University Governance
Planning & Resources FY2010
Report for Academic
Year 2009-2010
Members (Year term on committee ends in
parentheses):
Chair, faculty Kirk McClure, Urban Planning (2011)
mcclure@ku.edu
Faculty Executive Ben Eggleston, Philosophy (2010)
Committee Rep., eggleston@ku.edu
faculty
Faculty David
Brackett, Visual Art (2010)
brackett@ku.edu
Faculty Mechele
mleon@ku.edu
Student Danny Rhoades
drhoades@ku.edu
Graduate Student Justin Thomas
Unclassified Staff Lori Reesor, Student Success ( 2012)
lreesor@ku.edu
Support Staff Dennis Constance, F.O. Custodial
(2012)
dcon@ku.edu
Ex-officio: Deb Teeter, University
Director, Office of Institutional Research and Planning
deb-teeter@ku.edu
Ex-officio: Diane Goddard, Vice Provost
for Finance
dgoddard@ ku.edu
Meetings Dates and
Presenters:
Date: Thursday, October 8, 2009
Topic: Participate in the University’s
planning and budgetary processes.
Presenter: Diane Goddard, ex officio member of the
Committee, Vice Provost for Finance.
Topic: Communicate with the Office of
Institutional Research and Planning on matters of education and report on
important issues on Initiative 2015.
Presenters: Lori Reesor, Associate Vice Provost for Student Success and member of the Chancellor’s Task Force on
Admission.
Deb Teeter, University Director, Office of
Institutional Research and Planning.
Date: December
10, 2009
Topic: Communicate with the Vice Provost
for Scholarly Support for Facilities and Planning and Management on maintenance
and improvement of infrastructure, and discussion of environmental policies and
the Climate Action Plan:
Presenters: Don Steeples, Senior Vice Provost for Scholarly support
Mike Lang, Landscaping
Peg Livingood, Design & Construction
Management
Jeff Severin, Center
for Sustainability
Jim Modig, Director
of Design and Construction Management
The
Report on the
Charges, 2009-2010
Standing Charges:
1. Participate
in the University’s planning and budgetary processes.
The Committee on Planning and Resources heard
a presentation from Diane Goddard, ex officio member of the Committee, Vice
Provost for Finance.
Vice Provost Goddard’s presentation is
summarized below:
·
The
University has suffered a 12 percent base budget cut, and an additional 2
percent cut is in place. The 2 percent
cut is now a one-time cut, but there is reason to expect it to become a cut to
the base budget.
·
The
potential for additional cuts is high, but the timing of additional cuts is not
known with any certainty.
·
A
tuition increase offsets some of the budget impact of the cuts. Other remedies include very few faculty
members receiving pay raises, no merit increases, and very few open faculty
positions being filled.
·
A
large proportion of the cuts have been handled centrally by the university
administration, but each unit has been expected to absorb cuts as well.
·
In
all cases, the cuts are made with concern for keeping programs strong.
·
The
central university administration is absorbing 52 percent of the cuts, while
individual units are contributing 48 percent.
·
Scholarships
and library collections have not been cut. It is hoped that this practice can be continued.
·
In
many cases, one-time monies were used to meet budget cuts, but the cuts become
part of the base requiring further adjustments.
·
Historically,
utilities have been underfunded, and this is being corrected with more accurate
budgeting.
·
Endowment
funds were cut last year, and a cut may be put in place again this year.
·
In
an effort to equalize the burden across units, the amount of the cuts to each
unit is calculated based on their entire general use assessable base rather
than just the state general fund portion of each budget, which can vary greatly
from unit to unit.
·
Enrollment
increases have placed a burden on many units, especially within the
·
Service
units have been asked to increase their contribution to administrative
overhead, but the level of contribution remains below the estimated cost of
these units to the University’s central administration.
·
The
University will confront problems in the future with significant infrastructure
issues including: 1. Inadequate investment in information technology; 2.
Deferred maintenance to facilities; and 3. Inadequate staffing levels within
the administrative units that serve campus.
·
Furloughs
remain a possibility. A task force considered the implementation of furloughs,
recommending a tiered system that will reduce or eliminate the burden on those
at the lowest pay levels. There are no
definitive plans for implementation of furloughs.
