Synopsis: The Senate
(1) learned that Staff Council had elected Betty Chavis (Educational Opportunity), Becky Christianson (CPDQI), Barb Radigan (ME-EM), and Ed Laitala (Metallurgical & Materials Engineering) to the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Search Committee.
(2) elected Bill Bulleit (Full Professor) and Alex Mayer (Assistant/Associate Professor) from the College of Engineering, Pushpa Murthy (Full Professor) and Bob Keen (Assistant/Associate Professor) from the College of Sciences and Arts, Kurt Pregitzer from the schools, and Michele Miller and Bernie Carr at-large.
Secretary Glime called roll. Absent were at-large Senators Tom Drummer and Pete Tampas, and representatives from Education, Fine Arts, Institute of Wood Research, Mathematical Sciences, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Institute of Materials Processing, and Auxiliary Enterprises. Liaison in attendance was Ted Soldan (Staff Council).
2. RECOGNITION OF VISITORS
Guests included Bruce Rafert (Physics) and Hugh
Gorman (Social Sciences).
3. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
LaCourt MOVED and Lutzke seconded the motion to
approve the agenda as presented. The motion to approve
PASSED on voice vote with no dissent. [Appendix A.
NOTE: Only official Senate and Library archival copies of
the minutes will contain a full complement of
appendices.]
President Seely announced that this is the year in which Dean Seel (Sciences and Arts) is to be evaluated and that a volunteer from outside Sciences and Arts is needed to serve on the evaluation committee. This person must be a faculty member; the Staff Council will select their own representative.
4. PROVOST AND VICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC
AFFAIRS SEARCH COMMITTEE ELECTION
President Seely announced that the election would
proceed according to Senate Proposal 12-95. To achieve
balance Seely had grouped the nominees by college and
within each by Professors and Assistant/Associate
Professors. One member should be selected from each
group by secret ballot until a majority is achieved. Lowest
vote-getters would be eliminated on each round of voting.
Next, members will be selected from the schools and
finally at-large members will be selected from the list of
staff nominees and those not selected among the previous
categories.
Senator Leifer pointed out that there were errors in the ranks of several candidates provided to Senators by email.
President Seely provided a corrected list and Senate Assistant Meyers distributed copies to the Senators. [Appendix B]
Senator Reed inquired who else would be on the committee. Seely stated that the composition of the 16-member committee was defined in Senate Proposal 12-95. The Staff Council had already elected their four representatives: Betty Chavis (Educational Opportunity), Becky Christianson (CPDQI), Barb Radigan (ME-EM), and Ed Laitala (Metallurgical & Materials Engineering). The Senate needed seven representatives, the Deans would select one, USG and GSC would each select one, and the President would appoint two. The Senate Proposal 12-95 calls for the President to appoint an alumnus and a member from the community, but he has instead chosen to appoint these two at the Vice Provost level.
Leifer stated that the Senate should not consider Chairs; the Administration will have enough representatives and chairs are not Senate constituents.
Pegg MOVED and Leifer seconded the motion to strike Chairs from the ballot.
Seely clarified that Chairs are Senate constituents; they just cannot be Senators. The Senate is the only body through which they are represented in issues such as this. Pegg reworded his motion to eliminate both Chairs and Deans from the ballot.
Seely requested a division of the question.
The motion to strike Deans from the list of candidates PASSED on voice vote with some dissent. This resulted in the elimination of Ed Frayer (Dean of the School of Forestry and Wood Products).
The motion to strike Chairs from the ballot FAILED on voice vote with some support.
Seely clarified that voting in all categories would be the entire Senate.
Seely pointed out that staff members had two means of election; four had already been selected by Staff Council and seven candidates were on the Senate candidate list. Seely suggested that the Senate might want to reconsider the method of electing staff representatives in view of the changes in Senate constituency that had occurred since Proposal 12-95 had passed.
Senator Ftaclas asked for clarification on the community representative. Seely responded that there would be none.
The final ballot was as follows:
College of Engineering
Full Professors
Bill Bulleit, Civil & Environmental Eng.
Peck Cho, ME-EM
John Crittenden, Civil & Environmental Eng.
Assistant or Associate Professors
Leonard Bohmann, Electrical Eng.
David Hand, Civil & Environmental Eng.
Ralph Hodek, Civil & Environmental Eng.
Anand Kulkarni, Electrical Eng.
Alex Mayer, Geological Eng. & Sci.
Sheryl Sorby, General Eng.
