Meeting minutes: Boulder Faculty Assembly Executive Committee

Editor's note: In addition to news coverage of meetings of the systemwide Faculty Council and Staff Council, the Faculty and Staff Newsletter posts meeting summaries or minutes as provided by councils and assemblies at the campus level. To submit material, please e-mail Jay.Dedrick@cu.edu.

BFA Executive Committee Meeting – Jan. 10, 2011

Attending

• Joe Rosse, BFA Chair
• John Toth, BFA Secretary, BFA Student Affairs Committee Chair
• Susan Moore, BFA Diversity Committee Chair
• Karen Ramirez, BFA Administrative Services & Technology Committee Chair
• Paul Chinowsky, BFA Faculty Affairs Committee Chair
• David Kassoy, Retired Faculty Association Representative
• Horst Mewes, Arts and Sciences Council Chair
• Bill Kaempfer, Vice Provost, Associate Vice Chancellor for Budget and Planning
• Anthony De La Rosa, CU Student Union Liaison (CUSG)
• Sierra Swearingen, BFA Coordinator

Not Attending

• Ahmed White, BFA Vice Chair
• Bill Emery, BFA At-Large Executive Committee Member
• Melinda Piket-May, BFA At-Large Executive Committee Member
• Catherine Kunce, BFA Administrator Appraisal Committee Chair
• Jerry Rudy, BFA Budget and Planning Committee Chair
• Carmen Grace, BFA Academic Affairs Committee Chair
• Marki LeCompte, BFA Faculty Compensation and Benefits Committee Chair
• Elizabeth Bradley, BFA Intercollegiate Athletics Committee Chair
• Ned Friedman, BFA Libraries Committee Chair
• Uriel Nauenberg, Former BFA Chair
• Andrew Poppe, President, United Government of Graduate Students (UGGS)

The Boulder Faculty Assembly Executive Committee held its regular meeting on Monday, Jan. 10, 2011, in ATLAS room 229. Chair Joe Rosse presided. The meeting convened at 4:05 and adjourned at 5:35 p.m.

Chair's Report

• A construction project along Broadway has begun, which will eventually create an underpass at Euclid next to the UMC. Documents on the timing and details of the project are available on the BFA homepage, under the heading "items of interest."
• The BFA has discussed with the Chancellor's office increasing the BFA's involvement in faculty networking events. In addition to hosting its own events, the BFA will sponsor the Chancellor's commencement breakfasts this spring and in the next fiscal year.
• The BFA has funds available for BFA Committees to promote their agendas. The funds can be used in a variety of ways, including travel, conferences, and events. For example, Rosse will attend the January COIA conference on behalf of the BFA's Intercollegiate Athletics Committee. (Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics.)
• The Information, Communication, and Technology (ICT) Exploratory Committee, which the Chancellor has charged with looking at options for Journalism curricula at CU, will meet with the Provost next week to discuss the first draft of its report. A final draft is due and will be made public on February 1st.
• The BFA's fall semester was taken up with discussion and hearing special reports. In spring semester the BFA and its committees should move forward with items of business. There are four BFA meeting remaining in this Senate Year: February 3, March 3, April 7, and April 28.

BFA Excellence Awards Selection Committees

Rosse and Swearingen described a variety of ways in which the BFA has in the past recruited members for its three selection committees. While the list of former recipients has always been a source of recruits, in recent years the three committees have reliably been composed solely of the former year's recipients. Rosse requested input on how the BFA should constitute committees this year. The committee agreed that the BFA office should continue to use the list of former recipients to recruit committee members, perhaps going back five years to ensure confidentiality of the membership and an adequate number of potential recruits.

BFA Recruiting Event

The BFA will soon introduce or re-introduce one or more regular events to its annual calendar. One of these, to occur in late winter or early spring, would be a recruiting event for the BFA and its committees. Rosse requested input on other ideas. Discussion followed. Comments included the following:

• Committees could prepare posters to present at the recruiting event, explaining their specific missions, recent accomplishments, and issues, perhaps using recent annual reports as source material. The Executive Committee could prepare an additional poster or series of posters to explain what the BFA does, how it interfaces with campus administration, and what it has accomplished.
• Networking events see increased participation if they are tied with a panel, a speaker, or a specific issue, rather than being merely a reception. They are more effective if they include components that encourage unacquainted attendees to meet and interact.
• The recruitment event could benefit from having the Chancellor or the Provost speak on the importance of faculty governance.
• A faculty governance conference or symposium could help reduce confusion among faculty about the BFA's structure and functions.
• The BFA might consider an initiative to orient faculty, especially junior faculty, to the campus-wide commencement ceremony, and institute an expectation that faculty attend.

