They didn’t come for the cookies or the lemonade.
Instead, a dozen faculty and staff members met with Chancellor Pam Shockley-Zalabak during the noon hour Thursday for a brown bag lunch and the chance to ask the UCCS leader a question or to share an opinion.
The questions ranged from updates on specific bills making their way through the Colorado General Assembly to updates on the strategic planning initiative and the likelihood of an August City of Colorado Springs general election to lease city-owned Memorial Hospital to the University of Colorado Hospital.
Shockley-Zalabak was direct in her responses, part of a thrice-yearly effort to meet with faculty and staff members in a casual, unscripted discussion of the issues foremost on employees’ minds.
“I’ll answer any question to the best of my ability up to and including saying ‘I don’t know but I’ll find out,’” Shockley-Zalabak said.
Shockley-Zalabak was quick in her responses to a question from Krista Farmer, administrative assistant, Admissions Services, about a bill nicknamed “the reverse transfer bill” because it would allow a student who starts at a Colorado community college to apply credit earned at state universities toward an associate’s degree.
“This could very well advantage some students – for example someone who is in the military or who otherwise had to transfer before completing their bachelor’s degree,” Shockley-Zalabak said. “That student is in the position of having enough hours to have an associate’s degree but is empty handed. I will always support the concept of helping students but not if it’s something we can’t implement.”
Shockley-Zalabak said she favored provisions in the bill that would allow students to decide whether to share transcripts between schools and emphasized that only a few students would be affected by the legislation if it passes.
Others were interested in legislation that would give universities the option of providing multi-year employment contracts to instructors as a way of providing additional job security. Shockley-Zalabak said she expected the bill to pass.
Shockley-Zalabak also contrasted improved state revenue forecasts with recent negative publicity about salary raises at CU Boulder.
“This is the first time since I’ve been chancellor that the March revenue report was actually good news,”she said before explaining that Gov. John Hickenlooper’s desire to reduce cuts to education was likely to face strong opposition from legislators who want to reduce taxes on seniors.
“It’s going to be a battle,” Shockley-Zalabak said.
She predicted important discussions before the CU Board of Regents when CU campus leaders bring forward tuition plans as well as salary increases at April 18 and 19 meetings.
A draft of a new strategic plan for UCCS will also go before the CU Regents in April, something that Shockley-Zalabak took time to emphasize and to thank those who participated, noting more than 3,000 comments were gathered during fall and spring semesters. An update on the campus strategic planning effort is available at https://communique.uccs.edu/?p=6468. Characteristically, Shockley-Zalabak was upbeat about progress, citing strong application numbers for fall enrollment, an April groundbreaking for new student housing, a June groundbreaking for the Lane Center for Academic Health Sciences, and the likely August general election question of Memorial Hospital being leased to UCH as examples of forward movement and opportunity.
“I’m feeling confident – not without worry and without knowing there are challenges ahead – but confident about the university’s future,” Shockley-Zalabak said.
Leave a Reply