3/4/05 Administrative Council Meeting Minutes

In attendance: Dr. Claudia Limbert, Dr. Sam Gingerich, Nora Miller, Scott Rawles, Dr. Bucky Wesley, Perry Sansing, Dr. Mark Bean, Mary Margaret Roberts, Patsy McDaniel, Anika Perkins, Dr. Lea Helen Evans, Susan Sobley and Wahnee Sherman.

Absent: Dana Vaughn

Dr. Claudia Limbert called the meeting to order.

1. The minutes from 1/7/04 were approved.

2. Items from President’s Cabinet:

East Mississippi Community College visit - Dr. Limbert noted that she and others from MUW visited 14 of Mississippi’s community colleges last year and Bevill State Community College in Alabama. MUW is seeing many good transfer students from these community colleges. Now she is inviting personnel from the community colleges to visit MUW. EMCC will visit campus on April 8.

Staff Position Classification system update - Perry Sansing said that this process was divided into two phases: classification of all non-faculty positions and assignment of salary ranges. These phases are complete and now he and Melanie Freeman, director of Human Resources, are preparing a power point presentation that will be ready by the end of the month. He wants to show it at a joint meeting with Staff Council and Directors Council and then a campus-wide meeting if necessary.

Budget update - Nora Miller explained that until the Legislature finishes addressing Medicaid, that nothing else will be addressed. It will be the end of March or beginning or April before the IHLs know what the budget will be. Best case scenario will be a cut of five percent or $670,000 for MUW. The contingency funds may be gone. If so, the result will be worse. Also, rising costs include an additional one percent employer share of retired employees health insurance premium which estimates $300 more per employee. The President’s Cabinet has met to discuss the situation and has built guidelines of how to handle it. They will look at programs, contracts with outside vendors, other institutional commitments and memberships, enrollment and other innovative ways to increase revenue and decrease costs. They will consider the long-term affects of any changes.

Legislative liaison update - Mr. Sansing said the legislative liaisons from all the IHLs are discussing the budget situation of the state. Some of the universities are considering a tuition increase. Many believe it will be the end of April before any decisions about higher education are made because of the standstill on Medicaid.

Emergency phone tree - Mr. Sansing announced that MUW’s emergency phone tree has been reworked. The Police Department will be sending copies of the phone tree to all offices soon. The Police Department wants to do run through with a few key people and then a full-scale drill with the entire campus.

Records retention - Ms. Miller said she and others are reviewing other universities’ procedures. Then they will come up with a schedule for each area. The policy will then need Department of Archives and History approval.

3. General updates:

Dr. Limbert noted that she had just returned from a SACS Executive Committee meeting where they reviewed some very tricky issues. She said she is glad to be at MUW because we are doing so well in the area of planning. She said the head of SACS was very complimentary of MUW.

Wahnee Sherman said that the Directors Council would like to meet with Ms. Miller about the budget and Mr. Sansing about the Staff Position Classification System. She announced that Song Fest is tonight, and Spring Scholars Day is March 8.

Dr. Lea Helen Evans reported that the Faculty Senate met last Friday. The group is working on policy revisions. It has been brought to her attention concerns about pot holes around Hogarth and other buildings and the side gates to campus being locked during major weekend events. Ms. Miller said the physical plant employees would make temporary fixes to pot holes during spring break. Mr. Sansing said the Police Department needs to be notified when there is a big event going on and the event planners would like the gates left open.

Dr. Bucky Wesley mentioned that W Day is today, Minority Day is scheduled for March 11, and W Fest will be April 2. They have invited more potential students to W Fest this time.

Dr. Mark Bean said the Institutional Research Office is compiling the satisfaction survey results. The ACT data were received yesterday. They will compile the numbers and release the results soon.

