Academic Leadership Council Minutes
Ballroom A
MEMBERS ABSENT: Nancy Reichert, Sandra Stone
GUESTS: Howard Itzkowitz for Ameen Farooq, Austin Asgill for Charlie Bachman
Item 1. Updates
Dr. Szafran updated the Council on the following:
§ Budget – Szafran talked about the budget cut of 9.05% this year and anticipated additional .45% cut for next year. In the Governor’s budget, Yamacraw funding is also slated to be cut by 10% this year and cut entirely from next year’s budget. SPSU has been asked to explain how this cut will affect the University. At a recent budget hearing at the BoR, legislators raised two questions for discussion. 1) Why are no furloughs being considered for the University System? The Chancellor argued that furloughs are only temporary and that he is trying to find a better alternative. 2) Why are universities spending so much on advertising at this time of severe budget concerns? Szafran is reviewing the Academic Affairs budget carefully and believes that there will be funding for capital expenditures and capital equipment and stated that he does not want to wait until the end of the year to spend these funds and asked the Council to start preparing prioritized proposals. Szafran stated that one major need will be equipment for the ET Center. Szafran is also optimistic that formula funding will continue.
§ New Faculty Hires – Szafran stated that departments are beginning to bring candidates to campus for interviews and that chairs should prioritize their positions and invite candidates with the understanding that the position may not be filled. Szafran also stated that we will have to make hard decisions and be conservative regarding new hires. Szafran stated that he feels overall SPSU is in good fiscal shape considering the overall budget.
§ Degree Programs:
§ Accounting – will hopefully be on the March BoR agenda
§ Game Design – the letter of intent was passed by the System Office and they invited a full proposal
§ Engineering – Dr. Szafran and Thomas Currin are going to Georgia Tech tomorrow for a meeting on this
§ IID – proposal has been sent
§ Political Science – proposal is almost ready for submission
§ Education – BoR is setting up a meeting regarding this in mid February between Rob Watts and President Rossbacher
§ E-core – no news on decision of which campus will manage this program
§ Hamrick announced that Smart Catalog training was yesterday and the software should be in by the end of this week. Departmental administrative assistants or designee will be trained soon on how to use the software. Hamrick also announced that AdAstra is not quite ready yet.
§ Becky Rutherfoord talked about the SACS visit scheduled for the end of March. We are currently working on our response to SACS which is due in next week. She reminded everyone to be on campus during the SACS visit. She also stated that we are still missing some information from the departments needed for the responses. Szafran stated that everything that has been submitted should be posted on the web by now. Departments should check and if their information is missing, submit it as soon as possible. He also asked the departments to check the web for information they submitted previously and if it is not posted, please resend it to Zvi or Becky as soon as possible.
§ Northwest Financial Times announced recently that SPSU purchased Jive Software. This program is used to help faculty and students interact and is currently being used by the FYE program.
§ Bill Gruszka has resigned and is going to Auburn University.
Item 2. Parking and Other Issues
The floor was opened for a discussion on parking and/or other startup issues and announced that SPSU has reached an agreement with the Union Hall to use a portion of their property for 300 additional parking spaces until our parking deck is completed, which should be summer 2009. It was noted that lighting in this area may be an issue, especially for night students, but because it is not our property we can not make any improvements to that area. SPSU also signed a contract for a 750 apartment-style housing unit and is working on possibly purchasing Austin Creek Apartments.
Item 3. WebCT Migration to
Dawn Ramsey distributed a Faculty Development brochure for spring and a Vista 8 Migration Plan which is scheduled to be released on March 23. Ramsey discussed the migration process, deadlines, and training and workshops that will be available through the TADL. She also stated that Brichaya Shah is available to help. Dawn will send out email with more information and urged the Council to make sure faculty are aware of this important change.
Item 4. Budget Scenarios
Dr. Szafran distributed a handout containing three possible budget scenarios and discussed the need to be proactive and begin planning now for future budget cuts. He described this endeavor as an intellectual but realistic exercise. This year’s cut is currently 9.05% with an additional cut of .45% expected for next year. Szafran’s desire is to give departments a say in how the budget shortfall is met rather than leaving the decision to the administration. The Chairs were asked to work through the three budget scenarios for Fiscal Year 2010 identifying savings in a way that hurts department, faculty, and students the least. Departments cannot identify cuts in departments other than their own and should factor in new hires/fringes. An Excel spreadsheet will be emailed to all the departments to use in this exercise. These are due to the VPAA by February 27, 2009.
Note: It was asked if savings includes not replacing faculty right away, will the department permanently lose that position. Szafran stated that this will have to be revisited next year.
Dr. Gabrielli was asked to make sure classroom furniture is included in capital purchases as some classrooms do not have enough chairs to accommodate the students registered for the classes.
Item 5. Streamlining the
Evaluation Process
Dave Caudill talked about the study he and his committee did and their findings regarding the faculty evaluation process. If his proposal is approved it will go to the Faculty Senate next. Dave encouraged the Council to share this proposal with their faculty for input. The Council voted by majority to endorse this proposal. It will be forwarded to the Faculty Senate for review.
Item 6. Faculty Workload
Model
Tom Currin distributed a draft Faculty Workload Model document for review. Tom discussed his proposal and stated the following:
A department chair brought a concern to the discussion regarding graduate faculty expectations and graduate faculty status and how this might be affected by this workload policy. He stated that he feels faculty will fear they may lose release time under the new policy. Szafran noted that graduate faculty are already documenting what they are doing for release time in their annual reviews and that completing a Request for Reassigned Time is not all that different.
The department chair responded that if a graduate faculty member is denied release time, it will affect their status to teach graduate courses since having graduate faculty status requires enhanced scholarship. Failure to meet the requirement for release time will compromise the faculty member’s graduate faculty status, therefore deeming them ineligible to teach graduate courses. Additionally, if the faculty member’s request is not approved and the faculty member loses release time, he or she will be required to teach an additional course to meet the workload requirement and this may be contrary to what the faculty member was promised upon hire. Szafran stated that perhaps current graduate faculty should be grandfathered in.