Committee Description—

Members—

Charges—

Approved by SenEx: 5/29/2012
Approved by University Senate: 9/13/2012

• For further information or to schedule a meeting with SenEx to discuss charges or the committee’s work, contact SenEx chair Chris Crandall at Crandall@ku.edu.
• Please send minutes of each meeting to University Governance, at govern@ku.edu, for posting to the Governance web site.
• Please send recommendations for changes to the University Senate Code, the University Senate Rules and Regulations, and the Faculty Senate Rules and Regulations as early in the academic year as possible. Because of the waiting periods involved in changes to these documents, recommendations proposed after spring break may remain pending the following fall semester.
• Please send a report of the committee’s actions on each of the charges, as well as any recommendations the committee wishes to make concerning charges or membership for the following academic year, to University Governance, at govern@ku.edu. Please include the names of committee members and submit the report by April 1, 2013. If the committee still expects to conduct business after April 1, please submit a report by April 1 and later submit any addenda that may be appropriate.

Standing charges:

1. Participate in the University’s planning processes by communicating with the Provost and the Provost’s senior staff on matters of capital strategic planning, infrastructure, IT resources, and sustainability, and examine how current financial circumstances (the health of the state economy, current university indebtedness, school-specific fees and charges, etc.) will influence such projects. Report issues and any recommendations for action to Sen Ex. (ongoing)
2. Monitor the University budget.  When current financial circumstances result in changes to annual spending plans, advise SenEx and suggest any actions the committee would deem helpful.  (ongoing)
3. Provide committee representation at hearings held by the Provost and the Provost’s senior staff to review planning reports and budgetary submissions made by the various units.  Report issues and any recommendations to SenEx for consideration. (ongoing)
4. Monitor changes in tuition plans and their effects on allocation of resources across the university. Report recommendations to SenEx for action. (ongoing)

Specific charge:

1. Continue to monitor changes in resource allocation based on strategic initiatives, especially “Change for Excellence” and “Bold Aspirations.”
2. Monitor the impact of VSIP (Voluntary Separation Incentive Program) in regard to financial savings and impact on units.

Meeting Minutes—

n/a

Final Reports and Outcomes—

FY-13 PLANNING AND RESOURCES COMMITTEE

FINAL REPORT

Standing charges:

1. Participate in the University’s planning processes by communicating with the Provost and the Provost’s senior staff on matters of capital strategic planning, infrastructure, IT resources, and sustainability, and examine how current financial circumstances (the health of the state economy, current university indebtedness, school-specific fees and charges, etc.) will influence such projects. Report issues and any recommendations for action to Sen Ex. (ongoing)

University Governance Planning and Resources Committee

Report on Committee Meeting:                               November 20, 2012

                                                                                10:00 am to 11:00 am

                                                                                250 Strong Hall

Attending           Chair: Chris Gamblin, Molecular Biosciences

Chris Steadham, Law Library

Ron Ash, Business

Jake Rapp, Graduate Student

Susan Mercer, Institute for Policy & Social Research

Beth Ridenour, Comptroller Office

Deb Carter, Housing Office Administration

Steve Moore, Comptroller Office

Presenting          Tracy Horstman, Assistant Vice Provost for Capital Planning & Space Management

Diane Goddard, Vice Provost for Administration & Finance

The following is a synopsis of our discussions concerning University Capital Strategic Planning:

The University procedures for Capital Strategic Planning are incredibly different since the formation of the Office of Capital Planning and Space Management.  This office serves as a first point of coordination and provides a central framework for the planning process for capital projects.  The office guides large projects through preliminary review and maintains a revolving list of projects along with program and scope studies.  This information is then used by the Capital Projects Council to prioritize capital projects for the university.  The Capital Projects Council is chaired by the Chancellor and consists of leaders representing different areas of the university such as academics, research, finance, endowment, architecture, and operations. 

In the past, university capital projects were largely done individually.  With Bold Aspirations, there is now an effort to have a robust Campus Master Plan for the future.  The master plan must consider a wide range of factors: land use; proportion and space usage as compared to peer institutions; facilities and infrastructure; information technology; sustainability and energy usage; architecture plan and landscaping; historical considerations; campus access and parking; accessibility; and security.  An outside planning firm will be brought in to generate the master plan.  The process is expected to begin in winter 2013.  This is the first time in 25 years that an outside firm has been used to assist with campus planning.  The last plan was generating internally in the late 1990s. 

