Faculty Affairs Committee Meeting
November 1, 2006
Present: R. Byrnes, S. Starkovich, W. Shore, M. Ellard-Ivey, A. Leon-Guerrero, R. Kaufman
Announcement: The meeting scheduled on November 3rd with Patricia Killen and Sheri Tonn has been canceled. No new meeting time has been set.
Business:
1. FAC heard committee reports from Ron (Benefits Committee) and Steve (Budget Advisory Committee). Ron said that Benefits is working to provide the best possible health-care plan at the best possible price. Benefits has been pursuing health savings accounts but worries that they are too complex for faculty to grasp. It looks like Benefits will keep working with the three-tiered system but will make specific changes to each track. Ron offered to bring in his Benefits binder for anyone to see, and he asked for feedback so that he can better represent faculty interests in the Benefits Committee. Steve said that BAC met last week and spent most of their time receiving an overview of the budget from Sheri. This year’s net tuition is about $52 million ($78 million total tuition and $26 million financial aid); 95% of tuition comes from undergraduates. Steve reported that the reserve fund, started in the last few years, gets eaten up each year by unbudgeted needs (like asbestos removal) and understands that it is virtually empty. He will look at the balance sheet to see if that is, in fact, true. Steve requested recommendations from FAC about the setting of 2007-08 tuition and fees (to be addressed at the November 22nd BAC meeting) and about the size of the 2007-08 salary pool (to be addressed at the December 13th BAC meeting). In regard to size of the salary pool, Ron asked if FAC needs to do some consciousness-raising with faculty about the economic trade-offs possibly involved in a salary increase beyond cost of living.
2. The committee talked briefly about distance learning. The committee wondered if FAC’s role in distance learning was in regard to faculty load: how much credit do faculty who teach distance-learning courses receive? Anna asked Patricia Killen if there has been an update on the School of Business load. Patricia said that it hasn’t yet been brought to Dean’s Council but that she would pursue it.
3. The committee reviewed the latest draft of the Philosophy of Compensation. Neither Erin McKenna nor Patricia Killen suggested any changes; Sheri Tonn e-mailed the committee in regard to her conversation with Loren Anderson, in which he suggested that we address the issue of balance of being between being market-competitive and rewarding long-term faculty. The committee agreed that compression was an issue for the follow-up document that will attend to the specifics of implementation. The committee made minor, editorial changes to the Philosophy and agreed that it is now ready to be the subject of a 25-minute discussion at November’s Faculty Assembly. The committee agreed to send the Philosophy to Teri Phillips and to the Dean’s Council as a preview, not for feedback. Wendy agreed to take the lead in presenting the Philosophy, providing a history of the document and emphasizing that it is a philosophy of compensation; the specific implementation plan will follow next semester. The committee hopes to bring the Philosophy back to the Faculty Assembly in December for adoption in the Faculty Handbook.
4. The committee decided to move their discussion of independent studies to the November 15th meeting to then prepare for the December Faculty Assembly meeting.
Meeting adjourned at 10:16 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Rona Kaufman
FAC Secretary
Next meeting: November 15th from 9:15 – 10:30 in UC 214