- Report on the Faculty Senate, Richard Karp, Chair of the University Faculty
Chair Karp began his comments by identifying the primary goal for both faculty and staff as "improving the job we do for students." He sees this as a major factor in retaining students.
According to Chair Karp, regardless of the financial resources, faculty must focus upon making the classroom experience a positive one for students. This is particularly important for freshmen as the statistics suggest that students make many decisions regarding their academic futures during the first three to four weeks that they are in college.
Chair Karp identified what he sees as the Administration's charge: to continue their efforts toward improving the overall organization of UC; to hold the line on costs; and to seek new resource opportunities.
Because of increased efforts last year, the retention rate of last year's freshmen is up. This improvement in financial success should help with financial challenges and be motivational to faculty.
The next 'Student Retention Workshop,' jointly sponsored by the Provost's office and the Faculty Senate will take place on March 6, 2003. Professor Richard Light from Harvard University will be speaking and facilitating several breakout sessions. Faculty are encouraged to attend the workshop.
As part of Chair Karp's attempts to increase interest in our semi-annual All-University Faculty Meetings, he has invited Chancellor Professor George Kuh of Indiana University to the Fall 2003 meeting. Professor Kuh is recognized internationally as an expert on 'Student Success' and is an outstanding speaker.
The Faculty Technical Resource Center (FTRC) and the Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CETL) had their Grand Openings in September. In addition, the CETL was successful in running its first Summer Institute last summer. Both facilities are located on the fourth floor of Zimmer Hall. A Faculty Director for the CETL will be appointed in the near future.
The second major initiative that is ongoing is the restructuring of the University. This began with the former College of Evening and Continuing Education, University College and the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences, but the impact of the changes will be University-wide. The Advisory Committee to the Provost has been formed and will have a faculty member as its chairperson. Further faculty input will be sought through ad hoc committees at the college and departmental levels.
Chair Karp has called for the Faculty Senate to start to look into formulating a 'Strategic Master Plan for Academics'. He feels that such a plan is long overdue and that now is an opportune time to make efforts toward creating one. His vision is to move toward a more organized approach to dealing with changes such as the current restructuring efforts. In his view academic planning is something on which faculty can take a lead and provide service to the University.
The Board of Trustees met in October. One of the interesting outcomes of that meeting was the call for the development of a cooperative project with Warren County to increase UC's presence in that community. UC has a history of presence there, which is a foundation for the present idea to create a seamless K-16 opportunity for individuals in that area. It is envisioned that present efforts will eventually lead to a four-year branch campus in Warren County.
There are upcoming changes to our Health Care Coverage. Vice-President Tucker and his staff have been involved in negotiations that have resulted in UC contracting with Humana to replace United Health Care. The change is expected to save the University a considerable amount of money.
The change of Health Care Coverage to Humana will take effect January 1, 2003. There should be an overlap in coverage of around 93%, but Faculty should check to make sure that their current doctors are covered by Humana.
Another change in Health Care Coverage concerns the co-pay structure for prescriptions. This was part of the re-opener between the Administration and the AAUP following our last contract negotiations. The new system involves the following three-tiered structure:
|
HMO participants |
PPO participants |
| Generic prescriptions |
$ 5.00 |
$ 8.00 |
| Approved prescriptions |
$ 8.00 |
$15.00 |
| Unapproved prescriptions |
$15.00 |
$20.00 |
The 'Leave Donation' program is also being put into effect. This program is designed to relieve permanent employees from hardship from an extended absence from work when their leave balances have been exhausted. The program allows colleagues to donate some of their time to those in need. It is a completely voluntary program. Chair Karp concluded his remarks with a sentiment of optimism for the remainder of the Academic Year.
- Report by the President of the University, Joseph Steger
President Steger began his remarks with some comments regarding the State legislature. The new head of the Senate will be Doug White and this bodes well for UC. State Senator White is a supporter of UC and also agrees with UC's position that the research monies that may be raised through a bond issue should primarily go to the state's research institutions. (If that bond passes, it will likely amount to approximately $1 billion over the next ten years.) State Senator White also sides with UC on several other issues on which UC disagrees with the Department of Development.
President Steger pointed out an innovation being carried out on the Raymond Walter's Campus at Blue Ash. The University has put a grade school on the campus. It is believed that this is the only grade school, run by a local school district, that is on a college campus. The effort is in line with the new K-16 (as opposed to K-12) orientation and may serve as a model for revolutionizing funding practices for education.
Sports Illustrated recently ranked Universities on how they are doing at achieving parody with women's sports. UC was ranked in the Top 20. Also related to sports, the NCA recently ranked Universities on their graduation rates for athletes and UC ranked #18. UC's graduation rate (for all intercollegiate athletes) is 76%. This compares with Oklahoma's graduation rate of 6%.
President Steger indicated that there may very well be another budget cut once the legislature goes back into session after the elections. Higher education will likely suffer at the expense of K-12 as the legislature must contend with the billion-dollar expense aimed at equalizing all school districts.
Many in the legislature also seem to believe that cutting funding for out-of-state and international students will be a good money saving strategy. Apparently these legislators have no concept of the value of out-of-state and international students to the future of the state of Ohio. The Presidents of Ohio's Universities are mounting a campaign to argue the importance of these students to the (financial) success of the state.
Ironically, during the past two years that the economy has been in a recession, UC has experienced its best 2 years in fund raising. President Steger estimates that we will achieve $65 million this year in fund raising. The other good news relative to budgetary matters is that research funding is up to $250 million. UC is in the top 50 in the nation in terms of research funding.
Other good news for the University involves the changes that we are undergoing in admissions, retention, restructuring, education, etc. Where we still need to improve is with freshmen enrollments. The recent freshmen classes have been the smallest UC has had in 15 years. The loss in numbers seems to be primarily from the small towns in Ohio. This suggests that we really need to work on improving our image and increasing our recruitment efforts-particularly in those communities.
- Announcement of the Chairs of Standing Committees
The following will serve as Chairs of the Standing Committees for 2002-2003 Faculty Senate.
| Emel Yakali |
|
Academic Affairs |
| Randy Morris |
|
Budget and Priorities |
| Rita Taylor |
|
Committee on Committees |
| Virginia Russell |
|
Human Relations |
| Sunny Saelinger |
|
Information Technology |
| John Cuppoletti |
|
Planning |
- Unfinished Business.
There was none; however, at this point several faculty asked questions from the floor.
One faculty member asked for an update on the impact of the 'War on Terror' upon UC.
V.P. Jackson responded. Three students had been interviewed by the FBI with a representative from the International Student Services Office being present during the interviews. Nothing of concern emerged from the interviews. Approximately 17 students have been delayed due to enrolling in majors requiring an additional process of review. The overall impact has actually been smaller than anticipated.
When asked whether the University will disclose when records are subpoenaed by the FBI, President Steger stated that the University will disclose that information unless it is prohibited by law.
A question was directed to President Steger concerning the restructuring of University College and how state funding might be affected if the College becomes a remedial college. His response was that every public University in Ohio must have an open admittance policy and that University College is just one of the venues for such admittance. The changes should therefore not create funding problems.
A follow-up question was asked regarding the legislature's position on students taking remedial courses/courses they should have taken in high school. Chair Karp responded that the sense is that 'every student must learn and it's your (the universities') responsibility to make sure that happens. The current efforts should be viewed as a directed attempt to 'get students up to speed'. President Steger added that they are also making efforts to increase (legislators') awareness of grade inflation in high schools and how that impacts student success at the college level.
- New Business.
There was none.
- Adjournment.
The meeting was adjourned.
