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UVI Senate Meeting Minutes TED 213 (STT) and EVC 807 (STX) Friday, January 18, 2013 MEMBERS PRESENT David Hall Tina Koopmans Camille McKayle Patricia Harkins-Pierre Nancy Morgan Haldane Davies Maria Fleming Joshua Edwards Dayle Barry Raquel Santiago-Silver Noreen Michael Bernard Castillo Paul Jobsis Frank Mills Shirley Lake-King Kimberlee Smith Judith Edwin MEMBERS ABSENT/EXCUSED Dionne Jackson Cherise Burton Leslyn Tonge Daniella Henry Kevin Dixon (Excused) OTHERS PRESENT Dannica Thomas CALL TO ORDER Senator Morgan called the meeting of the Senate to order at 1:12 pm on Friday, January 18, 2013. ROLL CALL A quorum was established. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Senator Lake-King stated that the date in which a quorum was called in the November 16th minutes was incorrect. The original minutes stated that Chair Morgan called the meeting to order on November 12th rather than on the correct date, November 16th. REPORTS Strategic Plan-Pathways to Greatness The new strategic plan, Pathways to Greatness was launched in October 2012. All faculty members and component heads were advised to align fiscal year objectives with the new strategic plan. President Hall convened a Cabinet retreat on October 18, 2012 with Cabinet to conduct similar activities, to include action plans to gather key points as indicated in the strategic plan. Provost McKayle, Deans and Directors participated in a retreat to identify key personnel. Senator McKayle will convene a follow-up retreat with faculty to discuss next year's objectives. Component heads submitted projects, requiring funding, of priority to the Office of the President. Thereafter, the information was forwarded to the University Budget Committee (UBC). The UBC will prioritize goals to make decisions accordingly. Budget News and Challenges UVI’s budget is aligned with the Pathways to Greatness strategic plan. During Thanksgiving recess, the legislature convened a meeting to reinstate funds into UVI’s budget to restore the 8% salary reduction. UVI’s submission for the Upward Bound program was denied; so thefore, the Department of Education will no longer fund the Upward Bound program. TheUpward bound will be funded through the local appropriation for FY 2013, while future funding options are being negotiated. Hence, UVI can no longer use the name, Upward Bound because the brand is proprietary property of the Department of Education. However, Dr. Eustace Esdaille of Center for Student Success and Ms. Rosalia Rohan of Upward Bound are working with President Hall to make necessary adjustments. Governor deJongh contacted President Hall to conduct a feasibility study for a medical school at UVI. The feasibility study includes many survey and research efforts throughout the Caribbean. Thereafter, the consultant will present the results to the university. If favourable, the project will proceed with four phases. Phase one of the project, students will be required to complete their medical requisites at any of the local hospitals on St. Thomas and St. Croix, respectively. The second phase, students will complete their electives. The third phase, UVI will offer courses to students’ during their sophomore year, and will eventually create a medical school on campus. The last phase, UVI will seek accreditation. The College of Science and Math has a pre-med curriculum established. The Governor has agreed to fund the study. To date, half of the study was funded, while UVI anticipates the additional funds in the near future. The total appropriation from the government includes the eight-percent (8%) restoration of the 8% salary reduction, the Upward Bound program and medical school feasibility study. Collaborations with other Colleges and Universities Cooperative programs with the VIDOE, or other local entities (eg. Chamber of Commerce, etc.) Provost McKayle and the VI Department of Education attended a workshop by the National Governor Association, which focused on leadership. The workshop reinforced teaching and administrative quality. Presentations were made by various states about licensure and assessments. The primary focus of the Governor is to strengthen the schools in the territory. UVI’s School of Education and Department of Education entered into a two-year partnership to develop a curriculum to strengthen the science and mathematics curriculum for grades 4-6. The program will also integrate information literacy. The first project will focus on elementary schools, while the second phase will provide professional development by UVI professors to secondary teachers to enhance their skills and knowledge in science and mathematics. The Joint Caribbean institute project is underway. The primary goal is to create a marine education research center, which include students from Rutger’s University and the University of the Virgin Islands. The Chamber of Commerce has provided volunteer opportunities to students to mentor at-risk students in the middle and high schools. A UVI student is assigned as the coordinator, whose primary goal is to identify mentors. President Hall shared the volunteer opportunity with faculty, administrators and student organizations, such as Brothers with a Cause and Sisters with Purpose. Delta Sigma Theta Sorority inquired with UVI to provide another Junior University program with the Department of Education and Brothers with a Cause, two Saturdays per month. The Economic Development Authority (EDA) will meet with UVI researchers on February 25-26, 2013 to exchange research data. Senator Harkins-Pierre was invited to the University of South Alabama for writer’s workshop in April 2013. Ms. Judith Kerman, editor, will be visiting both campuses in February to speak to creative writing students. UVI is collaborating with the Lieutenant Governor’s office on phase two of the comprehensive street plan project. UVI is in the process of entering into an agreement with a consulting group in Boston to begin phase two of the project. Over the next six months, three pilot areas will be identified, whereby representative will meet with neighborhood organizations to begin the process of creating street names and signs, which include correctly numbering houses in the territory. The project will assist emergency personnel and GPS with the proper location of places in the territory. The Eastern Caribbean Center (ECC) is currently conducting the 2012 annual Virgin Islands community survey funded by the Governor’s office, which collects demographic information for the Virgin Islands. The