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2000-2001
FACULTY COUNCIL
MINUTES
Meeting #10, Tuesday, October 31, 2000
Present:
McKeever (chair), Smelser (vice-chair),
Bitterwolf, Brunsfeld, Chun, Coonts, Finnie, Fritz, Goble, Goodwin, Haggart
(w/o vote), Hong, Kraut, McClure, Meier, Nelson, Pitcher (w/o vote), Trivedi
Absent: Foltz, Guilfoyle, McCaffrey, Nielsen, Olson, Thompson Observers:
2
Call
to Order. A quorum being present, Faculty Council
Chair, Professor Kerry McKeever, called the meeting to order at 3:33 p.m. in
the Idaho Commons.
Minutes.
The council, by voice vote, accepted the minutes of the October 24, 2000,
meeting as distributed.
Chair’s
Report. Chair McKeever acknowledged the
contributions of Ann Thompson, Administrative Assistant in the Office of the
Faculty Secretary, in making the meeting holiday-appropriate by supplying
the council with their favorite treats.
McKeever
requested members of the council attend the Parking Forum to be held
in the Idaho Commons Food Court at 7:30 p.m. on November 2nd. The
parking proposals will be reviewed and small "focus groups" will
get the opportunity to provide their own best parking plan to the whole
group. She said that she realizes that faculty members are extremely busy
and she will do her best to have the Parking Task Force report their plans
directly to the Faculty Council at a later date.
The
chair distributed a memo to the council from Provost Brian Pitcher
concerning the annual process of making nominations
of faculty members to serve on the University-Level Promotion Committee.
Faculty-Staff
Handbook, Section 3560, G-1, "One-third
of the committee’s membership is randomly selected by the provost from
the previous year’s committee; the remainder of the members are selected
by the provost and the chair and vice chair of the Faculty Council from
nominations submitted by the council."
Two
nominations from each college and the faculty-at-large are to be made by
council members representing those colleges and the faculty-at-large
(following the guidelines in the FSH), except in the case of
carry-over members on the committee. The nominations are to be forwarded to
the provost by November 14th. All faculty ranks can be nominated.
Councilor
McClure commented that serving on the committee as an untenured assistant
professor can be a bit intimidating, but she felt it is a good way to learn
how the promotion process works. The provost, in consultation with the chair
and vice chair of the council, will make committee selections that will be
representative of not only academic ranks, but also represent a variety of
faculty perspectives and experience. Pitcher told the council that the names
of the committee members will be made public after the committee has been
created.
McKeever
reminded the council of the activities surrounding the Tutxinmepu Pow-Wow
events celebrating Native American Heritage Month. There are a number of
events, contests, and presentations scheduled from November 1st
through the 4th. The keynote address is being given on November 1st
by Rebecca Tsosie, the Executive Director of the Indian Legal Program at
Arizona State University. Her talk is entitled "Rethinking the
Tribal Sovereignty Doctrine: Cultural Sovereignty and the Collective Future
of Indian Nations."
Provost’s
Report. Provost Brian Pitcher told the council
that on Monday there was a well attended faculty forum presentation on the Core
Curriculum. The forum dealt with the experimental courses being offered
this semester and plans for soliciting proposals for next year. He indicated
that the discussion was not only enthusiastic, but very informative in its
appraisal of what was working and not working in the core curriculum.
Pitcher
said that he met this afternoon (the first meeting) with the search
committee for the Vice President for Research position. The position
will be advertised nationally beginning the week of November 10th.
He said that the committee is seeking input on whether or not to use an
executive search firm in the search process. Many of the strong
administrators that should be applying for this job are not out looking for
jobs. A search firm can help identify these candidates and encourage them to
apply.
The
provost said that tomorrow morning there will be another breakfast follow-up
meeting on Responsibility Center Management implementation. The
sub-committees will be reporting at that meeting and there will also be a
major presentation on modeling the revenue attribution scheme. This model
will be presented to the Faculty Council within the next two weeks,
hopefully at the November 7th meeting. In conclusion, the provost
noted that U of Idaho President Hoover would be meeting with the governor
next week. He (and the president) asked the council to submit
questions/issues that they would like Hoover to explore with the governor.
McKeever
reviewed her meeting (along with the other
university council/senate chairs/presidents) with the governor as
previously reported in the minutes of the October 17th council
meeting. She reiterated her conviction that the governor was very
sympathetic to what they had to say about faculty salaries. She also said
that while faculty "signing bonuses" and other
"one-time" incentives had been mentioned by the governor, the
faculty executives expressed their united conviction that the answer to
equitable faculty salaries resided in increasing the base salaries of all
faculty ranks, despite the governor’s desire to have a variety of salary
options available.
