Approved Minutes For Meeting On February 16, 2011

Date: February 16, 2011

Program:

1. The meeting was called to order by the Chair, JP Dunn. Visitors and guests were welcomed and introduced.

2. Roll Call

Members Present: Tuesday Ashner, Natalie Branca, Steve Buhman, Janet Douglas, JP Dunn, Jon Geiger, Alfred Jackson, Layla Murphy, Amy Rose, Rod Sievers, Meredith Thomas, Gloria Yuncker.

Proxies: Tuesday Ashner for Mike Reiman; Don Castle for Lori Stettler; JP Dunn for Charlotte Sarao; Jon Geiger for Sarah Olson; Sandra Rhoads for Pat Eckert; Gloria Yuncker for Sue Tin.

Visitors and Guests: Tracy Bennett, Susan Edgren, Barb Elam, Anita Hutton, Julie Kirchmeier.

3. Guest

J. Kirchmeier, Co-Director of Saluki First Year, gave a presentation on the University College and answered questions from the floor.

4. Minutes

The minutes of the meeting on January 19, 2011, were corrected under Adoption of Meeting Agenda to change S. Sarao to C. Sarao. Also, under item 5.4c, the committee heading should read, Student Center Advisory (web version only). Minutes were approved as corrected.

5. Adoption of Meeting Agenda: JP Dunn requested to amend the agenda to add nominations to the Screening Committee for Provost and Vice Chancellor under the [Committee on Committees] report. The agenda was also amended to move up A. Hutton's search committee report. J. Geiger moved to adopt the agenda as amended; seconded by S. Buhman. Motion carried.

S. Edgren (Continuing Education) announced her pending retirement and noted the Council will need to find a replacement for her on the Honorary Degrees and Distinguished Service Award Selection Committee. S. Rhoads added that a reception for S. Edgren will be held on April 21.

6.4b Search Committee, Director of Liberal Arts - Anita Hutton 
A. Hutton presented and reviewed her report (included as appendix 1 to the minutes).

6. Reports

6.1 Chair 
JP Dunn reported the constituency heads have not yet met, although a meeting is planned for March.

6.2 Board of Trustees 
JP Dunn reported the Board met on February 10 in Carbondale. There was not much business conducted as there was no quorum. Several items were discussed, and several were moved to the Executive Committee agenda for approval. It was announced that they approved the University College, but any actions taken by the Executive Committee will have to be ratified at the April Board meeting. One issue discussed was the addition of another building at the Research Park. There were also two honorary degrees and two service awards given. President Poshard made a statement that he fully supports the Chancellor and had strong words of support for her, the restructuring and the University College.JP Dunn reported that he emailed to Council members a copy of the Distance Learning Restructuring Plan. The Council has been asked to provide comments on the plan, which will affect many A/P. It involves moving the credit generated from online courses back to the colleges and how support is given for online courses. T. Ashner commented that it is a complex issue, and JP Dunn is aware of the details because of his involvement in the development of online courses. The idea of credit going back to the colleges, developing more distance education courses and getting degrees online all sound like good things; however, understanding exactly what it will mean to make all that happen is something only [those directly involved] will understand. JP Dunn agreed that there are a lot of complex issues. S. Rhoads added that the document is very general; there are no specifics on who will be doing what or how it will be done in each area. D. Castle asked if it will take new money to implement the plan. JP Dunn responded that there is money in the central income fund. The new distance education fee ($59 per credit hour) will partially fund this initiative. They are being told to be prepared to have quite an expanded offering of online courses for fall semester. It is expected that current offerings will be greatly enhanced. SIU is behind other institutions in offering online degrees. There are think tanks projecting that by 2018, there will be more online students than on-campus students; so, ramping up online education is very important. A. Jackson asked whether this would increase the perception of SIU being a [top 150] research institution. JP Dunn responded that he did not think it would hurt the institution to offer more online degrees. They just need to make sure that what is presented online is the same quality as what is presented in the classroom. JP Dunn asked that anyone who would like to submit comments on the plan should email them to him and he will forward them to Associate Vice Chancellor Susan Logue.

