Provost’s Report to the FSU Faculty Senate –January 24, 2008

Dr. Juliette B. Bell, Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

(Updated February 4, 2008)

 

1. Status of Programs Approved by Faculty Senate

 

Several authorizations to establish new academic programs had been received and were under review in the Office of Academic Affairs.  All proposals to either plan or establish new academic programs are on hold, pending review in relation to the recommendations in the UNC Tomorrow report and BRAC.  Any new programs established at FSU will need to be responsive to the needs identified in the UNC Tomorrow report, which focuses on the economic development of the region and state.  I will be meeting with representatives from the departments that have pending programs to discuss their proposals and the necessary revisions for consideration.  Because programs will be reviewed and approved at General Administration on an accelerated (first come, first served basis) our process will be expedited on campus as well.  Revised proposals will not need to go back through the entire review process, but will be submitted directly to my office.  I will be holding that meeting within the next two weeks.

 I. Proposals approved and forwarded to Chancellor’s office

Revise Curriculum of Nursing

MIS 212

Addition of 2 MIS courses

Intent to Plan Online Degree completion BS in Comp Science

Intent to Plan Online Completion BS Gen Bus Admin

Addition of Concentration in Applied Mathematics

 

II. Proposals to be reconsidered in light of UNC Tomorrow and BRAC

Auth to Establish BS Social Work

Auth to Establish BA Intelligence Studies

Auth to Establish BS Physics

Auth to Establish BS Generic Engineering

Auth to Establish BS Health and Leisure Studies

Auth to Establish BS Physical Science Education Degree

Auth to Establish BS Interdisciplinary Studies

Re-Establish MA History

Auth to Establish MA in Environmental Studies

Minor in Intelligence Studies

 

2. Reconstitution of the College of Arts and Sciences and Graduate Studies

 

Effective February 1, 2008, the College of Arts and Sciences will be reestablished and the Colleges of Basic and Applied Sciences and Humanities and Social Sciences will be abolished.  Dr. David Barlow, former dean of the College of Basic and Applied Sciences, has been appointed as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, effective February 1.  Dr. Valentine James, former dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, has been appointed Dean of Graduate Studies, effective February 1.  Searches for these two dean positions have been discontinued.

 

 

 

 

3. Phased Retirement Policy

 

The current Phased Retirement Policy will be revised, consistent with requirements from the UNC General Administration.  A committee will be formed and will meet to develop a revised policy which will be presented to the senate for review.  The policy will need to be approved prior to the March deadline for applications for phased retirements that will become effective on August 1.

 

4. Printer Policy

The printer policy was a PACE initiative developed by ITTS as part of the university’s mandate to reduce the budget for support functions and return those funds to the core functions of teaching, research, and service. The issues surrounding implementation of the printer policy occurred with the Chancellor’s direct reports. One of the early discussions was that the university would seek to make reductions that would have a minimal impact on personnel cuts in order to meet the budget reduction mandate.  ITTS reported that campus-wide, the use of printers is one area in which there has been quite a bit of wasteful spending without a check and that we need to get some accountability on the use of these resources.  ITTS reported that the printer initiative provides high-availability print services for all without worrying about downtime due to malfunction, out-of-toner and other issues.   The expected ratio is 1 printer for every 3-4 employees. The question about confidentiality is answered by the fact that the printouts will not come out on the printer automatically until the person who printed goes by the printer and swipes his ID card or enters a 4-digit code to release the printouts.  

 

ITTS is planning to conduct informational sessions in each unit (administrative and academic) on campus before they begin deploying printers.   

 

5. BD-119 Update

The Division of Business and Finance has informed my office that the BD-119 will not be made available for electronic posting.  A copy will be available in the Chesnutt Library for review.