A Message from the Chair

Professor Joseph Konstan
Transitions... and Stability

Professor Joseph Konstan
Chair, Faculty and Senate Consultative Committees

As I prepared to write this note, I took a moment to look back at my last update. It seemed to have been written years ago... since then we've started a presidential search (I hope you've participated in both the listening sessions and the campus interview visits that I expect are now concluding; and if you have opinions, please send them in before the Board of Regents meets on Friday!). We've also started new initiatives to better include non tenure-track faculty in governance, and to better bring together our diverse and spread-apart campuses.

It also seemed very familiar. While we've made strides on quality child development, the legacies we honor at this institution--faculty development, free speech and opportunity for all to learn, teach, discover, and work with dignity on our campuses--are challenges that take sustained efforts of a period of time.  

This juxtaposition of change and stability is particularly salient right now as we prepare for transition to a new administration. New leadership brings new opportunities, yet it automatically comes with anxiety and concern. Who will our new president choose to replace? Will we have to start over to rebuild the trust and relationships we've developed? Amid all this, though, is the comforting thought that the University has a strong and stable base. The students, the faculty, and the staff of this University will continue to learn, to teach, to conduct research, and to create an outstanding environment for scholarship. I've regularly been asked the last few months, "what do the faculty think of the search?" or "what are you hearing from faculty, staff, and students?" Before answering, I always remind people that the presidential search isn't topmost on many minds. I hear much more often about creating and disseminating new ideas, about how to create an outstanding learning experience, about how to recruit top students and top colleagues, and about how to ensure that the University is diverse, affordable, and accessible. I hope we recruit an excellent leader who helps us realize our ambitions, but I also hope we never forget that it is our efforts and ambitions that form the core of the University.  

This theme resonates with me particularly as this is the last note I will write to you as FCC chair. I am very excited to have been asked to serve as the College of Science and Engineering's associate dean for research. I am grateful to and proud of my college, and look forward to the chance to contribute to it in new ways. At the same time, it is sad to leave faculty governance after two decades of service. Like this update, I see both achievements I'm proud of and hard challenges where I've helped move them along, but will not have the opportunity to solve them. Still, being FCC chair has been immensely rewarding, and I am delighted that Amy Pittenger has taken over that role. Amy, an associate professor in the College of Pharmacy, is a three-time alumna of the University who has studied on both the Morris and the Twin Cities campuses. In addition to serving as FCC vice-chair, she has taken on a number of major responsibilities including serving on the Presidential Search Advisory Committee. She is immensely well-qualified to take on the role of leading FCC and SCC. But Amy and I both know that the strength of faculty governance is not in a single chair, or even in the collection of chairs, but rather in the hundreds of faculty, students, and staff that volunteer their time to make this a better place. And it is therefore a comforting thought that this change which may seem large to us is anchored to our amazing governance system.  

Finally, I would like to wish you all peace and light, health and happiness through this season and in the new year. 

The Big Issues

The work of the University and Faculty Senates is accomplished primarily through their 22 standing committees, as well as numerous subcommittees and task forces. Faculty, academic professionals, civil service staff, students, alumni, and administrators have designated positions on most committees. 

Accommodated Testing

Throughout the semester, several University Senate committees, including the Senate Committee on Student Affairs (SCSA) and the Disabilities Issues Committee, devoted a considerable amount of attention to the needs of students with disabilities. The SCSA held a roundtable discussion with the five directors of the Disability Resource Centers (DRC) on each of the University’s system campuses. According to Donna Johnson, director of the DRC on the Twin Cities campus, “the DRC is having its largest challenge in providing adequate accommodations for its testing center.” Johnson reported that the number of students requesting their services has grown almost every year--from 2,902 tests administered in 2009, to 11,769 tests administered in 2017. The Disabilities Issues Committee passed a resolution calling for the University to implement required education on accommodated instruction, testing, and best practices for supporting students with disabilities for University faculty and staff systemwide. Disabilities Issues Committee chairperson, Professor Ben Munson, said that it is his hope that, after consulting with other committees, the resolution will be brought forward to the full University Senate for a vote in the spring.

Faculty Development Leaves

Last spring and this fall, Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs Rebecca Ropers-Huilman engaged in deep consultation with several committees, including the Senate Committee on Faculty Affairs, the Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee, and the Faculty Consultative Committee, on proposed changes to the Administrative Policy: Faculty Development Leaves. One of the proposed changes is to eliminate the single semester leave, and in its place institute a semester-long sabbatical option at full pay. The reason for this change is that some colleges do not offer single semester leaves. Therefore, the only option for sabbatical for some faculty is to take a sabbatical at half pay. Because this is not financially feasible for everyone, some faculty never have the opportunity to take a sabbatical. The proposed changes also include clarifying that sabbaticals are a privilege, not an entitlement, and that faculty must submit a compelling proposal in order to be approved. As some colleges currently treat sabbaticals as a “given” for faculty every six years, this has been the source of some controversy. A robust conversation on the topic took place at the Faculty Senate meeting in November 2018, and as a result, Vice Provost Ropers-Huilman has decided to consider additional edits to the policy, which will return to the senate for a vote next semester.

