President's Report 4/12/24

April 12, 2024 / Lyndsay Rhodes

Board of Trustees, Board of Governors, and State Updates

The BOT met April 9th, 2024 for a full agenda.

The BOT will be implementing rotating reports from shared governance bodies – Staff Advisory Council, Student Government, and Faculty Senate. This will provide an additional avenue for us to showcase the amazing work of faculty at FGCU to our Board.

The Workforce Housing Committee presented a proposal to explore development of a 50-unit housing project to address the need for affordable housing for faculty and staff. This scaled-down proposal would be under full control of FGCU and would develop approximately 25% of the area adjacent to Westlake Village, and will allow a phased approach to this development project. The proposal was to create 2-story townhouse style villas to provide transitional housing for faculty and staff. The BOT approved moving forward with Invitations to Negotiate and determination of true cost for the proposed project.

A summary of our performance on the SUS metrics was presented my Provost Rieger and VP Cordova. Our current score is a 63. Since the score falls below the 70 point threshold, FGCU will be required to submit a Student Sucess Plan outlining existing and new interventions to make positive change to metrics (4, 5, 9a, 9b). The plan will be presented for BOT approval at the September 10th meeting, followed by submission to the Board of Governors at the September 19th meeting.

BOT Chair Wynn raised the intention of having more BOT workshops focused on deeper dives into key issues, beyond what the typical BOT meeting would allow. Among the topics suggested for these more intentional discussions was faculty salaries. The BOT was receptive to exploring a more in-depth discussion on the administrative side bargaining related to salary, and specifically how the Board can better understand faculty pay and the potential for increased pay. Additional topics included faculty and staff housing and performance-based funding metrics (reform and interventions). If you have suggestions for additional topics, please let me know.

COACHE Strategy-Setting Taskforce Report

The COACHE Strategy-Setting Taskforce has finalized their recommendations and will be sharing their report with the university early next week (look for an email from Andi soon). The taskforce will be meeting with President Timur and Provost Rieger to discuss the recommendations and next steps. The taskforce put forth 5 strategies with 18 specific objectives. We look forward to continuing to collaborate with stakeholders across campus to implement strategies to effect positive change. Additional information on COACHE can be found on the FGCU COACHE webpage.

NCHEMS

The National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS) will be reviewing our organizational structure to make recommendations on how to enhance our operational effectiveness. There will be multiple opportunities to engage with NCHEMS over the next 6 months (including a meeting specifically with Faculty Senate – date TBD). The first 3 opportunities will be through virtual meetings. I encourage you to attend sessions as you are available to provide feedback. For more information contact Dr. Eileen DeLuca at edeluca@fgcu.edu.

Monday, April 15 - Time: 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZArc-ChpzMtGtbeJS8NzyGvSJIinWIMo8KF

2. Tuesday, April 16 - Time: 11 a.m. to noon

Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcodu6tqjMvGNAuqy6C2lPyugEpMYym1WaA

3. Wednesday, April 17 - Time: 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0pdOGsrjgtEtX48jEC4hm9B-Zz2sSoHfz8

QEP Faculty Cohort: Summer 2024 Pilot

A Faculty Senate only Summer Cohort will serve as a pilot for the QEP faculty cohorts. Cohort members will develop a badge-ready assignment that helps students develop one or more transferable skills. Participants must attend 3 all-day workshops (July 8, 11,15) and complete homework to produce a final product. Participants will receive $1500 as a stipend or professional development funds (choice of participant). Applications are due May 3rd. For more information please contact Dr. Glenn Whitehouse (gwhiteho@fgcu.edu) or Patricia Rice (price@fgcu.edu). [insert link to document for website)

Summer Senate

Please remember to sign up for Summer Senate for those of you interested and available. Complete the survey as soon as possible (by Friday April 19th if at all possible). We currently only have 5 Senators signed up and we need a minimum of 12 to reach a quorum.