Faculty Representative Assembly 13 Dec 02

 

 

Attendance:

Don Morley, Lesley Ginsberg, Ron Fitz, Sue Byerley, Robert Wonnett, Charlie Shub, Mark Malone, Lynne Bryant, Patricia Keilbach, Pam Shockley, Tom Bellamy, Chip Benight, Rebecca Durey, Lea Gaydos, Michael Brunn, Debbie Lapioli, Harriet Napierkowski, Venkat Reddy, Don Klingner, David Moon, Bob Lorch, Dan Ponder, Tracy Fisher, Kelli Klebe, Linda Watts, Susan Szpyrka

 

1. Call to Order / Approval of Minutes From Previous Meetings:

Don Morley welcomed everyone to the meeting and asked for a motion to approve the minutes from the 08 November 2002 meeting.

Motion: by Charlie Shub to approve the 08 Nov 02 minutes.

Seconded: by Venkat Reddy.

Motion to approve the minutes passes unanimously.

 

2. Reports of Visitors

Chancellor's Report. Chancellor Pam Shockley thanked the faculty for their cooperation with the spring program, a critical effort for enrollment.

 

The Blue Ribbon Panel final report will be made 10 Jan 03.

 

Two bills are currently in the works: 1st, an omnibus bill that changes the role and mission of many campuses. Our role and mission will go forth unchanged, with support of the Board of Regents and the Panel.

 

The 2nd piece is regarding tuition "vouchers" for 140 credit hours (approx. $4,000.00) at the undergraduate level. There will be a maximum benefit of $18,000 per student, with no time limit for usage. If 140 credit hours are exceeded, the student will be required to pay out-of-state tuition rates for the additional credit hours. The graduate level benefit will be for 60 credit hours, or approximately $8,000.

 

In the first year, we will have the ability to raise tuition 5%. There will be an immediate budget impact as there will no longer be a 1-year lag. Real-time planning means forecasting will be critical and key. This issue will be voted on in January. If passed, the program will most likely begin in the fall of 2004.

 

A budget strategy forum will be held on the 17th. It's looking, at this point, like a little over 13% rescission, which we have planned for, to be announced next Friday. Pam will be meeting Monday with campus governance leaders to discuss this matter. We cannot wait until Friday to figure this out. Enrollment is strong today. If we over-realize our enrollments, we'll be fine. Otherwise, other measures will need to be taken by the end of January.

 

Next Tuesday is the campus End of Year celebration.

 

 

 

VCAA Report. Tom Bellamy provided the following general updates:

  • Consolidated PhD in Engineering to be discussed at the Regents meeting next week.  The outcome of this meeting will be given in the next report.
  • Vice Chancellors Review Committee has completed a draft P&T policy, which is going to EPUS this week.  This group should be seeing it in the spring.
  • Geropsych PhD request is on track for CCHE review in January
  • Our first research institute (Bio-Energitics) was approved at the Regents meeting last month
  • Three-stage improvement program is in process for the Heller House (Center for Arts and Humanities).  Stage one is to have the house fixed up for the Welshams to move in.  Stage two will have the center ready for campus use, and Stage three is to ready the center for public use.
  • The campus is involved in an issue related to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).  Currently, we do not have a policy related to this type of issue.  Rosemary Augustine (CU Legal Counsel) has drafted a policy, which has gone to EPUS for review.  It is requested that this assembly endorse this draft policy as interim guidelines while the formal policy approval process is ongoing.  The assembly offers to endorse the guidelines for this particular incident only.

    Don Morley asks for a consensus of the Assembly to endorse the guidelines for use as interim policy for this incident only.
    All were in favor, Zero opposed and zero abstentions.

VCSS Report- Robert Wonnett reported that a new Vice Chancellor for Student Success has been selected and accepted an offer. Jim Henderson will be on board 06 Jan 03 as the new VCSS. Jim will be attending the Faculty Assembly meetings in the future.

Chip Benight- Chip announced that the Emergency Preparedness Planning committee has developed preventive ness training on Violence in the Work Place. It is a web-based system created in conjunction with CU System and UCD for training of all faculty and staff. This web training will take place in January during the break. The course will cover how to prevent workplace violence, how to deal with it during an incident and how to deal with it afterward. The current procedure for workplace violence is to call Public Safety first. There is a Trauma Center on campus for help dealing with these types of difficult situations.

 

3. President's Report. Don Morley provided a handout of his report.

 

Vice President's Report. Will begin in January to get the elections committee together and start the ball rolling.

 

Past President's Report. Mark Malone reported that a motion presented last month by Regent Robb has been withdrawn. A new motion, also by Robb, has been introduced that faculty be required to teach American history and civics. While it is important that history and civics be taught, nobody is willing to propose a motion to support this. It was mentioned that campuses should support the idea, but faculty should be in charge. Academic Freedom. Several good proposals came forward; such as there are some grants available to teach certain things. Overall, a positive discussion was generated. Motions regarding course forgiveness were also discussed. Students are not necessarily excited about this. Mark will take all input to System wide EPUS. Don Morley mentioned Boulder's motion on Uniform Grading. It will not affect our campus. Boulder is trying to make their policies more similar to ours.

