Absent: Senators Bixby, Chandler, Cromwell, Cusanovich, Dahlgran, D. Davis, Eddy, Garrett, Jenkins, Joens, Kinney, Larson, Mountford, Pitt, Silverman, Songer, Spece, Strittmatter, Swanson, Tatman, Timmermann, Tomanek, Ulreich, Vierling, Weinand and Worle.

There were no speakers for the Open Session.

ASUA President Chapman announced that ASUA is working closely with students and administrators in the colleges that are proposing program fees. ASUA is hoping for stronger language requiring consultation with students. ASUA will be presenting its position on program fees to President Likins and the Board of Regents later this month. President Chapman encouraged everyone to attend Spring Fling at the end of this week and he introduced ASUA’s President-elect, Cade Bernsen.

GPSC President Brobbel announced that GPSC held a successful GPSC barbecue on the mall for 600 people today, and that a dance will be held at O’Malley’s on Friday night from 9PM-1AM. The Achievement Awards Ceremony will be held this Wednesday afternoon. These events are in conjunction with Graduate and Professional Student Appreciation Week. GPSC’s individual college elections for the 24 seats on the Council will be held next week. President Brobbel is working with Vice Provost Hogle to set up focus groups of General Education teaching assistants to talk about their experiences with TA training and preparedness, students’ preparedness to take those classes, and the instruction in Gen Ed classes.

No report.

Vice Chair Howell called for nominations or self-nominations for one position as Senate representative to the Executive Committee. The current representative M. Zwolinski’s term ends May 1 so his position will be available for election at the next Senate meeting on May 2. The Senate Executive Committee usually meets on the third Monday of the month, from 3-5 PM. The election of Senator Jenkins to Secretary of the Faculty leaves a vacancy for the Fine Arts College Representative senator. Petitions are now available for this position and are due April 14. The Executive Committee has asked the Student Affairs Policy Committee to work with Vice Provost Hogle to develop a policy on program fees and Vice Chair Howell acknowledged ASUA President Chapman’s request for consultation with students regarding such fees. The Senate Executive Committee also discussed a process for the Senate to handle honorary degrees. Secretary Mitchell is developing a parliamentary "special order" procedure whereby at 4:00 PM the Senate would cease it’s business, go into Executive Session, and then resume Senate business if there is time remaining. Senators’ packets today include the American Bar Association Accreditation Committee’s review of the Rogers College of Law’s SJD degree. Vice Chair Howell thanked Senators-at-Large Garrett, Pitt, Tomanek, Vierling and Zwolinski, who are rotating off this month, as well as Arizona International College Representative Bixby, whose term comes to an end this year with the disestablishment of AIC, bringing the total number of Senators down to 62. Acknowledging that this is Chair Hancock’s last meeting with the Faculty Senate, Vice Chair Howell thanked Pr. Hancock for his leadership in the past four years of enormous improvements and stresses at the University of Arizona, and presented him with a Philabaum reptilian glass disk on an engraved crystal base commemorating his service.

Chair Hancock advised senators that the Higher Education restructuring workgroup’s most recent meeting was canceled because they needed time to integrate the extensive feedback from the public forums and the various stakeholder groups, including the Faculty Stakeholders from ASU, NAU, and UA. The group is considering this feedback seriously and will meet again April 14. Chair Hancock took time to acknowledge numerous people he has worked with in his position as Chair of the Faculty: Parliamentarian Robert Sankey for continuing his service to the University by serving on both the Senate Executive Committee and the Faculty Senate; Faculty Center staff members Pam Bridgmon and Jackie Poellot for dedication and commitment to the faculty and their work; Senator Marlys Witte for her insightful and thought-creating comments and debate in the Senate; the members of the President’s Cabinet, the former Chairs of the Faculty, John Schwarz and Jerry Hogle, and the Strategic Planning and Budget Advisory Committee, which he described as a perfect counterpart to the Faculty Senate, for teaching him so much about the institution; the members of the Committee of Eleven under J.D. Garcia’s leadership for its informative debates; the Senate Executive Committee including past members Roger Caldwell, Mal Zwolinski, Fred Kiefer and Chestalene Pintozzi; the Senate Reorganization Committee for the School of Planning including member John Hildebrand whose input was invaluable; and the current student leaders Alistair Chapman and Amanda Brobbel as well as their predecessors. He thanked his fellow officers for their extensive support and the balanced leadership they provided during his two terms. He asked Senators to take care of the University and to continue searching for ways to improve it.

