Tag Archives: Jim Bean: UO Provost

Gottfredson’s latest org chart do-over

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The official announcement, follow up to the news that VP for University Relations Michael Redding is leaving:

To: [email protected]
Subject: deans-dirs: Reorganization of UO central administration

The following message is forwarded on behalf of President Michael Gottfredson – 

I am writing to let you know about a planned reorganization within central administration.  I have decided to combine our existing University Relations and University Development operations to form a single unit, University Advancement.  I am pleased to announce that Michael Andreasen, our Vice President for Development, has agreed to expand his role to oversee this new portfolio as Vice President for Advancement.  Michael will work quickly to integrate the components into the advancement model and secure operational efficiencies, as well as continuing to lead our development activities.

This is a model used extensively in higher education and it marks a return to a structure that served the university well during our most recent campaign.   The primary objective of the advancement model is to build awareness, engagement and support of the university among all our critical stakeholder groups including students, faculty, staff, alumni, Oregonians, friends, corporate partners and national leaders.

It is my expectation that this model will provide a more effective and integrated approach to our many communication and external outreach efforts.  This change will also create efficiencies and cost savings, which I intend to invest in our research and instructional operations.

I am very pleased that Michael is willing to begin work to facilitate this transition and will formally assume the role of Vice President for Advancement on April 15, 2013.

Best regards,

Michael Gottfredson, President
University of Oregon

Interpretation A: This change will also create efficiencies and cost savings, which I intend to invest in our research and instructional operations.

Interpretation B: Thanks to Bob Berdahl we’re stuck paying Bean $320K next year. Sunk cost. It would be embarrassing to put him in front of students, and the UO Board legislation will have passed by then, so what’s the harm in letting him do Redding’s job – but just for a year. We can hardly give him another sabbatical. Andreassen will minimize the damage. And sending this email is a public commitment that next year will be the end of it.

We’ll know more when I make a public records request for the job description for Bean’s last year. I don’t mean this as a big slam at Gottfredson. He’s got a lot of constraints at this point. Too bad he wasn’t more careful to free himself, and us, from them before he signed his contract with Pernsteiner. 4/2/2013.

To Gottfredson, Bean is worth more than faculty excellence

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3/17/2013. VPAA Doug Blandy announces UO’s faculty excellence awards:

Subject: deans-dirs: Announcing Fund for Faculty Excellence Awards 2013-14
Date: March 15, 2013 4:06:02 PM PDT
To: “Deans-Dirs List ([email protected])” <[email protected]> 

After successfully rebuilding the Fund for Faculty Excellence Awards program last year, we are pleased to announce that the nomination period for 2013-14 recipients has been launched.  The Fund for Faculty Excellence will provide one-time awards of $20,000 to tenured faculty who have distinguished themselves in research, teaching, and leadership.  Up to thirteen awards will be made this spring by the Provost based on recommendations of a panel of outstanding senior faculty from nominations forwarded by the academic deans.  The awards will be announced by the end of this academic year.  A detailed announcement is attached.

Doug Blandy
Senior Vice Provost
Academic Affairs
541-346-3029
[email protected]

Thirteen awards, $20K each, $260K total. For a comparison, Lariviere was willing to spend about $300K for interim Provost Jim Bean’s sabbatical:


But all indications are that rather than send Bean back to the faculty next year, Gottfredson is going to pay him his full $320K provost’s salary, in exchange for some administrative sinecure.

The economists call this revealed preference. Don’t ask people what they care about, they will lie. Look at how they spend their our student’s tuition money:

Next year Mike Gottfredson will spend $60,000 more on Jim Bean than he will on faculty excellence.

UO is that fucked up. But wait, there’s more! Read the fine print: Jim Bean decides who gets an excellence award.

Redding leaves the building

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From “Around the O”. Redding was the architect of the New Partnership Plan and a very important figure in the independent board proposal going through the legislature now:

Michael Redding, vice president of university relations at the University of Oregon, announced today (March 7) that he has accepted a position at the University of Illinois, Chicago. He will begin his new job April 30.

Which would seem to explain this:

“Gottfredson removed a thorn from UO’s side, and is now going to stick it in our eye.” That’s a colleague’s response to the rumor that Bean’s new assignment will be interfacing with the UO Board, if the NPPB goes through. 

