FACULTY SENATE MEETING
Minutes, April 30, 2009 (3:15 pm)
Senate
Members: C. Bell, K. Cole, L. Dohse, B. Haas, M. Harvey, G. Heard, J. Konz,
B. Larson, A. Lanou,
M.
Moseley, L. Nelms, J. McClain, E. Pearson, D. Pierce, L. Russell, B. Sabo, S.
Wasileski,
B.
Wilson; G. Ettari; J. Fernandes; A. Ponder.
Visitors: G. Ashburn, R. Bindewald, L.
Friedenberg, K. Garbe, S. Haas, E. Katz, K. Krumpe, L. Langrall,
J.
Leffe, A. Shope, T. Tieman.
I. Call to Order, Introductions and
Announcements
Dr. Dohse called the
meeting to order at 3:19 pm and welcomed Senators and guests.
II. Approval
of minutes
The minutes
of March 19, 2009, were approved with one editorial correction.
III. Executive Committee Report
Dr. Lothar
Dohse reported for the Executive Committee.
Delivering the Curriculum
Task Force
The
Delivering the Curriculum (DTC) Task Force is completing its proposal and
Senators will receive it before the end of the semester. Senators are asked to review the document
this summer in preparation for discussion next fall. Dr. Dohse cautioned that the document will
not bring cheer. General Administration
is requiring that we make certain changes and we have limited options. The document will be a guiding policy for
Academic Affairs to use regarding reassigned time, the number of courses we
teach, and the number of students we teach so we will be in compliance with
State expectations.
Reflections of the
year
Dr.
Dohse reflected on the Senate’s work this year based on last year’s statements
by then-Senate Chair Peg Downes and his own comments.
· Work with
new Provost
o
The Executive Committee is now part of the Provost’s
Cabinet and was active in an advisory capacity.
Presently there is a healthy and productive working relationship between
the Senate and the Provost’s office.
· Improve
shared governance
o
This is an ongoing project. The Senate has made some strides especially
with the Provost’s office and with the annual reports that are delivered by the
administrative offices.
· Develop
policy to determine faculty’s merit
o
This issue was moved to a lower priority.
· Complete
ILS General Survey
o
The survey has been completed, the results are
presently being compiled, and a report is expected in the next academic
year. The Senate also adopted guidelines
for ongoing assessment of ILS.
· Develop
Policy Delivering the Curriculum
o
Work is almost completed and will be submitted to
the Senate for comments and discussion in the early part of the Fall 2009
semester.
· Move from
3 to 4 hour courses
o
Due to the implementation of the 4 course per
semester requirement by General Administration, this proposal will no longer be
considered as a general university goal in the immediate future.
· Administer
Perception Survey of Administrators
o
No perceptions survey of administrative offices was
implemented this year. Instead a more thorough
periodic review process of administrative offices by the Senate is being
considered.
· Implement
new Student Ratings of Instruction Procedures
o
Starting in the Fall 2009 a new (experimental) form
will be used for student evaluations of instructors.
· Maintain
good communications between the Chancellor’s Staff Advisory Committee and the
SGA.
· [New] Obtain a stronger voice on the Board of
Trustees
o
In past years the Faculty Senate Chair was allowed
to give a short report to the Board of Trustees during their meetings. It is hoped that this tradition is
re-instituted.
Staff
The Senate recognized Sandra Gravely,
who received the Staff Mentor Service Award.
IV.
Institutional Development
Committee and University Planning Council Reports
Dr. Betsy
Wilson reported for the Institutional Development Committee and the University
Planning Council.
University Planning
Council Report (UPC)
UPC received a
budget update from the Chancellor (similar to those received campus-wide) and
had an opportunity to contribute input on establishing some budget priorities
for the next two years. The UPC will
meet on May 20 where there will be another opportunity to look at budget
priorities for the next two years.
Update on
UPC tweaked
draft 4 of the Mission Statement and now has a final draft (IDC 1) which will
be distributed to the 2009-10 Faculty Senate this afternoon. After the Senate considers the document on
May 7, 2009, it will be considered by the UPC on May 12, the Board of Trustees
on May 16, and then it will go to the Board of Governors for their approval in
June.
Thank
You
Dr.
