March 2019
March 2019
FACULTY REPRESENTATIVE ASSEMBLY MEETING
March 8, 2019
Attendance: Venkat Reddy, Tom Christensen, Chuck Litchfield, Jeffrey Montez de Oca, Melissa Benton, Maja Krakowiak, Norah Mazel, Andrea Hutchins, Margaret Harris, Kathy Prue-Owens, Kaitlyn DeGhetto, Martin Key, Kathleen Tomlin, Andrea Bingham, Pam Carter, Suzanne Cook, Leah Chandler Mills, David Havlick, Claire Rau, Justin Tucker, Kristi McCann, Wendy Haggren, David Weiss, Eric Billmeyer, Michael Landon-Murray, Roger Martinez, Monica Yoo, Scott van Ness, Samantha Adrian, Elizabeth Daniels, Dave Anderson
Call to Order / Approval of Minutes:
Motion to approve the minutes from February 8, 2019 meeting by Pam Carter
Seconded by Maja Krakowiak
Motion passed with 21 in favor, 0 opposed and 1 abstention
Reports of Visitors:
Venkat Reddy, Chancellor:
We want to simplify the non-tenure track faculty contracts and we are working on this. An e-mail was recently sent out with an update on the presidential search status. On Monday, March 11, we will be holding three Town Hall sessions on developing our 2030 Strategic Plan. There will be one in the early morning, one late morning and one late afternoon. By offering these sessions at three different times of the day, we are hoping to make it easily accessible for everyone to attend one of them. It is important that the strategic plan is a plan for all UCCS people and we want to engage everyone in these conversations. The Quad Innovation Partnership is a collaboration of the Air Force Academy, UCCS, Colorado College and Pikes Peak Community College. The goal is to give four – six student teams some real-world experience while they solve problems for area organizations. This is a great opportunity for our students to connect to meaningful work in a professional environment, to be useful and helpful to our community and to develop their leadership skills. An update on the road to attach main campus to the Lane and Hybl buildings: 1) the city has not yet approved the money for its construction and they are asking for our help to finish it, 2) the city will maintain it, 3) the students can choose a name for it, and 4) the goal is to have it finished in August. We are working with UCHealth Memorial and the Helen and Arthur E. Johnson Beth-El College of Nursing and Health Sciences on our agreement to have registered nurses complete their bachelor of science in nursing degree with us, while UCHealth Memorial offers financial support. We currently have 24 registered nurses in this program, which will be a continuing program. The Cyber program continues to move forward to incorporate all entities for community effort and programs. We are working with the Board of Regents on the four CU metrics they have identified as strategic priorities.
Tom Christensen, Provost:
Non-Tenure Track Faculty issues: 1) the CU system took the faculty titles out of Regent Policy and are putting them in an APS instead – there will be three levels of instructor titles, which are still waiting to be determined, 2) the multi-year contract issue we are still waiting to hear about – several contracts will expire at the end of the year and the renewal policy is ridiculous, however, the Chancellor has the authority to change it. We are moving forward on the civics initiative brought up by the Regents, based on some ideas received from faculty. The online initiative is moving forward. Roger Martinez is working on getting faculty participation and we do have one-time funding for it. Research program recommendations are being reviewed to see what works to strengthen our research resources. The original implementation for Article V was July 1, but there is much work that will need to precipitate that, so the timeline is impossible and has been changed to July 2020. We are looking at college RPT criteria, which will be affected, as well as the need for a major overlook of what’s required by Regent laws versus campus laws.
Chuck Litchfield, Vice Chancellor for Administration & Finance:
The budget process is in a slow-down position right now. We are waiting on the Long Bill from the state legislature because it will have a lot of important information for us on how to proceed with our budget. The Regents have asked us to do several budget scenarios, such as how to handle an economy slow down, and how to handle a zero percent increase in resident tuition for multiple years. The state will need to assist more with multiple years of zero tuition growth.
Andy Subudhi, Chair and Professor of Biology:
The William J. Hybl Sports Medicine & Performance Center is starting to show more visible signs of its construction progress, which is on schedule and on budget. The Center will uniquely integrate undergraduate and graduate education with clinical practice and research in a sports medicine and performance environment. Penrose St. Francis Centura Health will manage the clinical operations, which are open to the public, and 1500 exercise science, human anatomy and physiology students are projected to study in the facility. In addition to the new exercise science degree program, planning is underway for future degrees in physical therapy, human physiology and human nutrition. A lot of the building space will be devoted to teaching and research activities, including lecture halls, labs, classrooms, conference rooms and offices. Our faculty have been involved in planning every step of the way. It is an example of where health care and academic systems merge. The Hybl Center is expected to open in April 2020 to the public, and classes are scheduled to begin Fall 2020. The project is receiving funding from the City for Champions initiative approved by the Colorado Economic Development Commission.
Jeffrey Montez de Oca, Associate Professor of Sociology:
He was representing Andrea Herrera, Associate Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, to reinforce their mission to address all issues of equity, diversity and inclusion for faculty, staff and students on campus in order to develop and institute cultural change. They do have a steering committee with representatives from every college and various campus faculty and staff committees. They are asking for help with outreach and widespread representation from all campus areas. Their core goal is to get information out and get broad participation, including staff. They are open to any and all Diversity Councils in the colleges. For more information, please contact Andrea Herrera.
Officer Reports:
President-Elect’s Report
Not present - no report
Past President’s Report
Faculty Council is looking for volunteers; please contact Maja for more information
Reports from Standing Committees:
Faculty Advisory Committee on the Budget:
Not present – no report
Faculty Minority Affairs Committee
Women’s Committee:
Workshop coming up on 3/21/19 on teaching portfolios
Intercollegiate Athletics:
Not present – no report
Misconduct in Research, Scholarship & Creative Activities:
Not present – no report
Reports from Representatives:
None
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Item 1: Report from the FCQ Task Force
The Faculty Assembly Teaching Evaluation Task Force met in December to review how to use FCQs in merit and promotion and tenure reviews. They were charged with evaluating how to use them, to propose best practices, and suggest additional measures to use for teaching evaluations. The faculty met to discuss these matters in December and had a number of recommendations in the report, including using the FCQs along with at least two other measures of teaching. The numerical scores on the FCQs may contain bias and the committee recommends that the FCQ scores be minimized in terms of the overall score for merit evaluations and P&T, and assigned a percentage of the total score, for example 33% of the overall score. Additional measures like syllabus review and peer evaluations were discussed and are listed in the report. The question was raised as to whether the task-force duties were completed, or if there was other work to be done.
NEW BUSINESS
Motion 1:
The Educational Policy and University Standards Committee moves that the Faculty Representative Assembly endorse the revised version of UCCS Campus Policy 900-003: Distribution of Facilities and Administrative (F&A) Recovery from Externally Sponsored Programs.
(Motion passed with 21 in favor, 0 opposed and 2 abstentions)
Adjournment:
Motion to adjourn the Faculty Assembly Meeting by Pam Carter
Seconded by Maja Krakowiak
Motion passed unanimously
Meeting adjourned at 1:58 p.m.