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The Arts and Sciences Council and Faculty of Arts and Sciences Meeting, February 20, 2018, 3:30-5:00

Meeting Minutes

Representatives present: Julio Baena, SPAN; Christine Brennan, SLHS; PHIL; Barbara Buttenfield, GEOG; Brian Cadena, ECON; Priscilla Craven, FRIT; Cathy Comstock, RAPS; Kim Dickey, AAH; Erica Ellingson, APS; David Ferris, HUMN; David Grant, MATH; Leslie Irvine, SOCY; Berit Jany, GSLL; Daniel Jones, HNRS; William Kleiber, APPM; Carl Koval, CHEM; Joanna Lambert, ANTH; Julie Lundquist, ATOC; Ramesh Mallipeddi, ENGL; Matt McQueen, IPHY; Stephen Mojzsis, GEOL; Yuko Munakata, PSYC; David Paradis, HIST; Lonni Pearce, PWR; Patricia Rankin, PHYS; Kelly Sears, FILM; David Stock, EBIO; Carol Wessman, ENVS;

Representatives not present: David Boonin, PHIL; Janice Brown, ALC: James Cowell, LING; Holly Gayley, RLST; John Gibert, CLAS; Kwame Holmes, ETHN; Janet Jacobs, WGST; Ted Stark, THDN; Ding Xue, MCDB

Also in attendance: David Brown, Robert Ferry, ex officio; Vilja Hulden, Jim White

Stephen Mojzsis called the meeting to order at 3:30PM.

Chair’s remarks, Stephen Mojzsis

The ASC’s statement in support of DACA students has been published in ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ Boulder Today and has been distributed to other news organizations; the BFA released a statement as well.

Professor Mojzsis and Robert Ferry attended the CMCI Faculty Council as ex-officio officers and are happy to have this relationship as a way to share information.

Professor Mojzsis reminded the ASC representatives that motions and agenda items are posted on the ASC website.

In 2001 a motion was brought to the ASC to invite members of the campus student government organizations to attend ASC meetings as non-voting members. In light of the ASC’s ongoing concern for ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ students, Professor Mojzsis would like to renew contact with student government.

Digital Humanities Graduate Certificate, Vilja Hulden, Online Education Committee Chair

Last year a new certificate in digital humanities was created. "The program is meant to attract both humanities and social sciences students hoping to apply new computational and digital methods to humanities and social science research, and students from more technical backgrounds interested in engaging the question of the impact of different technologies on people and society. The certificate also aims to promote collaborations among graduate students in a range of fields." The certificate consists of 9 credits at the graduate level. Professor Hulden asked the representatives to speak about the certificate in their departments; it is hoped a wide variety of students will get involved.  More information on the certificate is available on the Center for Research Data & Digital Scholarship website.

Strategic Planning Committee, David Brown, Chair

The SPC has been meeting weekly and working to give more substance to the three Strategic Imperatives:

Strategic Imperative 1: Teach to inspire the intellectual dexterity, rigorous exploration, and compassion required to engage with our changing world.

Strategic Imperative 2: Prioritize our research enterprise to define the frontiers of knowledge and solve important problems.

Strategic Imperative 3: Create a culture that welcomes all, inspires community, develops the individual, and engages the world.

The committee wants to share these with the college; members are meeting with various groups on campus. The Strategic Imperatives, along with the supporting bullet points, are on the committee’s website.

The SPC is asking the campus community to tell them, what items the committee is missing; what do you like; any other information.

Dean’s remarks, Jim White, Dean

The college is advertising for a new Associate Dean of Inclusive Practice and a new staff position: Student Recruiter.

Biochemistry is splitting from Chemistry and becoming its own department; Film Studies had many years ago requested a change of status from a program to a department; both of these should be approved by the Regents soon.

Two college buildings, Hellems and Guggenheim, are on the state list for construction projects for phased interior remodels.

Dean White has made a request to the Provost for continuing funds for additional personnel and advising; the personnel money ($560,000) was approved and Bernadette Stewart is putting together a list of immediate needs. The funding for advising hasn’t been approved but Dean White is optimistic.

