University Council Minutes

03/19/2009 03:30 PM - Mahler Auditorium - Georgia Center for Continuing Education Conference Center and Hotel
View Related Documents Online

The University Council met on March 19, 2009 in the Mahler Auditorium - Georgia Center for Continuing Education Conference Center and Hotel. President Adams called the meeting to order at 3:35 p.m.


The minutes from the February 5, 2009 University Council meeting were approved as distributed.

The report from President Adams included the following:

  1. Provost Search: Dr. William Potter will chair the Provost Search Committee.  Dr. Adams' intent is to have someone in place in the fall to have some overlap time with Dr. Mace.  Dr. Adams expressed his appreciation for the recommendations from the Faculty Affairs Committee for members on the search committee and has accommodated some of those recommendations. The Committee is to present three to five candidates who will be brought to campus for on-campus interviews. These interviews will include: meetings with faculty leadership and University Council leadership, open forums with faculty, staff and students, meetings with Deans and all direct reports, campus tours as well as meetings with President Adams.  President Adams will welcome any verbal or written input on the candidates. President Adams expects to attract a great pool of both internal and external candidates.
  2. Child Care and Women's Center: President Adams indicated that the administration continues to explore the issues of a child care center at UGA which is a legitimate need.  The Provost and the Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration have a plan for when resources are available to move forward with a child care facility. At the present time there are not the funds to continue with the project. President Adams stated that he will be pleased to support a women's center at the proper time. Child care is the higher priority of these two legitimate needs.
  3. Living Wage: President Adams remains committed to the concept of a living wage for all employees. The University has already met the total that was requested five years ago. The lowest salary has increased from approximately $12,000 to approximately $21,000--a 64% increase.  No additional increases are possible at this time. President Adams believes that the University has responded effectively, with compassion and consideration in that regard.
  4. Budget Update: President Adams indicated that the budget for FY2010 was released by the State House on Wednesday evening.  He stated that the legislature knows and understands the University's situation. The budget for FY2010 calls for  a 11.5% cut in basic formula funding. This is 1.5% more than the University was asked to cut in FY2009. If the University does exactly what was done in FY2009 for FY2010, it will have a $22 - 24 million hole in the budget. There are several revenue streams that will help fill that revenue hole in some fashion: additional formula funding; tuition increase; fees increase; the President's Stimulus Package; and some help from NSF and NIH. He indicated that we should have a budget for FY2010 by the next University Council meeting on April 23 and he will be able to provide the Council with a full update at that time.  President Adams stated that the administration has fulfilled their initial pledge of no furloughs and layoffs for FY2009; and that UGA was the only state entity that received any kind of raise at all this year, a reality that will not occur in 2010. Consistent with the administration's pledge to the state, the University will do what is necessary to balance the budget and will be prudent in dealing with financial issues. The two most important goals are to maintain the quality of levels of service to our students and to maintain every possible job.
  5. House Bill 700:  This is a bill that would move control of construction projects to the Georgia Student Finance Insurance Corporation rather than being managed by the Regents. The University will aggressively oppose this bill to maintain control of our own actions and situation.
  6. House Bill 169:  President Adams stated that the University will continue to oppose State Bill 169 regarding the use of stem cells in research. The kind of stem cell research that is done here at the University holds the promise of significant health break throughs.
  7. Kudos:  Winter sports are coming to a close and the spring is heating up. Last Friday, Suzanne Yoculan, American's number one gymnastics coach, coached her final home meet at the University of Georgia. President Adams wished Coach Yoculan and her team success as they proceed with the regional and national championships.  President Adams stated that both men's and women's golf and men's and women's tennis, as well as baseball and equestrian are all ranked in America's top ten.
  8. Construction: The new addition and remodeling of the Tate Center will be completed this summer and open for business this fall. The University Health Center expansion is on a similar schedule as is the Greek Park. Expansion on the Georgia Museum of Art which is funded exclusively with private money will begin soon. The new Special Collections Research Library is still in the state budget with $30M coming from the state and $15M from the University. By the end of the calendar year, private bonds  will be issued by the Real Estate Foundation to support a new residence hall on east campus. Also in place is a bonding structure to accommodate two parking decks that will begin soon with a completion date of this fall.

