The new University of Iowa president is supporting a "faculty vitality" proposal that, if backed by state lawmakers, would provide $4.5 million for recruiting new faculty and increasing salaries of tenure-track faculty.
Johnson County lawmakers said tying funding requests directly to faculty initiatives is a hard sell among their colleagues in a normal legislative session. But Bruce Harreld's status as a new president, they said, might make the proposal possible as part of the state's overall allocation to the Iowa Board of Regents.
"Rightly or wrongly, there are a lot of lawmakers out there that are upset with the university faculty for their reaction to the new president," said Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, R-Wilton. "But if Bruce is willing to go all in and make the case for the faculty ... he will be met with open ears."
During the 2015 legislative session, Kaufmann joined with his Democratic colleagues from Johnson County in successfully opposing a new funding formula approved by the regents. The formula called for more directly tying a public university's allocation of state money to the school's resident student population. The formula, if approved, would have reallocated money from UI, which has a higher percentage of out-of-state students, to Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa.
The regents have not included the funding formula in discussions of the funding request for next year. They instead have approved asking lawmakers for an 8.1 percent increase in the general education funding for UNI, a 4.5 percent increase for ISU and a 1.9 percent increase for UI.
The proposed increase for UI, which amounts to $4.5 million, came as a last-minute addition to the regents' Sept. 9 meeting and didn't include information about how UI would use the money. UI officials said the university is offering the "faculty vitality proposal" as an explanation to state lawmakers and the governor for why that additional money is needed. The proposal has yet to come before the regents.
"The University of Iowa has many talented teachers, researchers, clinicians, artists, and scholars," the proposal states. "But in recent years due to financial constraints the number of tenure-track faculty has dropped and the average salary has fallen behind our peers. Competitive salaries and appropriate faculty numbers are vital to our long-term success."
If approved by the regents, lawmakers and the governor, the additional money would be used for efforts to increase salaries for highly productive UI tenure-track faculty members whose salaries have not kept up with their peers at other institutions. The money also would be used to recruit new faculty "in key areas of excellence on campus, with an emphasis on the multidisciplinary cluster hiring initiative that focuses on many of the 'grand challenges' of the 21st Century."
In an interview with the Iowa City Press-Citizen last month, Harreld noted data from US News and World Report and other sources show a potential link between UI's overall ranking as an institution and its ranking in terms of faculty pay.
“Are those correlated? I don’t know, but it seems interesting,” Harreld said. “… You see that in the data, and you kind of say, ‘Maybe there is a real tension here.’
Kaufmann said he was generally predisposed to support any new money for UI, but he added he couldn't fully back any funding request until the university makes its full case.
"I can't blindly support such a proposal in a year when ag prices are down," Kaufmann said.
Bob Dvorsky, a Coralville Democrat who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, said it is unusual for the regents' general fund request to include any overly detailed account of how an individual university will use the money. But he agreed that some of his colleagues may more receptive to such a specific request from Harreld than they would have been to a similar request from his predecessors.
"There seems to be more support for the new president outside of Johnson County than inside," Dvorksy said.
The UI Faculty Senate issued a "no confidence" vote against regents shortly after Harreld's hire last month, citing overwhelming concerns on campus about Harreld's qualifications for the job. Information released since Harreld's hire has shown that the former IBM executive had more access to regents and members of the UI Presidential Search and Screen Committee than did the other three finalists for the job.
Hundreds of protesters gathered Monday on the UI pentacrest and called for Harreld to resign on his first official day on the job.
http://www.press-citizen.com/story/...ty-proposal-may-hard-sell-lawmakers/75299360/
Johnson County lawmakers said tying funding requests directly to faculty initiatives is a hard sell among their colleagues in a normal legislative session. But Bruce Harreld's status as a new president, they said, might make the proposal possible as part of the state's overall allocation to the Iowa Board of Regents.
"Rightly or wrongly, there are a lot of lawmakers out there that are upset with the university faculty for their reaction to the new president," said Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, R-Wilton. "But if Bruce is willing to go all in and make the case for the faculty ... he will be met with open ears."
During the 2015 legislative session, Kaufmann joined with his Democratic colleagues from Johnson County in successfully opposing a new funding formula approved by the regents. The formula called for more directly tying a public university's allocation of state money to the school's resident student population. The formula, if approved, would have reallocated money from UI, which has a higher percentage of out-of-state students, to Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa.
The regents have not included the funding formula in discussions of the funding request for next year. They instead have approved asking lawmakers for an 8.1 percent increase in the general education funding for UNI, a 4.5 percent increase for ISU and a 1.9 percent increase for UI.
The proposed increase for UI, which amounts to $4.5 million, came as a last-minute addition to the regents' Sept. 9 meeting and didn't include information about how UI would use the money. UI officials said the university is offering the "faculty vitality proposal" as an explanation to state lawmakers and the governor for why that additional money is needed. The proposal has yet to come before the regents.
"The University of Iowa has many talented teachers, researchers, clinicians, artists, and scholars," the proposal states. "But in recent years due to financial constraints the number of tenure-track faculty has dropped and the average salary has fallen behind our peers. Competitive salaries and appropriate faculty numbers are vital to our long-term success."
If approved by the regents, lawmakers and the governor, the additional money would be used for efforts to increase salaries for highly productive UI tenure-track faculty members whose salaries have not kept up with their peers at other institutions. The money also would be used to recruit new faculty "in key areas of excellence on campus, with an emphasis on the multidisciplinary cluster hiring initiative that focuses on many of the 'grand challenges' of the 21st Century."
In an interview with the Iowa City Press-Citizen last month, Harreld noted data from US News and World Report and other sources show a potential link between UI's overall ranking as an institution and its ranking in terms of faculty pay.
“Are those correlated? I don’t know, but it seems interesting,” Harreld said. “… You see that in the data, and you kind of say, ‘Maybe there is a real tension here.’
Kaufmann said he was generally predisposed to support any new money for UI, but he added he couldn't fully back any funding request until the university makes its full case.
"I can't blindly support such a proposal in a year when ag prices are down," Kaufmann said.
Bob Dvorsky, a Coralville Democrat who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, said it is unusual for the regents' general fund request to include any overly detailed account of how an individual university will use the money. But he agreed that some of his colleagues may more receptive to such a specific request from Harreld than they would have been to a similar request from his predecessors.
"There seems to be more support for the new president outside of Johnson County than inside," Dvorksy said.
The UI Faculty Senate issued a "no confidence" vote against regents shortly after Harreld's hire last month, citing overwhelming concerns on campus about Harreld's qualifications for the job. Information released since Harreld's hire has shown that the former IBM executive had more access to regents and members of the UI Presidential Search and Screen Committee than did the other three finalists for the job.
Hundreds of protesters gathered Monday on the UI pentacrest and called for Harreld to resign on his first official day on the job.
http://www.press-citizen.com/story/...ty-proposal-may-hard-sell-lawmakers/75299360/
