Faculty Council Minutes - Apr. 5, 2022
2021-2022 College of Arts and Letters Faculty Council Meeting Minutes
April 5, 2022, Webex
Call to Order 4:00 PM
I. Roll Call
- Present: Alam, Alamina, Allred, Baltus, Benton, Black, Branson, Caceres, Carpenter, Case, Compora, Crookston, Dunn, Feldmeier, Ferris, Foss, Grazzini, Hey, Keith, Kistner, McBane, Mezo, Monteleone, Montpetit, Nemeth, Miner, Rouillard, Sakowski, Sapci, Semaan, Smith, Stover, Taylor, Thompson-Casado, Xianlin, Yaklin, Yamazaki (37)
- Absent: Beatty, Christman, Cook, Dudley, Stauch, Whittaker (6)
- Vacancies: 2
- Guests: Brakel, Hammel, Hintz, Gregory, Nelson (5)
II. Approval of Agenda & Minutes
- Meeting agenda submitted for approval; Motion to approve with date correction; Second; Vote: Agenda Approved.
- Minutes from February 22, 2022, meeting submitted for approval; Motion to approve; Second; Vote: Minutes Approved.
III. Faculty Senate Report: Suzanne Smith
- The Faculty Senate Executive Committee met with Diane Miller to discuss House Bill 327 (“divisive concepts bill”); it is not progressing much at this time. The Committee also met with Provost Bjorkman to discuss the college budget advisory committees and agreed that it would be reasonable to add one faculty representative to each College’s Budget Advisory Committee.
- Voting to ratify the Faculty Senate Constitution is underway until April 15.
- A representative from the parking company is scheduled to meet with Faculty Senate on April 12.
- President Postel visited Faculty Senate and mentioned several long-term goals that are still in progress despite the pandemic, including the strategic planning process, enrollment efforts, catching up with deferred maintenance on main campus, modernizing student housing, continuing searches for high-caliber and diverse leadership positions, and pivoting to a data-driven approach to measuring student success and academic budgeting. He was asked about the University’s financial situation; he responded that the University is at a point where we must make critical decisions about our ability to invest in the future. We have a stable bond rating from Standard & Poor’s, but while we are not in a precarious position, we are not strong enough to face the future and to grow to ensure that we remain in good financial standing. He stated that declining enrollment has contributed to a $100 million loss over the past 12 years and that the University has not taken steps to correct this and now we need corrective action. State help is just 10% of the budget. Postel stated that none of the administrator hires are “new” and that administrative expenses are down.
- Senator Wedding argued some points about the budget, stating that the number of faculty on Main Campus has been constant since 1992 and that faculty represent less than 20% of the budget. He also stated that academic budget surpluses are up. President Postel disagreed and stated there is no surplus. He did not respond to the point about faculty.
- Provost Bjorkman reminded faculty that Commencement is May 6 and 7 and asked for RSVPs.
- CFO Matt Schroeder, along with Sabrina Taylor and Brenda Grant, provided an extended presentation on the IBB model. This and other budget documents are available in the MyUT portal > Employee tab > Workplace Tools > Incentive Based Budget Information. Baseline models for fiscal years 2019, 2020, and 2021 are available, along with a projected budget for 2022. The number of credit hours being generated in Arts & Letters has gone down every year, and a 6% decrease in enrollment is projected for next year.
IV. Graduate Council: Dan Hammel
- Dean Thompson stated she felt it was time to eliminate the GRE and GMAT entrance requirements for all programs and then have programs petition to get those back once enrollment is up.
V. Dean’s Report: Mel Gregory
- Most critical time for enrollment is now; admits are up but confirmations are down 20-25% across the University. Enrollment tracking for current students shows that registration is down nearly 25%, which is higher than it has been in some time. We are graduating a class that is larger than the class that is replacing them, which is one factor. The goals are to retain students and bring in as many new ones as possible. Departments are asked to participate in feasible and inexpensive yield efforts: 15 second student videos embedded in emails; “Do you want to speak to a faculty member in Program X” texts; and follow-up communication to future College Scholars.
- The College of Arts & Letters has hired a new recruiter, Emily Cohoe, beginning April 18 half-time and full-time beginning April 25.
- Applications for 2022 CAL summer Undergraduate Research funding were down 70%. Please consider encouraging students to apply for Undergraduate Research funding and offering to mentor them in their project. The fall deadline is coming up May 17.
- The Provost has requested that CAL cut $2.4 million from their budget; the starting budget we were given was $1.4 million less than requested, and another $1.2 million was requested on top of that. Enrollment projections are down 20-25% and budget choices made in 2021 and 2022 are impacting the budget for 2023. Some searches may get paused. Some summer courses will get cut, even if the course covers its costs, because CAL does not have money to compensate faculty for all courses currently on the calendar.
- President Postel requested that the Deans of CAL and NSM create a task force to explore the possibility of merging the two colleges.
- External funding is at an all-time high - $1.8 million so far, compared to $1.4 million for all of last year.
VI. Curriculum Report: Linda Rouillard
- Course modifications: ART 4030 – Time, Motion, Space; COMM 1010: Communication Principles and Practices. Vote: Both approved.
- New course: COMM 3330 – Consumer Culture and Media. Vote: Approved.
VII. Elections Report: Trish Case
- Council at-large election ballots sent. Grad Council nominations needed. Kim McBride was elected to replace Mel Gregory as Faculty Senate Arts & Letters representative for the remainder of the semester.
VIII. Announcements
- The final live production of the Department of Theatre and Film’s season, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, is through April 24.
IX. Adjournment
- Motion to Adjourn; Second; Motion Approved; Meeting Adjourned