 

4. Reports From Standing committees

 

EPUS- Bob Lorch reported that the committee has been reviewing several issues; Proposal Buy-out Guidelines, a request for an Attendance Policy (reminder that EPUS does not write policies, but receives suggestions), VCAA document on P&T Process of Review, Academic Computing Policy, General Education Assessment (received, but not yet reviewed).

 

Personnel & Benefits- Charlie Shub provided the following committee updates:

UBAB: Open enrollment is over. The trend is to "less coverage." 19 individuals changed to the State plan, 176 waived coverage altogether, 216 went to catastrophic and 931 switched to basic. A total of 1332 decreased coverage. Overall, 1285 are in State plans (12%), 1735 waive coverage (16.5%), and 1332 lowered coverage (12.7%). As far as RFP inputs, our utilization is high and needs to be controlled through education (i.e., when do you really need to go to the doctor, etc.). System wide, 42 domestic partners were enrolled. There was discussion of having University change budgeting methodology for University contributions to benefits where possible.

FSPC: Discussed the following: Blue Ribbon Panel; annual update to NTTF report (VC Burns meeting with chair issue is that motion included annual reports, but that hasn't happened owing to change in personnel); 403-b issues (referred to UBAB); sick leave (sentiment was that it is not a huge issue).

UCCS Personnel: Discussed structural adjustments. Average salary looks good when compared with peers, BUT faculty salaries lag peers in 14 disciplines. NTTF salaries lag peers in 22-25 disciplines. We haven't made the progress we thought we have made. Expect this year to focus on promotion increments, compression, market adjustments and NTTF. Discussed open enrollment and full-time benefits person replacement.

 

Budget- No report.

 

Minority Affairs- Linda Watts reported that they are happy that the Co-Assistant Vice Chancellors for Academic Development and Diversity have been added. The committee looks forward to working with these women and having their help. Although the Opportunity Hire policy was passed, there has not been funding to implement it.

Women's Committee- No report.

 

Athletics- Charlie Shub reported season post mortems from volleyball, cross-country and golf. Overall theme was lack of attendance and integration, as well as need for better publicity and funding. Cross-country was nationally ranked with 21 men and 3 women out of 300. They ranked 7th and 3rd in NCAA regionals as teams (3rd in conference). Golf ranked #1 and won the conference, including 3 of the top 10 finishers. They have been invited to D-I tournaments, but can't afford to go. A Student Athlete Appreciation luncheon will be held 03 April 03. Charlie will work on a link to athletics from UCCS home page.

 

Academic Computing- Patricia Keilbach reported that the committee met this morning. They are making progress on a Core software management program. A limited email-based survey is being sent out for all faculty to respond to by next Friday. Three finalists are Web-CT, E-College and Blackboard. E-College will be giving a demo today at 2pm.

 

NTTFC- Tracy Fisher reported for Ceil Malek and provided copies of recommendations made by the NTTF Ad Hoc committee. She requested that everyone read the Summary of Committee Recommendations and keep in mind that this list was compiled over three years ago, and the recommendations have yet to be implemented.

 

Library Committee- Lesley Ginsberg reported that the committee met 04 Dec and drafted an Advanced Information Support Project letter to President Hoffman requested one-time funds from the President's office for new web-based packages. Dean Manning drafted the letter to be pro-active in getting funds. We must have adequate library funding to fulfill our role and mission. As upcoming budget cuts may affect the library, the committee is prioritizing last years suggestions based on department/unit needs. Currently, 76% of the library's budget goes to periodicals (higher than most libraries). Journals inflate 10-15% each year and will eventually wipe out the book budget. they may have to cut some journals.

 

5a. Motion on Library Funding:

 

The Representative Faculty assembly recommends that Library Advisory Committee send the letter they have drafted to President Hoffman regarding continued funding of the four campus Advancing Information Support Project.

Moved by Lesley Ginsberg.

Seconded Mark Malone

Called to Question by Lea Gaydos

In Favor: All; Opposed: None; Abstentions: None

Motion passes unanimously

 

5b. Motion on Budget Priorities:

 

Faculty Representative Assembly recommends that the principles and budget considerations expressed in the Budget Committee document, "Budget Cutting Suggestions" dated 11-04-02, be forwarded to the Chancellor as the Faculty Representative Assembly's recommendations for implementing mandated budget cuts.

Moved by Charlie Shub to table the budget motion

Seconded Venkat Reddy

In Favor: All; Opposed: None; Abstentions: None

Motion passes unanimously

6. Other Reports / Discussion Items:

Interim guidelines for accommodating disabilities were discussed during the VCAA report.

 

7a. Old Business - Motion on Responsible Computing

 

Faculty Representative Assembly requests that the VCAA and Chancellor implement the "Policy and Guidelines for responsible Computing at CU Colorado Springs" dated July 2, 2002.

Moved by Charlie Shub

Seconded Lea Gaydos

In Favor: All; Opposed: None; Abstentions: None

Motion passes unanimously

 

8. Adjournment

Moved by Patricia Keilbach to adjourn the meeting.

Seconded by Lesley Ginsberg.

Motion passes unanimously, meeting adjourned at 2:00pm.