Council of University System Faculty
CUSF Meeting of September 20, 2004
Council of University System Faculty
Minutes September 20, 2004
UMUC Inn and Conference Center
Present: Lee Richardson (Chair); Martha Siegel (Immediate Past Chair); Marion H.
Harris (BSU); Alcott Arthur (CSC); Marthe A. McClive (FSU); John C. McMullin (FSU);
Kim Rotruck (FSU); R. M Garner (SU); Anjali Pandey(SU); David L. Parker(SU,
ExCom); Patricia Alt (TU, ExCom); Douglas Pryor (TU); Jay Zimmerman (TU);
Stephanie Gibson (UB); David A. Hardcastle (UMB); Steve Jacobs (UMB); Alan
Kreizenbeck (UMBC); Anthony F. Norcio (UMBC); Jonathan Peters (UMBC); Joyce
Tenney (UMBC); John H. Collins (UMBI); Court Stevenson (UMCES); Frank Alt (UMCP);
Vincent Brannigan (UMCP, Vice Chair); Denny Gulick (UMCP); Martin Heisler (UMCP);
William Stuart (UMCP); E. W. Chapin (UMES, Secretary); Emmanuel Onyeozili (UMES);
A. Deloris James (UMUC); John Gustafson (UMUC); Adelaide Lagnese (UMUC); Joyce
Shirazi (UMUC); Irv Goldstein (USM);
Gerald A. Heeger (President UMUC); Robert Jerome (Associate Provost UMUC).
The meeting was called to
order at ten oclock.
President Gerald A.
Heeger of UMUC brought greetings from the campus, noting the special position of
UMUC within the USM in the times of decreasing federal and state support at the
same time that overall enrollment is increasing and demand for technology,
especially on-line courses, is increasing.
The minutes of the
previous meeting and the agenda for the current meeting were approved. The
secretary distributed a copy of the CUSF roster for last-minute adjustments.
The ART policy
adjustments that CUSF worked on last year, under the leadership of Professor
Parker, will be heard by the BOR Educational Policy Committee on September 28
and, we hope, passed by the full Board of Regents in October.
USM Academic Vice
Chancellor Goldstein reported on the state of the USM agenda for 2004-2005:
1. The new perception of higher education as a private gain
rather than as a public good causes the USM to become more tuition-driven, a
problem for many of our students but a special problem for out-of-state-students
and for those campuses on which no tuition is generated.
2. In current economic conditions, most campuses face an
annual 5% increase in expenses just to keep going; if this must all be absorbed
by the tuition half of operating expenses, it leads to the need for a 10%
tuition increase just to break even. The decision on the tuition increases
for the coming year will almost surely be delayed.
3. MHEC has been working diligently on its draft of the
current State-Wide Plan for Higher Education. Because of the short time
frame for the adoption of this plan, its impact on us, and the political support
it seems to be garnering, we all need to read the text as it becomes available.
4. Those working on improving USM Effectiveness and Efficiency
have been considering the following matters among others:
a. Earlier and improved advising to move students
rapidly to graduation;
b. On-line learning and intercampus collaboration: Vice
Chancellors Vivona and Goldstein will work on this; (CUSF asked for
representation on this group);
c. Twelve credits (on the average) of learning outside
the traditional classroom for all students (including such things as Advance
Placement credit, internships, service learning, distance learning, practice
teaching, etc.), starting perhaps as early as Fall 2005;
d. Enrollment Management of ten to fifteen thousand more
students in coming years, perhaps directing more student to the comprehensive
institutions and to the regional centers;
e. The OCR agreement that is scheduled to come to an end
one year from now;
f. Meeting workforce needs in special areas such
as nursing, some education fields, pharmacy, and technology;
g. Middle States reviews coming up for eight USM
campuses almost simultaneously;
h. The possibility of a USM faculty sick-day bank and
equity questions for those in various retirement systems;
i. Moving faculty loads on all the campuses
to the middle of the currently allowed ranges (and figuring out how such factors
as accreditation work, advising, and special types of teaching assignments
figure into the picture);
j. Assuring the continuation of the current
120-credit undergraduate degrees while encouraging students to complete their
degrees in a timely way without too many excess credits.
Members were encouraged
to join one of the following committees, each listed with its convener/chair:
Academic Affairs: Professor Brannigan
Faculty Affairs: Professor P. Alt
Administrative and Financial Affairs: Professor F. Alt
Legislative Affairs: Professor Gibson
Membership and Rules: Professor Chapin
Student Research Day: Professor Siegel
System Appeals/Ombudsman: Professor Siegel
RegentsFaculty Awards: Professor Zimmerman
K-16: Professor Pandey
New ChairsWorkshop: Professor McClive
Current committee membership lists appear in the attached List of CUSF
Committees (and will appear on the CUSF website). The committees met during
lunch to discuss their work for the coming year:
Academic Affairs: What is
teaching?, distance and on-line learning, relations with community colleges,
intercampus collaboration, the research/teaching interface, the twelve-hour
non-traditional requirement, clinical and other special modes of teaching.
Faculty Affairs: Workload
questions, quality of life questions; how is shared governance doing on the
various campuses?, graduate vs. undergraduate teaching, systems appeals.
Administrative and
Financial Affairs: Work toward legislative testimony, questions of salary
levels, the nature of peers, campus budgetary processes and their transparency.
Membership and Rules:
Conduct elections, work with website administrator, act as a committee on
committees.
Student Research Day:
Need to continue this highly positive and successful venture; need commitments
from USM on date, venue, support.
Systems
Appeals/Ombudsman: Create an ombudsman or ombuds-committee within CUSF in view
of the lack of acceptance of systems appeals procedures suggested last year.
RegentsFaculty Awards:
Need to push campuses, both through Administrations and Senates, to get good
recommendations in to the committee early.
K-16: Dealing with the
statewide plan for higher education, quality control, working with the community
colleges, getting dollars to improve teacher preparation, quality control for
college-level courses taught in high school. (More members needed on this
committee.)
New Chairs Meeting: Will
probably be held on the same day as the January CUSF meeting again to facilitate
interaction.
Professor Collins was
appointed administrator of the CUSF web site by a unanimous vote.
The meeting of the Senate
Chairs with the CUSF Executive Committee and with the Chancellor is scheduled
for November 5 at the USMO in Adelphi.
Our meeting next month,
on Monday, October 18, will take place at the Hagerstown Center. Details
of the meeting plans will follow later.
The meeting was adjourned
at 2:00.