University of North
Carolina at Asheville
FACULTY SENATE
MEETING
Minutes, January 21,
2010
Senate
Members: C. Bell, R. Berls, G. Boudreaux, L. Dohse, G.
Ettari, V. Frank, B. Haas, G. Heard, J. Konz,
B. Larson, A. Lanou, K. Moorhead, L. Nelms, E. Pearson, D.
Pierce, K. Reynolds, L. Russell,
M. Sidelnick; J.
Fernandes.
Visitors: G. Ashburn, P. Catterfeld, D. Griffith, E.
Katz, K. Krumpe, P. McClellan, C. Mercer, R. Pente,
A. Reagan, A. Sherman, A.
Shope.
I. Call to Order, Introductions and Announcements
Dr. Dohse
called the meeting to order at 3:15pm and welcomed Senators and guests.
II. Approval
of minutes
The minutes of December 3, 2009, were approved with editorial
corrections.
III. Executive
Committee Report
Dr. Lothar Dohse reported for the Executive Committee.
New Web Design Presentation
Ms. Debbie
Griffith, interim director of marketing and communication, and Mr. Adam Reagan
in ITS gave a presentation on the new web site.
The UNC Asheville web site was last redesigned in 2002. If all goes well during the next critical two
weeks, we will launch a redesigned and re-organized web site on February 5. The project began last May with a charge from
Chancellor Ponder for a 44-member committee to assist Communications and ITS in
overseeing the project. The committee is
still active and includes faculty, staff, students, alumni and board of trustee
members. Faculty members on this
committee include: Chair Lothar Dohse, Curt Cloninger, Lei Han, Keith Ray,
Brent Skidmore and Mark Koven.
Our web
site is the single largest opportunity to communicate to a worldwide audience,
and receives more than 3 million hits per year. The site offers us the
opportunity to tell our story with dynamic content, photography, video and
other new technologies. Our goal is to
create a site that will reflect the culture of the university, create a sense
of community and collaboration and give the user a content rich experience. Most
importantly, we want Web users to easily find the information they are seeking,
and a bit more than they expected. We
wanted to create a site that is distinctly UNC Asheville and conveys that
personality. A more robust web site that
is easier to navigate will help us recruit the best and brightest students and
faculty, and build a greater awareness of the kind of institution we are. At the same time, we want the new site to
offer on-campus audiences easier access to information on events, news,
directories and other resources.
Since May, the
committee has staged focus groups, analyzed current site traffic, conducted
online surveys about how people find what they need on a Web site, and we
shared all this information on the Redesign blog. The input we received was crucial in making
final decisions on design and architecture.
Mockups of the designs have been posted on the design blog for several
months. To view the designs, and comment
on them, visit www2.unca.edu/redesign
and click on the blog button.
Also, as a
part of the project, new server hardware has been acquired and installed to
support the new site. We have selected a
new Content Management System (Drupal) that is flexible, expandable and simple
to use. A Content Management System is
software that allows Web editors who may have limited experience in HTML
coding, to quickly edit their sites on the templates provided. This ensures
better consistency of design, as well as a very simple interface. There is no need to purchase other software
programs like FrontPage and Dreamweaver.
Drupal also is being deployed at Appalachian State, Duke and recently
The White House Web site.
On February
5, we will launch a new homepage, a new architecture, and about 150 brand new
pages that are a part of Phase One.
Major sites in Phase One include all of Admissions, Development/Giving,
News, and many other core pages of general information about the university.
Phase Two
will begin in March and continue through the spring semester when training in
the CMS for all web authors will be offered.
Departmental sites will be phased in as training is complete. We are working with the Provost to ensure
there are consistent links on all academic sites. As we have done throughout the project, we
encourage further feedback and ideas about how the make the site even more
effective so that we can continue to serve the needs of both internal and
external audiences.
Naming of scholarship fund in honor of three
retired faculty
Last
fall Chancellor Ponder reported that the university had created six funds from
the $600,000 to be placed into the endowment for scholarships from last years’
anonymous gift. Three of those funds
have been named for retired staff members: Jackie Peterson, Carolyn Frady and
Alice Wuhstel.
