March 2024

March 2024

March 2024

 

UCCS Faculty Representative Assembly Meeting

Friday March 8, 2024

 

 

Attendance:  Monica Yoo (President), Joel Tonyan (President Elect), Jennifer Sobanet, Susan Taylor Kathy Kaoudis, David Moon, Laura Austin-Eurich, David Weiss, Suzanne Cook, Lindsay Coppa, Les Tekamp, Matt Jabaily, Norah Mazel, James VanScotter, Birgitta de Pree, Claire Rau, Wendy Haggren, Kevin Laudner, David Fenell, Cliff Li, Jennifer Zohn, Elisa Thompson, Janet Giddings, Aaron Corcoran, Julie Torres, Assma Sawani, Rosely Conz, Dylan Harris, Kylie Rogalla, Suman Lakkakula, Haleh Abghari, Kristi McCann, Jian Ma, Emily Mooney, Jena McCollum, Janice Thorpe, Raphael Sassower, James Kovacs, Marek Grabowski, Margaret Harris, Camilla Troudt, Lei Zhang, Kiti Hall, Alex Ilyasova, Daniel Olson, Serena Sulivan, Yvonne Wu, Constance Staley 

 

Call to Order / Approval of Minutes

Motion to approve February 2024 Minutes

            Moved by: Les Tekamp

            Seconded by: David Moon

            Motion passes 

 

 

Reports of Visitors:

Jennifer Sobanet, Chancellor Report Presented by Nancy Marchand-Martella, Provost

