MINUTES OF THE OCTOBER 19, 2011, BUSINESS MEETING OF THE

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO RETIRED FACULTY ASSOCIATION

The fall meeting of the University of Colorado Retired Faculty Association was held on October 19, 2011, in the University Memorial Center, Boulder Campus, Room 235.

The meeting was called to order by President Norton Steuben at 10:02 AM.

The President read the names of retired faculty members or spouses who had died in the past six months. The following names were read:

E. Parker Fowler, Jr.

David Getches (Law School, Dean)

Nicholas Helburn (Geography)

John D. Hoag (Fine Arts)

Edward Johnstone Machle (Philosophy)

Manning Marable (Ethnic Studies)

Richard (Dick) C. Mockler (Physics)

Raphael (Ray) J. Moses III (Law School and CU Regent)

Max S. Peters (Engineering, Dean)

Courtland Peterson (Law School, Dean)

Genevieve O’Neil Ravenscraft (Accounting)

Brian Ward Ridley (Physics)

Robert Rogers (Philosophy)

Paul Noble Swarzgtrauber (Computer Science)

John Bernard Trumble (Air Force ROTC Air Command)

Irving Weiss (Mathematics)

Kathryn E. Woodruff

The following names of deceased colleagues were added to the list by other attendees:

Martha Jo Sani (Norlin Library)

Wes Blomster (Germanic and Slavic Languages)

Those in attendance observed a moment of silence in memory of the deceased.

The minutes of the meeting of April 20, 2011, were approved.

President Steuben introduced Professor Jerry Peterson, Chair of the Boulder Faculty Assembly (BFA). On behalf of the BFA, Jerry asked retired faculty to consider volunteering to serve on BFA committees. While only faculty with a 50% or more appointment were entitled to vote on BFA committees, retirees could serve as “resource members,” adding their institutional experience and wisdom to BFA deliberations. Further information on the BFA is available on www.colorado.edu/bfa.

Professor Peterson also addressed the group as Chair of the Boulder campus chapter of Phi Beta Kappa (PBK). The honor society was in need of PBK members to help in defining majors eligible for PBK, to help in the selection of students to be awarded with membership in PBK, and to assist in the selection of PBK fellowship winners. He encouraged those interested in working with PBK to contact him.

In his report, President Steuben brought up three matters that need attention and assistance from CURFA members:

* He urged CURFA members to consider volunteering for the outreach program operated by the President’s Office, in which distinguished faculty gave presentations to community groups across the state. Those interested should contact Nort.

* He also encouraged CURFA members to consider volunteering to serve as mentors or tutors of students in need of assistance and, if interested, to contact him.

* Finally, he noted that in the past CURFA had produced a retirement guide for newly-retired faculty. He sought volunteers to assist Vice-President Richard Blade in updating the existing but now outdated retirement guide.

Vice-President Richard Blade discussed several CURFA initiatives in his purview:

* He noted his prior attempts to organize a tour of the UCCS campus and associated retirement facilities that had failed because of insufficient attendance. He continues to be interested and may repeat the attempt in the future.

* He is continuing to pursue a ride sharing program to assist CURFA members to attend CURFA events. If you or anyone you know needs a ride, please contact Richard.

* Richard has agreed to be in charge of updating the CURFA Faculty Retirement Guide. In September he and Gloria Main met with Jill Pollock, Vice-President for Human Resources, and with Gina Trujillo, Director of Benefits, on the matter. Pollock and Trujillo have agreed to provide information on changes in the rules and benefits of retirement so that an updated guide can be made available by the spring.

* Richard is also pursuing the creation of a list of deceased faculty members on the CURFA website, along with links to their obituaries. He will create and maintain the database and Neil Ashby will put the materials on the CURFA website.

In discussion of the last item, Marc Swadener (who provides Richard with obituaries published in the Boulder Camera), urged CURFA members to inform him of the deaths and obituaries of members that might not appear in the Boulder newspaper.

Treasurer Gloria Main reported good news: that CURFA is and will continue to be solvent, at least in the foreseeable future. Annual Association expenses (excluding luncheons) in 2010-2011 were $6,703.97; income was $11,315 ($3,815 in dues, $7,500 from the President’s Office). Luncheon costs were $2,318, luncheon receipts $2,355.

As of October 19, 2011, assets in bank accounts totaled $22,436.98. Gloria expressed the gratitude of CURFA to the President’s Office for its generous annual subsidy of CURFA.