The
Chancellor asked the Faculty Senate to consider how it would proceed to recommend
three retired faculty members from a list of five or six nominees that would
come from the National Alumni Council.
In turn, she will recommend the three Senate nominees to the Board of
Trustees.
Dr.
Dohse explained the Executive Committee’s choices: to initiate a new committee, to pass this on
to another committee, or to have the Executive Committee narrow the six
nominees down to three. The Executive
Committee ultimately used three criteria to select three nominees for
consideration for the scholarship: length
of time worked at UNC Asheville, whether they made significant contributions to
the university, and whether they had not received appropriate recognition for
their work. None of the nominees have
University-wide awards or scholarships nor rooms or speakers series named after
them.
Executive Committee nominees were: Gene Rainey (Political Science), Cathy
Mitchell (Mass Communication), and Tom Cochran (Psychology.)
Dr.
Dohse asked for comments and possible approval of the names. Following discussion Dr. Bell made a motion
that the Faculty Senate create a committee to consider the six names forwarded
by the Alumni Council in honor of retired faculty. Dr. Frank seconded the motion. The motion failed.
Dr.
Sidelnick noted that the motion was redundant. A committee followed the process
and three names have come forward. The Senate approved the nominees without
dissent.
Report
from the Board of Trustees meeting
Dr. Dohse reported that James Buckner, chair
of the Board of Trustees, is going to be more open and will start putting the
minutes on the internet. The process at
present requires us to request minutes from the Chancellor’s office.
Dr.
Dohse said he misinterpreted a statement by Chair Buckner and he wanted to
clarify the relationship between the Board and faculty. Chair Buckner welcomes ideas and comments but
he wants advance notice so it can be scheduled on the agenda. If we want to talk to the Board – to send a
representative – the process to be put on the agenda is through the
Chancellor.
Dr.
Larson applauded the BOT for placing the minutes on line. Dr. Dohse was unsure where the minutes will
be on line but he suggested looking on the BOT web site. Dr. Haas noted that he could find information
on our BOT on the Board of Governors web site (email contact and phone numbers)
that is not available on our campus web site.
Second
Reading
The following document was distributed for First Reading:
EC 2: Student Learning
Outcomes (SLO)
Dr. Dohse said Dean Lisa Friedenberg worked on this proposal
with a great deal of input from faculty.
Dr. Fernandes said if the student learning outcomes (SLOs)
are approved today, they will be officially adopted as the university’s student
learning outcomes. This will be a
significant step forward in our reaffirmation of accreditation process. The SLOs will serve as the umbrella of
teaching and learning at the university.
Departments are already working on how aspects of their curriculum
support the outcomes.
Dr. Sidelnick asked if there was a time scheduled to review
the SLOs. Dr. Fernandes said the SACS
reaffirmation is in 2012. In 2017 we
will have a five year review, then another review in 2022.
Dr. Frank repeated concerns expressed at the last meeting: how
do we access lifelong learning? Our
students get a serious education so they could engage in lifelong learning, but
accessing that could be problematic. Dr.
Moorhead and Dr. Sidelnick expressed similar concerns.
Dr. Dohse noted that no one department will be expected to
address all of the learning outcomes, but the university as a whole has to show
progress in all six outcomes.
Following discussion APC accepted Dr. Konz’s friendly
amendment to edit Outcome 6 to read: Students
are prepared to engage in lifelong learning.
EC 2 passed as amended without dissent and became Senate Document
1310S.
Dr. Larson
said Senators should congratulate themselves for approving the Student Learning
Outcomes. We have finally made the
commitment through the enormous efforts of Dr. Friedenberg, the guidance of the
Provost, and frankly from enormous cooperation across the university.
Questions/Comments
Dr. Haas asked when Senators could expect to
see the data regarding the elimination of the Environmental Quality Institute
and the Mossbauer Center. Dr. Dohse said
he has taken on that role. He has a lot
of information on EQI, Mossbauer and NEMAC.
He is working on the Craft Center. This Senate will get the report, but
he is moving cautiously.
IV. Faculty
Welfare and Development Committee
Dr. George Heard reported for the Faculty Welfare and
Development Committee.
