FACULTY SENATE MEETING
Minutes, November 30, 2006
Senate
Members: G.
Boudreaux, B. Butler, K. Cole, P. Downes, M. Harvey, H. Holt, B. Hook, S.
Judson,
B. Larson,
D. Lisnerski, J. McClain, C. McKenzie, G. Nallan, B. Sabo, B. Wilson,
J.
Wood; M. Padilla.
Excused: L.
Atkinson, M. Moseley.
Visitors: M. Alm, P. Catterfeld, A. Hantz, P. Hunt,
J.M. McGlinn, E. Katz, J. Kuhlman, A. Lange,
D. Perkins, A. Shope, K. Whatley.
I. Call
to Order, Introductions, Announcements
Dr.
II. Approval of minutes
The minutes of November 9,
2006, were approved as written.
III. Student Government Association Report
(SGA)
Anna Lange reported for the
Student Government Association.
IV. Chancellor’s
Staff Advisory Committee (CSAC)
There
was no Chancellor’s Staff Advisory Committee report.
V. Administrative
Report
Dr.
Nallan announced that Chancellor Ponder may join us later in the meeting.
Annual
Report of Vice Chancellor for Finance and Operations
Vice
Chancellor Pat Hunt reported for Finance and Operations.
Report from Vice Chancellor of Finance and Operations.
In the first few months as Vice Chancellor for Finance and Operations, Ms. Hunt has focused on refurbishing the departments within Finance, an area that has been significantly understaffed. As a result, the University has relied on individuals to take on an unusual assortment of duties as well as an unreasonable amount of work for some time. Ms. Hunt provided an update on progress toward a fully-staffed, better organized, more customer focused Finance area. During this transition, the success of the reorganization will require equal measures of compassion, patience, and good humor.
Textbook
Study Task Force Report
Dean Whatley
discussed the “Report on Implementation of Recommendations on Costs of
Textbooks” that we are required to submit with our budget requests. A committee worked on this according to
guidelines issued by General Administration.
All groups potentially affected by textbook policies were represented on
the committee -- academic, financial, student, faculty, financial aid, and
bookstore staff representatives. The
Committee considered: textbook rental,
online ordering, the bundling of materials by publishers, a policy on the use
of faculty-authored materials, and communicating with faculty on textbook cost
issues.
The Committee
determined that a textbook rental program is not viable for UNCA. Only a few sections of the same classes are
offered in the same semester and students are limited in their active reading
of a text if they are not permitted to mark it.
Also, the start-up cost to institute a rental program at UNCA would be
exorbitant, in comparison to our limited funding and small student body. To finance such an operation funding would
have to come from other budget lines, possibly resulting in a loss of other
student services and faculty positions. The Textbook Study Task Force concluded that
a buyback consortium, the availability of more used books, alerting students to
course textbook requirements so they may “shop online,” and reminding faculty
that being diligent in their selections of texts will be the most effective way
for UNCA to reduce costs for our students.
Dr. Whatley
encouraged faculty to use the same edition of a book for two or three years at
a time if appropriate for the discipline as it gives the bookstore a chance to
buy used books that will be used in the next semester and reduces the overall
cost for students. It would also be
helpful if faculty can avoid having the publisher bundle materials
together.
Highlights of
comments/suggestions follow:
o
At
the last Senate meeting Jim Kuhlman offered to help develop a web form that
takes the data (including the ISBN numbers) from faculty members and sends it
to the Bookstore and to a website for students simultaneously.
o
When
faculty select a book, they can post this information online. This can be done in advance as faculty
develop their websites. Our contract
prohibits the Bookstore from posting the ISBN numbers online but there is no
prohibition on individual faculty posting ISBN numbers.
o
It
is easier if the student/parent can access the textbook information on one
website.
o
The
percentage of buybacks has tripled in the last three years.
o
A
pilot system-wide buyback program is starting in a couple of days.
o
The
Bookstore mark-up is 35% but it is a small operation and there are few
economies of scale we can take advantage of.
It is receipt-funded and also supports scholarships and the OneCard. This year
the Bookstore gave $40K toward scholarships and $120K toward administrative
fees.
o
Consider
a system-wide purchase plan to offset the economy of scale. President Bowles has this in mind with the
PACE initiative.
o
Perhaps
students should not be contributing toward scholarships via their bookstore
purchases.
o
The
buyback plan is speculative -- classes offered on a rotating cycle cannot
benefit from the program.
o
The
Bookstore is a $2 million operation – textbook income is 80% -- the national
average is 60%.
Calendars
-
Revision of 2008-09 calendar
Dean
Whatley reported on proposed changes to the 2008-09 Calendar:
Several Senators recommended reducing the number of split
weeks as it is difficult to teach then and attendance is affected. Dr. Whatley agreed but noted that it is a
challenge to reduce the number of split weeks while also not having classes on
Labor Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, and Thanksgiving. The discussion turned toward the tradition of
mid-term break, the possibility of eliminating the Labor Day holiday and
holding classes later in May. Dr. Wood
added that some colleagues prefer to have the semester begin on a Wednesday –
it is the one partial week where attendance is good.
