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In attendance: Jiri Adamec, Julie Albrecht, Angela Pannier, Ellen Paparozzi, Ann Fenton, Julie Peterson, Kathleen Brooks, Jessie Brophy, Ronnie Green
On the phone: Thomas Hunt, Randy Pryor
Update on Roads on East Campus
The committee asked Dr. Green for an update on work and repairs on east campus. Dr. Green shared that some roads are city roads and mandated by their repair schedule. He would assume that parking/facilities would address the other needed repairs over the summer, but he does not know the answer on road repair specifics. Julie shared that the loading dock behind her building has a huge hole that has not been fixed for almost a year. Dr. Green will pass this information along to Barry Shull to see how it is planned to be addressed, as it is likely tied to the completion of the new east campus wellness and recreation center.
Committee on Policy for Appointment & Promotion
The committee asked Dr. Green for an update on the necessity of this committee. Dr. Green shared that he would like to take a look at the current committees relative to those existing within the Faculty Senate. The first 3 years he was here, the IANR Liaison Committee asked him every year whether or not this committee was needed. At that time he felt it was valuable, but it is also apparent to him over time that it is a bit redundant. The Faculty Senate represents all forms of faculty and is peer-elected. We have mechanisms in place to meet with that group. Every month we meet with all of the IANR Faculty Senators on the day of the meeting. All of the deans and the Vice Chancellor attend if possible. There is not a set agenda. We go to answer questions and updates. Perhaps we could ask for an agenda from the IANR faculty senators. Dr. Green also meets at least four times a year with the Faculty Senate executive committee, as well as speaks at 1-2 full Faculty Senate meetings during the year with all of the minutes shared with the entire faculty. If there is something that happens in the IANR Liaison Committee that does not happen there, we could assure that happened in the Faculty Senate setting. He would like to look at this holistically over the next year; however, we want to protect the opportunity for dialogue between the Vice Chancellor’s office and the faculty. He assured the group that they would also run this by the Faculty Senate group if this is something they choose to pursue. This would carry over to CPAP and the nominating committee. All would be changed at the same time to better meet the needs of IANR.
Library Changes
The committee asked what information was used to decide to move all but one librarian to city campus. Some faculty are feeling isolated by these changes. Dr. Green shared that the dean of the libraries led that discussion. Dean Nancy Bush would be able to answer these questions better and share what process was used to make these decisions. Nancy would also be able to address the staffing plans. Ellen has a meeting with Nancy to discuss some of these issues and concerns. [Ellen has since sent Angie her notes from her meeting with Nancy Bush, and Angie has shared with the committee. Additionally two town hall sessions have been scheduled in the beginning of fall semester for IANR faculty with Dean Busch].
Balancing IANR/Academic Affairs
The committee asked Dr. Green to elaborate on how IANR will be served in the next year during his split appointment in Academic Affairs. Dr. Green said that he feels very confident prior to assuming the split appointment. He thought very carefully about it, and the conclusion was that it would be best to go with this plan instead of having two interims. There is a very good leadership team in place across IANR. He has full confidence that the administration is running well, particularly under the leadership of associate vice chancellor Yoder and the deans. There also are very few big decisions coming up in the next year with the exception of the next steps in the state-wide resource optimization planning that is now focused on eastern Nebraska. He will continue to be engaged in that process. He is more concerned with Academic Affairs being underserved than IANR under the dual appointment given that IANR is well covered and he will be on a learning curve relative to the academic affairs side where a number of bigger decisions are on deck. Growth plans and expansion issues in academic affairs are and have been more challenging. A balanced schedule is planned to allow him to spend time on both campuses, and he plans to be away from campus less. All agreed that there is an opportunity here to bring both campuses closer together. Angie asked if the SAC for the SVCAA will remain the same. Dr. Green stated that it is not dissolved. The search has been delayed until the next chancellor is named. The President hopes to name a chancellor in early 2016. Once that happens, then the SVCAA committee can move forward. If there are ways the position could be enhanced, he will recommend that to the new chancellor.
Roads Scholar Tour
Ann has worked on the schedule. Since Dr. Green cannot attend, the committee asked who could replace him on the tour. Dr. Green suggested that they could see about trying to get a dean on the tour, as they would be good choices as well to interact with the new faculty. Dr. Green shared that the budget for the tour is covered out of the VC Office.
5:00pm Adjourn
Recorder: Zaneta Hahn
Upcoming Meetings:
No upcoming meetings. New meetings will be scheduled for the fall in July.