FACULTY
SENATE MEETING
Minutes,
Senate
Members: L. Atkinson, B.
Butler, R. Booker, L. Cornett, J. Konz, B. Larson, D. Lisnerski,
S. Mills, P. Nickless, D. Pierce, B.
Reynolds,
Excused: G. Nallan.
Visitors: C. Kurtines-Becker, M. Gibney, T. Glenn, A. Gravely, A. Huang, K. Ray, S.
Robinson,
A. Shope,
M. Sidelnick, J. Stevens, S. Weatherford.
I. Call
to Order and Announcements
Dr.
II. Approval
of minutes
The
minutes of
III. Administrative Report
Dr.
Dr.
Nickless asked Dr. Padilla to report on plans to renovate the Owen Conference
Center (OCC). When this was discussed last
month, most of the Senators were under the impression that the Provost was in
charge of the OCC. This is technically not
academic space. Mr. Massey was unable to
meet with the Senate today, so Dr. Padilla spoke on his behalf.
Dr.
Padilla reported that the Chancellor has designated development as an area of growth
for the university; there was an expectation that the Development Office and
the Alumni Office would grow. Last year,
positions available in administration from the enrollment increase were partly
directed to the Development Office. Mr.
Massey has reprogrammed the smaller room in the OCC into office space and has hired
new staff. He planned to reprogram the
bigger conference space for Development needs.
Dr.
Padilla acknowledged that there was not a lot of discussion about the
renovations in Owen. Mr. Massey was not
aware that the faculty and others look to Owen as a place to hold events. From Mr. Massey’s perspective, the university
had just created the Highsmith facility and the
Mr.
Massey has made the OCC available through this semester. The elevator will be shut down for
maintenance during the summer but will be ready by the beginning of the school
year. That is also when he is hoping
that the renovation will begin.
Dr.
Padilla expressed his willingness to participate in and facilitate a forum if
the Senate wants to discuss the appropriateness of renovating OCC for Development’s
needs or to discuss the need for meeting/conference facilities on campus.
The
Senate discussed the pros and cons of the OCC, the Highsmith
Union and the
Dr.
Larson asked how new buildings get imagined into existence. Does the Faculty Senate play any role in that
– or is it an administrative decision?
Dr. Nickless responded that the Senate always has input into the master plan,
although perhaps there was less faculty input in the master plan than there has
been in the past. Normally there are
faculty meetings to discuss the master plan.
Dr.
Pierce suggested that the administration inform the campus that Owen is currently
available. Dr. Lisnerski added that it
would be good to hear about the changes, as well as the various rate structures. He clarified that Dr. Padilla has control of
the first two floors of Owen Hall and the third floor is the
Off Campus Scholarly Assignment (OCSA)
Dr.
Padilla asked the Senate to develop an OCSA Program and to be more involved in
the process. In his view, it is the
administration’s job to administer the program and it is the faculty’s job to set
the criteria. He will withhold any future
OCSA approvals until there is a process that is rooted in faculty
governance. He will try to find the
staffing to implement the program to the point that some day all faculty can expect
every seven years to have a semester of full pay. He would like to make the OCSA program more
common – even working toward a sabbatical system. He will be happy to sit on the committee to
deliberate, but the criteria should come out of the departments and programs.
Next
year we need to have a Faculty Development Committee to establish the standards,
with peer review making recommendations to the Provost about which proposals
should be funded and which should be deferred.
Until a Faculty Development Committee emerges that is credible, that the
faculty buy into and is responsive to faculty needs, he does not believe we
should go forward with the OCSA Program.
Currently
two members of the University Teaching Council and two members of the
University Research Council review the proposals. It has been a chore to get the process going
although Dr. Padilla expected it would be bumpy this year since it is the first
year we have done this. Dr. Lisnerski noted
that this is not a formal committee.
Dr.
Padilla commented that if money is being given out, there is a huge committee
instantly. But if time is being given, there
is less interest in it. This is the most
valuable thing he can give faculty – a semester of full pay with no teaching
responsibilities. We have endless
discussion about whether someone should have a course release. These proposals are important because they
can serve to shift a faculty’s career into another gear. Many schools offer Untenured Leave to untenured
faculty so they are able to get scholarship done and are less panicked about
the tenure decision. It is possible to
build this into the OCSA Program – it would be a powerful recruitment tool. Dr. Nickless and Dr. Lisnerski will work with
Dr. Padilla to address these issues.
IV. Executive
Committee Report
Dr. Nickless gave the Executive
Committee Report.
Update
on Chancellor Search Committee
Dr. Konz
reported that the Chancellor Search Committee website is accessible through the
UNCA homepage. The position
advertisement will appear in the electronic version of the Chronicle of Higher
Education tomorrow and in the print version next week. It will also appear in three other journals
of higher education. There is a link on
the webpage to an email address to submit nominations.
The committee has been discussing how
they are going to evaluate candidates and how they will proceed through May. They expect to start reviewing applications in
the next couple of weeks.
