FACULTY SENATE MEETING
Minutes, January 18, 2007
Senate
Members: L. Atkinson, G. Boudreaux, B. Butler, K.
Cole, P. Downes, M. Harvey, H. Holt, B. Hook,
S. Judson, B. Larson, D. Lisnerski,
J. McClain, C. McKenzie, M. Moseley, G. Nallan,
B. Sabo, B. Wilson, J. Wood; K. Whatley; A. Ponder.
Visitors: R. Booker, R. Bowen, L. Friedenberg, G.
Kormanik, A. Lange, P. McClellan, J. McKnight,
S. Mills, J. Noor, A. Shope.
I. Call
to Order, Introductions, Announcements
II. Approval
of minutes
The
minutes of November 30, 2006, were approved with editorial corrections.
III. Chancellor’s Staff Advisory Committee (CSAC)
JoAnne
McKnight reported for the Chancellor’s Staff Advisory Committee.
- PACE
Recommendations
The Executive Committee of the Staff Assembly
was invited to submit recommendations regarding the President’s Advisory
Committee on Efficiency and Effectiveness (PACE) report before the end of
January. This concerns how the University system intends to approach the
possibility of following the PACE recommendation for it to separate itself from
the Office of State Personnel (OSP) or reconfigure how it should operate under
OSP. The recommendations will be
compiled and submitted to President Bowles by mid-February with information
already collected from senior staff and other sources prior to his address to
the legislature.
A staff information session was held
on January 11th with good interaction among the 70 staff members
present. A follow-up session will be
held on January 24th to look at concerns and broad-stroke
recommendations. Faculty members were
invited to attend and offer their input.
Dr. Sabo encouraged Ms. McKnight to
email the table that was distributed at the January 11th staff
meeting to Senators, including the summary comparison.
-
Textbook Award for Degree-Seeking Staff
CSAC
is working toward offering a partial reimbursement for textbooks purchased by
staff members who are furthering their education by seeking a degree from
IV. Student Government Association Report
(SGA)
Anna Lange reported for the Student Government
Association.
·
SGA representatives
met over the holidays with Erskine Bowles’ Chief of
Staff, Jeff Davies, and the Senior VP of Finance for the UNC system, Rob
Nelson, to work on adopting green building standards for the university
system.
·
Based
on our sustainability resolution, we have met with Susan Fisher, Wayne McDevitt and Bruce Goforth, who
will be sponsoring legislation that will prevent state universities and
community colleges from being punished for retrofitting projects that save
energy.
·
The
Energy efficiency attachment talks about the key points we proposed that should
appear in the bill. We will hopefully see legislation soon.
·
The
Association of Student Government (ASG) meets next week in
·
The
ASG Textbook policy will be voted on this weekend. SGA would appreciate comments.
V. Administrative
Report
Highlights
of Chancellor Ponder’s remarks follow:
·
·
An
update for the start of the second semester will be presented at the All Campus
meeting on January 23 at 12:15 pm in the Humanities Lecture
Hall.
·
Strategic
planning is moving forward and will be a central topic at the February 14th
All Campus meeting.
·
Concerning
a new leader for the academic division and following a preliminary discussion
with the Faculty Senate Executive Committee, the following timetable is being
considered:
o
Spring: form a search committee and job
description. The Senate will identify
faculty
to
serve on the committee which will be majority faculty but not exclusively.
o
Summer: cultivate and look for candidates; advertise
officially in late summer.
o
Fall: begin
interviews when school is in session.
The hiring of a search firm with
possible use of the university’s one-time money is also being considered. Advice and suggestions are welcome.
Student
Affairs Highlights
2009-2010 Academic Calendar
Dr.
Whatley explained two proposed calendars for 2009-2010 for consideration. The Senate discussed partial weeks, the
broken-up exam period, the deadline for senior grades and the three-day fall
break followed closely by a three-day Thanksgiving holiday. The Senate generally preferred version 2 for
Fall semester and version 1 for Spring semester. Dr. Whatley will take this information to
senior staff.
VI. Executive
Committee Report
Status
Report on Office Support Study Team
Brian Hook reminded Senators that
last fall the Office Support Study Team (OSST) was established to conduct a
study of the jobs of our academic support staff since many jobs have changed
over time and job descriptions no longer reflect the work being done. There have been inequities in the system
regarding pay and responsibilities within jobs.
