Fellow Senators:
To continue with reports of meetings of March 3 & 4, 2005:
At 8 AM on Friday, March 4, representatives of the OUS Board and staff hosted a 2 hour light breakfast conversation with IFS Senators.  No notes were taken during the conversation, so this report is from memory.

Senators Maureen Sevigny and Robert Mercer were able to attend part of the breakfast, and Senator Bob Turner was present for the entire breakfast.  State Board members Kirby Dyess and Howard Sohn, SOU Provost Earl Miller, and OUS staff were present for the entire conversation, with Board Directors Tony Van Vliet, Gretchen Schuette, Tim Nesbitt and Henry Lorenzen, WOU Provost Jem Specter, WOU Provost John Miller and OUS Staff members David MacDonald and Susan Weeks joining the conversation at about 9:30, presumably at the close of the Finance/Budget/Audit/Personnel/Real Estate Committee’s report to the State Board.

 

Most of the conversation further explored IBM executive Mr. Rick Warren's presentation on diversity to the Presidents' and Provosts' Council on Thursday, March 3. There was much discussion of IBM’s successful conversion from a corporation of “white guys in ties” to an organization which actively promotes internal diversity by removing obstacles to diversity, examples of which are increased off-site work and provisions for effective child care. IBM’s outreach to diverse communities, notably to Beaverton/Hillsboro middle and high school students underrepresented in science and engineering, was reviewed and the sincerity of Mr. Warren’s interest in extending similar efforts beyond the Portland area and into the community colleges and universities was emphasized. There was restatement that such outreach would place less emphasis on providing funding and equipment than on furnishing human resources to develop systemic change to institutions that embrace diversity. Director Dyess was particularly interested in stressing IBM’s willingness to assist the institutionalization of efforts to improve the success of underrepresented students and to increase employee diversity.

There was also discussion of the implementation of OTM and its real effect on student movement within and through OUS; the consensus seemed to be to adopt a “wait and see” attitude toward the impact of OTM. Director Schuette, Provost John Miller and OUS staff member David MacDonald informally reported on current JBAC work to advance course outcomes as the gauge of student progress rather than completion of specific courses. Director Van Vliet, who has been on the OSU faculty, asked the unspoken question “what is to keep a faculty member from saying that a course taken at a particular institution is not good enough (to meet my standards)?” No realistic answer to that question was provided.

Shortly before the 10 AM start of the State Board meeting, the conversation moved into the halls as the participants made their way to the Board meeting room.

In contrast to the expectations of at least one IFS Senator (Turner), this meeting was extremely productive in terms of continuing to form the personal relationships that can be expected to promote effective communication of faculty with State Board Directors, OUS staff and provosts. It will be interesting to reflect in a year on the outcome of situations in which the faculty position is not in agreement with the OUS position.

Respectfully submitted, with apologies for lapses in memory, by Bob Turner.