January 24, 2007

Professor Loesberg welcomed everyone to the meeting. The minutes for the November meeting were approved.

Present: Professors Loesberg, Weaver, Ahrens, Becher, Belson, Cochran, Flug, Forst, Jacoby, Kim, Klein, Langbein, Mintz, Pike, Richardson, Sampson, Sha, Willoughby, Wisman, Yates, Dean Mardirosian, and Provost Broder.

Welcome and Introduction, Jonathan Loesberg

Professor Loesberg welcomed everyone to the meeting. The minutes for the November meeting were approved.

Report of the Provost, Ivy Broder

Dr. Broder mentioned that she recently traveled to India.

Enrollment

Overall, AU is above budget with regard to undergraduate enrollment, perhaps by about 70 students. This is very good news because it means over $1 million above budget in the undergraduate component. Study Abroad is likewise above budget and is very strong.

The Washington Semester Program enrollments failed to meet the targets for spring, though the international component remains strong.

Regarding graduate enrollment, the numbers are below budget. It is more difficult to project the numbers by the end of the spring semester because there are programs that continue to enroll new students throughout the semester.

Admissions

Based on information from early admissions, the quality of this year’s students seems to be the same as last year’s students. Additionally, many public institutions suggest that they are receiving more early admissions applications for next fall, while many private institutions are receiving fewer. The profile of the admitted students is a 3.34 GPA and a 1218 SAT score, compared with the same GPA and 1216 SAT score last year.

There is about a 6% increase in freshmen applications from last year. It seems likely that there will be about 16,000 undergraduate applications. Most of the schools and colleges are showing strong increases.

In addition, master’s applications are up about 10%.

There has been an increase in advertising for the University recently, and this has resulted in an increase in hits to the website.

University College

The second fall semester closed last month, and it appears that this University College experiment is continuing to be very successful. This fall there were 206 participating students, compared with 152 last fall. These students who were accepted were very representative of the freshmen class in that they had the same average GPA and SAT score as the entering freshmen class. At the end of the semester, they were asked to participate in a survey. About ¾ of the students responded, and in fact, showed a very high level of satisfaction in the program components and various aspects of university life.

Reminders

Cheryl Storie, of the Office of Enrollment, resigned and has taken a position as the Assistant Vice President for Financial Aid for International Programs at the University of Maryland University College.

Evelyn Levinson will become the new Director of International Admissions. Ms. Levinson had a similar position at Florida State.

The Dean of Academic Affairs Search Committee recommended that Haig Mardirosian be appointed the Dean of Academic Affairs.

The University Librarian Search is reviewing candidates for University Librarian.

Open Discussion

Professor Jacoby asked about the decline in the Washington Semester Program. Dr. Broder believes that many of the other institutions from which AU was getting students, have now started their own programs. Another reason is that many students are now more interested in studying abroad, since there is such an effort to expose students to globalization.

Professor Forst asked about the status of the Presidential Search. Dr. Broder referred to Ms. Mintz, who suggested that people visit the website. Professor Loesberg announced that the Presidential Search will be on the February Faculty Senate agenda.

Report of the Chair, Jonathan Loesberg

Professor Loesberg mentioned that the Faculty Athletics Council needs new members. Three faculty members who were nominated for this committee, Tony Ahrens, Kiho Kim, and Richard Bennett, were approved by the Faculty Senate.

The Grievance Committee also needs new members.

Multi-Year Proposal Language, Josette Wisman

Part of the existing language in the temporary faculty multi-year contracts section 8H is: “The total number of temporary faculty holding multi-year appointments shall not exceed ten percent of the total of tenured and tenure track faculty members at the university. If the latter total decreases, the number of multi-year appointments will be adjusted to ten percent or less as soon as it is feasible.”

Professor Wisman mentioned that there was alternative language written for the italicized sentence above, stating: “If the latter total decreases, the university may complete and renew contracts for existing temporary faculty on multi-year contracts and the numbers of temporary faculty with multi-year appointments will be adjusted to ten percent or less at the earliest opportunity.”

