Huron Consultancy Public Schedule
A team of Huron consultants will work with academic leaders, students, faculty and staff of the NMSU Community College and Las Cruces campuses during two visits (May 15 – 17 and May 22 – 24). The purpose of the visits is to extend the prior work of the President’s System-Wide Online Committee. The Online Committee Report will be available at the President’s website in the near future.
During the visits, the Huron Team will begin to analyze our program and course offerings by campus to identify key programmatic strengths and requirements. The Huron Team will also review Distance Learning infrastructure to evaluate NMSU’s technology capacity in supporting multi-campus delivery. After the visits, the Huron Team will provide observations and recommendations about change readiness related to a more strategic and integrated approach to distance education delivery among our campuses.
We invite faculty, staff, and students to join us in the open discussions. View the public schedule.
Tim Fournier and Rose Martinelli will lead the Huron team. More information about Huron Consulting is available at: http://www.huronconsultinggroup.com/
NMSU Library Update – March 2012
In April, 2011 the NMSU Library was given the opportunity to participate in an external review by a three-member team of Library Deans from other universities. The purpose of the site visit was to support the Library in meeting present challenges and pursuing strategic directions for the next several years. The Library is responding to various recommendations not only from the Library External Review, but also feedback from its various constituencies.
Steps already taken to address the findings include:
Understanding user needs: The Library participated in the 2011 LibQUAL+ Triads Pilot Survey, a nationally administered electronic survey of its constituency to assess library service quality and identification of best practices. An analysis of feedback from this survey is in progress.
Service: With user input, the Library is redesigning its online catalog to make it more “user friendly.” Feedback from focus groups is being assessed. Library staff members continually strive to provide the best services possible and to assist individuals in that effort, the library administration is creating an internal staff development program to provide ongoing in-house training opportunities for all library staff. A staff workgroup is being established to contribute to the planning and design of the program called Library U.
Collection management: The Library is assessing the role of legacy print collections in today’s environment of electronic/digital information. The Library will be initiating a data-driven monographs de-selection project in FY 13. We are also initiating meetings with UNM Library on cooperative collection management partnerships.
Collection space: The Library continues a major shift of collections to address structural issues in Branson Library and overloaded floors in both libraries. It is working with other NMSU offices to identify short and long-term options for critical collection space needs.
Public spaces: NMSU Library is working with Auxiliary Services and Sodexo on providing a café in Zuhl Library. Discussions are in progress.
Vision for the future: The Library has developed strategic targets for 2011-2012, available at http://lib.nmsu.edu/depts/admin/strategic.shtml which include activities in response to the external review report. The Library will also address additional points raised in the external review as part of its next three-year planning retreat scheduled on March 30, 2012 that will include input from all stakeholder groups and all library staff. The external review team stated that the Library is well positioned to consider its vision for the future. The Library continues to pursue strategies to meet the changing needs of students and faculty in these times of reduced resources and continuous change.
For more information, contact the NMSU Library Dean’s office at (575) 646-1508.
Faculty presentations to the Board of Regents
Bruce Berman – December 2011
David Taylor – December 2011
Hugo Vilchis – December 2011
Kenneth Martin – March 2012
New websites for Academic Personnel
With a new semester quickly approaching, the office of Human Resource Services in collaboration with the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost has released a new website for faculty. The Academic Personnel site has been designed as a single location dedicated to providing information to assist faculty with various human resource related processes. The site contains information on the following: Compensation, Conflicts of Interest, Digital Measures, Diversity, Emeritus Status, Faculty Recruitment, Grievance & Appeal Process, Non-Tenured Faculty Appointments, Postdoctoral Appointment, Promotion & Tenure, Research Faculty, Retirement for Faculty, and Sabbatical & Other Leaves. The direct link for this site is http://hr.nmsu.edu/academicpersonnel/
As you know, recruiting and retaining highly qualified diverse faculty is very important to the institution. As part of this effort, the Search Committee Handbook (formerly made available in a portable document format) has been overhauled and converted into a dynamic website. The Faculty Recruitment link on the Academic Personnel site will take you to the Search Advisory Committee Guidelines (http://hr.nmsu.edu/search-committee/). The new site presents the content in six sections: Introduction to the Search Process, Search Process, Roles in the Search Process, After the Search Process, Diversity Resources, and Appendices.
We hope you will find both sites, accessible from the Executive Vice President and Provost’s website and the Human Resource Services website, informative and helpful. Please feel free to contact the Human Resource Services office if you have information or documentation to suggest for either site.
You may also contact Human Resource Services at hrs@nmsu.edu if you have any general questions regarding this announcement.
Textbook Process
October 25, 2011
TO: NMSU Faculty
FROM: Wendy K. Wilkins
Good progress is being made in fine-tuning the textbook process, and I wanted to take a few minutes to give each of you an update on steps that have been taken. This also is a good opportunity for a reminder that department heads and deans have the primary responsibility for getting all the textbook information to the bookstore in a timely fashion.
