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Faculty salary ranking on rise; board OKs code
of ethics
By
Dan Heuchert
Center
stage at the Board
of Visitor’s quarterly meeting
Oct. 1 and 2 was the diversity report and news of a
major gift, but there was plenty happening further
down the agenda.
Faculty
salary rankings improve U.Va. jumped up six spots in
both the salary and total compensation rankings released
annually by the American Association of Universities.
A
report to the Board of Visitors attributed the improvement
to the board’s decision to supplement state salary
increases with funds from the University’s endowment.
With
an average increase of 4.33 percent, U.Va. moved from
30th to 24th in the salary rankings, jumping over Vanderbilt,
University of California branches at Davis and Santa
Barbara, and the universities of Rochester, Michigan
and Minnesota.
When
all forms of compensation are included, U.Va. moved
from 33rd overall to 27th. Faculty’s total compensation
increased 6.6 percent.
Marcia
Day Childress, chairwoman of the Faculty
Senate, cheered
the news. “I hope this pleases the board and
shows this kind of investment is worthwhile,” she
said.
She
noted, however, that only seven public institutions
were among the top 25 of the salary list.
“It
doesn’t surprise me that the number of public
institutions in the top 25 was so small, because it
reflects the state funding problems that public universities
have faced,” she said. Private universities set
the market, she said, “and that’s who we
are competing against.”
The first five in the salary list are: Harvard, Stanford,
Pennsylvania, California Institute of
Technology and Princeton. The top public
school, California-Berkeley,
checked in at No. 12.
Universitywide
code of ethics passed
Federal
law in the post-Enron era requires that business adopt
certain practices. So why not universities?
That
question was on the minds of board members and Barbara
Deily, the University’s director of audits. The
result? A new, board-approved code of ethics, which
outlines 10 rules for the conduct of University business.
“It
is one of the basic good business practices,” Deily
said. “We probably should have had it all along,
but we never pushed it. … We have a code of honor
for students, but not one for faculty and staff.”
Until the board meeting, that is.
The
University’s new code is essentially a compilation
of existing policies, now written down in one place,
Deily explained.
A draft of the code went before the Audit and Compliance Committee in July.
As a result of board input, Deily added an equal opportunity, nondiscrimination
and harassment clause.
The
code soon will be posted on a Web site and disseminated
to new employees, Deily said.
Health
System development plan laid out A new physical planning
document, adopted by the board, promises to change
the face of the Health System.
The
document, developed by the Office of the University
Architect and presented Oct. 1 to the Buildings and
Grounds committee, lays out a “flexible” plan
for development in the next 15 to 20 years.
The plan was developed with input from a series of workshops held over the
summer, said University Architect David J. Neuman.
Some
of the plan is already under way. A 20,000-square-foot “swing
space,” which will first house the Medical Center’s
core laboratories, is under construction near the corner
of Lee and West Main streets, as is a new 1,000-space
parking facility.
The
completion of the parking structure will allow the
razing of the 330-space parking garage at the corner
of Lee Street and Jefferson Park Avenue, which also
hosts branches of the U.Va. Community Credit Union
and Cavalier Computers.
That
will be replaced by a new clinical cancer center. The
board approved the concept, site and design guidelines
for the building on Oct. 1, and also selected the Zimmer-Gunsul-Franca
Partnership of Washington as the architect for the
project.
Future
plans include a children’s hospital at the southeast
corner of Jefferson Park Avenue and West Main Street;
an addition to McLeod Hall, the home of the School
of Nursing; and a new medical education facility.
Casteen
on charter, Darden dean
In
remarks to the board, University President John T.
Casteen III said a proposal led by U.Va., the College
of William & Mary and Virginia Tech to create “Commonwealth
Chartered Universities” has been fairly well-received
by state legislators.
Under
the proposal, the three universities would agree to
forego some increases in future state funding and to
expand enrollment in exchange for greater operational
autonomy. “We’re not seeing principled
objections to charter,” Casteen said.
He
also gave an update on the search to replace Darden
School dean Robert S. Harris, whose resignation was
announced in September and whose term as dean will
end July 31. A search is under way for his
replacement and is expected to take three to four months.
In
a similar vein, board member John O. “Dubby” Wynne
told the board that the search for a new leader of
the University of Virginia Investment Management Company,
or UVIMCO, may be nearing an end.
“We’re
in the final stages of the search, and it’s been
a long search,” said Wynne, who is leading the
search committee, which is now negotiating a contract
with a candidate.
UVIMCO
has been without a leader since Alice W. Handy stepped
down at the end of 2004.
