Regents approve 68 ISU faculty for promotion and tenure

The state Board of Regents approved promotion and tenure awards for 68 Iowa State faculty members for the 2012-13 academic year at its April 26 meeting in Cedar Falls. That figure includes 39 promotions with tenure and 29 promotions to full professor for previously tenured faculty.

At Iowa State this year, at least 70 percent of tenure-eligible faculty is tenured in 47 out of 63 departments (74.6 percent) and in six of seven colleges (all except the Business college), as well as the library. Overall, 64.2 percent of ISU tenure-eligible faculty is tenured.

Iowa State leaders estimated that 107 tenured faculty – roughly 10 percent -- were reviewed this year (2011-12) under the post-tenure review policy; last year 73 tenured faculty were reviewed.

Board leadership

The board unanimously elected Craig Lang and Bruce Rastetter to continue in their roles as board president and president pro-tem, respectively. Their terms expired April 30. Their two-year terms run through April 2014, though Lang's appointment to the board ends next spring.

Tuition set-aside

In anticipation of a more in-depth discussion at the board's June meeting of student financial aid and the practice of tuition set aside, staff member Patrice Sayre provided board members with some background information on tuition set-aside at the regents universities. Among her points about institutional aid:

• It allows the universities to meet accessibility and enrollment goals, including a diverse student body (ethnically, geographically, socio-economically, etc.)
• It gives universities the most flexibility to award aid, including grants to high-performing students
• 25,583 regent university students received a tuition set-aside grant this year
• 80 percent of resident students at a regent university who receives aid have a financial need
• Federal Pell grants are losing their ability to cover the cost of education, currently it's 32 percent at public universities
• Iowa ranks third-lowest in the nation in state-funded aid for students at 4-year public universities
• Since FY09, state appropriations to the regent universities have fallen below 1997 levels
• To replace the lost state funding, tuition for in-state students would have increased more than 60 percent

Comments on salaries for next year

Faculty Senate president Steve Freeman and Professional and Scientific president Dan Burden were among the representatives of non-union employee groups at the five regents schools who received up to five minutes to talk to board members about salaries and salary policies for the fiscal year that begins July 1. Freeman reminded regents of the outcome for faculty of the last three years of salary adjustments and pointed out Iowa State's continued bottom position among its peer universities. Coupled with larger class sizes, fewer courses and the fear that quality of education will be compromised, one result is declining morale, he said.

"The likelihood that ISU faculty will be seeking, or recruited for, opportunities elsewhere is increasing – which will have a significant negative impact on the university," Freeman said. "It is imperative that there be a meaningful increase in faculty salaries in FY13."

Burden said the council, with ISU administrators, is studying all aspects of hiring, promotion and performance review. Several years of budget cuts and program realignments changed employees' outlook about their employer, he said. One particular issue for P&S employees is salary compression, caused by years of flat or nearly flat salary increases, to the point that some 10-year veterans are not at the one-third entry level salary of new hires.

Burden said the loss of professional development opportunities also is a concern of P&S employees, and the council is working to remedy that in FY13.

In other Iowa State business, the board approved:

• A $2.9 million plan to remodel Lagomarcino Hall to create a central administration area for the School of Education, which becomes operational on July 1. The school combines two departments: educational leadership and policy studies, and curriculum and instruction, currently located on three floors in the building.
• Parking permit fees for the fiscal year that begins July 1. All options for faculty/staff permits – including departmental and vendor -- will go up $10 ($3 for motorcycle permits). An annual permit for the Memorial Union parking ramp will go up $12, with semester and winter season permits each going up $6.
• A bond sale of $3.485 million in parking system bonds to refund bonds sold in 2002 to build the east parking deck and improve lots around the football stadium. A lower interest rate (1.95 percent) will save the parking division an estimated $572,000 in interest over 10 years (2013-22).
• A request to terminate the M.S. and Ph.D. programs in zoology. No students have enrolled in either program in the past four years. This follows the 2004 discontinuation of the B.S. in zoology during a reorganization of biological sciences programs.
• Residence hall and dining rates for 2012-13. Among 16 room options, prices vary from a triple with no air conditioning ($3,888 per person for the academic year) to a lofted, air-conditioned double in Eaton or Martin halls ($7,540). Increases average 2.5 percent. Apartment rates at Frederiksen Court and Schilletter/University Village will go up about 1.5 percent. All student meal plans offered by ISU Dining will remain flat, as will the "door rate" in the campus dining centers: $8.50 for breakfast and $10.50 for lunch and dinner.
  The room-meal plan the board traditionally uses for annual comparison (a double room with 14 meals/week and 200 Dining Dollars/semester) will go up $101, from $7,621 to $7,722. When resident undergraduate tuition and fees for 2012-13 are added, the package totals $15,448, an increase of $341 (2.26 percent) over this year's cost for tuition, fees, room and meal plan.