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The Arts and Sciences Council, October 23, 2018, 3:30-5:00

Meeting Minutes

Representatives present: Christine Brennan, SLHS; Barbara Buttenfield, GEOG; Cathy Comstock, RAPS; James Cowell, LING; Françoise Duresse-Stimilli, AAH; Erica Ellingson, APS; Michaele Ferguson, PSCI; John Gibert, CLAS; Jim Goodrich, BCHM; Paul Gordon, HUMN; Gerardo Gutierrez, ANTH; Saskia Hintz, GSLL; Daniel Jones, HNRS; Ramesh Mallipeddi, ENGL; Matt McQueen, IPHY; Akira Miyake, PSYC; Stephen Mojzsis, GEOL; Lonni Pearce, PWR; Mike Radelet, SOCY;  Patricia Rankin, PHYS; Evelyn Shih, ALC; Ted Stark, THDN; David Stock, EBIO; Ding Xue, MCDB

Representatives not present:  Daniel Appelö, APPM; Brian Cadena, ECON; Juan Herrero-Senes, SPAN; Kwame Holmes, ETHN; Janet Jacobs, WGST; Dan Kaufman, PHIL; Joanna Lambert, ENVS; Julie Lundquist, ATOC; Rob Tubbs, MATH; Tim Weston, HIST; Deborah Whitehead, RLST; Masano Yamashita, FRIT;

Also in attendance: William Kaempfer, Kristy Tiampo, Jim White

Stephen Mojzsis called the meeting to order at 3:31PM.

Chair’s remarks, Stephen Mojzsis

Professor Mojzsis started the meeting by reflecting on the many examples of excellence in the College of Arts and Sciences, Distinguished Professors, Professors of Distinction, President’s Teaching Scholars, memberships in the Academy of Arts & Sciences and many more. These achievements were highlighted in the context of the Academic Futures’ Reorganization Plan for the College, and that the College’s Strategic Plan emphasizes continued excellence and growth especially in Interdisciplinary Liberal Arts education.

Dean’s remarks, Jim White

Dean White is receiving questions concerning the Strategic Plan implementation timeline. It needs to be approved; first, by the ASC then it is likely the Strategic Planning Committee will issue a recommendation for implementation. It would make sense to delay a decision until Academic Futures completes its work and there is some further news on the plan from the Reorganization Committee and the nature of a decision from the Provost on a possible college reorganization. 

Financial Futures, a new group, is shaping up to be an important visioningunit  within Academic Futures. They started with a constrained set of issues, procurement and gift funds, and now are expanding to other issues such as unit productivity and the base budget. Dean White encouraged the Council members to follow the work of this committee. Financial Futures has access to a lot of data and will give us a good view of where and how money is spent; also how we compare to our AAU peers. The college had documented that it is low on staff and we will be able to see other items such as, do we get, as a college, our fair share of university funds or do we spend too much on overhead?

Dean White reminded the Council representatives that a lot of time is spent on new allocation of dollars which is only about 5 percent of the budget; the base budget is 95 percent and that is where his focus and the focus of the Budget Committee is directed.

Professor Mojzsis reminded the representatives that the ASC Budget Committee and the Planning Committee are both involved with issues the campus-wide committees tackle; ASC representatives need to keep informed and data needs to be shared by the Provost’s Committees with the Faculty, especially with regards to base budget data and comparative percentage returns at our AAU peers.

The base budget-all schools and colleges receive an allocation of money from central campus every year. The only increases to the base budget come with an increase in tuition dollars. The College of Arts and Sciences grew in all three divisions last year so we saw an increase in the base budget. The base budget is about 155 million dollars. The vast majority goes to salaries; it also goes to graduate student support, all other activities within the college. On a per student basis, A&S receives less than other colleges even as the College provides about half (~$400M) of the operating dollars (~$800M) to the Boulder campus. Dean White wants the faculty to be more involved in department needs. Because the dollars do not grow, departments need to face reallocation. A&S has fewer staff members per student compared to other colleges and other A&S colleges in other universities.

A&S has, for the first time, a student recruiter.

The Instructor Task Force has finished interviews with chairs, directors and involved people on campus and will begin to set up general forums next. The task force is looking to hear the story of instructors from all angles. The report will come out in February.

