WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY
ACADEMIC SENATE
PROCEEDINGS OF THE POLICY COMMITTEE
February 1, 2010
Present: N. Barrett; C. Parrish; L. Romano; M. Sengstock; H. Tse; A. Vlasopolos;
W. Volz; J. Whittum-Hudson; A. Wisniewski; S. Wolfson; J. Woodyard
Guests: Stephen Calkins, Associate Vice President for Academic Personnel; John Davis, Vice President, Finance and Facilities Management; Robert Kohrman, Associate Vice President, Budget, Planning and Analysis; Michael McIntyre, Chair, Academic Senate Budget Committee; Hilary Ratner, Vice President for Research; John Taylor, Associate Professor, Business Administration; David Williams, Dean, Business Administration
The items marked with an asterisk constitute the Actions of February 1, 2010.
1. Budget Work Group: Provost Barrett, Vice President Davis, Vice President Ratner, and Associate Vice President Kohrman comprise the Budget Work Group, a subgroup of the PresidentÕs Cabinet. President Noren has asked that the Group meet weekly with the Policy Committee to discuss the budget and strategic directions. The members of the Budget Work Group explained their purpose. They are looking at options for the coming fiscal year. A memo was sent to the Deans for information, and a similar memo will be sent to the Vice Presidents this week. Policy Committee members asked if they could have a copy of the memos and of the responses of the Deans and Vice Presidents. Mr. Kohrman said that he would ask the President if he is able to distribute the memos and he would ask the Deans and Vice Presidents if he is able to distribute their responses.
[Mr. McIntyre joined the meeting.]
Mr. McIntyre said that some members of the Academic Senate Budget Committee were concerned that the Budget Work GroupÕs meeting with the Policy Committee means that the Budget Committee will be bypassed. Provost Barrett said that Mr. Davis, Mr. Kohrman, and she will continue to meet with the Budget Committee. Policy Committee assured Mr. McIntyre that it is not interested in becoming its own budget committee. Although the Budget Committee does not have a meeting scheduled until March 22, Mr. McIntyre said that he would schedule a meeting any time the administration thinks there is useful information.
Mr. McIntyre said that the Budget Committee, at its meeting of February 1, was concerned about the spending of $6 million to repair parking structure #1. Mr. Woodyard had served as the faculty representative on the University Parking Committee and had argued for the administration to develop a business plan for, among other things, routine maintenance of the parking facilities. The Budget Committee passed a motion asking that the administration postpone the plans for repairing the parking structure until there is a plan in place to perform routine maintenance.
[Mr. Davis, Mr. Kohrman, Mr. McIntyre, and Ms. Ratner left the meeting. Associate Vice President Calkins, Dean Williams, and Mr. Taylor joined the meeting.]
*2. Temporary Charter of the US/Canada Border Policy Institute: Dean Williams, Mr. Taylor, and Mr. Calkins met with the Policy Committee to advocate for the approval of a one-year temporary charter for the US/Canada Border Policy Institute. Dean Williams and Mr. Taylor spoke about the opportunities to generate external funding with the Institute. Having an Institute will give the issue visibility and it will be more credible in fundraising. Suggestions were made about other colleges that might be involved in the Institute. Dean Williams said the Institute would build connections with the global supply chain community and would help the School of Business place students in the field.
[Dean Williams and Mr. Taylor left the meeting.]
While Policy Committee members liked the idea of the Institute, they thought more work needed to be done before a temporary charter should be issued, including updating the budget and beginning work on forming an advisory board. Policy Committee postponed consideration of the question, and advised Mr. Calkins to inform Mr. Taylor what should be done to improve the proposal.
*3. Faculty Tenure and Promotion: A member of the University-wide Faculty Tenure and Promotion Committee has resigned from the Committee. Policy Committee and the Provost jointly selected a replacement.
[Mr. Calkins left the meeting.]
4. Report from the Chair:
a. Credit hours for the winter 2010 term are up 4.5% over the 2009 winter term.
b. Scholars Days are February 6, 7, 13, and 14. Over one thousand students are expected to attend. The students who were invited have ACT scores of at least 21 and a GPA of at least 3.5. About 600 of those who attend Scholars Day will attend WSU. About one-half of the 600 will be admitted to the Honors College. All students who attend Scholars Day and are admitted will receive an $8,000 scholarship over four years. The average ACT score of students in the Honors College is 27 or 28.
c. Provost Barrett wants to see the Accelerated Masters Program in place. It has to be approved by the Graduate Council.
*5. Proceedings of the Policy Committee: The Proceedings of the Policy Committee meeting of January 25, 2010, were approved as submitted.
*6. Repairs to Parking Structure 1: Policy Committee received the motion that the Budget Committee adopted at its meeting of February 1 requesting Òthat the Board of Governors postpone action on the AdministrationÕs proposal to repair Parking Structure #1 until the Administration prepares a business plan for dealing with maintenance issues in the parking facilities and presents that plan for consultation to
the Parking Advisory Committee.Ó Policy Committee endorsed the action of the Budget Committee and forwarded it to the Board of Governors.
7. Board of Governors Meeting: Policy Committee received the following documents that are on the agendas of the Board of Governors Budget and Finance Committee, Academic Affairs Committee, and Personnel Committee and the full Board meetings of February 3, 2010: the Audited Financial Report for Fiscal Year 2009; FY 2009 Year-End Budget Report; September 30, 2009 Audit Report; Budget Updates for FY 2010 and FY 2011; Affirmative Action Status Report; Development and Alumni Affairs Donation Report for the months of November and December 2009; the Capital Campaign Report from 1/1/09 to 11/30/09 and 1/1/09 to 12/31/09; and the Oakland Center: Disaster Recovery Facility for Computing and Information Technology. Policy CommitteeÕs discussion focused on budgetary issues. It was noted that there was a $6 million balance for FY 2009 and there was no consultation with the faculty representatives about how to use the money. Some money was used for financial aid and the rest was put in the Rainy Day Fund.
[Mr. Romano left the meeting.]
8. Nominations for the Provost Search Committee: President Noren responded to the suggestion that there should be broader representation on the search committee for the Provost, specifically faculty from the humanities and the social sciences and representation from the academic staff. Wolfson will request nominees from the Academic Senate members.
9. Nominations for the Task Force for On-Line Instruction: Policy Committee reviewed the nominations that were received. They revised the list, and will submit the names to the Provost if they agree to serve. Wolfson will need to verify acceptance.
10. Parking Advisory Committee: Policy Committee nominated a faculty member to serve on the Parking Advisory Committee. Wolfson will need to verify acceptance.
11. Agenda for the Senate Meeting: The drafted agenda for the Senate meeting of February 10, 2010, was revised.
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Approved as submitted at the Policy Committee meeting of February 8, 2010