Minutes of the University Planning Council Meeting
September 16, 2011
Members present: Alan Gorr, Susan Mikula, Mercy Robb, Pete, Seely, Nancy Stoecker, María de la
Cámara
Alan Gorr chaired the meeting in Eileen Kolich’s absence.
1. The minutes of the August 11, 2011 were approved.
2. Committee members reported on the initiatives planned for their units in 2011-2012.
Tom Wangler:
a) AQIP Action Projects:
 Several weeks ago, Jon Lewis started/opened an action project that comes under the “Helping
Students Learn” category. The action project is to create learning communities on campus. It
will run Aug 2011 – Aug 2013.
 The “Tracking Student Complaints” action project is nearly finished and will likely conclude this
December.
 The “Office of Institutional Research” project is moving along. Several members on a subcommittee of the UPC have been actively engaged in collecting information about such offices
at other institutions.
b) Jon Lewis and Tom presented the results of the HERI (Higher Education Research Institute)
survey to the Academic Affairs Sub-Committee of the Board of Trustees on 9/7/11. This
survey was completed by full-time faculty here at Ben U last spring. Jon and Tom will take
some time to present the results of this survey at the next Faculty Assembly Meeting on
9/22. The plan is for Jon to first say a few things about the results of the CLA (Collegiate
Learning Assessment) survey, done last spring, and then Tom will present the results of the
HERI faculty survey.
c) CIRP packets have been distributed to the instructors of WRIT 101 and 104 and also the
HNRS 190 instructors. Jennie Kamieniecki has already started getting some completed
packets back. The CIRP (Cooperative Institutional Research Program) survey examines the
readiness of incoming freshmen for college.
d) There are plans in the works for a group to attend the AQIP Strategy Forum in Feb – Mar,
2013 to discuss various items in the Systems Appraisal Feedback Report, which we received
from AQIP last spring in response to our Systems Portfolio, which we submitted in FA10 to
AQIP.
Alan Gorr: the COEHS has not finalized its initiatives yet.
Mercy Robb: MarCom is settling the department’s re-structure. They are looking into developing
a project management software to manage a portfolio of projects with a ticket system. They are
also working on improvement of the website, refining video strategy, social media strategy,
increasing national media exposure, and developing mobile apps.
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Susan Mikula: The Faculty Welfare Committee is discussing the Springfield handbook and tenure
issues. increasing faculty development funds, and clarifying some policies such as the tuition
remission policy.
Susan also reported on the Scholars Program which is now participating in the Learning
Communities initiative. Susan is working with Kari Madden, COLA Advancement Officer, to reach
alumni and ask for their support of the program.
Pete Seely: Pete clarified the role of Faculty Assembly. Its focus is not planning but process. Two
initiatives for upcoming meetings are a) increasing the student population while finding ways to
raise the standards of students who come to BU b) resolving the Lainie Tadlock issue since there is
still dissatisfaction about the lack of discussion on this topic. Maria pointed out that there is a
lawsuit still in the courts and discussion will have to wait until it is settled.
Nancy Stoecker: The conflict of interest policy for every employee at the university will be
discussed with the deans next week as well as at the Faculty Assembly. Her office is developing
and reviewing compliance procedures, reviewing staff positions, and participating in a review of
our health insurance. She also noted that the IRS is looking into the 403B plans. Finally, Nancy
reported that IPD terminated its relationship with the university on September 30. Issues of
continuity are being addressed.
Marco Masini: Student Affairs has a new logo and they have developed a new mission statement.
They are working with the International Programs Office on the International House residential
learning community. They are working on the completion of the Rice Center, leadership training
for the students, the Interfaith Challenge initiative, the complaint process, and the needs of adult
student populations.
María de la Cámara: The College of Liberal Arts is working on a number of initiatives. The Global
Studies program is on its third year of the Title VIA grant from the Department of Education.
Funding will be used for faculty development, public forums, library materials and teaching
resources. Political Science has been awarded a new MEPI grant for 2012. Faculty are also
seeking funding from the NEH. The dean an department chairs will work on a plan that
encourages and supports a greater number of faculty sabbaticals. The Languages and Literature
department is working on a new M.A. in Linguistics and TESOL. There are three international
projects planned for this year a) a faculty seminar and study abroad experience in Cuba led by Dr.
Fannie Rushing b) a student course and study abroad experience in Cuba led by Dr. Jack
Thornburg; c) a Journalism in China course and study abroad experience led by Pro. Chris Birks
and Dr. Steven Day.
3. Planning for future projects
Nancy Stoecker and Maria de la Cámara reported on their work with Pat Ariano on the Office of
Institutional Research sub-committee. They have surveyed a broad spectrum of institutions and
they are planning to email a selected number to set up conference calls and gather information
about their structure, functions, staffing, reporting, etc. They might follow up with sites visits to
nearby institutions.
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4. Upcoming presenters:
October- Chad Treisch and Charlie Gregory i (?) ,Mick Carroll (Moser), and Eileen Kolich on her
meeting with Dr. Carroll.
November: Randy Williams and Mercy Robb.
Respectfully submitted,
María de la Cámara
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