First
The following document was
distributed for First Reading:
EC 2:
Changes
in Faculty Handbook Editor (Revision of SD3485).
V. Student
Government Association Report
Mr.
The
The
following students were recently elected:
Erica Little, Freshman senator; Edwin Terrell,
Junior senator; and John Noor, Parlimentarian.
Greenfest
will be held
The
VI. Institutional
Development Committee Report
Dr.
Update
on Enrollment Growth and University Size Task Force
Within the next few weeks, the Task
Force plans to bring a draft recommendation on growth and size to students,
faculty, and staff for a final campus-wide forum to receive input. The draft will be revised based on the
results of the forum and it will be distributed for first reading at the April 7th
Senate meeting.
First
The
following documents were distributed for First Reading:
IDC 5: Request to Establish the National
Environmental Modeling and
IDC 6:
Proposal to Establish a new degree program in
Women’s Studies.
Second
The
following document was considered for Second Reading:
IDC 4: Proposal to Establish a
During discussion the IDC members realized
that IDC 4 had been modified since they approved it. After consideration, Dr. Rossell withdrew the
document until IDC had an opportunity to fully review it. When the discrepancy is resolved, IDC will
bring the proposal to the Senate and will request a waiver of the Comer Rule. IDC will also review its procedural
guidelines for processing documents.
The discussion turned to capital
needs and resource allocations for Centers.
Dr. Padilla noted that any giving of resources by the university is done
by the administration and he could not approve a Center proposal that had an
implication of resource provisions that he could not assure. He recommended removing all resource
implications from these proposals or working with the administration in advance
to get permission for those resource implications.
Dr. Stevens and Dr. Gibney argued that the template from the Office of the
President includes a section on capital needs and resource needs. Also, a sentence in Section 9 states “...the
Center Director will work with the Associate Vice Chancellors and other
Administrators in allocating space for the Center or in determining its
location, in such a way that will support the academic environment of the
campus to the greatest degree.”
Dr. Rossell and Dr. Pierce expressed
concern that IDC is being asked to consider proposals to establish Centers without
any university guidelines on creating and approving them. Dr. Padilla explained that this is the last Center
proposal coming through ahead of the actual policy document. There is no expectation that this Center or
any other will get any course releases or any space. He suggested that the proposals have the
phrase “to be negotiated” under resources.
Dr. Lisnerski stated that he would
have trouble passing a document without knowing what the expected resources
are. Dr. Pierce suggested putting a moratorium
on Centers until there was a policy in place.
Dr. Padilla stated that this will be the last Center to come through prior
to the new policy document.
The Senate and Dr. Padilla ultimately
agreed that any resource requests for Centers would come as recommendations,
subject to availability as determined by the administration.
VII. Faculty
Welfare and Development Committee Report
Dr. Don Lisnerski gave the Faculty
Welfare and Development Committee Report.
Writing-Across-the-Curriculum
Advisory Committee (Faculty Handbook 10.4.25)
FWDC received a request from the
Writing-Across-the-Curriculum Advisory Committee to cease its function given
that the Director of the
Dr. Lisnerski moved to delete the
entry for the Writing-Across-the-Curriculum Advisory from the Faculty
Handbook. Dr. Reynolds seconded the
motion, which passed unanimously.
Second
The
following documents were considered for Second Reading:
FWDC 2: Proposal to Change Membership on Intellectual
Property Committee
(Revision of SD3402S;
Faculty Handbook 9.4).
FWDC 2 passed unanimously and became
Senate document SD1105S.
FWDC 3: Proposal to Establish Asheville Institute Advisory Committee (AIAC).
FWDC 3 passed unanimously and became
Senate document SD1205S.
VIII. Academic
Policies Committee Report
Dr.
· allowing prospective summer graduates to
walk in May before they have completed degree requirements;
· having a full commencement for fall graduates
in December; and,
· whether or not
graduates will receive their diplomas at commencement.
Dr.
Padilla has stated that this is an issue of faculty governance.
First
The
following documents were distributed for First Reading:
Modification
of Description STAT 225: Intro to Calculus-Based Statistics.
of electives in Ecology and Environmental Biology concentration.
Engineering Management.
Second
Reading: (Unanimously approved by
The following documents were
considered for Second Reading:
Changes in required Biology courses for Middle School Teacher Licensure;
Change
in required courses for Comprehensive Science
Licensure for Chemistry Majors.
6-12
Licensure Students.
(EDUC 321,
331, 341, 351, 355, 361).
Wellness Promotion; Changes to
Dance Minor, Sports Medicine Minor, and Health
and Wellness
Promotion Minor.
and
Addition of New Prefixes.
IX. Old Business
There
was no Old Business.
X. New Business
There
was no New Business.
XI. Adjourn
Dr.
Nickless adjourned the meeting at
Respectfully
submitted by: Sandra Gravely
Don
Lisnerski