FACULTY COUNCIL MINUTES
JANUARY 8, 2004
3:30 – 5:30 Faculty Club
Attachments: Postretirement Health Care Strategies, Nov. 25, 2003
Faculty and Staff
WorkLife Studies Fact Sheet
Executive Summary of Faculty Work Environment and
Work/Life Quality Report
December 23, 2003
Leadership Agenda
Resolutions concerning
H.B. 290 and 227
Attendees: David Adams, Loren Babcock, George Billman, Robert T. Boyd,
Sheila Brocki, Mark Bullimore, Ann Christy, Bunny Clark, Daniel Collins for
Steven Fink, John Current, T. K. Daniel, Susan Fisher, Allen Firestone, Ralph
Gardner, Richard Gunther, Leta Hendricks, Philip Huneke, Douglas Kniss, Stanley
Laughlin, Thomas Lemberger, David Lincove, Delwin Lindsey, Douglas Macbeth,
William Masters, Brian McEnnis, Dennis McKay, Jeffrey McKee, Berl Oakley, Lynne
Olson, John Parson, Stephen Pinsky, Jack Rall, Joyce Roberts, Andrej Rotter,
Sally Rudmann, Burkhard Schaffrin, Mark Shanda, Anne Smith, David Stetson,
Stephen Summerhill, Joseph Tebben, Michael Trudeau, Julia Watson, Sharon West
Chair
Grady Chism welcomed members, referred them to the Leadership Agenda, and
turned the meeting over to President Holbrook.
1. Discussion of Leadership Agenda with the
President: Dr. Holbrook reviewed how
the Leadership Agenda came about last summer during a retreat of Senior
Administration. It was decided that
there should be one focus point from items in the Academic Plan
, and that was “How can
An
ongoing issue on campus has been the alcohol and post-game issue. This has been picked up by the NCAA and by
the Big Ten Universities. It is a
serious issue for every university, and
Regarding
fiscal matters, Dr. Holbrook noted that there is the possibility of a tax repeal by the voters in November, to go in effect
December 31, which would mean a loss to
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Dr.
Holbrook opened the floor to questions from faculty members. The first question concerned Homeland
Security, and what
Dr.
Current mentioned that a proposal had been developed for a
Conversation
followed concerning the importance of internal communication. Sometimes information is slow to filter down
to the faculty. It was noted that venues
such as Faculty Council meetings are very helpful in the communication
process. Dr. Holbrook welcomed the
opportunity to have more informal conversations with Faculty Council. (Brenda, send FC meeting times to President’s
Office.)
A
question was raised about what the result will be regarding the Governor’s
Commission on Higher Education and the Economy. Dr. Holbrook reviewed that some goals of the
Commission are to improve efficiency, effectiveness, and take advantage of
technology. There are about 36 people on
the Commission representing higher education (four-year and two year
institutions, public and private), business, and government. One thing that has come out of the Commission
is that there are different cultures among these groups. Business wants to design the curriculum so
that universities will be relevant and efficient. This points out the
lack of understanding of what universities are all about. It has been pointed out in the Commission
that the only parts of the university that build the economy are science and
engineering and perhaps a little bit of mathematics. More time has been spent trying to argue that
the other areas in the university are critical in preparing future citizens of
the world and to build the economy. The
Commission also feels that research is to be transferred out and taken hold of
by business and used.
The
Commission feels that there is duplication of programs across the Universities,
and the Board of Regents needs to look at the graduate programs and have the
authority to take the money away and delete the duplicate programs. In the last such exercise about ten years
ago, the duplicate programs stayed on the books even though the money was taken
away. A Leadership Council on Higher
Education and Economy will be put into place to monitor access and regularly
report on the performance of
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The
Commission would reduce financial barriers for higher education. They are proposing to put in place “Learn to
Earn” scholars. The question is where will
There
is a push on the two-year schools that they should be teaching freshmen and
sophomores, and the four-year schools should be teaching upper divisions. Dr. Holbrook and other four-year institutions
feel this is not a good idea. The rationale
is that the two-year schools have the capacity, and the four-year schools no
longer have capacity.
Dr.
Pinsky noted that he had read earlier versions of the Commission’s report and
thought its viewpoints were “scary”. Dr.