Wilson thanked IDC: Dan Pierce, Bill
Haas, Amy Lanou,
The agenda
was modified.
Remarks
from Chancellor Ponder
Chancellor
Ponder said most of the Faculty Senate meetings this year have taken place when
she has been representing us at the Board of Governors. She was happy to be with the Senate today and
to have a few minutes on the agenda. Dr.
Dohse and Dr. Fernandes suggested some categories for her remarks. She will be happy to answer any questions or
address other topics.
Major
accomplishment for this year:
·
She asked the Senate to join her in taking full
credit for Jane Fernandes. A round of
applause followed. Dr. Ponder thanked
the Senate for accepting and working with such a gifted and powerful leader as
Jane Fernandes as our Provost. Her first
year has been a very smooth, highly credible, transition. She looks forward to working with Jane for
many years and she speaks for the Senate as well.
·
Other major accomplishments:
o
Extraordinary student successes this year. Many of us had an opportunity to celebrate
those at the Student Awards and Leadership event dinner banquet and many
Senators gave excellent presentations.
She recognized over half of the students who received an award, either
from departments or from leadership activities outside the classroom. Congratulations to Senators as
representatives of the faculty for a triumphant year with the accomplishments
of our students.
o
Student Affairs and the accomplishments of our
students. Factoids: almost half of our students did some sort of
campus or outdoor recreation activity; hundreds were involved in service
learning or regular volunteering this year.
We had a 98% retention rate among students living in the residence halls
at the end of the fall semester. This is
a good step and an indicator of potential improvement in retention
generally.
o
Growth, Strategy and Placement of our
Endowment. Our endowment was at its
highest a few months ago (over $25,000,000).
At the end of last month it was down to about $20,000,000. That loss compares very favorably with other
endowments elsewhere in colleges and universities. We have the advantage of having that placed
with UNC Management. The Endowment and
Investment Committee got a briefing from the UNC management CEO about ten days
ago. We are very current and our
Trustees and Foundation folks working on that are highly aware of what is going
on there.
o
Creating Endowed Professorships. We are the only campus in the system to be
ahead of the Spangler match. We created
the Owen Chair with the gift of C.D. Spangler and his wife and their foundation
in 2007. We created the Paddison Chair in 2008; the Glaxo
Smith Kline Chair in 2009, and most recently the Roy Carroll Chairs in Arts and
Sciences for 2010. They are recently
created endowments and only the first of those has had someone (Joe Sulock)
seated in the endowed chair. President
Bowles is engaging in a conversation with President Spangler to see if he might
provide a bridge for the endowments of two or three years until those
endowments are covered so that we might take more advantage of them.
o
Work on the Budget with the Legislature. As she briefed at the All Campus meeting, we
did very well in the Board of Governors budget that was approved. We did fairly well in Governor’s budget
proposal, and we did exceptionally well in the Senate proposal. However, the Senate budget was calculated on
last month’s revenue numbers for the state and is probably too optimistic. But the Senate and the House will have that high
watermark as part of the negotiation when they get to committee. Less cuts for UNC Asheville is not the most
wonderful rallying cry; however in every briefing, in every public situation,
President Bowles has reiterated that cuts have to be differentiated by
economies of scale and specificity of mission.
o
Diversity: we
have made a number of steps on diversity and inclusion this year thanks to the
work of many Senators and especially Jane Fernandes. We have a definition, we have opened an
o
o
University Planning Council: the UPC is coming into its on now at the
conclusion of its second year. She is
grateful to all of its members. The
topics that they have dealt with this year included implementation of planning
and budgets. It is a very effective and
increasingly helpful group. She credited
UPC on their work on benchmarks and targets so that we can implement the
strategic plan. Dr. Fernandes calls this
building a culture of evidence. We are
making slow, but some, progress on that.
o
Recurring Funding:
was a major accomplishment this year though it was cut pretty
quickly. The recurring funding that we
got in 2008 was the first ever.
o
Fundraising:
we had an extraordinary fundraising year, especially in this economic
environment. If we get no more major
gifts between now and June 30th we will have completed an over
$8,000,000 year with gifts and pledges. Janet
Cone and Wilma Sherrill are especially to be thanked for their acumen in their
work in that way.
o
Anonymous Gift:
None of us know who the donor/donors might be and UNC Asheville was
among the first to be notified of our gift in March. They seem to be proportioned to the size of
the campuses. They seem to be (except
for
·
Areas of Focus for next year:
o
Continuing to build our culture of evidence with Dr.
