University of North Carolina at Asheville FACULTY SENATE MEETING Minutes, SEPTEMBER 14, 1989 Senate Members: A. Comer, L. Friedenberg, B. Greenawalt, A. Hantz, J. Heimbach, M. Marshall, C. Mitchell, L. Nelms, S. Obergfell, S. Patch, C. Prokop, D. Sulock, A. Wengrow, B. Wilson, L. Wilson Excused: B. Sabo Visitors: P. Betts, M. Boyd, C. Brown, T. Cochran, F. Davenport, H. Williams (SGA) I. Call to Order The 1989-90 Faculty Senate met on Thursday, September 14, 1989, in the Whitman Room of Ramsey Library. Charles Prokop, Chair, called the meeting to order at 3:35 pm. II. Minutes Ms. Marshall corrected two typographical errors on page five of the August 31, 1989, minutes. Ms. Marshall then moved approval of the August 31, 1989, minutes and the minutes were approved. III. Executive Committee Report Dr. Prokop reported for the Executive Committee. Faculty Conciliator Student Government representative Hugh Williams contacted Dr. Prokop regarding the SGA selection for Faculty Conciliator. Ileana Grams was appointed Faculty Conciliator and Mary Lynn Manns was appointed Alternate. Health Services Documentation Dr. Prokop reported that Dr. Eric Pyeritz, Director of Student Health Services, plans to discontinue the current practice of providing written excuses for students who miss class. Dr. Pyeritz gave several reasons for discontinuing this practice, including: 1) violation of patient confidentiality; 2) 95% of illnesses do not require medical intervention, so documentation must be requested after-the-fact; 3) off-campus students are required to pay a private physician for the same documentation that on-campus students receive at no cost; and, 4) the excessive drain on Health Services' staff time. After considerable discussion, the Senate adopted the following motion by a vote of 8-3 with 2 abstentions: It is the sense of the Senate that when students request written documentation of illness from Health Services' staff that documentation be provided only if the student has been treated or assessed by Health Services personnel. Page 2 Graduate Council Dr. Prokop will meet in conjunction with the Faculty Welfare and Development Committee, the director of the MLA program, and Dr. Larry Wilson in an effort to draw up a document to officially compose the Graduate Council. In response to a question from Dr. Mitchell, Dr. Prokop confirmed that it was his intent that the Senate would have some input regarding Graduate Council appointments. In response to a question from Dr. Hantz, Dr. Wilson stated that UNCA has no jurisdiction concerning the Graduate Center's role beyond the MLA program as the Council reports directly to GA. IV. Administrative Report Dr. Larry Wilson (VCAA) gave the Administrative Report. Budget Dr. Larry Wilson reported that UNCA's salary schedule was officially approved today. EPA employees received a 6% salary pool increase retroactive to July 1. All EPA employees will receive their raise retroactive to July 1, regardless of whether they are on the old/new contract. Dr. Friedenberg asked if Academic Affairs could notify faculty of their recommended percentage increase while waiting final approval from GA. This would allow faculty feedback while waiting for approval. It was Dr. Wilson's understanding that recommendations could not be given to employees prior to final approval by GA. Dr. Mitchell asked if it would be possible to have the three months' withholdings in a separate check rather than in one. Dr. Wilson stated it was a question of whether the State could be convinced to change this procedure as they write the checks. Ms. Marshall stated that this was a greater problem in the past; since tax rates have dropped from 50% to 28%, the impact should not be as drastic. President Spangler President Spangler paid an unexpected visit to UNCA last week while en route to Boone for a systemwide Trustees' meeting. He met with student leaders to discuss drug policy and usage, and with Chancellor Brown concerning the State's athletic program. Board of Trustees UNCA had the largest number of delegates of all the institutions at the recent Board of Trustees' retreat. The administration received very positive comments from GA concerning our Trustees. Dr. Wilson stated that UNCA's Board of Trustees and Vice Chancellors met on Friday after the retreat. Topics of discussion included the Board of Trustees, Marketing, and Student Life. Enrollment UNCA's in-coming Freshmen have a mean SAT score of 990. UNCA currently has the third highest SAT scores in the state, behind Carolina and State respectively, and is 10-15 points ahead of our nearest competitor. Total opening enrollment was 3,292 and Page 3 headcount was 2,555 FTE. UNCA currently has 19 Teaching Fellows. Enrollment of black students has doubled since last year to 21. Building Dr. Wilson stated that the target date for completion of the classroom building is June 15th. (This does not include the top floor.) Construction on the library should be completed next August. Current plans are to have virtually all materials