Update on the Feb. 16 Alpine Village Incident

  • While I will be giving an update on February 16th, I also do not want to forget about the death of Mia Brown which happened just four days before. Our nursing faculty, staff, and students are grieving Mia at the same time that we are all grieving the horribly tragic incident on February 16th with the death of Samuel Knopp and Celie Montgomery.
  • I would like to first thank the FA executive team who we have been communicating frequently with throughout this process. Being in contact with you helps me and my team as we make decisions. I also want to thank every faculty member that has been helping your students during the incident as well as helping them in the weeks after. Students have been talking about how grateful they are for your guidance. The impact you are having on your students is meaningful. As you need resources for students, please reach out to the Wellness Center, especially for students who may need more help. These moments are when it is important to come together as a community. The healing process will have its own tempo for each of us. There are many resources that you can access, and we encourage you to explore these resources. 
  • Wanted to give some facts that can be provided on the case. As you know, a UCCS student has been formally arraigned in court on February 19th. Colorado Springs Police Department is leading the investigation with UCCS Police Department providing support. The District Attorney will prosecute whatever case comes forward from that investigation. We will be sending out news and social media updates sent out throughout the criminal justice process. University Communications has created a separate communication email that will share with the campus community the milestones of the case and to inform the community when the case may be highlighted in media and may directly affect the campus. What I ask is that you do read those emails when they are sent out. New information will be in bold. There will be times when we do not have the information in advance, and we may learn about it through. 
  • We do have some serious obligations that we must uphold while this case goes through the criminal justice system. We understand that this may be frustrating to you at times. There are some facts that must be kept confidential based on the guidance of the District Attorney’s Office. Keeping these things confidential is how we will ensure that justice is served, and we can honor Samuel & Celie’s memory. In addition to the investigative responsibilities, we also must maintain our responsibility to protect student information and uphold FERPA federal guidelines. We have received questions about student relationships prior to this incident. What I can share is that we take all reports of student issues seriously and follow proper procedures for addressing those issues when they arise. We do not make exceptions and we did not in this case. Thank you for your understanding and explaining to other the position that we are in.
    • Question: Will there be training or drills pertaining to an active shooter emergency for everyone on campus following this event? 
      • Answered by Kathy Kaoudis: Yes. We do have training available and there is training that has been available. Chief of Police Dewayne McCarver worked with the Chiefs of Anshutz and Denver and developed a Run, Hide, Fight video that provides basic information that helps create muscle memory in the event of an emergency. This video was created during the Summer and Fall months and has been made available in January. There will also be a Skillsoft training based on this video and will be integrated into new student orientation. We are not requiring faculty to participate in the training, but of course we hope that you all would choose to. Required for students and staff. 
    • Question: Although more services and counseling have been provided, there are reports that some students were turned away when seeking drop in assistance. Is there immediate counseling still available and how can that be scheduled?
      • Answered by Jennifer: There have been services available for students since the incident. During that first day, assistance was moved off campus to the Cybersecurity building. It was brought back to the Wellness Center as soon as possible the next day. We have had councilors from CU Boulder and Denver both providing additional assistance. Right now, there are no wait times for students to see a councilor. We also have Telus Health which is a direct counseling services that are available to students 24/7. Please do pass along if you are hearing this from your students.
    • Question: Can we get a better understanding of buildings structures and protocols? For instance, some buildings do not have locks on all of the doors. 
      • Answered by Jennifer: Thank you we will look into this.
    • Question: We have followed all of the processes and that there is going to be a review of these processes. When will be able to hear about any changes or things that have changed with the after action report. What is the timeline for that? 
      • Answered by Jennifer: I don’t have a timeline for that yet. Trying to manage what comes out of the investigation and then what we are able to publicly discuss. We are looking into this and will discuss findings when we are able to.
    • Question: What is the vetting process with mental health for students and those living in the dorms?
      • Answered Jennifer: All mental health information is protected by HIPPA. I don’t have specific knowledge about those policies off the top of my head but I can definitely get those.
    • Question: Do we do background checks on students moving into the dorms or students that are applying?
      • I know that in the application process we do ask questions about prior felonies but we do ask for specific information. Background checks are done on students who have jobs on campus.
    • Question: What is our policy on concealed carry and are there any plans to change that policy?
      • Answered by Jennifer: Concealed carry is allowed on university campus in Colorado which is permitted by state law. In certain resident halls, concealed carry is allowed. Roommates must agree, they must have the license, and if that is chosen, then there are special safes for those weapons. We have no students in housing who have asked for a weapon in their room this year or have a concealed carry permit. The state of Colorado is taking a look a new legislation about sensitive spaces and universities are included in this. If passed, it would make it so that concealed carry is not allowed on campuses. Open carry is against the law on campus. 
    • Question: Does campus admin have a stance on that legislation?
      • CU system is neutral on the legislation. 
    • Question: What is being done to prevent this from happening again?
      • It is fundamental to have a safe and inclusive environment for students to learn. When Chief McCarver joined us, he put in in a lot of policies to increase safety and security on campus. We are working on adding more security cameras across campus. He also has instituted new trainings and drills. He is also the one that has brought the UCCS Safe App. Through the app, you are able to have an escort to take you anywhere on campus and they can track you if you don’t want an escort. Chief is one of those people that is taking in new ideas of what we can be and should be doing to make us feel more safe and be safer on campus. His request is please send him your ideas. 

 

Nancy Marchand-Martella, Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Presented by Susan Taylor, Vice Provost

  • Glad to fill in for the provost. As the Chancellor said earlier, I want to express the Provost’s appreciation for everything that faculty have been doing in support of our students and communities in the past weeks. Please let the provost know if there are any additional resources that may be helpful.
  • Teaching Professor Titles: Next week, a joint email message will be coming out from HR and Provost and will outline the official on the next steps for the Professor series.
  • Digital Accessibility: We have been hearing about the concerns and questions that faculty are raising. We are working on a FAQ and guidance to help clarify the requirements. This will be sent out along with an update on the Governor’s OIT rules. We are coordinating with the CU System and Harper Johnson is working on updating a system policy in regards to this as well. Current resources you can utilize are the Faculty Resource Center and Dave Anderson. The Digital Accessibility Specialist position is going through the search process now.
    • Question: Do we know if the July 1 is the hard date? Will there be any grace period for higher education?
      • Answered by Susan: Cannot speak to a grace period but I can say that we are wanting to clarify the approaches for these complex materials and the best way for faculty to keep those materials that are so helpful to students.
      • We want to make sure that we have an understanding of what reasonable accommodation looks like. 
      • Timeline: The deadline is July 1st so it will need to be when the class is open to students.
      • UDOIT goes through Canvas courses to help with accessibility.
      • Collecting FAQ’s so please send any questions you have over to the Provost office.

