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HE.06.12
September 25, 2006

University of Illinois
Urbana-Champaign Senate
Final- Information

HE.06.12 Report on the IBHE Faculty Advisory Council Meeting, April 28, 2006

The FAC met in the Dunn-Richmond Center on the campus of Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIU-C); Chair Wayne C. Evens (Bradley) presided. Special guests were SIUC Chancellor Walter V. Wendler, Senator David Luechtefeld (R) 58th District (Assistant Minority Leader, Higher Education Committee), and Representative Mike Bost (R) (Higher Education Committee).

Chair Evens called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. He announced the Nominations Committee’s report: Chair (Curt White, ISU; John Bennett, Lake Land), Vice Chair (Tim Scherman, NEIU; Les Hyder, EIU), and Secretary (Terry Riddell, Quincy; Devi Prasad Potluri, CSU). Each nominee spoke a few minutes as to why he (or the other nominee) should be elected. An electronic ballot will be sent soon to each FAC member and must be returned within seven days to the Chair and the Past Chair to be counted.

Chair Evens turned the program over to Allan Karnes (SIUC) to introduce the guests. Chancellor Wendler, by means of welcoming the FAC to the SIUC campus, observed that in 1968 their budget was $61M and 66% came from the State. In 2005, however, their budget was $450M and only 33.8% came from the State. The rest of the budget came from tuition and fees (staying steady at about 20%), gifts and auxiliaries, and grants and contracts. He discussed the State budget and other issues facing SIUC. He then introduced Senator Luechtefeld and Representative Bost, who also discussed the State budget and other issues related to higher education, e.g., pension debt and the possibility of a change in the income tax increase; a lively discussion followed.

Gary Alexander (IBHE Liaison) gave an update from the IBHE. At the time of this meeting, the State budget was still not settled, although there is no suggestion of going back on the 1.5% increase for higher education.

He distributed a memorandum from Judy Erwin, Executive Director of the IBHE, regarding the Higher Education Cooperative Act (HECA) Grant Program. Grants are driven according to a list of priorities: P-20, Student Empowerment, Diversification, Disabilities, Persistence, Access and Affordability, and Accountability and Productivity. The IBHE is going through a strategic planning effort, which presupposes the Illinois Commitment. He said that the mission of the IBHE should be to advocate for all of higher education, and he asked for input and advice from the FAC.After lunch, the meeting resumed with committee sessions related to some of the HECA priorities, e.g., Access and Affordability. Committee chairs reported in the general session about issues that were discussed.Following committee reports, the Minutes of the last meeting (24 March at UIS) were approved and courtesy resolutions were presented to our hosts at SIUC. The meeting adjourned at 2:00 p.m.The final meetings of the academic year will be 19 May 2006 at Judsen College, Elgin, and 23 June 2006 at Chicago State University.

Michael Grossman (Alternative) for Ken Andersen
UIUC Senate FAC Representative