Goddard shared
several documents with the committee members. These included:
·
Current
briefs of press articles on tuition and higher education financial matters from
states throughout the nation.
·
Higher
education talking points for the fall of 2009 produced by the Kansas Board of
Regents.
·
Appropriations
for fiscal years 2009 and 2010 by fund and by division of the University.
·
Summary
of the full time equivalent faculty losses for fiscal years 2009 and 2010.
·
Summary
of the enrollment information from 2005 through fall of 2009.
2. Provide representation in budgetary
sessions by various units.
The Provost plans to
conduct budget strategy sessions with each of the units of the University. These sessions will probably take place in
April and May. Members of the Governance
Committee on Planning and Resources will monitor those meetings and report to
Governance on them.
3. Communicate with the Office of
Institutional Research and Planning on matters of education and report on
important issues.
The Governance Committee
on Planning and Resources heard a presentation from Deb Teeter, University
Director of the Office of Institutional Research and Planning, presented
current issues being addressed in her office. Teeter’s presentation is summarized below:
·
The
Board of Regents has suggested that KU should strive to achieve a retention
rate of 90 percent in 10 years. Retention is measured as the percentage of new freshmen who stay and
enroll in their second year. Currently,
the retention rate is 77.7 percent, down from a high of 83 percent. The average has been 80 percent for most
entering classes.
·
There
is a very high correlation between ACT score and performance at KU. Thus, the issues confronting Chancellor
Gray-Little’s recently created task force on admissions are closely related to
those confronting another new task force examining retention and graduation.
·
The
University confronts problems in the acquisition of data on the students who
leave the University and potentially enroll at other state institutions given
data protections in place with the Board of Regents.
·
The
Retention Task Force will be examining new tools that provide early alerts on
students who are performing poorly and are in need of assistance to improve
that performance.
·
The
Retention Task Force will address the use of learning communities, early alert
systems as well as tutorial programs to assist vulnerable students. All such programs will require resources.
·
Closely
related to the early alert systems are improved recruiting systems that can
identify promising students.
4. Monitor changes in tuition plans.
Ben Eggleston, the Faculty Executive
Committee representative on the Planning and Resources Committee, will serve on
the Tuition Advisory Committee. The
Tuition Advisory Committee will monitor the implementation of various tuition
plans already adopted as well as discuss any new tuitions plans.
5. Communicate with the Vice Provost for
Scholarly Support for Facilities and Planning and Management on maintenance and
improvement of infrastructure.
The Committee on
Planning and Resources met with Vice Provost Steeples and various staff
members. Vice Provost Steeples reported that his office is updating the campus
master plan with a timeline for completion of 4 to 6 months. This is being done in preparation for a
capital campaign. Major decisions will
be addressed, such as the uses of west campus. If the bioscience incubator proves to be successful, it could be
replicated.
Steeples stated that the
greatest threat to the University’s infrastructure is found in its aging
mechanical systems, especially the air handling units. The University annually confronts emergency
repairs ranging from $50,000 to $100,000 as systems fail.
Jim Modig, Director
of Design and Construction Management, stated that upgrades are costly. Simply replacing units is often complicated
by the necessary retrofitting of buildings to accommodate new units. Currently several buildings are using very
old chillers. These buildings include
Bailey, Dyche, and Lippincott. These
systems could be served by a common facility, but this comes at high initial
costs with savings realized only over a long period of time.
Specific Charges:
1. Initiative 2015:
a. Monitor
activities articulated in Initiative 2015
Lori Reesor, Associate Vice Provost, Student Success, and
Deb Teeter, University Director, Office of Institutional Research and Planning
were asked to present information on the Chancellor’s new initiatives for
student retention and graduation as well as revised admission standards. These initiatives are viewed as the current
direction the administration will be taking, which compliments the efforts
previously taken under Initiative 2015.
Lori Reesor’s
presentation is summarized below:
·
The
University operates under admissions rules that allow any
·
An ACT score of 21 or above or an SAT score of 980 or above, or
· A rank in the top one-third of their high-school class, or
·
At least a 2.0 GPA on a 4.0-point scale in the Kansas Board
of Regents curriculum.
