Arizona Board of Regents-August 2006 Retreat Minutes

A retreat of the Arizona Board of Regents was held August 10, 2006, in the Cochise Room, Memorial Union at Arizona State University. Regent Bulla called the meeting to order at 9:32 a.m. on Thursday, August 10, 2006

Present:	Regent Fred Boice Regent Robert Bulla Regent Ernest Calderón Regent Dennis DeConcini Regent Edward Hermes Regent Jack Jewett Regent Christina Palacios Regent Gary Stuart Regent Mary Venezia
Absent:	Governor Janet Napolitano Superintendent Tom Horne Regent Anne Mariucci

Also present were: President John Haeger, Dr. M. J. McMahon, Dr. Elizabeth Grobsmith, Mr. Rich Bowen and Ms. Christy Farley, Northern Arizona University; President Robert Shelton, Dr. George Davis, Ms. Judith Leonard, Mr. Joel Valdez, and Ms. Edith Auslander, University of Arizona; President Michael Crow, Ms. Carol Campbell, and Dr. Christine Wilkinson, Arizona State University; Executive Director Joel Sideman, Secretary to the Board Peggy Martin, Dr. Art Ashton, Mr. Michael Hunter, Ms. Cathy McGonigle, Ms. Kathy Bedard, Ms. Stella Galaviz, Ms. Nancy Tribbensee, and Ms. Anne Barton, Central Office.

Regent Bulla stated that he wanted to reinforce that the Enterprise Model is not new. The universities have been moving in this direction for years, and this is a long process. He also wanted to emphasis that state funding is very important to the universities. He stated that he was very pleased with what the Governor and the legislature did for the universities this year. The universities need state funding to continue offering great products and services.

Regent Bulla then stated that today President Shelton was going to present what the Enterprise Model means for the University of Arizona. Next, the university Presidents will be presenting the accountability and oversight reports that that each uses or plans to use to support this expanding, complex, dynamic and evolving enterprise model.

Regent Bulla stated that at the June retreat, the Board talked about the ways in which it could improve how it carries out its responsibility of oversight. A list of possible process improvements was sent out and will be discussed for possible inclusion in the ABOR Action Plan.

Regent Bulla then stated that the final order of business today would be a discussion regarding the suggested plans for use of over-realized Technology and Research Initiative Fund (TRIF) revenue.

President Shelton then discussed what the enterprise model means to the University of Arizona. He stated that the enterprise model is a more highly evolved organization. Compared to agency-oriented universities, the enterprise institution’s charter in the community is more robust; its goals for improving society are more ambitious, its funding streams are more diversified, and its operations are thickly woven with multiple, often complex internal and external partnerships. He indicated that he had chosen to present on four areas where the enterprise model is used and the focus of his remarks was on people.

The first area is instruction (the exchange and refining of knowledge). Students have to be active in learning. The university needs to make certain that students graduate and continue on. The university needs more money to provide access and compete for federal dollars. The university needs to recruit diverse students, support them while they are on campus, and graduate them and keep them in Arizona. Those are ways to measure how the university is doing, but it can be complex. We need to ask, are we recruiting a diverse mix of talented students? Are we supporting them and providing an unparalleled educational experience? Do they graduate and stay in Arizona?

The second area is research or scholarship (the creation of knowledge) which brings in the largest amount of funding. Measuring the outcome is difficult. You could measure outcome by finding out how many graduates there were and where they went and how they were doing. Measuring grants and contracts would get more complicated. The university needs to form more partnerships. The university also needs to attract and educate a diverse team of scientists.

Area number three is outreach (the sharing of knowledge). The university needs to look and see if they are aiding the business sector and are they working with other educational institutions and what the outcomes of those projects are. How are we translating our research and instruction into benefits to the communities we serve? President Shelton stated that in an enterprise model you need to have better outreach to younger students and their families. He stated that the university has to see how it is doing in bringing financial aid to bear to improve access.

Area number four is infrastructure (the enabler of the first three). The staff is partners with faculty and students. President Shelton stated that one of the issues regarding infrastructure is the cost of utilities. The university is growing in size, but the budget for utilities is not growing. The staff is very creative in saving in this area. They strive to be more energy efficient, use reclaimed water, etc.

President Shelton stated that this is a competitive world. The university must earn support from faculty, students, staff and the community. The university must be goal oriented, not process oriented and they need a better way to measure outcomes. The university must find a unique identity. The university will reach its goals through commitment and discipline.

Regent Calderón said that he was concerned about human capital. When looking at the University of Arizona statistics regarding diversity, it appears to him that a disproportionate number of people of color are leaving the university. President Shelton responded that he felt that chart was an incorrect comparison. He believed that he needed to compare the available population, not just overall population, but that Regent Calderón’s concern was well placed. The talent pool for minorities is small. The university needs to do more to increase the size of the talent pools for minorities.