Susan Sobley reported that morale is low among some staff right now. Membership on Staff Council is low right now. Many members are concerned about the budget situation and the perceived possibility of job cuts. Some staff members also are concerned about how MUW will get the money to fill the dean positions in the reorganization plan. Dr. Sam Gingerich responded that the reorganization plan is cost neutral. He said he would get Ms. Sobley a short summary of the reorganization plan and the cost affects. She said staff are concerned about premiums being introduced and/or deductibles going up for state health insurance. Ms. Miller responded that several options are being considered by the state according to a newspaper article she read, but she has heard nothing official.

Patsy McDaniel noted that three alumna out of 50 nominations have been chosen for Alumni Achievement Awards. They are Anne Brantley Wright (`65), Director of Testing at the Defense Language Institute at the Pentagon in Washington; P. Sanders McNeal (`71) of Jackson, a nationally recognized artist who has just been commissioned to paint the International Ballet 2006 portrait; and Barbara Black Travis (`70) of Flowood, Executive Director of the Mississippi World Trade Center in Jackson. The Starkville Public Library will feature MUW’s Culinary Arts students on March 17. The students will prepare desserts from the Southern Grace Cookbook. The Steering Committee of Town and Tower will meet March 9 to recap the Wing Ding and other events they sponsor. The Young Alum Committee will present a Young Alum Award at Homecoming. Several nominations have been submitted.

Anika Perkins said her office is working on press releases. Visions will go the printer soon.

Ms. Miller reported that the Comptroller’s Office is offering Banner training for interested personnel. Computing Services is working out the bugs on the server upgrade. The dorms were swapped to a DSL line with Bell South. Millions of viruses were detected the first day. Resources Management will work with the MISSCO to retrofit MUW’s Smart Classrooms during spring break. They also are working with Computing Services to have facilities reservations on Banner, and the procurement card provider is changing to Citigroup. The bid for the new Physical Plant building came well within budget, which will mean we can stretch the state bond money further for completing the warehouse or for R&R. This project should start this summer. Martin and Cochran Halls should be completed this summer. The contractor for the Pohl Building is still pulling together sub-contractors. Physical Plant employees will continue to do tree trimming and other maintenance projects during spring break. Dave Haffly began as the director of Plymouth Bluff where there are many event reservations right now. Sodexho is going through the process to replace Mr. Haffly. Once the field has been narrowed down, MUW will have the opportunity to participate in the selection process. Currently, chef Fawdil Djebbar is serving as interim director.

Mary Margaret Roberts mentioned that the spring development cycle has started, and the spring mailers will go out soon. Andrea Holcombe is working with the class of 1955 on planned gifts. A donor is bringing the “Legends of Rock and Roll” to campus on April 28. Tickets will be free for faculty, staff, and students, and $10 each to the public.

Scott Rawles announced that the phone center is well above goal with more than $100,000 collected to date. In addition, a search of lost phone numbers was conducted with 3,200 out of 8,000 recovered. Not only is the phone center serving the purpose of increasing giving, but it also helps with updating alumni information records. Total giving for the Foundation is about $5 million. Many grant proposals have been submitted, one of which is to renovate Franklin Hall. He will be working with Ms. Perkins to update the university’s communication plan and to encourage the entire campus to use a single identifier.

Dr. Gingerich said the class schedules for summer and fall are at the printer, and registration will start soon. The Academic Master Plan working groups are all actively working on the plans. He is pleased with the progress. A retreat was held to discuss the roles and responsibilities for deans and department heads when the reorganization plan goes into effect this fall. He will schedule meetings with faculty to discuss how the colleges will be formed. Dr. Kendall Dunkelberg, chair of the ad hoc committee that is monitoring the progress of the reorganization plan, is working on policy revisions. The reorganization plan will go before the IHL Board in April.

Mr. Rawles noted that Dr. Limbert will host a dinner on May 13 for the honorary doctorate and medal of excellence honorees. Dr. Limbert added that the honorary doctorate recipients are Eugenia Summer and Nancy Yates.