EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MINUTES

Present: Alexander, Alloway, Bolin, Fech, Flowers, Hoffman, Moeller, Peterson, Rapkin, Shea, Scholz,

Absent: Beck, Stock

Date: Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Location: 201 Canfield Administration Building

Note: These are not verbatim minutes. They are a summary of the discussions at the Executive Committee meeting as corrected by those participating.

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1.0 Call to Order

Moeller called the meeting to order at 3:05 p.m.

2.0 Interview with Dr. Juan Franco, Utah State University, Candidate for Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs

The Committee interviewed Dr. Franco. The Committee agreed to send a memo to the Chancellor indicating the Committee’s two top choices for the position. Committee members will also send individual evaluations on the candidates.

3.0 Chancellor Perlman/Vice Chancellor Owens

3.1 Tuition Remission for Dependents of Part-Time Employees

Moeller asked if there has been any discussion on extending the tuition remission for dependents for part-time employees. Chancellor Perlman stated that he has not heard of any discussions on this topic. He pointed out that there is not much enthusiasm in the University for increasing automatic remissions at this time.

3.2 Changes to Remission Programs

Moeller asked if there will be any changes to remission programs in general. Chancellor Perlman reported that there will be some changes in general remission programs. Moeller asked if changes will be made on the graduate level. Chancellor Perlman stated that he has approved some changes. He reported that there will be a reduction in non-instructional graduate fellowships in the amount of $2000 but departments will not be given a limit on the number of these fellowships that can be given. Flowers asked if this means that there will be more fellowships to distribute but the amount of the fellowships will be less. Chancellor Perlman stated that this is correct. Moeller asked if research indicates that this kind of distribution works well. Chancellor Perlman stated that on the financial side it does work well. He noted that the additional fellowship awards can result in an increase in tuition revenue of $70,000 - $100,000 a year.

Chancellor Perlman reported that another change to the remission programs will be in regards to graduate students who are paid on research grants. He noted that currently the University pays tuition for summer courses for these students but instead the research grants will need to cover this remission. He noted that faculty members may not have included this expense in their application for research grants but they will need to do so in the future.

Chancellor Perlman stated that a change that is still being contemplated is departments having a remission budget that they would be responsible for managing. He stated that there is some resistance to this proposal from the Deans but it is a management issue that needs to be considered. He stated that he intends to continue pursuing this idea.

Chancellor Perlman pointed out that graduate remissions keep on going up. He noted that when departments have money available because a faculty member is on leave they often hire a couple more graduate teaching assistants. He stated that while the graduate teaching assistants are paid out of the available funds, the remissions do not come from the department but from the campus. He pointed out that nothing strange is happening with this situation but it is uncontrollable from an administrator’s perspective. He stated that expenditures should be manageable. Moeller noted that chairs will have to be more qualified at handling budgets. Rapkin suggested reducing the size of the fellowships but keep the remissions intact.

Chancellor Perlman suggested the Committee may wish to speak with Executive Associate Dean Weissinger to get more information on the graduate remission plans.

Chancellor Perlman stated that the administration is exploring undergraduate remissions by limiting some remission programs to a one time amount. Once an identified amount has been given, the campus would be done with its commitment to the student. He stated that this proposal would help make rational decisions on how much is being given to residential students.

Chancellor Perlman stated that there has been some thought about tinkering with remissions for out-of-state students however, they still pay higher tuition rates. He noted that one of the candidates for Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs had an intriguing idea about pegging remissions so that the cost would be comparable to their instate rate so that high quality students are indifferent about going to a college based on finances.

Chancellor Perlman stated that there are some programs that we should not provide remissions for but it is difficult to segregate these students out.

3.2 Search Committee Training

Moeller asked what the current status is with search committee training. Chancellor Perlman reported that the Office of Equity Access & Diversity is still working on getting the training on line. He stated that it is in progress but the Office is still struggling to be comfortable with the on-line training.

VC Owens asked if update training will be available as well on-line. Chancellor Perlman stated that this is the intent of the on-line training. He noted that the Office has contracted with students from the JD Edwards program to develop the on-line training program.

Moeller asked if the training will be available by the end of the semester. Chancellor Perlman stated that he hopes it will be up and running by then.

