October 2018
October 2018
FACULTY REPRESENTATIVE ASSEMBLY MEETING
October 12, 2018
Attendance: Venkat Reddy, Chuck Litchfield, Tom Christensen, Melissa Benton, Mary Coussons-Read, Maja Krakowiak, Norah Mazel, Andrea Hutchins, Margaret Harris, Kathy Prue-Owens, Martin Key, Kathleen Tomlin, Andrea Bingham, Pam Carter, Jugal Kalita, Darshika Perera, Michelle Dorne, Suzanne Cook, Leah Chandler Mills, Solveig Olsen, David Havlick, Leilani Feliciano, Justin Tucker, Kristi McCann, Wendy Haggren, David Weiss, Eric Billmeyer, Roger Martinez, Carlos Duarte, Scott van Ness, Elizabeth Daniels, Dave Anderson, Scott Kupferman, Joel Tonyan
Call to Order / Approval of Minutes:
Motion to approve the minutes from September 14, 2018 meeting by Pam Carter
Seconded by Maja Krakowiak
Motion passed unanimously with 25 in favor, 0 opposed and 0 abstentions
Reports of Visitors:
Venkat Reddy, Chancellor:
He recently returned from a southern Colorado outreach trip to Alamosa and Durango. It is important to make sure we connect with southern Colorado too. We learned a lot about the opioid crisis and mental health issues that they struggle with there. We need to make sure we keep them on our radar. We are working on filling the Cybersecurity Director position. We received $1.8 million in state funding for this program, which must be spent on faculty, staff and student scholarships focused on cyber security, and not for capital construction. We are working together with the NCC (National Cybersecurity Center) on this project. Our Engineering building has made the top 20 for capital projects with $6 million allocated to its renovation to be paired with additional fundraising operations. UCCS Downtown opened on September 10, with a 3000-square foot facility to host non-credit certificate programs, community meetings, and serve as a launching point for UCCS into the downtown Colorado Springs community. We are currently looking for a director of this operation and we can see lots of opportunity with our presence there. Strategic planning with JERA Partnerships meeting with various departments is going well. We hope to finish by next year in November or December so that it can go to the Regents in February 2020. Stanton Road is now closed and we are working with the city on a frontage road to have ready for next Fall. It will be an important connection point between east and west campus. We are developing ideas on changing the concept of the Career Services Center. The CU system will be receiving $20 million for online programs, which will need to be spread out thinly among all the campuses. We are discussing a possible campus holiday closure for one week over the holidays in late December.
Chuck Litchfield, Vice Chancellor for Administration & Finance:
Kent Marsh and Linda Kogan are conducting open discussions on the new frontage road connecting east and west campus. Enrollment update: Fall census figures are in – head count is 12,574 (3% up in graduate students; 1% up in undergraduate students). We are down 13% in international students, which affects a significant downward slide in non-residential students. We had an increase of about 2.5% of returning freshmen, which resulted in a continuing SCH growth of about 3.8%. Other facts and figures: 28% of our undergraduates are receiving PELL grants; 19% of our student population is military affiliated; 36% of our students are taking some sort of online coursework; about 29% of our students are first generation. Our total out-of-state head count is 1800, with 370 of those being graduate students. Currently we are not going to press for aggressive enrollment, but rather concentrate on being smarter about our growth. We will also focus more on graduate student recruitment. We need to maintain our reserves to prepare for economic downturns. The Regents want us to set a tuition goal for 2023. CU Boulder is working on a guaranteed tuition model.
Tom Christensen, Provost:
We are continuing the ongoing discussion of “excellence at the time of tenure.” The Regents have approved all of Article 5 except for that part, which Faculty Council and Vice President Lightner along with system administration have been working on. They have come up with the following statements to define this phraseology, which have been agreed to by Faculty Council and the administration:
- “A recommendation for tenure based on excellence in scholarly/creative work shall require evidence of impact beyond the institution.”
