Minutes
Faculty Assembly, School of Liberal Arts
2:00–4:00 pm Friday, September 15, 2017, CE450
Faculty Attendees: Robert Aponte, Aniruddha Banerjee, Wan-Ning Bao, David Beck, Emily Beckman, Rick Bein, David Bell, Gail Bennett, Dennis Bingham, David Bivin, Ulf Jonas Bjork, Bill Bomquist, Amy Bombke, Maria Brann, Andy Buchenot, Jennifer Bute, Chad Carmichael, Thorsten Carstensen, Subir Chakrabarti, Charmayne Champion-Shaw, Mary Ann Cohen, Martin Coleman, David Craig, Kevin Cramer, Edward Curtis, Thom Davis, Andre De Tienne, Conelis, De Waal, Tijen Demirel-Pegg, Fred DiCamilla, Mitchell Douglas, Aaron Dusso, Owen Dwyer, Estela Ene, Amanda Friesen, Rosario Garnemark, Gina Gibau, Philip Goff, Nancy Goldfarb, Claudia Grossman, Sumedha Gupta, Jannah Haas, Ray Haberski, Kelly Hayes, Ronda Henry Anthony, Bruce Hetrick, David Hoegberg, Krista Hoffmann-Longtin, Mike Hughes, Susan Hyatt, Andrea Jain, Lynn Jettpace, Sumana Jogi, Daniel Johnson, John Kaufman-McKivigan, Mohammad Kaviani, Jason Kelly, Jaesoo Kim, Francia Kissel, Daniella Kostroun, Karen Kovacik, Christian Kraatz, Elizabeth Kryder-Reid, Missy Dehn Kubitschek, Keiko Kuriyama, Christopher Lamb, Kenzie Latham Mintus, Kathryn Lauten, Sarah Layden, Erik Lindseth, Vijay Lulla, Timoth Lyons, Jennifer Price Mahoney, Yin Hing Mak, Patrick Meister, Amanda Miller, Leslie Miller, Kyle Minor, Megan Musgrave, Anita Morgan, Gwendolyn Morrison, Paul Mullins, Patricia O’Neil, John Parrish-Sprowl, Lynn Pike, Mike Polites, Rob Rebein, Audrey Ricke, Nancy Robertson, Stephanie Rose, Anne Royalty, Steve Russell, David Sabol, Ronald Sandwina, Carly Schall, Jane Schultz, Daniela Schuvaks-Katz, Ian Sheeler, Krtina Sheeler, Susan Shepherd, Rebecca Shrum, Brian Steensland, Shana Stump, Vidhura Tennekoon, Elizabeth Thill, Jennifer Thorington Springer, Peter Thuesen, Joseph Tucker Edmonds, Thom Upton, Julie Vincent, Jing Wang, Scott Weeden, Rachel Wheeler, Kim White-Mills, Jefferey Wilson, Jeremy Wilson, Mel Wininger, Elee Wood, Iker Zulaica Hernandez
Guest Attendees: Eric Hamilton, Martha Rujuwa, Edith Millikan, Kathy Johnson, Camy Broeker, Jack Windsor, Rachel Applegate, Sam Walters, Shannon Kelley, Amy Jones Richardson, Lisa Julian, Kim Heavrin, Chris Schumerth, Ellen Van Der Voorde, Connie Ely, Rick Hansen, Gauri Drunumraju, David Heard, Tanner Hammock, Lauri Watkins, Martha Payne, Merle Illg
1. Call to order at 2:00 p.m. —Herbert Brant
2. Approval of the minutes from April 21, 2017
a. Minutes approved. Following approval, the Assembly moved from 405 to 450 to accommodate all attendees.
3. Update on the financial situation of the School - Kathy E. Johnson (Executive Vice Chancellor and Chief Academic Officer) and Camy Broeker ((Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance) a. Brant also introduced guests Jack Windsor (IFC Budget Affairs Committee), Margie Ferguson (Executive Vice Chancellor), and Rachel Applegate (President of IFC).