-
Planning for 2009-10 calendar
The
draft 2009-10 calendar was distributed for comments. Dr. Whatley will bring options to the Senate
in January; following feedback from the Senate, the final version will go to
senior staff for approval.
An option was
to start fall semester one week earlier or one week later in the spring, or
both. If the Labor Day holiday is three
weeks into the semester, do we need a fall break? Dr. Wilson noted that at some point we need
to evaluate whether it is worth eliminating a class day for the Undergraduate
Research Symposium; many students do not attend unless it is required. Dr. Whatley noted that theoretically students
should be required to attend but they are not missing a class day. We started canceling classes because we had
more days in our calendar than were required.
The extra days can be used for academic experiences.
VI. Executive
Committee Report
Faculty Assembly
Standards of Shared Governance Resolution
Dr. Nallan explained that the Faculty
Assembly adopted the Standards of Shared Governance on the 16 UNC Campuses in
April 2005. The resolution was first
distributed to Senators last year but no formal action was taken. He asked that Senators review the resolution
carefully for discussion in January and February; Second
Dr. Larson requested that someone familiar with the
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) accreditation requirements
review the wording on evaluating the performance of senior administrators (page
4, #10) to see if it is consistent with SACS guidelines. Jim Kuhlman, chair of the SACS group, offered
to review the section and discuss it with Dr. Larson. The Resolution is available at:
Standards of Shared Governance
on the 16 UNC Campuses
.
VII. Academic Policies Committee Report
ILS Oversight Committee
Report to APC
Alan
Hantz, Chair of ILSOC, reported to APC in accordance to SD0703F. In part, the policy states: "The Chair of the ILS Oversight
Committee will report to APC at the end of each semester, providing information
about decisions made by the committee during that semester, with rationale if
necessary. In this report, the chair may
also identify areas of concern with regard to clarity and specificity of
component charges, proposals for ILS courses, availability of ILS sections, or
any other issues." APC has received
the report and discussions will be ongoing.
First
The following documents
were distributed for First Reading:
[Approved by APC by a vote
of 3-0-1]
APC 23: Clarify expected time of completion for MLA
680
[Unanimously approved by APC]
APC 6: Addition
of a new concentration in Literature/Language:
Creative
Writing with 9-12 English Licensure
APC
7: Consolidating
Modern Physics I and II into one course, PHYS 326; Expanding
Quantum
Mechanics into two courses, PHYS 414 and 418.
APC
8: Changing Requirements for Physics
with Teacher Licensure
APC
9: Changes
to Physics major, minor and prerequisite requirements to reflect the addition
of
PHYS 326, 414 and 418
APC 10: Dropping CHEM 144 as a
Requirement in Physics. Adding MATH 365
as a Requirement.
APC 11: Add PORT prefix for Portuguese
courses; Add new courses, PORT 110, 120 and 300
APC 12: Clarification of hours
required in culture and language courses in Classics
APC 13: Addition of Concentration in
Classical Studies to Classics
APC 14: Changes to major competency
requirement in Classics
APC 15: Adding
APC 16: Changes titles and
descriptions of HIST 303 and 308; Change title for HIST 348
APC 17: Adding new American History
courses, HIST 304 and 319
APC 18: Changing Category IV in
History from Other to World
APC 19: Delete HIST 354, 355 and 361
APC 20: Change description of PHIL 200; Delete PHIL
301 and 309; Add new course PHIL 312
APC
21: Change
in number of hours and maximum credit for MLA 610
APC 22: Clarify Approval
Process for Project Proposals in MLA 670
APC 24: Reinstatement of
MLA 690
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
VIII. Institutional Development Committee Report
Bruce Larson reported for the
Institutional Development Committee.
IDC met last week and focused on master
programs. Sandra Byrd, Director of the
IX. Faculty
Welfare and Development Committee Report
Second
The following
document was considered for Second Reading:
FWDC 1: Proposal to
establish the “Library, Information Resources, & Technology Committee”
as a
new Standing Committee replacing the Computing & Telecommunications
Committee and the Library & Media Services
Advisory Committee (Replaces SD7403S;
Faculty Handbook 6.5.3; 10.4.4; 10.4.13).
Following a
lengthy discussion, Dr. Sabo moved to amend the ex officio membership as
follows:
Ex
Officio, voting:
Registrar
Chief
Information Officer, convener
Ex
Officio, nonvoting:
Vice
Chancellor for Administration & Finance or designee
Vice
Chancellor for Student Affairs or designee
Vice
Chancellor for Development or designee
Assistant
Director of ITS for Applications
Assistant
Director of ITS for Systems, Networks, & Security
Manager,
ITS User Support
Director,
Center for Teaching and Learning
Web
manager
Ms. McKenzie
seconded the motion which passed. FWDC
1 passed as amended and became
Senate Document 0706F.
X. Old
Business
There was no Old Business.
XI. New
Business
XII. Adjourn
Dr.
Nallan adjourned the meeting at 4:50pm.
Respectfully submitted by: Sandra
Gravely