Meeting of the Faculty Senate
Approved Minutes
January 29, 2018
The meeting was called to order at approximately 11:35 a.m., with FASC Senate President Julie Still presiding. There are 33 Senators, including five senators-at-large. Nineteen senators were present.
- A motion was made to approve the minutes of November 13, 2017 and December 11, 2017. The motion was Voting record for minutes of November 13, 2017: 15 ayes, 0 opposed, 4 abstentions. Voting record for minutes of December 11, 2017: 14 ayes, 0 opposed, 5 abstentions.
- Director of Robeson Library – Not in attendance at this time, but if she is able to come later, will introduce her to the group.
- Dean Lindenmeyer was invited to come to speak to the group about the revised guidelines/policy regarding Faculty Teaching Responsibilities, which has not been updated since 2008.
- Dean Lindenmeyer reported that the Dean’s Office worked with the Department Chairs, and this policy was revised and put in place to help us be more uniform in the curriculum, as we have new programs, new General Education requirements, new funding systems with the adoption of RCM, etc. It also addresses the responsibilities of NTT (non-tenure track faculty) and their career path guides. While most faculty are doing more than the minimum, there are some pockets that need to be addressed and the Administrative team is working with those departments to assist with leveling the contributions of the faculty. Having this policy in place will also assist in justifying to the PRC questions that come up when faculty go up for promotion and tenure regarding class size/enrollment.
- She then took questions from the floor: “How is the annual minimum number of students calculated when one teaches both UG and Grad students?” The rule of thumb is TT faculty should have a minimum mix of 30 students, (NTT = 50 students) as a goal, but there can be exceptions. Exemptions will be determined in conjunction with the Department. “Is there punitive action to a faculty member if minimums are not met?” “Could this be renamed to “Guidelines” so that the Department has more control?” In consultation with the Dean’s Office, the departments still have control of their courses and curriculum. If a faculty member no longer wants to be research active, they can request a higher teaching load. However, changing that classification to non-research active also means that one is not eligible for promotion on a TT line, nor would one be eligible for sabbatical. Punitive action could come to a faculty member by not cooperating with the department or Dean’s office in determining why they have such low enrollment; Is it the curriculum they are teaching? Could it be the curriculum in the department? Is the faculty member refusing to teach a Gen Ed Course? These would factor into punitive actions because one would not be meeting teaching expectations when you go up for tenure and/or promotion. “Are research study and Independent Study counted towards the requirement?” Unfortunately, the PRC does not include students in a research course or independent study in the calculation. Some departments, instead, create a class, i.e. internship class, and get credit for overseeing the class for the larger amount of independent study students they may have. “Are the numbers tied to RCM”? A basic formula was developed for average cost of instruction per student to determine the number used to support a course, although it depends on each individual department, as the needs are different for each department. “If a course gets cancelled for low enrollment, does an instructor have to teach 3 courses the following semester?” The Department will determine part of this. Departments are given a finite PTL budget; perhaps a faculty member could help their department by teaching a class the next semester and saving the PTL funds. Often the unused funds from the PTL budget are returned to the department’s discretionary account.
- Dean Lindenmeyer closed with a few statements. “We tell our students that we have a strong, well-qualified full-time faculty and that full-time faculty is a key component to student success. By acting as mentors and teaching early undergraduate level courses, we show that we are committed to the students’ academic success and assist with paving a path to their future successes. Our PTL staff is also well qualified, but they are here to “teach” and are not versed in enough depth of our programs to support that kind of mentorship.” Dean Lindenmeyer reported that that the feedback on this policy is, so far, positive and asked for the support of the faculty to “see how this works out”.
- Courses presented by the APC for approval by the Senate:
|
Courses presented for approval by APC to Faculty Senate January 29, 2018 |
Voting Record |
||||||
|
Dept |
Course # |
Course Title |
Credit Value |
New/ Revision |
Aye |
Nay |
Abstention |
|
Philosophy/Religion |
50:840:339 |
Gods and Monsters: Understanding Power |
3 |
NEW |
19 |
0 |
0 |
|
Philosophy/Religion |
50:840:366 |
Cults and New Religious Movements |
3 |
NEW |
19 |
0 |
0 |
|
Fine Arts |
50:700:204 |
Music and Language |
3 |
NEW |
17 -1 -1 Tabled for more info from department |
||
- Childhood Studies prepared and issued a statement in support of graduate students with regard to the new tax laws. The FASC Faculty Senate offers a motion of solidarity with the Department of Childhood Studies and will issue the following statement “We have received the statement, below (insert the CS statement), from our colleagues in the Department of Childhood Studies in support of graduate students and stand with them in solidarity.”
- New Business: Items to be presented at a future meeting:
- Tom Ryan – deleting courses that have been video/audio recorded
- Bill Whitlow – change to USW General Education requirement.
- APC – New/revised courses for fall 2018, need to be approved by February meeting.
The meeting adjourned at 12:05 p.m.
Present: Andrew Abeyta, Craig Agule, Kate Anderson, Paul Bernstein, James Boucher, Melanie Bowers, Kate Cairns, Wayne Glasker, Angelica Gonzales, Julianne Griepenburg, Osama Hamed, Michael Hayes, George Kumi, Christopher Lim, Rufan Luo, Kirsten Nussbaumer, Emily Marker, Silvia Perez-Cortes, Beth Rabinowitz, Amy Salvage, Richard Stansfield, Julie Still
Absent (Senators): Ross Allen, Margery Amdur (sabbatical), Joseph Barbarese, Nawaf Bou-Rabee, James Brown (sabbatical), Jean-Louise Hippolyte (sabbatical), Aaron Hostetter, Guy Kortsarz, Joan Mazelis, Susan Miller, Susan Mokhberi, Bill Saidel, Jillian Sayre (sabbatical), Shauna Shames (sabbatical).
Optional and noted (University Senators): Joseph Barbarese (present), Joseph Schiavo (absent), Daniel Bubb (absent), Elizabeth Demaray (absent), Howard Marchitello (absent), Yuchung Wang (absent), Babu Dasari (absent)
Present (Invited Guests): Bill Whitlow, Jennifer Thiel, John Wall, Kriste Lindenmeyer
Drafted by Maria Buckley, 02/6/2018
Updated: 2/26/18
Submitted by Wayne Glasker, Faculty Senate Secretary