Minutes of the April 6, 1999 Meeting

Student Commons Capital Ballroom     DRAFT

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1. President Terry Oggel called the meeting to order at 4:05.  He welcomed the members of the faculty and administration who had joined the senators to hear from President Trani. The minutes of the March meeting were approved as posted.
2. Joan Pellegrini, for the Nominating Committee, present the slate of officers nominated at the March meeting. There being no further nominations from the floor, the slate was adopted by acclamation.
• President, Wesley Poynor, School of Pharmacy
• Vice President, Sue Brilliant, College of Humanities and Sciences
• Secretary, Margot Garcia, College of Humanities and Sciences
• Medical Campus Representative to Executive Committee, Mary Ann Kirkpatrick, School of Pharmacy
• Academic Campus Prepresentative to Executive Committee, Dan Ream, University Library Services
3. Neil Henry reported that all of the proposed amendments to the Bylaws of the Faculty had been approved overwhelmingly by the faculty.
4. Ardyth Lohuis reported the Credentials and Rules Committee annual review of the Senate Standing Rules and Leadership Guidelines. Copies of the proposed revised Standing Rules were distributed. Amendments will be voted on at the May meeting.
5. Oggel announced that arrangements had been made for the May meeting to be held in the   Stuart C. Siegel Center. Since this change breaks the tradition of alternating meetings between campuses, he asked for Senate approval of the change in venue. There were no objections, so the May meeting will be held in the Donor Room on the second floor of the Siegel Center.
6. Oggel then introduced President Eugene Trani, who spoke on the state of the University. His remarks covered many topics, including the following highlights.
• Enrollment. Freshman applications have reached a new high, some 18% ahead of last year. Applications from Northern Virginia are even stronger, up some 20-25%. Quality of enrolled freshmen, as measured by high school GPA and SAT scores, has steadily increased since 1995 and should continue with this year's class. A two year goal is to increase out of state undergraduate enrollment from 8% to 12% by exploiting our nationally ranked programs. The total enrollment in the University is anticpated to increase to between 24,000 and 25,000 by 2002, from the present 23,500.
• Legislative Session. University faculty salary increases (5.6%) were approved that raise us to the 60th percentile of peer institutions. In addition provision was made for increases for classified staff. The 20% reduction in tuition and fees for in-state undergraduates was compensated for by an increase in the university's allocation from the General Fund. A continued freeze on tuition, however, could hurt us unless the General Assembly is willing to keep increasing this allocation as costs inflate. The hospital received some $15 million towards the cost of providing indigent care. While this is only about half of what the care costs us, it is far more than has ever been provided in the past. Trani urged faculty to recognize the efforts of their legislators who worked to support higher education in Virginia.
• Campus Development. The Siegel Center is finally open for recreational use and some School graduation ceremonies will take place there. The Arts Building is on schedule. Bids are out on renovation of 924 W. Franklin into "Alumni House", an initiative that is being funded by alumni association gifts. On the MCV campus work will begin on a 9 story building linking Nelson Clinic to the Main Hospital. Plans are proceeding to increase student housing by approximately 1500 beds over the next 4-5 years.
• Searches. Candidates for the Provost and ULS Executive Director are now being interviewed. Open meetings are scheduled with faculty and staff. The Engineering School Dean will be announced soon, but the Business School Dean search will not conclude until the fall. A search for a replacement for John Dayhoff (Information Technology) has been deferred until after the new Provost has been selected. Search for a Director of the School of Mass Communications has been suspended; two Associate Directors will report to the Dean of the College of Humanities and Sciences. Trani noted that he has decided to personally interview all nominees for Department Chair and Director positions, emphasizing the importance of these positions for the future development of the University.
• The Conversion of 9-month Faculty to 24 Pay Status. Recognizing that this issue was important to many faculty at the meeting, Trani reviewed the rationale for dropping the option of 18 salary payments, September - May, to faculty with 9-month contracts. He emphasized that this change grew out of a desire to eliminate duplication in administrative processes and to react more efficiently to changes in pay policy mandated by the State. Vice Provost Eddie Blanks elaborated on these points, noting that there were 107 faculty who were still on the 18-pay plan. "Grandfathering" these faculty was considered unfair to others who had voluntarily changed to 24 payments during the past two years, as well as to new faculty, and might also draw criticism from the state.
7. A period of general discussion followed. Several faculty challenged the 18-24 pay decision, emphasizing that having pay deferred for three months was unfair and inconsistent with the nature of the 9-month contract. In response Trani said that he would sit down individually with faculty to see what could be done to alleviate financial problems during the transition period.
• Another question had to do with the issue of medical salaries, which are seen by some to be not competitive with those of peer institutions.  Trani noted that this varied temendously among departments, due to variation in clinical income. Citing recent reports from Stanford and Georgetown, he said that these were precarious times for all academic medical centers.
• Questions were also raised about the effect of increasing undergraduate enrollments on retention and the resources available for advising and counseling at-risk students. Provost Grace Harris said that Interim Vice Provost Susan Kennedy was studying how much money would be available for the Academic Success Center and how it should be used.  She also said that retention of freshmen had remained stable as enrollments increased in the last few years.
• Responding to a question about research funding, Trani said that he felt that interdiciplinary projects were going to be more successful in the future. Some recommendations on changes in procedures that came out of the recent research retreat will be distributed by Vice President for Research Bill Dewey. Provost Harris noted that the Executive Budget Committee had just responded positively to some of the initiatives.
• The Executive Budget Committee is also looking carefully at the proposal by Dean Gottfredson to phase in an increase in the number of faculty in an effort to deal with the increase in undergraduates. Some $300,000 has been allocated for the coming year. Trani emphasized that he considered this to be an issue which can be taken to the General Assembly: we are growing, serving a statwide need, while other institutions are not.
8. After some additional remarks by senators and President Oggel the meeting was adjourned at 5:30pm.

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Neil W. Henry, Secretary
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