Tulane University
Staff Advisory Council
Minutes of Thursday, June 11, 2009
ATTENDEES
ATTENDEES
DOWNTOWN CAMPUS
OFFICERS
Glenda Folse
Karen Hiller
Tami Jenniskens
Excused
Excused
Excused
Roxanne Johnson
Paula Lucas
Linda Miller
Cindy Stewart
Shirley Tubre
Merisa Pasternak (proxy)
Yesenia Vasquez (proxy)
Excused
Excused
Excused
Absent
Excused
Excused
Absent
Susan Barrera, Chair
Rhonda Earles, Vice Chair
Gwen Chavez, Election Coordinator
Lisa Britton, Recording Secretary,
Present
Excused
Present
Present
Member at Large
UPTOWN CAMPUS
Marty Brantley
Liz Davey
Shirley Dymond
Miriam Espinosa
Cynthia Hayes, Immediate
Absent
Present
Present
Present
Excused
Cheryl Sterling, Corresp. Secretary
Jered Bocage, Parliamentarian
Proxy
Present
MEMBERS – AT – LARGE
Rob Platner
Present
INVITED GUESTS
Cathy Tsagournos, WFMO
Present
VISITORS
Mike Griffith (proxy for Linda Wright)
Wendy King (proxy for Cheryl Sterling)
Allen Scott Goings (Public Safety)
Present
Present
Present
Past Chair
Aaron Martin
Lisa O’Dwyer
Judy Vitrano
Linda Wright
Argentina Acosta (proxy)
Jenny Daigle Benoit (proxy)
Laurie Orgeron (proxy)
Present
Present
Excused
Proxy
Absent
Present
Present
NORTHSHORE
Eileen deHaro
Mary Little
Robert Johnson (proxy)
Excused
Present
Absent
All Officers are serving the Staff Advisory Council term 2008 – 2009
TU Staff Advisory Council Meeting
June 11, 2009
Page 2
Call to Order: Susan Barrera, SAC Chair, called the June 11, 2009 meeting of the
Staff Advisory Council to order at 3:30 p.m. The meeting was held at the Lavin-Bernick
Center, the Korach Room on the uptown campus.
I. Review and Approval of the Minutes
Chair Barrera called for a motion to approve the May 12, 2009 minutes and the minutes
were approved.
II. Report of the Chair, Susan Barrera
Chair Susan Barrera wanted to open the floor to discussion on a few items:
Wants to get everyone to start thinking about the following and we can discuss more at
our next meeting.
 For discussion-- Wants feedback on the location for upcoming SAC meetings
when scheduling the uptown campus? With the construction on and around the
campus, parking is limited. Uptown Square seems to be the better of locations.
 For discussion -- Is the meeting time (3:30 pm) and on Thursday is okay for
everyone? Also, is a meeting needed every month?
Chair Barrera is also working on re-scheduling Scott Cowen, and also getting Tony
Lorino on the schedule. Yvette Jones and Anne Banos both have always been
speakers at SAC meetings.
At our July meeting our new representatives will be participating and would like to
discuss our goals for the year.
Re-cap our scholarship award discussions and get want to get the program in motion.
Thanked Mary Little for representing SAC at the retirement party for Bill Meneray and
presenting him with a plaque of appreciation in help the founding of SAC.
III. WFMO Liaison
Cathy Tsagournos Director, WFMO Strategy Planning and Implementation said she
did not have questions from our last meeting that she needed to bring to this meeting.
Question from the floor: Is the “grievance panel” still in existence? Cathy will bring this
question back to WFMO and will have an answer for us at our next meeting.
IV. Officer Reports
TU Staff Advisory Council Meeting
June 11, 2009
Page 3
A. University Senate
No meetings until the fall semester begins.
B. Board of Administrators
Rhonda Earles gave the following report on the May 14, 2009 Board meeting.
President Cowen provided a brief update to his March presentation to the board.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Fall ’09 enrollment appears on track, even when considering summer melt. More
commitment checks have been received than ever before on this date.
Announcements will be made soon regarding the leadership positions at the Murphy
Institute and the Newcomb College Institute. An acting dean for the law school will
be named shortly.
Several proposals have been submitted for funding from the stimulus program.
The initial call for and review of proposed doctoral programs has been completed.
Three proposals were approved: Aging Studies, French Studies, and Linguisics.
These programs will enroll students in Fall 2010. Some proposals were returned
with suggestions for revision and resubmission (Digital Humanities; City, Culture and
Community; Media, Culture and Performance; and Political Economy and
Institutions); others were rejected.
With regards to fundraising, as of April 30, the university had reached: 73.3 percent
of its goal of 15,000 donors, 45 percent of its $15M unrestricted goal, 51.2 percent of
its $70M goal for new gifts and pledges.
Total endowment has an estimated value of $735M, down $26M since December.
The endowments remain highly liquid, ensuring continuity of the payout to the
university. The university “scorecard,” which was designed to measure progress
(summarizing accomplishments and outlining goals) has the following goals:
◦ Build a science and engineering research base that ranks in quality among the
top comprehensive private research universities in the nation.
◦ Rank among the top 30 AAU institutions on per capita R&D expenditures.
◦ Increase the quality of the undergraduate and graduate student bodies, based on
appropriate input and output measures.