 

Kathy Kaoudis, Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance

  • Budget Process: The Provost is working individually with the units under her areas to develop what their budget cuts may look like. We are still waiting to see what state funding will look like. We wanted to be strategic on how we do these cuts and asked for areas to provide us with their cut recommendations for a best, medium, and worst case scenario. We will give an update on this in the next few weeks and will give another update at UBAC.
  • Employee Benefits: Currently working to evaluate the tuition benefits. There should be changes in that process and policy in the next few months.
  • Retirement Incentives: We will have communication about the retirement incentives on Monday. We are going to be offering a voluntary retirement program. That will be opening up on March 22nd and will be open for about 60 days. The priority window will close on April 19th and full will close on May 20th. Employees have age and years of service requirements. Keep an eye out for the email to learn more information. 
    • Question: Faculty & IRC faculty are given different offers?
      • Answered by Kathy: That is correct. 
    • Why is there a difference?
      • There is a different structure there. T & TT are buying out the tenure which is why there is a higher amount. 
    • Would a 3 year contract with IRC make a difference?
      • We have not discussed that. This is in line with regent law and is aligned with what is being done at CU Denver so that we are maintaining consistency across the campuses. 

Reports of Officers:

Report of the President – Monica Yoo

  • APS 5060: Wanted to highlight the work that everyone put into this and thank all of you for your work on this. All instructors have gotten this title change which is a wonderful thing for our campus. 
  • Campus group about banning weapons. They have started drafting a statement that will come to the Executive Committee to review. From there, it will be sent over to Faculty Council to review. After Faculty Council reviews, we discussed putting a statement to the regents with support from all four campuses.
  • Please consider nominating a colleague for the Faculty Assembly Service Award. 
  • CU Boulder has a faculty assembly committee that evaluates campus administrators. The did share some information which I will be discussing with t executive committee and if we want that here.
  • Faculty Council did inquire with System Council about whether or not President Saliman may have violated what was in the Colorado State Sunshine Law. We have not gotten a response to that yet but we are asking for a response by our meeting next week.

 

Report of the President-Elect – Joel Tonyan

  • Next month, FA will be hybrid in Kettle Creek 108 and we will be providing lunch. Please let us know if you are planning to attend in-person.
  • Sent out a list of open positions for the elections. We have started to get nominations in. Still looking for secretary and president elect nominations. There is an offload for president elect. Please do consider running. Would love to see some newer faculty get involved and those with financial background would be great going into the next year of cuts. Deadline is Friday March 22nd. Election takes place in April.
  • Filling the committee roasters. Confirmed the accuracy and who will be continuing forward. 
  • Lynn Gates has left UCCS and I will be filling in for the secretary position.

 

Report of the Past-President – Minette Church

Nothing to Report

 

Committee Reports

  1.  

 

Unfinished Business

Faculty Assembly Grievance Committee Updated Bylaws

  • Motion 1: The Faculty Assembly Grievance Committee moves that the Faculty Representative Assembly approve its updated bylaws. (attached) (12:55-1:00)
    • Second: Les Kemp
    • Approved: 23-0-1
  • Norah Mazel moves to temporarily suspend bylaws so that we are able to vote on Motion 2.
    • Second: David Moon
    • Approved
  • Motion 2: The Faculty Assembly Executive Committee moves that the Faculty Representative Assembly move to recommend that the following faculty continue representation on the Faculty Senate Grievance Committee for a new term: Suzanne Cook, Principal Instructor, Languages and Cultures, College of Letters, Arts & Sciences; and Andrea Hutchins, Associate Professor, Human Physiology & Nutrition, Helen and Arthur E. Johnson Beth-El College of Nursing and Health Sciences
    • Approved: 19-0-1