Advocating for a Lactation Support Policy

Lactation Advocacy Committee members Sara Benning, Mikaela Robertson, Sarah Keene and Equity, Access and Diversity Committee chair Keisha Varma pose in front of a fireplace topped with the U of MN seal.
At the end of the 2017-18 academic year, the Lactation Advocacy Committee (LAC) approached the Equity, Access, and Diversity Committee (EAD) about partnering to advocate for the creation of an administrative policy on support for lactating parents. EAD drafted and approved a resolution, which so far has been endorsed by the Senate Committee on Faculty Affairs, the Civil Service Senate, and the P&A Senate. Major feedback from the P&A Senate included specifying that in addition to providing access to private space for lactation needs, the University should also empower nursing parents to nurse or pump during the course of their normal duties, if they prefer. Professor Keisha Varma, chair of EAD, along with LAC members Sarah Keene, Mikaela Robertson, and Sara Benning, plan to visit several other senate committees for feedback and possible endorsement in the spring. Their goal is to bring the resolution to the University Senate in April or May 2019. The group is also meeting with administrators from various parts of the University, including University Services and the Office of Human Resources. The LAC also reached out to the Senate Committee on Educational Policy (SCEP) and the Office of Undergraduate Education (OUE) with a request to specify lactation time as a legitimate absence in the Administrative Policy: Makeup Work for Legitimate Absences. As lactation needs were already implicitely covered under the provision “medical conditions related to pregnancy,” OUE and SCEP approved the request to make it explicit by adding the words “including lactation.” They are working on a FAQ to clarify the requirements and expectations around missing class time for lactation needs. Above: LAC members Sara Benning, Mikaela Robertson, and Sarah Keene, and EAD Chair Keisha Varma.

Single Recordkeeper for Faculty and Optional Retirement Accounts

In early 2018, the Retirement Plan Governance Committee (RPGC) issued a request for proposal (RFP) to identify a single recordkeeper for the University’s defined contribution plans, including the Faculty Retirement Plan (FRP) and its optional retirement plans, the 457 Deferred Compensation Plan and the Optional Retirement Plan. The RFP was issued in connection with the University’s ongoing efforts to optimize both the recordkeeping and fund lineup structures of the University’s retirement plans. The intent of the RPGC is to move from the plan’s current multi-recordkeeper structure to a single-recordkeeper environment, thereby reducing administrative fees and burden while also allowing participants to more easily understand where their retirement assets are and how they are tracking toward their retirement goals. After a thorough review process, the RPGC selected Fidelity Investments as the vendor who could best address the University’s complex recordkeeping needs. 

Regarding the fund lineup, participants will benefit from a streamlined yet diversified range of low cost investment options. A key aspect of the fund lineup design will be the ability for participants to choose the extent to which they want to be involved in investment decision-making, from “do it for me” to “help me do it” to “I want to do it myself.” Communication about the new plan design and structure is tentatively scheduled to be rolled out in spring 2019. Representatives from OHR have spoken with several governance committees, including the Senate Committee on Finance and Planning (minutes), the Retirement Subcommittee (minutes), the P&A Senate (minutes), and the Civil Service Consultative Committee (minutes), to keep them updated on this process along the way.

A View from the Inside

For the Common Good of the University Community

Amy Pittenger
Professor Amy Pittenger, College of Pharmacy
Vice chair, Faculty Consultative Committee
Co-Chair, Provost's Child Care Advisory Committee

Earlier this year, the decision to close the Child Development Center (CDC) was met with significant pushback from the campus community. Parents, faculty, staff, and students employed various methods to voice their concern about the decision, including involving University Senate shared governance to advocate on behalf of its constituents. Toward that effort, the Faculty Consultative Committee (FCC) engaged in discussions with President Kaler and Provost Hanson, and many other governance groups gave input as well. At the urging of the FCC and many other campus stakeholders, Provost Hanson convened a Twin Cities campus-wide advisory committee, in partnership with University governance, to work with University Services and academic administration to examine cost-effective options for the provision of high-quality child care for the children of faculty, staff, and students. The committee was charged to look at the issue from varied angles and with no foregone conclusions, and its work involved an assessment of the University’s ability--either alone or with one or more public/private or nonprofit partnerships--to scale high-quality child care service to serve more families. The goal for the committee was to craft a report with recommendations, which would then inform the development of any future RFP for child care services on campus.