Bean’s got a lot of tit-for-tat experience with Moseley, he’s already sunk a ton of money into suits, and he’s got a better disposition than, say, Tim Gleason. So I wouldn’t discount this entirely. A cheaper  outcome would be for Phil Knight’s lobbying firm to use some of the $450,000 they are sitting on and get him off the UO payroll.

Whatever happens, you can count on Jim Bean figuring out how to make the UO Board plan pay off for himself, and the faculty and university be damned. 3/8/2013.

"Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows …

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… he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.” Samuel Johnson

Lame Duck Interim Provost Bean figures out how to give himself another raise, regardless of whether Gottfredson lets him have an administrative sinecure next year, or makes him start teaching. Fortunately it means raises for the rest of us too. “Around the O” has the details.

March 4, 2013 
TO:                 Officers of instruction, research and administration
FROM:            Provost Jim Bean
SUBJECT:     Multi-year salary adjustment program
With the cost of living increasing each year, it is critical that the University of Oregon be able to provide periodic adjustments to salaries in order to recruit and retain the highest-quality faculty and staff.  This is not something the UO has been able to do on a consistent basis for a number of years.  With that fact in mind, I am pleased to announce a new multi-year program that will provide cost of living adjustments along with the possibility of merit/equity increases.
For the academic year 2012-2013, this program will provide a 1.5% cost of living adjustment (COLA) retroactive to Jan. 1, 2013 for all officers of instruction and officers of research who began employment on or before June 30, 2012.
In the academic year 2013-2014, the program will include a 1.5% cost of living adjustment effective July 1, 2013 with the possibility of an additional merit/equity increase (2% merit/equity salary pool available).  All unclassified faculty and staff (e.g., officers of instruction, officers of administration and officers of research) who began employment on or before Dec. 31, 2012 are eligible with some exceptions.  (See http://around.uoregon.edu/salary-adjustments for details.)  Merit/equity increase decisions will be based on academic year 2012-2013 performance reviews and reviews of current salary structures via processes established in each unit.
This multi-year salary program applies to all unrepresented faculty and officers of administration.  If United Academics, the newly formed faculty union, agrees to the program, it will be extended to represented faculty members as well.  (Please note:  Cost of living increases for classified staff will be bargained for as part of their contract negotiations between SEIU and the Oregon University System.)
Please visit http://around.uoregon.edu/salary-adjustments for additional details on this program.
The University of Oregon is home to some of the world’s finest faculty, researchers and staff.  Every day you are pushing the boundaries of human understanding.  Thank you for all you do to educate our students, create new knowledge and support the academic mission of this outstanding public research university.

Beangram for 2/28/13 on Karen Sprague replacement

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Two weeks ago Bean told Karen Sprague she wouldn’t be reappointed as VP for UGS – claiming the office would be reorganized. As a commenter wrote:

She wasn’t fired – she was asked to step down as Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies. Just one more example of Bean focusing on the wrong thing. Instead of taking care of real problems ( Espy, deKluyver, Union negotiations) he’s focused on an area that doesn’t seem to be a critical issue right now. Something about deck chairs comes to mind.

A week later Gottfredson (finally) made Bean resign. But see below – apparently Bean’s not done screwing up those parts of UO that are still working after his 5 years of mismanagement. My read is that the office will not be reorganized, but that Sprague is still out. Punishment for speaking up too forcibly and publicly?

2-28-13 Provost’s Message

Colleagues,
I will soon begin an internal search for a new Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies. Senate President Robert Kyr and I have formed a search committee that includes Julie Newton (chair), Ian McNeely, Josh Snodgrass, Jennifer Joslin, and Roger Thompson.
The committee will begin meeting soon and aims to complete the search by the end of May. 
The Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies reports to the Provost, is a member of the Vice Provosts’ Council and coordinates activities and planning for Undergraduate Studies with the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs. The Vice Provost has management and budget authority over all component programs in the Office of Undergraduate Studies.
The Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies will provide leadership for UO undergraduate initiatives and endeavors and oversee a wide range of undergraduate programs and services for the UO, including Academic Advising, Disability Services, First-Year Programs, the Teaching and Learning Center, and initiatives relating to General Education.
The Vice Provost also works closely with the Undergraduate Council, other faculty and administrative committees, student groups, Associated Students of the University of Oregon, and other constituencies involved in undergraduate education at the University.
The job opening with the complete description of duties will be posted on the Human Resources website after the search committee has reviewed it.
Please contact me if you have any questions at [email protected].
Regards,
Jim
James Bean
Senior Vice President and Provost,
University of Oregon
[email protected]

Tomlin course, Bean’s accomplishments, Provost search

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Say what you will about former VPAA Russ Tomlin, at least he is teaching courses for his 600 hours, instead of taking the easy way out with the usual administrative sinecure for retiring VPs:
 

It’s going to be an interesting list of guest speakers. Maybe UO’s General Counsel Emerita, Melinda Grier?

