Mānoa Faculty Senate Executive Committee
Minutes of June 15, 2009

Present: David Ross, Mary Tiles, Tom Hilgers, Martin Raynor, Lei Wakayama, Klaus Keil, Shirley Daniel, Susan Hippensteele, Martha Crosby

Meeting Started at 3 p.m.

Minutes of the June 8 meeting were approved as corrected

David Ross provided a report on the BOR meeting and the selection of MRC Greenwood as President of the UH System. Overall, the committee was satisfied with the process and relatively pleased that Dr. Greenwood was appointed.

David Ross reported on the MET meeting. There were further discussions of the potential furloughs and related ways to save money by shutting down buildings to save energy costs simultaneously.

There were also questions about potential retrenchments. There was a discussion of how other funds could be used to offset budget cuts. One of the problems is how any of this could be done in time. There is concern that the issue is in the hands of the unions and the courts.

Another suggestion made was to encourage early retirements of faculty who are eligible for retirement. For example, an early incentive bonus or potential treatment of overload pay to increase the salary average used in retirement calculations might be welcomed by faculty and help solve the budget problems. The committee noted that other states had sometimes offered additional years of service to encourage early retirement. The committee discussed that previous surveys indicated that up to 30% of UHM faculty may be eligible for retirement. The committee agreed that additional studies of the impact of such approaches on the budget shortfalls both short and long-term are warranted.

The committee discussed having a broad campus-wide meeting after June 30 to discuss alternatives to any deep budget cuts. In the meantime, the committee will continue to discuss these issues with the administration in various meetings.

Paul Brandon has agreed to be chair of the Assessment committee. Various other Senate committee assignments are almost finalized. With regard to the writing intensive classes, there are concerns about class size issues.

Christine Sorenson from the College of Education will meet with the committee next

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week to discuss this. There are class size and work load issues across the system that might be affected by changes in this policy.

VC Dasenbrock entered the room.

Mike Rota will become Chancellor of Honolulu CC. Peter Quigley will go to UH System to take Rota’s place, effective July 1. This leaves the VCAAs office short of staff. VC Dasenbrock is considering appointing an interim person to do the work that Quigley was focusing on relating to WASC accreditation and other issues. He is interested in suggestions for a short list of people who would be good for this position. This would probably be an E&M position, even in the interim, and would have the title Interim Assoc VC for AA. With the regard to the permanent position, the committee requested that the search process previously developed be followed. The committee agreed that we could provide some suggested names for the interim person. All agreed that while WASC accreditation is important, that we should not be driven by fear of the WASC process. However, there are some short-term issues relating to WASC that need to be addressed quickly. The WASC exam was already delayed, and particularly with regard to the Assessment work, we need to show progress. There is a committee that has been working on this, so things are progressing.

With regard to enrollment management: On most campuses, there is a cohesive plan as to what the size and composition of the student body should be. Even if they can’t achieve it, there is an understanding about the goals. The lack of a similar plan at UHM has been hurting us financially, in the legislation, and in public perceptions.

VC Dasenbrock wants to form a team to address the issue of enrollment management. The issue affects many areas, including financial aid, admissions, etc. He and VC Hernandez will co-chair the group, and there should be faculty representation. The goal of the group would be to set a plan to implement an enrollment management strategy for UHM. After some directions are set, there may be other task forces to address specific issues and goals. The Senate Committee on Academic Policy may be a good resource for this starting in the fall. However, he would like to get started sooner than this. He requests that we name some faculty to work on a retreat off-campus for this over the summer.

The committee discussed how the enrollment management plan would interface with the prioritization process.

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Dasenbrock mentioned that his satisfaction from administration comes from implementing creative programs, and gave an example of a scholarship he previously designed. He hopes to work on such initiatives at UH.

With regard to the reorganization of A&S, Dasenbrock believes this should be led by the faculty. He does not have a predetermined idea about how to reorganize A&S.

He suggests that the faculty produce some models about who should do what in terms of vertical responsibilities, and a horizontal structure to achieve that. He has asked his assistant to produce some cost estimates of the various structures. After this there should be a broad conversation. He would like to get the issue resolved by Thanksgiving.

He committee and the VCAA discussd the location of TIMS.

The committee also expressed concern over student grade changes that have been made without faculty consultation. They requested additional information about the extent of the problem. Dasenbrock agreed that more information to address the problem would be helpful.

The meeting adjourned at 5:30 p.m.