Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Attendance:
Robert Aiken (Pres.), Paul LaFollette (Secretary), Bonnie Averbach (FSBM), David Baron (Med), Jon Clark (TYL), Joan Delalic (ENGR), Margaret Devinney (CLA), Pauline Hurley-Kurtz (AMBL), Luke Kahlich (BCMD), Diane Maleson (Law), Bernie Newman (SSA), Ira Shapiro (STHM), Joan Shapiro (EDUC), Joel Sheffield (CST), Roberta Sloan (SCT), Roy Stevens (Dent)
1. Call to Order:
The meeting was called to order at 1:10 PM.
2. Guest: Provost Lisa:
The Workgroups for the academic planning initiative have been furiously working. They had an opportunity to meet with faculty last Friday.
Their reports will be due on March 1.
Over 80 seed grant proposals have been received; 16 will be funded.
The Provost is working on finding ways of redefining the titles and roles of NTT faculty.
There was a discussion about the role deans should play in collegial assembly meetings. A major consideration was how to provide a safe environment on those occasions in which faculty want to hold discussions and might feel intimidated by the presence of the dean or his/her staff. The provost will think more about this issue.
CATA has received 16 nominations for people to serve on the advisory committee for selecting a Senior Vice Provost for Faculty Development and Affairs.
As soon as Peter Jones' committee on the CATES gives its report, the faculty senate will be given an opportunity to get involved in looking at the CATES both in terms of content and in terms of how CATES' data are to be used.
Baron mentioned that he has seen announcements of potentially interesting interdisciplinary research funding and wonders who would be responsible for coordinating such efforts. It was suggested that he contact the new Vice President for research.
3. Guest Roland Williams -- chair of the Committee on the Status of Faculty of Color.
Williams presented the work his committee has been doing beginning with the observation that faculty of color have too few mentors, too much service, and too little collegiality. He discussed how these facts can and should be addressed.
He announced that there is a library seminar series called Chat in the Stacks which meets on Thursdays at 2:30.
He suggests that we try to get more representation of faculty of color on senate and other committees.
Sloan proposed that a fund be set aside, as it is at other universities, for spousal hires. We don't have such a fund, and it has been found useful elsewhere in helping recruitment of minorities.
I. Shapiro asked how the office of multi-cultural affairs fits in. This prompted significant discussion which concluded that this office should be administered by the Provost's office rather than by HR where it currently resides.
J. Shapiro suggested that retention is as much an issue as recruitment.
4. President's Report (Aiken):
Aiken received a note from last week’s guest apologizing that she missed our meeting because she was ill.
He thanked everyone who sent him copies of their colleges' by-laws.
5. Approval of Minutes:
The minutes of the previous meeting were approved as distributed.
An agenda was developed for next Monday's Senate meeting.
The motion proposed by LaFollette to change the membership requirements for the Faculty Senate was considered. It was unanimously agreed to submit it to the Faculty Senate for consideration.
Request from Dr. Lemanski:
The request from Dr. Lemanski for a committee to help advise him was discussed. It was proposed that we suggest he start with members of the RPPC. We strongly urged that he add to his advisory committee representation from the arts (Boyer, SCT, Tyler) and from Education.
Issue Raised by Professor Lyyra:
We discussed whether it could be a conflict of interest for the Vice President of TAUP to also chair the Senate Committee on the Status of Women. We concluded that we did not want to interfere in the internal workings of our committees. We also felt that if there were a problem with simultaneously holding union office and chairing senate committees, this should be defined by a policy for all committees. The TAUP/Senate Liaison Committee was asked to consider whether we need to explore further creating such a policy.
6. Old Business:
None
7. New Business:
Sloan expressed her belief that the Faculty Herald's editorial position with regard to the issue of the endowed chair in Islamic Studies was not unbiased. Since the Herald is a creature of the Senate, we should be taking an interest in this.
8. Adjournment:
The meeting was adjourned at 3:10 PM
Paul S. LaFollette, Jr.
Secretary
