November 2011
November 2011
FACULTY REPRESENTATIVE ASSEMBLY MEETING
November 11, 2011
Attendance: Peg Bacon, Andrea Hutchins, Amanda Elder, Tom Napierkowski, Don Morley, Bob Durham, Jeff Spicher, Monique Dooley, Morgan Shepherd, Pam Carter, Rebecca Webb, Michele Companion, Suzanne Cook, Hilary Smith, Beth Kumar, Lonnie Schaible, Christina Martinez, Edgar Cota-Torres, Trellis Moore, Sheri Trumpfheller, Janel Owens, David Moon, Ron Fitz
Call to Order / Approval of Minutes:
Motion to approve the minutes from October 14, 2011 meeting by Pam Carter
Seconded by Michele Companion
Motion passed unanimously
Reports of Visitors:
Pam Shockley:
We will be announcing today at 4pm the naming of the new Academic Health Sciences building, which will be built on North Nevada. UCCS former alums and former owners of the western Pepsi franchise, John (now deceased) and Margo Lane want to provide health care for the community and have it associated with UCCS. Margo is providing $4 million to fund this project and the building will be called the Lane Academic Health Sciences building. Peak Vista Community Health Centers will be partnering with us and our Gerontology Center and Center on Aging will be moving in along with some of the wellness and health programs for Beth-El. This will be an exciting integrative care and research model for our students. There will also be facilities for the branch medical campus, which will provide professional experience for our nursing students. Another exciting development regarding this new construction is that since we were able to get off of the funding cliff on our own, we can use one-time monies to pay off debt and therefore, no new debts will be incurred to build this building. This is the beginning of the north Nevada development - there are also plans for a VAPA and a Sports complex in the future. We did receive our allocation of the $60 million cut to public higher education, which is $1.5 million out of our operating budget. This puts us below $16 million from the state. There is also a $30 million cut to Financial Aid, of which our portion is about $1.5 million, which we will need to backfill so that we do not lose students. We are positioned to deal with this. The Strategic Planning Conference held last month was very successful with over 4000 input items received. These items are at the sub-committee level now and updates will be presented after the first of the year.
Peg Bacon:
The General Education Faculty Retreat will be held on Friday, November 18 from 8:30am - 2:00pm in the Lodge. The keynote speaker is Dr. Paul Gaston, who is renowned in the field of general education reform. Currently 80% of our national institutions are working on general education. The General Education Taskforce will also report on their activities at the retreat. Deans Council is working on draft goals and strategies to coincide with the campus Strategic Planning Conference, where a lot of feedback was received. We are looking for volunteers to work on these goals. The Faculty Information System (FIS) should be ready to roll out by December 15, and as a result, FRPA reports will be electronic this year. Training shouldn't be necessary as it is self-explanatory, but information will be provided to help make the switch. This system will make data much easier to gather and assemble.
Tom Napierkowski:
Tom gave the assembly an overview of the system-wide committee on Privilege and Tenure, which is a standing committee of Faculty Council. Tom is the campus chair for UCCS and he stated that it serves basically as a grievance committee. Our campus has the least amount of grievances. Most grievances are resolved in mediation. It is an effective voice for the conscience of the university. They are currently preparing an adjustment of P&T recommendations.
Jeff Ferguson and Christina Jimenez:
Jeff and Christina are the chairs of the General Education Taskforce and have been working diligently to discuss and prepare for the General Education Faculty Retreat on November 18, at which time they will present a report and update on what their taskforce has been involved with concerning general education reform.
Officer Reports:
President's Report
No report - not present
Vice-President's Report
No report
Past President's Report
No report - not present
Reports from Standing Committees:
EPUS Report:
Met with David Moon to resolve questions with the FRPA report, which will replace the annual Scholarly Report
Personnel & Benefits:
Representatives from EAS, COE and Beth-El are still needed for this committee
Faculty Advisory Committee on the Budget:
Faculty Minority Affairs Committee:
Report attached
Women's Committee:
No one present - no report
Non-Tenure Track Faculty:
Academic Computing:
No one present - no report
Library:
No one present - no report
Intercollegiate Athletics:
No one present - no report
Sustainability:
PRIDE:
No one present - no report
OLD BUSINESS
Follow-up discussion on lunches being provided at Faculty Assembly - not much feedback has been received; budget dollar amount to fund is $1477 and $1400 was spent last year at a cost of about $175 per lunch; what would money be spent on?; suggestion to move meetings to 10am start time; perhaps vote on it each year?; e-mail thoughts to Katie and Andrea
NEW BUSINESS
The Non-tenure Track Faculty Committee has proposed to the Faculty Assembly that the Bylaws for the Non-tenure Track Faculty Committee be approved.
MOTIONS
- Motion to change wording under Article III - Membership to the following: "The committee shall consist of six to eight non-tenure track faculty members, attempting to have at least one member from each college or school [and the library]." (proposed by Christina Martinez, seconded by Michele Companion, passed unanimously)
- Motion to change wording under Article III - Membership, item 2 to the following: "Vacancies shall be filled
by the college or school, subject to approval of the NTTF committee and the Faculty Representative Assembly president[according to the Faculty Representative Assembly bylaws.]" (proposed by Pam Carter, seconded by Michele Companion, passed unanimously)
- Motion to vote on approval of bylaws as amended (attached) (passed unanimously)
Adjournment:
Motion to adjourn the Faculty Assembly Meeting by Pam Carter
Seconded by Michele Companion
Motion passed unanimously
Meeting adjourned at 1:06 p.m.