Academic Senate: MINUTES 2/21/2012

I.     Call to order: 4:02
II.    Announcements: none
III.  Roll call
Present:  Brian Adams, Jim Baillie, Ray Bard, Genevieve Brassard, Mike Eom, Sally Hood, Aziz Inan, Larry Larsen, Laura McLary, Hillary Merk, Stephanie Michel, Tamar More, Meike Neiderhausen, Rev. Stephen Rowan, Chloe Ruffin, Alex Santana, Br. Donald Stabrowski, CSC, Karen Ward, Joanne Warner, Kaye Wilson-Anderson, Teri Woo. Absent: Rev. E. William Beauchamp, CSC, Drew Harrington, Kathleen McManus, Nick McRee, Dann Pierce
IV.  Invocation: Br. Donald Stabrowski
V.   Approval of minutes from meeting from 17 January 2012
   a.   Minutes were approved.
VI.  New Business:  Presentation by Alan Timmins, Vice President for Financial Affairs
   a.   The university is in the midst of the budget process, which starts in November and is finalized by April.
   b.   Changes in the cost of tuition and room and board have not been released yet.
   c.   Changes to the budget process for 2013-14: 
      1.   Persons responsible for budgets will meet with a budget committee (composed of Alan Timmins, Fr. Mark Poorman, and Rowena Bramlette), in addition to submitting the budget via Banner.
      2.   The budget process will start earlier, with budget submissions due in mid-October and meetings starting in mid-November. 
   d.   Items approved by the budget committee then go forward to the officers and, if approved, to the Board of Regents.
   e.   Pie charts were distributed showing the sources of the university’s revenues and expenses. 
      1.   Revenue analysis pie chart (based on 2010-11 data) shows revenue from the following sources: 
         a)   Net tuition and fees: 66%
            (1) Does not include tuition covered by financial aid
            (2) Because UP’s major revenue source is tuition and fees, this shows the connection to our strategic plan (teaching and learning)
         b)   Room and board: 18%
            (1) Room is 2.5% the cost of board
            (2) Currently, an overhead fee is charged to all board plans. Next year, the overhead fee will be charged to room instead.
         c)   Investment returns, gifts and contributions: 6%
            (1) This includes earnings from the endowment (the university takes 4.5% of the last three years’ average balance)
         d)   Grants, contracts, athletics and other: 5% 
         e)   Off-campus programs: 5%
            (1) This includes studies abroad and the School of Education’s distance education programs. 
      2.   Expense analysis pie chart – the university’s expenses are derived from the following areas:
         a)   Academic and Student Life: 78% - this category is broken down further on the Academic and Student Life Detail pie chart:
            (1)  Instruction: 52%
            (2) Residence life and athletics: 32% 
            (3) Student services: 11%
            (4) Off-Campus Programs (Salzburg, Guam, Edmonton): 5%
         b)   General Institutional: 21% - this includes administration
         c)   Research: 1% - this includes costs from grants received by the university   
   f.    As a business, the university is very predictable: revenue is received three times per year at the start of each new semester.
   g.   Approximate figures for tuition and board were presented to the Senate and are not finalized until approved by the Board of Regents.
   h.   Gifts and contributions are expected to be down about 3% due to the economy. 
   i.     Athletic revenue is expected to increase, due to an anticipated payment from the University of Kentucky as well as revenue from women’s soccer. Conference revenues are also expected to increase.
   j.    Instructional expenses are expected to increase by almost 4%. 
   k.   Library and instruction media are expected to increase by 3.6%, due to increased subscription costs as well as variable costs due to the pending library renovation.
   l.     Costs for student services, including the Moreau Center, International Students, and the Registrar, are expected to increase by 4.5%.
   m.  General institutional expenses (including university administration) are expected to increase 3.5%.
   n.   Auxiliary expenses, including athletics and residence life, are expected to increase due to increased travel costs (due to fuel prices) and an increase number of students living on campus.
   o.   A chart was distributed comparing University of Portland’s tuition, fees, and room and board with peer schools:
      1.   University of Portland is one of the lower cost schools in the West Coast Conference (our athletic league); and we’re in the middle of the price range as compared to other Holy Cross institutions and Oregon/Washington institutions.
   p.   Questions: 
      1.   A question was asked about how the current economic situation affects enrollment and the size of the university. 
         a)   The new strategic plan helps the university to determine the “right size” of the university, which may change over time. The planning process is intended to position the university to be financially, strategically, and operationally ready to operate at the “right size” now and in the future. 
VII. Standing Committee Reports:
   a.   Executive Committee, Dr. Larry Larsen
      1.   The Executive Committee met February 7. 
      2.   Committee discussed open Senate seats and committee chair positions for next year. Deans have been notified of open Senate seats in their schools.
   b.   Committee on Committees, Dr. Genevieve Brassard
      1.   Committee has not met.
   c.   Committee on Rank & Tenure, Dr. James Baillie
      1.   Committee’s work continues on applications for promotion to full professor and periodic review
   d.   Committee on Teaching & Scholarship, Dr. Aziz Inan
      1.   Proposals for spring Butines have been received. Letters are due Friday, February 24. The committee will meet to begin reviewing proposals on February 29. $17,000 is available for spring Butines (which exceeds the amount requested by the proposals).