We continue to watch for ways to keep the cost of textbooks at a minimum for our students. The textbook cost issue was one of several identified in the Efficiency and Effectiveness report to the President (see http://business.nmsu.edu/~eec/documents/december-2010-report-to-president-couture-pdf.pdf). In the discussion of how we can reduce costs for our students, we have learned a key step is to simply give students as many options as possible. Thus, we reached out to our Barnes & Noble colleagues and asked them to make as many options available as they could within their store.
In addition, they have developed an electronic process to publish the ISBN for each of those textbooks that our faculty adopt so students can have the information they need to make their buying decisions. Barnes & Noble develops options for rental, ebook, new or used books for all textbook adoptions. Some adoptions actually have all four options available to students. With the ISBN information in our NMSU Banner system through Barnes & Noble’s adoption interface, students can also easily purchase through the local stores or through online options.
We also have made progress on increasing the bookstore’s ability to secure older editions of textbooks for the upcoming semester. Their objective is to work closely with faculty when there are older edition requests. Please let them know whether you would like both new and older editions to be available for students, and the bookstore will bring in as many of the old editions as possible and substitute new editions for the remaining quantities. Barnes & Noble’s sources include NMSU students (through “Textbook Buyback”); the publisher, if they are still printing or stocking; another Barnes & Noble college store if applicable; and Barnes & Noble’s book wholesalers. Barnes & Noble does not source books from Amazon, eBay or any other online marketplace as the integrity/reliability is not guaranteed.
These steps will help NMSU comply with the federal Higher Education Opportunity Act, which includes provisions to lower textbook costs for university students. We appreciate both our faculty members and our colleagues at Barnes & Noble for helping us achieve this goal.
The bookstore also has recently implemented a verification process that will help ensure book orders are properly received and that books are promptly ordered. As a secondary form of follow-up, they will send out a “classes without books” report to the departments on a regular basis during the adoption timeframe for all faculty to review for their respective courses. This will help identify “lost” book orders. As a third option, faculty can check their website, www.nmsubookstore.com to ensure the book information has been received.
As we continue to look for ways to streamline our process, please do not hesitate to contact Barnes & Noble manager Joanna Koliba at jkoliba@nmsu.edu with comments, concerns or suggestions.
cc: Deans
Tammy Anthony
Joanna Koliba
Faculty Salary Enhancement Programs
Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost
MSC 3445
New Mexico State University
P.O. Box 30001
Las Cruces, NM 88003-8001
575-646-2127, fax: 575-646-6334
provost@nmsu.edu
October 20, 2011
TO: NMSU Las Cruces Faculty
FROM: Wendy K. Wilkins, Executive Vice President and Provost
We are very pleased to inform you of our two new faculty salary enhancement programs.
The first program recognizes tenure and tenure track faculty who are demonstrably meritorious and are also demonstrably below market salary for rank and discipline. There is a total of $100,000 available for this purpose. Funds will be allocated to the colleges proportionally, based on the total market salaries of tenure system faculty within the college. In order to be eligible for consideration, faculty members must be both meritorious and below market salary as well as supported at least partially from permanent I&G funding or state appropriated funds for Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service faculty.
Each dean will submit a proposal for allocations to the EVPP for final approval. The proposal must indicate not only the reasons particular faculty members were recommended, but also the process used to determine the recommendations. All recommendations are due to the Office of the EVPP by December 1, 2011. Salary adjustments will be effective January 1, 2012.
The second is a professorship program designed for full professors (tenured or college track) who have been in rank for at least seven years, and who are at least partially supported from permanent I&G funds or state appropriated funds for AES and CES faculty. Following the Board of Regents’ approval of a pool for Faculty Investment, the President allocated $400,000 for this program and an additional $100,000 was allocated from the central faculty pool, for a total of $500,000.
Each faculty member who is nominated or volunteers to be considered for this program will be reviewed based on accomplishments at the rank of professor. Successful faculty will receive a base salary adjustment of $10,000 and the designation of Distinguished Achievement Professor. At least $100,000 per year will be allocated to this program, so that Distinguished Achievement Professorships may be available annually.
Deans, together with department heads and representatives of the faculty within each college, will be responsible for developing a plan for the review of eligible individuals. The process must include an internal review at department and college levels (similar to that which is done for promotion) that includes peer input, and which also includes letters from external reviewers. The review process must be developed and approved by the EVPP prior to any formal invitation to professors to participate. The 50 professorships available this year will be allocated to the colleges proportionally, based on the number of eligible full professors.
Each dean will be responsible for recommending candidates for the Distinguished Achievement Professorship to the EVPP for final review and approval. All recommendations will be due to the Office of the EVPP by May 1, 2012. Salary adjustments will be effective with the new contract period.
cc: Barbara Couture
Angela Throneberry
Helping faculty through transitions
A pair of articles in the July 24 Chronicle of Higher Education highlighted how the needs of faculty change as their academic career progress.
