October 8, 1999
Meeting of the Faculty Council
October 8, 1999, 3:00 p.m.
Assembly Room, 2nd Floor, Wilson Library
Chancellor William O. McCoy and Professor Richard N. Andrews will preside.
Agenda
INFO 3:00 Chancellor’s Remarks and Question Period. Chancellor McCoy invites questions or comments on any topic.
INFO 3:15 Chair of the Faculty’s Report. Prof. Richard N. Andrews
INFO 3:25 UNC-CH Response for Hurricane Relief. Carolina Center for Public Service
DISC 3:40 Report on Faculty Salary Study. Provost Richard Richardson
DISC 4:00 Report on Student Course Evaluation Procedures. Edward N. Neal, Center for Teaching and Learning
INFO 4:15 Faculty Council Legislative Procedures. Prof. Joseph S. Ferrell
DISC 4:30 Report on the Office of the Vice Provost for Research and Graduate Studies. Vice Provost Linda Dykstra
INFO 4:50 Annual Reports of Standing Committees
Faculty Hearings Committee. Prof. Elizabeth Gibson
Committee on Instructional Personnel. Provost Richard Richardson
ACT 5:00 Adjourn
Joseph S. Ferrell
Secretary of the Faculty
KEY:
ACT = Action
DISC = Discussion
INFO = Information
Minutes
Attendance
Present (62): Adler, Ammerman, Angel, Black, Bluestein, Bowen, Boxill, Bromberg, Bynum, Carl, Clegg, Cordeiro-Stone, Covach, Cravey, Debreczeny, Devellis, Drake, Eckel, Elvers, Fink, Fishman, Harrison, Hooper, Huang, Janda, Johnson, Kalleberg, Kallianpur, Ketch, Kjervik, Kupper, LeFebvre, Lubker, Ludlow, Madison, Margolis, Marshall, McCormick, McKeown, Meehan-Black, A. Molina, Moran, Moreau, Nord, Otey, Panter, Pfaff, Plante, Raasch, Rao, Raper, Schaller, Sekerak, Slatt, Straughan, Strauss, Topal, Vaughn, Vevea, Walsh, Weiss, Williams.
Excused absences (20): Bender, Blackburn, Bolas, Collins, De La Cadena, Gasaway, Grossberg, Haskill, Kaufman, Kopp, Melchert, P. Molina, Postema, Raab-Traub, Rosenfeld, Savitz, Steponaitis, Taft, Thorp, White.
Unexcused absences (3): Assani, Graham, Graves.
Chancellor’s Remarks and Question Time
UNC-CH response to Hurricane Floyd.
Chancellor McCoy thanked the Center for Public Service for agreeing to coordinate our efforts to assist people in Eastern North Carolina whose homes and places of work have been devastated by floods spawned by Hurricane Floyd. He mentioned work that has already been undertaken by the Schools of Public Health, Pharmacy, and Medicine and the Institute of Government, and he called special attention to the research that Prof. Hans Paerl (Inst. of Marine Sciences) is undertaking to assess the impact of the storm on the Pamlico Sound.
Flood-related budget reductions.
The Chancellor reported that Governor Hunt has ordered certain reductions in 1999-2000 spending in an effort to generate funds that will be used to match federal aid for flood recovery and to serve as a stop-gap until federal funding is actually received. One branch of the Governor’s directive affects capital projects. On this campus, the major impact will be to slow down planning on the Memorial Hall renovation, to postpone the third phase of the Living and Learning Center near Pittsboro, and to delay indefinitely the $9.9 million renovation of the House Undergraduate Library. A second branch of the directive instructs all State agencies to reduce spending by 1%. We will handle that by asking each unit to hold back 0.75% of this year’s State budget. The remaining 0.25% will come from unallocated funds.
The Clayton Gift.
The Chancellor reported that the University has received an unrestricted gift of $28.6 million from the Estate of David Benjamin Clayton, Class of 1949. The principal will be added to the University’s endowment, which currently pays out an annual yield of 5% on invested capital, or approximately $1.4 million annually in this case at this time. It has been decided that the income from $12 million, or $600,000, will be used for 400 new National Merit Scholarships. The income from the remaining $16.6 million ($830,000) will be allocated among several purposes: (1) to enhance academic advising, (2) to strengthen the Law School, and (3) to pay the principal and interest on debt that will be incurred to raise the additional funds needed to build the Sonja Haynes Stone Black Cultural Center.
