Faculty Finance Committee Minutes
March 28, 2007
10:00 – 12:15
Attendance
Alan Dorsey, Chair; Elizabeth Dale, Vice Chair; Ken Wald, Mary Ann Eaverly; Judy Page; H. Jane Brockmann; Joe Glover, Interim Dean; Margaret Fields, Asst. Dean; Kimberly Browne, Budget Director, Chris Eklund, Student Representative
Absent: Ron Akers, Judy Page, Paul Robinson, David Daegling
Minutes
Minutes for the last meeting were deferred until the next meeting.
Alan Dorsey reported that he has completed his round of meetings with the Natural Sciences & Mathematics Chairs, Social Science Chairs, Humanities Chairs, and the Chairs & Directors. Some comments and suggestions from those meetings are as follows:
- Get clear message from the Provost of the expectations for CLAS
- Some expressed concern about the “randomness” of the faculty losses through attrition
- Suggested the committee check the data carefully
- In the balance among tenure-track faculty, lecturers and adjuncts draw a distinction between lecturers and adjuncts
Dorsey will provide a written summary of the suggestions/concerns from the meetings and communicate these to the Dean.
Dorsey also reported that in a subsequent Chairs & Directors meeting
the consensus was to move ahead as quickly as possible in the search
for a new CLAS Dean.
The Astronomy department sent information to the committee concerning
financial commitments for the Canary Island Telescope project which is
currently moving from the construction phase ($5 – 6mil) to the
operation phase (1st year $1mil, $500k each year thereafter for 20 years). The
original buy-in was $2mil from Astronomy and $3mil from the President’s
office. These commitments are not included in the current budget
or plans. It is unknown at this time what unit(s) of UF will meet
these financial commitments.
- Group One (income for the
university and allocation of funds): This sub-group presented charts of income and expense for E&G
units and other UF units. The UG Ratio chart indicates the comparison
of $ per FTE to the UG ratio which divides undergrad FTE for each year
by grad FTE - the higher your percentage of grad students, the lower
your UG Ratio.
In reviewing the Surplus/Deficit Data Report (based on 1995 -2005 appropriated funds charts from Ed Poppell’s office) it was observed that the benefit of knowing this information was to learn how other units compensated for their deficits and how we could use such information while formulating the CLAS plan. Although the committee does not have that information it was agreed that CLAS was responsible for certain conditions and decisions and still needs to create a plan. It was noted that surplus includes encumbrances.
Budget-to-Actual 2004-2005 report includes all budgetary units at UF. The data presented in each of the above reports sets historical context. A final review will be made to recheck the data in the charts prior to making them available as an appendix to the final report. Some recalibrations may be made in E&G to reflect the addition of IFAS and the Health Sciences Center in 1999, thus avoiding misleading interpretations.
- Group Three (create a series of plans): The sub-group expressed a need for additional grant data to assist in identifying opportunity costs. Alternative plans will include opportunity costs such as reduction in IDC, grant awards and expenses supported by grants such as graduate students and tuition.
- Committee Report: The committee discussed reporting variations among reports; some reflect SCH, others reflect FTE or headcount. If each metric is used footnotes will be used to clarify. The target date for the committee report is the end of April. A report will be provided to the Dean and to the CLAS Assembly.
The outline for the report is as follows:
- History and Context
- Current Financial Position
- Plans
- Critique of current plan
- Alternatives and opportunity costs
Alternative plans are not expected to follow the same constraints as the existing plan. Recommendations demonstrated throughout the alternative plans reconsider these constraints. The report will address both external pressures to CLAS as well as internal issues that contributed to the current financial situation. The plans will position those in the college to be better stewards in the future through accountability and responsibility.
Respectfully submitted,
Margaret Fields
Recording Secretary