Speaking of sinecures, Sam Stites has a piece in the ODE on Bean. Not clear when he’ll actually teach: my guess is he collects his $320K (plus beamer?) for next year doing some minor administrative make-work jobs:

“I’ve been honored to be able to serve in this position, but I want to return to help develop the next opportunities for the University to improve its AAU ratings and applying my experience from my time at Michigan,” Bean said.

But I suppose it’s possible the B-School pushes out Kees and brings him back as Dean. Is it? You can always count on Frohnmayer to find something kind to say about a fellow administrator:

Former UO president and current law professor Dave Frohnmayer expressed his gratitude toward Bean’s tenure as provost. Frohnmayer said that without Bean’s Big Ideas project — a campaign to elicit ideas for academic and research improvement in an open forum style — the UO would have missed major opportunities for programs that may not have surfaced otherwise. 

And in the article Nathan Tublitz announces a follow up to his wonderfully successful Senate motion on a performance review of Bean: a motion for an open, faculty led search. The last open search got us Linda Brady. 2/25/13.

Update: Interim Provost Jim Bean finally resigns. Ray of hope for UO.

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2/20/2013: Congratulations to Nathan Tublitz and the Senate: SPQUO. Stupid and futile gesture works!

Dear colleagues,

I am writing to let you know that James Bean has requested a return to his faculty position at the Lundquist College of Business at the end of this fiscal year. Jim’s more than four years of outstanding service to the University of Oregon as senior vice president and provost came at a particularly critical time for the institution. His efforts to develop a transparent budget system for the university and to place the campus on a better financial footing have been especially noteworthy. Equally important is his work with faculty and the deans to develop a dynamic academic plan.

There are many additional contributions to the UO that Jim has made as provost and I look forward to the opportunity to celebrate those with you in the coming months. I am also personally very grateful for his guidance, counsel and leadership during my first months here.

I have asked Jim to continue to lend his expertise to certain critical opportunities facing the university following his return to the faculty. I am very appreciative that Jim has agreed to continue to lend substantial support to issues he has played a major role in during his time as provost.

I will work with campus leadership, faculty and our community colleagues as we initiate a national search for Jim’s permanent successor. In addition, I will seek campus and community input as I consider an interim replacement to assume the role of senior vice president and provost on July 1 while we undertake our search.

Please join me in thanking Jim for his service and congratulating him on his many accomplishments during these past four years.

Best regards,

Michael Gottfredson, President

2/14/2013: Nathan Tublitz’s motion for an immediate performance review of Interim UO Provost James C. Bean first came up in the January meeting. The Senate put it off, hoping that President Gottfredson would either convince Bean to step down quietly, or decide that under current rules Bean should be reviewed now anyway. Neither happened, so the motion came back up yesterday. There was a lively discussion. Professor Tublitz made the case for the importance of the job, and hit a few of the highlights of Bean’s various failures. No one disputed the facts.

Pres-Elect Margie Paris and Kassia Dellabough argued for delay until fall, when UO will finally have a formal evaluation policy. I argued to just do it. Senate President Kyr gave President Gottfredson a chance to defend Bean or the proposed delay, he declined. After an amendment on the dates (Gottfredson to start the review now, and report to us at the May meeting) the motion passed on a voice vote, about 25 in favor and 2 opposed.

My take on the Senate’s message to President Gottfredson? We lost confidence in Bean long ago, and the longer you keep him the more we wonder about you. Appoint an interim, and start the search for new provost now, or come back to the Senate within 60 days and tell us why you think we should suffer this fool for another year.

Futile update #2: Provosts gone wild

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2/17/2013: Time to get real. Gottfredson’s not going to fire Bean. He’s not even going to fire Geller. It’s up to us faculty. Sure, we could fight with conventional weapons, like Tublitz’s senate resolution. But that would take years. No, this requires a really stupid and futile gesture. And

So get to work. Post your list of our Provost’s five two greatest accomplishments, and suggested wording in the comments. I’ll add some fluff and a signature,

and send the letter off to academic headhunter firms. Surely there’s a Dental Hygienics College somewhere in Dubai that needs a leader.

