Faculty Senate Minutes of January 31, 2012
The meeting was called to order by the Chair Thomas Breslin with the following Senators and visitors present:
Lauren Christos
College of Architecture & The Arts
College of Business Administration
David Dolata
Karlene Cousins
College of Medicine
Daniel Guernsey
Delano Gray
Dietrich Lorke
Marcia Littley
Debra Vandermeer
David Boilard –Alternate
Absent:
Clark Wheatley
Jorge Camilo Mora -Alternate
Jaime Canaves
Absent:
Absent:
Krishnan Dandapani
Juan Lozano
College of Arts & Sciences
Shahid Hamid
Frederick Schild
Dawn Addy
Gerardo Aladro
College of Education
College of Nursing & Health
John Berry
Leonard Bliss
Sciences
Thomas Breslin
Marc Weinstein
Dorothy Brooten
Werner Boeglin
Thomas Reio
Jennifer Doherty-Restrepo
Piero Gardinali
Amy Paul-Ward
Paula Gillespie
College of Engineering
Alan Gummerson
Peter Clarke
College of Public Health & Social
Steve Heine
Jainendra Navlakha
Work
Oren Maxwell
Osama Mohammed
Mariana Baum
Aurora Morcillo
Nagarajan Prabakar
Fatma (Rose) Huffman
Jean Rahier
Ibrahim Tansel
Paul Stuart
Joerg Reinhold
Sabri Tosunoglu
Ray Thomlison
Gene Rosenberg
Dev Roy
School of Hospitality
Guest:
Misak Sargsian
Pablo Simon
Irma Becerra-Fernandez
Neptune Srimal
Absent:
Elizabeth Bejar
Victor Uribe
David Talty
Juan Bueno
Enrique Villamor
Gloria Deckard
Hassan Zahedi
School of Journalism
Ken Jessell
Absent:
Absent:
Russell Lucas
Julian Edward
Neil Reisner
Tonja Moore
Krish Jayachandran
Carlos Suris
Brian Peterson
Kenneth Johnson
Nicol Rae
Rene Price
College of Law
Douglas Robertson
Cyra Choudhvry
Damaris Rubio
David Walter
Debra Sheridan
Sanjeev Udnani
Library
Douglas Wartzok
Andy Grof
Kathleen Wilson
Absent:
Faculty Senate Meeting
Was called to order by Senate Chair Thomas Breslin
At MMC, 1:00PM, January 31, 2012
I.
II.
III.
Approval of the Agenda – Moved & Approved
Approval of the Minutes of the January 17, 2012 meeting – Moved & Approved
Chairperson’s Report – Chair Breslin provided the following report:
Today we focus on our curriculum. It continues to exhibit dynamic change. Curriculum Bulletin 3
features course additions, deletions, and changes, including changes to admissions
requirements. Of particular consequence is the proposed addition of 7000 level courses in the
College of Medicine as that College moves to prepare for a full four-year complement of
students. Final interviews for the fourth class are scheduled for February 10. The size of the
fourth class will be 120 students.
In the mid-ground we have a continuing financial challenge and today our Chief Financial
Officer, Dr. Ken Jessell, will give us an update on financial prospects, as well as prospects for
new construction.
As I mentioned in my written report Miami-Dade legislators are very supportive but very junior
and it will be four years before they ascend to positions of legislative power.
Locally, relationships with the county school system and Miami-Dade College are not cloud-free.
While our dual enrollment programs may boost statewide rankings of local high schools, the
reluctance of the school system to provide the support and access FIU needs to maintain its
standards and its accreditation is extremely problematic. Meanwhile, we continue to experience
deficiencies in the academic backgrounds of students transferring from the community colleges.
Further out in time, as mentioned in my written report, the new chair of the Board of Governor
is pursuing a strategy of better rather than bigger. In addition, the Board chair seems
sympathetic to the growing reluctance of both the legislature and the students to significant
increases in tuition for many more years. Next year we can expect a fight to preserve tenure and
an attempt to realign higher education in Florida into a three-tier system presumably similar to
that of California. The relatively small size of our doctoral programs could weigh against us in
such an event. In any event, we will continue to be challenged by the need to become more
efficient. The UFF chapter has recently issued a report on how new revenues are being spent by
the University and UFF chapter president Kathy Wilson may want to comment on that during
her report to the Senate.
Finally, still further out in time, as evidence mounts of the danger of repeated concussions, and
suits against the National Football League by concussed former players make front-page news,
schools and universities such as ours with a football program could find themselves at great risk
of damage payments and whether or not a football coach is staying or leaving will not be
headline news, even on the sport pages.