Discussion: Ad Hoc Outreach Committee

Rosse reminded the committee that at its December meeting the BFA created an Ad-Hoc Committee on University Outreach (BFA-R-120910) to advocate for CU with leaders in the Colorado community. Several initiatives with a similar mission are already underway in various parts of the University. The BFA must look into what is already being done, to avoid inefficiencies such as duplicating work. For example, Provost Moore is creating a new plan for strategic communications, and Associate Vice Chancellor for Outreach and Engagement Anne Heinz has developed an involved outreach program and website (outreach.colorado.edu). Provost Moore and A.V.C. Heinz will attend the Executive Committee meeting on January 31st to report on these initiatives.

Discussion followed, including the following:

• UCB is looking at changes to the now vacant position of Associate Vice Chancellor for Strategic Communications.
• A major issue in thinking about strategic communications is the large variety of individual audiences, both internal and external.
• Another important aspect is identifying individuals and groups that can assist the University to explain its message.
• Faculty Council has created a communications committee of its own. Any faculty are welcome to join.

Committee Reports

Diversity Committee - Chair Susan Moore's report included the following:

The Committee is composing a motion on campus climate issues both on- and off-campus, following feedback it received after its roundtable event last semester. The committee may finalize a draft of the motion at its meeting on January 19th.

The Committee is sponsoring a Diversity & Inclusion Roundtable event on February 16th, 12:00 to 2:00 p.m., to involve all diversity groups, boards, and committees on campus. The Committee is planning to offer lunch to guests that RSVP.

Possible initiatives in the future include how to revitalize campus resources that highlight diversity and inclusion, such as the "Contemporary University and Student Citizens" course, and how to use infusion concepts (as opposed to solely "add-on" concepts) to address diversity and inclusiveness on the Boulder campus.

A system-wide diversity event will be held Feb 4, 2011 from 10:00 to 3:00 on the Colorado Springs Campus.

Faculty Affairs Committee

Rosse introduced Paul Chinowsky, the newly elected Chair of the BFA Faculty Affairs Committee, attending today's meeting. Chinowsky reported that the Committee discussed three primary issues last fall: (1) how the campus could implement portions of the BFA's instructor status resolution, (2) the salary increase process of summer 2010, and (3) mid-career faculty concerns. The mid-career issue has to do with a relatively large number of Associate Professors using faculty support services, expressing dissatisfaction, leaving CU, and/or not being promoted to full professor. The Committee will report on these issues at the Executive Committee meeting of February 14th.

Special Report: Arts and Sciences Council

Arts and Sciences Council Chair Horst Mewes reported on the ASC's efforts to implement some of the recommendations in the BFA's motion on instructor status within the College of Arts and Sciences (BFA-X-M-022210). Mewes' report included the following:

• The ASC took the BFA's motion as a starting point for its discussions, and made changes to that document tailored for the College of Arts and Sciences. The ASC's intention of sharing its revisions to the BFA's motion is not to request any action on the part of the BFA with regard to its own motion, but rather to report what the ASC is doing to implement in Arts and Sciences some of the recommendations in the BFA's motion. The BFA office distributed the ASC's revisions to the Executive Committee in advance of today's meeting. [Please contact the BFA office if you would like a copy.]
• The ASC and Arts and Sciences Dean Todd Gleeson are in the planning stages of a review system within Arts and Sciences to address some of the concerns in the BFA's motion. That system, which will be before the ASC for a vote next week, would create a college-wide committee to review cases where split votes or negative votes affect an instructor's contract renewal. The Committee would be activated separate from (and prior to) involvement of the ASC's Grievance Committee, and could perhaps be a subcommittee of the ASC Personnel Committee.
• The Chair of the BFA's Ad-Hoc Committee, which generated the BFA's motion (Rolf Norgaard) has expressed his support for the ASC's approach to the motion.

Discussion followed, including the following perspectives:

• The "Professor of Practice" title could be a relatively low-impact way to acknowledge faculty, especially in the professional colleges.
• Any implementation plans for the motion in the College of Arts and Sciences could be brought to the Chairs and Directors meeting.
• It was suggested that Arts and Sciences' efforts could energize the other schools to also address the concerns in the BFA's motion.

Rosse asked that the BFA Faculty Affairs Committee review the ASC's document and consider further opportunities to implement the concepts in the BFA's motion.

Adjournment. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:35.