29 August 2002
3:00 p.m.
CSU 285
NOTES
Attendance:
Faculty : Georgia Holmes, chair, Roger Severns, Paul J. Hustoles, recorder, Melodie Andrews, Ron Browne, Pat Earle, Barbara Keating, Jim Kapoun, Donald Larsson, Gregg Marg, Winifred Mitchell, Richard Swanson, Mary Visser
Management : Richard Davenport, chair, Karen Boubel, Margaret Healy, Dean Trauger
1. Reorder/Additions—FA would like to discuss classroom comfort.
2. FA President’s Report (FA) (Standing Item)— FA President Holmes reported that the Faculty Association had a retreat on 20 August 2002 with President Davenport as a guest. We decided to set five priority issues for the upcoming year including shared governance; space allocation; faculty workload; salary equity and diversity on campus. These are not meant to conflict with the University's priorities but to supplement them. We are very interested in a workshop sometime this year on shared governance. Last Saturday we contacted the lead attorney for the salary equity issue. The attorney's fees are $2 million alone for the Mankato case (if it goes to trial it will cost another $1 million). February 1, 2003 has been set as the trial date. That could be followed by six months of meetings. The attorneys are ready to try the Mankato case. The sex co-efficient comparison of discrimination at universities within the MnSCU system (item distributed) demonstrates that Mankato has even more of a problem than St. Cloud had. FA President Holmes also distributed a summary of settlements from other MnSCU campuses. Faculty Development Officer Stewart Ross is very anxious to get started. We are working with him to set up lunch conferences in our back room. We are also working on Article 22 seminars (helping faculty to address this task). It is our understanding that Dr. Ross will be assigned office space opposite the IFO offices. When will he be able to occupy? Vice President Trauger: It will be about three weeks before Phase III is completed. Then offices will shift. FA President Holmes: We have four days (starting next Tuesday) of retirement seminars from IFO advocate Russ Stanton. Perhaps administrators should take advantage of these, especially if they have been a previous member of IFO.
3. Senior Vice President’s Report (AD) (Standing Item) —Senior Vice President Boubel distributed a copy of the Research Incentive Program memo dated 19 August 2002. We have earmarked $250,000 to go to faculty; $50,000 will go to the Faculty Research Grant Program. The remaining $200,000 will go to the Deans to “buy out” courses to give faculty time for research endeavors. As we are already into the fall term, most of this will happen in the spring. This is not a one-time fund. We hope to put substantial money into this program every year. We will have to make priority decisions for other matters if we have fewer dollars to spend. Faculty: How much advance notice can we have? Obviously spring schedules are already set. Senior Vice President Boubel: I will ask the Deans what the ideal date would be and try to commit a certain amount so the process can happen. There could even be a waiting list if more dollars become available. Faculty: Short-term opportunities would be useful as well. Senior Vice President Boubel: Talk to your Deans and chairs about this. Faculty: This is a good example of the administration putting its money where its mouth has been. We also need to support the Research and Grants office too. What about the College of Business? Senior Vice President Boubel: The College of Business will not be participating in this program because they already give more release time than would factor into this model. This model is not meant to be a determent to being resourceful. Currently the College of Business is not generating the amount of credits to need classroom teaching replacement. There are differing opinions on this matter and discussion ensued.
4. MnSCU/Legislative Relations (AD) (Standing Item)— President Davenport met with the Chancellor to develop a personal working plan including the role that he will play in promoting this institution to the Legislature. There is a lot of work that needs to be done. President Davenport: Being new, I am trying to learn the role. I feel I have a significant role to play and that this is recognized by the Chancellor. I will be going on a regional tour visiting with legislators in order to promote the institution. We had a retreat in which a number of members of the University community were invited to help generate ideas. I am very pleased with the reactions I have been receiving. The basic information is on the website. I want reactions and want to move quickly. I want to have an open forum to discuss the directions of the University. We have so far identified diversity, graduate education, marketing and public relations, enrollment management, shared governance, fund raising, overall communication and planning as important priorities. We want to zero in on five or six specific goals to move on quickly. I am concerned about time. There are so many people to see, and the file of people to meet grows daily. I am not going to spend a lot of time on campus during the rest of this year because I have to get out and promote the institution. President Holmes: The faculty and the administration have had a joint agenda regarding approaching politicians. We are heard a lot more clearly when we speak with one voice. Faculty: What about the Vice President for University Advancement search? President Davenport: They have narrowed it down to three search firms. Dr. Marilyn Fox is chairing the committee. Faculty: When will the committee meet? President Davenport: I am anxious to get something going. Starr Kirkland is filling in. I have been visiting donors.