IV.
Action Items:
A. Curriculum Bulletin 3
i. Global Learning Curriculum Oversight Committee Motion– Russell Lucas
Motion#11/12:25: The Faculty Senate approves all Global Learning Designation Proposals
presented in Curriculum Bulletin 3. Moved & Approved
ii. Curriculum Committee Motions – Nagarajan Prabakar
a) Motion#11/12:26: The Faculty Senate approves the New Graduate Track: “Executive
Master of Public Administration” in Public Administration (CAS). Moved & Approved
b) Motion#11/12:27: The Faculty Senate approves the following Unit-Specific Graduate
Admission Standards proposal: Master of Public Administration (waive GMAT/GRE for
students with undergraduate upper division GPA >= 3.5) Moved & Approved
c) Motion#11/12:28: The Faculty Senate approves the following Unit-Specific Graduate
Admission Standards proposal: Executive Masters of Taxation (waive GMAT/GRE, if the
student has a graduate degree from ASCB accredited university or passed CPA, or received
undergraduate accounting degree from FIU with GPA >= 3.25) Moved & Approved (with 1
abstention)
d) Motion#11/12:29: The Faculty Senate approves the following Unit-Specific Graduate
Admission Standards proposal: Masters of Accounting (waive GMAT/GRE, if the student
has a graduate degree from ASCB accredited university or passed CPA, or received
undergraduate accounting degree from FIU with GPA >= 3.25) Moved & Approved
e) Motion#11/12:30: The Faculty Senate approves the following Unit-Specific Graduate
Admission Standards proposal: MS in Foreign Language Education (remove GRE
requirement)Moved & Approve
f) Motion#11/12:31: The Faculty Senate approves the following Unit-Specific Graduate
Admission Standards proposal: MS in Early Childhood Education (remove GRE
requirement) Moved & Approved
g) Motion#11/12:32: The Faculty Senate approves Curriculum Bulletin 3.
Moved & Approved
DISCUSSION: There was a lengthy discussion on standards within these departments and it
was determined that we must allow for differences in programmatic requirements. It was
also pointed out that international students often face difficulties taking these tests in
other countries prior to arrival in the U.S.
V.
Reports:
A. Provost’s Report—Provost Wartzok
 We had a successful FIU Day in Tallahassee.
 There was a special STEM research day with dialogue with foundations. FIU can
become a leader in these areas along with the support of these foundations (Carnegie,
Lumina, W. Wilson) and organizations (APLU, Office of Science and Technology at the
White House, etc.)
 We are putting together a Center on STEM education.
 We have not been successful in hiring a new Dean for the College of Business. This is
still in progress.
 The legislation proposing a “virtual campus” is being pushed by the Chair of the House
Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee. It has the following components:
o FLCA, the organization that coordinates SUS electronic catalogue and e-resources,
and CCLA, the organization that serves a similar role for the community colleges,
will be forced to combine.
o The Florida Distance Learning Center will also join the “virtual campus.”
o FACTS.ORG which provides a common admissions platform will also join the
“virtual campus.”
o All the units have to be combined and operational by 1 January 2013. They have to
operate with a budget 7-8% lower than their current combined budget.
 The 6 year graduate rate will hit a low of 41% this year. This is due to 2 factors:
o In 2005 FIU brought in almost 1000 students needing remediation- most of them
didn’t graduate in 6 years.
o 2005 also brought us Katrina and almost 100 students from New Orleans. In order
for us to provide them with financial aid we had to treat them as FTIC’s. They all
returned to New Orleans and thus decrease our 6-yr graduation rate for that
cohort.
 Knowing that 6-yr graduation rates are determined primarily with the entering class
six years ago, we have been focusing on retention. The recent major downturn in the
economy does not appear to have had an effect on retention.
 FACULTY HIRES: For the 2001-2010 decade we grew by just over 3% per year. At an
increase of 2000 students per year for the 2011-2020 decade, the increase will be
slightly less than 4% per year. Deans currently have their enrollment targets. We are
moving to a 27/1 student/faculty ratio (currently at 28/1). We are aiming for 22/1 by
2017 (assuming no further budget cuts from legislators and that the legislators will
continue to allow increases in tuition to meet the national average.)
B. Update on Business and Finance – Ken Jessell, CFO and Senior Vice President
 As we enter the 3rd week of legislative session we are seeing attempts at redistricting,
budget shortfall analysis (2 bills indicating a 7 ½% reduction). Revenues are higher but
Medicaid increases in its expense. FIU will experience a $12M cut if this goes through.
