisory Committee on the Budget:
No report – no figures

Minority Affairs Committee:
Report attached

Women’s Committee:
No one present – no report

Non-Tenure Track Faculty:
Report attached

Academic Computing:
Report attached

Library:
No one present – no report

Intercollegiate Athletics:
Basketball season is over – the men made the playoffs

Sustainability:
Association of Sustainability in Higher Education has developed SCAR assessment tool to measure campus-wide sustainability; committee divided into 3 groups to review

PRIDE:
Clint Fisher is replacing Linda Watts as the Committee Chair; report attached

OLD BUSINESS

None

NEW BUSINESS

(See Motions)

MOTIONS

1. Jim Null, LAS representative to the Faculty Representative Assembly, moves that the Faculty Representative Assembly reconsider the action of passing the changes to the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs Student Academic Ethics Code and resubmit the document to EPUS for reconsideration of document’s text. (motion passed unanimously)

a. Issues of concern include:
i. Three bases for appeals (denial ability, unfair process, crime does not fit punishment)
ii. Deans at top of line of appeals
iii. Is this a code, policy or guideline

Adjournment:

Motion to adjourn the Faculty Assembly Meeting by Jim Null
Seconded by Michele Companion
Motion passed unanimously
Meeting adjourned at 1:42 p.m.