There is also a Science Master Plan that will be part of the Campus Master Plan.  The university facilities in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) are insufficient for supporting current efforts in research and teaching.  These fields are also growing such that there is a real need for capital improvement in this area.  Cannon Design has generated a plan that would cost approximately $550 million.  This project is now being revised to be implemented in phases with the first phase to cost approximately $150 million.

There are many projects under consideration for Business, Housing, Athletics, Medical Education, in addition to smaller renovation projects.  Moving forward the Office of Capital Planning and Space Management along with the Capital Projects Council will prioritize projects and help to move them through the design and planning processes as the economy and university budget allow.  Savings realized from Changes for Excellence need to be reinvested into capital planning to help keep the university competitive.

University Governance Planning and Resources Committee

Report on Committee Meeting:       March 5, 2013

                                                            9:00 am to 10:00 am

                                                            250 Strong Hall

Attending       Chair: Chris Gamblin, Molecular Biosciences
  Chris Steadham, Libraries
 Ron Ash, Business
 Susan Mercer, Institute for Policy & Social Research
Beth Ridenour, Comptroller Office
Deb Carter, Housing Office Administration
 

Presenting      Diane Goddard, Vice Provost for Administration & Finance

Barry Swanson, Associate Vice Provost of Campus Operations

Bob Lim, Chief Information Officer

The Committee met with the Provost’s office to discuss Infrastructure and Information technology as it pertains to our standing charge: “Participate in the University’s planning processes by communicating with the Provost and the Provost’s senior staff on matters of capital strategic planning, infrastructure, IT resources, and sustainability, and examine how current financial circumstances (the health of the state economy, current university indebtedness, school-specific fees and charges, etc.) will influence such projects.”  This is a summary of that discussion:

Over the past year there have been many ongoing projects in Infrastructure and IT:

Infrastructure

• Facilities Merger:  The merger of Facilities Operations and Housing Custodial and Maintenance to form a new department called Facilities Services has realized many benefits in terms of streamlining those departments and providing savings for the University.  There is still more to be done especially with regard to work orders and procedures in fulfilling them.
• KUPPS roll out: The Kansas University Procure to Pay System will be taking over as the new form of ordering and payment of vendors.  This system promises to reduce costs, automate and simplify the procurement system, improve and standardize business process and efficiencies and to improve institutional risk management control.
• Sourcing: Advances have been made in using the collective purchasing power of the University to provide new contracts for additional savings.
• University Master Plan: KU has engaged Hanbury Evans Wright Vlattas + Company to assist in generating a new Campus Master Plan that will address existing buildings, needs for improved research space, classroom requirements, IT, transportation, parking and environmental sustainability.  This comprehensive master plan will be the first since 1997 and will help to coordinate improvements across the campus.  It is scheduled to be completed by November 2013.
• Facilities Condition Audit:  An assessment of the current buildings on campus will address the projected life spans and maintenance of building to allow strategic planning to become more proactive than reactive.
• Science Infrastructure: A deficiency in science infrastructure has been identified and a Science Master Plan has been created that will be folding into the University Master Plan.
• Parking: Many parking issues will be addressed as part of the University Master Plan.
• Environmental Health and Safety: A task force will be created this summer to assess the governance and operations of EHS and campus safety in general.
• Sustainability & Facilities:  Surplus Property is moved to the former Student Housing Maintenance Building. A Sustainability Council has been named and will have responsibility for guiding implementation of the Sustainability Plan. 
• Many efforts are being made through Changing for Excellence to realize cost savings and re-invest those savings back into the University.
• Jayhawk Boulevard: The condition of Jayhawk Boulevard is awful and will be brought down in four segments and completely reconstructed including facilities below the street.  Parking on Jayhawk Boulevard will be prohibited upon completion of the project.

This is an exciting time with the creation of Science and University Master Plans in combination with Changing for Excellence and Bold Aspirations coming together to provide a new direction and an increase in resources to make it happen.