· The task force on admissions will examine what should be in the required curriculum and whether it should be the same for all Regents’ institutions.
·
The pace of growth in the high school graduates in
·
The task force will address the issue of how to evaluate
applicants. Currently, quantitative data
are gathered, but initiatives are being studied that make use of qualitative
measures of the applicants.
·
A resource issue confronting the task force is the limited supply
of scholarship funds. KU is unable to
compete well against other schools because of the shortage of scholarships.
·
Scholarship decisions are very decentralized at KU. Many units prefer
to use their scholarships for students already at the University, rather than
use them as a tool to attract promising students to the University.
Diane Goddard added:
·
The
administration did not, in the past, have the authority to offer tuition
waivers as a recruiting tool to attract especially strong students. That authority has been sought and received.
b. Make recommendations about new actions
or resources that could be implemented in response to Initiative 2015.
The Committee on Planning and Resources is
monitoring the shift in emphasis that is taking place with the changes in
leadership in the University. Chancellor
Gray-Little brings an alternative, and complementary, set of priorities to the
University. A permanent Provost has yet
to be named. The Committee on Planning
and Resources will continue to monitor activities undertaken in this area but
offers no recommendations until the leadership is solidified and the new
initiatives are articulated.
2. Environmental Policies / Climate Action
Plan:
a.
Are
current landscaping practices fiscally and environmentally sound?
Peg Livingood, Design
& Construction Management, described the landscaping planning process of
the University. The process follows from
a campus-wide landscaping plan prepared in 2002 which calls for sustainable
practices and procedures including protection of open space and “tree
communities” around campus. The
University prioritizes its landscaping practices to place the most intensive
efforts where they will be seen and have the greatest impact. Sustainable design is employed where
possible. Examples are the efforts to
capture runoff water at the Park-and-Ride lot and the area around the new
Pharmacy building. Some areas in the
west campus are being allowed to grow naturally, while other areas are
designated for intensive color. The
University has reduced its use of irrigation to just the entry areas of a very
few buildings.
Students are working
with the University on various initiatives such as the rain garden at the
There is a transportation
component to the landscaping as there is an increased use of buses and more
parking located on the perimeter of the campus. This creates a need for more walks and bicycle paths. Plans are being prepared for a variety of
projects including continued improvements to signage, a walkway to relieve
congestion along the main campus corridor, and a redesign to
b.
Can
the use of native plants be increased?
Mike Lang,
Landscaping, reported that the new pharmacy facility will be landscaped with
native buffalo grass. The more
traditional landscaping on the main campus is maintained using sustainable
practices. The University seeks to
compost and recycle landscaping materials wherever possible. No restrictive use pesticides are used. Only minimal use of chemicals is made. Grounds are aerated, reducing the need for
any fertilizers.
The use of native
plants is desirable but not uniformly helpful. Some plants that are not native are actually better for the campus than
some plants that are native. Selection
needs to be made with care.
c.
Can
superfluous intercampus mail be attained?
Steeples stated that the University seeks to
make use of electronic means of communications where possible and notes that
the printing center is now closed. However, some units continue to make use of paper mailings through the
use of private funds.
Jeff Severin, Center for Sustainability,
indicated that the University is taking steps to provide communications through
the KU portal with consumers able to select the level and type of messages to
be received.
d. Are
other cost savings available through sustainable practices?
Severin suggested that many opportunities
exist for both more environmentally friendly and fiscally efficient
operations. Examples are found in better
timing of trash pickups and energy management of classrooms.
Goddard asked about the impact of the University Daily Kansas suggesting that
the students may want to take the lead in improving distribution and
cleanup. Lang indicated that the process
of cleaning up the surplus and discarded papers, and especially the inserts to
the newspaper, impose significant costs. Savings of as much as $50,000 could be realized if the newspaper went to
an entirely electronic form.
Severin stated that the Climate Action Plan
grew out of a student project and is still taking final form. Most of the proposals found in the plan deal
with initiatives to generate energy savings or reduce emissions. The plan is expected to be completed by this
spring, and the KU Center for Sustainability should be ready to recommend
specific actions at that time.