UNH Faculty Senate

Summary Minutes from 7 December 1998

I.  Roll - The following Faculty Senate members were absent:  Draper and 
Pugh.  Excused were Chandler, Miller, Naumes, Roh and Sohl.

II.  Communications with the President - President Leitzel said that the 
number of applicants for next year seems slightly better than last year, 
because of an increase in out-of-state applicants.  A clearer view of the 
situation will be available in February.  The president indicated that 
she needs to be very careful in terms of what she can say to the faculty 
about collective bargaining, but she has asked the system office to put 
on their web site the information about their bargaining position and 
materials that were sent to the fact finder.  The address for this web 
site will be distributed to the senators.  The president and Young 
Dawkins have had dinners around the country with alumni who are at the 
top of their professions and who may be willing to contribute to the 
university.  A rolling admissions plan has gone into effect, and thus 
early admissions packages will be sent out and will be accompanied by 
financial aid offers to appropriate students.  A faculty member noted the 
New York Times article indicating that there are more female than male 
applicants to colleges.

A professor asked why we have a member of the campus administration sit 
on the collective bargaining board if the administration cannot discuss 
the issue with the faculty.  He asked if this person is representing the 
campus view at those meetings.  The president replied in the negative, 
saying that the trustees' views are represented.  The professor said that
this gives the appearance that the UNH administration supports the USNH 
position.  Another professor asked that the president convey to the Board 
of Trustees that faculty are being asked to make efforts to increase the 
efficiency of the university, that this results in a bigger workload for 
faculty, and that it would be an error not to make an attempt at profit 
sharing.

III. Communications from the Chair - The chair said that the motion
which was passed at the last senate meeting was sent to the listed
recipients and to the press.  The Legislative Oversight Committee has
been changed to the Public Higher Education Study Committee, and the
members have not yet been named.  However, we have sent the motion to
the two people who, by statute, will continue as members: Jane O'Hearn
and Caroline McCarley.

The Agenda Committee has appointed Michael Donnelly as the faculty 
representative to the Responsibility-Centered Management Steering 
Committee.  Faculty interested in filling an opening on the Distance 
Education Committee and on the ROTC Board of Governors should contact the 
Faculty Senate chair.  At the last senate meeting, a question was asked 
about how state appropriations are presented to the legislature.  The 
governor submits a budget which has a line for each PAU, including UNH, 
Keene, Plymouth, Manchester, Cooperative Extension, the Agriculture 
Experiment Station, the Marine Program and others.  The system office 
does not have a PAU line item and thus charges the units of the system, 
including UNH, for the system administration costs.  A professor asked 
who determines the way the PAUs are structured.  If the system had its 
own line on the budget, that could be scrutinized.  

The Agenda Committee met with Victor Benassi and the AAUP Executive 
Committee regarding the Engineering Technology programmatic review.  The 
senate chair attended a meeting of the Board of Trustees and spoke with 
Harry Bird about the need for increased state appropriations.  Karl 
Diller had written Dr. Bird suggesting that faculty could work with the 
Board of Trustees to increase state appropriations.  A list of faculty is 
being prepared who may be able to speak well regarding the importance of 
university programs to the state.  Please send input on this matter to 
the Faculty Senate chair.  Alice McDermott, who will be one of our 
distinguished alumni award recipients in February, was recently awarded 
the National Book Award for her novel, Charming Billy.  The other two 
distinguished alumni award recipients will be astronaut Rick Linnehan and 
Dr. E. Bruce Watson.

IV.  Minutes - The minutes of the November 23 Faculty Senate meeting were 
unanimously approved.  

V.  Report on the UNH Foundation - Young Dawkins is president of the UNH 
Foundation, which recently raised a record 17.9 million dollars.  The 
three co-chairs of the capital campaign are Fred Whittemore, Marcy Carsey 
and Jeanne Shaheen.  The UNH Foundation has now been completely 
reorganized on a service model, and eight new staff have been added.  A 
demographic study of alumni is in progress.  The goal of the capital 
campaign is 100 million dollars, and 24 million dollars in cash and 
pledges has been raised so far in the initial phase.  The campaign will 
become public in October of 1999.  The academic kick-off is being planned 
for October, with the theme being the University of New Hampshire and the 
World.  A faculty member suggested that Laurel Ulrich be considered as a 
speaker at this convocation.

The university's endowment is expected to be about 200 million dollars 
after the capital campaign.  Gifts may be given over a period of years or 
recorded in people's wills.  The foundation will report clearly both the 
face value and the remainder value of contributions.  Salary issues and 
negotiations between the faculty and the system offices affect the 
campaign but are not the real focus.  USNH has a separate endowment from 
the UNH endowment.  Those system endowment funds that are explicitly for 
UNH were managed by UNH before the UNH Foundation was created nine years 
ago.  The UNH Foundation is self sufficient and charges a fee to manage 
the funds.

VI.  Report on International Education - Cathy Frierson, Director of the 
Center on International Education, has been asked by the president to 
develop strategies to increase international student recruiting.  There 
are no funds provided for this effort, but she and Mark Rubinstein have 
come up with strategies on which they would like faculty input.  For 
example, UNH faculty who travel abroad could carry with them recruitment 
and admissions materials, such as catalogs, brochures and an admissions 
video, which the faculty could deliver to selected high schools abroad 
and to USIA Advising Centers.  However, the Admissions Office has 
expressed concern that faculty are not recruitment professionals and that 
preparing the materials and training the faculty would be too time 
consuming.  Faculty have shown willingness to help with this endeavor.  
Perhaps the Faculty Advising Committee on Admissions could assist in this 
project.  A faculty member suggested that the university should send 
admissions packages to all relevant places abroad and that visiting 
faculty could then make a presentation at those that were convenient to 
travel plans; but the Admissions Office has not agreed to this.

A discussion ensued on the English-as-a-Second-Language Program and how 
to improve English proficiency and TOEFL scores.  There is a web page on 
international recruiting at the office on international education but not 
on the admissions web page.  A professor suggested articulation 
agreements with two-year colleges overseas, such as Bermuda College.  The 
university's Writing Center works with many international students, and 
this is expensive for the university.  Perhaps a portion of the 
international students' tuition could go to that center.  A request was 
made that faculty comply with the faculty international travel rules 
which encompass insurance for medical evacuation and repatriation of 
remains.  The department chairs have been given copies of the procedures 
which faculty should follow when traveling abroad.

VII.  Responsibility-Centered Management Report - The Faculty Senate 
Committees on Academic Affairs and on Finance and Administration met 
recently with Candace Corvey to review the Liberal Arts and CEPS figures 
for decentralized budgeting models, including formulae, coefficients and 
the faculty role in shaping these.  We must be sensitive to the 
vulnerability of units to changes in revenue streams.  The Finance and 
Administration Committee will meet again with David Proulx and John 
Griffith of the Office for Finance and Administration.  A clear vision of 
the academic mission is needed when making new budget plans.  The 
president has asked the deans to say if they can plan to implement 
decentralized budgeting within their colleges and what methods and units 
would be used.  The system office has not approved the carrying over of 
fund balances, which is an important part of this plan.  The Academic 
Affairs Committee intends to present information in March to the senate 
on the design of the curriculum oversight committee.

VIII.  Open Mike - The next Faculty Senate meeting will be January 25.

IX.  Adjournment - Today's meeting was adjourned.