NEW MEXICO INSTITUTE OF MINING AND
Call to order and approval of minutes
Chair Dave Raymond called the meeting to order at 4:05 pm with a call for approval of the March 3, 2015 minutes.
Dr. Brian Borchers moved to approve the minutes, seconded by Dr. Fred Phillips.
The motion passed unanimously.
Bob Cormack – Mark Samuels
Dr. Bob Cormack passed away on March 14, 2015. He was granted emeritus status the day before he passed away. Dr. Bob Cormack was the longest serving professor at NM Tech. He was the first chair of Faculty Senate. He was chair of the Psychology department for thirty four years. He served as Dean of Students for eight years, the Dean of Graduate Studies and Director of Athletics for a year. He gave the proem at Graduation for thirty years, which Dr. Mark Samuels will have copies available for those who would like one.
A memorial will be held on June 21, 2015 at 6:00 pm in Macey Center.
Special Senate Meeting on April 28, 2015 at 4:00 PM
Chair Dave Raymond due to the scheduling this year of the Council of Chairs, we would like to have a special Faculty Senate meeting on April 28, 2015 at 4:00 pm in Workman 101.
Chair Dave Raymond
Extended a thanks to Dr. Mary Dezember for all the work she put in for the accreditation.
The Student Research Symposium is April 16, 2015 from 9:00 – 6:00 with a keynote address at 9:00 am by Dr. Frank Etscorn
Commencement Regalia – Sara Grijalva
Commencement is May 9, 2015 at 9:00 am on the lawn outside Brown Hall. Sara Grijalva announced to let Heather Juarez know if you are attending so they can order your regalia.
Advising for Fall – Lisa Majkowski
Lisa Majkowski discussed the changes to the new student advising process this year. They are trying to get the students advised during the semester. This helps faculty are able to get the majority of their advising done during the semester and then they have the summer for their research. This helps students by giving them a chance to talk to faculty about math placement and take it if needed. It is also early enough to allow students to take a summer course to help them start further ahead in math. Lisa Majkowski launched 249 workflows on Thursday. She will follow up with those who she hasn't contacted yet. If you participated in the HSI STEM advising training in the last few years, it is the same process. There is an advising committee that is trying to work out some new advising processes, but the process will be the same this year. Preferred students can start registering April 20, 2015 and May 4, 2015 for the other incoming students.
Student Advising Committee – Patrick Lopez
Patrick Lopez reported that the Student Advising Committee is looking at all aspects of the advising process. They are looking at how they work with new students, continuing students and at risk students. Patrick Lopez is the chair with five faculty members, key staff members, two undergraduate students and one graduate student. The faculty members include: Dr. Jeff Altig, Dr. David Grow, Dr. Hamdy Soliman, Dr. Corey Leclerc, and Dr. Snezna Rogelj. The committee plans to have a draft on December 31, 2015. The committee is currently working on an analysis of the current system such as the strengths and weaknesses and how we can move forward. The results of that will come up in the training this summer. In June they will be working with NACADA. Also, this summer we should have degree works working to plan the four year or longer program or how long it takes to get through NMT so the students can have a plan in place of where they are going.
President's report from the Legislature
President Lopez reported that this was a frustrating legislative sessions for a number of reasons. One of the reasons had to do with the Houses being very divided and the two chambers having different parties in control. President Lopez highlighted what we tried to do, where we had some success, and then where there was some unfortunate lack of action on the part of one of the bodies that did not concur with a fairly robust capital proposal that was coming through from the Senate. There is a slight opportunity that there may be a special session. This would be mostly helpful in dealing with the capital request.
Had the Senate capital proposal been approved, it would have allowed us to build the Data Center and have planning money for refurbishing old Jones. Next year, the President will try to secure $7 to $10 million in order to refurbish of old Jones. The Legislature is usually more favorable to those requests when we have the design and planning already done. If there is no special session this year, we will try to internally fund the planning and design work and have it ready for the Session. The Chemistry building is going out to bid this year with construction to start next fall.
We had about 219 bills that we were following during this legislative session, with most of these legislative proposals not in the best interest of higher education. There is a strong desire among the Legislative and the Executive Office in having a more direct role in providing the direction they would like to see Higher Education headed towards in New Mexico. This is not good for Higher Education. In following those bills, we were able to either modify or insure that they weren't enacted. Lottery Scholarships proposal, for example, if enacted as proposed, would have served strictly underserved populations. In order to maintain strong support for a Lottery Scholarship program, it is important to have a scholarship program that is broad-based and reaches a wide span of New Mexico students who enroll in higher education. You would negate future support for the program if it is limited to one specific group of students. There was also a proposal aimed at requiring only 120 hours in order to speed up time to graduation; proposal failed.
We have an issue with Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA). So, we were trying to modify that law because it is being abused by individuals who use it to avoid discovery through the legal process. This means that we have to shoulder the expense in preparing and submitting information which can be used in suing Tech. A resolution was passed in both houses that we will allow time in the coming year for studying issues that are related to IPRA . We also tried to reduce the requirement for getting Board approval for property disposition. Right now, anytime we dispose of any kind of property, we have to go through lengthy inventory approval list. Inventory disposition has to be reported to the Board of Regents every month and then reported to the state.
At the end of the session, if the Governor does not veto any of Tech's special appropriation, we will end up with $280,000 more than last year's base budget. Included are $90,000 for the Bureau of Geology; $75,000 for Mechanical Engineering to do their Aerospace project.
