September 22, 2015 – Senate meeting minutes

Meeting of the Faculty Senate
Approved Minutes
September 22, 2015

The meeting was called to order at 12:25 p.m.

1. A motion was made to approve the minutes from the meeting of May 5, 2015. The motion was approved unanimously by voice vote.

2. Mary Beth Daisey, the Associate Chancellor for Student Life, thanked Andrew Lees, the Faculty Senate president, for having been given the opportunity to speak. She reported to the Senate that her office has added a new position, that of a “Campus Navigator” whose job is to help students navigate Rutgers and all its services. Daisey also reported on expanded Title IX responsibilities that now include a “Duty to Report.” By law, when students confide to a campus advisor or someone on campus in a position of authority that they are facing any form of sexual harassment, that person has a duty to report the situation to Ms. Daisey and Allison Wisniewski, our “Title IX Coordinators.” The Coordinators will assist advisors with getting students the resources they need and with making sure the students are safe. Ms. Daisey stressed that every attempt will be made to keep student information confidential, but confidentiality cannot be guaranteed and students need to be duly informed.  She recommended that students be told something to this effect: “I will keep everything as confidential as possible, but I may have to do more to make sure you’re okay.” Training programs will be set up in October, November, and December for faculty. As for students, they are advised about the resources available to them at orientation, via emails, programming on campus, etc. Important note: should a student want a guarantee of complete confidentiality, that student should be advised to go to Health Services, which does not have the same reporting responsibilities as the general body.

3. Dean Kriste Lindenmeyer asked faculty senators to share these announcements with their departments:

1. There will be a general faculty meeting on October 6. (She termed it a “celebration.”)
2. The campus is hiring an outside marketing firm to assist with recruitment through marketing and branding. This firm will work with Mike Sepanic and his office.
3. Rutgers is implementing RCM, an accounting model through which funds are controlled at our campus, and among other budgetary matters, allows changes in how we award scholarships. Two new initiatives are being created to help increase enrollments of first-year students:
   • First-year students with less than $60,000 in family income will qualify for a “Closing the Gap” program that would guarantee tuition and fees not covered by financial aid allotments.
   • First-year students with family incomes between $60,000 and $100,000 will qualify for half of the tuition and fees not covered by financial aid allotments.
4. Our new Health Sciences Major has 159 students. According to Dean Lindenmeyer, “Students are coming to us for our programs.”
5. RUC is working on the final stages of approval of a dual degree BA/BS, as well as interdisciplinary and collaborative programs between, for example, Biology and the Business School.
6. Our General Education Program will roll out next fall and should serve as a recruitment tool for departments that should also encourage students to tackle double majors and minors. “Student success” is key. Dean Lindenmeyer encouraged departments to submit as many courses as possible for Gen Ed designation.
7. Her office has proposed scholarships to Honors College students for International Studies trips.

4. Bill FitzGerald, on behalf of the Academic Policy Committee, presented the following courses for approval proposed this summer and announced his successor, Gerald Verbrugghe, as Chair of the Committee for AY 2016.

Department	Course number	Course Title	New/Revision
Chemistry	50:160:420	Green Chemistry and Sustainable Society	New
Fine Arts	50:082:104	Intro to the Art of Asia	New
Political Science	50:790:102	The Study of Political Science	New
Public Policy and Administration	50:975:236	Intro to Global Urbanization	New
Public Policy and Administration	50:975:351	Urban Issues Germany	New
Public Policy and Administration	50:975:352	Sustainable Community Development in Cuba	New
Sociology, Anthropology, Criminal Justice	50:202:319	Narcoterrorism	New
Sociology, Anthropology, Criminal Justice	50:202:320	National Security Risk Assessment	New
Women’s and Gender Studies	50:988:311	Queer Crime	New

A request was made to designate in the proposal list whether a new faculty member is required or existing faculty will be teaching the course. A second request was made for clarity of definition for “open to all majors” and to change language to the preferred “open to all students.” A motion was made to accept the courses as proposed.  All courses were approved unanimously by voice vote.

NOTE:  Jennifer Thiel agreed to ask the Registrar’s Office for a list of all newly approved courses in order to add them the Master Course List, as well as to load those courses into Degree Navigator. Department chairs are encouraged to follow up with the Registrar and Advising to confirm that courses have been added, edited, or removed.

5. Bill Whitlow requested Senate approval for a change in language about our new Gen Ed curriculum in light of the Lampitt Bill that requires acceptance of general education requirements from students transferring to a four-year institution with an AA or AS. Schools can require additional courses for graduation, but they cannot be called “Gen Ed” courses, they need to remain within the “spirit of the Lampitt Bill,” and they must be “justified in terms of the mission of the college.” The Gen Ed Committee proposed that our graduation requirements specify the following:
   
   1. In order to graduate from the School of Arts and Sciences, students must have completed General Education requirements, the College of A&S requirements, the Major Requirements, and Credit Requirements of 120 credits.
   2. The College of A&S requirements include a course in: Math, Foreign Languages at the 102 level or above, Science, and a Writing Intensive course that must be done at Rutgers. These courses are above and beyond the General Education requirements.    
   3. It was suggested that when the language is proposed to the student, the graduation requirements be positioned near the Gen Ed requirements, so the students do not think they have to wait for to take these courses, as most are taught at the lower undergraduate level.

A motion was made to accept this proposal and it was approved unanimously by voice vote.

6. Lees reminded the Senators to review the Bylaws for the Arts and Sciences Faculty and to send suggestions and/or comments to him as soon as possible. Dr. Lees will present the proposed changes at the faculty meeting on October 6th. NOTE: Changes to the Bylaws require the approval of the Full Faculty.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 1:10 p.m.

Present (Senators):  Andrew Lees, Janet Golden, Laurie Bernstein, Eric Klein, Jongmin Nam; George Kumi, Kate Cairns, Guy Kortsarz, Osama Hamed, Keith Green, Aaron Hostetter, Margery Amdur, Paul Bernstein, Ana Laguna, Nick Kapur, Julie Still, Will Lee, Haisheng Li, Nicole Karapanagiotis, Tim Knievel, Shauna Shames, Wayne Chan, Bill Whitlow, Brandi Blessett, Chinyere Osuji, Richard Stansfield, Kenneth Elliott, Wayne Glasker, Jean-Louis Hippolyte, Kenneth Hohing

Absent:  Joseph Barbarese, Prospero Garcia, Susan Mokhberi, Debashis Kushary, Richard Jimenez, Joseph Cutuli, Stephen Danley, Cyril Reade

Present (Invited Guests): Jennifer Thiel, Mary Beth Daisey, Kris Lindenmeyer, Joseph Schiavo

Respectfully submitted by Laurie Bernstein, Secretary of the Faculty Senate