January 18, 2011
Institutional Priorities Committee
Minutes of January 18, 2011
2:00pm - 4:00pm
DUC 211 A & B
Present: President Eibeck, Francois Rose, Mary Lou Lackey, Chris Johnston, Peg Ciccolella, Matthew Downs, Patrick Cavanaugh, Jin Gong, Elizabeth Griego, Dan Shipp, Kelli Page, Cathy Peterson, Gene Pearson, Nejat Duzgunes, Tom Krise, Ted Leland, Nathan Quist, Marcus Perrot, Robert Brodnick
Absent: Patrick Ferrillo
Guests: Regent Robert Corkern
Call to Order: 2:04pm
Minutes: Minutes for January 11, 2011 were approved with the correction of removing Nathan Quist as a guest. Rose suggested that next year, IPC meet either from 1:00-3:00pm or 3:00-5:00pm so that students are available to attend.
Regent Corkern Addresses IPC: Corkern briefly discussed his journey to become a member of the Board of Regents for University of the Pacific. He mentioned that the Board consists of a very diverse set of people of which includes a member of the clergy, an astronaut, 3 Fortune 500 CEOs, entrepreneurs, dentists, pharmacists, and more, all who carry one common purpose, to better the University. From a financial point of view, Corkern mentioned that things have never been better for private institutions simply because the competition for students has dropped because the UC and CSU school systems are struggling in this economy. However, he stressed the importance to be mindful that it will not be long before the public schools get their budgets in order, causing the competition to return for private schools. Eibeck added that it is good to be optimistic but cautious about the future.
Corkern mentioned that there is always going to be a demand for capital and that he is more concerned with the ability to do more significant projects. The positive side is that Pacific is in the top 25% of all universities in the US according to bond rating, which allows us to have the capacity to borrow.
Eibeck summarized 2 pressures of the university:
1. A need for financing capital and financial aid as we have students with less availability to pay.
2. The need to have a robust and strong fundraising effort.
Budget Recommendations Discussion: Rose presented the FY 2012 budget document. They agreed to move University Lighting Initiative from Safety and Security and place it under Sustainability. Pearson suggested that the Faculty and Staff compensation adjustments column be moved to top of the document because this is typically the first question asked. He also recommended using percentages and to have the one time and base ads clearly stated in the document. The committee agreed that there is the need to see the percentage of base that's recommended as well as have the availability to reveal the detail that composed each on the back to each itemized request.
Eibeck pointed out that Safety and Security has become a very high priority even though the committee has not seen a formal request. The committee decided to add a placeholder for this topic and will decide in future meetings how much to allocate.
Eibeck made a suggestion to Rose to form a sub-committee that's available this week to go over potential approaches for looking at budgetary decisions. She said that the three presentations next week could be given less time, which will give the committee an hour for deliberation. Shipp, Pearson and Peterson volunteered to meet with Rose Wednesday evening to discuss possible approaches to budgetary decisions. Brodnick suggested the possibility of extending next week's meeting by an hour, to end at 5:00pm.
Stockton Campus Budget Forum Discussion: Rose went around the room and asked the committee members to sign up for either the February 17th or 18th budget forum.
Adjourned: 3:40pm