Committee
on Committees Report. Faculty Council Vice Chair,
Ronald Smelser, presented a report from the Committee on Committees. He said
that the committee had not yet met in a "formal" meeting setting
this semester, but vacancies were being filled by the Faculty Secretary from
appointment lists generated by the Committee on Committees last spring. The
committee is notified by email of resignations and appointments. He said
that this system was working well and, unless the council objected, the
committee would continue to operate in that fashion in filling vacancies on
committees. There were no objections and the council immediately proceeded
to approve the appointments, as presented in the report, by unanimous
voice vote.
The
council was also notified that a council member vacancy on the
Campus Planning Advisory Committee has been filled by Professor Thomas
Bitterwolf.
Budget
Liaison Committee Report. Marla Kraut, Chair of
the Budget Liaison Committee, said that the committee had met to hear a
presentation on the revenue attribution model. She deferred any
report on that model until after the council had heard the presentation.
Those council members that had already heard the presentation noted that it
was well done and informative. It was also noted that several areas that are
still not fully developed in the model will probably be filled in by the
time the presentation is made to the council. Although some aspects of the
model were mentioned and questioned at this meeting, the council felt it was
premature to discuss them further at today’s meeting or report on them in
these minutes. In conclusion, Kraut noted that the College of Business and
Economics is meeting today to discuss the professional fee that they
would like to charge students next year. She said that she would report the
results of that discussion to the council at a later date.
The
Boise Initiative. U of Idaho President, Bob
Hoover, made a presentation to the council concerning the U of Idaho’s
building and educational delivery plans in Boise. He said that the
university had a long history of delivering educational programs and having
a presence in other parts of the state of Idaho. In fact, the U of Idaho has
had programs in Boise since the first decade of the 20th century.
The U of Idaho is currently housing its Boise programs in leased space in
the Morrison-Knudsen Complex. The high security in this building presents
the university with a number of organizational problems, not the least of
which is the requirement that everyone entering or leaving the building must
sign in or out. Simply put, the U of Idaho needs its own building in
Boise. Our money should be placed in something that will show a
"return" for the institution. The state government is encouraging
– if not demanding – that agencies stop leasing property and build or
buy building space.
Hoover
said that the university was offered or has looked at numerous building
sites in the greater Boise area. However, the key factor in choosing a
location was the university’s responsibility to deliver educational
programs in law, engineering, agriculture, architecture, and education, in
particular the request/need for an "externship" program in law and
the 4th and 5th year studio programs in architecture.
These programs need to be located near centers of activity, such as the
government bureaus and commissions, education offices, architectural firms,
county courthouse, etc. The university found a small piece of property
adjacent to some Forest Service property (about 5 acres total) adjoining
Broadway, Front, and Myrtle streets – above the park area and the river
and along a development area that is important to the growth of downtown
Boise. The Boise development agency (CCDC) has encouraged the U of Idaho to
attempt to turn this area of the corridor into a "higher education
plaza." There is an arts area at the other end of this corridor. Other
developments in this corridor would be a "legal community" and a
"state government agency plaza." Hoover said this seems to be an
ideal location for the U of Idaho building. This development has the
potential for creating a very significant presence for the U of Idaho in
Boise. Our alumni in the area are very excited about this project.
Hoover
told the council that the U of Idaho Foundation purchased the smaller
piece of property earlier this year. The rest of the site is owned by
the Forest Service and the university is counting on recent national
legislation that will enable them to arrange for a transfer of the
land from the federal government to the U of Idaho or enter into an
agreement where the research arm of the Forest Service would be located in
the building in exchange for the land.
The
acquisition of the total acreage under the umbrella of the U of Idaho opens
up the prospect of attracting a number of "partners" in the
development of the total building site. The possibilities include, the
Bureau of Reclamation, the Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of Land
Management, federal and state agencies which deal with water and
environmental issues, and also Boise State University (cooperative programs
with the U of Idaho) and Idaho State University (which has a sizeable health
care related instructional program in Boise).
The
university has hired an architectural firm and their plans show the
"anchor" of this project to be a 7-8 story building with the U
of Idaho’s name on it. All of the Boise area outreach educational missions
of the U of Idaho – architecture, law, agriculture, education,
graduate-level engineering, natural resources – would be housed in this
facility. It is probable that the bottom floor would be leased to commercial
enterprises and the top floor as housing. The university is looking for
others to help in the financing of this project and the goal is to have the
building built by the end of 2003.
Questions/Answers/Comments.
Councilor Nelson wondered about the implications
of the "public policy" part of this project? It has the
potential for us to bring together some of our social science programs with
some of BSU’s social science programs, as well as public policy programs
of state and federal agencies. I (Nelson) am aware of instances where
there is a real interest on the part of faculty at BSU; but, that same
interest does not exist at the top levels of the BSU administration. There
are a number of barriers that must be overcome. If some other agencies come
together it may provide the momentum to overcome this natural resistance.
More people in the Boise community are asking the question – Why aren’t
you working with the U of Idaho? BSU and the Boise community would benefit
by accepting the U of Idaho as a partner in instruction and research. BSU
also needs to cooperate with ISU in the health sciences area. It should sort
itself out as we get over past differences and feelings of superiority or
inferiority.