Membership Secretary Bill Jones similarly reported good news. Paid dues increased 30% from December 2010 to October 2011 (from 174 to 234), including a 100% increase in members from the UCB and UCCS campuses. When asked if the shift in the due date of dues had helped in increasing dues payment, Bill stated that it hoped it had.

Ombudsperson Lee Potts reported on two matters:

* Retired faculty who may have or who may want to have a part-time appointment on campus can hold an appointment up to 49% and still keep his/her retiree benefits. A retiree with such an appointment can occasionally do other paid work on campus without increasing the retired faculty’s appointment percentage, as long as this additional work is not attached to an “appointment” or “position;” such work is compensated through an “additional pay form.”

* Lee now has a list of contacts, in addition to the OIT Help Line (303-735-4357 or 5-HELP) who can answer computer-related questions, help with installing or upgrading software, transferring files from old to new computers, etc. If you wish to see the list, contact Lee at PottsL@ionsky.com.

UBAB Representative Stuart Schneck reported the following concerning health matters:

* Enrollment in the Medicare Primary Plan that began on July 1 totaled 670 retirees. An additional 89 retirees with spouses not yet eligible for benefits enrolled in both the Medicare Primary Plan for themselves and in the Lumenos Plan for the younger member of the couple. 392 retirees chose the Alternate Medicare Plan.

* An RFP for a possible new administrative company for our self-insured health plans (currently managed by Anthem) was circulated, responses received, and a decision will be made by the Trust in November.

* Walgreen’s contract with Express Scrips, their pharmacy benefits manager, will expire soon. Undoubtedly Walgreen’s will contract with another firm. Retirees should speak to their Walgreen’s pharmacist to find out what, if anything, they need to do.

* Members should have received a postcard describing the confidential health assessment that is now available for retirees. An iPad 2 is offered in a drawing for those who enroll.

* In 2011 the University of Colorado Hospital was ranked #1 among a consortium of 114 academic (mostly university) hospitals in the U.S. that ranks its members annually on the basis of such criteria as hospital infections, medication errors, length of stay, etc.

* Medicare enrollment started October 15. Medicare A and B premiums will be announced next week. There will be an increase.

Gloria Main, CURFA’s representative to the Personnel Committee of the Faculty Council (FC), described the functions of the Council and discussed various issues under consideration by the body:

* On October 7, Dan Montez of the University’s Office of Policy and Efficiency (OPE) informed the Personnel Committee of OPE’s responsibility of reviewing and updating university administrative policies. An index of all active policy statements, and of policies under review, is available on the OPE website (cu.edu/policies).

* Along with EPUS (Committee of the Faculty Council on Educational Policy and University Standards) and the University’s Counsel Office, the Personnel Committee is engaged in discussions concerning university policy regarding the issue of severance pay for dismissed faculty. After extensive discussion and consultation with the four campuses, the two committees of the Faculty Council have voted to present a motion concerning the issue to the Faculty Council. The Council will consider the motion on October 27 for presentation to the Board of Regents at their meeting in January 2012.

* Gloria is requesting the assistance of the Personnel Committee of the Faculty Council in CUFRA’s ongoing revision of the CURFA Faculty Retirement Guide.

Carl Kisslinger Graduate Student Research Award Chair Sandy Moriarty announced the names of the two winners of the $1,000 Kisslinger Graduate Student Research Awards for 2011-2012. The winners are Daniel Snyder (Ph.D., History, UCB), and Nathaniel Diede, Master’s Psychology (Experimental Track), UCCS.

Sandy also reported that, due to adverse investment conditions in 2011, the Graduate Student Research Award Fund has decreased by $5, 587 (from $62,171 to $57,513) from July 2011 to the fall of 2011.

Regarding Faculty Research Awards, Chuck Howe reported that in 2011 two faculty received $500 fellowships to assist them in their research. Applications for research awards in 2012 will be accepted by the awards committee from January to March 2012, with grantees to be announced in April. Chuck requested those applying for fellowships to send hard copies of their fellowship application directly to him at UCB 483.

Oliver Ellsworth, CURFA liaison to the Faculty Council, reported on the deliberations at the Faculty Council meetings of August and September 2011:

* The “Be Colorado” Wellness Program is now available for all university healthcare participants, including retired faculty on university healthcare plans. It provides health assessments of participants. Records will be held by a third party to insure privacy. The final day of screening on any campus is October 27. For details, see www.becolorado.org.

