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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.

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