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Contacts: Di Saunders - Office: 503-725-5714; Cell: 503-807-5539 Board
of Higher Ed Welcomes Governor Kulongoski, Discusses Universities'
Goals, Engineering Investments and Faculty Diversity Also
hears report on UO's strategic direction from President Dave
Frohnmayer PORTLAND,
November 21
- The State Board of Higher Education (the "Board") today held its
third regular meeting of the 2003-04 academic year at Portland State
University. The Board heard from Governor Kulongoski at the meeting on
the need for the Legislature and the public to invest in higher
education in the state, and the need to develop a more stable process
for ensuring appropriate investment in our students and our future. He
thanked the outgoing Board members for their commitment to advancing
higher education in the state, and for their support of his effort to
elevate higher education on the public's agenda. Other
issues discussed by the Board included campus performance targets,
allocation of Engineering and Technology Industry Council funds, faculty
diversity, affordability issues, approval of new programs at Portland
State University and the University of Oregon, changes in Oregon
Administrative Rules, and a report from Dave Frohnmayer on UO's
strategic directions. ETIC
Funds Allocation
After hearing a report from the executive director of the
Engineering and Technology Industry Council, Bruce Schafer, the Board
approved the recommended allocation of $21.4 million to the seven OUS
campuses, the Oregon Graduate Institute and Oregon Health & Science
University. ETIC expects that these funds will be matched by private
support of approximately $37 million. Campuses will receive the
following allocations: Eastern Oregon University = $250,000; OGI and
OHSU = $2.6 million; Oregon Institute of Technology = $1.08 million;
Oregon State University = $9.92 million; PSU = $4.96 million; Southern
Oregon University = $540,000; UO = $1.8 million; and Western Oregon
University = $250,000. Funds will be used by campuses to support
recently hired and new faculty, expand laboratories, increase the
quality and diversity of engineering and computer science students,
enhance pre-college programs, invest in existing and new research
centers and degree programs, and achieve higher rankings for key
colleges, departments and programs. Schafer said the original and
continuing goals of ETIC are to stimulate economic development, create
jobs, and increase tax revenues by continuing successful investments in
the capacity and excellence of engineering programs. Performance
Targets
Each university president reported on his/her campuses
performance targets and other goals for 2003-04. Susan Weeks, director
of planning for OUS, noted that OUS began developing a performance
measurement system in response to the legislative mandate in 1997 to
adopt measures for the four broad goals -- access, quality,
employability and effectiveness -- developed by the Board in January
1997. Specific indicators include campus retention rates, total degrees
earned and total degrees in shortage areas earned, quality ratings by
graduates, and research and development expenditures. Each institution
also has campus-specific indicators, such as the number of top high
school graduates enrolled, women in engineering fields, student
diversity, community service learning, employer satisfaction, and
faculty compensation. Faculty
Diversity Report
Provosts from each of the campuses discussed faculty equity
issues, challenges, and exemplary initiatives on their campuses that
have helped to increase faculty diversity over the last several years.
Aggregate System-wide data indicate that during 2002-03, women
represented 32%, and faculty of color represented 11%, of the full-time,
ranked, tenured or tenure-track instructional faculty, an increase of
22.6% and 5.4%, respectively, since 1992-93. Yvette Webber-Davis,
director of diversity for OUS, said that the data show both challenges
and achievements in faculty hiring, promotion and tenure trends; and
that market factors in certain disciplines must be addressed to remain
competitive in attracting and retaining diverse faculty members. UO
Report
UO president Dave Frohnmayer was the second campus leader to
report to the Board on the issues facing his institution over the next
few years. Earlier this year the Board asked that each campus president
report on their institutions' key challenges over the course of the
next several months, one president reporting per Board meeting.
President Frohnmayer noted that UO's strategic directions include four
key areas: quality, access, research and economic development, and the
student experience. Critical issues for UO include how to continue to
provide a quality education to Oregonians that is comparable to its peer
institutions when they have, on average, 50% more revenue per student
than UO has. With the faculty pay freeze, continuing to attract and
retain quality faculty is a UO challenge, as is maintaining the size and
quality of their research programs, and providing the type of graduate
programs that meet state needs. Maintaining the economic diversity of
their student body, given increasing tuition, is also an issue they are
trying to address. Protecting the state's investment in campus
facilities, and constructing new ones, is a major challenge given the
lack of state support, Frohnmayer noted to the Board. UO also has the
ongoing issues of convincing private donors to invest in the University
while the state is withdrawing its investment. In
other action and discussion at today's meetings, the Board:
Oregon
University System (OUS) comprises seven distinguished public
universities, reaching more than one million people each year through
on-campus classes, statewide public services and lifelong learning. The
Oregon State Board of Higher Education, the statutory governing board of
OUS, is composed of eleven members appointed by the Governor and
confirmed by the Oregon State Senate. For additional information, go to www.ous.edu.
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