2/16/2013: I thought I’d repost this classic, since it bears on both the never-ending Bean and public records issues. Note the part at the end, explaining Berdahl’s revocation of the fee-waiver policy which had been instituted by Lariviere after a year of hard work and perseverance (some have called it intimidation) by the Senate Transparency Committee.


5/4/2012: When Richard Lariviere found out about the secret Frohnmayer/Bellotti deal he wrote:

“This institution did not follow acceptable business practices in the past. That will not be repeated by my administration.”

Apparently that message didn’t get through to John Moseley, Jim Bean, and Lorraine Davis. I wrote a little about their latest deal here. All in all this involves maybe $60,000 in UO money, plus a bunch more from OSU. In addition to the questionable UO contract addition, there are some expense issues. In a nutshell, after a 2009 audit investigation raised a few issues with Moseley’s contracts and expenses – he was charging UO for his travel between his homes in Eugene and Bend – UO promised the auditor that Moseley would not receive any more reimbursements  … :

The auditor made it a point to cc James Bean on the report. Moseley and Bean broke that deal within 2 months:

and

  
The full document dump is here – many interesting expense charges and more info on the contract extension. It was obtained in response to this public records request:
Dear Ms Thornton –

In the documents you sent me last week in response to my 4/4/2012 request there was a letter from acting Provost Davis stating in part

 The March 2011 interagency agreement between OSU and U0 clearly articulated the percent of FTE necessary for you to oversee the transfer of undergraduate academic programs at OUS-Cascades from UO to OSU. OSU agreed to reimburse UO for your time from July 1 to December 31, 2011 at 0.5FTE and January 1 to June 30, 2012 at 0.25FTE. It is my understanding the time necessary to oversee the program transfer was underestimated and resulted in an agreement between you and Jim Bean to increase your FTE to 0.5 FTE for the time period of January 1, 2012 to June 30, 2012.

This is a public records request for

a) a copy of that OSU/UO agreement

b) any letters, emails, notes, cocktail napkins, or other public records documenting the side agreement in which Jim Bean agreed to pay John Mosley an additional 0.25 FTE

c) any expense reports submitted by Moseley to UO or OSU or OUS from June 31 2009 to the present.

I ask for a fee waiver on the grounds of public interest. The golden parachute contracts between UO and Moseley involve the expenditure of a lot of UO and now apparently OSU money. They have been the subject of news stories in the Oregonian, Register Guard, and Bend Bulletin. In June 2009 OUS issued an audit report (attached) finding irregularities with Moseley’s previous contracts and travel expenses. The Oregon Politico database indicates that Moseley has been reimbursed for in-state travel since the agreement described in this audit report.

It turns out there is no written agreement between Moseley and Bean for the extra 0.25 FTE salary and benefits that Lorraine Davis is paying special assistant to the provost John Moseley – not even a cocktail napkin. (Davis did write out a contract to legitimize it, after Bean went on sabbatical.) These are acceptable business practices?

A few hours after getting these documents via a public records request, I got this email from Dave Hubin announcing that Interim President Berdahl was revoking the public interest fee-waiver arrangement which Richard Lariviere helped set up. Lisa Thornton of the Office of Public Records had been giving these waivers for the past 8 months, and I used one to obtain these documents.

Less transparency, less trust.

He’s still here:

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Colleagues:

The Oregon Budget Model determines the college-level budgets of the Schools and Colleges of the University of Oregon. We’ve been running this budget model several years now, and it is appropriate to consider how the various aggregate measurements attached to the model have changed.

This week, I am presenting data regarding undergraduate students and next week I will focus on graduate students.
The UO allocates undergraduate tuition revenue to each school and college in a lump sum. Allocation within a school or college is the responsibility of the dean, in consultation with the faculty. The deans are in the best position to know how to allocate funds within their units according to the university and college mission.
Undergraduate tuition revenue is allocated to schools and colleges based on three activity measurements: student credit hours (SCH), prorated majors and prorated degrees awarded. Prorating assigns a total of one major (or degree) to any one student. Because the model allocates revenue based on prorated majors rather than a full count of majors, it is important that we track both over time.
Three graphs posted to my website show how undergraduate student credit hours, degrees and majors have changed over five years, from academic year 2008-09 to 2012-13. (Numbers for 2012-13 are projections based on fall term enrollments.)
The charts on my website show:
  • The number of regular undergraduate student credit hours for each school and college
  • The number of prorated undergraduate degrees awarded by each school and college
  • The number of undergraduate majors, total and prorated.
Next week, I will present the data regarding graduate students.
I look forward to your comments at [email protected]
Regards,
Jim
James Bean
Senior Vice President and Provost,
University of Oregon
[email protected]

