Campus Journal News

Two USNH committees have recommended that the board of trustees endorse changes to employee medical contribution levels for the university system's most popular health care plan, the Cigna HMO, which would increase costs to staff systemwide in 2003.

The proposal eliminates the cap and returns the low-cost alternative to employee percentage contributions. USNH Human Resources recommends individuals pay 4 percent of the annual plan cost, two-person families pay 8 percent and families pay 12 percent.

USNH has sought bids on the HMO, as well as the Cigna POS, in an effort to reduce the amount of increase in premiums. Therefore, the exact annual costs to employees has not been determined. However, individuals could pay $200 more a year, two-person families could pay $600 more, and families could pay $1,400 more a year.

Employee contributions to other USNH medical plans, such as the Cigna POS, will not change. The changes to the medical benefits do not affect faculty at UNH and Keene State College, as each group has negotiated its benefits with USNH through June 30, 2003.

However, Joan Tambling, director of USNH Human Resources, assured committee members that she expects faculty to bear the same burdens as staff.

The proposal before the board would be a return to the original trustee policy approved in 1991. In the late 1990s, the board approved capping costs on the Cigna HMO plan so as to offer a low-cost medical plan. As medical premiums have risen dramatically, the plan has become the most popular throughout the system, with approximately 75 percent of USNH employees on the Cigna HMO.

Goal: Reducing costs

Changes to the employee medical contribution are just one part in a systemwide effort to reduce the cost of benefits. If nothing is done, the projected gap between revenue and expenses is $16.8 million by FY 2005. Medical benefits account for the largest portion of benefits expenses, $29.5 million of $72 million in FY 2002.

If approved, the change would save USNH $1.6 million annually.

The two committees -- Programs and Services, and Financial Affairs -- approved the changes Thursday, June 13. The trustees are expected to vote on the plan at their June 27 annual meeting.

Mitigation Strategy proposed

To offset the increase in employee medical costs, USNH has asked the board to approve a mitigation strategy that guarantees all 100 percent-time employees receive either a 4 percent across-the-board salary increase or $900 a year, whichever is greater. An additional 1.5 percent is available for merit, market and internal equity.

The guaranteed $900 would be funded by reducing the salary pool for principal administrators by .5 percent. The salary increase would be effective July 1, 2002.

In addition, USNH has recommended a one-year phase-in of the increase in employee medical costs for most employees making less than $40,000 a year as of Dec. 1, 2002.

In 2003, these employees will pay the following for the Cigna HMO: 4 percent or about $200 for individuals; 6 percent or about $550 for two-person families; and 8 percent or about $1,100 for families.

In comparison, the existing Cigna POS plan costs $418 for individuals; $1,254 for two-person families; and $2,133 for families.

Staff also can cash out up to five annual or earned-time days between Dec. 15, 2002, and Feb. 1, 2003.

The mitigation strategy does not apply to UNH or Keene State faculty.

USNH has approved changes to retirement and tuition benefits as part of its systemwide effort to contain the cost of employee benefits. The changes have little impact on current employees.

Two committees of the USNH Board of Trustees ‹ Programs and Services, and Financial Affairs ‹ adopted the changes at their June 13 meetings.

The changes are effective July 1, 2002, for all positions offered on or after that date, but do not apply to UNH or Keene State faculty, whose contracts run until June 30, 2003.

They represent a savings of $850,000 a year.

For the first year of participation in the USNH retirement plan, the employer contribution will be limited to 6 percent, with an employee contribution of 6 percent. After one full year of participation, any employee who contributes 6 percent will receive the 11 percent USNH match.

Existing employees who have not been participating in the retirement program may join prior to July 1, 2003, and if they contribute 6 percent, they will receive the 11 percent employer contribution. Existing employees who begin participating after July 1, 2003, will be eligible to receive only the 6 percent USNH contribution during the first year, if they contribute 6 percent.

During discussions with governance groups and departments, UNH and USNH human resources officials have encouraged current employees to sign up before July 1 so as to take advantage of the 11 percent USNH match.

Faculty and staff must be employed for at least three years and be a participant in the retirement plan to be fully vested and receive USNH contributions to their retirement plan. Previously, employees were fully vested by simply remaining in the plan for five years, regardless of their employment status.

"For someone who terminates their employment and has been here less than three years, clearly we don't have an investment in their retirement," said Joan Tambling, director of USNH Human Resources.

New employees must wait a minimum of six months to use the tuition waiver benefit. Family members must wait a year. These changes could be revised if USNH believes it begins to adversely affect recruitment efforts.

At some point in nearly every child's life, he or she looks up into the night sky and wonders what it would be like to fly among the moon and stars as an astronaut.