Fernandes and the Senate working on that.
She was pleased to know that the Senate is working on student learning
outcomes.
o
The Athletics evaluation is underway and about half of
the administrative offices’ evaluations will be finished by June 30th
– that is on track.
o
We are making progress on the strategic plan and we
need to do that during this time of constrained resources.
o
We need to learn from our marketing and branding
study.
o
The website: reworking what we say and mean about
the university.
o
We will be dedicating what we hope will be a fully
equipped Zeis Science and Multi-Media building around
a celebration of Founders’ Days.
o
We will come out of this budget crisis.
·
Challenges that the University Faces:
o
Creating a culture of evidence needs to be part of
what we all do and a greater part of how we pursue our shared strategy.
o
We need to continue to do better on diversity and
inclusion, in terms of both membership and behavior and that is also everyone’s
job.
o
We need to continue to work on retention factors
such as admissions and expanded aid and scholarship, residential capacity for
students on our campus, and on-campus employment. Retention is also everybody’s job and faculty
are an important element in students’ lives – they love you most of all and you
mean the most to them of anything that we can do.
o
We need to help perspective students understand the
real value of UNC Asheville so that we can continue to enroll exceptionally
fine students.
o
We need to cultivate legislative and philanthropic
support for the university.
·
Two factoids:
we put together about three years ago a pandemic flu plan. The people involved have been convened by
Bill Haggard, and are in contact with the Buncombe County Health Department and
with the General Administration. There
are no confirmed cases in
·
Last night the U.S. House and Senate passed a
concurrent budget resolution which essentially paved the way for Congress to
consider the President’s plan on PELL grants expansion and on direct
loans. College affordability at the federal
level that has an impact on our students will then have a likelihood of
changing significantly.
Questions:
·
Dr. Moseley expressed, on behalf of FWDC, the hope
that some guidance will be forthcoming from the administration about how
faculty will take furloughs.
o
Chancellor Ponder said because the Governor’s office
issued two statements in two days – one correcting the other – she has seen the
list of questions on clarification. We
do not know the answer to that yet. It
is called a flexible furlough but it actually does not function that way. It is a pay cut with some paid leave in
exchange, and it is most clearly understood in how it would affect full-time
SPA staff. The rest of us have no idea
how to implement that. As soon as she
knows, you will know.
·
Dr. Dohse thanked Chancellor Ponder for coming. He said he believed with good leadership you
can get good things done and he is very happy the list of accomplishments is
that long.
V. Faculty Welfare and
Development Committee Report
Dr.
Merritt Moseley reported for the Faculty Welfare and Development Committee.
Second
The
following document was considered for Second Reading:
FWDC 11 (Revised):
Revision of the process for Administering Student Evaluations of
Instruction
(Revision
of SD0308F; Faculty Handbook 3.3.3.1.1)
This
document was revised in response to Dr. Lanou’s
astute request for clarification. The
sentence: “No class with fewer than six students enrolled at the time of
evaluation should be chosen to be evaluated” has been deleted and replaced
with: “No class with fewer than six
students enrolled at the time of evaluation should be used as one of the
classes to satisfy the 50% requirement, though faculty are encouraged to evaluate
all classes.” FWDC 11 (Revised)
passed without dissent and became Senate Document 8209S.
Changes in the State Health Plan (SHP)
Dr.
Moseley outlined changes to the State Health Plan:
·
8.9
percent increase in premiums for employees/dependents each year for the next
two plan years.
·
Increased
deductibles, co-pays.
·
Routine
eye exams will no longer be covered as of next January.
·
A
wellness provision will require those who smoke to move to the 70/30 plan a
year from July, and those who are determined to be seriously overweight be
moved to the 70/30 plan by July 2011.
The people in Human Resources want
to make sure that faculty do not see any of this as being sneaky. The re-enrollment period is the first week in
May. Faculty are
asked to watch the website: Human Resources as well as
the State Health Plan (SHP) website.