- “A recommendation for tenure based on excellence in teaching shall include multiple measures of teaching evaluation and demonstrated achievement at the campus, local, national, and/or international level which furthers the practice and/or scholarship of teaching and learning beyond one’s immediate instructional setting.”
The next step is for this matter to go to the University Governance Committee next week and then on to the next Board of Regents meeting in November. There is no expectation of any problems with this not moving forward, so then we will need to review all of our RPT criteria to make any necessary adjustments to be in alignment with these standards. The Regents have also asked faculty about ways to improve our students’ knowledge in the area of civics. Civics is the only educational requirement mandated by the legislature and several Regents are concerned about this issue. They have requested faculty input by December 1, 2018. The actual process of assembling these suggestions will probably be done through Faculty Council in collaboration with the various Faculty Assemblies.
Officer Reports:
President’s Report
Faculty Council is reaching out to all CU Faculty Assemblies to get faculty input on the civics issue by responding to five questions they have put together. Melissa will send those questions out to the representatives and asks that they discuss them with their colleagues and report back by November 1, so that the input received can be compiled and sent to Faculty Council by December 1.
President-Elect’s Report
No report
Past President’s Report
There has been a very recent change in the optional life insurance limit – the cap has been raised to $1 million and you can enroll in this program now.
Reports from Standing Committees:
EPUS:
No report
Faculty Advisory Committee on the Budget:
Not present – no report
Faculty Minority Affairs Committee:
FMAC Diversity Grant application deadline is October 25.
Women’s Committee:
No report
Intercollegiate Athletics:
Not present – no report
Misconduct in Research, Scholarship & Creative Activities:
Not present – no report
Reports from Representatives:
None
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
None
NEW BUSINESS
Motion 1:
The Faculty Assembly Executive Committee moves to appoint Andrea Hutchins as a UCCS representative to the CU System Privilege and Tenure Committee, to serve a term from 2018-2021.
(Motion passed with 27 in favor, 0 opposed and 1 abstention)
Motion 2:
The Faculty Assembly Executive Committee moves to appoint Suzanne Cook as a UCCS representative to the CU System Privilege and Tenure Committee, to serve a term from 2018-2021.
(Motion passed with 27 in favor, 0 opposed and 1 abstention)
Motion 3:
The Faculty Assembly Executive Committee moves that the Faculty Representative Assembly adopt the following resolution:
“Whereas the University of Colorado assigns any ownership it has in educational materials to the person or people who create such materials in Administrative Policy Statement 1014—Intellectual Property That is Educational Materials, and whereas the Faculty Assembly Executive Committee of the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS) has become aware of instances where the ownership rights for educational materials have been jeopardized or violated by practices on our campus, be it resolved that the Faculty Representative Assembly supports the protection of ownership rights for educational materials by the person or people who created the materials and recommends that UCCS administrators, faculty and staff receive training to ensure that ownership rights for educational materials are appropriately protected.”
(Motion passed unanimously with 28 in favor, 0 opposed and 0 abstentions)
Discussion 1:
A task force is being formed on best practices for incorporating FCQs into evaluations. The following faculty members have been confirmed for participation: Andrea Hutchins, David Moon, Nicole Huber, Karin Larkin, Wendy Haggren. Representation is needed from the Faculty Minority Affairs Committee. Please contact Maja Krakowiak or Melissa Benton to participate in this task force.
Discussion 2:
Vice President for Academic Affairs Michael Lightner called in by conference phone to this meeting so that he could openly present and discuss the civics issue with the Faculty Assembly representatives. Although this subject is covered in high school, there is no specific assessment of it. They are putting in new graduation requirements in high school for 2020. Since this is an issue of concern for the Board of Regents, they are asking faculty for assistance. How do we engage the question and how do we review this with faculty? Do we have the resources, etc.? Mainly, how does the country/government work operationally, not ideologically, and without regard to partisanship? Talk about it in the context of what we’re already doing – how do we already incorporate it?
Adjournment:
Motion to adjourn the Faculty Assembly Meeting by Pam Carter
Seconded by Maja Krakowiak
Motion passed unanimously
Meeting adjourned at 2:00 p.m.