K. Johnson recommended an additional meeting later to do a “deep dive” into the fiscal situation. This is not a new problem; the decline started in 2010-11. Most of the credit hour loss has been at 300-400 levels which indicates fewer majors/minors in Liberal Arts. As a state, Indiana does prioritize higher education and has not seriously decreased funding; however, the state is pressured to condense the amount of time it takes to complete a degree. Legislation has had a big effect - number of courses we can require in a major, dual-credit, degree maps, 21st Century Scholars, etc.. We need to focus on those things we can control. Liberal Arts is crucial to the educational lives of our students; the school is not going to close. But numbers are changing, and we have an imbalance in the number of faculty and the number of credit hours. Banded tuition and degree maps have had an effect, but that effect has been generally positive.
This summer saw a >20% drop in enrollments from last year. Credits were expected to stay about the same, so that drop was devastating. No more cash is available to make up the shortfall, and fall is already below projections.
Johnson’s letter was based on policies found in the Faculty Guidelines. The university now expects a budget pro forma for the next five years to show how the school will become self-supporting and pay back any debts incurred. All faculty need to be involved. Johnson’s office is willing to help us in any way. Boyd Bradshaw’s office can help with an enrollment management plan; Ferguson’s office can help with faculty affairs.
Broeker said that RCM is great until enrollments start declining. They are hoping to help us be creative and pro-active in putting this plan together.
Earlier this week, Brant provided faculty an opportunity to submit questions. He compiled them, and Johnson then addressed them.
1. What will the response from campus be to our plan? How much are we expected to cut from our budget and when do we need to have these cuts made? a. Johnson said she wanted to encourage creativity. They have no firm expectations. Her office will provide as much feedback as possible as soon as possible. The plan is due October 31 because they have report to university administration. Camy Broeker said the plan is not set in stone; there is flexibility, but there is also accountability.
2. What recommendations do they have for cost-cutting options in other than faculty reductions? a. 80% of SLA’s budget is faculty salary/comp, so it needs to be on the table. In 2008, SLA had 216 faculty teaching 129,432 credit hours. Currently, SLA has 240 faculty teaching 121,000 credit hours. By comparison, School of Science has 62 fewer faculty teaching about 20,000 more credit hours.
Reorganizing degree programs to maximize credit hours is a possibility. Also doing a better job of coordinating the schedule would be effective. Fewer people scheduling classes would tighten up the balance.
Moving SLA programs back into Cavanaugh would help cut costs on rent we pay to other buildings. We may need to think creatively about space.
$1.5 million goes to associate faculty, so we need to look at that number as well. Johnson encouraged us to think creatively about all these options.
3. What recommendations are there for preventing drops in students/majors as faculty leave and are not replaced? a. Johnson suggested creatively thinking about our teaching strategies – enabling us to teach fewer sections with more students. Online offerings could be designed to maximize enrollment while not sacrificing pedagogy. In the summer, online courses were the ones that filled. Students often say they need to go home to work in the summer; online offerings allow them to take classes from any location.
Inter-disciplinary offerings, especially in FYE and capstone, could also encourage creative activity, pedagogy and scholarly work, while maximizing teaching. The campus wants to “do no harm.” to the good work that we do.
4. If SLA is truly important to the university, how will the campus and university help SLA? a. The RCM model means schools get to keep their profits, but they are also responsible for their deficits. It also means there is not a lot of money at the center. The campus is able to provide support on enrollment management plans. Consultants are also a possibility. We now have a curriculum committee at the campus level. That committee might be able to look at our situation and make recommendations; perhaps the whole campus might require students to have a minor or a diversity awareness course. The campus can facilitate space transitions.
Campus has already provided $100,000 for the “Liberal Arts Works” campaign to promote SLA.
5. How can admissions/recruitment/retention offices encourage enrollment in SLA courses? a. Office of Admissions’ primary goal is to get students into IUPUI. They do work with schools to recruit. Some schools have worked very closely with Admissions to recruit. We do, however, have a “no-poaching rule.” Exploratory students are in play, as well as students who have indicated an interest in a particular field. We might also use market analysis to identify high-demand, but under-enrolled programs. Office of Admissions will have some of that data. Branding of those programs might be effective. Faculty will need to be heavily involved in that branding to make sure it reflects our priorities and values. We should also think creatively about our community presence; we can be ambassadors of our school. Finally, some institutions have had their faculty go into high schools to teach; by offering dual-credit classes at the high school level, they were able to create a pipeline to their program, particularly with underrepresented populations. Office of Community Engagement could also be helpful with that strategy.
