PPBC Meeting on January 13th, 2011, at 8:30 am.
Present: Dean Arlan Norman, Associate Dean Kathy Kitto, Assistant to the Dean Sue Hoidal, Chair
Kristen Larson, Alejandro Acevedo, Edoh Amiran, Doug Clark, Steve Emory, David Leaf, Eric McKell,
Phil Nelson.
Approval of minutes of the meeting of 12/09/2010: approved.
Mark Bussell, Sustainable Energy Initiative:
Meeting since last fall to construct a cross-college program in renewable energy. Two majors and
two minors have been contemplated and drafted -- BS, BA, minor in technology and minor in policy.
Some new courses would be created to serve these majors and minors. Funding to staff these courses will
be sought, mostly from outside the university. Distributed a scheme of topics and their relation to
different colleges, the proposed majors and minors, and a list of the proposed courses (an electronic copy
will be circulated so faculty members can view these).
Developed by Mark Bussell (Chemistry) with Andy Bunn (Environmental Science) and Phil Thompson
(Economics).
Discussion included
A. Goals of the program. The BS is aimed at practitioners, not as a base for research scientists
(who may be better served by majors in chemistry, physics, or engineering). The BA leans in the policy
direction and includes a significant science component. The minors are meant to give an introduction to
renewable energy.
B. Building new courses so that they are sustained and either assigned to departments or to
particular faculty members.
C. Currently, support is sought from departments for continuing with building the program. The
program is a few years away from implementation, and the minors might be implemented first. The
program developers hope for suggestions for long term planning. The CST considers this for the 5 to 10
year horizon and plans that new positions in the program will also benefit departments and fill the needs
of the college.
Items from the Dean:
The Provost will meet with PPBC in two weeks. The primary question will be what is desired in
the new dean.
The process of developing the budget for 2011-2013 will begin soon and PPBC will be involved.
The President has asked for plans for a 5 percent cut and for a 7 percent cut. The current budget situation
for NTT instructional needs includes 1,280 thousands of dollars (per year).
Expect about 930K in vacant (TT) positions. Temporary vacancies amount to about 560K. So the total is
1,490K. In the hypothetical setting where the full 5 percent of the CST budget were taken from the
vacant positions, 550K would be lost from the 930K, so the total available would be 940K to fund
instructional needs (about 75 percent of the current level).
Legacy funds for CST and its departments total about 440K in one-time funds.
In early summer CST was required to submit an outline for a budget. Now CST is asked to budget
more concretely. The President has put in place a campus strategic plan, which is to drive the process.
All the planning units (such as CST) will examine their strategic goals and map them to the university’s
strategic plan. The coming biennial budget is to fit into a long-term plan for the next 6 years that is tied
into the strategic goals.
Items from the Chair:
Announcements: Members of the curricular efficiency task force have been nominated. A review
of faculty governance structures in the colleges has been initiated by the Faculty Senate. PPBC will
consider discrepancies between the CST unit plan and the Faculty Senate’s Faculty Handbook.
Adjourned 9:50.