May 10, 2013

Dr. Laura Jacobsen, ljacobsen@radford.edu

Radford UniversityFaculty Presentation to the Board of Visitors

Outline

• Selected activities and successes from 2012-2013

• 2013 Faculty Morale Survey response rates

• COACHE Survey status

• Key efforts in the coming year

• Motions requesting position by BOV

• Financial resources and needs

• Elected Faculty Senate officers for 2013-2014

Faculty Senate established each of the following task forces:

• Child Care

• Honors Academy

• Online Education

Reports from each task force will be summarized at fall BOV meeting

Selected Activities and Successes in 2012-2013

Internal Governance Reform:

• Strengthened relationships between faculty and the BOV– Thank you!

• Task force efforts in progress

Selected Activities and Successes in 2012-2013

• Recommended transition to +/- grading system

• Eliminated the 133% rule for faculty salaries

• Recommended a new family-friendly policy on extension of the probationary period for tenure under special circumstances

• Recommended changes in terms and evaluation of department chairs/school directors

• Recommended creation of a new rank of Senior Instructor

Selected Activities and Successes in 2012-2013

Faculty Morale Survey Response Rates 2013 

Administered by the Radford University Faculty Senate Campus Environment Committee from March 25 – April 5 using Qualtrics.com.

The survey recipient list included 715 T&R and A/P faculty with teaching responsibilities, including adjuncts. A total of 317 faculty members participated in the survey, for a response rate of approximately 44%.

COACHE Survey of Faculty Satisfaction• 62% response rate (213 out of 343) at RU, compared to 50% average response rate

nationally

• COACHE will provide the full report very soon, including national comparisons

• Team of RU administrators and faculty responsible for distribution of results has been established, with membership as recommended by the COACHE administrators at Harvard University

• Detailed results will be shared with the campus community in the fall

• Collaborative goal to celebrate strengths and collaborate toward improvement in areas where we face greatest challenges

I. Nature of the Work (Overall, Research, Teaching, Service)

II. Resources & Support

III. Interdisciplinary Work

IV. Collaboration

V. Mentoring

VI. Tenure and Promotion

VII. Institutional Governance & Leadership

VIII. Engagement

IX. Work & Personal Life Balance

X. Climate, Culture & Collegiality

XI. Appreciation & Recognition

XII. Recruitment & Retention

XIII. Global Satisfaction

COACHE Survey Themes

Motions Requesting Position by BOV

• Support for the Climate Action Plan

• Goal of improving faculty salaries

• Goal regarding faculty staffing

Note: These motions are included in the Appendices for this presentation.

• A living document tailored to the university to guide efforts to reach climate neutrality.

RU Climate Action Plan

Support for Climate Action Plan 

Resolution:The Radford University Faculty Senate endorses the Climate Action Plan and recommends that the President and the Board of Visitors adopt the Plan as Radford University’s carbon neutrality roadmap.

Support for RU Climate Action Plan• Global climate change poses a substantial risk to future generations

• In 2009, President Kyle and Radford University joined over 600 other colleges and universities in all 50 states in signing the American University and College Presidents’ Climate Commitment

• Participation in the Presidents’ Climate Commitment requires that schools set a date certain where they will meet carbon neutrality 

• Dozens of RU faculty, staff, and students have participated in a serious and careful examination of what RU needs to do to reach carbon neutrality by 2040

• The RU Climate Action Plan is aspirational, balanced, and flexible

Although faculty productivity is above average, faculty salaries are well below the average salaries of our benchmark institutions. Further, SCHEV and the General Assembly have adopted a goal of having Virginia salaries at or above the 60th percentile. The low salaries at RU are hurting our ability to attract and retain quality faculty. Low salaries are also having a very negative impact on faculty morale.

Motion:The Faculty Senate recommends the University adopt a goal of having faculty salaries at or above the 60th percentile in six years. The Faculty Senate further recommends that the Board of Visitors develop a strategy for reaching this target.

Improving Faculty Salaries

There is an ongoing discussion about the number and type of faculty positions required to adequately staff departments. The adoption of a staffing model would allow better decisions to be made about allocating resources to address faculty shortage and provide the data to support additional positions where needed.

Motion:The Faculty Senate recommends the University adopt a goal of having all departments at a faculty staffing level consistent with the Base Budget Adequacy model within five years. If there are reasons for exceptions to the model, those exceptions must be approved in writing by the Dean and the Provost.

Faculty Staffing

• The goal was to determine what drives the cost of providing higher education so that these cost drivers could then be incorporated into a funding guideline. Two factors determine the number of faculty needed:

1. Types of programs offered (social sciences, engineering, health professions, etc.); and

2. Level of instruction (undergraduate, master’s, doctoral).

The next step was to develop student-faculty ratios based on the number of faculty required in different kinds of programs and at different levels of instruction. Ultimately, the ratios were based on a combination of four sources:

3. Guidelines used in other states4. Appendix M (Virginia’s old guidelines used in the 1970s and 1980s)5. Recommendations from Virginia’s colleges and universities6. Accreditation standards on staffing requirements

FYI: SCHEV Base Budget Adequacy Model

Source: http://www.schev.edu/Reportstats/BaseAdequacyMethodologies&ProcessesReport.pdf

Key Efforts in the Coming Year

• First Amendment Resolution (http://thefire.org/spotlight/schools/1719)

• Summer School Policies and Procedures

• Intellectual Property Policies

• Core Curriculum

• University Budget

• Leadership Development:

Rethinking the ‘L’ Word in Higher Education: The Revolution of Research on Leadership by Adrianna Kezar, Rozana Carducci, and Melissa Contreras-McGavin

• “In these times of change and challenge in higher education, pleas for leadership have become frequent. However, the type of leadership required within this new context (of globalization, demographic changes, technological advancement, and questioning of social authority) may call for different skills, requiring a re-education among campus stakeholders if they want to be successful leaders. In the past twenty years, there has been a revolution in the way that leadership is conceptualized across most fields and disciplines. Leadership has moved away from being leader-centered, individualistic, hierarchical, focused on universal characteristics, and emphasizing power over followers. Instead, a new vision has emerged: leadership that is process-centered, collective, context-bound, non-hierarchical, and focused on mutual power and influence processes.

• This volume summarizes research and literature about new conceptualizations of leadership to inform practice.”

Key Efforts in the Coming Year

• Student enrollments

• Examples of enrollment challenges for fall 2013

• Consequences of underfunding

• Need for significant new resources

• Supporting the RU mission

RU has made every effort for many years to keep costs low for students, to the extent that we can not afford this year to increase tuition and fees at average or below average rates. Our tuition and fee increase will need to be substantially above the state average to meet students’ needs.

See details from my presentation to the Academic Affairs Committee.

Financial Resources and Needs

Elected Faculty Senate Officers for 2013-14

• President: Dr. Laura Jacobsen

• Vice President: Dr. Jerry Kopf

• Secretary: Dr. Kim Gainer

• At-Large: Dr. Mary Ferrari

• At-Large: Dr. Vincent Hazleton

Thank you!

• Resolution of support for the RU Climate Action Plan

• Motion to adopt a goal of improving faculty salaries

• Motion to adopt a goal regarding faculty staffing

Appendices