Approved
NORTHERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Minutes of the Formal Session
of
A formal session of the Board of Trustees of Northern Michigan University was held on Friday, September 26, 2014 in the University Center of Northern Michigan University, Marquette, Michigan. The meeting was convened at 9:01 a.m. in the Ontario Room by Chair Richard M. Popp.
Trustees present included:
Mr. Richard M. Popp, Chair Mr. Steven M. Mitchell Dr. Thomas H. Zurbuchen
Mr. Stephen F. Adamini Dr. H. Sook Wilkinson Dr. Fritz J. Erickson, ex officio
Mr. Scott L. Holman Mr. Gilbert L. Ziegler
Trustees absent included:
Dr. L. Garnet Lewis
Senior staff and counsel present included:
Dr. Paul L. Lang, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Mr. R. Gavin Leach, Vice President for Finance and Administration and Treasurer of the Board
Ms. Martha B. Haynes, Vice President for Advancement
Dr. Steven R. Neiheisel, Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Services
Ms. Cathy A. Niemi, Administrative Assistant and Acting Secretary of the Board
Mr. Kurt McCamman, Legal Counsel
Dr. Rebecca Mead, President of the American Association of University Professors, addressed the Board. She stated that she is here to continue the process her predecessor, Ron Sundell, began of establishing and expanding the contacts between the faculty and the Board of Trustees. NMU faces many challenges; sometimes it’s easy for people to think of challenges as problems, to feel discouraged and daunted, and a little fearful about change. She likes to think of challenges as opportunities for innovative thinking, creative collaborations, and developing and implementing new initiatives and ideas. She is here to offer her support to President Erickson and is looking forward to working with him and the Board of Trustees as we move into the future. She would like to remind everyone that we have many experienced and skilled faculty who are involved in a variety of exciting research projects, things that have important scholarly implications, but also many practical applications on a local, regional, and national level. She would like to encourage everyone to visit the faculty in the classrooms, the labs, the facilities, to get to know them a little more and find out what they are doing. She hopes to find ways to work together in a cooperative manner to deal with these opportunities and find constructive solutions.
MOMENT OF SILECE IN MEMORY OF NMU STUDENT
Dr. Neiheisel read a memorial for Ms. Samantha Bonovich, a freshman who died in a car accident on August 1, 2014. The Board of Trustees observed a moment of silence in her memory.
FOCUS DISCUSSION:
Mr. Forrest Karr, Special Assistant to the President / Athletic Director, presented the Board with a report on Athletics focused on intercollegiate athletics, including department review and reporting, overall academic standings, average credit hours per semester, competitive success, strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats (SWOT analysis), organizational chart, current intercollegiate sports, potential opportunities for sports sponsorships, proposed new sports, gender equity, financial analysis, and financial summary of proposed new programs. (Addendum #1) Staff responded to questions and comments from Trustees.
The following action was taken at this time.
It was moved by Trustee Holman and seconded by Trustee Zurbuchen to add women’s golf and men’s swimming and diving for fall 2015.
Discussion followed. Mr. Ziegler asked about women’s lacrosse and men’s soccer. Mr. Popp said that wasn’t part of this motion but the idea would be the following season. President Erickson said if the Board decided to make that motion, the administration would move forward on the additional sports as well. Dr. Zurbuchen said that he would be supportive of a motion to advance all four at the fastest speed possible for the Athletic Department without putting an overload of duties on the staff. He further stated that the case makes sense financially, if it’s moving faster that helps us all, if it cannot move faster, the Athletic Department should pace itself to achieve whatever is possible.
It was moved by Trustee Adamini and seconded by Trustee Mitchell to amend the motion to allow the administration to move forward with women’s golf and men’s swimming and diving for fall 2015, and implementing men’s soccer and women’s lacrosse as soon as the administration can achieve it.
Discussion on the amendment followed.
Dr. Wilkinson asked if from an administrative point of view if this would be too much of an overload to focus on all four sports. President Erickson said that the efforts right away would be for women’s golf and men’s swimming and diving. There is an advantage to making a commitment for women’s lacrosse and men’s soccer having the extra lead time. The administration will work through this as judicially and expeditiously as possible.
