Thursday, February 7, 2002

Where do we go from here?

UPC discussed suggestions on how to get the remaining work done within the time allowed.

“What will the final draft contain?” The original agenda for planning was ambitious; hence some adjustments will have to be made. UPC will be expected to respond to resource issues, but cannot provide the exact costs. Administrative costs are a university-wide area of confusion, for example how dean salaries come from and return to the state. Perhaps an outline of what costs go and come, and where and how, should be provided with the final recommendations. UPC members will suggest items for such an FAQ list.

The final report must contain:

• Flesh out the “next level”
• Principles of prioritization
• Academic areas needing enhancement
• Programs requiring additional positions, and those to reduce over time
• Infrastructure needs
• Reorganization plans--related to principles
• Recommendations for ongoing strategic planning, including performance indicators

The final report will also contain general topical recommendations in areas such as technology and support staff.

Once the Strategic Plan is announced by President Lilley, it will need to be realized. For this purpose, performance indicators to assess our progress along the path we have set for ourselves are needed.

Facilities, continued:

There were numerous discussions of renovation and mechanical problems, including the observation that in-house renovation seems to be more expensive than what could be contracted externally. Is this another possible area for examining out-sourcing as an option? What kind of staff do we need to maintain on an aging campus?

Storage space is a perennial problem. but should be a piece of a larger picture. This should be a suggestion for the physical master plan: Keep only a minimum amount of storage space on the central campus. One way to reduce amounts of storage is to charge for it; otherwise everything gets kept For this purpose we need to triage the Sage Building this summer.

Records management is another area of concern. No one but the Controller needs to keep documents yet many duplicate files exist.

In order to address the problems of uneven classroom utilization, which is linked as well to parking, we should support additional experiments in scheduling similar to those in COBA.

If no new buildings are coming, we must better use our space. Taking over scheduling is a very complex issue. Perhaps we should wait for student data warehouse information to be implemented.

University Inn: convert to offices or student residences? University Inn hosts Judicial College attendees and guests of the university, which is about 40% of their business. We do need a conference site, which might be the former Ramada Inn downtown. Should we compete with private industry? Normally not, yet there is a need for conference space on campus.

Library

Technologically, our libraries have been ahead of the curve, but we are about to fall behind. Currently some of the Library budget is being directed for instructional support.

The general library funds the medical school library for the necessary amount beyond UNSOM’s library budget to the level of $800-900,000/annually. We can make some savings with consolidation of libraries. Is this an efficiency UPC can endorse?

Perhaps ICR funds should be realigned to direct support toward libraries that researchers depend on. UNSOM should have a line item for their library. How about a charge-back system?

Recommendations on libraries:

• Sustain quality
• Either merge the general and medical school libraries or require the latter to contribute a fair share
• Search for additional sources of library funds, including ICR