3.4 Update on Budget

Chancellor Perlman stated that there have been no changes yet with the budget situation. He noted that he has not had the chance to review any of the submissions of budget cutting scenarios yet. He pointed out that the Vice Chancellors are still reviewing the plans.

Chancellor Perlman stated that if the legislature does not help out with the $6 million shortfall he will have to institute the budget reduction procedures used in the previous budget crisis. He pointed out that an across the board cut to deal with a $6 million shortfall would be devastating to the campus.

Chancellor Perlman stated that the legislature will probably not make a decision regarding the budget request until the end of March or April.

3.5 One Academic Program Review for all Research & Extension Centers

Moeller stated that a suggestion was made to unite the academic program reviews for all of the centers rather than do them individually. Vice Chancellor Owens stated that he has heard a little bit of discussion on this topic although he does not know where it originated. He noted that the academic faculty members at the centers get reviewed through the academic departments they are associated with. He stated that he presumed the idea is to conduct an academic program review for all four centers across the state.

Peterson reported that it came up at a pre-Senate lunch on east campus in January. Shea stated that a number of Senators raised the issue and the group in attendance at the luncheon discussed it. Fech noted that it was a comment made at the luncheon suggesting that one APR could help improve things. He pointed out that with focused educators working across the state lines and across districts it was thought that a more comprehensive review might be better.

VC Owens stated that perhaps the IANR advisory board could take a look at the idea. He pointed out that it could be difficult to do one APR because of the size of the state. He noted that the centers operate in two different time zones and cover a lot of territory. He stated that a single review would take a long time to accomplish. He stated that if it becomes a serious consideration it should go to the elected faculty advisory committee to see if they want to pursue it further.

3.6 Other Issues

Chancellor Perlman noted that five candidates have now been interviewed for the position of Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs. He stated that he wants to move forward quickly with making a decision.

Hoffman asked what the status is with the Vet program. VC Owens stated that things are moving forward with the program. He noted that Iowa State has almost all of their faculty members lined up for the program and all of the task forces have reported but one. He stated that he believes things are close to being done. He noted that there are very good candidates out there for faculty positions in the program but it is a very competitive market.

VC Owens stated that there are some challenges with the Vet program, particularly with some of the financial aspects. He noted that Iowa State is still a little hesitant about the program. He reported that he has agreed to give up a year of the students coming here which he was hesitant to do because he was hoping to capture the tuition generated from those students. He noted that the President of Iowa State is very supportive of the program.

VC Owens stated that there are some people at the state colleges who think the University is trying to steal students away from them. He pointed out that this is not the intent of the University. He noted that the University looked at the most competitive proposal and what would benefit the veterinary needs of Nebraska the best.

Chancellor Perlman stated that VC Owen’s five year review is coming up. He stated that he is working on determining the process that will be used to conduct the review. He reported that procedures require a faculty member to coordinate the review in the unit. He stated that Senate President Beck has agreed to serve as the coordinator. He noted that the procedures also require a faculty committee to write up the findings of the review. He pointed out that normally that would be done by the IANR Liaison Committee but since VC Owens has some campus wide responsibilities the Senate Executive Committee would be responsible for writing up the review. He reported that he discussed the issue with President Beck and she agreed that a joint committee be formed between selected members of the Senate Executive Committee and the IANR Liaison Committee.

Chancellor Perlman stated that there are some very good potential things occurring on campus and he hopes to be able to make an announcement about these in the next month or two.

Peterson asked about the Semester at Sea program. Chancellor Perlman reported that unfortunately we did not get it. It went to Virginia instead.

4.0 Announcements

Griffin reported that Beck emailed her to say that she did attend part of the Board of Regents meeting and will report on it at the next meeting. Beck also stated that she discussed the Senate restructuring with the Chancellor and he had no opposition to it.

5.0 Approval of 1/18/06 Minutes

Alloway moved and Peterson seconded approval of the minutes as amended. Motion approved.

6.0 Unfinished Business

6.1 Resolution on Evaluation of Administrators

Item postponed until next week.

7.0 New Business

No new business was discussed.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m. The next meeting of the Executive Committee will be on Wednesday, February 1st at 3:00 pm. The meeting will be held in 201 Canfield Administration Building. The minutes are respectfully submitted by Karen Griffin, Coordinator and Pat Shea, Secretary.