The reason it is going to be difficult to put this budget together, the President said, is because we have $250,000 less in the I&G funding than we had in the peak year of appropriations in 2008. In this same time span, we have 332 more students to serve, with a growth in FTE load of 377 more than we had in 2008. We have, in other words, a large increase in student population that we have to serve with less money.
In preparing the pro forma budget, we identified $2 million worth of needs in order for the university to function properly. There is a need, for example, to hire five new faculty but we do not have the funds to hire them.
President Lopez will propose to the Board of Regents a 5% tuition increase. This is justifiable, he said, in view of the fact that there are eighty universities in the Southwest with much higher tuition and fee rates. New Mexico Tech has the lowest tuition of them all. In addition, up until two years ago, the state raised tuition through a credit mechanism more than universities. President Lopez mentioned that he would be meeting with students tonight at which time he will point out that the investment in education at New Mexico Tech has a 12.5% rate of return for its graduates. This is one of the better recovery rates on an educational investment in the entire country. President Lopez will also propose a 2% raise across the board for staff. Faculty will be using a merit rating for awarding raises this year. With Dr. Warren Ostergren's hard work, the President noted, we were able to address some salary compression issues. We are still not where we need to be, but we have a three or four year plan to get us up to parity with other New Mexico universities. President Lopez will continue working with Dr. Warren Ostergren to try to continue addressing the salary compression issue.
President Lopez announced that Dr. Mary Dezember did a good job with the HLC. In the exit interview, both with the Board of Regents and President Lopez, the HLC members were very positive about New Mexico Tech. Every indication was that they were impressed with the entire scope of the review. It looks favorable and we can expect for all programs to re-accredited.
Dr. Brian Borchers noted that the Albuquerque Journal is reporting that the Lottery Scholarships will only cover 80% of tuition costs. He asked if there are any plans to respond to that. President Lopez explained that financially Tech would be hard pressed to cover the unfunded gap of the Lottery Scholarship. In putting the budget together we are going to have to rely on all sources of funds, including tuition, overhead, and any other source of revenue that we can legitimately use. However, trying to take on one more reoccurring expenditure is not feasible given the level of funding the state is willing to provide. Also, he added, 80% is not a good projection. Enrollment has fallen across the state with the exception of a few universities. The two major universities have lost enrollment and that decreases the call on the lottery scholarship. Secondly, we simply do not know what will happen with the new initiatives designed to increase the sales of lottery tickets. In my view, the President said, 85% or 90% would be a more accurate forecast.
In closing, he mentioned that the $250,000 raised through the President's golf tournament nets a significant amount of scholarship funds. Students who are unable to meet their obligations, President Lopez has been able to cover those students' costs through this scholarship program.
Distance Education Committee survey – Dan Cadol
In collaboration with the ACT, the Distance Education Committee put together a short survey. It asks about what technology you use and what you need. The main points that the committee is trying to get from the survey are to evaluate the demands to be able to forecast the needs and address them. Dr. Dan Cadol will be sending out another email blast for faculty to take the survey.
Honorary Degrees and Awards – Snezna Rogelj/Michael Heagy
Dr. Michael Heagy announced that it's that time again as we approach commencement to think about awards for our students. The Langmuir Award for Excellence in Research is given for an outstanding scientific research paper by any student or graduate of New Mexico Tech. The paper must have been submitted to or published by a recognized journal during the preceding year. The recipient is selected by the Faculty Senate's Honorary Degrees and Awards Committee. The award is named in honor of Irving Langmuir (Nobel Laureate, 1932) who conducted extensive research with NM Tech staff. The award consists of a plaque and a $200 cash prize.
In the coming weeks, if you have a student who has written an exceptional paper, let Dr. Dave Raymond know and we will post this information on the NMT Faculty Senate website so you can review.
A Founders' Award was created to honor the persons responsible for establishing the New Mexico School of Mines in Socorro in 1889, especially J. J. Baca and Ethan Eaton. The award is presented to the recipient of an advanced degree who has made an outstanding contribution to NM Tech through scholarship, research, and involvement in campus affairs. The recipient is chosen by faculty nomination and Faculty Senate election. The award consists of a plaque and a $400 cash prize.
The other responsibility of the committee is the honorary degrees. We have not received any of those. We will try to put the word out for next year. If there are any pressing honorary degrees, we may still consider them. The criteria is listed on the Academic Affairs webpage.
Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee – Michael Heagy
This committee was charged with the responsibility of looking over the Employee handbook. Dr. Tom Kieft posted some of the hot button issues last month that were addressed and approved by the Faculty Senate. The approvals were submitted to Human Resources, where JoAnn Salome is working on incorporating those into the handbook. The committee has now been working on comments that were put into this handbook. The Parental Leave policy is being discussed, the Benefits committee is looking into that. We still need improvements and updates. An Intellectual Property ad hoc committee is being set up.
The Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee received some recommendations on our guidelines. There are a few other points on disciplinary actions that are getting sent to Human Resources. A revised version will be coming out this week and will be published for everyone to review before the next Board of Regents meeting.
Report of Council of Chairs – Warren Ostergren
Report of Graduate Council – Lorie Liebrock
Dr. Lorie Liebrock reported that graduate changes need to be submitted tonight. The agenda will be send out tomorrow for the next meeting.
By unanimous decision the meeting was adjourned at 4:48 pm.