University of North Carolina at Asheville

FACULTY SENATE MEETING

Minutes, September 15, 2005 – 3:15pm

Senate

Members: L. Atkinson, G. Boudreaux, B. Butler, K. Cole, L. Cornett, B. Hook, P. Downes,

H. Holt, S. Judson, B. Larson, D. Lisnerski, C. McKenzie, S. Mills, G. Nallan,

M. Ruiz, S. Walters, J. Wood; M. Padilla.

Excused: P. Nickless

Visitors: D. Forbes, L. Friedenberg, A. Gravely, E. Katz, J. Konz, C. McClellan,

D. Sanchez-Ossorio, S. Schaffer, B. Spellman, D. Race, A. Shope, K. Whatley.

I. Call to Order

Gary Nallan called the meeting to order at 3:20pm and welcomed Senators and guests. Pamela Nickless is attending an Economic History Conference.

II. Approval of minutes

The Faculty Senate minutes of August 25, 2005, were approved as distributed.

III. Administrative Report

Enrollment Report

Archer Gravely (Director of Institutional Research) and Scot Schaeffer (Director of Admissions and Financial Aid) gave the enrollment report. Dr. Gravely distributed a preliminary Fall Enrollment Report that included a five-year comparison of enrollment by various demographic categories. There has been a decline in headcount, FTE, and diversity. We are below the budgeted enrollment figure by five percent. The good news: international students increased substantially, the mean SAT scores increased 14 points to 1183, and the mean high school class rank is up 5.3 percent to 80. A class rank of 80 means that the average student is in the top fifth quintile in their class – this is a good predictor of success. Out-of-state enrollment was 16.5 percent.

Mr. Schaeffer explained that the figures are a natural consequence of the new enrollment management process begun last year with a fixed enrollment deadline rather than a rolling deadline. When a change is made in the application process, the application pool automatically shrinks. When a change is made to increase quality, typically the freshman class will not equal or grow from the year before. It will take two or three years to rebound to 600 freshmen. A 14 point increase in the mean SAT for one year is remarkable -- and the mean high school rank percentile increased from 76 to 80. Out-of-state students were rejected at a higher rate because we could not exceed the 18% enrollment cap three years in a row.

The Senate briefly discussed enrollment projections and their impact on the budget. Enrollment targets are set two years in advance and budgets are based on expansion. If there is no expansion, there is no increase in funding. Senators agreed there were trade offs -- lower enrollment figures resulted in less money needed for new people coming in.

Mr. Schaeffer reported minority students made up 10% of the incoming class. The greatest increase came from the Asian population. He highlighted efforts to increase diversity:

· This summer UNCA, ASU, and ECU participated in Europe of North Carolina, a federally funded program for first generation college students. During the week-long program high school students lived on campus and worked on SAT prep, essay writing, and career paths. They worked on team building, ropes courses, whitewater rafting, and hiked Mt. Mitchell. Twenty-five students participated (10 African American, 10 white, 5 Latino). The Office of the President provided $500 per student and in kind, the Admissions staff stayed the entire week and Housing was free. UNCA has been approved to do this again next year.

· The Diversity Task Force started a Community Connection program that targets new African American and Latino students. They were invited to a reception on move-in day and convocation and held a barbeque. These students are being connected with a community member of the same race – they can get together for a home-cooked meal, to attend church, or just to talk with someone from off campus. The Diversity Task Force is made up of BOT members, Foundation Board members, and the National Alumni Board. Mr. Schaeffer is a guest on the committee.

· Plans for this year:

- Advertise in Latino newspapers.

- Diversity phone campaign (starting October 2^nd).

- Translate publications into Spanish.

- Continue to target high schools with strong diverse populations.

- Developed a Shadow Day program where high school students shadow a student in the discipline they are interested in (November 9^th).

- Hold additional overnight opportunities (attached with the Open Houses) for diversity students.

- Admissions Ambassadors and the Black Student Association are going to contact prospective high school students and visit their high schools during fall break.

- Push to bring in people when Naomi Tutu visits in February.

- The College Access Conference will be in Asheville this year. It provides access for under-represented populations across the state.

- Will do some programming with NCUR since it will be on campus this year.

Mr. Schaeffer had less scholarship money to offer this year compared to last year.

Discussion turned to minority application and acceptance rates. Mr. Schaeffer acknowledged that we are falling short in the application process. We need to have earlier outreach and we need the help of everyone on the campus. When minorities apply, they are accepted at a higher rate than the other populations. Generally, once they apply, our acceptance rates, enrollment rates, and retention and graduation rates are usually equal to or slightly higher than for white students. What we have been doing through education is working. We have enrolled four students this year in the AVID program from Asheville High School. The Legislative Opportunity grant is no longer funded but we have been holding the money for these students. Basically, they are going to school here free for four years.

Mr. Schaeffer reported on the difficulty in recruiting Native American students. They visit Cherokee High School and the other two high schools in the area two or three times a year. They have also met with people in the tribe. Typically, these students do not attend schools far from home. It takes time to develop relationships – and until they are comfortable, they will not send students here.

