Deans Council Meeting Minutes Wednesday, March 9, 2016, 10:00 am Chancellor’s Conference Room, SSC 422
10:00am: all Deans Council members Attendees: Zulma Toro, Michael Hunter Schwartz, Paula Casey, Lisa Bond-Maupin, Shearle Furnish, Jane Wayland, Jeff Connelly, Ann Bain, Karen Wheeler, Christy Drale, JB Hill, Sherry Rankins-Robertson, Amber Smith, and Lillian Wichinsky. I.
Financial Consultant’s Visit: Budget hearings were 3/8/16. ADHE director made a presentation and he requested an additional budget allocation of $125 million for higher education. It is clear that the process of educating the elected officials about higher education funding is difficult. There seems to be a high level of misunderstanding. The value of higher education is being questioned at that level. There is a belief of elected officials and business leaders that Arkansas cannot compete in the knowledge base. They are pushing the workforce initiative. Be Pro, Be Proud. Deans should keep themselves informed about these conversations and have these conversations with your faculty and chairs. The new financial consultant will be here next week. His name is Dr. Sal Rinella. Dr. Rinella’s report won’t be specific about budget lines or specific aspects of budget. He has five questions: 1. Looking back at actions taken to reduce costs, increase revenues, grow the enrollment and increase retention and graduation rates, which have been particularly effective? Which yielded lower than expected results? Reduce costs and increase revenue – most of the actions we have taken were implemented on July 1, 2015. Not enough time to see the results. Increase private scholarships Funding that can support students that otherwise wouldn’t be able to attend college. Investment in programs that we are working to increase retention and enrollment. 2. In what ways could past actions that were successful be further enhanced or built upon to increase their positive impacts; and, in what ways could actions that have been less effective be modified to improve results? 3. What new ideas do you have that are systemic in nature (capable of producing ongoing rather than one-time results) for reducing costs, increasing revenues, growing the enrollment and increasing retention and graduation rates? 4. What is the level of awareness of the financial challenges facing the University and readiness for additional initiatives to address them? 5. What is the best process for raising awareness and readiness for additional initiatives and changes that will further strengthen the University to meet future challenges and opportunities? Regents are not going to consider any projects that require bonds. All of UofA schools are in one bond issue. 1
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UALR does not have enough housing for undergraduate students. UALR does not provide family housing. There is a limited potential for growth. Dr. Toro posed the question, “What changes can be implemented for next year that will be seen in the budget?” There are many grant requests going out to increase revenue. II.
Interdisciplinary Programs Under Development in the Context of Current Curricular Processes Where are we with the things we decided we were going to develop? The complexities of moving these things through the current curricular process? Two that have moved through the process are: Legal Studies 2nd major – has been sent to the ADHE Coordinating Board for approval. Community Development major – has gone through the UALR process. Will go to the ADHE Coordinating Board next. Process that was followed: • Leadership from CSSC • Committee had representation from every other identified college that are going to partner in the development of that major • Committee developed the curriculum • Feedback was obtained from community leaders • Had conversations with chair or director of every unit that had courses in major A supplement to the proposal is needed showing that other deans are aware of the proposal and support it. Action: Deans should draft a process. Process will be communicated with faculty senate and deans. Look at the existing process and use it if there’s a way to get what we need with using it. Suggestion to send the proposal to the other deans for their support. One process will be used for all programs that have a course in another college. Bond-Maupin will work on the process.
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Miscellaneous: The OCDAs have been approved by the President. Letters will be sent to individuals and copy to Dean. Promotion and Tenure has been sent to the President for review. Difficult decisions have to be made in the P&T process. Provost will not be a rubber stamp. The Provost spends hours on reviewing the cases and sees many red flags. Chairs and deans should see the red flags and not allow them to continue. These decisions should be made at the chair and dean level, not the provost level. UALR needs core faculty that are committed and effective teachers. Drale should bring someone from the outside to talk about this in the next Unit Heads meeting. Governance documents should specify this process. 2
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Untenured faculty should not be reviewing tenured professors, nor should they be program coordinators. Only tenured faculty should be in charge of programs. Department chairs should not be delegating their responsibilities to untenured faculty. The deans should have these conversations with the chairs.
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