Steering Committee Meeting Minutes

Feb. 27, 2008

Voting Members: Marv Kemple-PHY, Snehasis Mukhopadhyay- CIS, Barry Muhoberac- CHEM, John Kremer-PSY, Martin Bard-BIO, Dean Bill Bosron, Stephanie Sen - CHEM. Non-Voting Members: Ray Chin-Past President, Steve Randall-President, Jane Williams-Secretary, Dean Andy Gavrin, Dean Pam Crowell, Bart Ng. Absent: Kathy Licht, Will Geller.

1.       Steve Randall called the meeting to order at 10:01.

2.       Identified a few changes to the agenda. Agenda was accepted.

3.       The SC meeting minutes from Jan 23 were accepted after two minor changes.

4.       Discussion of our follow-up to the SC letter to the Faculty Council. Bart Ng is going to be meeting with Pres. McRobbie in the next several weeks. We will ask Bart Ng to also make a request for McRobbie to come speak with the SOS faculty. Discussed other actions that may take place, but the consensus was that we should let the current strategies come to fruition before taking any other action. Bart Ng and Rosalie Vermette met with Bantz and Sukhatme to discuss the letters from Rick Ward and the SOS Steering Committee Meeting. Bart provided the SC with a review of this conversation, which included a discussion of the structural problems with the IUPUI budget. Bantz needs to make an argument to BLGTN for a targeted focus towards those areas that are grossly underfunded. Bart met with McRobbie about other issues and set a meeting with him on March 20th. On April 15th, the issues raised in the two letters will be addressed in a Faculty Council Meeting where the entire meeting will be focused on campus planning and budgets. WB encouraged us to continue to work inside to provide data for our arguments.    

5.       WB introduced this “master planning” initiative that comes from McRobbie’s office.  A report was generated by WB, PC, AG, and BN which makes an argument for the amount of space needed in the innovations center. The report uses a per group comparison to agree what kind of resources we will need in the future. There is a request for us to identify the kinds of resources we need in terms of labs and classrooms. It appears that McRobbie is committed to the core academic mission of the university. A Master Planner, David King, has been chosen and it appears that this group is focusing equally on Bloomington and IUPUI. A master planner examines the university, identifies ways for the university to grow to meet its strategic vision.  One initial comment from them about IUPUI was that we lack density, we lack a focal point. AG suggested that we need to connect with the other schools in this planning process.

6.       SR asked if we should create a school level budgetary affairs committee. PC suggested that the SC is that committee. SR suggested that it hasn’t worked effectively in the past and perhaps creating a continual membership may be necessary. PC noted that the 3 year membership of the secretary, pres., past-president may provide this. SR suggested that we table this until the next meeting. An ad hoc committee could be created and if it is deemed useful could be made into a standing committee.

7.       SR, JW, PC, AG, BN, and WB will meet with Crystal York  on March 19th for a review of the budget.

8.       Discussion of nominations for SC Secretary, 3 of Faculty Council and other at-large positions need to occur in the next 6 weeks.  SC members are asked to seek out and request nominations within their department.

9.       The SAR then discussed the administrative review process. In general, the forms for the Chairs and Assoc Deans were deemed completed. The review form for the Dean Bosron was then discussed, reviewed, and modified. SR will send out a draft to SC members for comment and review.

10.   The meeting was adjourned at 12:10.