Tuesday March 23, 2010
Present:
Karen M. Turner (Pres.), Paul S. LaFollette (V. Pres.), Joan P. Shapiro (Secy.), Robert M. Aiken (Past-Pres.), Joan Delalic (Engr.), Michael W. Jackson (STHM), Charles Jungreis (Med.), Luke Kahlich (BCMD), Stephanie Knopp (Tyl.), Robin Kolodny (CLA), James Korsh (CST), Laurie MacPhail (Dent.), Mark C. Rahdert (Law), Charles Ruchalski (Pharm), Jay Sinha (FSBM), Roberta Sloan (SCT), David Waldstreicher (Fac. Herald), Cheryl Mack (Coord.)
Absent: Adam Davey (CHPSW), Tricia S. Jones, (Educ.),
Call to Order:
The meeting began at 1:07 P.M.
Approval of the Minutes:
The Minutes from March 16, 2010, were approved as submitted.
President’s Report: President Karen M. Turner
President Turner announced that William Black, Senior Vice President for Enrollment Management, will be at the FSSC meeting next week.
She asked us to review the fifteen statements of faculty wishing to serve on the General Education Director’s Search Committee. She has requested that we choose four of the candidates as our favorites and be prepared to discuss our choices at the next FSSC meeting. Out of the fifteen, we need four faculty members to serve.
Karen Turner mentioned that Marina Angel (Law) has been in email contact with her about the need to revise the Senate election bylaws. President Turner indicated that it might be wise in the future to have the past president chair the nominating committee, as we did this year, and also have the past president be in charge of the election process. This will require some conversations and possible changes to the bylaws.
Vice President’s Report: Paul S. LaFollette
Vice President LaFollette announced that the deadline for elected committee candidates is tomorrow. He said that the University Tenure and Promotion Advisory Committee has enough members for this academic year. However, there will be a need for five faculty members in the fall. So this will be a two- stage election process.
The Educational Programs and Policies (EPPC) Committee is short members at the present time. Hopefully, the numbers will be made up in the fall.
Paul LaFollette discovered why the University Honors Program Oversight Committee has not met this year. A reason for this is that a new chair has not been elected. Vice President LaFollette asked one faculty member on the committee to serve as convener and call a meeting very soon to elect a chair of the committee.
Guests: Diane Maleson, Senior Vice Provost for Faculty Development and Faculty Affairs and Nelia Viveiros, Assistant Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs
Diane Maleson and Nelia Viveiros came to the FSSC meeting to receive feedback on the Annual Report of Faculty Activity. Under the new TAUP contract, there is to be an online version of the annual report, and it is currently being pilot-tested. Meetings have already been held with deans and associate deans. Now, the two presenters visited the FSSC for some suggestions.
Many ideas were raised as each section of the form was discussed. Major changes had to do with making certain that the correct terms were used under the categories of research/scholarship/creative achievement, teaching and service. It was clear that the TAUP colleges/schools are very different and that one size or one term certainly does not fit all of them. A major suggestion was to provide space for comments on each section of the form. A goal was to stress the importance of catching the nuances in each of the disciplines in the TAUP schools/colleges. Terminology varies from school to school and discipline to discipline. During the session, FSSC representatives played an active part in making improvements to the online form.
The report will cover activities from September 1st – August 31st. If faculty members do not file this report, they will not receive the .25% raise this coming year. Thus, Diane Maleson and Nelia Viveiros were very concerned about getting the word out to the faculty that everyone in the TAUP schools/colleges must fill in the form by September 1st of each academic year. Many ideas were put forth about reaching the faculty members through collegial assemblies, department chairs, deans, etc. and by providing direct links to the site.
The two presenters left with many new suggestions from the different representatives of the schools/ colleges. Hopefully, many of these ideas will be utilized in the design of the online annual report. A few FSSC members also volunteered to help pilot-test the form.
New Business:
Roberta Sloan (SCT) raised the concern that a new policy, regarding adjuncts, would affect graduate students who were teaching for a number of programs and disciplines. Apparently, this policy would mean that any graduate students who depended on teaching as adjuncts would not be allowed to do so. Since the policy has just come out, it was decided that the FSSC needed to read it first and then determine how to deal with it.
Paul LaFollette (V. Pres.) was concerned that this new policy had not been discussed with either the FSSC or with the Graduate Board.
Bob Aiken (past pres.) said it was important to discover where this policy came from and then determine how to help the students, who might be in jeopardy, this coming academic year.
Old Business:
There was none.
Adjournment:
The meeting ended at 3:02 p.m.
Joan P. Shapiro
Secretary