Bean corrects beangram

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or maybe he’s correcting his December Senate speech. Or his January one? Or maybe his old claim that UO spends 38% of what our peers do on administration. Anyone know? Anyone trust his math? Believe his grammar? Amazed at his confusion between levels and changes?

1-25-13 Provost’s Message
Colleagues:
Several weeks ago I provided some statistics on our growth rate of faculty, staff and students. Since then, the Office of Institutional Research has provided some updated numbers that I want to share with you.
The following numbers include the rate of change in different employment classes from 2007 to 2012. The count is based upon the fall census, which is conducted the first week of November each year.
The five-year Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) shows that from 2007 to 2012:
  • Student FTE increased by 3.8 percent
  • Total faculty FTE increased by 3.4 percent
  • Tenure track faculty FTE increased by 2.3 percent
  • Non-tenure track faculty FTE increase by 4.2 percent
  • Librarian FTE increased by 3.5 percent
  • Classified staff FTE increased by 2.5 percent
  • Officers of Administration FTE (not including librarians) increased by 5.1 percent.
In looking at the increase in Officers of Administration, we discovered that within Schools and Colleges, OAs increased by 6.1 percent, and outside of Schools and Colleges, they increased by 4.8 percent.
We then compared the increase in the number of OAs to other public AAU institutions and discovered that the UO has only half (52.2 percent) as many OAs on a per student basis than the AAU average. (sic)
The number of OAs per student is significantly lower than comparative staffing levels for other employee groups. Faculty FTE per student ratios are at 74.5 percent of AAU peers and classified staff FTE per student ratios are at 79.2 percent of AAU peers, based upon fall 2011 data.
For a detailed list of employee FTE from 2007 to 2012, please see the chart on my website at http://provost.uoregon.edu/content/analysis-employee-fte-0
I look forward to your comments at [email protected]
Regards,
Jim
James Bean
Senior Vice President and Provost,
University of Oregon
[email protected]

Live Blog: Senate Agenda and Bean review for Wed 1/16/2013

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Executive Summary:

  • Bean still confused by numbers. 
  • Alex-Assensoh makes friends. 
  • Tublitz’s motion on a performance review of Bean put off until Feb meeting, giving Bean a little more time to find a new job, maybe Rose-Hulman will bite. 
  • Motion requiring Gottfredson to tell Holmes and Eveland to stop stalling and give the IAC data on students and student-athletes, and showing Geller doesn’t know squat about FERPA passes unanimously. 
  • Kyr promised he will, as President of the Senate, formally request that the administration provide documents to the Senate in advance of February’s meeting and vote on the AD’s golf course. In addition, he will request that an informed administrator – presumably Rob Mullens – be present at the meeting to answer questions.
  • Hubin promises to deliver heavily redacted version of Gottfredson’s calendar “soon”.


Live, more or less. Usual disclaimer applies. My impression of what people said, meant to say, or what I wished they’d said. Nothing a quote unless in ” “.

Kyr: Friendly welcome, with strong voice.  Good stuff.
Approval of minutes?  Arrived too late… do it next time.
State of the U: Gottfredson sends regards.  Unable to attend, writes to comment on resolutions (letter available online)
1) prioritization of classrooms in any future expansion: accepts resolution, classrooms a priority
other priorities  
2) increased study space for students: accepts recommendation, looks forward to working on it
3) neighborhood 4J schools: university will not take position on issue
Remarks of James Bean, Provost:
Voice not so strong.  Original academic plan, improve quality of metrics re AAU.  Pres is committed to improving metrics.  Research primary goal.  To compete will require significant progress “of all types.”  Organizational changes coming, to improve competitiveness?
Organizational changes have complicated communication.  The fix?  More organizational changes.

