Draft Agenda

Thursday, October 6, 2005

1:00 pm- 3:00 pm by audioconference

Bridge # 1-800-519-1987, conference code *2948929*

Fairbanks site: Carter Conference Room, Butrovich Building, Fairbanks Campus

Draft Agenda

1. Call to Order and Roll Call

Members present:

Lisa Sporleder, Chair of the Council; Chair, Staff Alliance; President, Statewide Administration Assembly

Joe Blanchard, Speaker Pro-Tem, Coalition of Student Leaders; President, Associated Students of UAF

Bob Kizer, Member, Staff Alliance; President, UAA APT Council

Paul Layer, Member, Faculty Alliance; President, UAF Faculty Senate

Anthony Rivas, Member, UAA Assembly; President, Union of Students of UAA

Maya Salganek, Member, Staff Alliance; President, UAF Staff Council

Lynn Shepherd, Chair, Faculty Alliance; President, UAS Faculty Senate

Jan Vendever, Vice President, UAA Assembly

Joe Hayes, Executive Director, UAF Alumni Association, ex-officio

David Woodley, Coordinator, UAA Alumni Association, ex-officio

Staff:

Pat Ivey, Executive Officer, System Governance

Jodi Bailey, Admin. Coordinator, System Governance

Guests:

Mark Hamilton, President, University of Alaska

Joe Beedle, Vice President for Finance

Roger Brunner, University General Counsel

Debra Carter, Employee Communications Specialist

Mike Humphrey, Director, Benefits

Betty Dupee, Senior Budget Analyst

Saichi Oba, Acting Associate Vice President, Student Enrollment and Management

2. Adopt Agenda

MOTION: passed without objection

“The System Governance Council moves to adopt the agenda for the October 6, 2005 meeting. This action is effective October 6, 2005.”

3. Approve April 21, 2005 Minutes

MOTION: passed without objection

“The System Governance Council moves to approve the minutes for the April 21, 2005 meeting. 6, 2005. This action is effective October 6, 2005.”

4. Chair’s Report

Lisa Sporleder welcomed to the first System Gov Council meeting of the academic year, the first time out of four opportunities to sit down and talk with President Hamilton about important issues of the day.

5. President Hamilton

How we currently see Juneau situation. Real (from notes and tape).

6. Draft Governance Regulation Attachment 6

Regulation was rejected. JJ was supposed to have vetted the draft with university general counsel but no one in gc has seen it. There are a couple of things that conflict with Board policy. BoR policy says systemwide constitutions would approve constitutions and regulations state they would be sent to presidents for his info. A through E looks pretty good but trouble starts after that. After that there are things that don’t belong in regulation. Brunner trying to cut down on regulations. A lot of orgs try to put the law into their manual and if you do that, if the law changes, then the manual has to change. So mention law but don’t repeat it. K.1, the constitutions go to the president for information. K.2 Pat explained that Vice President for University Relations has the same role as th e chancellors for the statewide administration assembly. Pres wants L1 last two paras taken out.

Roger will talk to Wendy and then get with Sporleder to estab a committee to fix it. Question is who should work on it or hand it back to the Staff Alliance. Consensus was to hand it back to the Staff Alliance to come back with a proposal. Larry Foster was on the committee before and can serve as a resource again. Sporleder will ask Larry. Joe Blanchard is interested as

MOTION send to Staff Alliance for further work; then back to Sys Gov Council. Passed.

7. Employee Communications Specialist

Debra Carter has recently taken the position of employee communications specialist Part of the job involves being at governance meetings. The university culture is new to her. She is defining the job over the next two or three months and wants to improve communications between administration and employees and intercommunications among statewide employees themselves.

What is the official source for communications. And from whom? For instance, rural sites have a listserve and if you’re not on it, you don’t get the information, other major events that affect other campuses. Saichi said that is one of the intents of the MyUA portal has a place for that. But for now, there needs to be a blog somewhere. What do you do in the meantime. (get Debbie to Tom Moyer and

8. EEO/AA goals

Regent Hayes asked JJ to present a report on the university’s goals and how we were meeting them to make sure there is diversity among all the university groups at all levels. Regent Hayes is available and very eager to learn more about the university and is available. There is not a dedicated position at statewide for this but the duties are shared by Jeannine Senechal and Earlene Bowden at UAF.

9. Employee Education Benefits Attachment 9.

Pat Ivey gave a report on the above.

