Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Attendance: Jane Evans (Chair), Lois Millner (Vice Chair), Bob Aiken (CST), Bonnie Averbach (SBM), Sally Harrison (Tyler), Diane Maleson (Law), Ira Shapiro (STHM), Karen Turner (SCT), Jeff Solow (BCMD), Maxine Chisholm (Coord) and Joyce A. Joyce (Editor).
1. Call to Order:
The meeting was called to order at l2:50.
2. Approval of Minutes:
The minutes of September 6, 2005 were accepted as amended.
3. President's Report:
Evans reported on the long discussions that the EPPC had regarding the Honors Program. She explained that the committee was generally very enthusiastic about the proposed changes, but there were serious and complicated matters that the committee wished to further discuss with Jones. Most of these concerns had been raised by members of the Fox School, which has had in place a strong honors program. But considerations were also raised from members of CST. Unfortunately, the timing was such that Jones could not present the proposal to the Trustees' Academic Affairs Committee in their September meeting. Maleson asked if other successful honors programs at large state-funded universities had been used as a model, and Evans noted that Jones had indeed done research on several programs, especially that at the University of Arizona. Solow then asked about the problem of exit requirements and suggested an alternative. Evans agreed that the exit requirement seems to be the area of the document most in need of revision. Millner expressed disquiet at the problems of staffing upper-level Honors classes and the solution implied in the document that Honors student should be taught in non-Honors classes but given more work. Evans noted that the same disquiet had been expressed in EPPC.
Evans then announced that President Adamany will visit the FSSC, at our invitation, on the 20th. It was agreed that Evans would ask Bonnie Brennan (Vice Provost for Faculty) to reschedule, since we had already invited her to talk with us on that date. We then discussed some of the issues we would like to raise with Adamany.
Finally, Evans informed the FSSC that she had been informed by Brennan that the President and Provost felt that since the Promotion and Tenure Committee was mandated by the new TAUP contract, they were discontinuing the stipend for that committee, nor were they prepared to offer course releases for serving on the committee. After discussions with Millner, Brennan, and Bill Cutler (TAUP) over the previous two weeks, she suggested (with Millner) that the Study Leaves Committee be made responsible for Summer Research Fellowship and Grant in Aid applications. Since the formation of the two committees - although technically mandated by the TAUP contract – was cumbersome, and since the TAUP leadership and the Provost's office was amenable, we decided to combine the former SRF/GiA and with the TAUP-mandated Study Leaves Committee.
4. Vice-President's Report:
Millner informed the committee that after she had posted a call for the FSSC for clarification for applications from the Medical School, which does not participate in this process, and the FSSC agreed with her that any applicants from the Medical School should be asked to serve on a more appropriate committee. As for other committee matters, she noted the UDC administrator was contacted with further names, that she had forwarded name for the International Committee, reminded Alex Holzman (Temple University Press) about the Senate committee for the Press, and noted for the FSSC which vacancies will be posted on the listserv this week. Elections should be held at the end of September, or the very beginning of October.
5. Old Business:
The FSSC briefly discussed the issue of pretenure dismissal, which is not covered in the TAUP contract. We also briefly discussed the issue of departmental chairs; it appeared from the discussion that only CST had appointed chairs according to the rules mandated by the TAUP guidelines. All other schools reported varying methods.
6. New Business:
An application for the Director of the General Education Program was discussed, but tabled in order to gather more information. Also - by email after the meeting, the agenda for the Representative Senate meeting for September 19 was approved.
7. Adjournment:
The meeting was adjourned at 2:30.
Respectfully submitted, Jane Evans
