Faculty Senate Steering Committee

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Attendance:  

1. Approval of Minutes:

The minutes from the previous meeting were approved as distributed.

2. Guest - Provost Lisa:

The Provost began by reviewing the changes that have taken place at Temple over the past year.  These include:

The Strategic Academic Planning initiative - A draft report should be developed during the next month.  By the end of next fall it should be ready for roll-out.  It will dovetail with the Master Planning and Budget Planning reports.

GenEd now has over 100 courses approved, many of them already piloted.  The budgetary pieces are being put into place and the formal launch of GenEd will happen in the fall.

There has been a significant change in our attitude about study leaves.  This year 72 of 79 requests were approved.  There were also a substantial number of Grants in Aid and Pilot Seed awards.

Changes have been made in the budgeting structures to make things easier for deans to administrate their schools and colleges.

There are changes in store for NTT faculty, including new names and descriptions for various ranks.  The provost has reminded deans to offer multi-year contracts where appropriate.

Baron asked if the language of the appointment letters could be made less confrontational.

The new 3+4 programs are now established.  These are joint professional programs in such areas as Law, Medicine, Pharmacy, and Dentistry.

Our support programs for our student athletes have been strengthened.

After a successful search, we have a new dean of the law school.

We had a discussion about changes in policies in the Dental school.

With regard to NTT faculty, J. Shapiro asked whether criteria for appointments and re-appointments will still be based on local needs of individual colleges rather than "one size fits all." 

Answer: Yes

Kahlich asked about the status in GenEd of TA funding, NTT lines, and similar financial needs to support the courses.

Answer: All of these are part of the budget requests being submitted for GenEd.  She cannot comment further at this time except to say that there will be significant expenditures for GenEd.

Clark asked whether there is any money left in this year’s budget for conference attendance.  The Provost asked Clark to send her a request.

Delalic asked whether faculty could see the admissions materials submitted by students who were denied admission to particular programs by the University. Answer: The new Vice Provost for Enrollment Management will be making changes in the way things are done.

Baron thanked the administration for its increase support for and facilitation of collaborative research, especially between the Health Sciences Campus and Main Campus.

Sheffield discussed the problems of Biology with too many entering students.

The Provost announced that the search for a new dean of SSA will begin at the start of summer.  The search for a dean of Tyler will wait until the new building is inhabited.

Hurley-Kurtz thanked the Provost for the new Sustainability Office but wondered if it would have been better as an independent unit.  She also asked about the Ambler Plan.

Answer: The report of the Ambler Task Force is being studied by President Hart.

Goode expressed her appreciation of moving Art Education to the new building.  She also thanked the Provost for her choice of Maleson as Vice Provost for Faculty Development and Affairs.  This was followed by applause.

Baron asked what the incoming freshman class looks like.

Answer: Applications were up 20%.  The class size will be smaller reflecting increased standards.  We have increased the support available for high need students.

J. Shapiro thanked Provost Lisa for her willingness to listen to us.

3. President's Report - Aiken:

President Hart has hosted another of her informal receptions for faculty.

He has a note from Friedman, chair of the Herald Oversight Committee, recommending David Waldstreicher as the next editor.  Kahlich moved that we accept this recommendation. It was seconded and passed unanimously.

Friedman also asked that funds be provided to Gordon's assistant so that she may continue her tasks over the summer, and also a stipend for the incoming assistant to work with the outgoing assistant over the summer.  Aiken made these requests to the Provost who has agreed to them.

Aiken will ask Friedman to introduce the incoming Editor and to express our thanks to Lewis Gordon for his service at the University Senate meeting.

We had a discussion about the two Senate listservs.  We decided that NTT's eligible for Senate membership should be moved to the original Senate listserv, while those not yet eligible should be kept on the NTT listserv.

Aiken and Turner met with the Provost about several issues.

1) We need to provide names for several committees. 

- RPPC and Patents and Inventions

- Drug and Alcohol Task Force

- The CATE follow-up committee

Baron asked about time commitments. 

There followed a discussion about how we can encourage people from our professional schools to volunteer for service.  One suggestion was that we find a way to provide parking when people travel from campus to campus.  Sheffield pointed out that this could similarly facilitate collaborative research between campuses.  Aiken will discuss the matter with the President and Provost.

Stevens asked if all committees currently have chairs.  If so, prospective volunteers could contact chairs for more information about time and responsibilities.

Answer: yes all have chairs.  Also the committee web pages often have information about time commitment.

With respect to the CATE follow-up committee, the Provost mentioned that it would be good to have people with assessment experience, and it would be useful to have an FSSC member, an EPPC member, and someone from GenEd on that committee as well.  Nominees should be sent to senate2@temple.edu.

Goode and Sloane suggested that we ask people who had sent thoughtful comments about the proposed CATE changes.

 Aiken reported that the Provost is still considering the role of deans in collegial assembly meetings.  She has asked us to look at the policies followed in other universities. 

Aiken has had feedback from various NTT faculty with concerns:

• Some deans have gone on record as opposing multi-year contracts. The Provost has agreed to remind deans that multi-year contracts are encouraged where appropriate.

• It would be useful for NTT's to know as early as possible whether

they will be re-appointed.  An early deadline would be appreciated.

• NTT's generally feel under-appreciated.

Goode suggested that we need more data before we can act on these concerns.

Sheffield said that the Dean of SCT has created a series of teaching awards some of which are specifically for NTT's.

J. Shapiro suggested that there should be some degree of flexibility to allow NTT's to enter tenure track.  Hope is a good and useful thing.

Aiken and Turner later met with the President and Provost together.

During this meeting, one item which arose was how we can improve attendance at Senate meetings.  This generated considerable discussion at the FSSC meeting.

Sheffield suggested that we try to bring up controversial issues as we can. 

Hurley-Kurtz wondered if we could schedule some meetings earlier in the day.

Turner reported that President Hart feels part of the problem with attendance follows from our being a unionized faculty.  This means that there are two forums for expressing views, through the Senate and the union.

Somebody suggested that the collegial representatives on the FSSC should send their constituents follow-up messages to Aiken's agenda announcements. Perhaps an additional follow-up could go to faculty senators.

I. Shapiro suggested that we increase the number of senators.

J. Shapiro proposed that we stress the fact that the final meeting is a University Senate meeting at which all members may vote.

Maleson said that perhaps we could "sell" this year's final meeting as a special moment in Temple's history.

Sloan suggested that we include the workings of the Senate and the importance of governance in new faculty orientation.

Clark added that we need to encourage a sense of connectedness in our faculty, especially our new hires.

Turner proposed that we use the Academic Plan as an issue next year.

Kahlich said that in his experience, people don't just want information. Rather they want to feel that they have an effect.

J. Shapiro feels that it is important to encourage the Provost to keep saying "service counts."

4. Vice President's Report - Turner:

We will need to make appointments for committees.

5. Old Business:

None

6. New Business:

We officially thanked Diane Maleson for all of her service to Temple and especially for her work with us on the FSSC.

7. Adjournment:

The meeting was adjourned at 3:10 PM

Paul S. LaFollette, Jr.