Manoa Faculty Senate Committee on
Administration and Budget Meeting Minutes
January 8, 2009, 11:00 p.m., BusAd E301

Present:  Ross Christensen (chair), Shirley Daniel, Bob McHenry, David Duffy, David Chin, Matt McGranaghan, Judith Inazu, CN Lee, and Mary Tiles UHM Faculty Senate liaison

Excused:  Denise Antolini, David Sanders

Invited:  Vice Chancellor Gary Ostrander

The meeting was called to order at 11:05 a.m. 

The committee began the discussion with VC Ostrander on matters relevant PBRC.

VC Ostrander indicated that he had been discussing the issues relating to the possible reorganization of PBRC with the faculty senate executive committee for some time.  He remarked that there seems to be a “chicken or egg” issue of whether to propose the reorganization formally or have informal discussions first.  He has not been able to find any BOR documentation that shows that PBRC is a BOR designated unit.  PBRC was formed in the 1950s, so finding the documentation is difficult, although documentation for other research units in a similar time frame has been found.  There is a question of whether the issue can be decided at the Chancellor’s level, the President’s level or the BOR level.  Chair Christensen pointed out that the initiation of the process would be the same regardless of the final approval level.  VC Ostrander said he has tried to work with the appropriate parties but has not gotten a clear response from the SEC or the president’s office about the next steps needed to proceed. 

The committee asked about the October memo from VC Ostrander to PBRC and PBRC’s response which were provided to CAB in our December meeting.  VC Ostrander said he believed the memo from PBRC was misleading, particularly with regard to the condition of the Kewalo Marine (KM) facility and the costs needed to repair and maintain it.   The KM facility is only housing 4 faculty, and that UH is the only university with 2 marine labs within 20 miles from campus, and the Coconut Island facility has more space and more potential to develop and support.  VC Ostrander indicated that he had 2 architectural and engineering studies that indicated the cost to repair the KM facility could be $30 million, and there were significant safety issues there. 

The committee asked what would happen with the KM facility site if UH were to abandon it, and specifically whether it was needed to build a parking lot for the CRCH.  VC Ostrander mentioned that the State HCDA wants the property back and would use it for a park.  There are plans to build a parking structure that would serve the Kakaako community, UH and commercial tenants in the vicinity of where the Cancer Center and the park is currently located.  He said there was never a plan to put a parking lot on the site of the KM site, as it is too close to the water.

VC Ostrander said he has agreement with the State to keep the KM site for 5 more years.  He indicated that some of the PBRC faculty have expressed the intention to retire within the next 5 years, but nothing is official.  One of the PBRC labs requires flowing seawater for their animals.  The scientists using this lab could relocate to Coconut Island, or to the UHM campus and use the Waikiki Aquarium for their animals.  There is also a third option for a retrofitted lab on UHM, and using the Aquarium.  Other faculty doing work in reef management could be located to other UH programs and sites and much of their work is being done in the Pacific Islands.  Coconut Island, like all unites on campus, is stressed for space, but would be able to accommodate productive scientists from PBRC who need space. 

One of the issues with PBRC is that there are lots of support staff for the number of faculty.  Many of the staff are considered very competent.  Wherever the faculty go, the support staff would be provided to meet the faculty/researcher needs.   In addition, the competent staff can be used for other UH programs who need support. 

(Mary Tiles joined the meeting.)

Some of the Pacific Island marine grants are in their later stages, and current PBRC faculty have indicated they are not willing to resubmit for the renewal proposals.  VC Ostrander mentioned that the productivity of PBRC as an Organized Research Unit (ORU) is not as high as expected.  PBRC’s focus is very diffuse, and this can make it difficult to create a critical mass of researchers that can be competitive.  In PBRC, there tends to be 1 person each in very diverse areas who don’t really form a cohesive unit, and the work done by these researchers is not unique on the UH campus.  There are few co-authored papers among the PBRC faculty, although PBRC faculty do co-author with others at UHM outside of PBRC.  Anyone of these researchers/programs could fit into other UHM unites.  From Ostrander’s point of view, every person on campus, including PBRC, can continue to do what they are doing after the reorganization.  The G-funds from PBRC would go with them.  The RTRF they generate would be used to support their work in the new units.  The savings, if any, would be in future years in replacing or not replacing positions later in the units they (PBRC researchers) go to.   Immediate savings would probably result from costs of running the KM facility.  Staff would be reassigned, so no savings are anticipated there, but they would be better utilized by researchers in other units.  Since positions would be redistributed to the units the PBRC faculty go to, there are deans and directors who are interested in receiving those faculty and staff on an individual basis.   However, there is little interest in receiving PBRC as a whole research program since the research areas are too diverse for any other UH units. 

The committee asked about the transfers of faculty to the medical school in the past, and VC Ostrander’s potential conflict of interest as Director of PBRC and Dean of the Med School.  VC Ostrander said that most of the transfers from PBRC to JABSOM occurred prior to his hire at UH, and he believes those faculty and programs moved voluntarily.  When he was appointed Interim Director of PBRC, his charge was to be Director for title and signature purposes and not to set direction, hire people, etc, as this was going to be the prerogative of the permanent Director when hired.  This charge was different than the one he was given as Interim Dean of JABSOM, as he was asked to move them forward and remedy some problems.   Nevertheless, he tried diligently to fill the PBRC director position, spearheading 2 searches that were unsuccessful.  Finalists withdrew because of salary and cost of living issues, or lack of fit with the position.  Strategic planning efforts he tried to initiate between the first and second search at PBRC also received little involvement from the faculty. 

The committee asked whether other ORU had been disbanded in the past.  VC Ostrander said not since his tenure at UH.  Some members of the committee noted that ORUs may have a limited lifespan due to evolution of the scientific field.  The committee noted that PBRC has spun off 2 important UHM units, the CRCH and JABSOM which remain important entities and ORUs at UHM.  The remaining PBRC staff, faculty and projects may contribute to other UHM units going forward. 

VC Ostrander said he is trying to find out from the upper level administration how to proceed within the shared governance framework.  The committee discussed the process going forward, and how the consultation process should be done.  The committee told VC Ostrander that they would prefer the UH Administration to come to the faculty senate as a whole with a written proposal to discuss the reorganization in a formal way if they want a statement from the Senate.  The UH Administrative Procedure outlines the process, and Chair Christensen provided an oral review of the written procedure for the committee and VC Ostrander.  

VC Ostrander left the meeting.

The committee discussed the process and remains unclear about several issues relating to the reorganization/disbanding of PBRC.  There remain disputes about the facts and how strongly the PBRC faculty and staff oppose the reorganization.   The committee recommends that the UH Administration formalize their reorganization proposal in detail and bring it through the required process as outlined by the UH Administrative Procedures.  If there are potential budgetary implications from the proposal, CAB would like to see these in written form. 

The minutes of the December, 2008 meeting were approved. 

The meeting adjourned at 1:10 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Shirley J. Daniel