Provost Davis thanked Chair Hancock for his extensive leadership, exquisite judgment and deep instincts about the University and where excellence resides, and his political sensitivity. He also thanked retiring faculty member and Senator Mal Zwolinski for his longtime commitment to institution and its mission and welcomed the ASUA’s President-elect, Cade Bernsen. Provost Davis has recently been named Chair of the Steering Committee for the Arizona Commission on Medical Education and Research which reports to the Governor’s Commission. This group is charged with integrating all of the groups and entities related to the planning and development of the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Phoenix. Seven subcommittees are being formed to consider such critical issues as capital projects, programmatic development and curriculum development. The Office of Academic Affairs is currently conducting Academic Program Reviews involving external review committees for Management and Policy, Arid Lands Studies, Religious Studies, Classics, English, Pharmacology, Educational Leadership, Optical Sciences, Plant Sciences and Plant Pathology, and in progress are the reviews in Pharmacy, Judaic Studies, Biomedical Engineering, OB/GYN and Journalism. The external reviewers repeatedly remark how much they appreciate having alums and UA faculty members serving on these committees. Provost Davis commended ASUA President Chapman and his team for becoming deeply familiar with the deans’ and Provost’s objectives and for clearly describing the impacts to the constituents involved in the programs for which differential tuition and program fees will be considered at the April Regents meeting. Turning to the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (CALA), Provost Davis announced that Dean Eribes is returning to the faculty and thanked him for his important voice in Academic Council and for accepting the opportunity to serve on a task force to look at international scholarship and create greater synergies among colleges. CALA will break ground for the architecture building expansion this Friday. Provost Davis will be talking with senior leadership in CALA to identify an interim dean to serve for two years while the expansion is built, to frame a vision for CALA and to conduct a national search for a new dean.

President Likins spoke of the importance of the role of UA’s Chair of the Faculty, which is not true at all universities and should not be taken for granted. Each Chair of the Faculty brings different attributes and talents and each has different yet profound influences. He is heartened to have such individuals who genuinely feel and speak for faculty at the same time they are deeply immersed in and committed to the complex affairs of the University. Outgoing Chair Hancock has brought to the role his special capacity to understand multiple perspectives and a remarkable instinct for people and their points of view which is hard to find in any community. President Likins expressed gratitude for the wisdom and value that Chair Hancock has brought to his understanding. The President also commended student government leaders Chapman and Brobbel and is proud that the institution has such excellent working relationships with faculty and students. Turning to state and Regental affairs, the legislature is in session and working on the budget so the University is in a state of continuous apprehension, although the governor is fighting for higher education funding. The Regents will be considering program fees and differential tuition at the April meeting. At the recent March tuition debates, the Regents decided to approve an increase that was between what the students and the presidents had requested. The Regents are much more tempered in their judgments and the interactions and trade-offs are complex, as is the College of Medicine expansion in Phoenix. President Likins referred to the events and the process that has led to Financial Planning Bulletin #41. Initially the rescissions and budget cuts coupled with legislature’s refusal to adequately fund the institution have left the University with $47M less for FY05 than it had in FY02. Tuition increases have netted only $28M after financial aid. Hundreds of people have been laid off, hurting human beings and units, but these differential cuts have been made with the intent to protect the core academy. Furthermore, in anticipation that the state will restore resources to the University, about $20M of continuing financial obligations have been paid for with debt restructuring and one-time moneys from year to year. Because the state has not restored such funding, President Likins acknowledged that the University simply cannot continue to meet the mandated expenses in this way because it is not a stable method. The administration is therefore instituting a three-year transition plan to gradually reallocate dollars in ways that won’t damage the fragile enterprise and will protect the faculty and the very important research agenda grants and contracts. This process should stabilize the enterprise to make sure that continuing expenses are paid for with continuing revenues. The decision reflected in Bulletin #41 evolved from an extensive consultation process involving multiple public Town Halls along with continuing dialogue with SPBAC and with other campus groups. The plan is not as quick as some CEO’s might employ, but it is respectful of the needs of the constituencies in this institution.

