Final Report from the University Faculty Compensation Committee for FY04

Final Report from the University Faculty Compensation Committee for FY05

May 23, 2006

Committee Members: Lisa Wolf-Wendel, Chair (Education); Donna Ginther (Economics), Russell Osterman (Engineering), Lea Currie (Libraries), Robert Ward (Molecular Biosciences), Shannon O’Lear (Anthropology), Saundra Gautt (Provost’s office).

Standing Charges

1. Continue working of the development of a University family leave policy. Administer the survey of department chairs developed by FCC 2004-05 and report on findings to FacEx by January 1, 2006. Make family leave policy recommendations to FacEx by April 1, 2006. Policy leave recommendations should include information about family leave policies at peer universities and the relevant costs and benefits of modifying current family leave practices at KU.

Action: This fall using data collected from the Faculty Compensation Committee several members of the committee authored a tenure stop clock policy. The policy was approved by SenEx, by Faculty Council and was adopted by the Board of Regents during the Spring semester. The university now has a tenure stop clock policy for mothers and fathers.

This spring the Committee surveyed department chairs regarding their informal and formal policies regarding family leave. The data has been collected but has yet to be analyzed. This summer Donna Ginther and Lisa Wolf-Wendel will analyze the data for the committee and will share the results with committee members this fall. Special thanks to the Office of Institutional Research for assisting the Committee with administering the online survey.

Recommendation: The committee will need to review the results of the survey and figure out next steps regarding creating work/family policies at KU.

2. Continue cooperative communication between the Chairs of the Planning and Resources and Faculty Compensation committees to facilitate coordination on issues of mutual concern.

Action: Contact was made, but not much came of it.

Recommendation: This will need to be an ongoing charge.

3. Monitor the implementation and effectiveness of the Faculty Services Office.

Action: In the Fall we were notified that the Provost Office decided not to support the Faculty Services Office.

Recommendation: The creation of a faculty Services Office remains a good idea. We ought to forward the idea to the new Provost to see if he is willing to support it. The committee is willing to pursue this possibility next year.

Additional Charges

5. Review existing State and University policy regarding domestic partner benefits. Explore the different components that might be included in a set of domestic partner benefits. Consult with the Provost in considering the feasibility of establishing more wide-ranging domestic partner benefits.

Action: We did not pursue this charge this year.

6. Consider the cost-benefit of tuition waivers for family members of KU employees, including assessing the extent to which peer universities have this benefit and the relative fairness to single faculty or faculty without children or those who are not in need of this benefit. How do other institutions that have this benefit deal with this issue? (Please invite a representative from UPSA and from the Classified Senate to participate in the discussion of this charge.)

Action: We did not pursue this charge this year.