Emails and reminders will be distributed throughout campus and
information sessions are planned within the next two weeks to ensure everyone
understands the ramifications.
Thank You
Dr.
Moseley thanked FWDC members: Bruce
Larson, George Heard,
VI. Academic
Policies Committee Report
Dr.
First
APC 84: Establish new course, ATMS 230, FORTRAN for
Meteorologists to replace CSCI 142
MINOR
APC 85: Sunsetting Courses
APC
85 was amended by two friendly amendments:
BIOL 442 and IST 263 were removed from the list of courses to be deleted
from the catalog.
Second
The following documents were
considered for Second Reading:
APC 65: Remove Psychology and History courses from
K-6 licensure requirements
APC
65 passed without dissent and became Senate Document 8309S.
APC 66: Require a Study Abroad experience for the INTS major;
Remove
foreign language as an option for fulfilling international experience requirement
APC
66 passed without dissent and became Senate Document 8409S.
APC 67: Update requirements for areas of emphasis in INTS major
APC
67 passed without dissent and became Senate Document 8509S.
APC 68: Change credits hours and descriptions for INTS 361 and 362
APC
68 passed without dissent and became Senate Document 8609S.
APC 69: Allow other courses as option to INTS 499 for major
APC
69 passed without dissent and became Senate Document 8709S.
APC 70: Remove “Choosing an Area of Emphasis” in INTS minor;
Add
ECON 250 as an introductory course option in INTS minor
APC
70 passed without dissent and became Senate Document 8809S.
APC 71: Add three new Dance classes: DAN 131, 132, 133
APC
71 passed without dissent and became Senate Document 8909S.
APC 72: Change prerequisites for DAN 230, 237, 238, 310, 335, 337, 338
APC
72 passed without dissent and became Senate Document 9009S.
APC 73: Change title and description for DAN 231; Change description for
DAN 235
APC
73 passed without dissent and became Senate Document 9109S.
APC 74: Delete DAN 331; Add new course, DAN 330
APC
74 passed without dissent and became Senate Document 9209S.
APC 75: Change requirements for Minor in Dance
APC
75 passed without dissent and became Senate Document 9309S.
APC 76: Addition of new courses to the HWP
curriculum: HWP 260,
284, 290, 292, 333, 335, 345,
350, 355, 360, 480
APC
76 passed without dissent and became Senate Document 9409S.
APC 77: Change course description
for HWP 380
APC
77 passed without dissent and became Senate Document 9509S.
APC 78: Edit requirements for minor
in Health Promotion; Delete minor in Sports Medicine
APC
78 passed without dissent and became Senate Document 9609S.
APC 79: Add course descriptions
for Health and Wellness activity classes
APC
79 passed without dissent and became Senate Document 9709S.
APC 80: Delete HWP 182 as a
required course for HWP majors;
Change
required courses for the major in HWP
APC
80 passed without dissent and became Senate Document 9809S.
APC 81: Add new courses, INTS 325, 345, and 350 as options for INTS concentration;
Add ECON 355 as option for INTS
Dr. Sabo made editorial corrections to
APC 81 that were inadvertently not included.
APC
81 passed as amended without dissent and became Senate Document 9909S.
APC 82: Change foreign language
requirement for INTS major
APC
82 passed without dissent and became Senate Document 10009S.
APC 83: Edit required courses for INTS major; Edit competency requirements
for INTS major
APC
83 passed without dissent and became Senate Document 10109S.
Status of ILS Survey
APC looked at a draft summary of the
ILS Survey. Highlights:
· 133
people started the survey
· 128
people completed the survey
· The
response rate was 62 percent for regular faculty.
· Only
2 adjuncts completed the survey.
· If
adjuncts, who did receive notice of the survey, are included, the response rate
was in the low-40 percent.
· Comparing
the responses based on divisional representation (humanities, social science,
natural science) there appears to be general agreement that this campus does not
think the ILS program is the greatest thing since sliced bread, but people were
generally satisfied with most of its components. Some work needs to be done but no one said
let’s change everything immediately.
Given these general comments, it seems wise to proceed with the plans
for long-term review that APC submitted and the Senate approved (SD0808F). Dr. Bell has agreed to look at the raw data,
evaluate it, and add some conclusions.
