The fall 2003 University Council meeting was convened at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, September 17, 2003 in the Memorial Union Ballroom. President Charles Kupchella presided.
President Kupchella introduced the mayor of Grand Forks, Mike Brown, and the Grand Forks Information Officer, Peter Haga.
Mr. Kupchella presented his address titled "We Are On A Roll." He began by saying that the state of the University has never been better. This past year, the University exceeded the threshold for the Carnegie classification of "Doctoral/Research University Extensive" category.
The President illustrated the general trends that characterize the University in this 120th year of its history. Progress was reported in several areas including: a surge in enrollment, which brought about the purchase of a new student residence called the Dakota Hall, and an increased demand for student services and additional class sections, particularly in the College of Arts and Sciences. He attributed the increased enrollment to aggressive recruiting, nationally recognized programs, and efforts such as the program articulation agreements.
President Kupchella said there are many things going on within the campus now, such as activities to support teaching sponsored by the Bush Grant. Some of the other areas include: better housing, more effective use of technology, Healthy ND/UND in which we are collaborating with Governor Hoeven to develop a program, the Red River Valley Research Corridor, and the Centers of Excellence/Programs of Distinction.
The President reviewed research accomplishments at UND, including almost $200,000,000 in proposals submitted by UND faculty and the bridges made in research between disciplines. Also, in two weeks UND will host the University of Manitoba to discuss the idea of the Red River Valley Research Corridor, among other potential areas of collaboration. The North Dakota Department of Commerce has provided funds for marketing the corridor concept.
A list of other accomplishments, which the President stated was only a partial listing, include: salary increases for both faculty and staff; the expansion of facilities to include the Hilton Garden Inn; re-accreditation of several programs; the continued success of our athletic programs; our student pass-rates on national exams; and continued strong financial support from both alumni and non-alumni. President Kupchella emphasized that our alumni continue to stand out as sources of pride in many ways.
The President reported that we have made good progress regarding the Centers for Excellence. There is a consensus on the criteria that we use to identify existing Centers, and the University has many areas that already qualify as Centers of Excellence in Research. This spring, we will begin to identify programs of distinction, or programs that characterize the University as a great university.
The President then listed the challenges and opportunities in the year ahead. Some major issues in higher education include: homeland security; affirmative action; the deteriorating economic and fiscal environment; the surging numbers of diverse students; rapid tuition increases; re-authorization of the Higher Education Act; the Federal tax policy; assessment of accountability; scientific research; and intercollegiate athletics.
The President also listed a "skills deficit" as an issue. We must prepare larger numbers of high school and college graduates for the challenges of high-performance jobs and innovations that are coming in the future. President Kupchella stated that we must give greater attention to student learning as an outcome and that we have to find ways to increase student learning without increasing total instructional time. The President challenged the University to develop new ways to deliver the course work. We should also strive to raise the average ACT scores of our incoming classes, which is a strategic plan goal. We need to make progress in the areas of experiential learning and in advising.
He stated that we must work to improve campus climate and asked everyone who works at UND to take part in training programs that will make us all aware of protected class harassment and make UND a better place in which to work and learn. An online training program will be rolled out by the end of next week.
Our 10-year re-accreditation will entail a visit from a 12-member team, which will visit our campus for three days. The President asked everyone to read at least the executive summary of the self-study report in advance of the visit. The executive summary will be coming out next week.
Finally, President Kupchella stated that, "UND is, and must continue to be, a great University," and emphasized that we are in a good position to do great things. He stated that we must be good at everything we do and have a number of features that are distinguished and stand out beyond the substantive meaning of what it is to be great.
The President closed by saying that "good" is no longer good enough.
President Kupchella asked for questions or comments from the floor. There were none. He introduced Ms. Jan Goodwin, past chair of the University Senate.
Ms. Goodwin updated the Council on items from University Senate since last spring. The first was that the new UND Constitution was approved by the State Board of Higher Education at their June, 2003 meeting. This increased the composition of the Senate membership to include three members of the Staff Senate and increased the faculty membership. The new Constitution requires the President to approve policies approved by the Senate. These were forwarded to the President and most were approved. More information on the academic policies is available from the Office of the Registrar. She also reported that the teaching assessment policy is now a part of university assessment.
Ms. Goodwin also reported that the Senate revised a faculty resignation policy. Two other policies from the Senate have been referred back to committees. One is the patent policy and the other is the revision of the "Guidelines for Faculty Involved in Employment Controversy with the University." Finally, an ad hoc committee was formed to look at the harassment guidelines, and their report is due to the Senate in December.
Ms. Goodwin announced that review and revision of the Faculty Handbook is in process. The updated version will be on the web soon. Two weeks ago, the Senate elected new officers. Ms. Goodwin turned the meeting over to Mr. Walter Tschacher, the 2003-2004 Senate chair.
Mr. Tschacher introduced the officers of the Senate Executive Committee and recognized the members of the Senate who were in attendance.
The President asked for questions or comments. There being none, Mr. Kupchella adjourned the meeting at 5:15 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Nancy Krogh, Council Secretary