AP Assembly
Minutes
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Smathers Library, Room 100, 3:30-5:00PM
Call to Order—Diane Craig, President
Program: Dr. Bernard Machen, University of Florida President, met with the Administrative and Professional Assembly constituency and Library staff and students in the newly renovated Meeting and Lecture hall, Room 100 of the Smathers Library (Library East). During Dr. Machen’s tenure, the University has seen improvements such as the initiation of the First Generation Program, Sustainability, Faculty Challenge, Faculty and Staff Surveys, creation of the Vice President for Human Resources post and expanded benefits for employees. As usual, Dr. Machen’s talk was captivating and informative. Dr. Machen addressed various topics about "where we've been and where we still have to go." Another Faculty Survey was conducted and the results are now being placed online. Dr. Machen asked us if another Staff Survey might also be desirable. It is helpful to get a sense of constituents’ opinions to quantify the issues as best as possible. Money for salaries has been an issue as well as UF employment quality of life.
The Human Resources Department will be moving into the old Southern Bell office two blocks east of 13th Street. All the units of HRS will be consolidated in one building: Training, Benefits, Employment, etc., and will offer a one stop shopping for services in the new building. Parking will be available nearby.
Some changes that have occurred during the last two years:
- Homecoming Friday is now considered a full holiday for employees and students;
- Performance Management Program—Striving for more consistent evaluations of staff across all departments and seeing progress made with new program;
- GatorJobs—an improved way to track applicants and applications for University jobs;
- Training has been updated and improved;
- Benefits now include a wider portion of the working staff and student population with GatorGradCare;
- Improved Sexual Harassment and Complaints Program;
- New Retirement Option;
- Sick Leave for Domestic Partners.
Dr. Machen continued with more observations:
The University is poised to move upward academically. Our academic recognition has been noticed. The challenge is to get the word out. We no longer compare ourselves to other Florida institutions. We are a national university, and we compare ourselves to any other university in the United States. Our focus with Gator Nation compares us with top universities.
First Generation Scholars—A significant number of new students who were accepted, even those with Bright Scholars, did not attend. Many did not come here because of the cost of Room and Board and other related expenses. These potential students elected to go to Community Colleges. Florida Opportunity scholarships allow students who do not qualify for Federal Aid or Loans, whose families earn less than $40,000, and are the first in their family to go to a 4-year institution, to attend the University for free. These students must qualify for admission and graduate within four years. This year, of 434 scholars, only three dropped out in the first semester. These students appreciate the opportunity this program gives them. Of the 500 applicants accepted for the next academic year, about 75% are non-Caucasian. Diversification is a positive outcome of this scholarship. Governor Bush has assisted with matching grants, and we are lobbying hard for an increase for this fund.
Graduate students are more difficult to recruit because of other opportunities such as better health care. We have a new initiative – GatorGradCare. This program is free for Teaching Assistants and Resident Assistants. We hope this will help with recruitment and hope to obtain an increase in stipends.
Faculty Diversity—certain areas of the University have done well but we are nowhere near what it should be for African American faculty. One of the reasons may be that we are known as a southern university. Dr. Machen stressed that we have a reputation and work ethic that embraces people of all backgrounds.
Athletic Merry-Go-Round – Applications are up 10% over what they were last year --3,000 alone in the week between the National Championship and the application deadline. Twenty-five thousand have applied for next fall, and we only accept around 6,600. We have two teams that represent the University of Florida in a positive manner, but we are not forgetting that we are an academic university. We are here to generate, transmit and preserve knowledge. Dr. Machen thinks we are starting to get some traction around the country.
The audience had an opportunity to ask questions:
Administrations and IT issues—IT and many organizations have a CIO officer. We have an interim CIO, Marc Hoit, and he answers to the Provost. We are reorganizing and the feeling is that we need a permanent CIO that covers both the administrative and academic side. We have not figured out how to fund that yet.
What is happening with the $500 per student increase - Senator Oelrich introduced a bill, Academic Enhancement Program (AEP) bill that will find more resources for the University. We are under funded. The University is short $100 - $200 million in tuition. AEP would bring in $70 million. Our Advisor/ Student ratio is very high. We only have one advisor per 1,000 students. The money will be allotted to the colleges that provide most of the classes. Students will also have a say in how the money is spent. The Academic Enhancement Program will not be covered by the Florida Bright Futures Scholarship program or the Florida Prepaid College Plan.
