Meeting started 10:31 a.m.
The minutes of the
Sept 2, 2014 were approved
The dean shared with the academic council (AC) that Zandria Haines would be leaving at the end of this week, Friday, 9/19/2014. Zandria has been with the dean’s office for three years. She and her husband will be returning to Washington D.C. The dean and the committee applauded Zandria for her service and wished her well.
Consent Agenda
Malcolm discussed the new course proposal process, and indicated that the new electronic submission process was working. He reminded the AC of the timeline for A&S course submissions. FYS and General Education courses follow a different process. The dean asked David Lefkowitz to explain the process for the Gen Ed courses to the council. David shared that there will be a two-semester lag between when faculty propose a course for a field of study and when it could be offered for a field of study. The other change that will be made is to invite faculty proposing a field of study to come and meet with the Gen Ed committee. He hopes this will increase the transparency of the process. David will try to get all of the information on the website. He also reminded the council that when they fill out the study abroad course approval forms, and they have the option to count a course for a field of study, they are encouraged to consider whether the course meets the goals of the field of study requirements. He reminded AC members that they should consider reviewing courses that were approved some time ago to ensure the current syllabi still meet the criteria of the various fields of study.
The dean stated there is a consent agenda with three courses proposed on it. Questions were raised about staffing implications and resource need for the two proposed film production courses so those were divided from the consent agenda.
The dean recommended considering the Religious Studies course as part of the consent agenda, and asked if anyone had any objections to that course. A member asked to divide the course from the consent agenda. The dean asked for a motion to approve the course. The motion was seconded but not approved, pending further information and discussion. All three course proposals will be presented as items for discussion at a future meeting.
The dean made a short presentation about endowed and restricted funds. She stated that this topic has implications for most of the department chairs and many of the programs. The dean clarified the kinds of funds they may see in reports. The dean’s office aims ensure that accurate information about the funds is made available to the department chairs. Terri Weaver has created a pathway so that when a chair steps down, the report will go to the new department chair. Terri Weaver has also begun meeting with new department chairs to review any endowed or restricted funds available to benefit the department.
The dean asked Walter Stevenson to lead a discussion of restricted and endowed funds. He asked how did these discretionary funds come into existence? Who is involved in the fundraising? One of the responses was that it comes from yearly donations from the university’s alumni. It was also mentioned that at one point, the institution wanted to increase the percentages of alumni donating to the university so they gave people the chance to give directly to their department.
The dean explained that if someone gives a gift, for the benefit of classical studies, it is required to be spent for that purpose. Typically, the department should receive a report and should be able to charge permissible expenses against it. If the department chair charges against a restricted fund, Terri Weaver provides a review to ensure that the charge is permissible. The University controller is responsible for overseeing the proper expenditure of all restricted funds.
The council discussed sending out thank you notes to the donors and also the issue of not contacting the donors directly. The council would like clarification about whether or not there are any restrictions on them as chairs thanking people directly for these funds. The dean said that Academic Council could invite Advancement to talk about their process and how faculty might be involved in that.
The dean asked the council how many have traditionally received reports about their discretionary accounts. The dean shared that the Dean’s office is working with the central administration to clarify the process by which gifts are recorded for the benefit of the departments. The deans’ office wants to make sure that departments know what funds they can spend and permissible uses for spending them. Terri shared that the controller’s office is working to define what the permissible uses are for each restricted fund. They are also conferring back to her to make sure the departments are receiving the correct reports.
Discussion ensued about how files are maintained (e.g., in spreadsheets), and what information is contained in those files (e.g., who the donor is, contact information, etc.). Terri will work with all new chairs and program chairs to make sure they can read the spreadsheets in a way that makes sense to them.
Discussion continued about faculty’s involvement in Advancement. Some indicated they understood why faculty could compromise Advancement’s plans for fund-raising. The dean shared the potential for a better working partnership between the faculty and Advancement, which she thinks only, has upsides.
The AC came back to the question of whether the chair, dean or provost (or any of those) are authorized to spend these restricted funds. A suggestion was made if Tom Gutenberger and Shannon Sinclair could come to AC meeting to discuss this. The dean responded that if this is a conversation that the council would like continued, then they could do that.
The council discussed having deficits at the end of the year and pressure coming from central administration to use discretionary funds. The dean addressed this. She shared that if you have a surplus in your lecture budget, you cannot use it to cover an operating budget deficit. If you have a surplus in your travel budget, you cannot use it to cover a deficit in your lecture or operating budget. However, a department chair can use operating surplus or discretionary funds to cover deficits in lecture or travel budgets. Thus, the dean’s office will set out the options for department chairs to ensure that they do not end the year with budgets in deficit.
It was asked how does the university interpret historical gifts that no longer exist? The dean shared that it would require a legal process to broaden the purposes for which a restricted fund may be used.
The dean explained that at the end of this year, the Dean’s office will do a three year historical analysis of all departments’ budgets, so that the department chairs and the dean’s advisory council will be able to see any historical patterns.
It was noted that these are some of the same issues that faculty are having with travel budgets. As the dean has allocated funds to summer research or other projects, there are areas that haven’t grown. The dean noted that the PBB process enables departments to make requests and the primary function of the dean’s advisory is to evaluate them and set priorities through collective recommendations.
A question was raised about the class of ’92 gift and its approved uses. The dean indicated she would explore the appropriate use of this type of restricted fund.
The dean communicated with the AC that she has heard that they want to have a discussion with Advancement about having a better partnership between the departments and the fundraisers. She will roll this issue forward to the early part of spring semester. Also the dean’s office is analyzing travel budgets and she will bring back that information to Academic Council. She also wants to hear from the faculty meeting.
The dean shared that her goal is to support the department chairs as scrupulous stewards of money given to the university by donors. She wants department chairs to know what the permissible uses of their restricted funds are and how to charge those funds. She shared that the central administration has worked on this project for many months.
Meeting adjourned at 11:46 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Cynthia Johnson