Dean Mardirosian suggested that it may be better not to change Faculty Manual language concerning these details, but rather, to add a clarification in the annual, “Information to Faculty” letter. Dr. Broder stated that she is concerned with the wording of the italicized sentence. She further explained that there is a randomness involved in the process of the recruiting cycle, such that there may be a large number of searches that do not close and there may be a lot of retirements/resignations.

Ms. Mintz said that the alternative language was actually intended to protect the faculty. In addition, she proposed removing the whole third/last paragraph, with the exception of the first sentence from the proposed Manual Language. There was some discussion among the Faculty Senators whether or not to keep the alternate language.

Professor Cochran moved to end the third/last paragraph after the first sentence. The motion passed by a vote of 9 to 7.

Professor Willoughby moved to pass the alternative language along ith Ms. Mintz’s suggestion to remove from the last sentence the word “total” and replace it with the word “number” where it says “if the total number of tenure and tenure-track faculty decreases...”. The motion passed by a vote of 13 to 1 with 3 abstentions.

Ms. Mintz’s motion to pass amendment 8H passed by a vote 15 to 2.

Report of the Budget Committee, Janice Flug

Ms. Flug began with some background information on the Senate’s Budget and Benefits Committee. She mentioned that the Committee works on a macro level in that it does not receive or review unit budgets. Then, she added that the Committee members are encouraged to meet with their units and Deans to discuss issues. Ms. Flug stressed that the Faculty Senate’s endorsement of the budget is very important.

One important issue that came up during the discussion is that Senators do not feel they have real oversight in this budget process. This was brought up by Professor Sha, when he expressed his concern that the Faculty Senate is continually being presented with proposals to “approve” but has no substantial input in the process.

Another important issue that came up was the budget with regard to variable load. Dean Kay Mussell explained about the reduced teaching loads in CAS, and mentioned that she has asked all of the units in CAS to come up with a clear set of guidelines in each unit for the recommendation on reduced teaching loads. Those plans will go through the Educational Policy Committee of CAS in the spring.

Professor Richardson mentioned that some entities in the University are expected to work as profit centers while others are not, and wondered if the Budget Committee took this into consideration. Ms. Flug said no.

Professor Loesberg asked whether there was a target to have 4-course loads. Ms. Flug said that there have been added a number of faculty lines to the budget, and this particular budget adds about fifteen more lines. Professor Sha asked how these fifteen lines will affect differential loads. Ms. Flug did not have sufficient data to answer the question. Professor Jacoby requested that perhaps at the next Faculty Senate meeting some data regarding this issue could be made available at the next meeting.

A third issue that arose was the issue of why the Library is getting $400,000 on the budget. The increase for the Library goes toward WRLC membership and Library collections, both of which directly support faculty research and students needs. Professor Cochran asked about the base budgets of each of the academic units.

A fourth issue was brought up by Professor Langbein, who suggested that the $100,000 allocated to the Wellness Program could otherwise be spent by the academic units. At the University there are increasing health care costs, and the University Benefits Committee supports this program believing that such programs would help to reduce health care costs. Professor Langbein feels strongly that the health care costs could be somehow covered on an individual basis, by charging higher rates to those are at higher risk.

Professor Loesberg mentioned that there is a level of dissatisfaction among the Faculty Senate members regarding the small amount of information given and the short amount of time necessary to vote on this budget.

Professor Willoughby moved to accept the report, and it passed by a vote of 9 to 1 with 5 abstentions.

Transfer Credit, Sarah Irvine Belson

This proposal is designed to limit the number of credit hours that are accepted for undergraduates to six and from only baccalaureate degreed granting institutions. Professor Jacoby called this proposal to question. The proposal passed all 13 with to 1 abstention.

The meeting adjourned at 4:45.