That childlike wonder drifted through a crowd of guests who listened as UNH alumnus and astronaut Lee Morin described to them his first Space Shuttle mission, which took him to the International Space Station.

Morin, who collects mathematics and technical books as a hobby, credited his former professor, Berrien Moore -- now director of the UNH Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space -- with instilling in him a great love for mathematics, although "he gave me the lowest mark I ever got at UNH."

He delighted the audience as he narrated a video of his mission. He compared the liftoff to being rear-ended by a semi tractor trailer, and the shimmer of hitting the sound barrier as feeling like someone is sitting on your chest, beating you up, or "B. Moore grading your test."

A member of the Class of 1974, Morin was honored during a June 10 reception at Morse Hall at which he presented President Joan Leitzel and UNH Women's Hockey Coach Brian McCloskey with the Wildcat women's hockey jersey that he took into space. Congressman John E. Sununu also attended.

"Each time that Lee comes to visit, we feel a part of something very much bigger. Because he was an undergraduate here and had his early education with us, we claim a big part of his success. And because he was, among other things, a mathematics major, some of us are particularly proud that he has achieved this success," said Leitzel, also a mathematics professor.

After Morin graduated from UNH in 1974 with a bachelor's in mathematical and electrical science, he embarked upon on an amazing journey that took him to medical school, Operation Desert Shield as a Navy flight surgeon and finally, to NASA.

He earned a master's degree in biochemistry in 1978 from the New York University, and doctorates of medicine and microbiology from New York University in 1981 and 1982, respectively. He later earned a master's degree in public health from the University of Alabama in 1988.

Morin served on the Extra Vehicular Activities (EVA) crew of the Space Shuttle Atlantis in April 2002, which was the 13th shuttle mission to visit the International Space Station. On the 10-day Atlantis mission, he assisted with the delivery and installation of the S-Zero Truss. It was the first time the space station's robotic arm was used to maneuver spacewalkers around the station and the first time that all of the shuttle crew's spacewalks were based from the station's Quest Airlock.

He performed two spacewalks, totaling more than 14 hours, and has logged more than 259 hours in space.

"For me, Lee Morin was the highlight of my teaching career. He was, without question, the finest undergraduate I have ever had and he did more to change my life than I think I possibly could have done to change his," Moore said.

He recalled how in the early 1970s, he and his colleague, David Meeker, were working on the New England Offshore Mining Environmental Study, which Moore said mathematicians didn't fully understand, although he found it quite interesting.

"I had this young student, an electrical engineering and mathematics major, who thought it was really quite easy and that we could just traverse this problem of understanding ocean circulation, biology and chemistry using something called a workstation," Moore said.

"I had no idea what a workstation was. I didn't know what he was talking about, but I found it interesting," he said in reference to his young undergraduate student, Lee Morin.

To use the workstation, Moore, Meeker and Morin tapped into an MIT computer using a WATTS line to Washington, D.C., on the Durham campus.

"Lee and I would phone at night -- late -- after we got into this room and call down to Washington, where we would then make a local call over to the network at MITRE (Massachusetts Institute of Technology Research Extension) and come back from that phone system to MIT for just the price of a local phone call," Moore said.

Where's the card reader? Where are the other things? Moore asked.

It's a terminal, Morin responded.

"I said, 'A what?' "

"He said, 'A terminal.' "

"And that was the beginning of my downfall," Moore said. "All of a sudden this person said, 'Of course we can model the ocean.' "

UNH should be proud of its academic and research programs that support the earth and planetary sciences, and "Lee Morin is just an indication of the strength of those programs," Sununu said. "At some point, somewhere along the line -- perhaps at UNH -- he was inspired to pursue a dream as an astronaut."

The faculty/staff parking permit swap is under way again.

Faculty and staff parking permits will be replaced with new tags designed to re-establish permit holder eligibility and reduce the number of invalid or illegal permits on campus. Parking Services halted the initial exchange in early June when, on the second day of the swap, officials discovered a printing error on the new permits.

The Parking Office also is conducting a permit renewal process. Faculty and staff parking permits expire June 30. The Parking Office wants to complete the permit swap before beginning the renewal process so renewal forms reflect new permit numbers.

Instead of using the standard blank renewal forms delivered to faculty and staff, this year the Parking Office will mail customized renewal forms with each permit holder's personal information.

"The form will show you what information our database has on your permit registration, including your permit number, your car info, your address info, and even whether you are participating in the automatic renewal program," said Marc Laliberte, administrative supervisor at Parking Services. "If you bought a new car or have a new address, here's a chance to update it. These forms will be mailed to the home addresses of permit holders, and only those not enrolled in the auto-renewal program need to return them."

About 400 people received the defective permits, which state that they are valid at parking meters. This is not true. Replacement permits are available.