      2.   Letters have been sent to the nominees for the Teaching & Scholarship awards. Nominations stay active for two years. Nominees must submit additional information by March 23. The committee will meet at the end of March to consider the award nominations.
      3.   A subcommittee is working on other means of course evaluations. This process will hopefully be finalized this semester.
      4.   One proposal has been received for Faculty Development Day. 
   e.   Committee on Faculty Welfare, Dr. Laura McLary
      1.   Committee encourages faculty members to take the Use of Office Space survey announced on the Pilots portal; the survey is due February 25. Jim Ravelli has been invited to the March committee meeting to discuss the survey results. 
   f.    Committee on Curriculum & Academic Regulations, Dr. Brian Adams
      1.   Committee has not met.
VIII.       Presidential Advisory Committees: 
   a.   Committee on Student Media, Dr. Kaye Wilson-Anderson
      1.   Committee is currently reviewing applications for newspaper editors and director of the radio station.
   b.   Committee on Athletics, Dr. Alex Santana
      1.   The committee will meet March 26.
   c.   Committee on Health and Safety, Dr. Sally Hood
      1.   The committee met February 8.   
      2.   Fire drills have been postponed until fall semester. 
   d.   Committee on Information Technology, Dr. Teri Woo
      1.   The committee met February 16. 
      2.   Work is continuing with the subcommittees. 
      3.   The university experienced a major technology outage on Saturday, February 18. Jim Ravelli reports that our internet service provider, Integra Telecom, experienced a major outage that affected University of Portland as well as other areas of Portland. The internet was down about six hours. The emergency alert system was used to notify people of the outage. This failure brought to light poor engineering within the system; Information Services will meet with Integra Telecom next week to determine how to avoid this situation in the future.
   e.   Committee on Sustainability, Dr. Hillary Merk
      1.   The committee met February 3. 
      2.   The committee is working on a proposal for a full-time sustainability manager. The committee will meet with a person in a similar position from Lewis & Clark College.
      3.   Dorms are currently competing in a campus conservation challenge.
IX.  Other Reports:
   a.   Fr. William Beauchamp
      1.   Not present.
   b.   Dean’s Meeting (Br. Donald Stabrowski)
      1.   Deans have been meeting regularly
      2.   Danielle Hermanny, the new executive assistant to the president, has been meeting with deans and directors.   
      3.   Fr. Poorman received a $500,000 grant (over five years) for an applied ethics program with upperclassmen. Fr. Poorman and Michael Andrews (McNerney-Hanson Endowed Chair in Ethics) will meet with the Philosophy department to develop this program. This new program also fits well with Dr. Greene’s efforts to integrate and ethics program into the graduate school.
      4.   Drew Harrington has updated the deans about the plans for the interim library and the locations of library services next year. Although next year may be difficult, the end results will be marvelous.
      5.   The final report from Northwest was received in January. Changes are already underway to make portions of the document more concrete; the university has two years to make the changes. 
      6.   Dr. Greene reported on the increasing number of academic exemptions, exceptions and grade changes. Faculty will be reminded of the academic exception policies near the end of the semester. Grades should not be changed after they are given; only recording errors may be changed.
      7.   The deans have selected the valedictorian. The person with the highest grade point average in each school is automatically a University Scholar, and will graduate Summa Cum Laude. To choose the valedictorian, deans considered the classes students took, service, study abroad, and speaking ability. The valedictorian is Masis Isikbay, a Biology major. Deans will select the Dean’s Award recipient from each school.
      8.   Deans will meet tomorrow with Kristina Houck to work on Title IX.   
   c.   ASUP (Chloe Ruffin)
      1.   Elections are taking place this week. 
         a)   Only six applications were received for five Senate positions this year. Reasons for the low turnout include:
            (1) Conflict between classes and the Senate meeting time (4:30pm Monday) 
            (2) Low stipend (lower than other area schools)
            (3) Unlike other schools, no academic credit is given for Senate service 
      2.   ASUP is conducting a review of past senators to see how ASUP can improve.
      3.   Please encourage students to vote. Candidates need to receive at least 10% of the vote for the election to be official.
      4.   The major project fund has been narrowed down to the following potential projects:
         a)   Mats for Howard Hall
         b)   A major event
         c)   Outdoor seating
         d)   Victory bell structure
         e)   Seating in St. Mary’s
$21,000 is available for major project funding. Based to concerns about study space next year due to the library’s renovation, many students favor the St. Mary’s improvements.
X.   New Business: 
   a.   Presentation by Alan Timmins, Vice President for Financial Affairs (discussed at the beginning of the Academic Senate meeting)
XI.  Announcements:
   a.   Next Senate Executive Committee meeting will take place March 6.
XII. Adjournment: 4:54pm.

Note: All members of the University community are welcome to attend any meeting of the Academic Senate. The meetings begin promptly at 4:00 pm .