Referring to Financial Planning Bulletin #41, Senator Witte asked President Likins about whether it is legal to shift the employee tuition benefit into the Employee Related Expenses (ERE), which has already escalated out of proportion for research grants is legal, since research grants often forbid charging tuition to a grant directly. President Likins understands the tuition benefit to be a legitimate expense for employees, although this shift cannot be done for dependents of employees. He offered to refer the question back to the University Attorneys. Senator and Vice President for Research Powell said that while it may not be a legal issue, some sponsors will not pay for graduate student tuition waivers, in which case the departments have to pay this benefit from the indirect costs funds.

The minutes of March 7, 2005 were approved.

Consent agenda item 1, detailed at the end of these minutes [Motion 2004/05-38], was approved. Senator Conway suggested that the certificates’ language describing course grades as "letter-graded" could be confusing to students with respect to the traditional A, B, C, D, E, versus S and P. Graduate College Associate Dean Dianne Horgan advised Senators that the grading system is completely described in Graduate Catalog. Motion passed unanimously.

Strategic Planning and Budget Advisory Committee (SPBAC) Chair Tony Estrada said that SPBAC and the Faculty Senate represent two sides of shared governance. Both have a vested interest in insuring that the institution has financial stability and is achieving its aspirational goals of being a top research institution in this country. SPBAC’s mission is broadly defined as, "To Consult, Advise, and Plan Strategically for the University's Future," and more specifically, "In consultation and dialogue with the President, the Provost, and the University community, the Strategic Planning and Budget Advisory Committee (SPBAC) supports and enhances the success of the University through thoughtful and informed advice relating to: strategic planning, assessment of institutional priorities, review of budgetary policies, and the evaluation of programs and services." SPBAC’s most primary responsibility is to develop and disseminate the University's strategic plan, "Extending the Frontiers of Excellence," which is online at http://spbac.web.arizona.edu/FinalStratgicPlan122204.pdf. The committee solicited and received a wide range of information from faculty, staff, student and community committees about the strategic plan’s values and priorities. SPBAC’s goal is to assist all units and colleges to utilize the strategic plan, particularly in the context of the annual program review, which puts them in step with the University’s overarching strategic plan. SPBAC now hopes to publish a "marketing" version of the strategic plan that would be a quick-reference synopsis. Chair Estrada distributed a handout, "SPBAC Update: Where we have been and where we are going" dated January 2004-March 2005, which chronicles the issues that SPBAC has covered since he became Chair. Using SPBAC’s "Criteria for Focused Excellence," SPBAC members conducted in-depth dialogues with administrators including the six financial workgroup chairs on reallocation mechanisms and provided recommendations to the President, Provost, and the Finance Committee about key issues. Most recently, SPBAC faculty members voted unanimously to approve the revised Shared Governance Memorandum of Understanding that is before the Senate today. SPBAC received the report on Financial Support Functions Review Team headed by Leslie Tolbert. SPBAC meets about twice a month with Provost Davis and has provided advice about aspirational peers, all-funds budgeting, restructuring of the finance committee, reallocation mechanisms, graduate student remission, key personnel funds, recruitment planning process and the 2% reallocation of last year. President Likins has consulted with SPBAC about once a month concerning the College of Medicine expansion in Phoenix, the difficulty and ramifications of imposing the 2% reallocation, the UA’s current financial situation, the July salary package, key personnel funds and the reallocation mechanisms described in Financial Planning Bulletin #41. SPBAC has been extremely involved in the financial discussions and many of its individuals sit on one of the financial workgroups and their knowledge contributes greatly to the discussions. SPBAC does not issue reports or minutes of its meetings, only agendas, as some issues are confidential. For the future, SPBAC would like to be more than a reactive committee and hopes to be working in tandem with the administration on reallocation decisions and hopes to be more proactive in terms of stabilizing the finances and will be looking to peers and aspirational peers to determine how decisions are made, what things are done differently or the same, consider the issues of unrestricted dollars, and how to raise UA to the next level as a research institution. Depending on the legislature’s actions, SPBAC will be meeting through early June this year.