The 20-member Provost's Child Care Advisory Committee embraced the challenge and worked over the course of several months to study the historical and current child care context, using peer benchmarking, campus community feedback, and national reports. The committee confirmed the demand and importance of high-quality child care across the University’s community and the essential competitive role it plays in recruitment and retention of talented faculty, staff, and students. In addition, early child care education experts provided guidance on the curricular and other aspects that informed the committee’s definition of high-quality child care. With the assistance of the leadership of University Services, different financial models were examined to inform pricing structure recommendations. Throughout the process, the committee was focused on maintaining quality and expanding access and capacity.  

After the committee’s report was submitted to Provost Hanson, she affirmed the guiding values outlined by the committee, which then informed the decision to integrate the Shirley G. Moore Lab School and the CDC and to establish a standing advisory committee as an oversight structure to ensure quality metrics are maintained. I am pleased to inform you that the committee’s report will now serve as the guide for the development of future RFPs for any additional child care partners on campus.

On behalf of co-chair Dan Feeney and the entire committee, I wish to extend our appreciation to Provost Hanson and Vice President of University Services Mike Berthelsen for their extraordinary support. It is important for me to note that Provost Hanson demonstrated her commitment to the success of the committee’s work by devoting significant resources to the committee.  

I also want to  thank University Services Chief of Staff Paige Rohman and Assistant to the Provost Kate Tyler for their outstanding work. They played a significant role in the success of the committee, including the drafting of the committee’s report.

In my opinion, this is but one example of what shared governance can accomplish when we all--faculty, staff, students, union leadership, and the administration--come together for the common good of the University community.

University Senate Governance Working for U

Each senate has an executive-- or "consultative"-- committee. Members of the consultative committees are elected to represent the respective bodies.

Faculty Consultative Committee

The Faculty Consultative Committee (FCC) kicked off the academic year with its annual retreat where its first item of business was a conversation with Regent Abdul Omari, chair, Presidential Search Advisory Committee, and Brian Steeves, executive director and corporate secretary, Office of the Board of Regents, about the presidential search process. In addition to learning about the search process, Regent Omari solicited members’ input about important qualities and characteristics the next president should possess. Other retreat topics included international student issues, liberal education curriculum redesign, trends in library data archiving and open access, research burden, and panel discussions about the challenges and issues faced by non-tenure track faculty.

During the fall semester, the FCC was consulted on a number of policies, including, but not limited to: Compensation for Academic Professional and Administrative Employees; Modifying Appointments of Academic Professional and Administrative Employees for Financial Stringency; Faculty Development Leaves; Grading and Transcripts; Relocating Employees; and hearing about proposed dependent care language for Traveling on University Business.

The FCC also established two ad hoc task forces this fall: the Task Force on Free Speech and Respectful Climate, charged to explore ideas for how to best advance the University community’s collective position around free speech, and the FCC Composition Task Force, charged with addressing the lack of Rochester faculty representation, term/contract faculty and faculty-like academic staff representation, and bargaining unit faculty on the FCC.

At its December 6th meeting, the FCC hosted an Intellectual Futures discussion. The topic was The Future of Educational Delivery: Quality, Economy, and Access, which focused on what will and should higher education look like in the future. President Kaler and Provost Hanson as well as others with significant online teaching experience from the Crookston campus participated in this discussion.

Student Senate Consultative Committee

The Student Senate Consultative Committee (SSCC) discussed a variety of issues this semester and met with a variety of personnel from across the University. Topics included a discussion with the Office of Academic Support Resources on a possible plan to streamline processes and fees for students accessing their diplomas and transcripts. Currently, a student is charged fifteen dollars each time they request an official copy of their transcript or a duplicate diploma. The new proposal would include a one-time fee of $225 when the student first enrolls, allowing them full access to their transcripts at any time while minimizing the number of transactions they would have to make to obtain copies. The proposal would also provide a cost-savings to the University.

Additionally, the SSCC and Student Senate had multiple opportunities to interact with and provide feedback to President Kaler and his office on a number of topics. At the November Student Senate meeting, Julie Reuvers, deputy chief of staff for policy and initatives, provided an update on several topics including the President’s Initiative to Prevent Sexual Misconduct. Reuvers reported that the initiative has turned into more of a community effort including a system-wide campaign called “It Ends Here” that is helping to promote culture change throughout the University. Later that month, the SSCC visited with President Kaler to talk about his final goals as president while the University searches for his replacement. Kaler stated that he is focused on a number of issues prior to his June 30, 2019 retirement date, including a productive session at the legislature, which will focus on the University’s funding for the next two years. Two additional areas of his focus include forwarding a recommendation to the Board of Regents on the renaming of certain University buildings and finishing strong in the University’s philanthropic campaign.