Kirk Schulz, Chemical Eng. (Chair)
College of Sciences and Arts
Full Professors
Dallas Bates, Chemistry
Robert Johnson, Humanities (Chair)
Charles Kerfoot, Biological Sciences
Larry Lankton, Social Sciences
Pushpa Murthy, Chemistry
Bruce Rafert, Physics (Chair)
Assistant orAssociate Professors
Dieter Adolphs, Humanities
Mary Ann Beckwith, Fine Arts
Don Daavettila, Physics
Carl Dassbach, Social Sciences
Hugh Gorman, Social Sciences
Bob Keen, Biological Sciences
Tamara Olson, Mathematical Sciences
Phil Sweany, Computer Science
Schools of Business, Forestry, and Technology
Bernie Carr, Technology
Vernon Dorweiler, Business
Sonia Goltz, Business
Glenn Mroz, Forestry
Kurt Pregitzer, Forestry
Staff
Patricia Asselin, Biological Sciences
Mike Gilles, Research Services
Amy Hughes, Internal Audit
Gloria Melton, Student Affairs
Brian Parmeter, University Relations
Marsha Rosenberg, Special Events
Steve Tyrell, Student Affairs
As voting proceeded, the Senate decided by consensus to eliminate low vote getters, not just the lowest. Voting proceeded by dropping one or more candidates at a time until one of the candidates received a majority of the votes.
From the College of Engineering, Bill Bulleit (Full Professor) and Alex Mayer (Assistant/Associate Professor) were elected.
From the College of Sciences and Arts, Pushpa Murthy (Full Professor) and Bob Keen (Assistant/Associate Professor) were elected.
From the Schools of Business, Forestry, and Technology, Kurt Pregitzer was elected.
Seely, at the suggestion of Secretary Glime, suggested to the Senate that the process could be expedited by considering only the first runners up in each category, plus all the candidates from the staff. The Senate agreed to this by consensus.
The at-large members selected were Michele Miller (ME-EM) and Bernie Carr (Technology).
Seely stated that the Search Committee will convene next week and will elect their own chair. Their first task will be to make a position description. The committee is required to hold at least one open forum for comments on the job description/position announcement. The committee will have the "benefit" of a search firm. (Members of the former Presidential Search Committee have expressed concern that use of a search firm is restrictive and expensive; others who were nominated for the present committee have stated they would only be willing to serve on the search committee if a search firm helps to locate suitable candidates.)
The Washington Advisory Group will also be consulted about possible candidates. October is targeted for posting the job announcement.
Senator Pegg inquired if we could have internal candidates. Seely responded that we could.
Seely thanked all those who had volunteered or agreed to serve on the search committee.
Seely reported that Senator Ftaclas was concerned that Senators must vote without knowing how people stand on selection of a provost. Seely suggested that the Senate may want to consider altering the election procedure in the future with consideration for these concerns.
BUDGET DISCUSSION
While the Senate awaited the counting of votes at
each step, they discussed the budget situation. Seely
stated that the projected deficit had been over $2 million,
but the final deficit was only $500,000. An accounting
change required by MPSERS retirements added another
$1.1 million to the total deficit. Departments underspent,
but carry forwards from the previous years were not part
of the budget for 1998-99, or any other year. The carry
forwards dropped last year, but many departments spent
carry forwards from the previous year, resulting in the
total of over $2.5 million of unbudgeted expenses.
One method of budget control is position control. Departments will no longer be able to retain unspent salary dollars when a person leaves mid year. They will be able to keep money from sabbatical and other leaves without pay. However, when a position is vacated, the department must request funds for searching and hiring a replacement.
Senator Pickens asked how much the problem of carry forwards is due to administrative spending. Seely explained that departments had $4.5 million in IOU's available with no money to back them.
The Administration used unspent dollars to meet unexpected expenses.
Senator Gale commented that the auditors must have seen the problem.
Seely responded that Chief Financial Officer McGarry had reported each year to the Board that the carry forward money was an unfunded liability. This year, $1.7 million was left unspent and reduced the anticipated deficit from over $2 million.
President Tompkins has promised that the money won't disappear, but it won't be in department budgets.
Ftaclas interpreted the situation is that the Administration doesn't set aside carry forward money at the end of the year. Seely agreed with his interpretation. Units will now need to designate ahead if they are budgeting over multiple years in order to make a large purchase so that the plan can be backed by dollars.
Leifer stated that it is unconscionable, particularly for those in the lower end of the pay scale, that there is no money to compensate for the loss of health care premiums for those who will not earn enough from the 2+2 plan to pay the difference. He continued that it is unconscionable that the President accepts a huge raise under the present budget circumstances.
Seely stated that the adjustment of loss of health care premium payments was third priority; it made it to the table but not into the final budget. Higher priority was given to recruiting, operational costs of a new building, and a general fund charge of $500,000 on the costs of construction bonds. The $237,000 needed this year to compensate health care costs for those earning less than $50,000 was not budgeted.
The Board has expressed concern that units are able to take money designated for salaries (made available by leaves) and to use it for whatever they wish. President Tompkins hopes the Deans will play more of a role in the distribution of funds within the colleges.
DEAN OF SCIENCES AND ARTS EVALUATION
COMMITTEE
Snyder MOVED and Reed seconded the motion to
give the Senate President the authority to appoint a
representative to the review committee for Dean Seel.
The motion PASSED on voice vote with no dissent.
5. ADJOURNMENT
Gale MOVED to adjourn. The meeting adjourned at
5:52 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted by Janice M. Glime
Secretary of the University Senate