survey is conducted annually, in which the information is used by non-profit organizations, government agencies, and UVI. Insular Affairs and Department of Tourism is conducting Tourism Heritage survey, which is largely funded by the Delegate to Congress. The second part to the survey project will be the environmental impact survey, which is scheduled to begin shortly to gather information on the perceived impact to residents that reside in industrial areas over the past several years, primarily on the island of St. Croix. Update on construction of the Tech Park project Construction of the Tech Park is scheduled to be completed in April 2013. The building is expected to be occupied in May 2013. The Tech Park secured the funding for the last as requested. A sidewalk will be constructed from Tech Park building to the Residence Hall for safety purposes, which will require a separate bid. Decisions (recent) of the BOT The Executive Committee of the Board approved the contract for the solar energy project. UVI signed a term sheet and site lease. The Executive Committee signed the contract under the condition that some language is changed before presenting to the full board. Construction is scheduled to begin in late Spring 2013 and be completed by or in October 2013. The St. Thomas location will be at the back of the music building, extending to the back of Penha House. The St. Croix location will be across from the new soccer field, close to the back exit of campus. Part of the agreement has an academic component, in which the company will assist UVI in creating a renewable energy curriculum. The company will provide solar modules and free labs that will be available to faculty and staff interested in research. The solar project initiative will reduce UVI’s reliability on WAPA by fifty-percent (50%). If WAPA rates stays consistent, UVI will incur great savings in the earlier years rather than the latter of the 20-year contract. The Emergency Response Plan Committee impressed the Executive Committee with their presentation; however, no action was required on behalf of the Executive Committee. Enrollment 2013 January 18, 2013 is the last day to add and drop classes. As of January 18, 2013, there were 2,463 registered students. Last year during the same time, there were 2,658 registered students. There was seventeen-percent (17%) decline on the St. Croix campus, particularly for part time students, while St. Thomas declined by negative one-percent (-1%), representing full- time undergraduates. Both campuses had an increase in non-matriculated students, to include senior citizens. There was a decline in transferred and continuing students on both campuses. There was also a decline in new freshmen and transfer students on St. Croix; however, there was a slight increase on St. Thomas. The final number of registered students will be available in February 2013. Senator Edwin indicated that the closing of Hovensa, financial burdens, and decrease in number of high school students on St. Croix may have contributed to the decline of registered students on the St. Croix campus. Faculty concerns UVI has contracted with a third party service to promote UVI to local and non-local students via e-application, telecommunication, and regular. Follow-up communication is completed by Access and Enrollment services. UVI has reached out to other Caribbean islands, such as Antigua, Anguilla, St. Kitts to increase enrollment. Senators may contact Dr. Xuri Allen for further recruitment activities details or to volunteer for upcoming recruitment activities. Increasing online courses offered by UVI is part of the new strategic plan. Provost McKayle in collaboration with CETL have coordinated an online cohort with 13-14 faculty members enrolled in online training to effectively teach online. This training will uniform UVI's online presence for upcoming online courses. Graduate programs are ideal for such structure. Senate Inaugural event Daniella Henry was advised that a replacement will be selected if she is unable to attend upcoming senate meetings. New senators will be sworn in at April’s meeting. Senator Michael has agreed to distribute iPads to new senators. The iPad policy will also be discussed at April’s meeting. Senate to Senate forum A senate to senate forum is forthcoming. The remaining 50th jubilee events are scheduled on charter day, which are the time capsule ceremony and sale of the historical publication. Sisters with Purpose Sisters with Purpose had no new updates. IEAAB/Brothers with a Cause New officers and members were selected for Brothers with a Cause, which will be inducted accordingly. Man up conferences are scheduled for February 4th and 5th on St. Thomas and St. Croix, respectively, with guest speaker Benson Carson. Institutional Advancement has coordinated a dinner reception on Monday evening on St. Thomas and a breakfast reception on Tuesday morning on St. Croix. Those interested must RSVP with Institutional Advancement. There is an open invitation to the general conference; however, there is a fee associated to the receptions with Ben Carson, $500 for St. Thomas’s dinner reception and $250 for St. Croix’s breakfast reception. Tickets can be purchased from Linda Smith on St. Croix and Liza Margolis on St. Thomas. Eventful activities are scheduled for both campuses. In addition, invitations have been extended to senators for the opening of UVI radio station on January 24, 2013 at 11am at the Penha House. The IEAAB will select new institutional and aspiration peers for the University, a strategic planning software, in which a 30-minute presentation is scheduled at the February 1 meeting. IEAAB will also discuss 2017 pathways to greatness strategic plan, key performance indicators, assessments, and upcoming two-day training session on assessment by middle states. Other The medical benefits fee for retirees have increased, which will be discussed further at a future meeting. UVI has two retirement systems, GERS and TIA CREF, which are structured differently, and as such, rates changes are made to each program based on negotiated premium rates by GERS and TIA CREF, and not UVI. Both systems cannot be equated. Upon retirement, health insurance is provided to GERS; however TIA CREF members may elect to enroll in similar insurance benefits. NEXT MEETING The next Senate meeting is scheduled for Friday, April 19, 2013 at 1pm. ADJOURNMENT Senator Barry made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Senator Jobsis seconded the motion. Chair Morgan adjourned the meeting at approximately 3:10pm.