April 16 2003
University of the Pacific
Institutional Priorities Committee
Minutes, April 16, 2003
Taylor Conference Room
Members present: Gilbertson, Hoverstad, Spreer, Stark, Jones, Olson, Hewitt, King, Meer, Jacobsen, Sina, Cavanaugh, Oppenheimer, Lundergan, Jones
Members Absent: Miller
Other Attendees: Brodnick, Perro, Fredricks
The meeting was called to order at 2:07 p.m. Minutes of the April 9 meeting were approved as distributed.
REPORTS:
Provost: Cabinet has reviewed proposal for Pacific Net and agreed that it should proceed, although the details of costs and the allocation or sharing of those costs were not yet resolved. With this action, OISR can proceed with ordering the CEFA-financing equipment approved by the Board in early April.
Budget: Cavanaugh said there was nothing new to report regarding the current year budget. The budget for FY 04 was approved by the Board at its April meeting without adjustment.
Facilities: Cavanaugh reported that progress on the five major projects now underway on the Stockton campus are well underway and will be completed shortly. He suggested that the IPC tour these facilities in upcoming meetings to have a good sense of the additional spaces. It was agreed that a tour of the Pharmacy and Dental Schools' Clinics and Learning Center would be arranged to occur during the latter part of the next meeting. Lundergan suggested that the director of the dental hygiene program be included to direct the tour in the part of the building to be directed by the School of Dentistry.
Advancement: Meer reported that the kickoff of the public phase of the campaign was successful with the total given or pledged exceeding slightly more than half of the goal. He cautioned, however, that while overall gift dollars were up the number of donors was off which is something he and his staff will be focusing on.
Student Life: Sina and Jacobsen reported that the flu going around campus had been disruptive to the many students and, for a time, had been burdensome to the staff of the Health Center. Measures to ensure better hygiene among students and staff were stressed.
IT VISION
Fredrick distributed draft IT goals for IPC to review and discuss:
- Re: "Teaching, Learning, and Scholarship": It was suggested that goals (c) and (f) be consolidated with goals (a) and (b). It was suggested that goal (e) include the need for interaction with academic colleagues on other college and university campuses to improve interaction and teaching resources. It was also suggested that "research infrastructure be enhanced
- Re: "Institutional Administration": It was suggested that goal (d) is contained within goal (a). The need for IT skills and competencies in staff was also a concern for faculty. The need for uniform data bases (a single data base repository) was suggested to be a major objective for IT. That campus safety and security issues included building access through a one-card system.
- Re: "Communities and Relationships": Extended comments about the appropriate priorities among the goals here and their organization. It was noted that while the "communities" listed were external to the University, there were other important communities internal to the University, most especially, students whose IT needs must continually be reviewed and addressed. It was suggested that Stockton, San Jouquin county, and the central valley be explicitly included in the subject "communities". Many agreed that prospective students should be regarded as a top priority among the external communities.
Brodnick led the review of the discussion on current and proposed CPHS student/faculty ratios, strategic enrollment targets and costs vs. contribution to the University budget. Among key issues identified were:
- Approach in model assumed "steady state" enrollment with increases in faculty over past several years to address accreditation recommendations and to accommodate new programs.
- Challenge of decreasing contribution margin for Pharmacy when it maintains a low discount in Pharmacy, so incremental revenue per student in CPHS is large are growing;
- Given profitability of program, several questioned why enrollment increases there are not assumed particularly when significant additions in physical plant. Part of response from Oppenheimer was the growing difficulty of finding appropriate internships for that phase of students' training. This is especially difficult as additional pharmacy schools are being added and proposed.
Next meeting will be April 23 and include a tour of the Pharmacy / Dental building.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:00 p.m.