PROVOST

Travel Restrictions

Dr. Padilla referred to the memorandum from the Office of State Budget on travel restrictions and urged faculty to contact him to seek permission to travel. Receiving his permission allows faculty to be reimbursed. He did not believe the travel restrictions would be extended beyond September 30^th.

HUB project

Dr. Padilla reminded Senators of the AB Tech UNCA collaboration around the HUB project, the economic developing planning process that he reported on last month. He and others will attend a dinner and meeting at AB Tech tonight – Bruce Larson will attend from the Senate. The HUB plan was summarized in an editorial in the Asheville Citizen-Times on Monday.

Students Displaced by Hurricane Katrina

UNCA has admitted ten students who were displaced by Hurricane Katrina. They are coming here because they have resources, such as family or friends in the area to stay with. These students are being granted free tuition for the fall term.

Dr. Padilla has received a number of requests from faculty asking that privileges be extended for Katrina displaced faculty members. A number of faculty members are sharing offices and the administration has arranged for email addresses. Library requests are being forwarded to the library. He thanked faculty for reaching out to scholars and professors who are displaced.

Faculty Salary Increases (2005-06)

On October 12^th Dr. Padilla will address how faculty salaries are adjusted each year. Other relevant topics for discussion might include peer-group comparisons, salary inversion, salary compression, and salary depression, and their relationship to institutional priorities. He would like to have a conversation on how the instructional budget can best serve the University mission.

The Legislature provided a 2% increase for our continuing faculty. All continuing faculty are currently scheduled to receive a fixed salary adjustment of $850. Another pool of funding, albeit modest in size, will be available for merit-based and equity adjustments. The BD 119 process is scheduled to be completed by October 31^st. Salary letters are scheduled to be sent out by mid-November, as soon as they can be composed and assembled to be mailed at the same time. Increases will be retroactive to July 2005.

Use of Out-of-State Tuition (in response to Faculty Salary Distribution Report)

One area of inequity in the Faculty Salary Distribution Report was in the “other minority” faculty. About $12,000 of out-of-state funds approved by the Legislature will be used to address these salary deficits.

Dr. Padilla will propose a new Chairs’ recompensation system at the next Chairs’ meeting. His proposal would keep the course reduction formula but would provide stipend support up to $4,000 per year. The stipends would be encumbered from state funds and would begin the term July 1, 2006, or whenever there were new Chairs. Current Chairs would have the option to stay on the old system or go on the new system. He plans to also examine the stipend structure for Program Directors.

Dr. Padilla proposed a non-market beginning salary of $43,500. Out-of-state tuition increases dedicated to faculty salaries will be used to ensure we do not create salary inversion. These funds will also be used for promotion, post-tenure review, and re-appointment, as well as $100,000 for ILS development.

Faculty Positions

We have new permanent faculty probationary positions in Drama, History, Spanish, Atmospheric Sciences, Chemistry, Math, Education, Health & Fitness (2), and Environmental Studies. In response to department requests, long term lecturers have been hired in Mass Communication, Chemistry, Education, and Spanish. Searches are underway for five tenure track positions. Beginning salaries have become a bigger issue – we lost more candidates last year due to salaries than in previous years.

The recent Enrollment Growth & University Size Task Force Report recommended that we cap our annualized FTE at 3,500 students. If the administration releases more tenure track positions they will have to be paid for with growth money. Some people will be retiring or leaving and we can replace some of those but we are at the point now where we are looking at stable faculty size and looking at every single position carefully, making sure there is student interest.

IV. Executive Committee Report

Gary Nallan gave the Executive Committee Report.

Standing Rules and Rules of Order

The new Constitution calls for Standing Rules and Rules of Order (SRRO) that will be effective for one year. These were distributed at the last meeting. With a few exceptions, the SRRO follows current practice:

· IDC Changes: The Institutional Development Committee will fulfill the functions of the University Planning Council for the 2005-06 academic year. (This will likely change next year as the Faculty Senate addresses how we do planning.)

· Election Changes: Faculty who have accepted the nomination by another faculty member for an elected faculty committee or who have self-nominated will have their interest noted on the ballot.

· APC procedural changes: Approve minor curricular change and report those changes to the Senate.

Dr. Nallan explained that the Chair of APC will determine whether proposed changes are minor or major. A proposed change is minor if there are no substantive resource implications for either the department or the university, or there is no change in the size of a degree program or minor. The Chair forwards all documents, designated as major or minor, to the other members of APC. Major documents will be considered by APC as a whole and, if APC concurs that the change is major and approves of the change, forwarded to the Faculty Senate for final action. Minor documents will not be considered by APC as a whole, and will be reported directly to the Senate unless any member of APC asks that the committee consider the document. If APC approves the document, and the change is still considered minor, it is reported directly to the Senate.

The Standing Rules and Rules of Order passed unanimously.

V. Student Government Association Report

Vice President Davon Sanchez-Ossorio reported for the Student Government Association.

