The faculty senate learned about future health insurance options for university employees at their meeting on Thursday.
Assistant Vice President for Human Resources Steve Wood announced that the fringe benefits committee had received 15 bids for next year?s insurance, 12 for self-insurance plans and three for fully-insured plans. ?While self-insurance looks good right now, it?s also kind of scary because it requires a three year commitment,? he said.
Wood said that while self-insurance might be a better option in the future, the decision for next year is to remain with the fully-insured plan provided by QualChoice. The proposed increase for the plan this year is 12.5 percent. The board of trustees approved the recommendation to stay with QualChoice in 2004 at their August board meeting.
Senate President Carl Frederickson said UCA President Lu Hardin is interested in receiving input from the faculty senate on the issue of health insurance for employees. Frederickson said the executive committee would discuss bringing a proposal for an ad hoc committee before the senate at its next meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 11.
Frederickson noted that President Hardin had mostly positive feedback from the fall break. The only negative feedback was that the break caused some lab classes to get behind an additional week. ?That?s something we may need to look at in the future,? he said.
Frederickson also presented senators with proposed K-12 curriculum changes. The faculty senate at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock made a resolution in support of the proposed changes and, according to Frederickson, is encouraging faculty senates at other colleges and universities in Arkansas to review the material. Frederickson said, ?If you don?t know why we should be concerned about the high school curriculum, go back to your classes this afternoon and you?ll see why.?
The senate elected a new secretary after Dave Harvey, chair of the Department of Writing and Speech, resigned from the senate for personal reasons. Senator Lorrie George, an assistant professor of occupational therapy, was nominated and unanimously approved by the senate to take over the position.
A draft of the new environmental health and safety policy was also passed out to all senators. The policy will create an environmental health and safety committee that will be in charge providing guidance and monitoring the effectiveness of the university in providing environmentally safe work and residential spaces for its employees, students and visitors.
Last Tuesday, the senate met and approved changes to the name and make-up of the Academic Computing Advisory Committee. The committee?s new name is the University Computing and Information Technology Committee. Members of the committee will include an appointee from the Provost?s Office, the registrar, an appointee from the Office of the President, one dean, one faculty member from each college, one faculty member from the Library, one technology faculty associate, the dean of undergraduate studies or appointed designee, and a graduate student and an undergraduate who will be appointed by the Student Government Association.
The senate approved the addition of the director of Torreyson Library or an appointed designee to serve as an ex officio, non-voting member, to the Undergraduate Council. The reason for the addition was because decisions made by the council affect services provided by Torreyson Library.
The senate also received a report from the academic affairs committee regarding a proposal to change the current grading system to a +/- system. The committee presented the senate with an in-depth report that described the feasibility of such a program and the experiences of other colleges and universities in using different variations of the +/- system.
The committee also recommended that the report be forwarded to the University Council to make a final decision. University Council is charged with making decisions on grading and credit policies.
Senator James Deitrick suggested that the faculty senate pass along a recommendation to the University Council. ?I think we should represent our fellow faculty and forward a recommendation on this issue,? he said.
Senate President Frederickson asked the senate to table the issue until the academic affairs committee could bring a recommendation before the senate. A recommendation is expected at the next senate meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 11.
-Jennifer Boyett