◦ Achieve top 25 status among all private research universities in quality of
undergraduate student body.
◦ Increase the number of graduate students participating in funded research.
◦ Lose no faculty to other institutions because of noncompetitive compensation
and benefits.
◦ Have faculty compensation packages that are in the 25 th percentile of appropriate
benchmark groups.
◦ Increase the size of the endowment, total giving and alumni participation levels.
◦ Maintain or improve current bond rating.
◦ Rank among the top universities in fundraising.
◦ Rank among the top universities in size of endowment.
Other indicators to monitor are: diversity, institutional rankings, faculty honors, and
other financial ratios.
Tulane is:
TU Staff Advisory Council Meeting
June 11, 2009
Page 4
◦
•
•
•
•
the only major research university in the country to integrate civic engagement
into its core coursework.
◦ one of five highly selective major research universities in the South to be a
member of AAU.
◦ among the 2 percent of universities nationally designated as having “very high
research activity” by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
◦ one of the most highly selective institutions based on undergraduate student
quality.
◦ at an all-time high in research dollars, undergraduate applications, and student
quality.
◦ one of the few major research universities where full-time faculty teach
undergraduates, regardless of rank or position.
The 2010 proposed budget includes:
◦ $37,200 – undergraduate tuition; graduate and professional tuition will increase
no less than $1,700 annually.
◦ Class goal remains 1,400 plus transfer students.
◦ Housing increase of $160; meal rates increase of $110
◦ Salary increases for those earning <$35,000 are not merit-based and are
restricted to actual persons not vacant positions and are fixed at 2 percent.
Those earning >$35,000 will not receive pay raises.
A reorganization of administration is forthcoming and will include increasing staff
size in development.
Chief among the issues facing the university is the ownership, governance and
management of the new public hospital.
In response to a question regarding the recent deaths of two students, Cynthia
Cherrey responded that the graduate architecture student and the business minor
student had both died of natural causes at their respective homes in Calif. and La.
V. University Senate Committee Reports
1. Benefits
No meeting.
2. Budget Review
Aaron Martin said the 2010 proposed budget was approved. The information voted
on was to be brought before the Board for their final approval.
 Hiring freeze but if a grant position needs to be filled, they will be allowed to hire
someone.
 Undergraduate tuition up 4.8% and the overall cumulative tuition fees will increase
by 4.9% -- all of this is on par with peer universities.
 Student housing will increase by 3%
 Intercollegiate athletics – will be doing only 10 sports and suspending 2. Will see if
we can get an extension from NCAA that was given to us after Katrina.
3. Information Technology
TU Staff Advisory Council Meeting
June 11, 2009
Page 5
Discussion from the floor -- for future elections, will post a bio and photos of the people
running for representative positions. This will be helpful for anyone voting, to make a
decision having some background information on the people asking for votes.
The SAC listserv will be updated with the new representatives.
4. Equal Opportunity
No Report.
5. Physical Facilities
No Report.
6. Social Issues
No Report.
VI. SAC Sub-Committees
1. Election Committee
Gwen Chavez asked for nominations from the floor as “write in’s”. There were no
nominations from the floor, so the following will be the 2009-2010 SAC officers: Susan
Barrera, Chair; Gwen Chavez, Vice Chair; Lisa Britton, Recording Secretary; Rob
Platner, Election Coordinator; and Cheryl Sterling, Corresponding Secretary.
2. Electronic Technology and Information
No report.
3. Staff Appreciation
Rob Platner reported The Family Fun Walk/Run will tie into a spring 2010 Tulane
baseball game. Plan to partner with the Wellness group and Tulane athletics help do
different “stations” for all participants. All of this will be discussed further at our next
meeting where we hope to have a final date for this event. Once a date is decided, we
can move forward on the planning.
4. Staff Issues
From the floor – for future issues, recommend SAC pass a resolution and have it in
writing to present to WFMO.
TU Staff Advisory Council Meeting
June 11, 2009
Page 6
From the floor – encouraging bike riding and to have the Flex Spending Accounts tied in
with the “Commuter Spending Account” (CSA). This needs to be set up through WFMO
and the Flex Spending Accounts.
From the floor – need more bicycle racks around the campus. There are problems with
bicycles being left around entrance ways or tied to inappropriate locations.
5. Health and Wellness
No report.
6. Community Service
No report.
VI. Old Business
None.
VIII. New Business
Mary Little introduced Scott Goings who is a new Northshore representative.
We no longer have an official post office on campus. Question as to why the stamp
machine in Bruff has be changed out to only accept your ID, which accesses your
account. Why couldn’t this be a “cash” machine?
Lisa O’Dwyer encouraged everyone to participate in the 5K for 4K this Saturday which
is to benefit the athletic department. The walk will go around the campus and at the
end, will be a big party on the baseball field.
Rob Platner asked if we could contact the correct Tulane department to address the
problem created from the recent construction on McAlister that there are no direction
signs or street signs. It has been difficult to give directions to people coming to people
not familiar with the campus.
Next Meeting: The next meeting will be held on Thursday, July 9, 2009 at the Primate
Center and will have catered lunch at noon and begin the meeting immediately after
lunch.
IX. Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 4:20 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Lisa M. Britton
Recording Secretary