New budget model for college 

The ASC Executive Committee developed a list of questions concerning the new budget model that was shared with Dean White prior to the meeting. Patricia Rankin, ASC Budget Committee chair, led the discussion and introduced the budget:

The budget has traditionally consisted of a base budget that doesn’t adequately fund A&S needs and a growth enrollment model which has limitations as growth on the campus also has limitations.

The campus may not want or be able to grow but may want to focus more on excellence. The Dean was asked to comment.

Dean White told the representatives that a 3rd way the college gets funding is by making specific requests to the Provost; these requests are outside the growth model.

A&S produces the largest amount of tuition dollars but receives the smallest percentage in return for running the college. The ASC Budget Committee has been discussing ways to receive a larger return. Dean White stated that fact-based arguments to the Provost are the best way to make a point and the Budget Committee has been asked to see what percentage of tuition dollars our comparable institutions receive. Professor Rankin made the point that percentages don’t always compare if ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ also has lower tuition. Also, a large percentage of our budget goes to buildings as ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ gets less from the state than many other universities in other states.

The representatives and the Dean discussed various financial issues in the college including.

• Three years ago a formula was set up for a return on student credit hours; this year, a change was made to the model which resulted in 2.8 million dollars less than expected.
• Engineering and Business get a “plus up” that A&S’s Natural Sciences should qualify for as well. Dean White hopes that change will be made next year.
• Are there built-in incentives for colleges to teach their own version of subjects that have been traditionally taught in another college?
• Should the Natural Sciences have a differential tuition model?
• If A&S is teaching business students, shouldn’t the college get a portion of the business tuition dollars?
• 95% of the budget is continuing funds not involved in the growth model.
• How much money is needed to “plug” the existing holes in our budget? To answer that question the college needs to decide its priorities, staff, start-up funds, maintenance, graduate opportunities?
• The problems we have today started with decisions made years ago.
• The enrollment numbers in the Arts and Humanities is lowering; how do we reverse this trend?
• Centers and Institutes in the Natural Sciences are generally self-funded. Arts and Humanities can’t receive money the same way. ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ will need a different funding model if we want our A&H students to have the same interdisciplinary research opportunities that our NS students have. The college needs to be able to guarantee money for a period of years to fund the A&H institutes.
• Infrastructure on campus is need to attract available funding.

Please send further feedback on budget issues to Professor Mojzsis to be discussed at a future meeting.

Academic probation

Associate Dean Kyle McJunkin is requesting input from the ASC for his committee exploring the change of wording in academic probation; there have been concerns about the semantics in changing terminology. If you are interested, please contact Professor Mojzsis.

At the BFA meeting, Mary Kraus and Kenneth Anderson presented a proposal on a campus-wide late drop policy similar to the proposal A&S submitted last year.

At the next ASC meeting, the Executive Committee would like the ASC to consider a motion with the intention to invite—at the status of ex-officio non-voting observers—the Chair of the CMCI Faculty Council or its designated representative. A discussion and vote will be held in March.

Meetings with the Provost concerning the Interim Dean will be held in February and a portion of the ASC March meeting will be dedicated to that discussion.

The Provost will present a timeline for the new dean search in March.

The Guardian Scholars Program is a program on campus that assists students who have been in foster care with mentors from the community. Professor Mojzsis would like the ASC to learn more about this organization and find out where we can help.

Professor Mojzsis would like the representatives to consider a secession of members of the Executive Committee to be contacted if the ASC chair isn’t available: 1. Leslie Irvine (Sociology; Chair of Curriculum); 2. Patricia Rankin (Physics); 3. John Gibert (Classics).  There will be a discussion and vote at the next meeting.

Professor Mojzsis asks for self-nominations for parliamentarian.

There will be a vote for chair at the April meeting.

SUEP invites us to assist them in meeting campus goals for recruitment, retention and success by participating in upcoming opportunities:

• Norlin Scholars Selection Process Application Review, March 2-9. Faculty, staff and current scholars are invited to read applications for 25-30 openings in the Norlin Scholars Program. Applications contain a short student profile and three brief essays. The process is electronic; detailed instructions will be provided.
• Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program Application Review, March 12-23. Applications will be provided to faculty by disciplinary category. A rubric and detailed instructions will be provided.”

Please contact Daniel Jones.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:57.

Minutes submitted by Janice Jeffryes