Dean Skerrett called the meeting to order at 10:30 a.m. The minutes of the November 27, 2012 meeting were approved.
All proposals on the January 15, 2013 consent agenda were approved.
Discussion Agenda:
1. Green office presentation with Megan Zanella-Litke
Kathleen welcomed Megan Zanella-Litke, Sustainability Coordinator, to Academic Council. Megan thanked the dean for the opportunity to visit and went over the history and accomplishments of the Sustainability office at the University of Richmond. Megan then presented the goals of the sustainability program on campus. Among the priorities of the Sustainability Office are to work towards reducing GHG emissions from their 2008 levels by 2020 and reach climate neutrality by 2050. The biggest challenge on campus has been renovating the infrastructure of older buildings in order to make them more energy efficient. Megan reviewed the climate action plan focus areas, which are administration, infrastructure energy use, transportation, conservation, material management, and education.
Megan congratulated the A&S dean's office for being the first office on campus to join the Green Office Program and encouraged A&S academic departments to participate. The dean noted that it if one member of the department takes the lead, then it easy to become part of the Green Office program. If you would like to participate in the sustainability program, contact Megan by email or phone.
2. Student Fellowships and mentoring stipends
Associate Dean Vincent Wang gave a presentation on the recent history of funding of student fellowships and faculty mentoring stipends. There were 248 total summer fellowships awarded in 2012: 99 of the grants awarded came from the School of Arts & Sciences, 54 grants came from an anonymous donor, and 95 grants came from external grants, department endowments, and other sources. This year, we continue to develop funding sources to meet student and faculty aspirations.
The A&S summer research fellowships will be among the seven programs available through the Richmond Summer Fellowship program that has been advanced by the President’s office. Dean Wang noted the February and March deadlines for the undergraduate research applications. If a student cannot be funded through A&S (or an external grant), they will remain eligible for funding through the Spider Research Fellowship administered through the President's Office. The students’ original applications will rollover to the Spider Research Fellowship applicant pool. The A&S research program retains its independence, and will pay student stipends at previous levels.
The dean encouraged everyone to express any concerns or suggestions about this process to her or Dean Wang. There was a question regarding differentiating between an internship and a fellowship. Dean Wang distinguished an internship as an experiential learning opportunity for a student who is off campus and supervised by a non-faculty member. A research fellowship is an opportunity for a student who is on campus and supervised by a faculty member. There will be an opportunity to discuss these distinctions in more depth at the faculty meeting on January 16, 2013. The Chief of Staff, Lori Schuyler will be present.
3. Report on budget process-
The dean reported on the completion of the new A & S program based budget planning process for FY14. By the deadline for requests at the end of October, the dean's office received over 40 submissions, many of them “fast-track” options that requested no new funds or positions. Dean’s office staff assembled all requests in binders, organized alphabetically by department or program. The new requests were highlighted in a spreadsheet to assist the Dean’s Advisory Council to keep track of its recommendations.
The Dean's Advisory Council met weekly throughout November and early December. The academic deans and staff met with Information Services leadership to consult on any A & S requests that have IT implications. The dean relayed the outcome of these conversations to the Dean’s Advisory Council to inform decision-making. The Dean's Advisory Council made recommendations to allocate continuing funds to some operating budgets, to fund special requests with one-time money, and to fund one tenure-line position. The Dean’s Advisory Council made further recommendations to advance five requests for continuing funds to Planning & Priorities. In each case, these requests concerned positions or programs that are both strategically important and that A&S cannot fund independently.
The dean accepted the Dean's Advisory Council’s recommendations but made some additional allocations within A & S and a modification to the ranking of requests advanced to Planning & Priorities. The dean showed the departments and programs that received continuing operating funds, and the departments and programs that received one-time project funds. The dean showed the staff position requests and the tenure-line faculty request that advanced to Planning & Priorities. The dean is currently sending individual reports to each department chair and program coordinator who made a request that explains the disposition of the request.
At the end of January, the dean will meet with the Dean’s Advisory Council to review the new program based budget process and to seek the members’ recommendations for improvements. We will continue this conversation in Academic Council so that we learn from our experience this year. Please do not hesitate to contact your Dean’s Advisory Council representative with your reflections or suggestions.