“Associate Professors: Academe’s Sandwich Generation,” describes the demands on associate professors. Assistant professors are often spared from administrative duties to allow them time to earn tenure; senior faculty usually have well-established roles, both academically and administratively. As a result, newly tenured associate professors are often called on to shoulder a large portion of work such as reviewing graduate applications and serving on university committees.
As a result, associate professors report being overwhelmed by requests for their time. These issues are also of concern at NMSU, and NMSU’s Teaching Academy has workshops specifically targeted at associate professors.
“Senior Professors: Not When to Retire but How” describes efforts at Washington and Lee and the University of Maryland to create a dialogue between senior faculty and administration about retirement. Faculty need a wide range of information, from spousal benefits to how to professors can continue their contribution to their departments as they ease into retirement. But according to the Chronicle, “helping senior professors get comfortable with the idea of retiring means that administrators must often walk a fine line. Indeed, fears of being accused of age discrimination have helped to keep the very information that senior faculty members most need about retirement out of their hands.”
NMSU Library subscribes to The Chronicle, and the article will be available after September 1, 2011 at the NMSU Library website.
Policy Changes for International Travel
Recent changes to NMSU’s policy on international travel (Policy 2.69.1) will allow NMSU to better assist faculty, staff, and students respond quickly to changing conditions abroad and will better inform and prepare travelers prior to their trip.
The new policy requires that all faculty, staff, and students traveling on NMSU business to a foreign country have prior approval from their supervisor or travel sponsor and from the Dean of International and Border Programs. No reimbursements for international travel will be issued without this form, which should be completed 20 days prior to travel.
Travel to countries for which the U.S. Department of State has issued a travel warning is a special concern. Travel by faculty and staff is permitted, but travelers must sign a waiver indicating they are aware of the U.S. Department of State Travel Warning. Travel for students to such areas will not be permitted. Mexico is currently under a Travel Warning from the State Department.
Travel Warnings are issued by the State Department when “long-term, protracted conditions that make a country dangerous or unstable…. A Travel Warning is also issued when the U.S. Government’s ability to assist American citizens is constrained due to the closure of an embassy or consulate or because of a drawdown of its staff.”
The Office of International and Border Programs also recommends that international travelers visit the Campus Health Center prior to departure. The Health Center tracks items such as vaccinations that are recommended for travel throughout the world.
For questions or feedback, please contact Kristian Chervenock (646-4736 or ktcherve@nmsu.edu) or Cindy Garrett (646-7041 or clgarret@nmsu.edu).
Campus Health Center
May 26, 2011
To: Colleague Faculty and Staff Members
From: Wendy K. Wilkins, Executive Vice President and Provost
It has been brought to my attention that there are concerns regarding the Campus Health Center. As I understand the current issue, there is a perception among members of the campus community that pediatric care has changed with the recent merger of the health services.
Upon investigation, I have learned that in 2009 there was conversation among the NMSU medical professionals about whether there was campus-based capacity to fully provide pediatric care. The conclusion was that NMSU staff did not have active credentialing as pediatric specialists to care for children below the age of 5, and therefore the policy was updated in October of 2009. Records and minutes would seem to indicate that merger conversations with Faculty Senate (12/09) and Employee Council (11/09) took place later than the decision by medical staff that resulted in the 2009 policy update.
It continues to be the opinion of our medical staff that children of preschool age are best served under the medical management of pediatricians because of immunization schedules and the development of each child’s medical history record. Since neither the Employee Health nor Student Health facilities were equipped, staffed, or had medical inventories (medications, supplies, etc.) for the treatment of young children, they felt it to be in everyone’s best interest to limit this part of the service. This has not changed with the merger.
Nevertheless, as medical providers, staff at the Campus Health Center deal with each individual on a case by case basis, keeping the immediate needs of the patient at the forefront of the decision making process. While they believe this is the best approach for each individual patient, it can certainly lead to confusion about what the policy is in regard to pediatric care.
The Campus Health Center had 20,372 visits between July 1, 2010 and May 23, 2011. Here is a breakdown of these visits:
- Pediatric <5 years of age 14 (.06%)
- Pediatric 5-17 years of age 177 (.9%)
- Adults 18-89 years of age 20,181 (99%)
It has become clear to me that administration at all levels must work on communicating important policies, and the reasoning upon which they are based. However, please understand that there was no policy change concerning pediatric care as a result of the merger. As we move forward, our medical leadership will continue to monitor this to be sure we are providing the best care possible within our available resources. For current Campus Health Center information, please see http://wellness.nmsu.edu/chc/.
Thank you for taking the time to read this note and, as always, thank you for your dedication to NMSU and the well being of our community.