Information Technology

• IT is making strides toward Bold Aspirations and Changing for Excellence.  347 projects were completed in FY2012 and 203 projects are planned for FY2013.
• There have been 105 student benefit projects, 63 faculty benefit projects, 87 staff benefit projects and 25 infrastructure projects.
• $2.1 million was spent to rehab the wiring for Haworth and Malott halls, also providing complete wireless coverage for the entire building.
• Similar rehab projects are planned University wide.  Phase I will service 20 buildings, phase II will also service 20 buildings and phase III will be 10-15 buildings.
• Infrastructure has been improved from building to building to help maximize capabilities.
• West campus ring structure for improved connectivity and communication has been completed.
• IT has reorganized as part of Bold Aspirations and Change for Excellence to centralize services, increase virtualization, enhance leveraging software and purchasing power and increases the use of cost-saving multifunctional devices.
• KUPPS will be placed on KU portal and efforts are being made to put all online activities in a central location so it will be easier to find and will only require a single sign-in format.
• 29 business process improvements were identified in 2012 and 110 were identified in 2013.
• Infrastructure improvements were made for Faculty/Research efforts to increase High Performance Computing Resources.  The Provost committed the personnel and funding to make it happen.
• Major projects are planned for increased data backup capabilities, implementation of BudCast for financial planning and budgeting, enhanced online portals for KU students, faculty and staff, cost accounting and return on investment, aligning business process improvements with key performance indicators for deans, enhanced governance and feedback on projects.
• One major focus for the future will be enhancing Information Security at KU.

Overall, many improvements have been made to enhance IT at KU while much work still remains to be done.  Implementation of Bold Aspirations and Changing for Excellence promises to provide additional resources to complete the planned projects.

2. Monitor the University budget.  When current financial circumstances result in changes to annual spending plans, advise SenEx and suggest any actions the committee would deem helpful.  (ongoing)

University Governance Planning and Resources Committee

Report on Committee Meeting:                               October 16, 2012

                                                                                9:00 am to 10:00 am

                                                                                250 Strong Hall

Attending           Chair: Chris Gamblin, Molecular Biosciences

Susan Mercer, Institute for Policy & Social Research

Beth Ridenour, Comptroller Office

Deb Carter, Housing Office Administration

Mackenzie Oatman, Student

Chris Steadham, Law Library

Presenting          Diane Goddard, Vice Provost for Administration & Finance

                                Deb Teeter, University Director Institutional Research Planning

The following is a synopsis of our discussions concerning the University Budget:

KU is in the process of repositioning itself in response to current financial circumstances.

Current Financial Situation

We are currently receiving more income through tuition than through state appropriations.  State appropriations have seen a 4% cut over the years, which is in stark contrast to our peers that have seen anywhere from 20-40% cuts in state appropriations.  Because of this we have been able to avoid furloughs and eliminating programs.  However, the increase in expense of employee benefits such as health care and the rise in the cost of utilities make these small cuts seem larger.

We also have more control over our tuition and the University has a Tuition Advisory Committee that helps to determine tuition increases and recommends how the tuition should be used.  There has been a focus on using tuition increases for competitive faculty salaries, increased student services, increasing scholarships, enhancing honors programs and the first year experience for students.  There has been resistance to using tuition to backfill state funding shortcomings.

There has been a long period of very little growth in budgets combined with rising costs, but students and faculty want better facilities.

It is possible that with the new Kansas state tax plan going into effect January 2013 that there could be approximately 10% in budget reductions for the upcoming year due to expected drops in initial revenue from the new plan.  The current governor has stated that he does not want to cut funding for higher education, but there might not be a choice with lower tax revenues.

Bold Aspirations & Changing for Excellence positions the University in a very different way going forward.

Budgeting

Using the “All Funds” budgeting allows the Provost, Deans and Unit Heads to consider budget allocation, carry forward funds, unit-specific fees, endowment balances, grant dollars and F&A dollars to determine the next year’s budget.  This is taken into consideration along with faculty hiring, research, enrollment, 4 year graduation rate, retention rate, quality of students and student feedback to determine which units should receive the largest to smallest budget increases or cuts, allowing the University to help target programs and initiatives for growth.

The University is currently having discussion on how the budget will be appropriated for the next year taking into account the two scenarios of a flat budget and a possible 10% budget cut.

We are also facing challenges with setting tuition due to the 4 year budget compact.  The compact has been very successful, but requires a 5-7% budget increase every year to keep up with rising costs projected for the last years of the compact.  New membership in the Board of Regents is changing its overall tone with encouragement to raise tuition as little as possible.  It may be difficult to maintain the compact in its current form which will cause difficult decisions for the tuition advisory committee.

