University of Nevada, Reno Faculty Senate
May 9, 2012 (2012-13) Meeting Summary
The 2012-13 Senate Meeting began at 3:20
Chair David Zeh asked the new senators to introduce themselves.
Welcome from President Marc Johnson:
President Marc Johnson welcomed the members of the 2012-13 senate and spoke about
the importance of the group in shared governance and thanked them for committing to this.
He spoke about the tough times that the university has been through and how some units
were hit extremely hard. At this point we need to move the university forward in a slow
growth mode. The senate’s role in moving the university forward was important and they
could help take the message of growth and stabilization back to their constituents. We all
need to come together for the future.
There was discussion on the funding formula being considered by the regents. There were
some troublesome elements in the proposal for us, but the most important part of the
formula would be to gain control of our tuition and fees. This would put us in a reasonable
position for student growth.
He briefly discussed the reasons for the fast track on the Executive Vice President and
Provost search process. This would allow a provost to come on as soon as the spring. The
search firm chosen was Isaac and Miller, he felt they were an excellent firm and that they
would conduct due diligence and bring forward some good candidates.
Chair David Zeh asked the President to speak about his vision for the next six months to two
years. Johnson responded that his vision during that time was to fill the Executive Vice
President and Provost position, he has a group looking at identifying a three year investment
plan for research support, there is also a committee that has been meeting over the last
three months tasked with university outreach, they have been working on enrollment
management and with the 8% fee increase and the hope of being able to keep our tuition we
will increase the number of students, and he wanted to build research support and outreach.
He had been working with the Redfield Foundation to do something major with creating an
innovation campus within the Redfield Campus. The Technology Transfer Office has been
working with faculty to help them work towards a more commercialization in their research.
Johnson spoke about the restoration of merit and that he would like to get everyone back to
where they belong and have a conversation with the senate on fair ways to spread the merit
money over a couple of biennium. Human Resources would continue to conduct salary
equity surveys. We need to grow faculty to serve them. He said that the chair’s stipend was
to pay them for a 10th month. It has been difficult to get faculty to serve in that capacity.
Please if you have any questions or comments email President Johnson at marc@unr.edu.
University of Nevada, Reno Faculty Senate
May 9, 2012 (2012-13) Meeting Summary
Orientation:
Chair David Zeh went over the Orientation presentation.
Link to the Presentation:
http://www.unr.edu/facultysenate/meetings/1213/Agendas/New%20Senator%20Orientation%202012%20(DWZ).pptx
Where Are We Going?
Zeh said that the senate needed a plan, too often, faculty have a tendency to pretend that
the outside world did not exist.
We receive 46% of our funding from the state and this is higher than most other institutions.
A senator asked if Bruce Shively could come in an explain how the funding worked as there
was some confusion about how much of our tuition and fees went into the general fund and
how much came back in state appropriations.
The senate’s work this year would include: the Commission for the Future of the University,
senate apportionment, faculty senate committee work, the General Education & Core
Curriculum Revisions, and faculty morale issues.
Zeh said that there were four major issues facing the university: the economy, disruptive
innovation, our image problem, and faculty morale.
Executive Vice President and Provost Search Committee:
Past Chair David Ryfe explained the process used to form the committee: An all faculty
notification was sent out on Monday asking for faculty nominations to the committee. The
senate then elects 10 of those nominations and forwards the information to the president
who then chooses 5 of those. Closing day for faculty nominations was Thursday, May 10,
2012. This process has been rushed, but we have followed the policy as written in the UAM.
No timeline was stated in the UAM. The president was committed to move forward with this
over the summer and faculty would be leaving campus soon. If the senate chose not to
participate or chose to wait to elect the 10 faculty to recommend to the president, they would
lose the opportunity to meet with the search firm and provide input into the beginning part of
the process. This was a critical part where the characteristics they wanted in a provost
would be defined.
The senate chose to follow through with the election, and have it complete by Friday at 5
pm, however, they requested that a memo be sent to the president expressing the
displeasure of the senate at the short timeline.
New Business:
Senate Manager, Michelle Hritz said that a senator was needed for a scholarship committee
member. Anna Panorska volunteered to serve.
Meeting Adjourned: 5:10 pm
University of Nevada, Reno Faculty Senate
May 9, 2012 (2012-13) Meeting Summary