AHC F&P Committee Meeting

March 24, 2005

AHC FINANCE AND PLANNING COMMITTEE

Minutes of the Meeting

These minutes reflect discussion and debate at a meeting of a subcommittee of the AHC Faculty Consultative Committee; none of the comments, conclusions, or actions reported in these minutes represent the views of, nor are they binding on, the Senate or Assembly, the Administration, or the Board of Regents.

PRESENT: Dan Feeney (chair), Beth Nunnally, Lynda Young, Joan Liaschenko, Kathryn Dusenbery

REGRETS: Tim Church, Thomas Shier

[In these minutes: discussion of the updated financial comparisons report, including salient points for the report’s cover letter, progress of the report’s status, and the future direction of the report.]

Professor Feeney called the meeting to order at 4:30 p.m.

The committee spent a considerable amount of time discussing the progress of the revised financial comparisons report that it has been working on over the past several months. The committee agreed to send the first draft to Senior Vice President Cerra for information.

Committee members had an off-the-record discussion about fringe benefits, the status of the report, and how to proceed. The committee discussed the timing of the report in relation to the University’s strategic positioning report, as well as in relation to the report of the internal budget model working group. It was agreed that Professor Feeney will send a letter to Richard Pfutzenreuter, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, and to Carol Carrier, Vice President of Human Resources, to get a sense of timing and of how the committee should move forward.

Members reviewed a draft copy of a cover letter from the last financial comparisons report (FY 2000), and discussed appropriate changes. It was agreed that the updated data be prepared by the AHC’s financial office. Committee members requested that data from both reports are reviewed to ensure that inclusions and exclusions in data categories are consistent. This will ensure that comparisons drawn between FY2000 and FY2004 are equivalent comparisons.

The committee also decided to narrow the focus of the cover letter, pulling the main points from the report and constructing the cover letter around those key messages. It was agreed that a summary of the data be included in the cover letter, with references to numbered/labeled tables and figures in the report.

Professor Feeney recommended that, at the next meeting, the committee develop bullet points to ensure that the most important messages from the data are clearly conveyed. Beth Nunnelly will draft a cover letter, which the committee can use as a starting point.

The goal of the committee is to have a completed report by the end of April.

Committee members decided to table the discussion about the University data on space costs. This will be discussed at an upcoming meeting.

Hearing no further business, Professor Feeney adjourned the meeting at 6:00 p.m.

Rebecca Wienbar

University Senate Office