Better support for Center for Latino/a & Latin American Studies (CLLAS)… 
Head counts: data from last month was “correct but wrong.”  Statistical anomalies?  Just used a percent change… not sure if we should believe it.  Librarians/OA classifications, timing off, replacements vs growth… most honest way to count is looking at five years… a “compounded percentage growth”

Student growth 4.2 percent growth in students?
Faculty increase of 3.9 percent per year (2.9 in TT, 4.7 in nonTT)?
Librarians 2.2 percent
OAs come back to this one.
Classified staff… 2.5percent
grad assist 4.?
work study 6.1 percent
OAs… 4.8 percent growth? (4.3 central, higher in schools and colleges)
(Only had this data for 24 hours)

Plans to ask lots of questions about why OA increases are necessary.  (Says that they now all go through his office… so he’s should be accountable for future increases, right?)
Kyr: We need someone to step up… Senate President Elect, anyone?  Anyone?  Please make recommendations.


Yvette A-A:
Broad definition of diversity. Need to be rigorous, attend to methods, success. Need to be iterative, keep trying new things. Big change will be that EI activities will be spread out so as to provide resources to all doing this work. Very relaxed, confident, can’t discuss personnel but does want to involve people in programs and policies.
Q Dellabough: In future how will you improve transparency? Good answer, clear that she will consult on future policies.
Q Bonine: You have made structural changes, is there a way to involve faculty in these in the future? A: Yes, will use faculty on boards.
Q Psaki: Need more than boards, need wide representation.

Kyr and Simonds explain how to do motions. Very helpful.

Kyr: Data Access policy. Snoozer? Yes, admin sent it to us, exec committee said OK as is.

Tublitz: Performance review of Bean. Bean stays in room – good for him. Or is it intimidation? Nathan explains motion, very clear: symbolic, provost needs review. Substantial, Bean has not been reviewed. Precedent is Tomlin, etc.
Q Elliot: Why no reviews? A: just never happened.
Q Martinez: Has …
Pres wants reviews, committee for the previous motion on reviews still has not met.
Sullivan admits he was a messy kid, says so’s this administration, time to grab them by the collar and say now’s the time.
Student rep: Yes, put it in the rules.
Bonine – Can we put this off til next time? Moved, seconded, and approved. Surprise reprieve for Bean.

Harbaugh: Motion to let faculty see student records, even those of student-athletes. Passed unanimously.

Dellabough: IFS Senator reforms. Seems good. Passes unanimously.

Stahl: Faculty and OA’s etc excused from assignments including class for Senate meetings. Need to reschedule work. This is dragging on and on, seems reasonable as it.

Sayre: Fac Union report: Bargaining is happening, union has put up 30 proposals. Admins have put up 5 counters. Read them people! Union has been trying to incorporate existing policies, admins have been fighting this.

Reports:
Students want more study space and classrooms. Working on how to use what we have for now – Carson Hall? PE and Rec?
Drugs: McWhorter asked for extension.
Service: Reform is underway, starting w/ survey.

From the floor:
Harbaugh: In Feb I will be sponsoring Bob Doppelt’s motion on the Athletic Department’s new golf course. Will admin’s be present Feb to discuss golf, and will the AD provide documents?
Kyr: Yes. Provide me with a written request for the documents you need and who you want from the admin side and I will formally request the documents and their body, as President of the Senate.



Agenda 1/15/2013: The highlight will be Nathan Tublitz’s call for a long overdue performance review of Interim Provost Jim Bean. Bean was given the interim job by Frohnmayer without faculty input, promoted by Lariviere without faculty input, given a “health sabbatical”, then given a 2 year contract renewal by Berdahl without faculty input. And now it looks like President Gottfredson will be gone for this meeting, and will miss the faculty discussion on Bean.

I’ll try and live blog this but will miss first part.

Check for revisions here.