Civil Service Senate Consultative Committee

The Civil Service Consultative Committee (CSCC) started the academic year with a retreat in August. Members discussed recruiting initiatives for the coming year and developed strategies to fill vacant Civil Service Senate seats. Elections for those seats were held in November and all Twin Cities openings were filled with new senators. The committee followed the presidential search closely. They identifed qualities that civil service constituents would like to see in the next president and shared that information with the Presidential Search Advisory Committee. At the October University Senate meeting, Becky Nelson, CSCC chair, pointed out a lack of reference to the important role of University staff in the presidential position profile. Also in October, the CSCC passed a resolution to create a Joint Compensation Commission, which aims to identify and advocate to resolve compensation issues for civil service and P&A employees. Four civil service employees were appointed to the commission (Sara Howard, Ray Muno, Maggie O’Neill and Missy Juliette) and an initial meeting was held on November 29, 2018, to discuss the scope, output, strategy, and structure of the commission. CSCC leadership also partnered with P&A Senate leadership to visit the Duluth campus in early December to meet with campus leadership, campus staff governance, and constituents. The CSCC also continues to partner with the Office of Human Resources to work through Job Family Study issues affecting civil service employees. The committee looks forward to meeting with President Kaler in February to discuss issues affecting civil service employees and the priorities of the President’s Office.

P&A Senate Consultative Committee

Much of the work of the P&A Consultative Committee (PACC) this semester has focused on the provisions in the Administrative Policy: Non-Renewal of Appointment for P&A Employees. The PACC hopes to engage the administration in revisiting and perhaps rewording the policy so that it better aligns with the policies of other staff groups on campus. Additionally, this fall, the PACC and the CSCC recognized that their constituents had many of the same questions and concerns around compensation. With four representatives from both the P&A and Civil Service Senates, a Joint Compensation Commission (JCC) was formed. The P&A members of the newly formed JCC are Emily Becher, Adolfo Carrillo Cabello, Shannon Farrell, and Sean Poppoff; the chairs of the PACC and CSCC will serve on the committee as ex officio members. PACC and CSCC leadership also traveled together to the University of Minnesota Duluth campus, along with P&A staff member Ingrid Nuttall, chair of the Social Concerns Committee. They met with Vice Chancellor for Student Life Lisa Erwin and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Fernando Delgado, and had discussions with constituents.

University/Faculty Senate Recaps

October 4, 2018 Meeting

Professor Cathy French presides over a University Senate meeting
The October 4, 2018 meeting of the University and Faculty Senates focused on the search for the University’s next president. The meeting took place just after AGB Search was hired to replace Storbeck Pimentel & Associates as the search firm because Storbeck Pimentel had taken on Michigan State University’s presidential search. Managing Principal Dr. Roderick McDavis and search consultants Dr. Sally Mason and Dr. Garry Owens from AGB Search, along with Humphrey School for Public Affairs Dean Laura Bloomberg, vice chair of the Presidential Search Advisory Committee, were present at the meeting to engage in discussion with senators. Among the themes emerging from senators’ questions and comments were the importance of recruiting diverse candidates for the position, concern over the possibility of hiring a president without experience in academia, and representation on the Presidential Search Advisory Committee. Above: Professor Cathy French, vice chair of the University and Faculty Senates, presides over the meeting.

November 1, 2018 Meeting

At the University and Faculty Senate meeting on November 1, 2018, President Eric Kaler provided updates to senators on the President’s and Provost’s Advisory Committee on University History, which was charged to look into naming and renaming buildings in the wake of the "A Campus Divided" exhibit. He said that based on that committee’s recommendations, College of Liberal Arts Dean John Coleman and Professor Susanna Blumenthal had been appointed to co-chair a task force charged with deciding whether and how to rename Coffman Memorial Union and the other three buildings named in the exhibit. He also provided updates on the restructuring of the Academic Health Center, the M Health Agreement, the President’s Initiative to Prevent Sexual Misconduct, the biennial budget, and the various University leadership transitions that are impending or underway. Kaler also urged senators to vote in the midterm election, noting that the outcome of the state legislature could have a large impact on the University, as four regents seats will be filled in February 2019. Provost Karen Hanson briefed senators on the discussion around campus child care and the report of the Provost’s Child Care Advisory Committee.

The Faculty Senate approved changes to the Administrative Policy: Grading and Transcripts, and engaged in a lively discussion about proposed changes to the Administrative Policy: Faculty Development Leaves.

 

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