 The Governor has recommended no increases in tuition.
 Wertheim School of Medicine will receive a $.93M increase in its final year of funding.
 The House is proposing 8% base tuition increase for all students (7% differential for
instate tuition). It may take 10 years for Florida to catch up with the national average.
No increase planned for out of state students at this time.
 The Senate budget is not out yet. It is expected in 2 weeks.
 PECO (capital outlay) reduced from $113M to “0” for 2013-2014.
 The Stemple School will be built. Funding is appropriated.
 The Governor is trying to pull back funds or delay payments for on-going projects
since the state does not currently have sufficient bonding capacity.
 We have invested funds to hire: 15 new advisors, 8 additional public safety officers,
and 23 support staff.
 FP&L is proposing an 8% increase in base charges. If the overall budget is reduced by
14% FIU will not have enough in reserves from the tuition increase to offset the
expenditures.
C. UFF Report—Kathleen Wilson, UFF-FIU President
Professor Wilson provided the following report:
A UFF-FIU GENDER SURVEY, prepared by RISEP is being sent out again today Jan. 31. Please
respond as we would hope for close to 400 responses.
LEGISLATIVE INITIATIVES
Last week—Week Three of the 2012 Legislative Session—UFF-FIU Vice President Teresa Lucas
and UFF-FIU president spent two full days in Tallahassee advocating for Faculty, FIU, and Higher
Education. On Wednesday FIU day we visited—along with students, Trustees and President
Rosenberg—several other key Legislators to thank them for their support for FIU and to ask for
their advice as well. It was a very positive experience and my sense is that FIU is well-respected
by Legislators. They seem to understand our unique mission and location and it was a
productive series of meetings. Comment from Lt.Governor Jennifer Carroll stressed return on
investment and tracking students—graduation rates, jobs, salaries, etc.
However, some of the bills that have been filed and the trends that seem to be supported by
the legislature may have a negative impact on higher learning. There was discussion by
members of both chambers of the benefits of on-line courses as a way to achieve dramatic
reductions in university and college budgets in the future. To that end, there is $2.5 million
allocated in the House Budget as the initial cost (“student access” expense) for using Western
Governors University, a private entity without classrooms (charging $6000 per year), which is
designated by all Western states as an on-line university with credits acceptable in public
higher education institutions in those states.
In SB 1560 Senators John Thrasher and Don Gaetz propose taking away from faculty the right
to serve in the Legislature -- claiming it is a conflict of interest for faculty to vote on bills that
favor their own institution. SB2036 Outsourcing or privatization of Agency Functions. Would
allow the legislature to privatize any state function.
HOW FIU SPENDS ITS MONEY
FIU Expenditures on Faculty and Higher Level Administration
(For the full report go to our website www.UFF-FIU.org)
The report shows these trends over the past two years, and contrasts them to past years to
demonstrate the extraordinary rate of growth in administration compared to the decline in
faculty and increase in student to faculty ratios. The report also presents data on who earns the
most at FIU and how faculty salaries at FIU compare to other universities.
While the current report indicates a significant slowing of the trend from the previous years—
for example the increase in number of administrators roughly matches the increase in number
of students—the increase in faculty was only 4.2%. The student/faculty ratio has increased
from 2008 and with it an increase in workload. There is also an increasing trend to hire more
instructors and fewer tenure-track faculty. However, the report also does not include the 120
new faculty members hired in 2011. The university has also implemented several initiatives to
save costs, such as energy conservation, voice communications reduction, reorganization of
student ID program, and an online catalog. On another positive note, salaries at FIU are
relatively competitive, one hypothesis being the relative strength of the faculty union at FIU
compared to other schools. But with the emphasis from the legislature on creating efficiencies
and a return on investment, it may be possible to use this report to encourage dialogue in
creating efficiencies in administration as well.
UFF-FIU Chapter meeting Friday Feb. 24 at 12:30 in WC130.
D. SGA Report—Sanjeev Udhnani, MMC SGA Vice President
 First Generation Gala was held Thursday. SGA is still short of our goal, and we need
the help of faculty. We are still accepting donations.
 Students joined faculty and administrators in a successful rally in Tallahassee.
 We signed the contract on a 12’ bronze panther statue.
 We are currently working on other funding strategies.
VI.
VII.
Unfinished Business (none)
New Business (none)
Adjournment Moved and Approved
ANNOUNCEMENTS
The next Faculty Senate meeting is Tuesday, January 17 , 2012 at
1:00pm in the Wertheim Conservatory. All are invited.
Go to facultysenate.fiu.edu for regularly updated information on the Faculty Senate.