6.3 Human Resources (HR) 
T. Bennett reported that A/P performance evaluations went out this week and are due back April 15. Those position descriptions that are due or overdue have also been sent out and are due back April 1.

6.4 Representatives to University Committees

6.4a Academic Calendar - Barb Elam 
B. Elam presented and reviewed her report (included as appendix 2 to the minutes). She added that the fall break being proposed for this year would occur on October 10-11.

6.5 Standing Committees

6.5a Executive Committee 
T. Ashner reported the Expanded Executive Committee met and reviewed the minutes and finalized the agenda. They also discussed the distance learning program, the upcoming Board of Trustees meeting and the resignation of Provost Gary Minish.

6.5b Committee on Committees 
A. Rose reported the committee was asked to make recommendations to the Strategic Planning Committee and also to the Provost and Vice Chancellor Steering Committee. Those names were forwarded to JP Dunn, who then forwarded them to the Chancellor's office. A. Rose presented for approval the names of Don Castle (Student Center); Charlotte Sarao (Agricultural Sciences); Kathy Jones (Intercollegiate Athletics); and Joel Fritzler (Research Development and Administration) for the Strategic Planning Committee. Nominations were approved.A. Rose presented for approval the names of JP Dunn (Library Instructional Support Services); Mike Ruiz (University Communications); and Alfred Jackson (University Housing) to the Screening Committee for Provost and Vice Chancellor. JP Dunn noted the application deadline for the position is February 25. Nominations were approved, with one abstention.

6.5c Constituency Relations - No report.

6.5d Operating Paper 
JP Dunn noted that at some point, the committee will need to address the changes in sector representation. He received a survey from IT asking for the area of responsibility, and it listed the areas as Chancellor, Provost, Administration and Finance, Research and Graduate or Institutional Advancement. He thought it was interesting and maybe something for the Council to consider. He also suggested that for the next iteration of the Operating Paper, more flexibility should be built in to accommodate any changes that may occur in the future.

6.5e Staff Benefits - No report.

6.5f Staff Welfare - No report.

7. Old Business

J. Geiger reported the Ad Hoc Elections Committee met and reviewed the Operating Paper and the numbers in Student Affairs. They calculated approximately how many people would be moved from one category to another. When the calculations were done, it increased the number in the General sector by one; however, based on the Operating Paper, the committee must go by the current administrative structure. Therefore, this year there are two vacancies in Academic Affairs, two in General and one in Student Affairs. The call for nominations included an explanation that because of the reorganization of Student Affairs and pending Board of Trustees approval on those changes, the Council will be proposing a change to its Operating Paper. R. Sievers asked if the committee discussed conducting the voting electronically. J. Geiger responded that the committee decided to conduct a paper ballot. JP Dunn explained that when he pulls data from Banner, he can easily pull out faculty, but cannot pull out A/P or civil service because the data is not there. Last year's electronic election required a lot of manual work because the Banner system and the Human Resources system do not talk to each other. The ballot that went out last year was a referendum that went to all A/P; it did not have to be divided into sectors, which made it a little easier to conduct that ballot electronically.

8. New Business

The proposed A/P Staff Council budget for FY12 was distributed to Council members. JP Dunn reported that there are two versions of the budget--one with a base budget the same as last year, and one with a proposed five percent reduction. He suggested the funds earmarked for flyers for the fall and spring constituency meetings could be saved by sending those flyers out electronically over the announce listserv. He is always receiving flyers through the mail, in addition to receiving them electronically. It is a duplication of effort. A. Jackson indicated that some A/P staff are in units where they do not have computer access. S. Buhman asked if the five percent reduction was taken from the fall luncheon. JP Dunn responded that $200 was taken out of the funds for the luncheon. There was discussion about sending flyers one to a mail stop, but it was noted that doing so would not produce much savings. It is also possible that the information still would not reach everyone. S. Buhman moved to accept both proposed budgets for FY12, with the five percent reduction being determined at a later date; seconded by R. Sievers. JP Dunn reiterated the idea of going green by sending out information electronically. Motion carried.

9. Announcements - None.

10. Adjournment