Provost
Pitcher noted that fruitful relationships with BSU are already
beginning to form. We have BSU faculty involved in our Natural Resources
master’s program and also in providing curriculum support for the
Environmental Sciences graduate program. This cooperative atmosphere needs
to be followed up with more discussions with faculty members and
administrators from both BSU and ISU concerning cooperative program
offerings in Boise.
Councilor
Chun said that we need to "think big." Our current
experience with the new Agriculture Bio-Tech building is that we appear to
have "out-grown" the facility before it has even been completed.
We already need another wing to the building. The
problem – of course – is money. I (Hoover) am the one that wants us to
have the money in hand before we build the facilities. But it does not hurt
to dream. Additional space can be added to the Boise building after it is
built and there is a lot of square footage available for building on this
Boise acreage. One of the strategies is to build the building larger than is
necessary and lease out space until we are ready to use it. This
"building bigger" concept is already being talked about in
connection with another project in Idaho Falls.
Councilor
Finnie noted that it would be important to have money in our budget that
would not only allow, but encourage faculty members to take on
instruction and research duties in Boise – even if it is just to
develop relationships that will pay off in the future. That’s not a bad
idea – we should look into it. Councilor McClure asked about
strategies for getting experienced faculty members to accept appointments in
Boise. This problem is not unique to Boise – the
same problem exists at all of our off-campus sites – in both teaching and
research. It would be my (Hoover) hope that over the years we develop a core
of experienced faculty members at all of these U of Idaho centers. Also, we
should keep in mind, that we can also deliver instructional programs to
these places using electronic means – video or web-based courses. Property
ownership has important implications. Buying property in Boise will open a
lot of doors because people now see that our presence is permanent. Owning
property has made this happen already in Post Falls and Idaho Falls. The
Eastern Idaho area has a forum for Information Technology – about 90
information technology firms – and they have invited the U of Idaho to be
a partner. The Eastern Idaho Economic Development Council has invited the
university to become a member of that organization. Participation in these
types of organizations in these communities re-establishes the U of Idaho as
a real state-wide institution and may serve to protect our interests during
turbulent economic times.
Councilor
Finnie commented that as the university spreads its programs over the state,
it puts a lot of stress on the organizational structure of the home
departments and colleges. Faculty members are both on and off-campus and if
we are not careful we could end up with split departments. This certainly
can be a problem, but with the technology available we should certainly be
able to explore other ways to work more effectively under those
circumstances. We may need to pay more attention to travel – such as
leasing aircraft to move people around the state, rather than paying the
very high ticket prices for commercial transportation. Councilor McClure
stressed that these administrative kinds of issues need to be worked out
early in the planning stages. We must not wait until the programs are
already established and running.
Councilor
Brunsfeld asked about the current plans for law school course offerings
in Boise. We currently have a joint proposal
for both the law school and architecture – but we want the law school
externship program to be funded independently. Down the road we would like
to also offer elective law courses in Boise and eventually fund a third year
program (with the approval of the Idaho Bar Association) and possibly a
master’s degree in law offered in Boise. The new building – and the law
school presence in the new building – will be a real advantage for us in
Boise.
Hoover
told the council that part of the budget proposal for next year
includes a $2 million request ($500,000 for each center) for the off-campus
educational centers in Boise, Idaho Falls, Twin Falls, and Coeur d’Alene.
Part of the money would be used for infrastructure (to more approximate the
infrastructure that exists on the main campus) and part of it would be to
grow the programmatic aspects of each of the centers. He said that if we do
this right, we should be able to put together a pretty good coalition of
support around the state and that will help us in the legislature –
particularly in getting the affirmative votes needed on the Joint
Appropriations and Finance Committee.
A
week after the elections the U of Idaho will host the north central Idaho
legislative tour sponsored by the North Idaho Chamber of Commerce.
Members of the legislature will be on our campus for a day. Associated with
that tour will be an important presentation to the legislators by all of the
higher education presidents. The presidents will also meet to discuss how to
build a legislative strategy to get new and continuing programs properly
funded by the legislature.
After
a series of personal stories about experiences on this campus and at other
universities with parking, Chair McKeever again asked council members to
persuade faculty colleagues to attend the Parking Forum on Thursday
evening. She asked that names be forwarded to her as soon as possible so
that arrangements can be made for "focus groups" at the forum. The
provost reminded the council that this is a good opportunity to participate
in the process of setting policy and finding good solutions to the parking
dilemmas that we face on this campus.
Adjournment.
As has become the custom of the council, it was moved and seconded (Smelser,
Goble) that the meeting be adjourned. The motion was adopted by unanimous
voice vote and Chair McKeever adjourned the meeting at 4:53 p.m.
Respectfully
submitted,
Peter
A. Haggart
Secretary
of the Faculty Council
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