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Mānoa Faculty Senate Executive Committee
Minutes of February 2, 2009

Mānoa Faculty Senate Executive Committee
Monday – Feb 2, 2009; Hawaiʻi Hall 208
Present: Crookes, Crosby, Hilgers, Keil, Ross, Tiles

2:00 Meeting with VC for Student Affairs Hernandez

Enrollment Status for Spring 2009 Preliminary numbers showed no strong downward trend for Manoa for Spring, about 18,000 and about 70 below the same time last year.

The priority application deadline will be moved to January 1^st to be consistent with mainland universities, but applicaitons will continue to be accepted until May 1^st to accomodate students applying late or accepted somewhere else, so as to maintain numbers. Financial Aid and housing slots will have been given out by May 1.

Housing application forms etc are now totally on-line. In addition to the Japanese language-intense floors in the dormitory, Spanish-intense and Honors academic clusters will be added in the Fall. This makes the residence halls more attractive.

Financial aid processing: if students submit their completed FAFSA by March 1st, they will know by May 1 what their financial support is.

Actual applications to UH are still not in an online form. VC Hernandez would like to have a Manoa-only application that would be online, that would initially call for self-report of courses and grades,to expedite the admission process. Verification of the self-report information will be via transcripts. Research on this procedure suggests that self-report in this context is 95% accurate (and inaccuracies tend to be under-estimations). Implementation of this may be through Banner, or outside it (3^rd party suppliers); processes and costs have yet to be worked out.

SEC members reminded VC Hernandez that they expect faculty to have a say in the design of the application (and referred to discussions in past years of this matter). Admissions is a faculty concern.

If retention improves, the targets for admission will have to be adjusted. This is likely not to happen till next year at the earliest, though it will also be affected by the tuition increase.

Housing. The construction of Frear Hall came in on time and under budget. He is now in receipt of estimates for the refurbishing two of the four the “towers” (the older round dormitories), and for summer “freshening up” of Johnson Hall. Space in Johnson might be allocated for graduate students. Part of Hale Noelani might be reserved for married students, including those with children.

Scholarships. Attempts are being made to streamline and unify the awarding of the very many scholarships (over 100) that are available at UHM. In particular, the provision of scholarships can overlap with the provision of financial aid in the form of what used to be called tuition waivers. UHM units are being asked to distribute their grants by March 1^st to allow for a smooth awarding of financial aid. A unified scholarship application is now available on-line.

Institutjional grants/ federal grants to institutions may be greater under the new federal administration. Pell Grants may be increased. Shirley Daniels (who is in charge of the program for student athletes, GEAR-UP) Title III grants may be possible as we increase our population of Native Hawaiians (KCC gets such grants) UHM as a whole may get more (the School of Hawaiian Knowledge does receive some). Partnerships with the HIDoE (P-20 initiatives) are being considered.

2:50 SEC

Chair’s Report. The MET met and discussed the additional 2% cut on the present year. Kathy Cutshaw estimates it will be $1.3m if the cut is applied uniformly across the UH System. Because of the short notice (no notice) involved it seems possible that it will be handled on an across-the-board basis. VC Cutshaw also told CAB that unfilled positions might actually total more than $1m, and there have been more retirements than were expected.

An I-faculty name must be added to the Budget Group; SEC is seeking names.

An updated process committee document that incorporates the campus-wide feedback will be distributed shortly. The timetable for UHM units to participate in the prioritization review has been modified to accommodate the new version of the document. A $19.6m reduction in base budget has got to be worked out by July 1. Process committee results will have more impact on the second year of the biennium budget.

Committee Reports.

CAB:   is raising the possibility of having a faculty-administration committee to seek institutional grants. SEC will take this up with VCR Ostrander next week. SEC believes that there is no centralized liaison between UHM and the HI congressional delegation, which is regrettable in light of the upcoming federal stimulus package. Jennifer Goto-Sabas is the local representative who liaises with UH administrators and faculty, and indeed she has been meeting with the Chancellor, but this sort of thing is done in an ad hoc manner at the Manoa level (although UH System may have dedicated staff in this area).

COA:   the FAR report is being reviewed by the committee.

CPM:   dossier simplification project continues

Old business. SEC discussed the final disposition of resolutions passed at the most recent Faculty Senate meeting.

New business. SEC worked on developing the agenda for the upcoming Faculty Congress meeting.

A proposal for a BS in BS/Computer Engineering was referred to CAPP.

Meeting adjourned 4:40 pm.

SEC monthly meeting with chancellor (rescheduled after postponements)

2/3/09

1.  SEC asked why international strategic planning committee was formed without senate-nominated members. Chancellor reviewed the recent history of international efforts on this campus to explain why she asked for a strategic plan. She requested senate nominees for additional members for the already-formed strategic planning committee.  She suggested that miscommunication had resulted in our not being consulted about membership in a timely way. SEC reviewed information exchanged re the committee and agreed that communication had not been effective.

2.  SEC asked about processes of the VCAA search committee. Chancellor has not heard back from the VCAA search committee, although she is aware that they are reviewing responses to the recent campus visit.  She noted that process questions have to be addressed to the search committee.

3.  SEC asked about need for TIM dean-candidate campus visits. Chancellor noted that the travel industry is Hawai‘i’s greatest source of income.  She sees the current TIM dean search as a chance for UHM to take a greater leadership role in the area.

4.  SEC asked for better communication between administration and faculty/staff. Chancellor will likely address the 2/18 faculty congress.

5.  SEC asked about A&S reorganization processes. Chancellor is following up on the recent A&S faculty senate resolution by consulting with that senate’s leadership and the A&S deans.

6. SEC reviewed faculty concerns in the present times of uncertainty.

Respectfully submitted,
Graham Crookes