Mr. Karr said that what is different with men’s soccer and women’s lacrosse is since they are conference sports that the conference schedules, the schedules are already made for a year out, which is why we would target fall 2016 for these two sports. With women’s golf and men’s swimming and diving, you create your own schedule and partner with different teams, which is why it’s possible to implement by fall 2015. Students will start coming to NMU to participate in our club teams in anticipation of NMU converting those into varsity intercollegiate programs. We would also have to hire a head coach for men’s soccer and women’s lacrosse – we need time to put that out there. We’ll look at a timeline that makes sense. Women’s golf and men’s swimming and diving are easier to implement by fall 2015. Our model builds a slight increase in salary for the head coaches we already have.
After discussion, the following action was taken:
The amendment was unanimously approved.
The amended motion was unanimously approved.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Executive
Mr. Popp, Acting Chair of the Executive Committee, reported on the meeting held on Thursday, September 25, 2014. A copy of the report is appended to these minutes. (Addendum #2)
Academic Affairs
Dr. Zurbuchen, Chair of the Academic Affairs Committee, reported on a meeting held Thursday, September 25, 2014. A copy of the report is appended to these minutes. (Addendum #3)
Finance
Mr. Ziegler, Chair of the Finance Committee, reported on a meeting held on Wednesday, September 3, 2014 and Thursday, September 25, 2014. A copy of the reports is appended to these minutes (Addendums #4 and #5).
Ad Hoc Nominating
Dr. Zurbuchen reported on the Ad hoc Nominating Committee meeting held on Thursday, September 25, 2014. A copy of the report is appended to these minutes (Addendum #6). Following the recommendation of the Committee, and there being no nominations from the floor, the election of officers was held:
It was moved by Trustee Holman, seconded by Trustee Zurbuchen, and supported unanimously by the Board, to elect Trustee Popp as Chair and Trustee Wilkinson as Vice Chair of the NMU Board of Trustees for calendar year 2015.
Mr. Popp thanked the Board and said he appreciates their confidence. He further stated that it has been an honor to fulfill this role.
Dr. Wilkinson said that Mr. Popp has done a great job as the Chair and she is happy to be assisting him again as Vice Chair.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES 2015 MEETING CALENDAR
The Board reviewed the proposed dates that were listed on the 2015 meeting calendar, which is part of the formal recommendations. Discussion was held regarding the February and July meeting dates.
After discussion, the following action was taken:
It was moved by Trustee Wilkinson, seconded by Trustee Zurbuchen, and supported unanimously by the Board, to approve the 2015 Proposed Board of Trustees 2015 meeting schedule as posted with the February meeting dates changed to Monday – Tuesday, February 9 – 10, 2015. (Addendum #6)
RECONVENE – Chair Popp reconvened the meeting at 10:37 a.m.
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
President Erickson said that it has already been a busy and productive semester and reported on the following:
· He met with a large number of legislators and their staff. His impression is clear that Northern is well respected by the policy makers.
· He thanked Mr. Popp and Dr. Zurbuchen for introducing him to many alums and supporters of the University. He appreciates the great connections he was able to make with area superintendents and looks forward to continued discussions regarding dual enrollment with them and other superintendents.
· The official opening of Invent@NMU is scheduled for the morning of Thursday, October 16.
· The United Conference, Uniting Neighbors in the Experience of Diversity, is scheduled for Sunday, September 28 through Wednesday, October 1. He said increasing NMU’s diversity is a key goal for him. He has been speaking with City Manager Bill Vajda about opportunities for the City and NMU to combine diversity efforts. He is looking forward to a member of the city council joining NMU’s diversity committee.
· NMU’s School of Nursing held its first White Coat Ceremony. NMU was one of only 100 schools out of thousands in the nation selected by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing to receive a grant for that ceremony. It is a very competitive process with only one other recipient in Michigan receiving that award, which was the University of Michigan.
· NMU’s Nursing Doctoral Program is now underway and is proceeding very well. President Erickson thanked Nanci Gasiewicz, Director of the School of Nursing, on recently completing the rigorous AACN Board and Executive Leadership Program.
