August 30, 2012
University of Nevada, Reno
Faculty Senate 2012-13
Meeting Minutes
Meeting 3
1. Roll Call and Introductions:
Present: Jamie Anderson (SOM), Pat Arnott (COS), Todd Borman (IT), John Dell (DHS), Sue Donaldson
(COOP), Patricia Ellison (CABNR), Catherine Goring (SOM), Keith Hackett (Pres), Rosemary McCarthy (JO)<
Glenn Miller (CABNR), Elissa Palmer (SOM), Anna Panorska (COS), Crystal Parrish (DEV), Mark Pingle for
Rafik Beekun (COBA), Chuck Price (SS), Todd Renwick (VPAF), David Ryfe (Ex-Officio), Amy Shannon (Lib),
David Sanders (EN), Deborah Shindell (DHS), Patricia Swager for Gerald Ackerman (SOM), Shanon Taylor
(COE), George Thomas (CLA), Robert Wang (SOM), Claudene Wharton (Pres), Leah Wilds (CLA), Stephanie
Woolf (VPR), David Zeh (Chair).
Absent: Mariah Evans (CLA), Swatee Naik (Chair-Elect), and Vannessa Nicholas (Prov).
Senate Vacancies: 1 (CLA), 1 (COS).
Guests: Orion Cuffe (GSA), Kent Ervin (COS), Heather Hardy (Prov), Michelle Kelley (HR), Jean Regan
(DHS), Thomas Schwenk (DHS), Hank Stone (NSHE).
Chair David Zeh’s opening remarks:
Zeh welcomed senators back to campus, and started the meeting with 2 quotes:
“Truth is the intersection of Independent lies” by Richard Levins and the second quote: “You can prove
anything with facts” by Homer Simpson. He implied that this was relevant to the formula funding discussion
that would be happening later. Zeh gave an overview of the agenda and then said that President Marc
Johnson was not able to attend, so Executive Vice President and Provost Heather Hardy would present in his
stead.
2. Visit with Executive Vice President and Provost Heather Hardy:
Provost Hardy, presenting for President Johnson, said that President Johnson has been asking the question of
the various leadership groups across campus. “Given what the formula may turn out to be, do we stay on this
quality path or do we reverse our trajectory and go for bigger numbers?” In light of the formula, quantity would
be rewarded. The consensus was that quality was the most important issue. Better students created better
learning experiences and a better environment. It was pointed out that Athletics was at a recruiting
disadvantage this year with the new Academic Index and the inability to utilize special admits. Board of
Regents’ Policy dictates the minimum GPA; however we use a higher Academic Index (AI) when enrolling
students. Those students with an AI below 60 were encouraged to go to a community college to prepare for the
university. What is the data on student success if their AI is lower than 60? Approximately 30% graduate if their
AI is below 60. Better quality undergraduates lead to better quality graduate students. The university has fewer
graduate students this year and the formula was more heavily weighted for graduate programs, so it would be
important to increase those numbers with quality graduate students. The loss of graduate stipends was cited
as an issue leading to fewer graduate students. Sixteen new assistantships were provided for newly hired
individuals and Provost Hardy said those were the first in the past several years. Her goal would be to increase
the number of assistantships and the amount of the stipends provided to each.
It was mentioned that it would be helpful if administration were more nimble and communicative. Hardy said
that several requests for proposals were put out the last time there were one time funds. We were still in a
budget reduction biennium. Chair David Zeh remarked that the economic realities would not change for a
while, but having an institution that has a good reputation and faculty that can attach good students is a
reasonable strategy. David Ryfe said that while UNR is affordable compared to California schools, it is not
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Meeting 3
necessarily affordable to Nevada residents. In order to ensure quality instruction, we need be sure faculty were
able to deliver to students; we have the highest student to faculty ratio in the west.
3. Visit with Graduate Student Association (GSA) President Orion Cuffe:
Graduate Student Association President Orion Cuffe reported that graduate student population has been
declining in the past few years. There have been extensive conversations over the past 2 years regarding the
obstacles with graduate assistantships and stipends. The stipends have not increased since 1992 in either
number or amount. Graduate housing has been a problem in the past; however, work will begin on a new
facility that will have 200 units. Cuffe said that they will be actively lobbying the legislature and he felt that
student lobbying was helpful in the past.GSA began planning the Day of Education at the legislature from 8 am
to 5 pm on February 25, 2012. They would bus students to Carson City and were hoping to set up a satellite
spot for those people not able to attend. The legislature implied that graduate students do not stay in Nevada,
so GSA would be creating two portfolios, one that shows businesses in the areas that hire Masters’ and
Doctoral Students and what their needs were and the other portfolio would look at graduates of UNR that were
still working in the community. GSA has programs for grad students that include: travel grants, need-based
scholarships, a computer loan program and used household items for grad students.
