Minutes of the University Faculty Meeting
13 October 2009
3:00 p.m.
Broun Hall Auditorium
Submitted by
Dennis DeVries, Secretary
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(for a complete transcription of the meeting, go to: LINK
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Call to Order:
Kathryn Flynn called the meeting to order at 3:00 p.m.
The minutes of the 10 March 2009 University Faculty meeting were approved as posted without change.
Remarks and Announcements:
Kathryn Flynn invited President Gogue for his comments.
Dr. Gogue had several items to address
(1) This is obviously a tough budget year. AU has lost approximately $96 million in 13-15 months. We are working to make sure the teaching mission is the least impacted. Given the stories at the Southeastern President's conference, things are very bad at other institutions.
(2) We are now conducting 4 national Dean's searches. These searches are important and everyone needs to identify possible applicants, and encourage them to apply.
(3) We have had our strongest academic class of freshmen ever. ACT scores were 26+, and we had 19,000 applications for 3,800-3,900 spots.
(4) Last year we tackled 35 elements of the strategic plan out of 60. We completed about 1/3 of those (approximately 12), and made good progress on the other 2/3. We have now moved into the remaining list to get approximately 12 more to tackle this year. One example-- during 1 October 2008 through 30 September 2009, the goal was to raise 80 endowed professorships with a payout of approximately $15,000 per year, and we now have 98.
Questions for Dr. Gogue:
--Conner Bailey (Ag. Econ/Rural Soc.) apologized for those at the Senate meeting, but wanted to ask his question of Dr. Gogue in this meeting. As a University, have we been subsidizing athletics? The athletics budget is up 15% this year, and we need to know if they are playing their general academic cost (currently set by AU at 6.%). In the past, athletics has payed less than 1%, and now they are paying approximately $1 million, or 2.1%. If charged at the current rate, it would be a lot more money from athletics. Dr. Gogue responded that of the 450 Division I schools, most do not break even on athletics. Most subsidize with Education and General funds. There are new rules concerning athletics. And Auburn pays more on facilities than others. Dr. Gogue called Dr. Don Large forward to address the question. Dr. Large noted that athletics pays all of its own direct costs, and said a way had to be developed to bill for indirect costs. They used the 6% indirect cost rate, which meant at that time they were to be billed approximately $3 million. Athletics said they were self sufficient, and that they should get credit for things that impact their market, such as ½ price on athletic tickets to faculty (worth approximately $1 million), and the lost market value of those tickets (worth approximately $2½ million; AU gave them credit for $1 million).
--Tony Moss (Biological Sciences) asked about the potential for improving the safety situation on South College Street from Funchess Hall to the Library. Dr. Gogue will ask Don Large, representatives from Facilities, Tony Moss, and representatives from the City of Auburn to sit down and look at possible solutions. There are a lot of possibilities, such as a median, marked crosswalk, and reduced speed limit.
--Bill Daniels (Fisheries) asked about the new fringe benefit rates, and whether 9-month faculty must pay fringe rates in the summer; if so, then there may be no incentive for faculty to obtain summer support. Don Large responded that the new fringe rate has been negotiated, and he does not have detailed information about it. Perhaps this could be considered at the November Senate meeting. Dr. Gogue further responded that the federal rates are not set by Auburn, but are set at the federal level. In general, the stronger the institution, the higher the indirect cost rates.
Comments from the Chair:
--Kathryn Flynn provided an update on the work of the Senate and shared governance. She noted that there has been a very successful working relationship with Dr. Gogue Dr. Mazey. This has led to a number of accomplishments, including the development of a streamlined process for approval of consulting activities, a revision of the Core Curriculum Oversight Committee into the Core Curriculum and General Education Committee (which will be reviewing recommendations of the General Education Task Force), creation of Lecturer/Senior Lecturer positions and a task force to implement these positions, an accelerated Bachelor's/Master's degree program, approval of the concept of graduate certificates, and approval to change the length of the academic calendar from 75 to 70-73 days. We are also now involved in 4 Dean's searches, with one member from the Senate leadership on each of the search committees.
Kathryn Flynn asked Dr. Mazey to come forward to provide a report from the Provost's office.
The slides from Dr. Mazey's presentation can be found at https://auburn.edu/administration/governance/senate/website/agendas/2009-2010/Oct09_agn_items/GenFac/FacultyMeeting10-13-09_PP2003.pdf
Questions for Dr. Mazey:
--Bill Daniels (Fisheries) noted that Dr. Mazey had mentioned an Assistant Provost for International Affairs position and asked how that individual would interact with the Office of International Education. Dr. Mazey responded that they will be in charge of OIE.
--Sanjeev Baskiyar (Computer Science/Software Eng) noted that now faculty are to write a combined letter relative to the promotion and tenure process. But Dr. Mazey said in her email that no changes in the P&T process would be made other than the deadlines. Dr. Mazey said that the handbook says that you can have individual letters so you can still have them. She suggested that a summary letter is better, but we cannot do that this year.
Kathryn Flynn asked Dr. George Flowers to come forward to provide an update on graduate tuition remission.
The slides from Dr. Flowers' presentation can be found at https://auburn.edu/administration/governance/senate/website/agendas/2009-2010/Oct09_agn_items/GenFac/GeneralFacultyMeeting-TuitionRemission_REVISED.pdf
--Dr. Flowers noted that he was coming here as chair of the Graduate Student Issues Subcommittee of the Auburn University Research Council. This policy is now being vetted through the administrative units.
Questions for Dr. Flowers:
--Barbara Kemppainen (Anatomy, Physiology, and Pharmacology) asked what would happen if you had a GRA spot but were not able to fill it. Dr. Flowers said that would be up to the funding agency.
--Bob Locy (Immediate Past Chair) asked what would happen after this was implemented and if you get an exception, will that show up as a cost share. Dr. Flowers said he would need to look into that to find out. Bob Locy responded that this was a critical issue.
--P.K. Raju (Mechanical Engineering) asked if this was for in-state or out-of-state tuition. Dr. Flowers responded that it was in-state tuition.
--Bart Parok (Mechanical Engineering) asked if the percentages are fixed and guaranteed or if those will be subject to change. Dr. Flowers responded that those percentages are what the subcommittee supported so any changes would be without the support of the committee.
Action Items:
--There were no action items.
Information Items:
Budget Update (Don Large, Executive Vice President):
The slides from Dr. Flowers' presentation can be found at https://auburn.edu/administration/governance/senate/website/agendas/2009-2010/Oct09_agn_items/GenFac/BudgetFY10_for_gen_faculty10909.pdf
Questions for Dr. Large:
--Conner Bailey (Ag. Econ/Rural Soc.) thanked Don for getting the information out ahead of the meeting. He noted that Divisions III and IV face other issues. The 1½% hit is only for Division I so Divisions III and IV are taking the full 7½% hit. Is Division III (or IV) subsidizing Division I, but still getting hit harder? We need to be aware of this.
Kathryn encouraged faculty to bring issues of interest to the Senate, to the Senate officers.
Unfinished Business:
There was no unfinished business.
New Business:
--Barbara Kemppainen (Anatomy, Physiology, and Pharmacology) had an idea from one of her faculty to bring forward. She noted that the Biggio Center is doing a great job and wondered if we could have another Center modeled after the Biggio Center for designing research, identifying techniques available, etc. She asked for any comments.
--Werner Bergen (Animal Sciences) said that was one of the original purposes of the Cell and Molecular Peaks of Excellence and noted that it was a good idea.
--Kathryn Flynn said this would be brought to the Senate Executive Committee for further discussion.
Adjournment:
The meeting was adjourned at 4:10 PM.