UNH Faculty Senate
Summary Minutes from 4 December, 2000
_____________________________________________________________________________________
UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
2000/01 FACULTY SENATE
DECEMBER 4, 2000 - MINUTES SUMMARY
I. Roll - The following Faculty Senate members were absent: Bornstein, Christie, Denis, Draper, Halstead, Macieski,
Morgan, and VonDamm. Excused were Carr, Gross, Hinson, McCann, and Trowbridge.
II. Communications with the president - The president said that the National Center for Higher Education Policy
has issued data comparing higher education in the six New England states and showing that New Hampshire is costly
for students. Our state did poorly in the affordability category but very well in completion, fairly well in preparation,
and moderately in participation and in benefits to the state. Since state support of higher education is very low
in New Hampshire, students have to pick up more of the cost. The residence halls and dining halls are crowded now
because many juniors and seniors want to stay in the residence halls which are wired into the university computer
system, less expensive than town housing, do not require an automobile, and are associated with dining halls which
have fairly good food. New residence and dining hall space may be ready by 2002, and the construction will be paid
for by bonds supported by the residence and dining hall fees.
Some academic programs are oversubscribed, and the president said that hopefully the new budget model will be more
responsive to the needs of growing programs. She added that this year's budget is a copy of last year's and so
does not yet have the responsiveness that is expected in future years. Each college's resources will reflect the
college enrollments, on a two-year rolling basis. At the present time, the enrollment at UNH is 600 students smaller
and the physical plant slightly bigger than in the 1994/95 academic year. Although freshman enrollments have recently
been rising, the graduating classes have also been large; and next year will be the first year the graduating class
will not be so big. The university has reduced its support staff a little but not its faculty. Discussion ensued
about the difficulty younger faculty have to afford homes in Durham. A professor said that a report had been issued
some years ago on a method for helping faculty to purchase homes in the local area. The report included a proposal
whereby faculty might purchase homes on university lands, but the land would remain the property of the university.
The president later determined that the report of that committee was given to Assistant Vice President for Business
Affairs Anthony Zizos who is looking into this situation on behalf of Vice President Corvey.
III. Enrollment management and admissions - Mark Rubinstein suggested the formation of a faculty committee to advise
on enrollment management. He said that the admission process at UNH is less mechanical than at many other universities
and that each of the 10,000 UNH applications are read individually. The essay is read to see if the student can
write well and think cogently. The university gives less weight to test scores, because they are not a good predictor
of success at our university or at other institutions. Most important are the student's motivation, persistence,
study habits, and congruence with the institution. Seventy-three percent of UNH freshmen graduate from the university
within six years. Incoming freshmen's grade point averages are at or above what they were ten years ago, but the
feedback from the UNH faculty is that students are not as well prepared as they were in previous years. A professor
suggested that grade inflation might account for some of this discrepancy. Thirty percent of the grades are A or
A- now, compared to twenty-four percent in the past.
Another faculty member said that students indicate on faculty evaluation sheets how much time the student had spent
on that course, and this data would be very interesting to review. A professor asked how the admissions staff know
that the less quantitative criteria predict freshman grade point averages better than test scores do. Mark Rubinstein
replied that UNH graduates a greater percentage of its students than is standard for institutions which rely on
the test scores as admissions criteria.
UNH now admits seventy-eight percent of the students who apply; and in 1980 we accepted fifty-four percent of the
applicants. In 1997, which was a low point, only thirty percent of the students who were offered admission here
accepted it. A professor said that students may be as smart now as before but that there is a difference in their
attitude towards education and in their approach to the scholarly life. Since college is much less structured than
high school, beginning UNH students may need some help learning how to structure their lives. As students become
upperclassmen and get into their major courses, grades often improve. Freshmen and sophomores usually do not work
a great many hours at outside jobs, but the upperclassmen do much more outside work.
The university does not benefit from frequent publicity in the state about budget cuts. In response to a request,
Mark Rubinstein said that he would send to the senators the data which he referred to in this senate meeting. Students
apply to more schools than in the past, especially now that they can apply on the web. A professor commented that
attendance is the best predictor he has found for the grades in his introduction to physics course. He suggested
that the admissions office should check the high school absentee data. Mark Rubinstein agreed and said that also
we need to intervene to improve student retention at the university.
IV. Academic planning and the critical issues document - Jim Varn said that the Academic Planning Steering Committee
began its work in January and that its members include faculty, staff, administrators, students and trustees. The
group has been framing questions and issues about academic planning, rather than making decisions about it. A professor
said that the first critical issue in the draft document should come last and that the second issue should be first.
Another faculty member said that the order should indicate priority and that item five should be first and item
seven should be next. He added that the document does not have a clear direction and is too broad. The draft should
talk more clearly about where we are in reality so that we can decide where we need to go. A professor said that
the academic planning document will be used for guidance both within the university and across the state. He added
that item four, about the role of a significant research university, should come first but that this would not
be well accepted across the state. A faculty member said that some phrases with distinct meanings seem to be used
as synonyms, such as entrepreneurial/research and business/public, which is confusing. Also, we should include
the value that the university can give to the intellect of the state, far beyond the university.
A professor said that the planning document should recognize that we are part of an international environment and
should focus on our place in the world. We must recognize that this is the information age. Are we a university
with a mission or a collection of colleges with different goals? Does college reorganization fit into this document,
and should the college reorganization come before or after agreement on the academic plan? A professor commented
that every year the incoming freshmen arrive with worse math and English skills and that this creates great internal
tension and should be mentioned in this document. There do not seem to be specific courses required for admission
to UNH.
We need to connect the high goals in this document with implementation. Jim Varn said that a next step will be
to divide up the issues in this document and ask governance bodies to work on implementation. Priorities must be
clearly articulated. Concern was expressed that this whole planning exercise has been done many times before but
that little seems to change, because resources are not made available for change and also because administrators
who may be committed to implementing a plan often leave the university. Jim Varn said that the final academic planning
document will be public and will indicate the university's academic goals, the person responsible for each goal,
when it will be done, and the criteria for measuring its completion.
A professor asked how do we at the university get the state fully vested in the university and find out what programs
are giving the people in the state good value. How do we make what we do a reality to the people of the state?
The president has been gathering data for a presentation on this issue. A professor said that, to convince people,
you must go where they are and take effective action. Jim Varn said that he would return with revisions of the
planning document.
V. Minutes - The minutes of the last senate meeting were approved unanimously.
VI. Adjournment - Today's meeting was adjourned.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Click HERE to return to the main Faculty Senate Minutes page.