SC.01.12

University of Illinois, Board of Trustees Meeting, January 17-18, 2001

Overview:

The meeting began with lunch on January 17th and ended at 12:30 on January 18th. There was also a lengthy "executive session" on January 17th. The most important part of the meeting was a presentation and discussion of the "tuition plan" for the University and the unexpected vote to adopt this plan in January as opposed the original plan to vote on the proposal in March. The "Annual Meeting" of the Board of Trustees was also part of this meeting. The meeting also included a report of the Committee on the University Hospital and Clinic and a report of the Committee on Finance and Audit.

Committee on the University Hospital and Clinic (January 17th)

Charles Onufer, Director, of the Division of Division of Specialized Care for Children (DSCC), UIC, presented an interesting overview of DSCC. DSCC coordinates the care of children with impairments associated with physical disabilities in the thirteen regional offices throughout Illinois. DSCC provides care for these children from a family-centered, community-based, and culturally competent perspective. More information: http://www.uic.edu/hsc/dscc/.

Charles Rice, VC for Health Affairs, UIC, described a new direction for the College of Pharmacy (COP). The COP is planning to outsource the ambulatory provider for pharmaceuticals. Because of the shortage of clinical pharmacists in Illinois, COP is planning to enhance the clinical experience of students by partnering with a retail pharmacy. If the partnering works as planned, this project may lead to the construction of a new pharmacy building that will provide laboratory and training space for students.

The list of 81 new medical staff appointments was presented.

Meeting of the Board of Trustees (January 17th)

Thomas S. Ulen, Chair of the UIUC Chancellor's Search Committee, gave an update to the Board. The :"soft deadline" to apply was January 15th. Professor Ulen reported that the search committee had met five times since the last time he gave a report to the Board. He also reported that he was quite encouraged by the level of interest in this position. Candidates will be interviewed from the last week of February through the first week of March. It is anticipated that a list of four to six finalists will be given to President Stukel in mid-March. The position notice, an accompanying brochure, and a list of places the position has been advertised is on the UIUC website: http://www.uiuc.edu/candidates/index.asp. The Korn Ferry search firm has been hired to assist with the search.

Richard Mendola gave a brief summary of progress on the ERP /UI Integrate. The expressed confidence that the project was on schedule. The human resources module, the first application, should be operational by December of 2001, with the other applications implemented over the next four years.

Executive Session (January 17th)

Annual Meeting and Election of Officers (January 18th)

Robert B.. Vickrey was sworn in as a new trustee and formally welcomed to the Board.

The Board of Trustees elects its officers, annually, at its January meeting. Gerald Shea was elected Chair of the Board of Trustees for a one year term. The executive committee was also elected, and it consists of Gerald Shea, Thomas Lamont, and Kenneth Schmidt. The Board of Trustees Secretary (Michele Thompson), the University Comptroller (Craig Bazzani), Legal Counsel (Thomas Barrows), and Treasurer (Lester McKeever) were reappointed for one year terms.

Chairs and Vice-Chairs of Standing Committees of the Board were also announced:

· Academic Affairs: Kenneth Schmidt, Chair; Erin Glezen and Arun Reddy, Vice Chairs
· Athletics: William Engelbrecht, Chair; Roger Plummer, Vice-Chair
· Buildings and Grounds: Thomas Lamont, Chair; Martha O'Malley, Vice-Chair
· Finance and Audit: Jeffrey Gindorf, Chair; Thomas Lamont, Vice-Chair
· Human Resources: Robert Vickrey, Chair; Susan Gravenhorst, Vice-Chair
· Student Affairs: Susan Gravenhorst, Chair; Neil Calderon, Vice-Chair
· Trusteeship: Martha O'Malley, Chair; William Engelbrecht, Vice-Chair
· University Hospitals and Clinics: Roger Plummer, Chair; Robert Vickrey, Vice-Chair

Committee of the Whole (January 18th)

Chet Gardner presented a rationale for the proposed increase in student tuition and student fees. He presented data comparing state funding today with data from the last 20 years, and data from the University of Illinois with peer institutions. For example, the percentage of the state contribution to the University budget declined from 49.1% in 1980 to 31.5% in 2000. Tuition will be increased $500 for students beginning in 2001 and $1000 for students beginning in 2002 for students at UIUC and UIC. There is also a 3%-5% tuition increase for all students next year. State support of students in Illinois schools through the Illinois Student Assistance Commission was discussed.

Acting Provost Toby Tate, UIC, outlined how the additional dollars would be used to improved quality in teaching and national rankings at UIC: decrease class size, increase quality of faculty, increase electronic access to the library. Provost Penn at UIS said that most of the increase in tuition would be used for the capitals scholars program and a new MBA program in Peoria. Provost Herman at UIUC said that the primary goal was to increase the quality of the institution. Specific programs include the freshman discovery, living and learning, undergraduate research, study abroad, and the capstone experience. All the provosts stressed how they were consulting students, faculty, and administrators to work out the details of each campus' programs and the programs they outlined were still in drafts.

At the end of this discussion, Trustee Schmidt moved to vote for the tuition increase, as all data had been presented and that we all know that this needs to be done. Except for two student trustees, all Board members voted for the increase in tuition. Student Trustee Reddy (UIC) voted for the tuition increase and both Student Trustees Calderon (UIS) and Glezen (UIUC) voted against it. When questioned about their negative vote, both student members explained that their vote was related to process issues(they wanted more time for consultation on their campuses) and not the substance of the proposal. President Stukel committed the campuses to further consultation.

Committee on Finance and Audit (January 18th)

Tony Provenzano (Associate Vice President) reported that the "financial scorecard" for the university was solid. His data included information comparisons with national rankings. The Cash Management and Investment report also showed a positive outlook. Vice President Bazzani pointed out that the impact of the increase in the cost of utilities is not yet known.

Meeting of the Board of Trustees (January 18th)

Chancellor Lynn described the Illinois Channel (similar to C-SPAN) for Illinois will be run out of UIS with initial start-up funding from a $500,000 grant.

President Stukel announced several achievements of the University of Illinois. Rudyard Sadleir, UIC, was awarded the Rhodes Scholarship for study at University of Oxford. A $9.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health establishes the UIC Chicago Medical Center as a designated General Clinical Research Center, one of only three in the state and 77 in the country. At UIUC microbiologist Carl R. Woese was named winner of the National Medal of Science. UIUC faculty have received more Medals than any other CIC school. At UIS Annette Van Dyke was elected president of the National Women's Studies Association.

The lawsuit brought against the Board of Trustees for alleged violation of the Open Meetings Act by the Champaign News Gazette was dismissed.

Submitted by
Robert F. Rich
UIUC Senate Observer