Bloomberg School of Public Health
Advisory Board Meeting Minutes
Thursday, November 29, 2001 / 3 p.m. / 854th Meeting

Members Absent: Drs. William Brody, Robert Black, John Groopman, Robert Lawrence, Edward Miller, Noel Rose, Donald Steinwachs, and James Yager.

Guests: Drs. Sharon Krag and Cecile Pickart; Msrrs. Herbert Hansen and David Kisielewski; and Mss Katharine Brophy and Frances Hummell.

Meeting Convened: Provost Knapp convened the meeting at 3:00 p.m.

Approval of the Minutes: Minutes of the 853rd meeting on October 18, 2001 were approved.

Remarks by the Provost

Dr. Knapp welcomed Dr. William Eaton, interim chair of the Department of Mental Hygiene, to the Advisory Board.

The University continues to search for the dean of the Nitze School of Advanced International Studies. A second round of interviews is now being conducted. Dr. Yager serves on the search committee for the dean of the School of Nursing. Dr. Knapp thanked the Bloomberg School of Public Health for providing facilities for the search committee to review candidate CVs. No interviews have been conducted yet, while the search committee reviews a number of features of the School of Nursing. A search for the dean of the University Libraries has also begun.

Dr. Knapp reported that there has been a great deal of activity across the University following the September 11 attack and subsequent anthrax outbreak. Dr. Roca, director of the Applied Physics Laboratory, chairs a JHU-wide steering committee to foster collaboration among the divisions, and that group's initial focus will be on anthrax-related issues and preparation for handling mass casualties. Each of the divisions has special strengths in helpful areas.

The University continues to lay the groundwork for the next campaign and is revising case statements based on many helpful comments from faculty and friends. A number of large gifts have already been received that will be counted towards the campaign.

The JHU Presidential Medal was recently given to Governor Glendenning in recognition of his support of higher education in Maryland. The Advisory Board then discussed the status of State funds that support higher education.

Remarks by the Dean

Dean Sommer remarked that the BSPH Terrorism initiative is moving ahead quickly, and a number of activities have already taken place, including an excellent symposium on anthrax and publication of a special edition of the Public Health magazine. We have received positive feedback from alumni, community members and friends of the School. Dr. Tara O'Toole is now director of the Center for Civilian Biodefense Strategies, and Dr. Henderson is at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as "Director of Public Health Preparedness."

Dr. Sommer referred to a letter he had circulated from Drs. Stan Becker and Carl Taylor regarding large numbers of internal refugees among the people of Afghanistan, and a related request from UNICEF for candidates to serve in the humanitarian efforts there.

Dr. Sommer reported on his meeting with Dr. Myron (Mike) Weisfeldt, new chair of the Department of Medicine, who is interested in genetics and prevention activities. Dr. Sommer noted that a great deal of collaboration between the BSPH and the Department of Medicine already exists, principally but not exclusively through the Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology and Clinical Research, and that Dr. Weisfeldt will be in contact with BSPH faculty to explore new areas of synergy and collaboration.

Dr. Sommer is serving in a temporary capacity through early January 2002 on New York Mayor-elect Bloomberg's health transition team. The team will make suggestions to the Mayor of candidates for the 3 or 4 major health-related positions in New York.

Dr. Sommer congratulated Mr. Linehan on the quality and design of BSPH space at the Candler Building. Mr. Hansen noted that the School presently rents 100,000 square feet in the Candler Building, which is approximately the size of Hampton House.

Report of the Faculty Senate

Dr. Links commented that the Faculty Senate identified 8 major goals of the Strategic Plan in which the Senate was prepared to be active. The Senate is now working on developing recommendations for 4 of those goals, principally around educational issues.

Other items

MHS Program in Demography - for vote

The Advisory Board voted to approve the new MHS program in Demography that will be offered by the Department of Population and Family Health Sciences.

TAM Adjustments

Mr. Hansen commented that the Tuition Allocation Method (TAM) that provides a transparent mechanism for allocating tuition dollars began in 1994-95 and has been modestly modified over the years. Recently, the department chairs were asked to suggest additional changes in the present system. The major issue raised by the chairs was the 2-year lag between tuition collection and tuition allocation. Mr. Hansen and his staff then developed alternative scenarios with a cost-of-living adjustment and have arrived at a new formula that would include a 2.5% cost-of-living adjustment added in next year, and an additional 2.5% the following year.

Mr. Hansen noted that TAM is one part of the general funds allocation, while endowment and the F&A components make up the other part. He commented that $17.6 M was allocated to departments in the 2001-02 fiscal year, and that approximately $20 M will be allocated in 2002-03, including the proposed cost-of-living adjustment. As soon as the F&A component of the 2002-03 allocation is known, Mr. Hansen will forward the allocation information to the department chairs, within 4-5 weeks.

Bloomberg SPH Financial Reporting System

Mr. David Kisielewski and Mss Katharine Brophy and Frances Hummell joined the Advisory Board. Mr. Hansen reported that the School's budget has more than doubled in the past 10 years, and that a number of individual budget systems have been automated during that time. The departments and central administration of the School have needed a coordinated budget and financial reporting system that brings together financial information from multiple University-wide databases. Mr. Hansen assembled some of his staff, staff from the Office of Information Systems, and several department administrators to design an efficient system that can be accessed by the departments and at the same time be selectively secure.

Mr. Kisielewski of the BSPH Office of Information Systems reviewed the design of the new "Financial Reporting System"(FRS) and demonstrated a number of features. Thus far, one year of data has been loaded and by March 2002, the system will hold 5 years of fiscal data. Mr. Kisielewski commented that the FRS has been developed for financial analysis, ad hoc reporting, and as an analytical tool. Sponsored accounts, payroll, CUFS and other University-wide databases are downloaded into the School's FRS database.

Mr. Hansen noted that many of the functions demonstrated presently can be accomplished individually with the standard University systems, however, the FRS combines all the University data and is far more efficient and user-friendly. Department administrators have already been trained to use the FRS and it will be demonstrated to other divisions of the University.

The Advisory Board congratulated Mr. Hansen and his staff on this important initiative.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 4:35 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Robin Fox

© 2002 The Johns Hopkins University. Baltimore, Maryland. All rights reserved.
Last updated 28Jan02 by dgips@jhu.edu