Budget and Economic Concerns Committee

Minutes

November 14, 2000

Members Attending:

                S. K. Airee                                                                      Rebecca Irwin

                Frank Black, Ex Officio                                                   Mary Lemons

                Linda Butler                                                                     Henry Parker

                Teresa Collard                                                                   Wintfred Smith

                Ernest Harriss                                                                   Susan Vickerstaff

Al Hooten, Ex Officio                                                    Jenna Wright, Chair

Members Absent:

                Bob Hathcock

                John Schommer

Other Attendees:

                Richard Chesteen, Senate President

1.                    After determining that a quorum was present, Jenna Wright called the meeting to order.  Motion was made and carried to approve the minutes of the October 10, 2000 meeting.

2.                    Dr. Frank Black and Mr. Al Hooten presented an update on the implementation of the Summer School Task Force recommendations.  They have met with the Summer School Task Force and think that its recommendations were very well thought out.  In response to those recommendations, Dr. Black is proposing to offer “guaranteed” courses each summer.  These are courses that will meet students’ needs and are also believed to be heavy-demand courses that will have good enrollments and will pay for themselves.  Another aspect of this proposal is “high probability” courses, which are courses to be offered that have a high probability of making enrollment.  College/unit deans will determine this list of courses.  Each Dean will be funded for summer school with a targeted enrollment.  Both the budget and enrollment targets would be developed based upon past history.  Mr. Hooten also presented sample funding scenarios to further illustrate the benefits of this proposal. 

The Summer School Task Force recommended that faculty salaries continue to be calculated as is currently done according to the Faculty Handbook.  The proposal presented incorporates this recommendation; however, where this is not possible due to student credit hours/enrollment, prorating may be an option to deans to pay faculty salaries.  It was stressed that this prorating is optional, and that if a faculty member refuses to teach at a prorated salary, it will not be reflected on faculty evaluations.  All prorated salaries are to be fair and equitable after discussion with the faculty member involved. 

The Task Force had recommended that this plan of “guaranteed” courses be presented to students to allow them sufficient time to plan their academic schedules.  Students will also be notified via an article in The Pacer.  This notification should also assist with the advising process.  Committee members suggested running the list of “guaranteed” courses in the local papers as an additional means of announcement to students and as a way of informing the community as a whole.

This plan needs to be under constant review to ascertain its success or needs for revision.  Also under consideration is the concern about summer school crossing fiscal years with the two summer sessions.  Another idea presented for possible consideration was incorporating dual-credit courses into summer school.

                Dr. Black stated that the goal of this plan is to turn summer school around and put it on a positive footing for the future of UTM.  It provides flexibility and growth opportunities.  He summarized the three main points of this plan as 1) guaranteeing fundamental courses to be offered; 2) maintaining the integrity of faculty salaries; and 3) focusing summer school course offerings on student demand and not faculty demand.  Dr. Black believes that these goals best represent the recommendations of the Summer School Task Force.  He reminded committee members that this plan holds a great risk for UTM if students do not follow through and actually attend summer school once they have registered and enrolled in courses.  This plan is a high-risk program to generate enrollment numbers and assist with the retention of our students, but it also assumes some responsibility on the part of our students. 

3.             As there was no other business to be discussed, motion was made and carried to adjourn.  The next meeting will be Tuesday, January 23, 2001.

                                                                                                                _________________________

                                                                                                                                                Alvin G. Hooten

c              Dr. Richard Chesteen, Senate President

                Dr. Ruby Black, Senate Secretary