moved into the new part of the library and very little left in the old section. Dr. Wilson explained that this would reduce the number of moves required from three to two. The new building will house 25 classrooms and will increase current classroom space by 25-33%. A brief discussion ensued concerning UNCA's current lack of parking and how the influx of additional students in the new classrooms will put additional stress on UNCA's parking dilemma. Board of Trustees Mr. Wengrow stated that at one time the Chancellor was working on Trustee development in an effort to make our Trustees a more state-wide group, and was planning to bring Trustees and faculty together. Mr. Wengrow asked Dr. Wilson if he knew the status of either of these plans. Dr. Wilson stated that UNCA had not received any encouragement from GA regarding the state-wide plan. Dr. Wilson explained the development of a Council on Liberal Arts which will begin this Fall. The idea of the council is to develop a statewide constituency of young, potentially emerging people who have not yet been discovered. The Council will be similar to the Board of Visitors group, but will be involved with State rather than UNCA interests. The Council's long-term strategy would be to develop interest in UNCA around the state. Also, UNCA is trying a different approach to proceedings, beginning with the Trustees' meeting next week. The Board of Trustees will meet initially with an academic department for a one to l-1/2 hour lunch, then will adjourn into a regular business meeting. The idea is to have 3-4 of these meetings a year, so that over a 6-year period the Trustees will get to know the various departments. V. Academic Policies Committee Report Dr. Lisa Friedenberg reported for the Academic Policies Committee. First Reading Dr. Friedenberg presented APC Document #1: Catalog Changes in Economics for first reading. VI. Institutional Development Committee Report Ms. Linda Nelms reported for the Institutional Development Committee. New Meeting Time A new meeting schedule has been established for UPC. Meetings will be held on Tuesday mornings at 7:45 am in the Private Dining Room. The next two meetings will be held on September 26th Page 4 and October 3rd. Everyone is warmly invited. PC's for Faculty At the last UPC meeting Robert Bland, newly elected chair of the Academic Computing Advisory Committee, explained the proposed Faculty PC program. The Computer Center has set aside $25K for the purpose of placing personal computers on faculty desks. The Academic Computer Advisory Committee is asking faculty to submit proposals and will develop the selection criteria for the awarding of PC's to faculty. Also, the Computer Center is working on a PC matching grant with Zenith Corporation which would double the number of PC's available to faculty if successful. Contact Robert Bland for additional information. Thrust Ms. Nelms explained that the Thrust Directors were asked if they would like any additional money, and that two Thrusts did receive additional funds. The Humanities Thrust was divided into 3 sections: 1) Faculty Development; 2) Humanities and the Arts; and 3) Humanities and the MLA. The proposals for sections 1 and 2 were both fully funded. Because there were a number of questions regarding section 3, it was tabled until Dr. Moseley could meet with UPC to discuss the proposal. The Health Promotion proposal received partial funding ($8,500) for the Health Fair. UPC tabled the request from Undergraduate Research until the next meeting due to the lack of time. Ms. Nelms stated that the enabling document for UPC was distributed at the last meeting and will be discussed at length in the future. Reclassification Dr. Patch asked for an up-date on reclassifying UNCA within the State's three tier system. Ms. Nelms stated that the Chancellor had pursued reclassifying UNCA and that IDC would be addressing this next Spring. Dr. Wilson added that there was no evidence that GA had any interest in reclassifying UNCA. VII. Faculty Welfare and Development Committee Report Ms. Marshall reported for the Faculty Welfare and Development Committee. Ms. Marshall announced the results of the recent campus-wide elections. Faculty Assembly The following faculty were elected to a three-year term (1989-92) on the Faculty Assembly: Shirley Browning - Faculty Assembly Representative Mel Blowers- Faculty Assembly Alternate Page 5 Academic Appeals Board The following faculty were elected to the Academic Appeals Board for a one-year term (1989-90): Dot Sulock Debra Van Engelen Anthony Coyne Tracy Brown Peter Caulfield - Alternate New Format  The Senate minutes are being re-formated in an effort to make retrieval of information easier. Comments or suggestions are welcome. The next FWDC meeting will be held on September 21st at 12:30 pm. VIII. Old Business There was no Old Business. IX. New Business There was no New Business. X. Adjournment Dr. Prokop adjourned the meeting at 4:20 PM. Respectfully submitted by: Sandra Gravely Martha Marshall Page 6