Chair’s Report for November 14, 2000

 

Senate update

1.        Important links to agendas, minutes, Chair's Reports and other sites of interest are available
on the Senate web site: http://www.uwec.edu/Usenate

2.        During debates, Senators may speak only twice to any motion or amendment. Each speaking term is limited to 10 minutes. The Chair will add names of those wishing to speak to a speaker's list upon recognition.

 

Open Forum Items from Senate Executive Committee Meeting

1.        Katherine Schneider distributed a document approved by Counseling Service staff in regard to online counseling services as listed in the UW-System draft distance education report of last spring. At this point in time, Counseling Services is unable to provide web counseling that meets current professional counseling standards due to technical, time and financial constraints. Seeking advice of committee on where document should be routed. This is a concern for career counseling as well and is not just about providing excellent services, also about ethics. Provost Satz will forward the counseling document to Instructional Technology Advisory Council and Chair Harrison will forward the document to University Senate Technology Committee. Both will ask for a response from each committee. Provost Satz will also refer the document to UWEC Chief Information Officer Dwyer who regularly meets with system people. This concern is in response to the draft distance education report last year. If that document has changed, there may be no need to go further. Regardless, one can still include this type of wording in a section of the schedule bulletin where registration for online courses covered

2.        United Way Special Report on agenda for November 14, 2000 University Senate meeting under old business. Motions can be made then.

 

Other Items from Senate Executive Committee Meetings

1.        Chair Harrison reported faculty representatives made loud and clear point to System at last faculty representatives meeting in Madison concerning the determination of system-wide faculty or academic staff representatives. The Reps were not opposed to members appointed to Instructional and Research Academic Staff Working Group of System, but strongly opposed to process of appointing that membership. Members were appointed by Madison with very short notice. UW-Stout handbook includes provision that representatives to System labeled as faculty representatives or academic staff representatives must be endorsed by the respective Senates. Question: Should University Senate be looking at language to define role for shared governance in processes for such membership?

 

Academic Staff Personnel Committee had been working on issue of instructional academic staff for some time.

• Took much detective work to determine UWEC faculty representative to System Working Group
• No one, including campus representative Don Reynolds of Mathematics, knew why appointed

·         Ended out wonderful representative

• Committee wondered why not instructional academic staff because that was issue

·         System indicated wanted a variety of perspectives

·         Would have been good to communicate that master plan to those already involved

• System uses couple ways to get campus representation on committees

·         Contacts Chancellor, Provost or Vice Chancellor for Business and Student Services for individuals

·         In cases where faculty representative, generally refer to Deans

·         Group selected by System - sometimes with individual campus approval, but often on short notice

• Another advantage to shared governance involvement would be reports then brought back to Senate
• Key may be consultation with Senate Executive Committee, other Senate Committee involved, or Senate Chair as time permits
• Would hate to see UWEC lack representation because not responding in timely manner
• Key word seen as representative

·         If labeled faculty representative or academic staff representative, then need that connection

• Provost Satz indicated Academic Affairs webpage now includes university-wide standing and ad hoc committee membership; could include third page for System Representatives
• Are times System requests chancellor to send his representative on issue; sometimes deans asked
• Language only intended to cover those representatives labeled specifically as ‘faculty representative’ or ‘academic staff representative’
• Do not want to handcuff administration by adding requirements for appointing individuals
• Don’t need to add more to process
• To improve communication

·      Perhaps Chancellor could announce such appointees in Chancellor’s Remarks at Senate

·      Will post System appointments on Academic Affairs website

2.        Discussion of membership of campus committees not defined in constitution

• Many of these committees, advisory in nature, created for specific purpose; many short-lived 
• Student membership recommended by Student Senate
• Faculty and academic staff members often appointed without consultation
• To review every committee would take lots of work

·         Only concerned with new standing committees

• Standing advisory committee should be added to handbook

·         Handbook needs to be updated to reflect the existence of the Student Development Council, University Research and Creative Activity Council; Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee; and Institutional Review Board for the Protection of Human Subjects Committee.

