FACULTY SENATE MEETING
Minutes,
Senate
Members: L.
Atkinson, G. Boudreaux, B. Butler, K. Cole, L. Cornett, B. Hook, P. Downes,
H. Holt, B. Larson, D. Lisnerski, C. McKenzie, S. Mills, G.
Nallan, P. Nickless,
M. Ruiz, S. Walters, J. Wood; M. Padilla.
Excused: S. Judson.
Visitors: M. Alm,
T. Glenn, E. Katz, G. Krumpe, K. Krumpe, J. Noor, A. Shope, B. Spellman,
K. Whatley, B. Wilson.
I. Call to Order
Pamela Nickless called
the meeting to order at
II. Approval
of minutes
The minutes of
III. Administrative
Report
Don Locke, Director
of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs
- Announcements
Local businessman Jesse Ray
will join the senior staff as the Special Assistant to the Chancellor. As Dr.
Locke phases out of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs, Mr. Ray will phase
into the area and will do some external affairs for the Chancellor as well.
A new diversity initiative for African American, Latino,
and geographically diverse students is underway.
Geographically diverse
students could be international students or students from other regions of the
country (not from the south). The students
will participate in two of six selected existing activities on our campus in
the hope of building a sense of community.
Each participant will receive a $1,000 scholarship. If they matriculate successfully for the
first year and subsequent years, they may continue the scholarship for all four
years. Seventy-five letters of
invitation have been sent to date.
- Faculty Recruitment
The administration has authorized thirteen
tenure track positions. The presence of
a diverse faculty reflects the University’s commitment to academic excellence
and enriches the student experience.
Diversity goals may be best undertaken through positive leadership
rather than administrative directives.
To that end, and as Affirmative Action Officer, Dr. Locke wishes to work
with search committees in the process of faculty hiring, assisting with the
organization and conduct of the search.
Success in recruiting and retaining a diverse faculty is an ongoing
process. The greatest success in the
search process involves personal contact and recruitment (colleagues; faculty
in departments from which UNCA faculty graduated; personal contacts at
professional meetings; personal contacts made by other ethnically diverse
faculty). Even senior scholars who may
be employed outside academe but who, through cutbacks or simply the desire for
a career change, may be well suited for a faculty position. Dr. Locke noted items to include in
advertisements.
Dr. Padilla will announce the positions for next year in a
single ad in The Chronicle and Diverse Issues in Higher Education. Departments should also advertise in
their more specialized publications. The
Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs will subscribe to Minority and Women Doctoral Directory
(a registry that maintains up-to-date information on employment candidates who
have recently received or are soon to receive a doctoral degree in their
respective field from one of approximately 200 U.S. major research
universities).
2008-09 Academic Calendar
The Senate discussed the exam schedule and
the need to avoid having grades due before the end of class. Mr. Noor noted that
Administrative
Nomenclature
Dr. Padilla recommended adding the term Dean to the titles
of the
IV. Student
Government Association Report
President
President-elect
Mr. Noor and Mr.
Glenn will meet with President Bowles on Thursday to talk about diversity,
tuition, and financial aid. Mr. Noor
will express students’ concerns about adding graduate programs and will discuss
UNCA’s funding formula.
Mr. Noor noted
that FWDC 11 under consideration today would remove two student representatives
on the Minority Affairs Commission. He
stressed the need to have a student voice on the commission and said he had
picked an executive of student government who will be devoted to diversity next
year.
V. Executive
Committee Report
Pamela Nickless reported for the
Executive Committee.
University
Community Council (UCC)
Senators Larson, Ruiz, and Nickless
serve on the University Community Council (UCC) which continues to meet
weekly. The UCC is distilling all the
information gathered during the campus small group meetings.
Report
on Shared Governance meeting with Academic Affairs
Dr. Larson distributed the minutes of
the March 16th Shared Governance meeting with the Provost, the
The following points were viewed by all as
important:
1. Departmental and program reviews
should return and IDC is the appropriate venue for it to take place. The appropriate
2. The question “How fully do AA and
the FSEC want to share governance?” will need to be addressed. In effect, what are the boundaries of shared
governance?
3. It is desirable for the Provost to
meet on a regular basis with the FSEC.
4. It is desirable for the
5. It is desirable for IDC and UPC to move
in different directions, with IDC orienting its activities more
toward Academic
Affairs and UPC orienting its activities more toward university-wide
planning. IDC and UPC should be chaired by different
individuals.
6. Where will Faculty Development responsibilities
lie (if not in FWDC)?
7. It is desirable for two
academically-oriented groups be in existence, one which would focus its
attentions
on student
learning and another that would work to integrate/coordinate curriculum and
money issues.
