November 2019
November 2019
FACULTY REPRESENTATIVE ASSEMBLY MEETING
November 8, 2019
Attendance: Venkat Reddy, Tom Christensen, Chuck Litchfield, Martin Garnar, Jim Spice, Deborah O’Connor, Mary Coussons-Read, David Weiss, Melissa Benton, Monique French, Andrea Hutchins, Lynn Gates, Deborah Kenny, Martin Key, James Van Scotter, Monica Yoo, Diane Stutey, Pam Carter, Suzanne Cook, David Havlick, Leilani Feliciano, Claire Rau, Roger Martinez, Kristi McCann, Wendy Haggren, Kirsten Ortega, Michael Landon-Murray, Tabatha Farney, Christine Robinson Coon, Scott van Ness, Elizabeth Daniels, Dave Anderson, Joel Tonyan
Call to Order / Approval of Minutes:
Motion to approve the minutes from October 11, 2019 meeting by Pam Carter
Seconded by Monica Yoo
Motion passed unanimously with 24 in favor, 0 opposed and 0 abstentions
Reports of Visitors:
Venkat Reddy, Chancellor:
The recent Board of Regents meeting had a lively discussion about the civics issue and Tom will go further into that topic. We currently have a couple of dean searches going on and the College of Business dean search candidates are on campus now. Sentwali Bakari, the Vice Chancellor for Student Success, will be leaving UCCS, and Carlos Garcia, currently the Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Success and Auxiliary Services, will serve as Interim Vice Chancellor for Student Success. After an overall review of the VCSS position, the search process could possibly start in January. Laura Alexander, our new Assistant Vice Chancellor of Human Resources, will start her position with us at the start of the calendar year. She will play more of a leadership role and not as much of a transactional role. Since Venkat is chairing the search committee for the CU Denver Chancellor replacement, he will be on the road often. The women’s soccer team is playing at 4pm today and they are still on top. The next Town Hall meeting on Wednesday, 11/13/19 will cover the planning process for the new incentive based budget model. The Huron Consulting Group will be there to share information and explain the adaption plan for us. President Kennedy was on campus last week and has been discussing enrollment strategies on all of the campuses. He recognizes that we can use more technology and would like to even out the technology over all the campuses. How do we recruit students and get them here? We have an 83% success rate in getting them to enroll once we get them to orientation. The problem is how to get them to orientation. There is opportunity for all to help in the process. The Indian Student Alliance hosted Diwali – Festival of Lights this past Saturday at Berger Hall. Our ethnic student events do well and help promote diversity, and we encourage faculty support for these events.
Tom Christensen, Provost:
We have had two RPT faculty forums so far and the last one is on Monday, 11/11/19 at 3pm in CENT 192. We have had some good ideas coming out of the forums, so Tom will update his RPT collection document and will circulate that again to the faculty. The LAS dean search had 99 applicants and the goal is to bring candidates to campus in early spring. We have three comprehensive dean reviews underway (COE, SPA and KFL). The Board of Regents did have a spirited discussion about the possibility of a graduation requirement related to civics at their meeting yesterday. This question was posed to CU faculty and we offered suggestions, as you will recall. A resolution was moved at the meeting to look at a graduation requirement related to civics, but was ultimately withdrawn and the issue was referred to the University Affairs committee, which next meets in January. Faculty Council is opposed to the handling of this issue by the regents and they are working on a coordinated response. This would be a college-level civics course. Multi-year non-tenure track faculty contracts are now being encouraged.
Chuck Litchfield, Vice Chancellor for Administration & Finance:
If Amendment CC had passed, it would’ve helped with some beneficial funding for higher ed in the governor’s proposed budget, but it did not pass. The legislative cycle starts in January, when they will actually put this into motion. There is only a 2.5% increase in funding to higher ed, which is the smallest increase in the last 5 years. The CU system would only get 1.9%, and the budget caps resident undergraduate tuition at 3%. Suzanne Scott, Executive Director of Budget & Planning, and her team are going to each Dean and Vice Chancellor about the budget cuts. The ABRS this year will be geared towards how to deal with the budget deficit and resource reallocation, along with the importance of being strategic.