• Chair Harrison will work with Administrative Officer Jan Morse to include committees not in handbook
• Formal process may bog down work of university
• Still problem of campus uninformed and unaware of committees
• Campus used to be notified of various committee vacancies, continuing members, and contacts for those interested in University Bulletin

·         If get names, then make good faith effort to place on committees

·         Provost Satz will work with News Bureau and report back on possibility

·         Published list might also serve to decrease unnecessary duplication

• If know committees existence and membership, then can raise concerns

·         Such as University Planning Committee with no members below rank of Department Chair

 

Items discussed with the Senate Chair

1.        Student Senate passed the following resolutions:

44-R-16: in opposition to service based pricing

44-R-18: in support of the installment of a handicapped-accessible ramp on the Park Avenue side of Hibbard parking lot.

44-R-19: in support of a change in the UW System Benefits policy to include all domestic partners of UW System employees in relationships functionally equivalent to marriage; and to request that UW System create a task force to develop a change to the UW System benefits policy that would extend equal benefits to all UW System employees and their spouses and domestic partners.

44-R-21: in support of the construction of an outdoor stairway between Bridgman Hall and Sutherland Hall to the Oak Ridge backyard

44-R-22: in support of reforming the Higher Educational Act of 1998 to remove the provision which makes students convicted of drug-related crimes ineligible for federal financial aid

 

2.        The University Planning Committee is in the final stages of preparing the Five-Year Strategic Plan: Update for 2001-2003. When finished, it will be submitted to the University Senate Executive Committee and other Senate committees for review. As per its charge, the planning committee is beginning to review the mission and mission statements of the University.

 

Faculty Reps Meeting

 

1.        Elizabeth Rindskopf Parker on behalf of the Wisconsin System Technology Foundation, Inc. asked the Faculty Reps how one can help inform all faculty of about WiSys. She wanted all to know that anyone with an idea or invention with a University connection can participate. Once WiSys is contacted, 1) they determine if the invention or idea has some commercial value; 2) if so, WiSys does what is possible to protect the idea or invention without an up-front charge; 3) a market analysis is conducted; and 4) WiSys helps to make the product commercially available with royalties coming back to WiSys, the inventor, and the campuses. WiSys projected 7 ideas would be patented within one year; by July they had 8.

 

2.        Larry Rubin presented an update on Instructional Academic Staff. An Instructional & Research Academic Staff working group has been formed to look at how campuses have responded to the suggestions for integrating IAS in an earlier System report. After his presentation, faculty reps, in general, expressed concern over the way the IRAS working group was formed. While no one had problems with particular people appointed to the IRAS, most were frustrated with the way System indicated who should represent each campus on the committee. The Reps strongly informed Larry Rubin that this method of not involving the governance process was unacceptable.

 

Varies Reps expressed concern over the issues surrounding IAS. On some campuses more and more pressure is being felt to hire with “no intent to renew” contracts. The working group will be looking at various Titling options. Some Reps were concerned that System seems to be concentrating so much on “titling” issues rather than on the real issues of more job security and greater pay.

 

3.        Frank Goldberg briefly reviewed EM21 stressing the three points guiding the development of enrollment plans: (1) quality will win when quality verses access; (2) the plan will not change targets – ride the demographics roller coaster – it will be constant; (3) the plan should allow the System to better serve the adult markets through the use of flexible pricing and providing more non-traditional programs. Goldberg also reported that a Task Force has been established to look at what accountability measures are most useful to various constituents and should be reported. A report will be forthcoming in February.

 

4.        In the01-03 budget instructions, four performance measures are to be included: (1) UW System’s contribution to the state economy (number of grads times the amount of additional income a grad makes over a high school grad); (2) access rate (% of high school grades who enroll in UW System immediately out of high school; this is 33%, but we admit 94% of those who apply); (3) retention rate (calculated during at the beginning of the 3rd semester); and (4) graduation target (based on 6-year grad rate). System is talking to individual campuses as to how these rates can be improved. The final Research Brief released in February will contain data as well as examples of best practices.

 

5.        Frank Goldberg presented a brief update on the Faculty Survey Results indicating UW faculty are more actively involved in various activities enhancing student life than is the national average.

 

6.        Reps concluded the meeting by sharing individual campus issues: (a) concern by librarians that the dollars for libraries may be over looked in the next biennium budget; (b) support for “due process” in the Marder case where the integrity of the process has been questioned; (c) determining who serves on a Search and Screen committee – can IAS serve; (d) questioning on what committees IAS should serve.