· Greenfest will be held October 17-21.

· New student forums will be held (dates to be announced).

· Freshman elections will be held later this month.

· SGA passed a resolution concerning textbooks. They will be asking Department Chairs

and Program Directors to request the use of paperback books when they are available. They do not want faculty to change the textbooks they are using – but if there is a paperback version of it, they would like to use it to save students money. When students order paperback versions on line they arrive late, putting students at a disadvantage.

VI. Academic Policies Committee

Claudel McKenzie reported for the Academic Policies Committee.

APC Goals for 2005-06

In response to faculty feedback, APC will consider working on the following issues this year:

· A consideration of our policies concerning Academic Dishonesty and the Honor Code;

· The large number of hours UNCA requires for Transfers to graduate with Latin Honors; and,

· The clarity of the Catalog copy concerning the new ILS general education program.

VII. Institutional Development Committee Report

Bruce Larson reported for the Institutional Development Committee.

SACS Update

As Chair of IDC, Dr. Larson is a member of the SACS Committee that is looking at how we are going to develop a plan towards our next SACS visitation. On May 12^th Dr. Padilla established the committee and appointed Jim Kuhlman as Chair. They have met three times to review the SACS process, taking a broad overview with regard to institutional effectiveness which is a very important part of the SACS review. Mr. Kuhlman will give an update at the next Senate meeting.

Report on Organizational Meeting

IDC met on September 6 and spent time getting to know each other and going over the IDC Handbook. The Handbook helps to orient their work, and it is useful to see not only what IDC does but – in this year when IDC is functioning as the University Planning Council – to see what that might relate to as well.

Special Meeting

There will be a special meeting on September 22^nd from 3:15-4:30pm to discuss Masters’ programs at UNCA. This is a very important issue for the University that we are likely to hear a lot about.

IDC’s role in the Asheville Graduate Center

Dr. Lisnerski asked if the University had officially taken over the direction of the Asheville Graduate Center and, if so, what IDC’s role would be. Dr. Larson replied that IDC’s role was not clear – we have to have a relationship and discussion in relation to the Graduate Center. He asked Dr. Padilla to comment.

Dr. Padilla replied that IDC can have any relationship it wants with the Asheville Graduate Center. We are still in discussion about the fee structure that Western Carolina University should be under for the Asheville Graduate Center. The Office of the President (OP) has essentially taken over that process and assigned an accountant/auditor to address the issue. Bill Styres and Dr. Padilla presented our case strenuously and OP has heard us. However they have not yet decided whether WCU should pay according to the fee structure that is established for Centers in general. Right now WCU has a special funding formula that dates back to the early 1980s. UNCA is pushing for what we think is a fair fee structure. Once that is settled, there will be much more information about how the Asheville Graduate Center is operating and can operate, and what the opportunities are to get involved. The AGC is going to be a conduit for us to get involved with the community and with other universities. IDC will have to decide how it wants to hook into it – any way is fine with him.

Dr. Larson added that since the Asheville Graduate Center is under UNCA now, it is part of the institution and consequently it is within the realm of responsibilities, duties, and opportunities of IDC. Dr. Padilla added that administratively Don Locke continues to be the Director through this semester. Sandra Byrd is the Associate Director. On January 1, 2006, Sandra Byrd will become the Director and will report to AVC Friedenberg.

VIII. Faculty Welfare and Development Committee Report

Don Lisnerski reported for the Faculty Welfare and Development Committee.

First Reading:

FWDC 1: Change in Membership on ILSOC (revision of SD0703F, Handbook 10.3.8)

Dr. Lisnerski moved to waive the Comer Rule to consider FWDC 1 today. Dr. Judson seconded the motion which passed unanimously. The proposal was considered for Second Reading.

FWDC 1 provides the Committee flexibility in determining who will serve as Chair and can provide for continuity in subcommittee leadership. FWDC 1 passed unanimously and became Senate document 0105F.

Appoint ILSOC member

The Senate appointed Alan Hantz to complete Linda Nelms’ term on ILSOC.

Guide to FWDC and faculty development opportunities at UNCA

This year FWDC would like to develop a guide or brochure on all of the faculty development opportunities that exist on campus. They will do this in conjunction with the Center for Teaching and Learning. This will be especially helpful for new faculty and for recruitment purposes.

IX. Old Business

There was no Old Business.

X. New Business

There was no New Business.

XI. Adjourn/Reconvene

Dr. Nallan adjourned the meeting at 4:27pm and reconvened at 4:28pm for the Committee Assignment report.

Report on new Committee Assignment process

Mary Lynn Manns reported that the new committee assignment process is going better than expected. The committees were placed on the website last spring and corrections were made over summer. As with any new process, there are a few growing pains. The University Service Council (USC) will ask for suggestions for improvements. A persistent problem is that we are not getting the committee list out until late September. A lot of the work has been done but they still have to go through the approval process that includes USC, FWDC, and the Provost.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:30pm.

Respectfully submitted by: Sandra Gravely

Don Lisnerski