6. When the campus gets behind a campaign, we see results. How can campus communications experts strengthen messaging about the value of SLA? a. Working closely with Undergrad Admissions and marketing a message through IU Communication could be effective. SLA needs to think about what we’re most proud of in our programs and communicate it in a way that the public can comprehend it easily. Other programs might be easier to market, so we need to think creatively about how we can do that with attention-getting images. Boyd Bradshaw would be the broker for that. The campus does not control all communications; it is at the university level which sometimes complicates matters.
7. What can we do about assessments? a. $3.1 million had to be cut from the campus budget as a result of the reorganization with School of Medicine. The Chancellor refused to pass that cut on to the schools. That complicates things, but the vice chancellors are trying to minimize assessments.
A review was done of RCM last year. The task force recommended that the campus does need to do its part; however, because of RCM, when credit hours go down in any one school, other schools pay an increase in assessments. There are ripple effects.
Rachel Applegate, president of faculty council, invited us to send questions to her if we think of them later. The Budget Affairs Committee will have primary oversight of our process. They want us to be empowered and creative, and they want to support us rather than jump in.
Jack Windsor, offered to help in any way possible.
Brant opened the floor to questions and asked why the draft of our plan is due so quickly —by 10/31? Broeker answered that because IUPUI’s fiscal analysis has to be reported to the university by early in November, they need our draft as they prepare their report. We need to present a plan to avoid having someone from outside campus make these decisions for us.
Edward Curtis [RELS], was hoping to get a more specific idea of how much money we need to cut and what is the “low-hanging fruit”? A more specific number may help with morale. Curtis also suggested all speakers use the microphone to accommodate any attendees with hearing impairments.
Broeker answered that we had a planned deficit this year of $2.8 million. We need a 3% cash reserve to cover shortfalls. Current reserve is 1.3 million. Retirements have helped, but with the loss of credit hours this fall, our target should be upwards of $2 million. We need to be strategic.
Karen Kovacik [ENG] asked if we currently then have a shortfall of $2.2 million. Broeker said yes, but that is only a current snapshot.
David Craig [RELS] asked about date/timeframe to get into the black and pay back any debt the school incurs.
Broeker indicated a 4-5 year timeframe - “Concrete with as much flexibility as possible.” Law school had a 3-year plan but they were able to turn around in 18 months.
D. Craig asked what percentage of the campus budget is covered by SLA assessments.
Broeker said she would send that information. FTE, credit hour, budget and assessment information will be sent to us by her office.
4. President's remarks — Herbert Brant a. Brant introduced the new Agenda Council, which will be working on revisions of the bylaws and voting mechanisms to make it more discreet and effective. The council will also be looking at course evaluations. In January, we will be doing a celebration of faculty accomplishments.
Committees need to submit year-end reports, so we can continue our important work with as much information as possible.
Brant encouraged us to think of ourselves as a school, supporting each other, no matter what departments we are in. To move forward, we need to work together.
5. New business
. In memoriam: Our colleague, Brian McDonald, lost his battle to cancer last spring – Rob Rebein. A celebration of Brian’s life was to be held after the Assembly. A scholarship will be established in his name for a literature student in our program. He invited all to attend and consider contributing to the scholarship fund.
. In memoriam: Our valued colleague, Ana Vicente, who passed away last spring – Amy Bombke. WLAC lost Ana in April. She will be dearly remembered by us all.
. Action item: Certificate in Social Justice Organizing - Emily Beckman, Undergraduate Curriculum Committee– This was approved at the last committee meeting last spring. Sue Hyatt was available to answer any questions. Floor was opened for discussion. Proposal was passed unanimously.
6. Old business
. Second read: Revised Faculty Annual Review Guidelines and Form — Sue Hyatt, Faculty Affairs Committee o Faculty Affairs has looked at the review system. Hyatt invited questions and comments. Decimals are being considered. Brant requested that faculty look at the documents and send questions to Hyatt.
. Action item: Guidelines for Performance Review and Reappointment of Professors of Practice — Ray Haberski, Promotion and Tenure Committee o Haberski invited discussion on the revision. The guidelines were passed unanimously.
. The New SLA Promotion and Tenure Guidelines were removed as an action item and returned for a second read.