The open-ended comments still need to be evaluated but that will take
time.
Thank You
Dr.
Sabo thanked Sally Wasileski,
VII. Administrative
Reports
Student
Government Association
Steven
Haas said it had been wonderful getting to work with the Faculty Senate through
this academic year and he looked forwarding to seeing Senators next year.
Questions/Comments
·
Dr. Konz asked if the administration had responded
to Bill 015 to relocate the Study Abroad Office.
o
Mr. Haas said the request has been passed on to the
administration. Mr. Cortland is going to
meet with Pat McClellan and other administrators to discuss moving the office. Students would like to have the Study Abroad
Office connected with the
·
Dr. Dohse referred to Bill 016 (revision to Academic
Calendar for Fall 2009 – Spring 2010) and said it seems that SGA is not happy
with the process or how the calendar was changed.
o
Mr. Haas agreed with Dr. Dohse’s
assessment, but said SGA is very excited about conversations in the future for
the next calendar year.
·
Dr. Dohse thanked Mr. Haas. The Senate likes the process in which SGA
submits a report prior to Senate meetings.
It saves paper and it works very well for the Senators.
·
Mr. Haas introduced Rene Bindewald.
Ms. Bindewald will attend meetings next fall and
will report for SGA second semester.
VIII. Old Business
Thank You
Dr. Dohse
thanked all the Senators for working very hard through this semester. He tries to run a reasonably efficient Senate
meeting and was pleased that we have adjourned meetings before 5:00pm except
for once where we had to talk about trays in the cafeteria.
He gave a special thank you to
those Senators who will be leaving us:
• to Karen Cole and Mark Harvey: APC is
one of the hardest working committees and you do a great job.
• to John McClain: the elections seem to
move along smoothly because they are working.
Thank you for making elections run so smoothly these last two
years.
• to Merritt Moseley, Betsy Wilson, and
• The next person is someone he is
delighted to work with. “She cannot
imagine how happy he has been to have her sitting there! Jane, I am so happy you came to UNCA and I am
pleased you are with us and I know I speak for the whole faculty.” A round of applause followed!
• The reason we communicate well is
because of the work of people who help us:
Liz Langrall, Tara Tieman
and Regina Pente.
Thank you for making this happen.
• Thank you to
Thank You
Dr. Sabo thanked Karen Cole,
John McClain, Mark Harvey, Merritt Moseley and Betsy Wilson who are rotating
off the Senate, and also Sally Wasileski who will be on leave.
“Legislative bodies by their very
construction and nature are notoriously inefficient. If it was not for certain people diligently
keeping tabs of its records and taking care of the detailed work on the most
complex issues and coordinating its activities they would never succeed. There are three people who deserve
recognition for their activities in this regard and actually for saving us, as
a group, a lot of embarrassment.”
“Till has already recognized our
invaluable assistant Sandra Gravely, and to her I express again the entire
Senate’s appreciation and particularly that of APC.”
“Perhaps the most unsung
contributor to this group is the person that allows APC to function. Unless you are on that committee, it is
difficult to comprehend how hard Alicia Shope works and how valuable her
contributions are. On behalf of the
Senate, and particularly the APC, and indeed on behalf of the entire UNCA
faculty, thank you so much Alicia.” A
round of applause followed.”
“Finally, we owe a debt of
gratitude to an individual who somehow manages to walk that fine line between
fairness – that is allowing us to discuss and debate – and firmness – forcing
us to focus on the central issue and the big questions. We have made a number of important decisions
this year and unfortunately none of us knows whether or not they all turn out
to be good ones. But I am sure that
everyone here will agree that one year ago we made one decision for which we
have no regrets at all. Till Dohse –
when we chose you as Chair we showed some collective wisdom. Thank you.”
A round of applause followed.
“Till, you are a selfless person, and we want you to do something for
yourself. Accept this gift on behalf of
the Senate in appreciation for your hard work and diligence.”
IX. New Business
There was no New
Business.
X. Adjourn
Dr. Dohse
announced that the 2009-10 Senate organization meeting will convene in five
minutes. He adjourned the meeting at
4:18pm.
Respectfully submitted by: Sandra Gravely
Executive
Committee