· NMU celebrated a generous gift of $250,000 from Cliffs Natural Resources to advance the Clinical Sciences Program. The gift will go towards the program’s molecular diagnostics initiatives, including expanding the scope of the Clinical Lab Sciences Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory in West Science. A lot of the funding will go to facilitate student training, test development, research, scholarships, and helping students with costs associated with training at clinical agencies such as the Mayo Clinic.
· He thanked the Board for their support of the athletics expansion, as well as the support of athletics in general.
· He thanked Dr. Neiheisel and his Enrollment Management Committee for their work in developing a number of exciting recruitment and retention initiatives.
· TOPS and AFSCME employee groups have each ratified a contract. Negotiations went very well and he thanked the NMU staff members involved in that process.
· Two important position searches are moving forward – the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs and the new Vice President for Extended Learning. The Chairs are in place and the committees have been announced.
· His perception is that things are going very well on campus. People in the community are really committed to the well-being and education of our students.
· President Erickson thanked the Board for their attendance at the 1899 Ceremony and the Jamrich Building dedication on Thursday evening.
Mr. Adamini said that item F(3) in the Formals is the proposed approval of the 2015 Board of Trustees meeting dates as it existed prior to the earlier actions of amending that schedule.
It was moved by Trustee Adamini, seconded by Trustee Mitchell, and supported unanimously by the Board, to remove Item F(3) from the Formals.
It was moved by Trustee Mitchell, seconded by Trustee Wilkinson, and supported unanimously by the full Board, to approve the Formal Recommendations as amended. (Addendum #7)
SPECIAL ACTION ITEMS
It was moved by Trustee Mitchell, seconded by Trustee Zurbuchen, and supported unanimously by the full Board, that the negotiated agreement between Northern Michigan University and the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (Technical, Office, and Professional), Local 1950, covering the period from July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2017, be approved. A copy of the agreement is on file with the Secretary of the Board of Trustees.
It was moved by Trustee Wilkinson, seconded by Trustee Zurbuchen, and supported unanimously by the full Board, that the negotiated agreement between Northern Michigan University and Council No. 25 of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employee’s Union (AFL-CIO) (AFSCME), Local 1094, covering the period from October 1, 2014 through September 30, 2017, be approved. A copy of the agreement is on file with the Secretary of the Board of Trustees.
Mr. Popp said this was great work by both sides of the negotiating table.
ASNMU REPORT
Ms. Klawes, President of the Associated Students of Northern Michigan University, reported the following:
· A number of programs have already debuted. One was the Student Organization Leadership Retreat which brought together the 40 most involved student organizations. Many students on campus have indicated that cohesion and unity was needed. Many groups are now starting partnerships and creating programs that resulted from this event
· ASNMU is hosting and co-sponsoring a Time Capsule Event Saturday, September 27.
· Seconds for Success Career Closet, which was paired with the Alumni Association, is opening on October 6. They offer free dress clothes for every student once per year, résumé review, and career counseling services provided by the Career Center and Academic Career Advising Center, haircuts provided by local salons, and financial aid consultation provided by the Financial Aid department.
· ASNMU is close to having a full board. There are currently four open positions with applications for all four.
ANNOUNCEMENT OF INFORMAL CLOSED SESSIONS TO BE HELD IN CONNECTION WITH THE THURSDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2014, AND FRIDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2014, SESSIONS OF THE BOARD
President Erickson made this announcement for the public record.
TRUSTEE EMERITUS RECOGNITION
Chair Popp called former trustee Jon G. “Jack” LaSalle forward to be honored as Trustee Emeritus. He presented Mr. LaSalle with a plaque in honor of his service to NMU. A photo was taken. Mr. LaSalle expressed his thanks to the Board of Trustees for this honor.
Chair Popp presented Mr. Cloyd with a plaque in honor of his service to NMU. A photo was taken. Mr. Cloyd expressed his thanks to the Board of Trustees for this honor.
Chair Popp adjourned the meeting at 11:09 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
___________________________________
Cathy A. Niemi
Acting Secretary of the Board