 

New Business

  1. Cybersecurity Initiatives – Jennifer Sobanet, Martin Wood & Gretchen Bliss (1:10-1:30)
    1. PowerPoint Link
    2. Link to Cybersecurity Website
    3. Cyber Degrees and Programs List
    4. Senate Bill 18-086 funds most of our Cybersecurity program. UCCS is the lead institution and gets the bulk of the funds from this bill. Gathered feedback and created a strategic plan for the cross-campus and inter-disciplinary approach to cybersecurity at UCCS. UCCS currently has 38 classes with cybersecurity involved. We worked with outside partners to learn what they are looking for from students for their cyber positions. Colorado has 22K jobs available around the state. Have a good baseline of where cyber fits in across campus and in the industry. Working with the legislature to show that they should renew these funds. We have been working with the other institutions to renew these funds.
    5. Question: How secure is the funding moving forward?
    6. Answered by Jennifer: It is looking very good. We have been getting some positive feedback. We are looking for a renewal of the funds for another 3 years. It is looking really good that we will get this 3 year renewal. We just haven’t made through the forecast. It will be officially decided when the state also decides on higher education funding. Had a lot of folx advocating for continued funding of these funds. 
    7. Question: What is plan B?
    8. Answered by Jennifer: Plan B is development by Nancy and Dan Rabern. In the budget slides, the funding does have cyber funding included. It would be faculty lines and Gretchen’s position. Scholarships, events, etc would go away. This would disrupt our enrollment in this area and getting more support with research funding. 
    9. Question: Program Priorities moving forward?
    10. Answered by Gretchen: Initial set up is the last 4 years and version 2 is going to be adjusting and adding in the scholarships for students. We are having success with student enrollment. With everyone that has gotten money, we want to see what comes next after being funded by meeting with them and seeing what is next for them. We have heard from industry partners that they value the contribution that is being made to the academics and hands on experience for our students. What are the hands on experience for these students? Industry certification. Finding how can we do that so these students can get the jobs and are better candidates in these industries. Money will be enriching those certifications. This overlaps with the micro-credentials that we discussed last month.
    11. Question: Is it possible to have international partners?
    12. Answered by Gretchen: Absolutely! Space ISAC has an international branch of cybersecurity. Part of the funds will be for student internships with Space ISAC. It is very important to connect with languages internationally. 
    13. Question: What campus reserves will be used to cover cyber? Has cyber been vetted and should it be voted on?
    14. Answered by Jennifer: At this point there are no reserves being put into cyber. If we do not get the cyber funding for the next 3 years, that will be a conversation that we would have to have if we want to continue some of these things.
    15. Vetted cyber as an area? Should we vote on that?
    16. Answered by Jennifer: So what I have been hearing is that it seems that Cyber is seen as a signature area to get the funding renewed every three years. My own reflection on what I’m hearing, the state and governor at the time decided for us that we would be funded for cybersecurity. The state chose us for our location and because we were a research university. I suspect that it probably did not go through the normal academic process that other programs went through. Could this be part of some of the reasons for issues that have come up around cyber? I can understand that it can be frustrating. We can’t change that, but we can commit that if ideas come through the chancellor’s office from the state, we can be sure to address them with campus first. When it comes to voting on this direction, it seems like it will be 6 years too late. We have many programs already established and working to better our campus. 
    17. Question: What is the student enrollment?
    18. Answered by Gretchen: I have that and will send over to you.
    19. Question: Why has all of the grant activities not produced enough F&A to support the admin? 
    20. Answered by Gretchen: The F&A that comes in through cyber is subject to the same campus policies as every other area on campus. The program office is not just about helping with research grants, there is a big piece about bringing in new enrollment. Cyber has been increasing 37% in student enrollment. It is also about developing partnerships in the community. It is about the leadership that we were asked to do for the state in that original bill. All of this is not something that would be covered by F&A. We do get some F&A but it is the same cut as every other department and it is not close to being enough to cover all of these areas. 
    21. Question: Enrollment in Cyber is going up but they aren’t necessarily new students right?
    22. It is a combination of new students as well as current students that are adding cyber to their current degrees. 
    23. Question: Other universities have received state funding for cyber. Are they having similar issues with state funding? 