Overall enrollment is down, but new first year freshman enrollment is up.  There is room for improvement in retention, international student enrollment and transfer student enrollment.  The tuition advisory committee has to plan conservatively because any changes in resident/non-resident ratios or undergraduate/graduate ratios can have a significantly large impact on budgeting.

Changing for Excellence

The Facilities merger combined with the Voluntary Separation Incentive Program has generated real base savings that allowed for the restructuring without laying off any workers.  The savings will be leveraged toward achieving the five year goals of the University with Science facilities being a major area of focus for initial investment.

The success of this program gives reason to be hopeful that future reorganizations and changes in budgeting will result in added savings and flexibility for funding Bold Aspirations.

3. Provide committee representation at hearings held by the Provost and the Provost’s senior staff to review planning reports and budgetary submissions made by the various units.  Report issues and any recommendations to SenEx for consideration. (ongoing)

These meetings will take place from May-June 2013.  A report will be forthcoming.

4. Monitor changes in tuition plans and their effects on allocation of resources across the university. Report recommendations to SenEx for action. (ongoing)

University Governance Planning and Resources Committee

Report on Committee Meeting:                               February 5, 2013

                                                                                9:00 am to 10:00 am

                                                                                250 Strong Hall

Attending           Chris Gamblin, Molecular Biosciences, Chair
Chris Steadham, Libraries
Scott Smith, Music
Ron Ash, Business
Mackenzie Oatman, Undergraduate student
Susan Mercer, Institute for Policy & Social Research
Beth Ridenour, Comptroller’s office
Deb Carter, Housing Office Administration

Presenting:        Diane Goddard, Vice Provost for Administration & Finance

                                Deb Teeter, Director, Office of Institutional Research & Planning

                                Sara Rosen, Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs

                                Matt Melvin, Vice Provost for Enrollment Management

The Committee met with the Provost’s office to discuss tuition plans, student recruitment and student retention as it pertains to our standing charge: “Monitor changes in tuition plans and their effects on allocation of resources across the university”.  This is a summary of that discussion:

Tuition, student recruitment and student retention are a major topic of discussion at the University.  The Board of Regents has recommended that the Universities include faculty salary increases in the tuition proposals due to the Board Office in early May.  The fiscal challenges that face the University include shrinking federal grant dollars due to sequestration and reduced or flat funding from the state legislature.  State funding is becoming a smaller portion of the overall University revenue.  This necessitates increases in expenditures such as faculty compensation come from tuition increases.

Recommendations for tuition increases and how the revenue is to be spent come from the Tuition Advisory Committee.  One potential hurdle facing the committee is the tuition compact.  Because current students are locked in at tuition levels as part of the compact, any increases would be tied to incoming freshman and to those students who are not in a tuition compact and pay the base tuition rate.  The inability to spread tuition increases over all students limits the ability to have substantial increases in revenues without making KU tuition so high that it becomes unattractive in the marketplace.

Student recruitment is a major focus for the University.  The record class of 2008 is graduating and because enrollment numbers were lower from 2009-2011, overall enrollment numbers will also be lower for the near future.  The University is making great strides in recruiting and pipeline development.  The overall numbers and quality of students applying are increasing due to increased efforts in recruiting and providing incoming freshmen greater academic scholarship opportunities.  While these increases in quality and quantity are encouraging, KU needs to position itself in the marketplace to become more attractive to alternative sources of students such as distance learning and transfer students by creating more online classes, more accelerated courses and simplifying the transfer of credits from other institutions.

In addition to recruitment, student retention is vital to overall enrollment and therefore a major focus for the University.  The persistence rate of first year student going to term 2 needs to improve and the biggest indicator of successful progression is academic performance.  KU needs to focus on more strategic academic plans along with proven strategies for student success including learning communities, freshman seminars and supplemental instruction.  The goal is to grow enrollment by increasing retention.  In support of retaining students, the Office of First Year Experience has been created.  Among their initiatives are the following:

• Common Book Program that is being utilized by a large number of courses
• First year seminars on multi-disciplinary topics designed to enhance writing and critical thinking
• Learning communities to create cohorts of students in classes together

There are also efforts to identify large enrollment gateway courses with large Drop/Fail/Withdraw ratios that could benefit from course redesign to focus more on problems and discussion.  Another initiative is the creation of a warning system that would send notices to students and their advisor if negative indicators such as poor grades or attendance are detected that would encourage students to seek supplemental instruction.  It is also hoped that the implementation of the KU Core will help students engage with curriculum based on goals and learning outcomes.