7. Introduction of new faculty and staff – Tom Davis a. Alex Badillo – Anthropology
b. Steve Overbey – Communication Studies, Director of Public Speaking
c. Katherine Blake – English
d. Vidhura Tennekoon – Economics
e. Andrea Meyer Smith - Spanish
f. Lauryn Andrews – Event Specialist
g. Roger Kraft – American Sign Language
h. Stacy Lewis - American Sign Language
i. Rosario Garnemark – Spanish/Translation
j. Brynn Nightenhelser – PIE
k. Lisa Saunders – Administrative Support
l. Lygia Vernon – Advisor
m. Elee Wood – Student Affairs, Associate Dean
n. Aaron Dusso – Acting chair, Political Science
o. Imaculada Naranjo –Mateos – Director, Spanish Resource Center
p. Glenn Snyder – Director, Classical Studies
q. Julie White - American Sign Language
8. Dean’s Remarks: a. Merle Illg will post today’s PowerPoint, which includes a full list of new appointments, awards, promotions, and grants.
Dean Davis asked faculty to look at Appendix D in the IUPUI Faculty Guide. We are not in financial exigency; we are in crisis, an important distinction. Over the next six weeks, we must develop a plan to prevent exigency.
In spite of the crisis, we continue to things very well. We must continue to do those things and celebrate those things: promotions, awards, student achievements, research and creative activity, grants. 71 faculty were promoted or received awards/grants in the past year. We have also developed new programs:
• LAMP
• 6-year BA/JD
• American Studies PhD
• MA TESOL
Our Development was very successful last year and even exceeded expectations. Eleven new scholarships have come online this past year.
School website is being redesigned. Approximately fifteen new department/ program sites are being launched; five more are in development. New marketing materials, social media are being developed and enhanced, highlighting our successful graduates.
Staff reorganization is complete, and the Dean thanked all the individuals involved in that complex process.
Credit hours do continue to slide, which hurts our bottom line because that is where we get the majority of our income. We have seen a 12% drop in credit hours, which is a 16% drop in revenue. About 2% of that drop was a result of ICR dollars. The Midwest Student Exchange Scholarships was an unexpected charge of $800,000; if not for that charge, we would have reduced our
expenditures from the previous year. 91% of our budget is related to people, about 80% in salaries. The next largest is financial aid, then travel expenses.
30% of our students now bring in credit for W131 from elsewhere. We are seeing a 3.2% credit hour drop this fall compared to last fall, but we have increased our offerings of 2nd 8-week courses which will help make up that deficit. We are at 57,000 credit hours, the lowest since 1998. We are down in current majors; we graduated 765 last year.
Other schools – Science (2006), Law – have gone through this situation and have gotten out of it. We will as well. Our plan and 5-year budget needs to show how we will “right the ship.”
The Dean’s Office, Resources & Planning, and Agenda Council are meeting together to consult with other committees to set up the plan. At least two town hall meetings will be held by the end of October, and we can invite K. Johnson and C. Broeker. We will have the rough draft done by the end of October. A final draft should be brought forward at the November Faculty Assembly. Faculty will then vote either to support or not support the plan.
Creative ideas should be directed to Dean Davis who will direct them to committees as appropriate. We have already invested a lot in the growth side (Liberal Arts Works, LAMP), but that’s usually a long-term strategy. In the short-term, we need to work on the expense side. Dean Davis’s primary goal is to protect people and essential programs. We have to support our critical work even as we lose faculty through attrition; this will cause imbalance in some departments. For example in one year, English will have lost 8 people.
Missy Kubitschek [ENG] asked if the committee will have solid projections on how many students will be bringing in general education credits. Dean Davis said we are going to ask for as much data as possible. Schools are under pressure to condense the time to complete a degree; however, dual-credit and AP credit may not be serving the students.
Nancy Robertson [HIST] asked how teaching dual-credit courses in high schools would help the school or faculty workload. We will need to analyze that before we make such recommendations. Boise State U had success with it, but IU-Kokomo faced challenges. Dean Davis will follow up.
Eric Saak [HIST] asked about the October plan not being voted on until November assembly. Dean Davis said the October plan is a draft that campus has to have to show to the IU President, but the November version may be changed from the October iteration when faculty vote on it. The plan is not “set in stone.” Faculty will see a draft at the last town hall.
Adjournment at 4:10 p.m.
