May 9, 2007

 

To:       Budget Review Council

            Liz Blue, Chair

 

From:  Program Review and Planning Council

            Deb Nordgren, Chair

 

RE:  Request for Budget Consideration by the Budget Review Council

 

This year the Program Review and Planning Council reviewed the Library Science Program, the Computer Science Program (5 year Joint System Review), and the Mathematics and Computer Science Department.   Following are a few items that are consistent across the reviews (or most of them).  We ask that the funding implications of these be considered by the BRC with a recommendation to the Senate and campus administration.

 

  • PRPC recommends that all departments that endure the conditions in Sundquist receive some facilities improvement that would acknowledge the substandard working conditions in Sundquist in comparison with other campus buildings such as Holden Fine Arts, Erlanson, Old Main, and Barstow. While the proposed academic building is often mentioned as a potential cure for this inequity in working environments, its appearance on campus and the beginning of its use are far in the future and thus irrelevant to the current situation. The administration should discontinue using the “new” building as an excuse for maintaining substandard working conditions for faculty and staff housed in Sundquist.  

  

  • All university units are in need of the services of a university researcher. The university should provide a post-gradua­tion/profes­sional survey through an institutional research office to help collect reliable data on our graduates’ successes.

 

  • PRPC recommends that all S&E allocations on campus are equitably distributed rather than remaining as disparate and inequitable as they are currently.

 

  • Overhead expenses taken from grant dollars should be standardized across academic departments.

 

  • PRPC strongly recommends that the Provost, Budget Review Council and Faculty create and sustain an equitable, campus-wide faculty development funding formula that treats all faculty equally by providing equal amounts of faculty development monies to all faculty members in all departments.

 

  • Faculty and Staff needs

o       Library Science, 1 Library/Library Science faculty.

o       Computer Science, 1 position converted to tenure-track

  • In light of recent failed searches due to non-competitive salaries, the Provost and BRC/Faculty need to address the issue of market-based salaries.  It is equally important that the salary compression and inequities for current Faculty that result from hiring new faculty at higher salaries be addressed as soon as possible.

 

 

Cc:      Provost Chris Markwood

            Martha Einerson, Faculty Senate Chair