Professor Mojzsis reminded the representatives that at the final meeting of the semester, December 11, all A&S faculty will be invited. Updates on all committee work as well as on student recruitment efforts and communications will be provided. Please contact Professor Mojzsis or Janice Jeffryes with any suggested agenda items.

The Academic Reorganization Committee, William Kaempfer and Patricia Rankin

Provost Russell Moore set up the charge for the committee and selected 20 members plus Professors Rankin and Kaempfer to co-chair. Thirteen members are from A&S the remainder are faculty and staff from other colleges. A report is due to the Provost by November 2. Because of this short timeline, a steering committee was formed: Terra McKinnish (ECON), Paul Sutter (HIST), Cora Randall (ATOC) and Carol Wessman (ENVS) who have met, at least weekly, since July. 

The Committee selected two universities that they would have access to, that went to an organizational model similar to the Julien/Cumalat model: UC Davis and UC Santa Barbara.

The Committee had a retreat in the summer, worked on analyzing the strength and weaknesses of different organizational models. The Committee was driven by values; it is important to maintain the Liberal Arts Mission and maintain flexibility for students to move from one part of the college to another. The importance of the creative work and research that goes on in the college was also considered; the committee always focused on never making it harder to cross boundaries on campus.

The Committee looked at how little to change to make a substantive difference. Also, the problems addressed in the Julien/Cumalat model were heard, strengthening the voice of the Liberal Arts message on campus and to make more transparent the internal resource allocation decisions that are made.

Professor Kaempfer told the representatives that the Committee is not looking at “breaking up the college.” The group is striving to make the college better.

The committee is not advocating specific changes in the budget model or organizing units.

The draft of the report is finished [as of October 23] and will be taken to the Provost in a week. If he accepts the report there will be a period of time in November for public comment.

The meeting was opened up for questions.

Professor Mojzsis reminded the representatives that any reorganization requires engagement and response from the faculty. In early November, the ASC Executive Committee will be looking at the Academic Reorganization document as well as feedback from the Strategic Plan and bringing recommendations to the Council. 

Implementation phase of the A&S Strategic Plan, Stephen Mojzsis

The ASC Executive Committee will not make any further recommendations on the Strategic Plan until it is endorsed by the ASC. Feedback has been requested from the departments including, importantly, how should we prioritize goals?

It was mentioned that faculty is overwhelmed by the different plans, committees and initiatives on campus. There is a lot of doubt on campus on the ability to pay for the initiatives. Professor Mojzsis will consider writing an explanation of the College’s Strategic Plan; this plan pre-dates the other recent efforts on campus.

The faculty are encouraged to provide any feedback, accepting or rejecting or editing any or all of the Strategic Plan. The Executive Committee will use the feedback for recommendations and/or prioritizations.

Curriculum Committee and the First Year Seminars, Erica Ellingson, Associate Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education

The proposals for first year seminars are in the last stages of review but there is still time for last minute proposals. Pilot programs with a study abroad component and First Year Interest Groups (FIGs) are now underway. Professor Ellingson encouraged faculty to bring her their creative ideas for First Year Seminars.

Approximately a dozen First Year Seminars will be proposed for Gen Ed credit in Diversity. Professor Ellingson has been heartened by the cooperation of the ASC Curriculum Committee.

Dean White wants the representatives to think about what they want to see in a First Year Seminar and share those thoughts with his office. 

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Online education, Saskia Hintz

Sr. Instructor Hintz let the representatives know the Committee is continuing its work to guarantee online education on campus is of high quality and has strong faculty input. A survey will soon come out to assess online education in the departments. There is a wide variety of online course implementation in the departments.

Professor Mojzsis noted that the campus has been talking about online education for years and would like to make it a priority of the ASC; by the end of the academic year to have a firm plan on moving from talk to action. What are we trying to achieve with online education? Reach more students? Make better classes? The ASC should have a plan; do we want to serve everyone or have a category of online classes that are the best? Do we want to provide an online experience for our students or do we want to reach students around the world and provide an online degree?

The meeting was adjourned at 4:59.

Submitted by Janice Jeffryes

Minutes approved by the ASC 11/12/18