May 7 2003
University of the Pacific
Institutional Priorities Committee
Minutes, May 7, 2003
Taylor Conference Room
Call to Order: 2:15pm
Members and guests present: Cavanaugh, Gilbertson, Hoverstad, Meer, Olson, Oppenheimer, Sina, Spreer
Others Present: Brodnick
Approval of Minutes:
Discussion:
Support Services Program Review
Cavanaugh distributed copies of the Support Services Program Review and introduced Phil Stover of the Portolan Group, the external consultant hired to assist with the review. Stover briefly covered how the review was conducted and noted that the role of Support Services has grown considerably over the last couple of years. Stover noted that a strong central management style was utilized in the department, that perceptions of Support Services was dramatically effected by the perception of the director, that the department enjoyed extremely low employee turnover (less than 3%) and that the department used an in-house model for most work on-campus.
The major problem faced by the department is communication with other campus departments. The report recommends replacing the current computerized work order system with a modern system that will allow for communication with Banner and the paperless submission of work orders to Support Services, and the automatic issuance of preventative maintenance work orders. In addition, this new system will help prevent the erroneous billing of departments for work they did not order or recoveries they are not responsible for. The committee also recommends the development of a "core services pamphlet" which will help to educate the campus community about the "free" services that Support Services offers. In addition, a more equitable billing system, based upon the average wage of Support Services employees should be used when charging for recoveries.
There is significant concern about the level of centralization in the management style used in Support Services and the committee recommends that all the mangers in the department attend training sessions. It is also felt that the new computer system would be helpful in this area. Stover also noted that only 11% of the Support Services budget is used on maintenance, which is too low, but may be the result of the turbulent energy prices from the past couple of years. Stover pointed out that the department is "project heavy," but this can be attributed to the catch-up on deferred maintenance issues and the tremendous amount of capital investment currently being made by the University in facilities.
One-time Allocations
Cavanaugh shared with the committee the President's recommendation to the Board of Regents on how to allocate this years operating surplus.
Academic Resource Planning
Gilbertson distributed a document that summarized IPC's discussions for the past few weeks. Corrections were made to the document to clarify the issues. There were questions about how the second part of the faculty pay plan would affect the model and there was agreement that the pay plan could have significant impact on contribution margins from the schools. There was also some discussion about how debt maintenance should be allocated to the different units. It was suggested that discussions happening about enrollment may also be useful in discussions about ARP and that IPC needs a perspective from the macro level. The Law School and Dental School need to be added to the document.
Adjournment: 4:10pm
Submitted by Matt Olson.