Faculty Senate Steering Committee

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Present: 

Karen M. Turner (Pres.), Paul S. LaFollette (V. Pres.),  Joan P. Shapiro (Secy.), Robert M. Aiken (Past-Pres.), Joan Delalic (Engr.), Adam Davey (CHPSW), Tricia S. Jones, (Educ.), Charles Jungreis (Med.), Luke Kahlich (BCMD), Stephanie Knopp (Tyl), Robin Kolodny (CLA), James Korsh (CST), Laurie MacPhail (Dent.), Mark C. Rahdert (Law), Charles Ruchalski (Pharm), Jay Sinha (FSBM), Roberta Sloan (SCT), David Waldstreicher (Fac. Herald), Cheryl Mack (Coord.)

Absent:  Michael W. Jackson (STHM)

Call to Order: 
The meeting was called to order at 1:09 p.m.

Approval of the Minutes:
The minutes from February 2, 2010, were approved unanimously.

Guest:  President Ann Weaver Hart

President Hart began her conversation with the FSSC by talking about the budget process with the state of Pennsylvania and the budget in general.  She mentioned:

• The difficulties with the governor regarding funding for the state-related institutions that led her to finally visit the U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, to ask for monies. After this intervention and because state-related institutions filled in Maintenance of Effort Reports, these institutions were funded.  Off of her Blackberry and “hot off the press,” President Hart was able to tell us that we just received $172,737,000;
• The great deal of time she had to spend in Harrisburg to get our state appropriation, and it was not until a week ago that the first half of the monies arrived.  In the interim, Temple had to spend over a million dollars in loans to get through this difficult period;
• With stable funding for this year, she has asked the deans to prioritize programs and searches;
• Next year is a worry.  There will be no Stimulus and no Maintenance of Effort Reports.  However, our capital long-term funding is much healthier than our operation budget;
• PA has the fifth most expensive public  higher education system in the country;
• There are some early warning signs for next year as our transfer applications are strong, but our out- of- state applications are way down;
• Currently, President Hart is not only thinking of next year but she is also thinking of ten years ahead.  By then, we might be a quasi-private institution;
• Taking the future into account, she has asked David Unruh, the Senior Vice President for Institutional Advancement, to make contact with around 80% of the alumni/ae who have never been contacted about giving to Temple;
• She is very aware that approximately 50% of the running cost of Temple is based on borrowed money.  Students have borrowed to attend Temple;
• Turning to intercollegiate activities, she pointed out that athletics is subsidized with tuition money.  She tried to encourage us to purchase tickets for games and invite friends and family along.  Those ticket sales generate much needed revenue.
• Generally bowl games do not make money as far as universities are concerned.  There tends to be no long-term impact on applications.  If we do get to the finals in men’s basketball that might lead to an increase for the next two years, but that impact does not last long;
• Sports generally do not break even; 
• Returning to tuition, University of Pittsburgh and Penn State charge 30% more than Temple; and Board of Trustees decide what our tuition will be;
• Penn State developed a  ten year model to determine what their prices would be and raised the tuition gradually over time;

• The issue of restructuring for the turbulent future was raised and President Hart said the restructuring that occurred last year did cut down dean’s office costs enabling the university to focus more on student needs and on faculty hirings;
• She spoke of investing in research and advocating for some reimbursement from NIH because of the new medical building with its research infrastructure.  She briefly talked of how effective Senator Casey was in helping our Medical School with NIH funding.  President Hart plans to go often to Washington, D.C. to speak with PA representatives;
• The importance of earmarks from the federal government and the state was brought up as a way to gain more monies for state-related institutions.  President Hart agreed that this was a good source, but that the timing to do this was difficult.  However, she spoke of the work of Ken Lawrence, Senior Vice President for Government, Community and Public Affairs, who fired lobbyists in order to increase in-house staff, who would develop good relations with the state and federal governments;
• Bob Aiken (Past Pres.) mentioned how important the new Senior Vice Provost for Research Administration and for Graduate Education would be in helping us.  President Hart agreed.  She also said that her goal was to come out of the recession strong. 
• Roberta Sloan (SCT) stated that she had visited Indiana University of Pennsylvania and was astonished to see how much building was going on.  President Hart said that this was a very good time to build.  Construction costs are down, money is less expensive for borrowing, and as long as we keep our Standards and Poor’s long-term and Moody’s ratings up, we can erect buildings;

President Turner then turned the conversation to the 20/20 Framework.  President Hart talked about how the framework developed over time. 