The meeting adjourned at 11:34am
Respectfully Submitted,
Zandria Haines
All proposals on the January 15, 2013 consent agenda were approved.
Discussion Agenda:
1. Green office presentation with Megan Zanella-Litke
Kathleen welcomed Megan Zanella-Litke, Sustainability Coordinator, to Academic Council. Megan thanked the dean for the opportunity to visit and went over the history and accomplishments of the Sustainability office at the University of Richmond. Megan then presented the goals of the sustainability program on campus. Among the priorities of the Sustainability Office are to work towards reducing GHG emissions from their 2008 levels by 2020 and reach climate neutrality by 2050. The biggest challenge on campus has been renovating the infrastructure of older buildings in order to make them more energy efficient. Megan reviewed the climate action plan focus areas, which are administration, infrastructure energy use, transportation, conservation, material management, and education.
Megan congratulated the A&S dean's office for being the first office on campus to join the Green Office Program and encouraged A&S academic departments to participate. The dean noted that it if one member of the department takes the lead, then it easy to become part of the Green Office program. If you would like to participate in the sustainability program, contact Megan by email or phone.
2. Student Fellowships and mentoring stipends
Associate Dean Vincent Wang gave a presentation on the recent history of funding of student fellowships and faculty mentoring stipends. There were 248 total summer fellowships awarded in 2012: 99 of the grants awarded came from the School of Arts & Sciences, 54 grants came from an anonymous donor, and 95 grants came from external grants, department endowments, and other sources. This year, we continue to develop funding sources to meet student and faculty aspirations.
The A&S summer research fellowships will be among the seven programs available through the Richmond Summer Fellowship program that has been advanced by the President’s office. Dean Wang noted the February and March deadlines for the undergraduate research applications. If a student cannot be funded through A&S (or an external grant), they will remain eligible for funding through the Spider Research Fellowship administered through the President's Office. The students’ original applications will rollover to the Spider Research Fellowship applicant pool. The A&S research program retains its independence, and will pay student stipends at previous levels.
The dean encouraged everyone to express any concerns or suggestions about this process to her or Dean Wang. There was a question regarding differentiating between an internship and a fellowship. Dean Wang distinguished an internship as an experiential learning opportunity for a student who is off campus and supervised by a non-faculty member. A research fellowship is an opportunity for a student who is on campus and supervised by a faculty member. There will be an opportunity to discuss these distinctions in more depth at the faculty meeting on January 16, 2013. The Chief of Staff, Lori Schuyler will be present.
3. Report on budget process-
The dean reported on the completion of the new A & S program based budget planning process for FY14. By the deadline for requests at the end of October, the dean's office received over 40 submissions, many of them “fast-track” options that requested no new funds or positions. Dean’s office staff assembled all requests in binders, organized alphabetically by department or program. The new requests were highlighted in a spreadsheet to assist the Dean’s Advisory Council to keep track of its recommendations.
The Dean's Advisory Council met weekly throughout November and early December. The academic deans and staff met with Information Services leadership to consult on any A & S requests that have IT implications. The dean relayed the outcome of these conversations to the Dean’s Advisory Council to inform decision-making. The Dean's Advisory Council made recommendations to allocate continuing funds to some operating budgets, to fund special requests with one-time money, and to fund one tenure-line position. The Dean’s Advisory Council made further recommendations to advance five requests for continuing funds to Planning & Priorities. In each case, these requests concerned positions or programs that are both strategically important and that A&S cannot fund independently.
The dean accepted the Dean's Advisory Council’s recommendations but made some additional allocations within A & S and a modification to the ranking of requests advanced to Planning & Priorities. The dean showed the departments and programs that received continuing operating funds, and the departments and programs that received one-time project funds. The dean showed the staff position requests and the tenure-line faculty request that advanced to Planning & Priorities. The dean is currently sending individual reports to each department chair and program coordinator who made a request that explains the disposition of the request.
At the end of January, the dean will meet with the Dean’s Advisory Council to review the new program based budget process and to seek the members’ recommendations for improvements. We will continue this conversation in Academic Council so that we learn from our experience this year. Please do not hesitate to contact your Dean’s Advisory Council representative with your reflections or suggestions.
The meeting adjourned at 11:34am
Respectfully Submitted,
Zandria Haines
No comments:
Post a Comment