November 8, 2002

President Leon Giles opened the meeting at 12:15.

Agenda

Approval of Minutes

Cherrington Global Scholars Program

Report on Division of Athletics, Recreation and Wellness

Provosts Report

Motion Concerning Payroll Advice Notification

Committee Reports

New Business

Approval of minutes

Minutes approved pending further review and corrections by senators.

Cherrington Global Scholars Program: Eric Gould

Highlights:

The committee is comprised primarily of faculty; there are two staff members from the Office of Internationalizations Study Abroad Program.
The committee is visiting all academic units to provide an overview of the program.
Units are encouraged to identify universities and third-party programs abroad to add to the list of approved sites. A site list is available at the Cherrington Global Scholars website: www.du.edu/globalscholars/
A questionnaire has been distributed to mentoring groups to determine the level of student interest in study abroad, the sites most students prefer, and whether students have sufficient language skills to study in non-English programs. Results are expected in winter quarter.
The committee seeks to ensure that the initiative is an equal opportunity offering that is fully integrated into the Universitys academic program.
The program will formally begin in FY2004.

Questions for Eric Gould:

Don Stedman requested electronic updates. Leon Giles offered the senates list-serve to facilitate the request. Nancy Sampson expressed concerns regarding the academic integrity of the program. Students are requesting pre-approval for courses but offering little detailed informationsometimes nothing more than course titles. Gould concurred that ensuring program quality is important and a difficult problem to solve. The catalogs of approved programs are available, and faculty can check the website for a list of approved institutions. He suggested that the program might need to establish a formula for developing a list of authorized courses to facilitate advising. Joe Szyliowicz asked if most of the opportunities are in special programs. Gould explained that there are a few special programs but in most cases the course of study is one undertaken by students native to the country. The goal of the program is that US students will not go abroad and hang out with Americans. Joe Szyliowicz asked about the projected number of participating students. Provost Coombe responded that once the program is totally subscribed, the projected number is 60% of juniors. Joe Szyliowisz suggested that the impact of losing 15% of the junior class is significant. Provost Coombe noted that for the program to be successful it must be embedded in majors and minorsarrangements must flow out of the departments. If this happens, there will be a major shift in how departments will manage their teaching loads. Dick Scudder asked what percentage of the programs will be in English as opposed to another language. Gould responded that the committee is working on those statistics; however, the vast majority is in English. Provost Coombe explained that to get to the projected levels of participation, English programs will be the majority for a while. We currently dont have enough students with fluency to take programs in other languages. Gould added that the program is investigating summer immersion experiences, especially for music students and student athletes.

Report on Division of Athletics, Recreation and WellnessDianne Murphy

Highlights:

The NCAA certification process has been completed, and DU has been fully certified as a Division I athletics program.
DU boasts 327 student athletes in 19 varsity sports.
The year has been extremely successful. In addition to staff earning numerous honors, DU scored 241 points and ranked 75^th in the Sears Directors Cup which recognizes the best overall athletic programs in country.
Student athletes earned academic honors as well. 101 student athletes were on the Sunbelt Conference Commissioners Honor Roll list. DU teams earned an overall GPA of 3.244, and 44 student athletes earned 4.0 GPAs. Additionally, three student athletes won NCAA post-graduate scholarships.
DU continues to be in compliance with Title 9 and is considered a national leader for gender equity.
DU remains committed to racial diversity in recruiting student athletes as well as staff and coaches. The program can report more success with student athlete recruitment than with staff and coaches but continues to work toward the goal of diversity.
The Division of Athletics, Recreation, and Wellness boasts one of the most comprehensive programs in the country with a well-established adult program and strong youth programs. The Coors Fitness Center has a strong community membership base as well.
A future goal for the Division is self-sufficiency but not at the cost of partnerships across the University community. Murphy emphasized that it is imperative to work toward a solid partnership between academics and athletics. If self-sufficiency is sought at all costs, DU can risk suffering from the ills that are going on with athletic programs all over the country.