Vice Chair Howell opened the floor for general discussion of the revised version of the Shared Governance Memorandum of Understanding, which comes as a seconded motion [Motion 2004/05-39] from the Shared Governance Review Committee (SGRC). She indicated the changes and modifications from the Senate’s November 2004 version. President’s Likins’ concern about the Board of Regents approval has been addressed as noted in the introduction. President Likins also was concerned about signing the document with only 18 months left in his term as president, and did not want to compromise his successor. The agreement has actually been in effect, however, since it was originally signed by President Pacheco in the spring of 1997 and then signed by President Likins later that fall. For this revision, the writing sub-committee of the Shared Governance Review Committee has met multiple times with both the President and the Provost to work through specific language variations. The President, Provost, SPBAC and the Shared Governance Review Committee have all approved this version, so all that remains is the Senate’s approval. Senators’ questions and comments included: 1) What policies come under the jurisdiction of Shared Governance? All of the policies are specified in Section II, A-F. 2) Is it true that nothing in this document is meant to supersede the faculty governance statute, ARS 15-1601B? That is correct; this document is supplemental and expands on the law. ARS 15-1601B is included in its entirety on page 8. 3) The phrase "vital interests" has been changed to "best interests" throughout the document. The term "vital" proved too difficult to define whereas everyone understands the "best interests" of the University. 4) The Senate-approved tracking document dated November 2002 describes which issues are directed to the Senate and those that are directed to SPBAC, the two overarching bodies of shared governance. 5) The composition of the Shared Governance Review Committee will change according to Section G, which calls for adding the SPBAC Chair and one additional SPBAC member, and one less Senate representative. The Senate Executive Committee will call for nominations to the SGRC. Secretary Mitchell called for the question. Motion to approve revised version of the Shared Governance Memorandum of Understanding dated 3-4-05 passed unanimously.

Tracey Hummel, Senior Support Systems Analyst for Center for Computing and Information Technology explained that the UA’s homepage will be replaced in July 2005 with a new version which is necessary because the amount if information is expanding exponentially and the UA Info team needs to continually reorganize the information and try to make the UA website a better communication tool for about 40 different audiences including internal and outside users. Because not everyone can be accommodated by one homepage, special pages for faculty & staff and students are a part of the new design. The main homepage will be focused more for outside users such as visitors, prospective students, alumni, community members and parents. The homepage will feature stories submitted through the Office of Advancement highlighting what UA offers and focusing on achievements of faculty, staff, and students. The faculty & staff and students’ pages will also include places for announcements. A page for researchers will include current research news and information and tools. A special site for instructors will contain web-based tools such as course management and course development. Senators’ comments included 1) The new design is a totally different (horizontal) orientation from the previous version, which could create confusion. 2) Information overload is a real problem on the webpage. Could the weather be eliminated? The weather is one of the most popular features. How is the order of important of the items on a page decided? Couldn’t Athletics and Recreation give way to Arts and Performances, Libraries and Academics? 3) This version seems harder to navigate and scan. It is hoped that reducing from three columns to two columns will help, with dynamic content on one side, and static content on the other side. 4) What has been the feasibility study process? Focus groups and presentations to date, and next month we will begin one-on-one feasibility testing with 15 faculty and staff members and 20 students and make adjustments according to those results. 5) The Google search engine on the UA website doesn’t work very well. UA’s Google is using artificial ranking which gives results which are not necessarily the highest based rankings. It’s complicated by what key words are entered and how the webpage is coded and what words appear on the webpage. 6) Could the website also include a page on outreach, international programs, medical programs and cooperative extension and all the programs that affect clientele through the state and nation? The biggest change to the website is the community area which is greatly expanded including an index on community outreach projects and developing 20 pages devoted just to community outreach organizations all over campus. 7) What does the research show about how people scan WebPages? People read from top to bottom and vertical columns work best. 8) Where does diversity figure into the new website? Diversity at the UA and the Arizona Health Sciences Center are not on this prototype but will be added back in. Additional feedback can be sent to uaweb-team@listserv.arizona.edu .

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:01PM.

Robert P. Mitchell, Secretary

Appendix*

Motion 2004/05-38 Seconded motion from the Instruction and Curriculum Policy Committee to approve five graduate certificates in Nursing: Post Master’s Certificate in Mental Health Nurse Practitioner; Post Master’s Certificate in Health Care Systems; Post Master’s Certificate in Health Care Informatics; Post Master’s Certificate in Adult Nurse Practitioner; Post Master’s Certificate in Family Nurse Practitioner. Motion carried.