The
University Senate
of
Michigan Technological University
Minutes of Meeting 472
11 February 2009
Synopsis:
The Senate
1. Call
to order and roll call. President Sloan called the University Senate Meeting 472
to order at 5:31 pm on Wednesday, February 11, 2009 in room B45 EERC. Secretary
Cooper called roll. Absent were representatives of Civil and Environmental
Engineering and of Mathematics.
Liaison Daniel Freeman (USG) was in attendance. Mechanical
Engineering–Engineering Mechanics, Academic Services A, and Auxiliaries and
Cultural Enrichment currently have no elected representatives.
2.
Recognition of visitors. Guests included Yogini Deshpande (Civil Engineering),
Theresa Jacques (Registrar’s Office), Tim Schulz (College of Engineering), and
Max Seel (Interim Provost).
3.
Approval of agenda.
Hamlin moved
approval of the agenda; Malette seconded the motion; it passed unanimously on a voice vote.
4.
Presentation: “Provost 101” by Max Seel
If things go smoothly we will have a search
committee by the end of the semester, the ad can go out in August and hopefully
we will have a new provost by the summer of 2010. At this point, I have no
present interest in applying for the position. I am happy to be here. I believe
in shared governance: we might not always agree on things but I hope we can
keep open communication channels and I think that’s all we can ask for.
In my mind, the Provost
and Vice President for Academic Affairs is the chief academic officer
of the university. The university is defined by the unity of teaching and
research, and the reputation of the university is defined by its faculty and
students. I don't mean to leave out the good work the staff do, which is also
important. Moving from the sublime to the practical now, without dollars we
can’t do anything no matter what our intentions are. Teaching and research
is a large portion of the budget: revenue from these two sources are the first
and third largest core revenue of the current fund budget. In fiscal year
2007, tuition and fees amounted to $67 million, and from grants and contracts
$42 million. The Provost working with the five deans of the schools and colleges
spent $60 million, half of the general fund expenditure.
That defines for me
for the next year and a half my top priorities and responsibilities. We need to
get the best faculty. Between now and May is when we do our hiring and tenure
and promotion. I want to be very clear that all our hiring is strategic, not
just that associated with the Strategic Hiring Initiative. We need to have
innovative academic programs: the deans working with the Senate, the library,
and the Center for Teaching Excellence. I want to express my appreciation of
the Senate. I worked very well with the Senate during the 19 years I was Dean
of the College of Sciences and Arts. The Provost works also with the Vice
President for Student Services. We need to have cutting edge research:
sponsored research, scholarship, artistic expression — it has to be good.
That’s where the Provost interacts with the Vice President for Research. This
is actually the strategic plan.
We need a sound
budget, and the provost needs to be a member of the executive and budget team,
as he is responsible for teaching and research, the core activities of the
university.
I want to show you a slide that shows the intrinsic dynamics between colleges and schools at Michigan Tech. These figures are based on the 2007-08 compendium numbers and the research expenditure figures for 2006-07.
These diagrams show
how the different colleges and schools contribute to the university, and how
the different contributions define different stresses and tensions for the
colleges and schools. The first diagram shows total headcount undergraduate
majors, and engineering has the biggest role. About 55 percent are engineering
majors, followed by Sciences and Arts majors, now approaching 25 percent,
followed by majors in the School of Technology, the School of Business and
Economics, and the School of Forestry. The next shows total student credit
hours, which adds up to $51 million income in tuition dollars. Here we see
that the largest chunk comes from Sciences and Arts, followed by the College
of Engineering, the School of Business and Economics, the School of Technology,
and the School of Forestry. The next diagram shows external research expenditures.
Here you see the large contribution of the School of Forestry, second to the
College of Engineering, and followed by Sciences and Arts and the School of
Technology. This is not a value statement that nonfunded research doesn’t
mean anything. I’m just trying to point out that different schools and colleges
have different stresses to deal with. In the last diagram, we see the Tech
Fund balances, which reflects the alumni base over the last one hundred years,
with Engineering with the greatest balance and much smaller balances for the
School of Business and Economics, the School of Forestry, the College of Sciences
and Arts, and the School of Technology.
Dynamics puts things
into perspective: dynamics is a branch of physics that deals with forces and
their relation primarily to the motion but sometimes also to the equilibrium of
bodies. You replace bodies with schools, colleges, faculty members, and as long
as the different forces add up to a positive direction we’re just fine.
Hoagland asked if he
would be on the executive and budget team this coming year and a half. Seel
answered yes, that he would not have taken the job without it because he knows
the importance of money.
In response to recent concerns expressed in the Senate, Seel then explained why the recent 2.1 percent decrease in benefits meant a 1.45 percent increase in salary. He gave an example of a faculty member who makes $100,000. At the old benefit rate of 45.2 percent, the total compensation is $145,200. With the adjustment of 1.45 percent, the salary becomes $101,450, and with the 2.1 percent reduction in benefits, the new rate is 43.1 percent, which amounts to $43,750, and the total compensation is again $145,200. It’s math; it’s very simple. You divide a smaller number by a larger number and this is what you get. He then showed that the calculation also works for any salary X.