Link to GSA programs website: http://www.unr.edu/gsa/programs.html
4. Chair’s report:
 Senate Chair David Zeh reported that there would be informal Campus Communications with the
President, Provost and Faculty Senate Chair on three dates: September 13, 2012, October 30,
2012 and December 5, 2012. They will be held in the Faculty Lounge of the Knowledge Center
Room 422 from 4 to 5 pm.
 US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will visit the Latino Research Center in a Town Hall
meeting on September 12, 2012 held in the JCSU Ballroom.
 The Presidential Inauguration is scheduled for 10:00 am Friday, September 28, 2012 on the Quad.
 Provost Search Update: http://www.unr.edu/provost/provost-search
o Isaacson, Miller was the search consultant and Vice President for Research Marsha Read is
the chair of the search committee.
o 6 semi-finalists have been selected and the committee will conduct intensive interviews.
o On campus finalist visits would be in October and the committee would make a
recommendation to the President.
o The proposed start date is January 1, 2013.


e-Learning Proposal – NSHE doesn’t have capacity with current staff levels and workload
commitments so they hired Richard N. Katz Associates to explore on-line education strategies.
o They would be exploring: opportunities/alternatives, benefits/risks, high-level marketing
viability, funding/revenue generation models, and realistic timelines.
Executive Board Retreat Recap
o The retreat was used to determine the work of the senate through December.
o Four Senate Committees work on the academic year and the Executive Board discussed
charges and membership. Chairs: Catherine Goring Academic Standards; Shanon Taylor,
Campus Affairs; Peter Weisberg Research and Grants Committee; no chair yet for
Administrative Faculty Personnel Policy and Procedure Committee.
August 30, 2012
Meeting 3
 Budget Enhancements UNCE and SOM were not approved by the Board of Regents. UNR was the
only institution to submit enhancement requests.
 Possible consolidation of CABNR and UNCE to create synergies and foster collaboration and allow
for a top notch dean. This possibility would be discussed with the units and with the advisory boards
of each unit, as well as the community. Once a proposal was submitted a committee would be
formed to review the proposal and then come to the senate for a full vote.
 Annual Leave on Termination
o There has been discussion on a proposal to reduce the maximum amount of annual leave
paid out to faculty upon termination to 24 days. The current liability would be $19 million at
48 days of annual leave paid out.
 Found in the Information Items are UAM Revisions that occurred over the summer. These were
approved by the Executive Board unless they felt there was an issue and then they would come
before the full senate.
 David Zeh went over the consent agenda procedures. There was no need to pull an item that just
had a grammatical or typographical error, instead, let Michelle or Linda know. If an item was pulled,
it would be discussed and then voted on. Zeh would ask for items the senate wanted pulled. The
rest of the agenda would be adopted.
 New faculty orientation was held and Zeh presented and distributed a pamphlet about the senate.
 Faculty Senate Representatives for the Research Advisory Council were Pat Arnott and Mariah
Evans.
 Faculty Senate Liaison to the Graduate Council is Ania Panorska.
 University Courses and Curriculum Committee (UCCC) Representative is Rosemary McCarthy.
 Graduation for Spring 2013 will be split into two separate ceremonies by college; half on Friday and
half on Saturday.
 A new online catalog was being developed and all department links would need to be updated.
 Changes were being made to the student’s drop date for classes, resulting from university liability to
repay Federal Financial Aid Funds.
 Special Board of Regents Meeting Recap:
o The Chancellor’s Funding Formula was approved by the Regents.
o There would be a major shift of funding to the southern colleges.
 Discussion in the senate included the shift of money from the northern institutions to
the southern institutions. There will likely be some mitigation from the legislature over
the next two biennia to offset the loss of funding especially to the community colleges
in the north.
o Zeh provided testimony regarding the support of most items but deep concern with the lack
of performance metrics in the performance pool.
o Substantial public comment given in support of restoring funding to Cooperative Extension.
o Biennial Budget Enhancement Request for both the School of Medicine and Cooperative
Extension were voted down. The Chancellor would prefer not to have any budget
enhancements go forward at this time.
 Report on the Commission for the Future of the University of Nevada:
o They would be meeting next week and hoped the report would be presented to the senate at
the December meeting.
5. Retirement: Michelle Kelley and Hank Stone:
Link to PowerPoint Presentation:
August 30, 2012
Meeting 3
http://www.unr.edu/facultysenate/meetings/12-13/Agendas/8-30-12FS_RPA.ppt
The 401a is the faculty retirement plan; the 403b is voluntary retirement plan for all employees. The plan was
very large, with $1.7 billion dollars in the plan. Michelle Kelley was concerned about the complexity of the plan.