Parking Services first wants to distribute all new permits with the new permit numbers to people who still hold old permits. Then Parking Services staff will proceed with the renewal process. Finally, those 400 employees holding the new permits with the typo will receive their correct permits.

The swap begins immediately, with Parking Office staff stationed at field sites in various parking lots and certain buildings. Employees also can pick up new permits at the Parking Office.

Eighteen faculty members from every school and college participated in the first Faculty Instructional Technology Summer Institute at UNH earlier this month.

The institute presented pedagogical techniques for teaching with technology, focusing on ways to implement the Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education. It was a collaborative effort among CIS Academic Technology, the Teaching Excellence Program, and the Academic Technology Liaisons.

"We wanted to encourage faculty to explore integrating technology into their teaching," said Terri Winters, director of academic technology at UNH, "but we also understood the focus had to be on teaching, not just technology."

And that is what many participants found unique and beneficial about the weeklong institute that featured presentations by nationally recognized speakers from around the country and hands-on workshops.

"I wanted to learn how best to integrate the technology into my teaching and when to use all of the cool tools that are out there, but not at the expense of my teaching," said Kate Collopy, assistant professor of nursing.

Bob Barcelona, assistant professor of recreation management and policy, teaches four classes a semester with more than 50 students in each class. He said he felt the institute really taught him how to make a large class feel smaller and less anonymous using technology.

For Kate Hanson, director of the Thompson School's new community service and leadership program, the technology will make it easier for her students to document and share their work while out in the community. Kelly Giraud, assistant professor of resource economics and development, discovered there is technology that will allow her to finish her work on dissertation committees at the University of Alaska.

J. William Harris, professor of history, completed the institute with lots of ideas. His first step will be to integrate technology into his course on the Civil War this fall.

"I already use a lot of visual material in the class, but the institute offered lots of ways to make our teaching better by showing us how to take advantage of all the tools that are out there," he said.

Mike Giordano, an instructional designer with Computer and Information Services at UNH, says his department saw the institute as a way to start relationships, start creating a culture change.

"We showed them we thought about what they needed," he said. "We offered them support to begin thinking about their teaching in a different way."

Participating faculty, chosen from more than 35 applicants, received a free laptop computer.

Debra Miller of Londonderry, senior vice president and director of public affairs and community relations for Citizens Bank in Manchester, has been approved by Gov. Jeanne Shaheen and the Executive Council to serve on the 27-member USNH Board of Trustees.

Shaheen nominated Miller to fill the two years remaining on the term of former board chairman Bruce Keough of Dublin, who stepped down earlier this year to run for governor.

"We had the good fortune to work with Debra Miller recently when she served on the Presidential Search Committee at UNH," board Chairman John Lynch said. "She is a self-motivated team player with over 20 years of management experience in an ever-changing financial service organization. I am confident that trustee Miller will be an asset to our board."

Miller brings a strong business and community background to the board. In 1997, she was awarded the Minority Small Business Advocate of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

She was appointed by Shaheen to the N.H. Commission for National and Community Service, and she is the founding board president for Granite State Youth Mentors.

She is board president for Neighborhood Housing Services of Greater Nashua.

Miller received her bachelor's degree in urban affairs/economics from Winston-Salem State University in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Her term on the board runs until June 30, 2004.

Shaheen also nominated North Country businessowner George Epstein of Conway to succeed Ned Densmore on the board. Epstein is president and CEO of Echo Management, a leading firm in the development of information systems for behavioral healthcare and social service agencies.

The Executive Council is expected to vote on his nomination at its next meeting.

After co-teaching a freshman seminar in chemistry, Dean Arthur Greenberg and Howard Mayne, chair of the chemistry department, fell to blows --in the name of art.

Greenberg and Mayne performed in the play "Oxygen" with a number of their seminar students at the chemistry department's first Alumni and Awards Day in May. About 100 people attended the performance.

Written by two renowned chemists, the play uses the discovery of oxygen in the 18th century and a fictitious retroactive Nobel Prize to explore competition among scientists then and now. UNH received permission from the authors to do a shortened, one-hour version of the play, including some original material written by Howard Mayne, in which two UNH students, Studious and Airhead, comment on the action in the play.

The idea for the performance grew out of Mayne and Greenberg's seminar after the students did dramatic readings of the play. The freshman seminar is a new one-credit requirement for chemistry students designed to "humanize science," according to Mayne. "Instead of just having facts driven into them day after day, which was how I was taught, they learn about the history and philosophy of science and watch some movies about science."

Many chemistry faculty members made presentations to the class as well.

"We want to help first-year students to feel more connected with each other and to be introduced to faculty members and their work," Mayne said. "We hope that will make it easier down the road for the students to approach faculty members about doing research."