Faculty
Senate looks at accountability
By Carolyn
Gonzales
Faculty
Senate met last week and voted Ed De Santis, University Honors,
as president elect. Sherri Burr, School of Law, had been selected,
but resigned recently. De Santis said he is a strong advocate
of faculty governance, and that he looks forward to following
President Beverly Burris two years of progressive
development.
Provost
Brian Foster was on hand to answer questions. A topic of discussion
was a club, like the old Faculty Club, but for use by faculty
and staff. Foster reported that various campus sites have been
looked at, including renovating the upstairs of Jonson Gallery.
It would cost between $500,000 and $600,000 to renovate
in order to make it ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act] accessible,
meet codes, etc. We would also need operating revenue,
Foster said.
The SUB
proved not to be a viable option, but another site under consideration
is the Visitors Center on the corner of Redondo and Las
Lomas.
It
would need very little work to be useable and will be available
soon, Foster said.
Burris
gave her report, noting that a committee of 12-15 is reviewing
core curriculum. Most on the committee are faculty. We
anticipate that the process will take 12 to 18 months and will
include research on core curricula at other institutions,
she said.
Burris
reported that Deputy Provost for Academic Affairs Richard Holder
is examining how the deans review process has been working,
assessing the five-year review and looking to conduct annual
reviews of all deans, including graduate and library deans.
Part of the process is to create an assessment instrument.
Burris
reported on the Commission on Higher Education, noting that
some state community colleges have trouble recruiting faculty
in districts with high K-12 salaries. She reported that the
top K-12 salary in Carlsbad is $66,000.
Burris
said they are looking to revise Faculty Senate bylaws to increase
the size of the operations committee. More colleges will be
represented on the committee and it will allow for the past
president to be a voting member.
Mark Chisholm,
director of Institutional Research, presented performance-based
budgeting measures. Some agreed-upon measures the state legislature
is requiring cut across all of higher education. Others are
institution specific.
Common
goals include increasing the number of transfer students from
two to four-year schools; raising graduation rates; and providing
accessible education, which, for UNM, Chisholm described as
reaching out to Native American students, perhaps as far back
as middle school.
Among UNM
specific goals, the institution is to raise the number of degrees
awarded through Extended University; increase total research
and public service expenditures by UNM; and increase the total
number of graduate and undergraduate degrees awarded.
Hugh Witemeyer,
English, questioned the goals, noting that in shared governance
the faculty should have had the opportunity to help establish
the goals.