Luck
asked how seriously the current economic situation will affect the university
finances for the future and for this year. Seel replied that we are one of the
few universities still hiring. The current budget situation looks much more
stable than it was 5 or 6 years ago. He said he went through three budget cuts
as dean, and that he doesn’t want to start with major budget cuts as provost.
So far it looks good: we wouldn’t be still hiring if it didn’t. He said he
talked today with the Chronicle of Higher
Education and most universities have frozen positions or cut positions.
5. Approval
of Minutes from Meeting 471. Cooper said that she couldn’t attribute a question
that was asked after the President’s report and asked if anyone remembered
who said it. No one could, and the speaker will be identified as “a senator.”
Dewey asked about the statement in Shea McGrew’s report that support from
the state was down 23 percent. Sloan explained that if you look at the whole
budget and look at the percentage that the state income is of the whole budget,
that percentage is down 23 percent. Johnson moved that the minutes be approved as amended; Hamlin seconded the motion, and it passed on a voice vote with no opposition.
6.
President’s Report. We
welcome interim provost Max Seel to our meeting. The Senate officers have met
with him and will continue regular meetings with him.
The Benefits Liaison
Group met with the Compensation Task Force, the president, and several other
top administrators last Friday. The president charged the BLG with recommending
continuing compensation changes involving swapping benefits for salary and in
developing alternative retiree health care plans.
7.
Endorsement of Slate for Athletic Council position. Sloan noted that the
Senate has electronic clickers to use to vote, and reminded the Senate that
only senators or alternates can vote and that only one vote per unit is allowed. Senator Luck, chair of the
Elections Committee, asked if there were any further nominees for the Athletic
Council position. Drelich said he had nominated Steve Kampe by email, and his
name was added to the slate, which consisted then of ten names: Dallas Bates,
Gopal Jayaraman, Steve Kampe, Jason Keith, Donna Michalek, Michael Mullins,
William Sproule, Larry Sutter, Charles VanKarsen, and Carl Vilmann. By voice
vote, the Senate endorsed the slate.
8.
Election: Provost Search Committee
Luck reviewed the rules for the Senate’s election
of members to the Provost Search Committee: the Senate is asked to elect four
faculty representatives, one from the College of Engineering, one from the
College of Sciences and Arts, one from outside the two colleges, and one
at-large member; and the Senate is asked to elect one member of the search
committee from the professional staff. The members must be elected by a
majority vote of the quorum of the Senate (18 votes).
Nominees
for the professional staff position were Ruth Archer (SBE), Erik Nordberg
(Library), Joanne Polzien (Research), Ellen Seidel (Library), and Jonathan
Stone (OSH). Pat Gotschalk (Student Affairs) was then nominated by Senator
Hamlin. Erik Nordberg was elected.
Nominees
from the College of Engineering were Dan Crowl (Chem Eng), Alex Mayer (Geo
& Mining), Tony Rogers (Chem Eng), and Zhanping You (Civil & Environ).
There were no further nominees. Alex Mayer was elected.
Nominees
from the College of Sciences and Arts were Jason Carter (Exercise Sci), Nancy
Grimm (Humanities), and Roger Held (VPA). There were no further nominees.
Keen asked how many
people among these nominees are department chairs. Luck said two of them are.
Keen asked if department chairs have a separate representative on the provost
search committee. Luck said that chairs can run as faculty. Hoagland asked
for a run down of the stipulated members of the committee. Luck said there
are 15 people, 4 faculty elected by the Senate, 1 professional staff elected
by the Senate, 1 department chair, 1 dean, 2 staff selected by the Staff Council,
1 graduate student from the Graduate Student Council, 1 undergraduate student
from USG, three at-large members selected by the President, and the President
of the Senate. Keen asked if department chairs are eligible to serve in the
Senate. Sloan said no. L. Davis raised the issue that this constitutes a conflict
of interest. Keen said he just wanted the Senate to consider the issue in
an open discussion.
Nominees for a faculty
member not in the College of Engineering or the College of Sciences and Arts
were Mari Buche (SBE), David Flaspohler (SFRES), Dana Johnson (SBE), and Mark
Johnson (School of Technology). Robert Froese (SFRES) was then nominated by
Nagel. Mari Buche was elected.
Nominees for the at-large
faculty position were all those faculty previously nominated who were not
elected for one of the other positions. Luck reminded the Senate that we need
to consider the diversity of the members. David Flaspohler was elected.
9. Old
Business
Hamlin moved
approval of the proposal, and Keen seconded. There was no discussion, and the
proposal was approved by voice vote with no dissent.
Hamlin moved
approval of the proposal, and Hoagland Kim seconded. There was no discussion,
and the proposal was approved by voice vote with no dissent.
Malette moved approval of the proposal, and Diehl seconded. Keen asks
whether the proposal represents curricular policy or instructional policy. L.
Davis asked what the difference was. Keen said that instructional policy would
be concerned with the faculty interaction with the students. There was
agreement that it is a matter of curricular policy, and Sloan explained that the
registrar brought this proposal to instructional policy committee so it was
mistakenly considered there. Keen moved
that the proposal be referred to the curricular policy committee, and L. Davis
seconded the motion. On the voice vote, Sloan rules that the ayes had it.
10. New
Business
There was no new business.
11.
Adjournment.
President Sloan adjourned the meeting at
6:35 pm.
Respectfully submitted
by Marilyn Cooper
Secretary of the University Senate