AAU membership.
The Chancellor reported that the American Association of Universities has recently enacted a change in its by-laws that permits the chancellors of institutions in multi-campus systems, such as the UNC System, to hold their institution’s seat on the governing board of the AAU. Previously, the System president held the seat. President Broad has announced that she will yield that privilege to our new chancellor when he or she is selected.
Chair of the Faculty’s Report
Faculty honors.
Professor Andrews congratulated two colleagues who have recently received national honors. Professor Jacqueline Hall (History), Director of the Southern Oral History Program, was recently awarded the National Humanities Medal along with UNC Alumnus F. Taylor Branch (Class of 1968). Professor Emeritus Daniel K. Okun was recently named by the Engineering News Record as one of the 125 greatest engineers of all time. Prof. Okun was for many years chair of the Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering and was Chair of the Faculty from 1967 until 1970.
Labor Licensing Code.
Prof. Andrews noted that Chancellor McCoy has notified all UNC licensees that they must disclose the locations of all factories producing goods with UNC-CH logos by March, 2000. Our largest licensee, Nike, has announced that it is now disclosing all such sites. They are listed on the Nike website at http://www.nikebiz.com/labor/fact_nc.shtml. A faculty working group under the auspices of the Odum Institute for Research in the Social Sciences is addressing the issue of what constitutes a living wage. The group is led by Prof. Patrick Conway (Economics) and Prof. William Dow (Health Policy & Administration).
UNC-CH Response for Hurricane Flood Relief
Rachel Windham reported to the Council on the work of the Center for Public Service in coordinating UNC-CH response for flood relief. A transcript of her report will be found on the Faculty Governance website.
Report on Faculty Salary Study
Provost Richard Richardson summarized the report of the Committee on Faculty Salaries and Benefits. A copy of the report will be found on the Faculty Governance website under the “New Postings” heading. The report documents the extent to which faculty salaries at UNC-CH have fallen behind our peer institutions. The Provost pointed out that one of the critical issues in developing the report was to identify the list of institutions to which comparisons would be made. In the past, General Administration has insisted that private institutions not be included in such a list. For this study, it has been agreed that we will include a list of ten public and five private institutions. The five private institutions chosen for comparative purposes are Duke, Emory, Johns Hopkins, Chicago, and Vanderbilt. In the list of 15, our relative position was 10th – significantly behind such public institutions as Virginia, Michigan, and California (Berkeley).
The report recommends a three-pronged strategy for closing the faculty salary gap. The General Assembly will be asked to make an informal commitment to increase faculty salaries for this campus by 5.5% for four successive fiscal years beginning with 2001-02. Second, we will set for ourselves a goal of raising $20 million in endowment funds in each of those years for a cumulative total of $80 million to be devoted to endowed chairs. Finally, it is recommended that undergraduate and undergraduate tuition be raised significantly. The Provost pointed out that tuition has been set historically at very low levels and that increases in the amounts being suggested are not likely to be unduly burdensome. Nevertheless, the report recommends a commitment that funding for student aid be increased commensurately with tuition increases so that there would be no change in access to UNC-CH for financial reasons.
Prof. Richard Pfaff (History) observed that inclusion of private institutions in the peer list calls to mind the view held by some that public institutions are inherently inferior to private ones. The late Terry Sanford once remarked that Duke stands for excellence while Carolina stands for mass education. The Provost said that education for the masses need not be an inferior mission nor of inferior quality. To think otherwise would be a disaster for Carolina.
Prof. Philip Bromberg (Medicine) asked about the timing of the report. He wondered about its political prospects given current conditions. The Provost said that the Chancellor and the President have encouraged him to move forward to develop our best case. He does not know what the political dynamics might be, but he is persuaded that the case must be made as best it can be. The ultimate decision to accept its recommendations or not will lie in other hands.