College
at Wise commended
After
being entertained — and moved — by former
U.Va.-Wise chancellor “Papa” Joe Smiddy,
the board passed a resolution honoring the former Clinch
Valley College on its 50th anniversary.
Smiddy, a folksy biology professor (and part-time banjo player) who was one
of the college’s original faculty members before becoming chancellor,
expressed his gratitude to the college’s parent institution in an often-humorous
speech during the board’s College
at Wise Committee meeting Oct. 1.
But
he turned serious. Referring to coal companies’ sway
over all aspects of life in the region, he said, “You
gave us the first institution that was truly free to
search for the truth.”
Ernie
Ern, the longtime U.Va. faculty member and administrator
who is now serving as interim chancellor in Wise, was
equally effusive in his praise of Smiddy.
“[The
College of Wise] is what it is because of Joe Smiddy — now,
50 years from now, 100 years from now,” he said.
Ern, too, expressed appreciation for the college’s
ties with Charlottesville.
“We’re
proud down there,” he said, “and we hope
and pray you’ll be proud up here, too.”
Remembering
Hereford
The
board passed a memorial resolution in honor of Frank
L. Hereford Jr., the University’s fifth president,
who died Sept. 21.
Expressing
its “profound sorrow,” the resolution stated
that Hereford was “by every measure…a distinguished
and effective President, strengthening and advancing
the excellence of this institution.”
University of Virginia
Code of Ethics & Statement
of Values
1 We perform our public responsibilities, services and activities
ethically, competently, efficiently and honestly, in
keeping with University policy and
applicable law.
2 We expect that all necessary and proper controls safeguarding
public resources are in place and observed, with periodic
auditing of functions and departments by the State Auditor of Public Accounts
and/or the University Auditor who shall report directly to the Board of Visitors’ Audit
and Compliance Committee.
3 While in the service of the University, we conduct ourselves
free
of personal conflicts or appearances of impropriety,
mindful that our exercise of authority
on behalf of
the University has been delegated fundamentally for the public good. Conflicting
interests or influences are promptly disclosed to our superiors and appropriate
steps are undertaken to promote the integrity of University business and
other transactions.
4 We do not accept anything of value offered in consideration
of
performing our public duties,
other than the compensation, benefits and reimbursement of
expenses duly authorized by
the University or
otherwise permitted by law. We do not accept any favor, loan, service,
business or professional
opportunity from anyone knowing (or when it should be known) that it
is offered in order to improperly influence the performance
of our public duties, or when acceptance thereof may reasonably
be perceived
as an impropriety in violation of University policy or state law. University
procurements of goods or services are undertaken only by authorized personnel
and, when competitive principles apply, decisions are made impartially
and objectively in accordance with established policy and state law.
5 We preserve and respect the confidentiality of University records,
including patient and student records. We do
not externally disclose confidential
records or other nonpublic information without appropriate authorization,
and any
confidential record or information we access as a result of our position
or duty is neither
exploited for personal benefit nor misused for any unauthorized purpose.
6 We are committed to the principles of federal and state law
guaranteeing equal
opportunity and nondiscrimination with respect to University services,
programs, activities and employment, and we support an environment
that respects the
rights and opinions of all people which, in the words of our founder,
promote “the
illimitable freedom of the human mind.” Complaints of discrimination, harassment
and retaliation are investigated and when warranted appropriate corrective action
is taken and disciplined in accordance with University policy and applicable
law.
7 Our communications on behalf of the
University with all persons, including
co-employees, clients, customers, patients, students, guests
and vendors, are conducted professionally and with civility.
8 We do not condone dishonesty in any form by anyone, including
misuse of University funds or property, fraud, theft, cheating,
plagiarism
or lying.
We encourage
and
expect reporting of any form of dishonesty, and our managers
and supervisors to appropriately investigate such reports.
We also
expect that the police and/or State Auditor of Public Accounts
will be notified when circumstances reasonably indicate fraud
or theft
of University
funds.
9 We strive for continuous improvement in our performance of
public duties for the University, mindful of the public
cost to our
activities which must be reasonable and appropriately authorized.
10 We bring to the attention of supervisors and managers, the
University auditor or other responsible University
office,
any violation of
these principles
or circumstances reasonably indicating that a violation has
occurred or may occur.
Such reporting in good faith in order to promote the ethical
integrity of operations is
expected and encouraged by the University, and retaliation
by any University employee as a
result against the person making such good faith report shall
be subject to disciplinary
action. We appropriately investigate all such
reports and, when warranted by the facts,
require corrective action and discipline in accordance with
University policy and state law.
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