Holbrook responded that the report has an economic emphasis rather than an
education emphasis. She noted that
It
was noted that the general public has no idea of all that professors do. It is a difficult message to get out to the
public. Dr. Holbrook asked faculty to
send some ideas to her about this. It
seems that no matter how
Someone
noted that he was hearing a political message in this discussion and asked if
this was coming down from the Governor as a way of garnering votes. Dr. Holbrook responded that while the
conversations at the meetings of the Commission are very good, the documents
that come out of the meetings do not have any resemblance to what was
discussed. The report of the Commission
will not be vetted publicly but will go straight to the Governor. It is interesting to note that the same
thing is happening elsewhere, an example being in
Dr.
MacBeth asked about faculty compensation, which was of high importance in the
Academic Plan. Dr. Holbrook said this is
the first priority for the Board of Trustees.
This year there was an across-the-board 3.5% raise, which was higher
than at other universities. It is
planned to have a similar raise in 2005.
Conversation
followed concerning investments in the various areas around the University,
with Dr. Holbrook noting that in the Interdisciplinary Research Centers, funds
are made available across all areas and not just in the sciences. She pointed out that Dr. Huntington, Dean of
the
It
was noted that most, if not all critics of higher education are
college-educated people. It would seem
that
Dr.
Holbrook ended the discussion by saying she would like to see every student
graduate with some kind of a research experience so that they understand the
process in whatever discipline they are excited about.
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2.
Discussion with Larry Lewellen,, Associate
Vice President, Human Resources: Mr. Lewellen
updated Faculty Council on issues concerning retirement. Dr. Ken Lee handed out resolutions prepared
by the Senate Committee on Legislative Affairs, which will be on the Senate
agenda of January 15. Mr. Lewellan said
that there has been such opposition to House Bill 227 that a substitute bill is
being introduced to the Ohio Legislature that hopefully will take out the
objectionable language. He and Dr. Lee
noted that having Senate resolutions from
Mr.
Lewellen moved on to a discussion of retiree health care in general, covering
three items. One is the current
relationship with STRS and the Legislature on the direction of retiree
healthcare itself; secondly, the consultant that was hired by the group of IUC
institutions to do an analysis of where we are headed; and third, where the
healthcare advocates, a consortium across the universities and community
colleges co-chaired by Mr. Lewellen, is headed with retiree healthcare.
The
healthcare advocates group has become the advisor group to the State Teacher’s
Retirement System Board about where they should be headed with retiree health
care. It was a matter of concern that
pension benefits would be reduced to help pay for retiree health care. A coalition across all five retirement
systems of all public employers was put together. This coalition represents about one and a
half million people across
A
question was raised about years of service necessary to be come vested in the
system. It has gone from five years to
fifteen years. Mr. Lewellen said it is
hoped to reduce the service years to ten years.
There
is a group of Faculty Senate leaders with whom Mr. Lewellen is working who will
take stock of the issues and whether there is a need to recommend any sort of
retirement incentive that would have return on investment to the University. This will not be like the Early Retirement
Incentives that took place in the past.
These are considered to be too expensive. The last one cost $40 million.
3. Presentation by
Ms.
Boggs reviewed the results of the Faculty survey regarding work/life with
members. She noted that in the Academic
and Diversity Plans, this issue is addressed as a need in order to attract and
retain quality faculty. WFD Consulting
helped conduct the assessment, which is noted on the Fact Sheet that was handed
out. (See attached.) Ms. Boggs spent
several minutes reviewing the results of the survey as shown in the Selected
Findings handout dated September 2003.
(See attached.)
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Ms.
Boggs noted that she was amazed at the number of professors who do not take
their professional leaves or SRAs. She
pointed out that the highest rated professional development resource was the
role of the department chair or director in helping faculty ensure success of
work. She and Eunice Hornsby, Assistant
Director of Organization and Human Resources Development, have developed for chairs a workshop
on the Work/Life study as well as ways to enhance work/life within the
colleges.
Ms.
Boggs noted that she would be happy to share information/statistics with units
or colleges. Information is available on
the Senate website. Ms. Boggs next
listed what the follow up actions will be and how best practices can be shared among
the various units of the University. She
noted how other universities are expressing interest in this
Members
gave suggestions as to how Ms. Boggs might get the word out concerning the
findings of this study, i.e., communicating with Department Chairs. Mr. Lewellan pointed out that the study is
very provocative in the results, especially in the numbers of faculty that plan
to leave the University and the degree of burnout that exists among
faculty.
The
Faculty Council meeting ended at 5:05 p.m.
Respectfully
submitted,
Brenda
A. Wright
Recording
Secretary
University
Senate