Regent Bulla then gave each president an opportunity to present their accountability and oversight reports that they use or plan to use to support the enterprise model. As each president presented his report, written materials were distributed to the Regents. President Crow gave an overview of his reports. President Crow stated that one of ASU major objectives will be to expand research.

President Crow showed a copy of the “dashboard” report that is being designed. It is a way to deal with the oceans of data and determine key performance indicators and make them more accessible. Regent Bulla stated that he would like to review the reports and maybe he would get new insight into items that would be more meaningful to the Board. Regent Stuart requested that as ASU designs its dashboard system, it consider the type of information that will be useful to the Regents.

President Haeger gave an overview of his reports. He reminded the Board that NAU is fundamentally different from ASU or the UA. It is mission driven. President Haeger stated that he believes the university is working hard to increase its investments in the infrastructure.

Regent Bulla thanked the presidents and their staff for the fine work that went into preparing these presentations.

Regent Bulla stated that at the June retreat the Board talked about ways in which the Board could improve how it carries out its oversight responsibilities. This is now an opportunity for the Board to discuss the suggested possible process improvements. These items will be added to the 2006-2007 ABOR Action Plan which will come to the Board for approval in September.

Regent Boice stated that he would like to have a periodic report, outlining how and whether capital expenditures align with what was projected for that particular project. He also would like to have more detailed information on buildings, including items such as asset value, maintenance requirements, etc.

Regent Palacios stated that she plans to pursue a long-term strategic plan related to system-wide coordination of IT systems to include appropriate measures.

Regent Calderón asked that the Board support both increases in need-based financial aid and a work study program. Further, with respect to tuition setting, Regent Calderón stated that he would like to conduct additional outreach to gain feedback on tuition rates and asked the Regents and presidents for their thoughts.

Regent Bulla stated that he was interested in a multi-year plan for moving university system salaries to market.

Regent Stuart suggested that we change the name of the Ad Hoc Finance Committee to the Finance Committee. Regent Bulla agreed to the change.

Regent Bulla stated that he would work with staff to discuss deliverables, timelines, and costs involved with the proposed process improvements.

Regent Bulla then stated that the next order of business was the use of over-realized TRIF Revenue. He stated that this was an opportunity to discuss suggested plans for the use of the over-realized TRIF funds.

President Shelton stated that he had three items he believed should be funded from the over-realized TRIF revenue. The items were Accelerated Planning for Arizona Biomedical Collaborative 2 Building (ABC-2), the Medical Education Building, and PBC (one time funding), $750,000; UA expenses regarding Phoenix Biomedical Campus, $2,645,000; and the Arizona Clinical and Translational Research & Educational Consortium, $1,000,000.

President Crow stated that he had four items he believed should be funded from the over-realized TRIF revenue. The items were the Planning for Arizona Biomedical Consortium (ABC) & Phoenix Biomedical Campus, $750,000; the UA-ASU Joint Biomedical Research Fund, $500,000; Biomedical Informatics $1,000,000; and Biodesign Institute, $2,078,664.

President Haeger said that he had two items that he felt needed to be addressed with the over-realized TRIF revenue. He stated that his items were Allied Health Program expansion, $1,000,000; and statewide expansion, $1,300,000.

Regent Bulla then stated that he was excited that ASU, UA and NAU agreed that planning for the acceleration of ABC and the Phoenix Biomedical Campus was a priority and that he hoped that the Board would vote today to fund that process and then hopefully bring the other items back to the Board in September. Regent Bulla indicated his intent to make a motion during the regular meeting this afternoon that the Board allocate $1.5 million of over-realized TRIF revenue to support a planning process for the expansion of the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix, subject to the presidents of the University of Arizona and Arizona State University submitting to the President of the Board of Regents, for review and approval, a joint planning proposal that includes the scope of the needed planning process for the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix capital facilities, a structure for that planning process that includes President Shelton and President Crow participating as co-chairs, and that directs this funding be allocated to the University of Arizona for administration.

Regent Boice said that he applauded the efforts of the presidents, but he was a little concerned about 5-year initiatives being funded with one-year money commitments.

Regent Bulla then stated that the Arizona university system is rapidly evolving as it moves toward an enterprise model through the Changing Directions and Redesign initiatives and this Board is evolving to insure that its governance responsibilities are meeting the demands of this changing environment. The Board has substantially improved its model for planning, reviewing and approving university initiatives in recent years and as a result of this retreat and a lot of hard work in the future, the members of this Board are ensuring that the universities and the Board have the appropriate level of information to carry out their respective managerial and governance responsibilities.

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