Faculty Assembly

Faculty Assembly President’s Report

February 2006 

Bob Durham

Welcome back to a new semester! I hope everyone had a good break.

 As many of you know, VCSS Jim Henderson has created a rough draft of a proposal for the implementation of the Chancellors seven year plan’s vision statement for the campus. EPUS is considering this plan which I am attaching to this report. Please comment on the content and any areas of omission that you may find.

 Mark Hoffman would like a representative to the student employment advisory board. Is anyone interested?

 The deans’ council is working on establishing procedures and responsibilities for cross college undergraduate degree programs. In addition, colleges and departments are going to be asked to present three year projections for course offerings by semester to help students plan ahead. The format and content have yet to be established.

 In addition to departmental policies regarding promotion and tenure, it has been suggested that there also be a discussion for junior faculty on the orthogonal  relationship between end of year merit reviews and promotion and tenure considerations. (This may be useless, as the system tenure review may address this issue.) On a related issue, faculty are reminded that sabbaticals are a privilege and not a right. System Faculty Council is looking at ways to examine the “banking” of years to sabbatical for service to the University.

 The electronic version (required) of the scholarly report will be out Monday.  I’m told it’s easy.

 If you haven’t called in for protection on the Fraud Alert, you are encouraged to do so ASAP. (I did it on Equifax and it took less than three minutes.)

 Also, in light of all the IT security issues, I just chatted with Brad Cook and he told me that there’s a lot of good and dynamic info on the IT webpage on how to secure your PC’s.

 Don’t forget that FA elections are coming up. Please let Tom Napierkowski know if you wish to run again!
 

DRAFT - Vision Statement - DRAFT

The University of Colorado at Colorado Springs will provide unsurpassed, student-centered teaching and learning, and outstanding research and creative work that serve our community, state, and nation, and result in our recognition as the premier comprehensive, regional research university in the United States

1.      unsurpassed, student-centered teaching and learning

a)           How do we measure this? 

                                                                         i.      Retention rates

                                                                       ii.      Graduation rates

                                                                     iii.      Disciplinary exams on exit

                                                                     iv.      Breadth of experiences for students

                                                                       v.      Job placement of students

                                                                     vi.      Student satisfaction

b)           What is required to enhance these measures?

                                                                         i.      Increased mentoring for students

                                                                       ii.      Increased financial aid for students

                                                                     iii.      Increased emphasis on getting the right faculty in the first year classrooms

                                                                     iv.      Enhanced academic support for students

                                                                       v.      Making teaching a key component of faculty, department, and college evaluations and rewards

                                                                     vi.      Providing development opportunities for all faculty for both teaching effectiveness and curriculum development

                                                                   vii.      Having differentiated workload expectations for faculty

                                                                 viii.      Providing mentoring for new faculty on effective teaching

                                                                     ix.      Providing international experiences for students

                                                                       x.      Increase internships and community service opportunities

                                                                     xi.      Ensure that degree programs reflect job opportunities

                                                                   xii.      Providing campus facilities that encourage student learning, involvement, and a sense of belonging

                                                                 xiii.      Providing a campus infrastructure that supports learning in all facets of a student’s life

                                                                  xiv.      Engage undergraduate students in active learning including research projects and experiential learning in the community

                                                                    xv.      Provide additional campus housing facilities

                                                                  xvi.      Increased opportunities for student to engage in work-study opportunities on campus

                                                                xvii.      Increase the diversity in the faculty, staff, and student to encourage both the sense of community among students in underrepresented groups and the learning opportunities provided by a diverse community

                                                              xviii.      Increase both the sources and amounts of revenues to support these programs

                                                                  xix.      Provide more opportunities for student involvement in campus activities and increase the student engagement in campus life for all students

                                                                    xx.      Recruit highly qualified students

2.      outstanding research and creative work that serve our community, state, and nation

a)           Is there a hierarchy of emphasis?

                                                                         i.      All segments of the University will have a community focus.  Community engagement will be a hallmark of UCCS

                                                                       ii.      Each college is expected serve the needs of the state as well as being community focused

                                                                     iii.      Specific programs will have national prominence.  In some cases this may extend to an entire college

b)           How do we measure this?

                                                                         i.      Research dollars generated

                                                                       ii.      Publications

                                                                     iii.      Community service as a result of research

                                                                     iv.      Recognition of applied research from local, state and national entities

c)            What is required to enhance these measures?

                                                                         i.      Having differentiated workload expectations for faculty

                                                                       ii.      Making research a key component of faculty, department, and college evaluations and rewards

                                                                     iii.      Enhanced research facilities

                                                                     iv.      Institutional startup research funding for new faculty

                                                                       v.      Increased support for grant writing

                                                                     vi.      Recognition of research in support of the community and state that may not generate research grants

                                                                   vii.      Engage more students directly in research projects

                                                                 viii.      Develop additional partnerships between local entities and faculty on research projects

                                                                     ix.      Increase both the sources and amounts of revenues to support these programs

3.      recognition as the premier comprehensive, regional research university in the United States

a)           How do we measure this?

                                                                         i.      National ranking such as US News

                                                                       ii.      Research recognition through publication and grants

                                                                     iii.      Professional organization recognition

                                                                     iv.      Community satisfaction survey

                                                                       v.      Increased enrollments from outside of Pikes Peak region

b)           What is required to enhance these measures?

                                                                         i.      Increase retention and graduation rates

                                                                       ii.      Increase alumni/a giving

                                                                     iii.      Increase resources spent per faculty, including travel and research grants

                                                                     iv.      Increased publication rates

                                                                       v.      Increased national presence by presenting/panels at national conferences

                                                                     vi.      Increased engagement in the governance of national organizations

                                                                   vii.      Raise the profile of UCCS nationally to encourage enrollments from other states

                                                                 viii.      Develop international exchange programs

                                                                     ix.      Develop a survey to measure community satisfaction with our involvement across the board, include research collaboration, job preparation, and responsiveness to community needs. 

                                                                       x.      Increase both the sources and amounts of revenues to support these programs

Resource Development and Allocation

All of this will require a substantial increase in available resources. The Total Resource Development approach will be needed in order to provide the funding, staffing, and community support to realize this ambitious plan.  However, our focus should be on the desired outcomes as the primary focus, not the fundraising or resource development itself, in order to motivate the engagement of the entire campus in the desired resource development plan and to provide potential donors with a coherent vision. That is not to say that we should develop an unrealistic set of plans.  We should lay out an ambitious set of specific goals that will be supported by a realistic fundraising plan and create a coherent academic program.  

At the same time, we must ensure that the campus infrastructure supports the development of the goals and measures listed above in ways that might not be directly connected to those goals and measures. The following categories for resource allocation are vital to the ability of UCCS to meet its ambitious vision:

1.  Information systems infrastructure:  Without a reliable, safe system for communication and data storage, the campus will not be able to effectively pursue its vision and provide the necessary support for student learning and research programs.  The needed infrastructure will include both staff and hardware.

2.  Campus physical plant:  A growing student body, academic program, and research program require additional physical spaces.  We have grown significantly without the necessary growth in facilities and support staff.  At the same time, the SILO report recognized the need to maintain smaller classrooms to encourage student/faculty interaction.
 3.  Support Staff:  UCCS has been recognized for its lean staffing, but ‘lean’ has become ‘mean.’  In order to serve the needs of students and faculty, the staff to faculty ration needs to increase significantly as recognized in the 7 year plan. 

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