Staff Council - June 2012 Highlights

• Staff Council elected a new President and Vice President for the upcoming year. Congratulations to Juella Sparks, President and Claudia Koch, Vice President. 
• Staff Alliance put forth a request to the President to use 5.5% place holder in the FY14 Budget request for staff compensation. Staff Alliance will have their annual retreat in August at which time there will be an election of officers for the upcoming year. 
• Health Care Task Force has now been established with 11 members. The task force will be encouraged to create a website to keep staff informed of the process. 
• Chancellor Rogers: 1. New Engineering Building will connect College of Engineering and Mines to the Bunnell Building. 2. First time the legislature has allocated monies for research. 3. Fundinbg for the heat and power plant will be requested in the FY14 budget. 4. A public/private partnership has been established to expand the Wood Center dining and to replace the Lola Tilly Commons. 5. Possible 2% tuition increase. 
• Jennifer Reynolds, Faculty Senate President - There is an effort to institute an electronic faculty reporting system. The system can be used to report: a. University performance b. Unit performance c. Outreach activities, detailed review and d. Who taught a specific course. Two software programs were reviewed by faculty and the program that will be viewed more in depth is Faculty 180 from Data 180.  This program is only being reviewed by UAF at this time and a selected few faculty members will participate in a pilot program using the software. If the program works as hoped it will go into effect for UAF and possibly all MAU's. Implementation is a concern; however, UAF faculty has a good relationship with the Provost Office and Dana Thomas and believes this program will be beneficial to the administration and faculty. 

Chancellor Rogers

Chancellor Rogers expressed his support of the wellness programs at the university and is look for additional ways on how to become a healthier workforce.  He encourages staff to provide input and ideas.

He stated that the legislature is moving towards a 50/50 funding module.  At this time it is 60/40.  This means the university will be responsible to find additional revenue.  This may come in the form of increase tuition and moving around of internal processes, etc.  The loss of the DOD funding has been huge for the university.  All but six of the ARSC staff have been placed.

There is a possibility of research to be done on building on permafrost.  As there is a big area down by the Cold Climate Housing Research facility, there is talk of building student housing in this area and using it for the research.  This will bring in research monies and provide additional housing for students.

Things Chancellor Rogers is working on:

• Outdoor Recreation Advancements
• Future plans of building additional dining areas onto the Wood Center
• Building more student housing on campus

Plans For An Energy Technology & Research Builing

UAF has tentative plans to build a 31,000 sq.ft. building dedicated to energy research, everything from wind and hydrogen to coal. These plans are on the fast track.

University leaders are talking of building the $30 million center, which would house the Alaska Center for Energy & Power, during the next two summers. The plan is to sell bonds for half the proposed building and get the rest of the money through a state grant, is included in a short list of construction projects pitched early this winter by UAF's Board of Regents. The Board also is seeking a separate 5 year state grant that would partner the energy center with the state run Alaska Energy Authority on state-proposed research projects.

UAF's proposed construction budget, which has been forwarded to the Alaska Legislature for consideration, incorporates the proposed energy building alongside another, long-discussed proposal for a new Life Sciences: Focused Research & Instruction Facility.

resource: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner 1-28-09: written by: Christopher Eshleman