·
FWDC
have appointed Helen Wykle to replace Bryan Sinclair on URPAC (Undergraduate
Research Programs Advisory Committee) 2009-2011.
·
Faculty
elections are coming soon. An email has
been sent to all faculty with a schedule and a reminder of excuses and
eligibility. Greg Boudreaux and Ellen
Pearson will be facilitating the elections for FWDC.
·
Committee
preference forms will be online soon, emails to the faculty will be sent
encouraging everyone to list committee preferences.
First
FWDC 4:
Electronic Student Rating of Instruction
(Revision
of SD0308F, SD8209S; Handbook Section 3.3.3.1.1)
FWDC 4 was not distributed and was withdrawn from
consideration at this time.
Student Rating of Instruction
A task force was convened to investigate placing Student
Rating of Instruction (SRI) online.
Ellen Pearson represented FWDC on this task force, and Lorena Russell
also serves on this task force. One of
the charges of the task force was to investigate electronic delivery of
SRI. FWDC met to discuss the
recommendations of the committee, but are not yet prepared to bring a document
to the Senate.
Dr. Heard invited
Pat McClellan to inform the Senate on the proposed direction of change to SRI.
Highlights
of Ms. McClellan’s comments/discussion:
·
Two members
of the Senate serve on this committee.
·
The
committee is working with FWDC to identify concerns and suggested steps
·
Identify
possible product vendors
·
Will
develop a website with information for faculty
Potential Benefits:
Potential Concerns:
o
Several
opportunities to increase response rates. Examples: Delay viewing of
course grades for non-responders (Stanford, et al), university level
prize drawings, responders can see course summaries (for multiple courses –
data on the course, not instructor)
Faculty Salary Comparison
Report
FWDC has prepared a comparison of faculty salaries. Gary Ettari has been the point person for
this endeavor. Dr. Ettari reviewed the
Faculty Salary Comparison report.
Peer
institution salary comparison highlights (Table 1):
·
Many
of our peer institutions start their assistant professors at roughly the same
salary as UNC-Asheville, meaning that the salary discrepancies come about over
the entire course of a faculty member’s career.
At Union College, for example, the average assistant professor’s salary
is only
1.3 k
higher than at UNC-Asheville’s, but at the associate level, it is 10.1 k higher
and at the full level, it is 21.6 k
higher.
·
Assistant
professor salaries at UNC-Asheville exceed the peer institution average by approximately
1.5k, salaries at the associate level fall approximately 5k below the average
and salaries at the full level fall nearly 7.5k below the average.
·
Compared
to the Peer Institution Average, at UNC-Asheville, full professors make 7.6 k
less, associates make almost 5k less, and assistants make approximately 1.2 k
more.
UNC-Asheville Salary comparison (Table 2):
·
Note
a discrepancy between median salaries of male vs. female full professors. Male and female assistants and associates,
going by both the mean and median figures, make roughly the same. There is either approximately an 11k
difference (going by the median) or a 8k difference (going by the mean). There may be various reasons for this,
perhaps not least the maximum full professor salary discrepancy (99.7k vs.
160.1 k).
·
Salary
compression is notably evident at the associate level. The median salary of all associates is
approximately 7k greater than the median assistant’s salary and is 21.4k less
than the median salary for a full professor.
Full Time Continuing
Salary Increase (Table 3):
·
The
average salary increase over the course of the previous ten years is 4.7%. The average rate of inflation over the same
ten years as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics is 2.57 %.
Dr. Dohse looked at a similar report from 2003. An interesting tidbit is that five or six
years ago there was a discrepancy at the Associate Professor level between the
genders. That discrepancy no longer
exists. There was no discrepancy at the
Full Professor level, but there were few women at that rank at that point.
Dr. Dohse noted that the Full Professor salary of $160,000
is a number that probably should not be compared to the others for several
reasons, such as a 12-month versus a 9-months contract, and funding other than
through UNCA could be included in this figure.
The report is available at:
http://www3.unca.edu/facultysenate/2009-10/Faculty%20Salary%20Report_012110.pdf
V. Institutional Development
Committee/University Planning Council Reports
Ms.
