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New Mexico State University URC Minutes - December 7, 2001

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Present: Stephen Horan, Dave Rocks, Jim Strickland, Ida Baca, Elizabeth Titus, Eve Adams, Aravamudan Gopalan, Chuck Kozel, William Quintana

Absent: Ken Hacker, William Ogden, Kurt Anderson, Shaun McQuitty, Rudi Schoenmackers, Becky Keele-Smith, Nirmala Khandan, Betsy Cahill, Roy Rodriguez, Rhonda Skaggs, Vicente Garcia, Miley Gonzalez, Karl Wood, Richard Adkisson

Guests: Neta Fernandez

1. Call to Order

The meeting was called to order by Chair, Dr. Jim Strickland.

2. Approval of Minutes - November 2, 2001

A motion was made and seconded to approve the minutes as presented.

3. Committee Reports - The deadline for subcomittee reports is February 20 with discussion to follow at the March meeting. URC will make final recommendations to CORC.

a. Overhead Recommendations Committee - Dr. Horan stated that the committee is looking at overhead distribution in various areas and will address faculty concerns.

b. Grant Process Committee - The committee is gathering information regarding CAS and how colleges handle the process which faculty members follow. It was suggested that this committee be used as a sounding board for ideas being proposed by the Disclosure Statement Committee.

c. Disclosure Statement Committee - Composed of Rick Scott, Ken Paap, Tina Byford, Neta Fernandez, Sam Encinias, Kevin Boberg, and Vince Gutschick.

4. CORC Report

Dr. Strickland reported that Norma Grijalva gave an interesting presentation on Internet2. Much of the discussion centered on whether the monies being spent on Internet2 might be spent on Internet1 to benefit a larger portion of campus involvement. Monthly Activity Reports were distributed. A memo from Dean Paap was discussed which stated that if there is a line item in a grant at UNM, administrative approval is given. A committee is being formed to review the disclosure statement.

5. Faculty Senate Report

Dr. Quintana reported that there is no legislation proposed for the Space Plan. After approval by URC, Dr. Quintana may be asked to take the final Overhead Recommendations and Grant Process reports to Faculty Senate.

6. Other Business or Announcements

a. Dean Titus discussed the library budget crisis of $450,000; the amount necessary to avoid cuts and maintain the current level of service, as long as inflation does not rise above 12 percent. A proposal was sent to Academic Deans Council showing data for dollar funding commitments from colleges in ranges of 5, 6, 7, 8, and 10 percent. Another possible strategy is to pursue commitments for a percentage of college research overhead. It was noted that PSL does not support library funding.

7. Guest

Neta Fernandez gave a presentation on Cost Accounting Standards (CAS) noting that training was started to help faculty understand CAS and speed up the approval process to set up accounts and to prevent audit findings. Audit findings are reported to the Board of Regents, the State Auditors, the Federal Clearinghouse which lists audit findings on their web site, and the agency involved. Consequences of audit findings usually result in fines. CAS was created by an act of Congress in the early 1990s. Some of the objectives of CAS are to tighten rules on what is allowable and promote greater standardization of costs on campus.

8. Future Guests:

a. Provost Flores - View on Research

b. Ben Woods - Technology Funding

9. The meeting adjourned at 4:40 p.m.

Minutes by Betty Lindsey