A plan to increase faculty compensation to competitive levels and other budgetary matters will be the focus of a Town Hall meeting from 3—5 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 26, in 177 Lawrence.

All members of the campus community are invited to participate in the conversation which is sponsored by the University Senate, the UO chapter of the American Association of University Professors and the Faculty Advisory Council.

The Town Hall meeting will begin with a brief presentation by the University Senate Budget Committee on its report, "A Call for Sustained Competitive Parity in Instructional Faculty Compensation."

Comments will follow by panelists representing the Senate Budget Committee, faculty members and administrators. University Senate President Peter Gilkey, Mathematics, will moderate the open discussion.

Besides faculty salary and benefit increases, other topics expected to generate discussion Jan. 26 include campus building projects and the interplay between faculty governance and overall university administration.

"All of the topics facing us … require our best collective efforts and thoughtful discussion by people of good will," President Dave Frohnmayer wrote in a Jan. 7 letter to campus colleagues.

The faculty salary report, issued Jan. 10, is the product of consultative work by the Senate Budget Committee, chaired by Wayne Westling, Law; the Faculty Advisory Council, chaired by David Frank, Honors College; and UO administrators. Its goal is to provide background, financial information and salary data as a framework for campus-wide discussion and as a prelude to a survey to be distributed this term to all instructional faculty.

According to the report’s executive summary, average UO faculty compensation is currently just 82.1 percent of the mean for peer institutions. Also, compensation compression has produced significant inequities that threaten faculty morale and the integrity of faculty ranks.

To address this situation, the faculty salary report recommends a long-term plan to increase average compensation (salary and benefits) for instructional faculty to 95 percent of parity with comparator American universities sharing the UO mission.

"To accomplish this goal, we recommend that average faculty compensation will increase a minimum of 2.5 percent per year over and above cost-of-living until we achieve the 95 percent goal," the authors write. "We estimate it will take 5—7 years to reach 95 percent parity. The funds supporting the 2.5 percent annual increase will be devoted to significantly improving the compensation of the vast majority of faculty, with an emphasis on rectifying the problem of salary compression."

UO Resource Management estimates that the cost for reaching 95 percent parity would be about $6 million per year.

As background for the discussion of these and other university budgetary issues, the report explains the new Oregon University System funding model which is based on the principle that the money follows the students to the institutions they choose. The authors detail some of the significant opportunities and funding challenges posed by the new model.

The report also identifies several sources of additional revenue and briefly discusses their advantages and disadvantages.

Finally, in recognition of the critical role that non-instructional faculty (officers of administration and research), classified employees and graduate teaching fellows play in achieving academic quality, the paper’s authors urge UO administrators to provide competitive compensation, based on appropriate comparative standards, to all of these campus stakeholders as well.

A preliminary estimate by Resource Management indicates that an additional $4 million annually would be needed to bring these segments of the campus community to a compensation level competitive with peer institutions.

Jeffrey Flowers, Communications, reminds recipients of the Community Outreach Survey circulated in December to complete and return the survey as soon as possible.

"We are attempting to create a comprehensive list of UO activities and programs that benefit the off-campus, nonacademic public," she says. Examples include K-12 partnerships and class visits, lectures to civic groups, internships, consulting and training programs.

"We will use this information to create a searchable on-line database of outreach activities," Flowers says. "The survey results also will provide key information about our role in the community for legislators, alumni, administrators and the general public."

Fewer UO employees and students filed grievances based on prohibited discrimination in 1999 but more of their complaints followed formal grievance procedures than the year before, according to an annual report, issued at year’s end, by Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity.

Last year, nine grievances–seven of them pursued as formal complaints–were filed with Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity. That compares with 10 grievances–three of them formal–in 1998.

"Several factors contribute to the number of grievances filed in one year, so many explanations may exist for their decline over the past several years," says Sid Moore, human rights investigator and author of the report. "These include the continuing education of the campus community regarding discrimination in all forms."

He says the shift during 1999 to a higher proportion of formal grievance filings calls for slightly different explanations. One possible reason for the change, he suggests, is the increasing confidence in the university’s commitment to thoroughly investigate allegations and render objective conclusions with regard to these allegations.

"General suspicion that an institution might be unwilling to acknowledge the existence of discriminatory behaviors has given way to trust and confidence in the University of Oregon’s process," Moore says. "Several high-profile cases over the past several decades have undoubtedly contributed to this increasing confidence."