Questionnaires have been sent to office support staff and the committee
is in the process of organizing that information and identifying essential
duties. The next step will be to collect
information from faculty on their office needs; this will likely occur within departmental
meetings. Dr. Hook asked Senators to
assure office support staff that the team is doing something with this
information.
First
EC 1:
Faculty Assembly Standards of Shared Governance Resolution
Dr. Nallan explained that the Faculty Assembly adopted the
Standards of Shared Governance in April 2005.
The resolution was distributed to Senators last year but no formal
action was taken. We have been asked if
we are going to take action on the resolution.
The Senate may choose to adopt the resolution, adopt portions of it, or
amend it. Final Standards of Shared Governance
on the 16 UNC Campuses.
Dr. Sabo argued that the first
sentence of the "Compliance" section on page 4 – "It is the responsibility of the faculty of each campus to
advocate, seek, and monitor the campus’s adherence to the Standards of Shared
Governance" – is the heart of the document. This provision clearly defines the faculty’s
responsibility. He questioned whether the faculty were living up to its
responsibilities.
He addressed two major parts of
the document: 1) structures and procedures and 2) governing
responsibilities. UNCA complies with the
structure and procedure guidelines particularly as they pertain to the
activities of APC and FWDC. In these
cases faculty responsibilities are clearly defined and the faculty’s role not
questioned.
Dr. Sabo noted that the
difficulties arise with point #3 on page 3 – "The Chancellor and other senior administrators should consult in
a timely way and seek meaningful faculty input on issues in which the faculty
has an appropriate interest but not primary responsibility." The administration took steps to involve
faculty in some issues mentioned in the document including enrollment growth,
intercollegiate athletics, and issues involving the library and other research
facilities. However, in some important
cases -- specifically point #7 on page 3 and point #10 on page 4 – there have
been serious violations of the principles.
The central problem is determining the meaning of "appropriate interest but not primary responsibility." This used to be the purview of the Planning
Council which included members from the Senate, other faculty members, and the
administration. UPC document, Proposal to Modify the Composition of UPC,
written when Bruce Larson was chair, indicates the Planning Council system
incorporated all the principles listed in the governance resolution. Dr. Sabo added that IDC, as currently
constituted, falls short of both the ideal and the old Planning Council
concept. This makes it difficult to live
up to the compliance responsibility the document imposes on the faculty – and
this is our fault. He made three
suggestions: 1) senators carefully study the document, 2) consider amending the
Faculty Senate Constitution by adding the statement "At the end of the
year the Executive Committee reports to the Senate on decisions the university
has made and the degree to which faculty were involved in those
decisions," and 3) figure out how to reinvigorate the IDC or reinstate the
Planning Council concept so there will be no more violations of the principles
of the Assembly Resolution. We cannot
afford to forget the first sentence of the Compliance Section. An effective Planning Council is
essential to fulfilling this task and to protecting the faculty’s
"appropriate interest."
Dr. Downes asked if the UPC
fulfilled the responsibilities that we need to consider. Dr. Sabo noted three UPC duties as examples
of where we no longer comply:
·
Assist
in development and implementation of the University
planning cycle.
·
Participate annually in the setting of University budget
objectives and allocations.
·
Meet periodically with the appropriate committee of the Board of
Trustees to discuss the University.
Dr. Lisnerski explained that the Senate put UPC on “hold”
status until the strategic planning process is completed. For the last couple of years the Senate
Standing Rules say that IDC will perform the function of UPC. Senators agreed that IDC was not performing
the duties of UPC.
Dr. Larson explained that UPC was unraveled a few years ago
when senior staff either withdrew or were withdrawn from the University
Planning Council. We need to complete
the strategic planning process. There is
a possibility for reconstructing the UPC to fit the style of the current
administration and our current university which would conform to the guidelines
of the Assembly Resolution. Dr. Moseley
noted that the unraveling of UPC was an undoing of shared governance. Dr. Nallan asked Senators to carefully
re-read the document and give some thought to the issues Dr. Sabo addressed.