8. Does the Provost receive the Faculty
Senate documents? [Yes.]
Question/Discussion
·
Who would sit on UPC and would it be
constituted by the Senate or another body?
Dr. Nickless noted that since the UPC has existed it has
been a Senate committee. It reports to
the Senate but has slots for ex officio or appointment by the Chancellor as
well as by the Senate. Every member of
the IDC was on the Planning Council. Two
additional faculty members were appointed by the Chancellor. Over the years the administrative positions
changed.
Dr. Wood referred to the UCC that the Chancellor initiated
and asked if it would become the UPC.
Dr. Larson replied that the Chancellor will give a university-wide talk
on April 25th which is supposed to be about strategic planning. The UPC will have to be negotiated in the
future. Dr. Wood added that it might be
in the Senate’s interest to be aware of that conversation so if we want to
continue to constitute that committee that we do. Dr. Nickless added that the Executive Committee
has been talking to the Chancellor about this all semester – she believes we
are all on the same page.
·
Where will faculty development
responsibilities lie?
The FWDC will keep its development component but the Center
for Teaching and Learning (CTL) and Academic Affairs are also involved in
faculty development opportunities for faculty.
·
Through the CTL’s
reading circles, many faculty are aware that learning is to be considered along
with teaching. Many are interested in
the new cognitive theory on how we learn and how universities may facilitate
those principles. Are we thinking about
how students learn as we revise the curriculum?
Do we want to bring that into curriculum discussions?
·
Dr. Downes referred to Dr. Nickless’ memo on
shared governance dated February 11th and asked about the status of
her recommendations.
Dr. Nickless replied that progress has been made – the
Chancellor and the chief of staff are very aware that it is appropriate to
consult about search committees. An
issue that will have to stay on the front burner next year is the
elimination/consolidation of degree programs.
After a lapse of several years, IDC will again be reviewing degree
programs to determine if any should be consolidated or eliminated. This is related to the substantive changes in
majors too. Dr. Nickless added that on
March 2nd, Senators talked about the Health Care “track” and then
called it a program. It is a track
within a major. We need to be clear –
big changes to majors are different than elimination or consolidation of degree
programs. We probably should include all
university programs that do not offer degrees but have minors.
·
Dr.
Nickless noted that one item not on the table involves reviewing administrative
offices. Dr. Downes stated that minutes
from a Senate meeting in 2000 say a review would be done every five years. The reviews are helpful and would take care
of a lot of problems if conducted on a regular basis.
Dr. Padilla reported that when the Chancellor read the
document she asked him to convey to the Senate that that is one thing that she
is not interested in and would not support.
She said that it is the prerogative of the Chancellor. But that is the Senate’s issue with her. Dr. Nickless stated that the Senate will
continue that conversation – it will stay on the table. The Executive Committee will prepare a draft
of the Standing Rules and Rules of Order for the 2006-07 Executive Committee to
consider. Hopefully it will keep these
important issues on the front burner.
Dr. Padilla said he favored an Academic
Affairs UPC and supported it as Dr. Larson defined it. IDC has the potential to conduct program
reviews and a lot of communication could occur if IDC met with the Academic Affairs
administrative team twice a semester.
Dr. Nickless added that if IDC reviews programs, an ex officio member of
Academic Affairs should be on the committee as it often involves budgets. Dr. Larson said that assessment and planning
are appropriate activities to have brought together and he saw IDC as being
quite able to fill that function. When a
program is being reviewed, the appropriate Dean would come to the meeting.
VI. Academic
Policies Committee Report
Gary Nallan reported for the Academic
Policies Committee.
First
The following documents were
distributed for First Reading:
description for DRAM 317.
Second Reading:
[Unanimously Approved by
The following documents were
considered for Second Reading:
Change course description and credit
hours for CHEM 428, 429.
Add new course, BIOL 365; Change
prerequisite for BIOL 223.
[
VII. Institutional Development Committee Report
Report on Activities
Two handouts on UNCA peers were distributed for
informational purposes:
1) The Peers of COPLAC. The Council of Public Liberal Arts
Colleges (COPLAC) is an alliance of public liberal arts colleges and
universities. UNCA is one of the
founding members of COPLAC and plays an increasingly
meaningful role in COPLAC;
2) The UNC General Administration Determined
Peer Group for UNCA. These are our
2006 peers for General Administration purposes that evolved through a negotiation
process.
Dr. Larson
distributed IDC’s Preliminary Criteria
for Additional Masters Programs and reported that IDC has been spending
much of its time this year thinking about additional masters programs. The issue was discussed last month at a faculty
forum and the discussion was valuable.
IDC has also met with the Chancellor when she shared some of her
thoughts about masters programs.
