Spring 2013
|
Minutes of the Campus Faculty Meeting |
Janine Parry, Chair |
Call to Oder – Janine Parry, Campus Faculty Chair
Janine Parry called the meeting to order at 3:30
Approval of the Agenda
Without objection, the agenda was approved.
Minutes of the Meeting
Minutes were approved
Old business
None
New business
None
Program
Chancellor Gearhart and Provost Gaber answered questions from the audience.
The program began with a video updating us on some campus activities.
Issues Raised
The Legislature is in session and we are not sure where we will come out in terms of funding.
The idea of developing an online degree continues to evolve; the President is still actively engaged in information gathering and plans are to set up focus groups on campus to further discuss this proposed activity.
Being a Top 50 school IS good for our state; increasing our in-state graduates will benefit the state and also play a part in our graduation rate. Currently we are at 60% and need to raise this to 66%. We must build on our strengths and seek additional funding, both private and public, to reinforce the good things happening on this campus and support the up and coming programs as well.
We must increase sustainability as a core value.
The Provost and Chancellor are monitoring the mental health coverage very closely.
Our current ratio of students is - 58% in-state; 42% out of state. Our campus draws from all of Arkansas' counties and intends to continue its pursuit of in-state students from all areas of our state.
Construction will begin on a new classroom building late summer or early fall. No desires to over build and the belief is this new building, with other renovations, will greatly help us with course space issues.
New research lab space is on the radar.
Trying to increase enrollment in our graduate programs. We are at 16% in terms of graduate enrollment and would like to increase this to 20%.
We need to increase stipends and the number of assistantships offered. This is a priority and we hope to add graduate assistantships and funds as we grow.
We do have a 30 million dollar surplus in reserve - for emergency purposes. This amount represents less than 5% of our annual budget. This surplus means that we are stable but this sum is very small and it would be preferred to have three times this amount in reserves.
Our campus is more "right-sized" than ever. For too many years, we were too low in terms of the number of students on campus.
Thank yous and applause to Sharon Gaber and Don Pederson for their hard work
Thank yous and applause to David Gearhart and Sharon Gaber for speaking with us today!
Adjourn
The meeting adjourned at 4:37 pm