Minutes from December 16, 2020

1. Welcome and announcements
   1. Per Terry Leist, the annual budget process regarding the 2% reallocation for FY22 is due shortly after the holiday break. Megan Lasso added a reminder that there are a lot of uncertainties in the coming months.  Chris Fastnow pointed out we reupped the FY21 priorities for FY22. The priorities are on the PC website. This spring, we will look towards FY 23 priorities.
   2. Rob Maher asked about Snowmester enrollment. Chris Fastnow answered that there are 1959 students enrolled in Snowmester as of yesterday. That includes over 2300 course section enrollments and translates to over 6600 student credit hours. Cati Carmody added that it’s a good idea to make Snowmester permanent because a lot of students have internships or jobs during the summer that they don’t have during winter break, so it gives them an opportunity to take extra courses. Colin Shaw talked about how he is handling the holidays during Snowmester. He recommends scheduling it a little differently in future years so that students don’t have class straight through without any break between semesters.
2. Minutes from 11/18 – approved with some attendance corrections
3. Discussion
   1. Continued discussion about areas Planning Council might spend some time on given changes in the landscape – things needing tweaking or reimagining more fully, and any gaps that have emerged in this long, oddly shaped pandemic season.
      1. Chris Fastnow reviewed the goals that the Planning Council covered in the prior meeting that were summarized in the minutes.
      2. Logan Schultz is worried about a gap in goal 2.1 metrics right now, especially section 3, due to the lack of internships. Chris Fastnow added that this impacts goal 1.3 as well. Cati Carmody said that students she knows had internships fall through last summer, but they were able to work on research at the university instead.
      3. Stephanie Gray brought up the gap in IT, and Bradford Watson mentioned some IT upgrades, including the addition of hot spots for students. Cati Carmody asked that the university get an enterprise Zoom subscription that students can use for clubs. Chris Fastnow offered a distinction between operational and strategic investments – ongoing work may be better considered operational. However, if they feel the need rises to the level of needing to be added to the strategic plan, Planning Council can discuss adding it.
      4. Chelsey Wilson discussed Jabs’ College of Business’s newsletter that lists internships and career opportunities and their program of visiting executives.
      5. Rob Maher asked who is responsible for certain goals, like Goal 3.3 about campus culture. Chris Fastnow replied that some goals have obvious specific homes, but many have multiple units that are responsible for them. OPA monitors progress and reports to both Planning Council and University Council. Every institutional office that has a natural fit with a specific goal is represented on Planning Council or University Council or both. The unit level alignment may be an opportunity to close loop and invite people in to talk about what their unit has done. Stephanie Gray indicated unit planning/action may not include measurement but knows others are measuring at university level.
   2. Meeting times for spring
      1. It seems like the fourth Wednesday from 2:00-3:00 might be the best meeting time. If an hour is not enough, Chris Fastnow may add an extra one-hour meeting on another Wednesday or extra group sub-meetings.
   3. Fall Institutional Report (available on OPA’s website)
      1. Fall Tenurable Faculty FTE by Funding Source graph presented
      2. Fall Faculty FTE by Funding Source and Appointment Type graph (including NTTs) presented
      3. Staff FTE by Funding Source graph presented
      4. Headcount and FTE Enrollment graph presented
      5. Retention and Graduation Rates graph presented
      6. Degrees Awarded graph presented
      7. General Fund Expenditures by Program graph presented
      8. Questions and comments: Colin Shaw noticed that the graduate enrollment has only increased slightly, while graduate degrees have increased a lot. Chris Fastnow said we need to look at three things: curricula, recruiting. retention. All three currently under scrutiny, in alignment with SP. Colin Shaw asked if we track post-docs. Chris Fastnow said we do track them, but that the job titles have been uneven.
4. Other business
   1. Rob Maher brought up an expenditure authorized for classroom technology that didn’t go through the Classroom Committee. He would like to make use of the existing committees.
   2. Jason Clark said the CIO search is progressing. People should attend and bring up the strategic plan to those candidates. Ian Godwin added that the strategic plan is being mentioned to the search candidates, but the more people who mention it, the better.
5. Public comment – none
6. Meeting adjourned at 3:25 p.m.

Next meeting:  January 27, 2:00-3:00 p.m., via WebEx

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