IDC’s Preliminary Criteria for Additional Masters
Programs -- dated 13 April 2006 follows:
In a recent meeting the Institutional Development Committee
(IDC) carefully read UNCA’s Mission Statement and
concluded that “Additional Masters Program do not
appear to be excluded by the
In light of the above IDC has begun the process of
formulating criteria to be used in identifying candidates for additional
Masters Programs at UNCA. The criteria
below reflect IDC’s current thinking, thinking which will assuredly develop as
further opportunities to comment are provided to the university community. The criteria below are of the nature of
necessary conditions, that is, all of
the criteria would have to be met for a Masters Program to be seen as
appropriate. Here are the criteria:
A. Masters Programs should enhance the
undergraduate program.
B. Masters Programs should be interdisciplinary
and not housed in a specific department.
C. Masters Programs should be programs of
excellence that UNCA can do better than other
universities.
D. Masters Programs should meet broadly defined
community needs.
E. Masters Programs should hold promise of
longevity.
F. No more than 3% (approximately 100) of UNCA students
should be in Masters Programs.
G. Masters Programs should be financially self
sustaining.
Once again, these criteria are preliminary. It should not be inferred from this list that
IDC now advocates the
establishment of additional Masters Programs at UNCA,
rather, IDC simply holds that if there are to be additional Masters Programs,
they should meet specific tests.
One
additional consideration has weighed very heavily on IDC’s deliberations,
namely, the perceived state of interdisciplinary programs at UNCA. IDC senses that current interdisciplinary
programs are under great strain and that too few full-time faculty are involved
in programs such as Arts and Ideas and the Humanities (to name only two). The ongoing implementation of the new ILS program
is also highly interdisciplinary. It
seems prudent to address existing strains on undergraduate interdisciplinary
programs before embarking upon additional Masters Programs.
Dr.
Larson added that IDC envisions a university-wide process to identify a set of
proposals of masters programs. With additional criteria for MLA programs
considered as a group, a body would then determine what group of masters
programs makes sense for UNCA. Dr.
Downes noted that IDC wanted balance and complementarity - these criteria
came out of long, congenial conversations with the Chancellor, and she believed
the criteria reflected the Chancellor's feelings. Dr. Padilla announced that another faculty
forum will be held May 3, 2006 to receive additional faculty input.
VIII. Faculty Welfare and Development Committee Report
Election
Results
Dr. Gregg Boudreaux distributed the
following election results:
Committee
of Tenured Faculty 2006-09
Humanities:
Natural Sciences:
Social Sciences: Karin Peterson
Post-Tenure
Review 2006-08
Humanities: Tracey Rizzo
At Large: Mark McClure
Faculty
Senate 2006-09
2006-07 Alternates:
Hearings
Committee 2006-08:
Humanities:
Natural Sciences: Steve Patch
Social Sciences: Linda Nelms
Grievance
Committee 2006-08:
Assistant
Professor: Keya Maitra
Associate Professor: Irene Rossell
Professor: Mark Gibney
Academic
Appeals Board 2006-08:
Michelle Bettencourt
Mary Anna LaFratta
2006-07 Alternate:
Representative
to UNC System Faculty Assembly 2006-09
2006-09 Alternate:
Nominees
for Alternate Faculty Conciliator
The Senate approved the following
slate of nominees for 2006-07 Alternate Faculty Conciliator:
Peter
Caulfield, Charles James, Pam Laughon, Afaf Omer. The
First
The following documents were
distributed for First Reading:
FWDC 12: Proposal to Eliminate the Academic Support
Services Committee (Faculty Handbook 10.4.3)
FWDC 13: Proposal to Establish the Campus Commission
on the Allocation of Student Services Funds
as a Standing Committee (Faculty Handbook
10.4.2)
FWDC 14: Proposal to Establish the Teaching Awards
Committee as a Standing Committee
(Revision of SD0194F) (Faculty Handbook
10.4.29)
Second
Reading
The following documents were
considered for Second Reading:
FWDC 10: Professional Development Leave Policy
(formerly Off-Campus Scholarly Assignment)
(Revision of SD5404S) (Faculty Handbook
4.1.4)
An editorial correction was made to
the proposal. FWDC 10 passed without
dissent as amended and became Senate Document 4506S.
FWDC 11: Proposal to Revise Minority Affairs
Commission (Revision of SD5000S)
(Faculty Handbook 10.3.2)
Following
discussion a friendly amendment was offered to add: “Two students appointed by the VCSA in
consultation with
IX. Old
Business
There was no Old Business.
X. New Business
There was no New Business.
XI. Adjourn
Dr. Nickless adjourned the meeting at
5:10 pm.
Respectfully submitted by: Sandra Gravely
Don
Lisnerski