CLAS: Joe Glover is the Interim Dean. Currently several committees working on some proposals but have not yet arrived at any solutions. We are still working off the 5 year plan. We have cleared off most of the 10 million dollar debt. This year there is still a 3 million dollar deficit in CLAS that is not projected to be balanced for 3 to 4 years. That is money that cannot be allocated to other programs.
Improved Evaluations: A 360 degree evaluation is very time consuming and is not on the imminent horizon. President Machen is going through one this year, for the first time. About 60 people will be interviewed as part of this process.
Hiring and Retaining African American Faculty: No simple solutions. We need a VP for Diversity, more money to hire Faculty, a rich diverse pool of applicants and hiring that is impartial. We are talking to the colleges about what they can do, and there are three or four different proposals. The solution is not as simple as needing more money.
Qualities desired for the new Dean of Libraries: 1) The Dean must understand the direction in which library research is going, must be a planner. We need more library resources, and this person has to make that happen. 2) There should be one leader for all the libraries. This would be a bigger job than it currently is. 3) This person will need to have experience at a major research library system. 4) This person must possess vision for the Libraries for the next 10 to 20 years.
Faculty/Staff Raises and Merit Increases: In the Governor's budget, there is a 2.44% increase for Faculty and Staff salaries, with no tuition increase. No money specifically set aside for merit at this time.
Shared Governance: Each academic unit has some form of shared governance. Currently we have a unicameral form of government; the Board of Trustees has the final say. The Faculty Senate has made much progress this year in the area of shared governance.
Minus Grades: Faculty Senate is in favor of minus grade. Students feel that they do not have enough input and neither do the faculty. This issue needs to be settled and decided before the end of the semester.
Distance Education: Currently there is no united effort to provide full online degrees. There may be a niche for UF in the international distance education. This has been proven with the Pharmacy and Health professions. Distance education "has its place if done right."
College of Medicine Search: There are four finalists in this search. In another two to four weeks this search will be brought to a closure.
CLAS Dean: No date has been set for that search.
Dr. Machen continued with some comments about the Master Plan. Dr. Machen has asked the committee to start thinking about another library. This would entail either another building, an extension of an existing building or taking over a non-library, existing building. The new Dean of Libraries will have to determine what the needs are. Eventually, Student Services will be moving out of Criser. A new Welcome Center could be moved out to the Cultural Plaza near the corner of 34th Street and Hull Road. There is room for new buildings and more parking lots. It would have easier access for the public.
Approval of Minutes from January 2007 Meeting—Approved
APA President's Report —We are looking for nominees for the Slate of Officers to serve on the APA. Contact Ron Lester. We would like other APA members to become involved and serve on the APA board. Please let Ron know about any potential nominees or if you would like to serve on the APA Nominating Committee.
Internal Communication—Judy Bousquet is stepping down as chair after two years. Many thanks to Judy and her committee. Looking at the UF Communications network to see where the two committees can work together. We've had meetings with the UF Communications Network Internal Communications Committee and we are moving forward in many areas.
Wendy Thornton - Gave an update on Human Resources Committee. Subcommittees are working on the Employee education and Flex-time programs; the training website has been updated. There will be meetings in March. Contact Wendy for more information.
Curtis Ball—Spoke as chair of the Community Service Committee. Curtis is encouraging anyone who might be interested to serve on this committee. He updated us on some of the previous accomplishments. The committee will meet Monday March 5th and every other Monday in the Reitz Union B-60. Email: cball@ufl.edu.
Old Business—Performance Evaluations lunch forum: 35 attendees, well received with much open dialogue. Look for more performance training on the HR website http://www.hr.ufl.edu/. We will have two more lunches before the summer, and the meetings will resume again in September.
Christine Schoaff: The Retirement seminar for department admins had 25 attendees—the most popular seminar to date. There will be another seminar at the end of March on Non-Reappointment and one on Flex-time in April. If you have any ideas on targeted information, please let us know.
New Business—None
The next APA meeting will be
Date: Thursday, March 22, 2007; 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm
Location: Reitz Union Room 282
Speaker: Dr. Janie Fouke, University Provost and Provost & Senior Vice President
Adjournment—Refreshments were served courtesy of the Smathers Library