Mānoa Faculty Senate Executive Committee
Minutes of July 28, 2008
Mānoa Faculty Senate Executive Committee
Monday – July 28, 2008; Hawaiʻi Hall 208
Present: Wakayama, Crookes, Hilgers, Chin, Ross, Keil
2:30 Meeting with Gary Ostrander
1) Ostrander met with Dean of TIM (Dean Jameson) following Fac Sen’s letter to Ostrander expressing concern about the proposal for new programs etc at TIM in cooperation with institutions in Singapore. Ostrander has asked the Dean of TIM to meet with Fac Sen to go over the issues Fac Sen has raised. Ostrander is not taking a position, but has asked the Dean of TIM to meet with Fac Sen. He says that TIM’s position is that they have been and had been keeping relevant units in the loop concerning the proposal, and that the proposal had previously been approved. A sticking point is whether or not the proposal implies the establishment of a new separate campus, which is what WASC would be concerned with. Fac Sen is also concerned that an initiative of this kind should not fail (as the previous TIM MA failed, or at least failed to attract students).
The current Dean has a five-year contract, and has no intention of renewing. A search firm has been selected and a committee has already been established and will have a first look at potential candidates Sept 11, interviews in November, person to be named by end of year.
2) Ostrander presented details concerning how he proposes to modify allocation of RTRF funds to the support of travel. He feels that we are not always able to make the best use of this money (since applications may not always be vetted by appropriate individuals, those being URC-related). He feels that maybe the money should be allocated down to the level of Deans & Directors and have them handle selection. Blocks of monies would be allocated on the basis of a recent three-year average. Ostrander would expect to hear about the process, though not control it. He would require a spreadsheet end-of-year report.
The biggest recipients are the Humanities and the Social Sciences. Medicine and SOEST do get some awards, but the focus is on units that don’t get much in grants.
In Ostrander’s view, if a unit grew or shrank, that would justify a re-adjustment. OVCGRE would evaluate figures annually, and the change being discussed here would be established for a three-year trial period. (If RTRF goes down, another adjustment would be required.) The aim is to put this in place starting January 2009.
This change would be consistent with patterns at other universities, where typically there is not any central disbursement of travel money.
3) Pacific Bioscience Research Center (PBRC)
The status and future of the PBRC was discussed by Ostrander.
4) VCRGE gave preliminary figures on the grant-getting for the AY just closing. He estimates it is several million dollars more than the previous year which was itself one of the highest on record.
5) Ostrander suggested that several small units may be reconstituted to focus on resources (energy, water, food) resources for the State of Hawai’i as an “Institute of Sustainability Science, Technology and Policy”. An ad hoc committee (B. Raleigh, chair) has a proposal being circulated. He units include Water Resource Research Center and the Environmental Center.
6) The administration has proposed that a committee of about 13 to come up with a process on how to handle the redistribution of faculty positions and updating or recharging the Strategic Plan is to be established. The VCRGE requests a member of the SEC and four faculty members to serve on this committee. The charge to the committee is being written at present and other members have been determined. SEC pointed out that we normally provide quite a few more names than the slots; SEC will provide eight names for the four slots, bearing in mind ethnic and gender diversity, faculty types (I- R- S- etc).
Meeting with Chancellor Hinshaw 3:40
1) Status of A&R reorg.
The Chancellor met with the committee put forward by the Deans. There are differences of opinions concerning moving forward with the search while also moving forward with the reorg. The majority wishes to move forward on the search despite uncertainties about the structure of the entity. One advantage is that this will allow the successful candidate some creative freedom. This means the search would begin in the Fall. The Chancellor’s committee has worked on the job ad; the other committee has worked on the characteristics of the A&S structure. A search firm has not been hired yet; a draft of the ad will be reviewed by the search firm.
2) Strategy to handle budget cuts
On this occasion because of the timing of the cut (and lack of data), the Chancellor implemented an across-the-board cut following the Governor’s action (excluding research & maintenance). However, a process for future decision making about cuts (or surpluses) is needed.
SEC asked if the UH System or UHM administration could respond to the Governor or Legislature to back off the cuts given the strength of the HI budget this year. The Chancellor responded that she would continue to make the case for UHM to the State administration in general. SEC drew the Chancellor’s attention to the changed circumstances (travel costs and so on) that increase the attractiveness of the local higher education scene to local people. The Chancellor was on her way to a meeting with the Governor so she indicated a willingness to take up this topic (along with her continuing emphasis on facilities and Capital Improvement Projects). SEC pressed the Chancellor and asked if there were a specific plan for what was needed to establish UH (system and UHM) as a “destination of choice”. The Chancellor suggested that more of this was in writing than was previously the case, but more was needed. “Student success” was also said to be what sells in the Legislature.
3) Special committees
The Chancellor suggested that we need a group or committee for Honorary Degrees, for Building Names, for the setting of fees (such as those for use of the Campus Center; these have implications for our relationships with parents and legislators), etc. (The latter would probably report to VCAA.) The Chancellor will investigate how such entities have operated and will review and bring findings to SEC.
4) Faculty assistants
The Chancellor says that she has used faculty as assistants to administrators effectively in the past. However, there may be issues in bringing faculty members in part-time to work with administrators. It offers opportunities to liaise with the faculty and provide mentoring. SEC has not discussed this and will review the matter and report back to the Chancellor.
5) Manoa Assessment Office faculty release position
The Faculty Senate Task Force two years ago recommended, and the UHM administration accepted, a proposal for an office concerned with assessment, to be staffed by two specialists and a faculty person released to oversee the matter; this would enable us to be in line with WASC recommendations and complaints. However, the VCAA’s office has not succeeded in obtaining the services of a faculty member to oversee this. SEC drew this to the attention of the Chancellor and urged her to look into the matter, which is going to become visible to WASC in the near future.
6) Topics for the Chancellor’s retreat (or “advance”)
SEC reminded the Chancellor to suggest topics; we also urged her or the VCAA to attend Faculty Senate meetings.
SEC meeting
1) SEC also discussed encouraging VCs to attend Faculty Senate meetings.
2) Discussion of the PBRC proposal.
Detailed discussion was deferred, but SEC did decide to explore the matter of what defines an “administrative decision”.
3) Minutes of previous meeting were approved.
4) Faculty Housing
A past Senate resolution several years ago set Senate views concerning the non-turnover of residents in Faculty Housing. The administration is likely to propose new policy concerning term limits and will present this to SEC next week. We expect to refer this proposal to CAB.
5) Preparing for the Aug 20 “advance”
SEC will compile a set of statements and suggestions; we will discuss them further next meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
Graham Crookes
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