Content
In attendance: Julie Albrecht, Kathleen Brooks, Angela Pannier (chair), Ann Fenton, Julie Peterson, Randy Pryor, Vice Chancellor Ronnie Green
On the Phone: Julie Peterson
Excused: Thomas Hunt
Library Town Hall Meetings
The Committee asked Dr. Green about the changes to the CY Thompson Library. Dr. Green shared that he has asked Nancy Busch to come address the East Campus community regarding the changes. The 2 town hall meetings will have the same content and will be held on September 14th and 18th at 3:30pm. Dr. Green will attend the first meeting, and Ron Yoder will attend the second. Nancy Busch has a plan and proposals in place for the board.
Roads Scholar Tour
The committee thanked Dr. Green for funding the Roads Scholar Tour. They also thanked Ann Fenton for her hard work planning the tour. Dr. Green shared that he received a great deal of positive feedback. Ann mentioned that she would like to see ARDC and North Platte added to the schedule. Dr. Green could not remember if any of the tours had gone to ARDC. Ann also shared that the tour is great for new faculty but many older faculty would enjoy and benefit from a tour like this as well. Perhaps at some point it could be opened up. The committee wondered if a tour should take place in May of 2016.
Eastern District Reorganization
The committee asked for an update on the Eastern Nebraska District reorganization. Dr. Green plans to address this topic in the All Hands meeting on September 10. At that time he will announce the interim director of the Eastern District, who will start on November 1. This person will help implement the changes. The district will not start on November 1, but the new director will. There will possibly be 4 associate directors as well. This will be laid out at the All Hands Meeting.
Update on Standing Committees
Dr. Green asked the Liaison Committee to take on the responsibility of drafting a revision of the IANR Bylaws and the standing committee guidelines. He would like them to make recommendations to him on the duties/purpose of the 3 standing committees:
- Liaison Committee
- Nominating Committee
- Committee on Policy for Appointment and Promotion.
The committee should present their recommendations to Dr. Green at the next meeting and then a decision will be made.
Phase II Hiring
The committee asked for an update on the Phase II faculty hiring initiative. Dr. Green shared that Phase I is complete. He handed out the list of 27 positions announced last fall for Phase II (attached at the end of these notes). 34 positions have been mentioned. The breakdown of those 34 is this: 27 are funded out of the base budget, 3 additional positions are funded from Program of Excellence funding in the Virology Center, and 1 is funded by the Nebraska Ag Coop Council There are 3 positions that originally were in the list that are involved in community development. They are being formulated with the Rural Futures Institute as funding becomes available. The list of 27 includes the names of the 10 accepted offers thus far. At this time, there are approximately 6 more in the offer stage, and 6 others posted for applicants. Dr. Green shared that the market seems to be hotter now. We have to go back for a second round on more of the positions this time. Dr. Green shared that at the All Hands meeting he will talk about the 8 additional CORE positions we approved in the spring. These positions have been authorized to recruit for the people to arrive after 7/1/2016. In addition to those, we have approved 7 additional positions. 4 are in SNR – Fisheries and Wildlife - joint with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. 2 water positions were recently hired, from 1 posted position. Dr. Green is pleased that this is about where we expected to be when we announced Phase II hiring a year ago. Angie asked when he expected to complete this phase. Dr. Green hoped by the end of this academic year. Angie also asked if there will be a Phase III. Dr. Green shared that only 2 phases were planned at this time.
Roads Scholar Planning Change
After the Phase II update, Angie suggested that perhaps a Roads Scholar Tour in August of 2016 would be more appropriate. Place on the agenda for December.
Bylaws Change
Dr. Green shared that a Board of Regents Bylaws change has been proposed. It originated in Academic Affairs with Lance Perez. He handles faculty matters. He caught the disparity in the bylaws and proposed to legal counsel that we should revise them to make them current. What was in the bylaws is not really what we are doing in regards to non-tenure track faculty and their rights upon termination. The language proposed corrects and brings it in line with what was meant. It outlines that they have the same process tenured faculty have. Dr. Green met with the Exec Committee of the Faculty Senate about this in June. It is required to be reported as an item on the agenda 2 months voting. John Bender had noticed an additional piece that needed to be added. They are good changes and will be approved at the October board meeting. In the course of that conversation, the question about Extension Educators came up. Should they be included in this same bylaw change language? It has created quite a conversation. The way they are handled in our system doesn’t quite fit the definitions in the bylaws. The question is – is it fair that if there is a termination there would be a 90 day notice instead of the process in the bylaws? Dean Hibberd has reviewed departures of extension faculty over the past 5 years and it shows that forced terminations are very rare.
Other Items
Julie A. shared a comment from a faculty member, requesting that in the future when administration is choosing to move faculty around on campus please don’t choose the week before classes are starting. Dr. Green understands that concern. Regrettably in this current instance, no matter how hard everyone tried to prevent this from happening, delays happened beyond our control.
Dr. Green shared that in general the moves went exceedingly well this summer. Food Science and Technology was very pleased. The smoothness is a real credit to Barry Shull.
The committee asked about a timeline for the Chancellor and Senior Vice Chancellor searches. Dr. Green shared that first a Chancellor will be named, then they will move forward with the Senior Vice Chancellor search. The Dean of ASEM is moving forward now. The College of Architecture Dean will move forward when the college is ready.
The meeting adjourned at 4:30pm.
Recorder: Zaneta Hahn
Distributed electronically to the IANR Liaison Committee for review: 9/14/2015
Distributed electronically to the IANR Faculty: 9/18/2015
Upcoming Meetings:
Tuesday, December 1, 2015, 1:00-3:00pm
(agenda item – nominations for standing committees & roads scholar tour)
2 meetings in the Spring - TBD