There are three vendors, with 289 investment opportunities which can be very intimidating to new faculty. This
NSHE Committee was looking for ways to simplify the plan and to reduce fees. Currently, faculty were paying
on average over half a percent in fees (slide 5). The costs include two basic components, administration
expense and the investment management expense. If invested in their proprietary funds, those fees are
charged. If able to reduce the total fees by 25 basis points, gives an equivalent of an extra half percent
contributed to the individuals plan. The Request for Proposal (RFP) would look at a cost savings on the
administration side. They were also looking at paring down the number of funds that would also decrease
costs. There would be four tiers, based on how much involvement individuals wanted. The retirement plan was
not changing, they were only looking at changing the vendor relationships.
The Retirement Plan Alternatives Committee was looking for information prior to sending out a RFP. The RFP
objectives were to simplify the participant experience and to maximize faculty and staff engagement. The
committee will hold town hall meetings to get feedback prior to writing the RFP. The committee would like to
have the new plan in place by January 2014. Comments can be sent to: Michelle Kelley or Hank Stone
kelleym@unr.edu or hstone@nshe.nevada.edu
Consent Agenda:
The following items were on the Consent Agenda:
June 7, 2012 Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes
2011-12 Research and Grants Recommendations
20101-12 Academic Standards Committee Recommendation
2012-13 Research and Grants Committee Charges
2012-13 Campus Affairs Committee Charges:
Zeh said that the 2011-12 RGC and ASC charges were not voted on in their entirety and now the senate needs
to discuss and vote on these remaining recommendations.
The Research and Grants Committee Charges and the Research and Grants Committee Recommendation
were pulled from the consent agenda. The Institutional Review Board Executive Committee and the Indirect
Cost Recovery Committee no longer exist. A better charge would be to institute those committees. Zeh asked if
there were any objections to adopting the rest of the consent agenda, hearing none, the rest of the agenda
was adopted.
Michelle Hritz, Senate Manager, stated that administration had agreed to build a website with committee
information, so rather than institute a new committee, she would make a commitment that once that was
complete, the charges would be revised so that each of the senate committees liaised with the appropriate
university committees. Zeh spoke to the President about this and said that the University of Montana had a
great website that showed all the committees and their members and charges. He said that he felt that the
president understood the importance of this and the work to establish one was planned.
MOTION: Wharton/Shannon. Continue with charges for the RGC for the academic year after item number 5
was removed. Sue Donaldson said that ICR Task Force was disbanded after the completing their charges and
recommendations. Ania Panorska asked where the money was supposed to come from for those charges. The
charge was to monitor the RFA to make sure that it was responded to. There was discussion on why an RFA
needed to be monitored. While the money may not be available now, if it kept coming forward when there was
money administration would be aware of the importance of the RFA. Wharton would like to clarify that the
August 30, 2012
Meeting 3
Office of Integrated Marketing was not the correct office listed in the charge rather, it should be the Office of
Media Relations (1iii)
ACTION: Passed unanimously
MOTION: Wharton/McCarthy. To change the Office of Integrated Marketing to the Office of Media Relations in
the charge.
ACTION: Passed unanimously.
MOTION: Wharton/Miller. To make the recommendation and RFA of RGC 2011-12 to match the motion where
it changes the Office on Integrated Marketing to the Office of Media Relations.
ACTION: Passed unanimously.
6. Children in the Workplace:
Zeh said that there was concern that if the senate or the executive board did not respond quickly to the
UAM Revisions that there would not be an opportunity have input. A response was sent to administration
stating that the language was too restrictive. Many times it was difficult to get in touch with a supervisor in
advance and also that many time school delays were longer than two hours.
The senate discussed issues from clinical practice where no children were allowed, bringing an infant could
possibly disrupt the work environment, and the protection of minors in the workplace.
MOTION: McCarthy/Borman. To table the discussion until the next senate meeting.
ACTION: Passed unanimously
7. Tom Schwenk: Budget Enhancement:
The request for a budget enhancement began with the Pennington Building opening and the desire to add
both nursing and medicine students. The original plan was to take advantage of the space in Pennington
by increasing the class size of nursing and medicine. The hope was mostly to increase the residency
program which could create more doctors for this area because most residents practice where they
completed their residency training. The plan had been through many variations prior to going to the
Regents. Nursing was carved because covered under the funding formula as an undergraduate program.
The regents felt that tuition should be increased to support this increase. The regents did not choose to
either support or deny this enhancement
8. New business: none
Meeting adjourned 4: 35 pm