5. Budget (AD/FA) (Standing Item) —Vice President Trauger distributed some information regarding the formulation of the FY 2004-2005 Biennial Budget. State agencies were instructed to examine a 10% reduction, due in mid-October. We are not sure about what process will carry forward. There is a $1.6 to $1.7 billion dollar projected shortfall. However, the politicians will have to work through this challenge and all are currently running for office. We will work with the 10% reduction figure but we should not overly react to numbers given the context that there will be some inevitable changes. We will also have contract negotiations and other mitigating factors that will affect the plan. This is a significant challenge but it is not clear at this point how this will pan out. In the early 1980s, we had mid-year reductions. That could be a possibility. Our FY03 budget is balanced and looks good at this point in the year. Faculty: Do you think MnSCU policy is to constantly raise tuition as our bailout position? Vice President Trauger: The Trustees were moving more towards restricting tuition increases but the Legislature wants the higher tuition, as do the private colleges. This is a key election year for public policy in higher education.
6. Recurring Items (AD/FA)--a. Consultants : Vice President Trauger is preparing a report on consultants for this past fiscal year. b. Administrative Searche s: A list was distributed. The Vice President for University Advancement search will be added. The same search committee from last year will be used for the Dean of Education search. Dean Joan Roca will chair the International Programs Director search. Vice President Trauger reported that we have over 60 applicants for the Assistant Vice President for Facilities Management position. c. Campus Master Plan : A work group is looking at the Wigley space, trying to get the offices that serve the students more centrally located. We will discuss this with the Planning Sub Meet and Confer and also how we will move forward with the plan as developed. Vice President Healy: We will be closing Stompers next May in order to reconfigure some of the CSU space. This area can really serve as the front door to the University. President Davenport: I tried to find the Master Plan on the website and couldn’t find it. With the help of Vice President and CIO Mark Johnson, I did find it eventually and we are moving it to be more accessible. Faculty: A lot of people feel in the dark about it. We need to make sure it is downloadable. d. Accreditation Update : Art is up this year. Several departments are working with external teams. Senior Vice President Boubel will bring the list of 25 departments that are accredited and their timeline for accreditation to the next meeting. Professor Don Larsson noted that there will be a Friday the 13th NCA regional accreditation seminar. e. Parking: FA President Holmes couldn’t find a spot in Lot 11 yesterday. Vice President Trauger: Enforcement has now started. Faculty: What about the traffic jams recently? Why don’t we have people directing traffic? Is there anything we can do? What is the City’s responsibility? President Davenport received a call from the Mayor apologizing for the construction. He suggested that we develop a University/Community planning committee. Vice President Healy: Security has a difficult time finding crossing guards. Faculty: Can we hire off-duty policemen? Could we get temporary traffic lights? Vice President Healy: We have been talking to the City.
7. New Hires and Data on Unsuccessful Probationary Searches (FA) —We had 39 successful tenure track hires this year. We had 16 unsuccessful searches. Last year we had 24 unsuccessful out of 54. We may have done better in part because more departments posted their searches faster. Arts and Humanities had 9 out of 9 successful searches. The biggest challenge was in Nursing (0 for 3) and Computer and Information Sciences (1 out of 5). Faculty: Will you roll over failed searches this year? Senior Vice President Boubel: We have to keep our promise to honor all tenure track approved searches. Senior Vice President Boubel passed out a list of all new faculty hires for 2002-2003 and a list of unsuccessful searches. Faculty: Could we advertise positions “pending budgetary approval"? We might be able to get out even sooner. Is this against policy? Senior Vice President Boubel: Policy regarding hiring and searches is in our back yard. If we could get the staffing plan earlier, perhaps, but it takes time for departments to make their cases to their Deans. I would be uncomfortable with putting out a lot of searches if we haven’t completed such a plan. In the ideal world, I would never want to read “pending funding.” Although I would guess that most campuses are in the same boat as we are. Perhaps the Deans could give a clearer signal for those that are certain to get funded, those for which we are absolutely sure. We have to keep things going to bring in new people. Faculty: Do you have a rough idea of when the plans will be due? Senior Vice President Boubel: Things come to me by the middle of October. Faculty: How do we compare with other institutions regarding unsuccessful searches? We heard that we had a 35% failure rate but the national rate was 10%. The FA is asking for that information from MnSCU. Senior Vice President Boubel: We get bigger pools than many of our sister institutions.
