April 27, 2012
University Planning Council
Minutes for April 27, 2012
Present: Buffy Bagwell, Jeff Brown, Jane Fernandes, Catherine Frank, Eric Gant, Katja Greeson, Archer Gravely, Bill Haggard, Julie Heinitsh, Gregg Kormanik, Erica Abrams Locklear, Ted Meigs, Patrice Mitchell, Kevin Moorhead, Dave Peifer, John Pierce, Anne Ponder, Christine Riley, Robert Straub
Absent: Keller Berry, Melissa Burchard
Guests: Debbie Griffith, Herman Holt, Janet Cone
UPC met from 3:45 to 4:55 in Highsmith Union Room 223.
1. Chancellor Ponder convened the meeting and provided a sustainability update. She thanked the faculty for all their extra work in teaching more classes this year for the benefit of students. Upcoming social events include the final faculty meeting and retiree reception on Monday, a reception to recognize SACS and QEP participants also on Monday, Commencement on Saturday, and the Faculty/Staff end of year reception the following Tuesday at Pisgah House.
Chancellor Ponder reported that Dr. Frank had a wonderful interview with President Friday on UNC-TV about the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. She also indicated that UPC will learn about the Center for Creative Retirement's very effective strategic planning process next Fall.
After a successful NCAA recertification effort, we are moving forward on improving gender equity. We have hired a women's swimming team coach and will field a team next year. Ms. Cone is serving on a GA committee to update the UNC Board of Governor's best practices on developing athletic coach employment contracts, and it's likely that our women's and men's basketball coaches will have performance measures specified in their contracts for the upcoming year.
Chancellor Ponder spoke about the student death that occurred in the residence halls last week and confirmed that it was due to natural causes related to a previous health condition.
Dr. Haggard reported that we had just been notified of a severe increase in the cost of mandatory student health insurance required by UNC-General Administration. Students who do not have other medical coverage are required to purchase the UNC system health insurance plan which will increase from $729 per year to $1,404 in 2012-13. He noted further that this 93% increase far exceeds our recent tuition increases. These additional costs will be the same for all UNC campuses.
Chancellor Ponder informed UPC that five state legislators visited our campus earlier today. As part of their tour, they visited with Dr. Meigs in his lab and were most impressed with our work with students.
2. Chancellor Ponder announced that UNC Asheville was recently awarded, among 11,000 submissions, a Bronze Telly award for our 30-second video promotional clip that was introduced during the basketball tournament. Ms. Griffith and Dr. Mitchell were thanked for their efforts. Ms. Griffith gave a presentation on our new, research-based branding platform and marketing strategy and where we are in the implementation phase. UNC Asheville's brand message platform is Seriously Creative supported with four sub-messages:
- Closely collaborative
- Refreshingly smart
- Powerfully engaged
- Amazingly affordable
To support branding and marketing efforts, we have developed an online branding manual, created newsletters for alumni and state legislators, and obtained billboard space in Charlotte, the Greater Asheville area, and the Asheville Airport. For the cable TV market, we have bought 656 spots on nine networks in six NC areas for a total of 1M impressions. Ms. Griffith reported that we need to put more effort into social media. For example, we have plans to hold a contest for students to produce a YouTube video showing how students are 'seriously creative' at UNC Asheville.
4. The discussion of the Strategic Plan Dashboard was deferred until the next meeting. UPC will have one more meeting this year on May 10th that will include both new and departing members.