10. Needs-Based Financial Aid Attachment 10.

Saichi Oba said the needs based financial aid program sits with the Board of Regents who will probably act in February. Bor has had the report since May. At the September Bor, discussed looking at ACPE returns to the state as a viable source but that proved not to be a viable option because they plow most of their income back into borrower benefits, i.e., reduced interest rates. Alaska was the only state without a needs based program and funded the Alaska Advantage grant from foundation funds and produced $500,000 out of their operating budget for the purpose of which UA received $447,000. Other financial aid outreach included two round tables, one last fall and another this fall. A year ago, the discussions were in fits and starts. On Sept 15 the same group met again with more info on how the program might be funded. People think college is possible without debt. February FAFSA Frenzy resulted in a quantum leap in the number of FAFSAs filled out. There is a partnership outreach with Lumina, ACPE and UA to bring families in to community centers and get them help in filling out the forms. This is the third year of producing the systemwide year book for ninth graders.

Would this be a lobbying opportunity? Saichi said yes and this was one of the state goals of the regents. There are many people who think this is the way to fund needs based financial aid. The university would have more control over their own program. A few testimonials from students who are needy. The state received 127,000 from the feds in LEAP funds which ACPE has matched three times. Saichi will come to the Staff Alliance meeting on Tuesday to explain senior citizen tuition waiver.

11. FY07 Operating and Capital Budget/Legislative Overview

Lynn Shepherd has worked to have a Faculty Alliance member take up the role of academic liaison on the Business Council. Sharish Patil is that representative. Ted Kassier has also been appointed to the Council. The .Business Council meets monthly and meets on site quarterly

The Board of Regents gave administration guidance in their April and June meetings for capital projects. The criteria is extensive and asks for strategic and academic plans and student use and enrollment, how much from private and other sectors and how can we keep up the project once built. Capital plan contains everything and may extend up to ten years. Some items may not be ready to go for several years, and some are ready to go now. The Board clips off everything beyond six years. The Board meets next Tuesday Oct 11.

The plan governor wants for gas line will realize $2 billion per year beginning 2014 so don’t constrain us by not funding buildings and thereby constricting university ability to meet research and training needs necessary to be prepared for 2014.

In operating budget the increase contains $32 million in fixed costs. On Nov 1, the Bor will approve the budget, then budget is submitted to governor by Nov 15.

Regarding capital budget, safety and code and ADA compliance comes first; then renewal and replacement, and then after that comes new construction and first on the list is the science facilty in Anchorage to the tune of $77 million.

EDUCATE THE STATE ON WHAT THE REAL NEEDS ARE. Commonwealth North or somebody needs to do the advertising campaign. University advancement, funded by the foundation, has received $500,000 per year. Wendy, Pete, Kate and Pat Pitney are using that.

Pitney is meeting with Frasca at OMB on Oct 12 to get some of this deferred maintenance through dedicating the earnings from the Amerada Hess fund in the permanent fund for the purpose.

12. System Governance Reports

12.1 Faculty Alliance Attachment 13.1

Faculty Alliance is working on representation on all statewide advisory councils so now those exist. Priorities include getting clarification on academic planning in the budget process. Ted Kassier is going to spearhead the process. Dealing with policy and regulation changes so Craig can take them to the Bor in December. There is a budget allocation for competitive research and we need definition of that before it gets fixed into the budget

12.2 Staff Alliance Attachment 13.2

Staff Alliance is working on timing of staff salary grid adjustments and employee healthcare costs increases and synchronization of same. Working on staff and supervisor training. Lack of supervisor training is a morale breaker. Also looking at general staff training and letting everyone know what is available. Talking about the wellness project and how that is going to work. There is some trepidation about how that will work. Tracking the MyUA project, the senior tuition waivers and a resolution of appreciation for Hans Gunderson

12.3 Coalition of Student Leaders Attachment 13.3

Joe Blanchard, recently elected Pro tem for the Coalition, met twice before and after the Bor meeting on tuition increases; wants the Bor to state what tuition increases are in the offing several years in advance, but voting on only one year at a time. Training student governments on how to operate and getting ready for Juneau.

12.4 Alumni Associations Attachment 13.4

13. Local Governance Reports

Passing on local governance reports at this point.

13.1 UAA Attachment 14.1

13.2 UAF Attachment 14.2

13.3 UAS Attachment 14.3

13.4 Statewide Attachment 14.4

14. Comments

Lynn wants the Council to address on Distance Education and on the rising costs of textbooks. The distance education issue has been taken over by a steering board and IT committeebut these groups need to routinely report to the System Governance. Next meeting is December 1`4.

15. Adjourned at 3:30pm

References:

1. 2005-2006 Members

http://gov.alaska.edu/Home/who/council/

3. Approve April 21, 2005 minutes

http://sygov.swadm.alaska.edu/Council/Minutes/2005/04-21.html

6. Draft Governance Regulation – Final

http://gov.alaska.edu/staff/2005-03-03.governancereg-admin.pdf

8. EEO/AA Policies and Regulations

Regents Policy 04.02.010

http://www.alaska.edu/bor/policy/4p/p04-02.html

University Regulation 04.02.010