The most important factor in explaining the shift in the number and type of grievances, Moore says, is recognition that the university takes all allegations of discrimination, including sexual harassment, seriously.

"Discrimination will not be tolerated, and when documented, will be dealt with appropriately," he stresses.

To help combat discrimination based on age, disability, national origin, race, marital status, gender, sexual orientation, religion or veteran status, Moore says Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity will continue to educate faculty, staff and students in an effort to eliminate behaviors which lead to the filing of grievances.

In the spotlight

Cris Cullinan, Human Resources; Dave Hubin, President’s Office; and Star Holmberg, American English Institute, are recipients of the this year’s Martin Luther King Award for their dedication and contribution to racial understanding. They will be recognized Jan. 25 at an award buffet.

Many Business Affairs employees were recognized by Director Sherri McDowell during an Oct. 14 awards ceremony. Length of Service Awards were presented to Joyce Rauschert, 30 years at UO and 37 years of state service; Vicki Wanner, 24 years at Business Affairs and 35 years of state service; Susie Endow and Suzanne von Kleist, 25 years; Carol Karp, 20 years; and Dennis Kunkel, 15 years. Introduced as new employees were Sue Jenkins, Collections manager; Janie Sweeney, Cashier supervisor; and Daniel Ziskind, Payroll temporary worker. Honored for their implementation of the Tax Relief Act were Shereé Johnson and Dave Doerksen; Catherine Stemple, for reconciling scholarships; Mark McColloch, for suggesting the Oct. 14 Business Affairs open house and employee recognition ceremony; and Conny Isaacs, Shereé Johnson, Dave Musgrove and Marlene Singer, for assembling the open house displays. Others recognized were Quality Assurance Consulting Team (QUACS) members Cindy Early, Gary Chaffins, Brett Giles, Susan Carl and Heidi Sann, for their "dedication, professionalism, efficiency, and hard work" in developing and completing the Cost Accounting Standards disclosure statement, a six-month project; and Payroll employees Hope Adams, Shelby Cooper, Judy Duff, Natalie Frye, Chad Hartvigsen, Sherie Jackson, Richard Keller, Brian Kellogg, Kenny Le, Nancy Miller, Joyce Rauschert, Sharon Trigg, Daniel Ziskind and Renae Musgrove, for implementing the new Payroll system.

On the move

Victoria Varble-Goss, formerly manager of Erb Essentials, now is assistant food service director for retail operations. Stephanie Winchester is now responsible for The Break and The Buzz in the EMU. Dusty Miller, EMU director, now also is the interim Food Service director.

Suzanne Hanlon is the Outdoor Program’s new assistant coordinator. For the last eight years, she was tours director for Adventure Cycling.

Myron Rothbart, Psychology, has been granted the rank and title of professor emeritus for 30 years of distinguished service to the university.

Christine L. Sundt, Visual Resources, was one of 19 regional artists featured in a November exhibition in the Jacobs Gallery at the Hult Center showcasing new work by the Guild of Eugene Metalsmiths.

On the podium/stage

Eight people from the University of Oregon participated in the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) regional conference on Nov. 10—13 in Vancouver, British Columbia. The participants included Laura Blake Jones, Wes Morrill, Troy Franklin, Byron McCrae, Stephanie Carnahan, Anne Leavitt, Cleven Mmari and Jane DeGidio.

In memoriam

Lynn S. Rodney, Health, Physical Education and Recreation dean emeritus, died Dec.15 in Eugene of Parkinson’s disease. Rodney, 84, earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Washington State University and a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. He joined the UO faculty in 1955, heading Recreation and Park Management for 17 years, and was named dean in 1972. Memorial contributions may be made to the United Parkinson’s Foundation or to the Lynn S. Rodney Scholarship Fund at the UO.

Jane Gray, Biology, died Jan. 9 of cancer. Gray, 70, received her bachelor’s degree from Radcliffe College and her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. She joined the UO faculty in 1963. Memorial contributions may be made to the Greenhill Humane Society.

David K. Harrison, Mathematics emeritus, died Dec. 21 of an aneurysm. Harrison, 68, earned a bachelor’s degree from Williams College and a Ph.D. from Princeton. He joined the UO faculty in 1963. Memorial contributions may be made to the UO Foundation for a math award in his honor.

William T. Holser, Geology emeritus, died Dec. 25 of complications of Parkinson’s disease. Holser, 79, earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the California Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. He joining the UO faculty in 1970. Memorial contributions maybe made to a charity of one’s choice or to the UO Department of Geological Sciences’ Speakers Fund.