Questions for Dianne Murphy:

Katherine Reed asked who set ticket prices and suggested that there is not enough of a financial incentive to purchase the four-packet rather than individual tickets for four events. Murphy responded that the entire staff sets the ticket prices and that they will look into the issue of pricing and four-pack incentive. John Kuark asked where the Division stood with regard to revenue. Murphy explained that the Division missed its projected revenue goal by two million the past year. They have reduced revenue expectations for this year. John Kuark asked about sustainability. Murphy responded that the original expectations were too aggressive but the new ones are more attainable. DU needs to do a better job with basketball revenue; however, that is a statewide problem and is not DU-specific. Further goals include increased fund-raising, annual giving, and endowments. The Division is working hard on these issues. DUs athletic program may never be totally self-supporting, and Murphy stated that she is not sure that it should be. Provost Coombe added that the current budget is one that athletics can make because they took some actions to develop a workable budget. However, a subsidy/subvention of a little less than five million will be necessary for a while, which is not unusual. Catherine Potter noted that we talk about budget as if it is only athletic ticket sales but event sales also is important and is an area that could be improved. Murphy agreed and said that the athletic/recreation program revenue has shown tremendous success. Joe Szyliowicz asked if there are plans to move to different league in the future. Murphy explained that a number of factors, including the lack of a football team and competition from professional franchises in Denver limited DUs options. The Sunbelt Conference was the only league we were able to get into. The West Coast Conference was an option but not where we want to be. We fit the Mountain West Conference academically, geographically, and competitively, but we have the two problems: we dont have football, and we do not have the fan support in basketball. You may only join the Mountain West Conference at their invitation, and we have not been invited.

Provosts Report

Highlights:

The merit process is underway, and the increase stands at 4% for this year.
The Provosts office has developed a tool for five-year budget projections. 2004 will probably be the tightest of the coming five years as we are tucking away funds for the Cherrington Global Scholars program.
The Board of Trustees, at their last meeting, discussed a new thrust for DU planning and development. The University now intends to focus more directly on academic quality as the building campaign winds down. The focus will be on programs as well as resources for faculty and students. The provost will be talking with faculty and developing strategies.

Questions for Provost Coombe:

Joe Szyliowicz asked what kinds of issues were raised during the board meeting with regard to faculty. Provost Coombe listed salary, support for scholarship and research, and the possibility of developing some star faculty. Rick Leaman asked about the restructuring of undergraduate studies. Provost Coombe referred the senators to the electronic memo that went out to deans on November 7, 2002. The details of the restructuring are in the memo, but the goal of the change was to clarify the role of academic programs and to ensure that such programs in undergraduate studies reside in the company of other academic programs. Susan Sadler inquired about Jo Calhouns position and the impact of the change on the provosts office. Provost Coombe explained that Calhoun will be associate provost and will report to him. Margaret Whitt asked to whom Wright would report. Provost Coombe stated that she will report to him as well. Dennis Barrett asked who will chair the undergraduate council. Provost Coombe stated that the deans will rotate chair. If we find that rotating the chair among the deans is not working, we will consider alternative approaches to identifying the chair. He hopes to build the notion of four undergraduate deans working together for a common goal. Gordon Von Stroh asked if the vice-provost model is being eliminated. Provost Coombe said that it is not. Although there has been a reduction of vice provost positions, the model is still workable.

Motion Concerning Payroll Advice NotificationDon Stedman

Motion: The Faculty Senate is not in favor of the blanket elimination of paper notification of monthly payroll status. The Faculty Senate would not oppose a system in which individual faculty are offered an option including retention of the monthly paper notice.

Action: Motion passed

Committee Reports

Helga Watt: The Student Relations committee is working on student evaluations, and suggestions are welcome. The committee met with the graduate student organization and asked if their issues are being met sufficiently.

Andy Divine: Academic Planning met to make awards to faculty research funds and forwarded recommendations to James Moran. Recommendations will go out within a week.

President Leon Giles: Senators will receive requests for nominations for the John Evans Professorship soon. Please give some thought to nominating someone, as this is one of our most prestigious honors.

Save the date: January 17, 2003. Joe Docksey and Mark Rogers (DUs architect) will join us for a tour of the new performing arts facility. The tour will begin at 1:30.

New Business

There was no new business.

Meeting Adjourned: President Leon Giles adjourned the meeting at 1:37.

Respectfully submitted,

Barbara J. Wilcots