Martin Garnar, Dean of Kraemer Family Library:
Next year marks the start of negotiations for the Kraemer Family Library’s access to the ScienceDirect Freedom Collection of journals as part of the Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries’ consortial license. Dean Garnar reviewed our current costs for access within the context of the larger deal, discussed alternatives to our current subscription model, and gathered feedback on potential disruptions to ScienceDirect access should negotiations be unsuccessful. His presentation is attached.
Deborah O’Connor, Director of Campus Compliance:
We did a risk assessment on campus several months ago and many items came up. We selected 5 main items to focus on, and one of those was taking students off campus for student activities. Our intent is not to discourage or stop any student travel, but get more practices in place to set up safety compliance. We’d like your help in identifying the individual(s) in your area with the most knowledge of both sponsored and unsponsored student activities. This person will be asked to complete a survey so we can get an idea of all the off-site student activities taking place at UCCS. Please send names to comply@uccs.edu to help us gather the information we need. See flyer for more information.
Jim Spice, Executive Director of Parking & Transportation Services:
State regulations require that no state funding goes to parking, so we pay for parking. The only revenue source our department has comes from parking fees and citations. That money is then used for our operating expenses and helps support the Family Development Center. There are some changes coming soon to parking services. Two changes will take place at the start of the Fall 2020 semester. First, starting Fall 2020, anyone parking a vehicle in a 500 series lot will be required to register their vehicle(s). A 500 series permit is expected to cost about $21 per month. Since current students already pay to park in 500 series lots through their mandatory Transportation & Safety fee, they will only be required to register for a permit and not have to pay an additional fee. Visitors parking in 500 series lots will also be required to register for an hourly or daily permit. Secondly, two current 500 series lots will be converted to 100 series lots and will require a higher-priced permit than the 500 series permit. These two lots are currently labeled as lot 571 and 572, and after the change in Fall 2020, they will become lots 171 and 172. A current map of the 500 series parking lot locations and surrounding area can be viewed here.
Officer Reports:
President-Elect’s Report
FA Teaching Evaluation committee feels it would be good to get groups of faculty together and make recommendations for best practices in peer evaluations and review which FCQ questions could be used in merit reviews. They will report back in April.
Past President’s Report
No report
Reports from Standing Committees:
Personnel & Benefits:
Still need members from College of Business and College of Education
Faculty Advisory Committee on the Budget:
Not present – no report
Faculty Minority Affairs Committee
Teaching with Technology:
No report
PRIDE:
Not present – no report
Intercollegiate Athletics:
Not present – no report
Committee on Disability:
Not present – no report
Misconduct in Research, Scholarship & Creative Activities:
Not present – no report
Reports from Representatives:
- Our institutional membership in the NCFDD has proven to be successful and many are using this resource; we currently have 210 active subscriptions.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Motion 1:
The Faculty Assembly Executive Committee moves that the Resolution on Online Education Collaboration be approved.
(Motion passed unanimously with 26 in favor, 0 opposed and 0 abstentions)
NEW BUSINESS
Item 1: Motion 2:
The Faculty Assembly Executive Committee moves that the Resolution on Faculty Roles and Responsibilities Concerning Pedagogy and Curriculum be approved.
(Motion withdrawn until next meeting in December 2019)
Item 2: Discussion of Grade Forgiveness Policy
The Retention and Graduation Subcommittee sent a draft Grade Forgiveness policy to EPUS for faculty consideration. This topic was last discussed at Faculty Assembly several years ago, and due to many problematic issues, was dropped. Since that time, the system procedural issues have changed and improved, and other CU campuses have adopted their own Grade Forgiveness policies (e.g., the CU Denver policy). We are the only campus now who does not have a Grade Forgiveness policy. Some questions to consider: 1) How many credit hours to be forgiven – 15, 18? 2) Any grade? 3) Where do we draw the line? 4) How does this impact Financial Aid, scholarships, etc.? 5) How does this affect internships? This would only be an undergrad policy, not grad. EPUS is asking for some preliminary feedback, so please take this topic back to your colleges for comments and feedback and e-mail them to Andrea Hutchins.
Adjournment:
Motion to adjourn the Faculty Assembly Meeting by Pam Carter
Seconded by Lynn Gates
Motion passed unanimously
Meeting adjourned at 1:55 p.m.