Knight Library Room 101, 3:00‐5:00 pm

3:00 pm 1. Call to Order
       1.1 Approval of the Minutes of the November 7 & December 5, 2012 Senate Meetings
3:05 pm 2. State of the University
2.1 Remarks by Provost James C. Bean
2.2 Questions and Comments with Response
2.3 Remarks by Senate President Robert Kyr
2.3.1 Election of Senate President-Elect
2.3.2 Search for Senate Executive Coordinator
3:25 pm 3. Open Discussion
3.1 Yvette Alex-Assensoh, Vice President for Equity and Inclusion
3.2 Questions and Comments with Response
3:45 pm 4. New Business
4.1 Decision regarding Policy for Review: Data Access; 
Robert Kyr, Senate President
4.2 Motion (Legislation):Performance Review of Provost James C. Bean;
Nathan Tublitz, Professor (Biology)
4.3 Motion (Legislation): Data and Documents for the IAC and Clarifying FERPA;
Bill Harbaugh, Professor (Economics) [See updated motion here]
4.4 Motion (Legislation): UO Representation on the Interinstitutional Faculty Senate (IFS);
UO Senate Executive Committee, Kassia Dellabough (PODS), SEC member
4.5 Motion (Legislation Resubmitted): Release Time to Enhance Senate Effectiveness;
Frank Stahl, Professor Emeritus (Biology)
4.6 Motion (Legislation Resubmitted): Modification of Fiscal Impact Statement;
Frank Stahl, Professor Emeritus (Biology)
4:40 pm 5. Reports
5.1 ASUO Report; Laura Hinman, ASUO President
5.2 UA Senate Liaison Committee; Gordon Sayre, Professor (English)
5.3 Updates on Motions; Robert Kyr, Senate President
5.3.1  Motion on Faculty Input into Hiring Executive Administrators
5.3.2  Motion on Review of Executive Administrators
5.3.3  Motion on Study Space Prioritization
5.3.4  Motion on Classroom Space Prioritization
5.3.5  Report from IAC (Student Athlete Academic Status re: OAR on
Random Drug Testing)
5.4 Ten-Year Review of University Standing Committees;
Robert Kyr, Senate President
5.5 Report from UO Police Department at February Senate Meeting
4:55 pm 6. Announcements and Communications from the Floor
5:00 pm 7. Adjournment

Questions for Provost Bean’s performance review – suggestions welcome

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1/15/2013 Update: Here’s a news story on how the University of Arizona got rid of their Provost and President. It started with a motion like the one that the UO Senate will vote on Wednesday, regarding Bean. This led to a survey of the faculty, run by the Senate, who had complaints remarkably similar to those many of UO’s faculty have about Bean and Johnson Hall in general. Both the President and Provost were replaced. Interestingly, Gottfredson applied for the UA job, but didn’t get it. The former UA President moved on to replace the Fiesta Bowl’s felonious prior CEO, John Junkers.

Questions for Bean:

1) Please list what you think are the top 5 criteria for UO to maintain its AAU membership, tell us UO’s current rank on these criteria among the AAU, and explain what steps you have taken to maintain or improve UO’s rank on these criteria since you were appointed interim Provost in 2008.

2) In your proposal for last year’s sabbatical you say:

Please explain how your sabbatical has made you a more effective provost.

3) On your return from sabbatical Lorraine Davis gave you these job duties:

Please list any significant accomplishments on these tasks.

4) ?

5) ?

6) ?

AAU, Bean, Espy rumors

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The latest rumors, from the faculty club hookah room:

UO is now on an unofficial AAU watch list for underperformance – not enough federal grants or grad students. Johnson Hall is going to try and hang our expulsion on the faculty, or the union, or the weather, but we all know where Frohnmayer and Bean spent our research money – athletics and a pack of stupid pet projects.

The faculty are no longer wondering about Bean’s wisdom in hiring a VP for Research from Nebraska, the most recent university to be dropped by the AAU. Instead people are openly calling this the last mistake Gottfredson should ever let Bean make. After some high profile science departures and botched searches, Bean has a classic Dilbert response: he’s hired an “executive coach” to teach Espy (whom we pay $295,000) how to do her job.

I’d make a public records request for that contract, but what’s the point? Everyone knows the score, we just don’t understand why Gottfredson is leaving these two in the game. Tublitz’s Senate motion on Interim Provost Bean is Jan 16th. Should be a fun debate – and yes Jim, the video will be on youtube. 12/11/12.

And a commenter points us to this RFP that UO put out 2 weeks ago, for a consulting firm to do what Espy and her new hires are supposed to do. In FY 2011 the VPR’s Office Admin budget had $437,430 for admin salaries. For FY 2013, Espy’s got $1,111,007 to spend. Full report here. The consultants are on top of that. As a commenter notes:

Look at Acct code 20000 – Service and Supplies. That’s Espy’s black hole of consulting:
2011 $2,164,191
2012 $4,546,478
2013 $5,154,632

Speaking of administrative bloat, does anyone know what happened with that multi-million dollar Huron consulting contract? Is it worth me getting attacked by Dave Hubin and Jamie Moffitt for making too many public records requests? If so, you know what it takes for me to dull that pain.