    24. Answered by Gretchen: We are all in the same boat. They are getting a lot less money than we are but they are included in this same bill. They are given the same areas that they need to be addressed with these funds. Slightly different just because of the funding levels. It is all from the same bill and so we will all get renewed or we will all loose this funding.

  2. Enrollment update – Jose Cantu (1:30-1:45)
    1. Wanted to take a few moments to give an update on Fall & Summer enrollment numbers. There are a lot of moving parts happening. We are positioned well in admission funnel for summer enrollment. Freshman and graduate programs are leading our enrollment. We are at 6.8% ahead in applications overall and for admits we are 12.2% ahead for some. We are down in applications for summer transfers, but we are up in summer admits which means we’re converting at a higher rate. We are seeing an upward shift and seeing more and more students coming back to that traditional pathway we had prior to COVID. For fall we are up in total applications by 10.2% every category. We are up in Freshmen applications by 7.9%. We are up in transfer by 20.2%. Up in masters applications by 41%. Up in Doctor programs 12%. Up in readmits by 41%. Extended studies is up 400% (28 students). We are working with small number in these percentages but we are looking very good in the application pool right now. On the admit side we are also up 4.8%. With freshman we are up 3.6%, transfers - 10.3%, master programs – 44%, doctor programs - 52%, readmits 1%, extended studies 160%.  Overall the admission funnels are looking very good for us. What we don’t know is how the Feb. 16 incident will affect the decision making of our students. We are doing more research on this. That yield is really critical for us. The other effect behind this is that FAFSA is rolling out just now and it is the lates that it has ever rolled out. That is another major factor for families making decisions. We are still getting good turn out at our recruitment events. We do have a team looking at recruitment and retention. When something like this happens, our online programs can still be in our favor. We are looking at research from other institutions and we are seeing is that parent’s are sad that something like this happened but are still interested. We are seeing a momentum in the new student population and I am carefully optimistic about the fall semester. We have a strategic enrollment plan that is moving forward. Registration starts April 1st for summer and April 15th for fall. 
      1. Question: Do you know about D11 and UCCS transfers? Someone was told that they want credits to transfer to CSU Pueblo because it is difficult to get the credits transferred to UCCS.
        1. Answered by Jose: I actually met with D11 last week and we are actually planning on strengthening our partnership with them. I have heard an issue with that and need to get the realities of that. I think they are actually one of our stronger partnerships right now. We are always working to partner with the Colorado Springs area with more partnerships and academic pathways. 
      2. Question: What about IB and AP credits?

        1. Not giving credit for IB? Maybe need some clarity because I thought that we were doing that. Might be dependent on the department/college. Can look into that. Transfer credit is one of the things that we are looking at to improve.

  3. Faculty Athletics Representative – James Kovacs (1:45-2:00)
    1. PowerPoint
    2. Highlight some of the things that our athletics program is doing really well and the future. We have the highest number of student athletes that we have ever had. Students that are in athletics, we can see that students do well in academics and retention. Had 4 nationally ranked programs! As of early spring 2024, we have 3 ranked programs. Question Persuade Refer is a training that all coaches are going through. It is a training to recognize when to get students the help they need. Working with the career center to get information to student athletes to help transition them into the professional world. Looking to find post-student athlete funding to get them into graduate school. 
      1. Comment: That retention rate is great! There has to be something that can be used to help with regular retention. NCAA has also made it easier for students to transfer colleges as well. 

Motion to Adjourn

Les Tekamp motioned to end the meeting; Laura Austin-Eurich seconded; passed.  

Next meeting: Friday, April 12, 2024, 12:00-2:00 pm in Hyflex Format; Kettle Creek or MS Teams