* In an effort to improve internal communication, the Office of University Relations is collaborating with the FC Communications Committee. This would include improvements to the electronic CU Connections newsletter introduced to replace the Silver and Gold. A possible addition would be a forum or blog where topics that are controversial could be discussed.

* Next week the FC will vote on a proposal for a partial tuition waiver to be provided to faculty dependents.

* Attempts to update the Regents’ law on dismissal for cause are underway. Among provisions under consideration are the deletion of the terms “insubordination” and “moral turpitude” as causes for dismissal, changing “neglect of duty” to “gross or repeated neglect of duty,” and the possibility of one year’s severance pay being provided either in some or in all circumstances of dismissal for cause.

* The time-limited incentive retirement program has now expired. About 50 people took advantage of the program when in effect.

Boulder Faculty Assembly (BFA) liaison Frank Beer announced the memorial service for Mary Jo Sani to be held at the Chautauqua meeting house on Saturday, October 29. Those interested in attending should contact Frank at Beer@Colorado.edu.

* Seconding Jerry Peterson’s remarks, Frank recommended volunteering on BFA committees as a valuable and rewarding form of service.

* The Boulder campus is currently switching to Microsoft Exchange. One complication is that the new system cannot connect to Microsoft 2003 or earlier.

* A quasi-endowment of roughly $600,000 to provide tuition support to enable the children or Boulder campus faculty and staff to attend out-of-state college exists.

* An instructor review process is under review.

* The role of the faculty in the student honor code is also being discussed.

In discussion, Sandy Moriarty reminded faculty that the BFA Library Committee is working with Norlin Library to establish a new work room in Norlin for faculty and retirees. The facility will have locked Carrels in which researchers can secure their materials. Sandy urged CURFA members either to speak to her or to inquire of the Library if they wish to apply.

University of Colorado Health Sciences Center (UCHSC) liaison Bill Marine reported that, at its meeting of September 13, the program consisted of a presentation by representatives from the Center for Integrative Medicine which is to be integrated with the Wellness Center currently under construction. In addition Gina Horton, Acupuncturist, presented her activities.

The annual luncheon meeting will be Tuesday, November 15. Lilly Marks, Chancellor of Anschutz, will give the address.

University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (UCCS) liaison Richard Blade introduced Douglas Swartzendruber, who will replace Richard as the representative of the UCCS Retired Faculty and Staff Association to CURFA.

At September’s semi-annual lunch of the UCCS Retired Faculty and Staff Association that is hosted and paid for by the Office of University Advancement, Chancellor Shockley reviewed the impressive development of the UCCS campus. In addition, the gathering was given a slide show on the new Heller Art Center, a tract of land adjacent to the campus which is intended as an arts center for the UCCS campus.

Jim Jankowski delivered the report of Wes LeMasurier, University of Colorado at Denver (UCD) liaison.

* UCD now has a hockey team. It is the first sports program in UCD history. Operating in the American College Hockey Association, not the NCAA, it receives no funding from the campus and is supported entirely by the students. The team has 20 players, one female. It will play 30 games, beginning with a game versus UCCS at the Pepsi Center from 4:00 to 5:00 on October 20. For more information call Greg Cronin, the faculty sponsor, at 303-556-6036.

* The College of Architecture and Planning is being restructured. When complete, there will by two independent faculties, one each at UCD and UCB, an independent undergraduate and graduate programs on each. This essentially mirrors the changes that took place in Arts and Sciences and other colleges in the 1970s.

There was no old business.

New business:

1. Jim Hester relayed a request from Bill Weber for assistance in transport to CURFA functions. Richard Blade noted that he has been in contract with Bill and did provide transport for him to the September Tea Time.

2. Uriel Nauenberg noted that new retirees no longer receive parking permits within the Boulder campus. Nort Steuben agreed to raise the issue with the Chancellor. Marc Swadener stated that he believed that that parking permits could be acquired through presenting a note from one’s unit chair that the retiree was still doing work at the university.

3. In response to a question as to the meaning of the “transfer account” associated with the student research award account, Sandy Moriarty responded that it was a mechanism for facilitating payment of student research awards.

4. Those assembled offered their congratulations to Chuck Howe and his wife for their receipt of travel award to Cuba in early 2012.

5. Fred Denny noted that the date in the heading of the minutes of the meeting of April 20, 2011, needs to be adjusted from “2010” to “2011.” The minutes stand corrected.

The meeting adjourned at 11:45 AM.

Respectfully submitted

James Jankowski, Secretary