Mānoa Faculty Senate Executive Committee
Minutes of July 13, 2009

Present: Lei Wakayama, Susan Hippensteele, David Ross, Halina Zaleski, Martin Rayner, Martha Crosby

2 pm Meeting with VC Gary Ostrander

1. RTRF (including travel support) Information on how RTRF funds ($4-5 million) are spent is available on the VC’s web site. His policy is to invest in activities that have the potential to generate research and grant funding, although 20 to 25% of the funds go to units that can not generate overhead, such as the humanities, and to faculty travel. In the current budget situation, RTRF will be needed to replace G funds, for example by helping to fund the Environmental Health and Safety Office. If any salaries are paid out of RTRF, the UH fringe costs increase by about 40%. Travel programs will be impacted.

2. Grad Division and ethics training An ethics panel recommended that there be some form of mandatory training in ethics for graduate students. This is already required in some cases, such as NIH funded projects, use of human subjects, and animal use. Potential approaches include adding ethics training to graduate student orientation, providing more discipline specific training with some unit responsibility, having an E requirement similar to undergraduates, having a lecture series, providing on line training, requiring that students demonstrate training in ethics. The approach(es) selected will have to be able to handle large numbers because Manoa has about 5,000 graduate students, with about 800-1,000 new students every year.

3. Budget cuts and grant-supported faculty and staff On the one hand cuts appear fairer if they are applied across the board, on the other hand there are no salary savings generated by cuts to grant-supported faculty and staff. Impacts on research efforts and on meeting contract requirements must be considered. Research often does not follow regular schedules, such on-ship work or animal work - would such workers be paid time and a half overtime for having to work on furlough days? Another consideration is the effect on people hired at 50% time who would lose their benefits if their work was decreased below 50%. Effects on UH and RCUH might be different. The governor has said that health will not be affected but that retirement will be affected.

4. Status of CRCH search All 4 finalists are being interviewed and remain interested. The committee will meet July 21 to review the interview results. Budget considerations might affect the speed of closing. Hiring a director is important to renewing the prestigious NCI P30 Center designation ($500,000) which going into no-cost extension. Other considerations for the designation are continuing work on the building using tobacco tax funds and maintaining depth and breadth in three key areas. A portion of the director’s salary will be tenurable and the remainder will be supported by the clinical community.

3 pm Gary Ostrander left SEC meeting started

1. The minutes of the July 6 SEC meeting were approved as amended

2. It is important for the Senate to have an effective interface with the Graduate Division. It was suggested to have one representative from CAPP and one from COR on the graduate council. David is the liaison to CFS and will make sure names are forwarded to the grad council.
1. Chair’s report

a.

MET met without SEC representation. Discussion items included furloughs and retrenchment by abolishing positions, including APT and civil service positions. David spoke to the Chancellor’s administrative assistant about the no substitutes rule that prevented the SEC representation.

b.

The budget committee is working on a matrix of income and expenditures under various scenarios. For example, a $30 million cut, no stimulus funds, and no resolution of union issues might lead to a 10% across the board cut. In the fall 500 classes will not be available, largely because of cuts to lecturers and instructors. Languages seem to be highly affected, while Hawaiian studies is exempt from cuts. The repair and maintenance budget is exempt from cuts.

To start a retrenchment process, there must first be a determination of financial exigency. Notices would need to be sent to HGEA and UPW. People with seniority whose positions are cut could bump more junior people.

Another option might be a retirement incentive. There are 280 faculty who have over 30 years of service and are eligible to retire. This would affect the ERS trust fund, which is separate from the state budget.

Workload issues might require some restructuring to increase enrollment and reduce the number of small specialized courses. Some departments increase instructional responsibilities for faculty who are not active in research. Enrollment limits on writing courses came up.

When will the budget work group wind down?

Items to consider in any prioritization process include the need for actual data and a consideration of efficiency.

c. Misc. Lei will be our representative on the calendar committee.

Two proposals are coming up for consideration: changes at EHSO and moving the conference center from Outreach to Auxiliary Services. A suggestion was made that UH should consider consolidating distance ed under Outreach and creating a virtual campus at West Oahu.

Rooms in order of preference are law, HIG, Marine Sciences. Helen will be asked to arrange for a room.

b. Agenda items for July 20

We will meet with VCAA Dasenbrock, who already has a list of items. We would like to discuss the use of faculty working groups to increase engagement. Issues include accreditation, the status of program reviews and how they are used (which apparently depends on the college), and the interrelationships among the Manoa Assessment Committee, Faculty Development, Program Review and Institutional Research.