VII. Faculty
Welfare and Development Committee Report
Faculty
Mentoring Program
The first social function of the
Faculty Mentoring Program will be held on February 3rd. Forty-two faculty members who have been
hired over the last two years have been invited to the social as well as
twenty-one faculty members who have volunteered to be mentors. The new faculty will fill out a survey to
learn their concerns and the areas where they want additional information. FWDC is working with the administration, the
Deans, and Human Resources to provide informative workshops. The Senate discussed the need for additional
mentors.
VIII. Academic
Policies Committee Report
Second
The following documents
were considered for Second Reading:
[Approved by APC by a vote
of 3-0-1]
APC 23: Clarify expected time of completion for MLA
680.
APC
23 passed and became Senate Document 0807S.
[Unanimously approved by APC]
APC 6: Addition
of a new concentration in Literature/Language:
Creative
Writing with 9-12 English Licensure
APC
6 passed without dissent and became Senate Document 0907S.
APC
7: Consolidating
Modern Physics I and II into one course, PHYS 326; Expanding
Quantum
Mechanics into two courses, PHYS 414 and 418.
APC
7 passed without dissent and became Senate Document 1007S.
APC
8: Changing Requirements for Physics
with Teacher Licensure.
APC
8 passed without dissent and became Senate Document 1107S.
APC
9: Changes
to Physics major, minor and prerequisite requirements to reflect the addition
of
PHYS 326, 414 and 418.
APC
9 passed without dissent and became Senate Document 1207S.
APC 10: Dropping CHEM 144 as a
Requirement in Physics. Adding MATH 365
as a Requirement.
APC
10 passed without dissent and became Senate Document 1307S.
APC 11: Add PORT prefix for Portuguese
courses; Add new courses, PORT 110, 120 and 300.
APC
11 passed without dissent and became Senate Document 1407S.
APC 12: Clarification of hours
required in culture and language courses in Classics.
APC
12 passed without dissent and became Senate Document 1507S.
APC 13: Addition of Concentration in
Classical Studies to Classics.
APC
13 passed without dissent and became Senate Document 1607S.
APC 14: Changes to major competency
requirement in Classics.
APC
14 passed without dissent and became Senate Document 1707S.
APC 15: Adding
APC
15 passed without dissent and became Senate Document 1807S.
APC 16: Changes titles and
descriptions of HIST 303 and 308; Change title for HIST 348.
APC
16 passed without dissent and became Senate Document 1907S.
APC 17: Adding new American History
courses, HIST 304 and 319.
APC
17 passed without dissent and became Senate Document 2007S.
APC 18: Changing Category IV in
History from Other to World.
APC
18 passed without dissent and became Senate Document 2107S.
APC 19: Delete HIST 354, 355 and 361.
APC
19 passed without dissent and became Senate Document 2207S.
APC 20: Change description of PHIL 200; Delete PHIL
301 and 309; Add new course PHIL 312.
APC 20 passed without dissent and
became Senate Document 2307S.
APC
21: Change
in number of hours and maximum credit for MLA 610.
APC
21 passed without dissent and became Senate Document 2407S.
APC 22: Clarify Approval
Process for Project Proposals in MLA 670.
APC
22 passed without dissent and became Senate Document 2507S.
APC 24: Reinstatement of
MLA 690.
APC
24 passed without dissent and became Senate Document 2607S.
APC Approved as Minor Proposal:
[Senators review Minor documents via
links on the agenda emailed campus-wide.]
APC 25: Addition on Special Topics to
the MLA curriculum.
APC
25 passed without dissent and became Senate Document 2707S.
IX. Institutional Development
Committee Report
Bruce Larson reported for the
Institutional Development Committee.
Discussion
of Master’s Programs
IDC had an open discussion with
Sandra Byrd about the possibility of additional master’s programs
at
UNCA. Perhaps the most meaningful item
from that discussion was that there is time for us to continue
to
move in a deliberative fashion and to act on master’s programs should it seem
appropriate in the fall.
IDC’s
orientation all along has been that a decision about additional master’s
programs would be inappropriate
until
such time as the strategic planning process is complete. An increase in the scale of master’s programs
at
our university is a strategic decision best undertaken with the full knowledge
and action of the Board of
Trustees.
X. Old
Business
The Senate briefly discussed why APC
23 did not pass APC unanimously.
XI. New
Business
XII. Adjourn
Dr.
Nallan adjourned the meeting at 4:40pm.
Respectfully submitted by: Sandra
Gravely