8. Personnel Calendars and PDP Calendars (FA) —President Holmes: We have found that there are some inconsistencies out there. Some colleges have different dates. We could not find dates on the website. Since the dates come quickly in the fall, we felt that accurate information is essential. Senior Vice President Boubel: Assistant Vice President Winkworth left a note that the calendars will be posted on the web shortly. Faculty: What about the contract? Senior Vice President Boubel: Every Dean’s office will have a hard copy by next week. FA Vice President Severns: It won’t go to the printers for another 60 days. Faculty: We still don’t have appointment letters for this year. When are we getting these? Vice President Trauger: It is very complicated this year because of the career steps. I will check on that and contact FA President Holmes.
9. Course Approval Process for Study Abroad Tours (FA) —FA President Holmes expressed concern that a graduate student staffed the office. Senior Vice President Boubel: The search is on for the new director. A working draft of a Course Equivalency Approval Form was distributed.
10. First Year Experience Course Instructors (FA) —We have 30 sections. Half of the sections are being taught by faculty; 9 by MSUAASF; 6 by GAs. Faculty: We are concerned with the consistency about what is being taught. Vice President Healy: There is an instructor’s manual. I will provide a couple of copies for FA President Holmes. Faculty: Many of us would like to teach but we can’t fit it into our normal load. Senior Vice President Boubel: It would be interesting to hear from the department chairs. I will ask the Deans to discuss this with the chairs. Faculty: We lost interest when we couldn’t teach this as overload.
11. Space Utilization: Criteria and Principles Used for Space Usage and Renovation (FA)—Faculty: The way that space is renovated and reallocated is a mystery. Specifically, what is going to happen to the space in Morris Hall when the coaches leave in three weeks? Have decisions been made? Who makes them? There were some IFO members on a committee that discussed this. Senior Vice President Boubel: It is not clear who is in a cue for remodeling. We are going to put together some kind of open process so that each department or area can apply. This list won’t go away. Your work will eventually get done. I will have Assistant Vice President Winkworth send us an e-mail updating us about the Morris shifts. Faculty: We are interested in trying to find a space where we can gather. We don’t fall into the same categories as departments or classrooms. Where would a request like this fit into the process? Senior Vice President Boubel: There is never a call that goes out to everyone on campus.
12. New MSU Website (FA)—FA President Holmes: We are frustrated with the new website but it sounds like the administration is aware of this. Doing a search isn’t very helpful if it goes too deeply into the archives.
13. Clerical Support for Faculty Development Center (FA) —Faculty: Dr. Stewart Ross has indicated that he needs clerical support to adequately meet the needs of this position. Senior Vice President Boubel: Assistant Vice President Hersrud is talking with Dr. Ross. The Academic Affairs office will provide duplication, ordering and web assistance.
14. Faculty Priority Gold Parking Permits (FA) —Faculty: We want to make sure the faculty priority gold permits are not a one-year deal. Vice President Trauger: We were concerned with making something permanent before we had tried it. It worked. We’ll see what the Parking Advisory Committee says, but I will make the final recommendation.
15. Diversity Report Needed (FA)—Faculty: We need some baseline information regarding retention, hiring, faculty and students. This could be an on-going item on the agenda. Why aren’t we retaining our minority faculty here? We need to know what the situation is. Mankato has been traditionally a conservative place to live.
16. Classroom Comfort (FA added)—Faculty: Some air conditioning is tough enough, but Wiecking Auditorium is dreadful without it. The fans are too noisy. Are there plans to fix Wiecking Auditorium? If we are going to have classes in August, we should only be in air-conditioned classrooms. Vice President Trauger: I was over there. I’m not sure how the students can stand it. I was informed that the plan was so expensive that we couldn’t do it. But I’ll get something together as to what it will cost. It was estimated at over $1/2 million but we can get it in much lower. Faculty: Nelson Hall is also a problem. President Davenport: We need a universal approach that can be more systematic so we can evaluate each classroom, room by room. Vice President Trauger: We can get started with that right away.
Meeting adjourned at 5:07 p.m.