• She mentioned the original steering committee for the framework and its composition of deans, administrators and faculty members;
• She talked of the three town hall meetings which were well attended and the discussion of a stable footprint which gained strength at the community meetings;
• She also spoke of the focus groups with little faculty and student  involvement;
• President Hart stressed that the 20/20 Framework was not carved in stone and was meant to be flexible, dependent on our academic needs.  She gave an example of the critical needs of science and engineering.  She used the term, strategic serendipity, to indicate how the framework might change to address dire needs and she gave other illustrations of the problems with Barton, Pearson, and McGonigle Halls;
• She also said that the framework did not address the different campuses, such as the Health Sciences, and Ambler;
• President Hart will provide us with copies of the Executive Summary of the 20/20 Framework;

A discussion followed about the 20/20 Framework:

• Luke Kahlich (BCMD) asked about broader plans for the performing arts; 
• Bob Aiken (Past Pres.) spoke about how involved we felt in the Academic Strategic Compass and how the FSSC felt left out of the 20/20 Framework.  He believed that there was a need to reengage us;
• Joan Shapiro (Sec.) emphasized the importance of alignment and the use of similar language in President Hart’s Inaugural Address, the Academic Strategic Compass, and the 20/20 Framework. She felt that if there were alignment and common terms mentioned, then there might be a realization that we have been involved in some aspects of the development of the framework;
• James Korsh (CST) spoke of the importance of using the FSSC as a voice of the faculty.  However, President Hart said she felt it important to seek other ways of reaching the faculty as well as the FSSC so she could hear voices from diverse disciplines;
• There was mention that representatives who sit on different committees should report back to the Senate, and that more feedback was needed;
• Karen Turner (Pres.) talked of the check list, devised by the Provost, to make certain that the faculty voice was not left out.  President Hart had not heard of the checklist, but she was very interested in this idea;
• Trish Jones (Educ.) said that there was nothing that connected the chairs of the collegial assemblies and perhaps some meetings of the chairs, during the academic year, could be arranged to share information and ideas;
• There was some discussion of the deans’ involvement in collegial assemblies. It was mentioned that new default bylaws were being created not placing deans as the leaders of the assemblies.

President Hart mentioned the wonderful diversity within Temple.  In relation to diversity, she said that we are now focused not only on those who enter Temple, but on those who receive their degrees.  Dwight Evans, a Pennsylvania legislator, always asks her about the graduation rate to see if there are differences between minority and majority graduation.  We have the same graduation rate for both groups, and President Hart is very proud of this.

President Hart announced that George Moore, University Counsel and Senior Vice President, planned to complete, by the end of March, a review and update of all policies and procedures at Temple, some of which dated back to the 1970’s.  She then turned to the dysfunctional rules.  She mentioned some outcomes that emerged from the Dysfunctional Rules Committee.  Now students can use computer services for posters and printing; the library skills examination has been eliminated; and the travel policy (which never did ask us to go through special travel agencies although many of us were told this) now asks us to provide cost documentation comparing a couple of airlines.  We can use Travelocity and other online services to obtain these figures.

Some time was spent on campus closings due to inclement weather and how the decision was made.  Apparently Tony Wagner (facilities), Bill Bergman (police), and the weather service provide the information needed to make the decision to close the university. 

Vice President’s Report:  Paul S. LaFollette

Vice President LaFollette thanked Luke Kahlich (BCMD) for finding a candidate for the University Tenure and Promotion Advisory Committee. 

He stated that the Standing Committee on Continuous Revision in Faculty Handbook Committee had met.  Two more members are needed for this committee, one non-bargaining unit and one bargaining unit representative. 

President’s Report: Karen M. Turner

President Turner complimented David Waldstreicher (Fac. Herald) on the excellent issue of The Faculty Herald.

She reminded us that there would be no FSSC meeting next week as there is a Representative Faculty Senate on Tuesday. 

A discussion followed about Marina Angel’s (Law) concern that more than one faculty member could run for an office. Karen Turner explained that this was the case, but there had been no more than one candidate wishing to run for each office for a few years. There was a discussion about the role of the Nominating Committee in identifying qualified candidates.  The bylaws are not clear on this issue and different interpretations were presented.  Bob Aiken (Past Pres.), Chair of the Nominating Committee, hopes that there will be a slate of officers by the end of the afternoon and he plans to contact President Turner with the results.

Old Business:
A new version of Michael Jackson’s service breakfast was handed out.  It is now called, Fresh –Breakfast (Brunch).

New Business:
There was none.

Adjournment:
The meeting ended at 3:05 p.m.

Joan P. Shapiro

Secretary