 

Board of Regents Meeting

 

1.        Terry Hartle, Senior VP and Director, Division of Government and Public Affairs for the American Council on Education briefly presented an update on how the current government elections may affect education. He stated that “regardless of who is elected president, Higher Ed will be well served.” Next year funding for research should be increased.

 

2.        Donald Langenberg, Chancellor of the University System of Maryland then spoke on Relationships between Higher Education and K-12 Education. He gave three reasons that K-16 partnerships are growing: (1) the economy; (2) increasing diversity of population; and (3) the attack on affirmative action. He stressed the need to concentrate on the current problems in teacher education which can only be fixed by working together with the schools. He believed that one must get serious about Professional Development schools where teachers get ‘clinical’ experience needed before going out to work in the schools and that one needs to expect teachers to perform like the professionals they are and support them. In Maryland a commitment has been made to:

?      ensure all high school grads meet high standards

?      accept only teachers who can bring all students to high standards

?      accept into college only students who meet high standards (basically, no remediation)

?      ensure all teacher candidates produced are prepared to bring all student to high standards by 2010.

Regent Boyle asked why so many poor teachers to which Chancellor Langerberg noted: (1) some are not certified; (2) state certification requirements vary; and (3) many unqualified teachers are placed in classrooms in response to pressures to fill classrooms in late August. Regents were encouraged to challenge Chancellors to focus the resources of the entire campus on teacher education, stressing the importance of helping PK-12 and university teachers find ways to share information and coordinate activities.

 

During a later presentation, Regent Berry asked if PK-16 ideas could be explored more aggressively by establishing a Council of volunteers to be proactive. President Lyall said the advantage of a volunteer council is it can identify and define major issues that need to be addressed.  Regent Olivieri suggested the Regents act on something that lays out the framework for an assessment tool to be used. Regent Krutch reminded the Regents of Langergerg’s comment that it is important that college admission requirements reflect the high school standards, therefore making it essential that the university faculty work will the high school teachers.

 

3.        A report on Management Flexibility for the 21^st Century was presented by Kathy Sell. She states we need to request management flexibility to enable us to (a) be nimble in our response; (b) retain appropriate accountability; and (c) exercise fiduciary soundness. System wants to be able to spend revenue dollars as soon as the dollars have been collected on positions to meet instruction needs of those enrolled. Regent Boyle stated that as we look at the requests to have the ability to create positions, we should also look at creating our own personnel system. [Management Flexibilities report on file in the Senate Office, Board of Regents November 2000.]

 

4.        Interim Senior Vice President Thibodeau discussed low enrollment programs noting that because institutions must mount new programs from their base budgets, there is built in pressure to eliminate or merge low enrolling programs. Thus only 26 of the 677 undergraduate programs has an average of fewer than five declared majors over the last five years.

 

5.        Thibodeau also discussed market analyses done for proposed new programs. New program proposals must 1) include information on student demand and market demand for graduates; 2) address regional, state and national needs by including a discussion of estimated future employment opportunities; and 3) compare the estimated need for graduates with the estimated number of graduates from the proposed program, comparable programs within the state, and comparable programs outside the state. Regent Olivieri observed that new program requests are uneven and unsystematic in the way they present market justifications. He stated his concern about the consistency and strength of the process used to determine the market for a program. Thibodeau replied that campuses are being made aware of the committee’s demand for consistent market data as part of new program presentations.

 

6.        Three new program proposals were heard: B.A. in Religious Studies at UW-Madison; B.A. in Jewish Studies at UW-Madison; and M.S. in Computer and Information Systems at UW-Parkside.

 

7.        President Lyall provided a brief follow-up to the Access report. In response to previous questions, she stated about 6% or 9000 undergrads are non-residents (excluding reciprocity students from MN and internationals). If all 9000 non-residents were replaced with residents, the resident tuition would need to rise by 20% to cover the cost of instruction as non-residents tuition is 140% of tuition.

 

8.        A collaborative effort between Madison, Oshkosh, Stevens Point, Whitewater, and Milwaukee has resulted in acquiring the management rights from the Federal Government for a large telescope in Arizona. This telescope can be controlled remotely and viewed remotely from WI, allowing for great hands-on experience for students.

 

9.        For the first time, the Kohl center provided a broadcast of a hockey game over Internet II to Alaska. President Lyall remarked, “where hockey travels, research can’t be far behind.”