The floor was opened for standing committee reports as follows:

Connor McCarthy gave the following reports:

 

Susan Quinlan presented the following proposed changes to Academic Affairs Policies from the Educational Affairs Committee:
  1. Academic Affairs Policy 4.07-2 Policy on Mandatory Assignments, Tests, and Quizzes During Reading Days and the Final Instructional Day of a Course   After a brief discussion, the vote was called and the proposal was approved.
  2. Academic Affairs Policy 4.06-3 Policy on Voting and Jury Duty   The vote was called and the proposal was approved.
Elizabeth St. Pierre presented the following first reading of the proposed changes to the University Bylaws from the Committee on Statutes, Bylaws and Committees. 
  1. Increase the number of ex-officio members   The vote was called and the first reading was approved.
  2. Increase the number of student members   The vote was called and the first reading was approved.
New Business:
Susan Mattern, serving as proxy for Pamela Voekel, made a motion from the floor for a proposal on procedures to include the University Council in the selection of a new Provost to be added to the agenda. The motion was seconded.  A vote was taken to add this item to the agenda.  Division was called. A vote by show of hands was taken and the motion passed with the required two-thirds majority vote.
  • Proposal for Procedures to Involve the University Council in the Selection of a New Provost (attachment f).  A motion was made and seconded and the vote was taken.  Division was called.  A vote by show of hands was taken and the motion passed with 57 for and 24 against.

President Adams stated his concern that the requirements in this proposal will substantially detract from the number of people who are willing to enter the applicant pool. He indicated he would have to give significant thought as to whether or not he would veto it, based on his belief that a search firm would be unable to turn out the quality of candidates we desire with such a public referendum. Stating his great respect for the Council and the majority vote on this issue, he indicated he would give the matter serious consideration.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 4:41 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Rebecca L. Macon
University Council Secretary

University Council Roster

Represented by proxy (representative)

Adams, Michael

Allen, Sheila(Dickerson, Harry)

Alzuru, Guillermo

Angle, Jay Scott(Bertrand, Jean)

Andrews, Gayle

Calhoun, Georgia (Daigle, Julie)

Bamber, Michael

Clark, E. CulpepperAlexander, Alison)

Bennett, Rodney

Clay, Hank(Bull, Jessica)

Bernstein, Irwin

Drucker, Eric (Shepard, Meg)

Bettinger, Pete  

Dunning, Arthur  (Adams, Allan)

Bonaparte, Eric  

Florkowski, Wojciech   (Huang, C.L.)

Bothe, Anne  

Gale, Jerry   (Gibson, Steven P.)

Brickman, Peggy  

Goetz, Joe   (Palmer, Lance)

Brown, Lonnie  

Lee, David  (Scott, Robert)

Brown, Scott  

Morehead, Jere  (Crowther, Ann)

Brown, Wayde  

Simmons, Cara   (Frye, Brandon)

Bultman, Dana  

Shivers, Melissa   (Miracle, Jennifer)

Burgess, Timothy P. 

Sumichrast, Robert T.  (Dawkins, Mark C.)

Campbell, Alan  

Tollner, Bill   (Tako, Hamrita)

Capomacchia, Anthony  

Voekel, Pamela   (Mattern, Susan)

Casedonte, Anthony  

Childs, Adrian  

Chinnan, Manjeet  

Compton, Mark  

Cooney, Mark  

Crowe, Douglas  

Curtis, Robert  

Daniel, Jerry   

Dookwah, Hugh  

Dorfman, Jeff  

Gittleman, John 

Glenn, Travis  

Goodie, Adam  

Grasso, Maureen 

Hollett, Bruce  

Horne, Arthur 

Houston, Jacquelyn   

Hunt-Hurst, Patricia  

Hurley, David  

Ivy, Stuart 

Johnson, Loch  

Jolly, Laura D. 

Kidula, Jean  

Krunkosky, Thomas  

Landau, David  

Landrum, Tom 

Lauth, Thomas 

Lease, Michele  

Mace, Arnett 

Macon, Rebecca 

McCarthy, Connor 

McDuff, Nancy  

Millard, Larry  

Miller, John  

Munneke, Henry  

Nairn, Joe  

Norman, Naomi  

Oie, Svein 

Pagnattaro, Marisa  

Potter, William 

Pruitt, Sonja  

Przybyla, Alan

Quinlan, Susan  

Rathbun, Stephen  

Reber, Bryan  

Ricketts, John  

Roulston, Kathy  

Samp, Jennifer  

Scott, Larry  

Shelton, Robin  

Shipley, David  

Sibley, Leah  

Smagorinsky, Peter  

Spooner, David  

Stanley, Deborah  

StPierre, Elizabeth  

Taha, Thiab  

Thomas, Susan  

Tiller, Lori  

Vail, Cynthia  

Weaver, Jace  

Williams, Phillip 

Willis, Kirk  

Williams-Woodward, Jean  

Wraga, William  

Zinkhan, George