In summary, great strides have been made in bringing in higher quality and larger classes.  It is now believed that we should focus on things we can do to help them succeed by defining initiatives that work to improve progression and retention.

Specific charge:

1.Continue to monitor changes in resource allocation based on strategic initiatives, especially “Change for Excellence” and “Bold Aspirations.”

Changes in resource allocation for “Change for Excellence” and “Bold Aspirations” are outlined in items #1-4 above.

2.Monitor the impact of VSIP (Voluntary Separation Incentive Program) in regard to financial savings and impact on units.

University Governance Planning and Resources Committee

Report on Committee Meeting:       December 11, 2012

                                                            10:00 am to 11:00 am

                                                            250 Strong Hall

Attending       Chair: Chris Gamblin, Molecular Biosciences

Ron Ash, Business

Jake Rapp, Graduate Student

Susan Mercer, Institute for Policy & Social Research

Deb Carter, Housing Office Administration

Steve Moore, Comptroller Office

Presenting      Ola Faucher, University Director of Human Resources

Diane Goddard, Vice Provost for Administration & Finance

Deb Teeter, University Director of Office of Institutional Research and Planning

The following is a synopsis of our discussions concerning the University Voluntary Separation Incentive Program for Retirement and other Human Resources topics:

In response to difficult and uncertain economic conditions, KU adopted the Voluntary Separation Incentive Program (VSIP) to allow eligible faculty and staff to separate from KU and receive a lump-sum payment equal to 100% of their annual base salary up to $100,000.  There were several overall goals of this program.  One was to facilitate the implementation of Changing for Excellence, which would require layoffs of Unclassified Professional Staff (UPS) and University Support Staff (USS) with the merger of Facilities Services with the Student Housing maintenance and custodial operations.  The VSIP would allow staff that so desired the opportunity to accept a separation package from KU and avoid potential layoffs.  A second goal was to provide an incentive for mature faculty with low productivity to retire, allowing those positions to be redeployed to help meet the goals of the KU strategic plan Bold Aspirations.

A similar plan was developed under former Provost Lariviere that focused only on an incentive program for faculty, but never came to fruition.  More recently the state of Kansas implemented a voluntary retirement program for state employees, but University of Kansas staff were not eligible. 

Of the 5,083 benefits-eligible KU staff, 653 were eligible for the VSIP program: 264 Faculty; 179 UPS/AC; and 210 USS. 

Of these 653 eligible participants, there were 149 applications for VSIP: 28 faculty; 35 UPS/AC; and 85 USS.

106 applications were approved and 97 were awarded (9 applicants declined after approval): 11 faculty; 20 UPS/AC; and 66 USS.

The target was to eliminate $5 million in salary through the program and the total for the program was $4,900,448 in salary/VSIP limit and $5,415,000 limit + fringe.

Once the VSIP was awarded, there were several options for their corresponding units with regard to the position:

1. Give up the position and funding without replacement
2. Leave the position vacant long enough to pay back the VSIP
3. Use other unit funds to pay back the VSIP

The goal is that once the VSIP is paid back and a strong justification is provided, the position can be redeployed strategically to meet the goals of Bold Aspirations.

Overall the program was very successful and met many of its goals.  For example, the VSIP allowed the merger of Facilities and Housing without layoffs and has had a fiscal impact of $1 million.

It is too early to tell what impact the VSIP is having on the efforts of the units involved, but that data should be available in the coming year.

Related to the VSIP, Changing for Excellence and Bold Aspirations, there are efforts underway to provide better salary structure, position descriptions and performance expectations for University Staff.  HR has recognized that UPS/AC and USS do not have sufficiently descriptive job titles tied to expectations for duties, making it difficult to ascertain appropriate salary ranges and review criteria for performance and promotion for these positions.  The lack of defined positions also makes it difficult to implement Performance Management programs, Learning Management programs and Staff Development programs.  An outside consultant will be brought in to perform market studies regionally and nationally to help develop more appropriate job titles and salary ranges for these positions.  The market study will build the foundation for the development of cascading performance goals from the university down to the individual worker tied to a competency based description of the job.  This will allow for more accurate performance reviews and allow University Staff to make succession plans for promotion based on learning and acquiring new skills.  Additionally, a learning management system that allows tracking of training and professional development will be deployed to facilitate the review and promotion process.