Prof. Leon Fink (History) asked how the report’s recommendations will be merged with those from other campuses in the System. The Provost replied that General Administration will be making a unified report to the General Assembly but it will of necessity address the needs of each institution individually. There are fifteen sets of peer institutions. The situation varies dramatically from campus to campus. For example, there are campuses in the system for which out-of-state tuition is simply not an issue because they have virtually no out-of-state students. Some institutions in the System will probably be found to be doing quite well competitively.
Prof. Frayda Bluestein (Institute of Government) asked for clarification about the proposed 5.5% salary increase policy. The Provost replied that the Committee has in mind the type of commitment that the General Assembly made several years ago to bring the salaries of public school teachers up to the national average. That commitment has required salary increases for school teachers that have been significantly higher than those awarded to State employees generally.
Report on Student Course Evaluation Procedures
Dr. Edward Neal, Director of Faculty Development in the Center for Teaching and Learning, reported on the status of the student course evaluation project. Last April the Council endorsed the report of an ad hoc committee that called for a new system to replace the discredited Carolina Course Review. The Council decided that responsibility for administration of the new system should be assigned to the Center for Teaching and Learning. The new system is based on one that has been in use at the University of Michigan for over 20 years. It combines three types of evaluation. The first section is a set of standard questions of a generic nature that are designed to help gather data for administrative purposes. The second section is based on a menu of over 200 questions and is intended for use as a diagnostic tool by the individual teacher; its results are not shared with others. The third section is a set of questions developed by student government for publication or other uses. In May the Provost asked CTL to submit a budget for implementing the proposal. The estimated cost was $182,000 for the first year and $163,000 annually thereafter. Because of the budget shortfall, sufficient funding is not available to allow implementation campus-wide. Instead, CTL is working with the Department of Psychology on a pilot program. It is hoped that permanent funding will eventually become available. As concerns other departments, CTL will be in a position to perform evaluations in the College of Arts & Sciences for faculty and teaching assistants who must be evaluated as a part of the process for promotion and tenure or contract renewal. For this purpose, the first section of the evaluation instrument will be sufficient.
Prof. Bonnie Angel (Nursing) asked when faculty not under evaluation might have access to the instrument. Dr. Neal replied that that depends on when resources become available.
Prof. Bobbie Lubker (Education) asked Dr. Neal if he had recommendations as to what might be done in the meanwhile. Dr. Neal said that CTL’s website has forms and software that can be downloaded and administered within individual academic units.
Report on the Office of the Vice Provost for Research and Graduate Studies
Interim Vice Provost Linda Dykstra presented a detailed and informative progress report on the status of research at Carolina as reflected in activities administered through her Office. In 1998-99, sponsored funding at UNC-CH stands at an all-time high of $344.5 million—a 13% increase over the previous year. Funding from the National Institutes of Health accounts for a large part of the increase, but substantial increases have also been recorded by the College of Arts & Sciences (up 13.6%), the School of Education (up 22.9%) and the School of Social Work (up 25%). We have also seen a substantial increase in the number of inventions disclosed, inventions licensed, and patents awarded. Extramural funding for public service projects increased by 52.5% to a total of $41.7 million. Prospects for the future appear very promising as well.
Vice Provost Dykstra announced that the Office of Graduate Studies and Research will soon be undergoing a review by an independent review team composed of external administrators and UNC faculty members. The review’s target report date is November 15, 1999. Its goal will be to identify ways to continue improving services that support research. External reviewers include Virginia Hinshaw (Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison), John Perkins (Univ. of Texas Southwestern Medical Center), and Leslie Sims (Univ. of Iowa). Internal reviewers will be Arne Kalleberg (Sociology), Stanley Froehner (Cell & Molecular Physiology), Sandra Martin (Maternal & Child Health), and Linda Spremulli (Chemistry).
Annual Reports of Standing Committees
Faculty Hearings Committee.
The Annual Report of the Faculty Hearings Committee was received without question or comment.
Instructional Personnel.
The Annual Report of the Committee on Instructional Personnel was received without question or comment.
Adjournment.
Its business having concluded, the Council adjourned at 5:00 p.m.
Joseph S. Ferrell
Secretary of the Faculty
