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In attendance: Julie Albrecht, Kathleen Brooks, Ann Fenton, Tom Hunt, Angela Pannier, Randy Pryor
On the phone: Julie Peterson
Roads Scholar Tour
The committee has decided to move forward with having a tour in August. Highlights of the tour would be Mead, Kimmel, Brownsville, Clay Center, North Platte, Grant, Grand Island, Beatrice, as well as a vineyard stop. The committee would like to plan the tour around Dr. Green’s schedule; however, he can’t say what the calendar will be like. Regardless of any possible job change for Dr. Green, he will need to be out of state in August anyway. His recommendation is to go ahead and set the tour. The administrator going on the tour will more than likely be Dr. Yoder, as it is easier to schedule with him than with a dean. Julie Albrecht said that any new hire within the last two to three years will be invited.
Liaison Committee’s Role as it Relates to Non-Faculty Staff
A concern came out from one of the Research and Extension Centers, asking if staff members are represented by the Liaison Committee. The committee asked Dr. Green how he views this committee and the representation of non-faculty. He stated that it is accurate to say that this committee is representative of the faculty—all levels of educators, but it is not intended to represent staff. Jaimie will find out if staff members are included on the faculty listserv that distributes the minutes. [Following the meeting, Jaimie verified that the faculty listserv does have some staff members included.]
Bylaw Change/Standing Committee Discussion
The committee has discussed bylaw changes that would result in sunsetting the Nominating Committee and the Committee on Policy for Appointment and Promotion. Today the committee unanimously agreed to put out a ballot for the faculty to vote on this bylaw change. First, the Liaison committee will contact the members of the Nominating Committee and Committee on Policy for Appointment and Promotion to let them know that they will be disbanded.
The committee has begun discussing names and looking to who will replace Angela Pannier and Julie Albrecht, whose terms will expire June 30. This is the last meeting this current committee will have with the Vice Chancellor this academic year. In May they will have a conference call amongst themselves to nominate the new members if the bylaw changes are approved.
Update on Campus Moves/Renovations/Building Planning
The moves that have occurred already went well. Last summer was the heat of the moves, reassignments, etc. The effects were far reaching across campus. It is all largely complete, and came in under budget. Food Science and Technology has settled in very well, and they would all say they are pleased to be at NIC. The bus service works well.
The backfill of the old Food Industry Complex is complete. A couple of labs on second floor still have moves left that are associated with new faculty. Parts of Entomology and Professional Golf Management have moved to redesigned spaces in Keim Hall.
Happening now is a challenging but less moving of people construction project. The new residence hall on East Campus is on schedule, and the superstructure will be in place soon. It is scheduled for occupancy in the fall of 2017. CASNR is doing some planning regarding learning communities and designs in the new building.
The plan for the new dining hall is to be placed on the current Miller Hall site as a new wing of the Nebraska East Union. As of now, the tentative plan is to connect the new wing of the Union to the existing structure with a glass atrium. This plan could change, it has not been finalized.
It is expected that most of the funding for the C.Y. Thompson project will be raised by the end of 2016. The design has been approved by the board, and just needs to be bid out. The Union expansion is scheduled to begin in the spring of 2017, and CYT in mid-2017.
The committee asked Dr. Green where the people currently in Miller Hall will move. Currently housed in Miller, Engler and Rural Futures will be relocated temporarily. The C.Y. Thompson design is to have them there.
The Vet Diagnostic Center is on schedule, possibly a little ahead. The plan is for it to sync with the residence hall completion. The VDC faculty are planning to move in the summer of 2017.
The Burr/Fedde Reunion is planned for June 9-11, 2017. Some items will be saved during the destruction of the buildings. There is a desire on the part of CEHS to relocate Ruth Staples to the southern part of the space, with the Rec Center claiming a portion for their facility’s outdoor space. The new residence hall will house just under four hundred. Burr/Fedde are currently housing between two hundred and sixty to two hundred seventy. There are no plans for changes in Love Hall. According to housing, the building is in good shape.
The committee asked about housing downtown. The Neihardt complex needs to be renovated. The only way to do it is to have a place to move the students out during the 2-year renovation process. Cather/Pound is scheduled to come down next year. The new facility will go in where the tennis courts are currently located just south of Harper/Schramm/Smith/Village complex. Downtown will ultimately have an increase of two hundred fifty to three hundred beds.
The committee asked if housing rates will need to be raised in order to build the new dorms. Dr. Green answered yes. There is debt being retired from Student Affairs that will rollover to the union project ($17M), so fee increases will not be required in that case.
Ann Fenton commented that it is unfortunate that increases need to be tacked on to everybody. Looking forward, the tuition of a 4-year school becomes an issue when you have children approaching college age. Dr. Green stated that the capital plan before the legislature called for a 1% tuition increase per year for four years (although it was not passed).
Academic Planning Committee Review of APR Guidelines
The Academic Planning Committee has the responsibility of being involved and monitoring that 5-year academic review guidelines are being followed. The APC has been looking at the APR guidelines, and a couple of key concerns were raised, heavily oriented toward IANR. The Institute has academic administrators involved in the APR in ways that APC felt was over reaching. The IANR practice has been that the UNL representative in the APR was a department head from a different department than the one being reviewed. APC feels that this is an administrator rather than another faculty member. There are pros and cons to the guideline of not having an administrator participate; however, having an internal member be an administrator is beneficial because they have knowledge of our guidelines and procedures. Sometimes IANR deans would be present during some of the review meetings, which was seen as inappropriate. Dr. Green brought up to the APC that it is time to review and tighten up the language of the APR guidelines. A review of the guidelines is conducted every ten years, with the last one being in 2006. APC has already been meeting and working on some of these guidelines.
For two of IANR’s most recent APR’s, one was conducted with an administrator present and one was not. Time is spent writing responses that wouldn’t be necessary if an administrator could be present, according to the deans.
Committee Items
Ann Fenton will be the new chair of the Liaison committee for the next year.
The committee asked to know where the money is going from the 5% tax. Dr. Green answered that all faculty have a copy of that report. The deans identified the priorities and sent out the results to the department heads, and should have been passed along to faculty. The committee stated that was not. The fund is on track to be close to a million and a quarter this year. It gets passed back out to the highest deferred maintenance projects, across all of IANR.
Finally, the committee asked when the new chancellor will be named. Dr. Green said that he expects answer in the next week to ten days. The process is being followed very diligently, and the university is also wanting to get budget answers from the legislature.
Meeting adjourned at 3:57 p.m.
Recorder: Jaimie McGowan
There are no more meetings scheduled. New meetings will be scheduled for the fall in July.
Distributed to the IANR Faculty on May 6, 2016.