Institutional Development Committee (IDC)
· IDC is exploring its immediate
responsibilities in terms of assessment and development.
o
Amy
Lanou has agreed to meet with Lisa Friedenberg, Linda Nelms and Archer Gravely
for support in preparing a document that outlines the institutional development
in terms of academics. This is a group
effort: the report will be edited by Drs. Moorhead, Pierce, Konz and Haas, and
turned over to Dr. Larson by February 26.
· IDC will be looking at programs and areas
that have been subject to substantive change, and will visit a variety of web
sites that explains what substantive change is.
· Members of IDC attended a demonstration of a
computerized program that would assist us in addressing formatting assessment
documents. It will not address defining our goals – it
will organize them in a way that is acceptable to external evaluators.
University
Planning Council (UPC)
·
UPC
continues to discuss finance challenges likely to occur over the next year.
·
UPC
set up an expectation of the various strategic groups providing reports to the
UPC. Four of those groups will have
individual meetings with the UPC this semester.
The Admissions group will provide their report next Friday.
·
Senators
are encouraged to attend the open house at Pisgah House on February 1st.
·
Everyone
is invited to visit the small building outside of the gym to see samples of the
materials that will go into the Health and Wellness Center and to provide
feedback. The donation of stone we have
received will make the Center look very distinctive.
·
If
there are items that should be brought before the UPC, approach any member of
the IDC and they can make sure that they are placed on the agenda.
VI. Academic
Policies Committee Report
Dr.
Dr. Bell invited anyone with concerns
about clusters to attend the APC meeting next Thursday at 3:15 in the Red Oak
Room. APC anticipates talking with Kim
Brown, Ed Katz and an ILSOC representative.
Second Reading: [Unanimously approved by APC]
The
following documents were considered for Second Reading:
APC 1: Elimination of Reading Licensure Program
APC 1 passed without dissent
and became Senate Document 1410S.
APC 2: Elimination
of B-K Licensure Program
APC 2 passed without dissent
and became Senate Document 1510S.
APC 4: WMST Program Title & Curricular Change to Women, Gender &
Sexuality Studies (WGSS)
APC 4 passed without dissent
and became Senate Document 1610S.
APC 5: Divide
ACCT 317 into two courses: ACCT 317 (lecture) and ACCT 320 (laboratory)
APC 5 passed without dissent
and became Senate Document 1710S.
APC 6: Add
new course, MGMT 388, Leading Organizational Change; Add MGMT 388 to
list of electives
in Business Management and Administration concentration
APC 6 passed without dissent
and became Senate Document 1810S.
APC 7: Addition
of new course, LIT 346, Readings in Gender and Sexuality
APC 7 passed without dissent
and became Senate Document 1910S.
APC 8: Allow
CLAS 340 to be repeated for credit
APC 8 passed without dissent
and became Senate Document 2010S.
APC 9: Remove
IP grading designation for CLAS 495
APC 9 passed without dissent
and became Senate Document 2110S.
APC 10: Add
new course, ENVR 107, Natural History of the Southern Appalachians
APC 10 passed without dissent
and became Senate Document 2210S.
APC 11: Change
course description for ENVR 330
APC 11 passed without dissent
and became Senate Document 2310S.
APC 12: Change
course description for ENVR 336
APC 12 passed without dissent
and became Senate Document 2410S.
APC 13: Delete
ENVR 354, Management of Hazardous, Municipal and Solid Wastes
APC 13 passed without dissent
and became Senate Document 2510S.
APC 14: Change
in the number of required hours for the Concentration in Ecology and
Environmental Biology
APC 14 passed without dissent
and became Senate Document 2610S.
APC 15: Change
requirements for Earth Science Licensure concentration
APC 15 passed without dissent
and became Senate Document 2710S.
APC 16: Revise
requirements for Environmental Studies minor
APC 16 passed without dissent
and became Senate Document 2810S.
[APC
Approved by 3-2 vote]
APC 3: Delete German Major
·
Dr.
Haas noted that faculty governance is imperative, especially when we are asked
to rubber stamp a fait accompli. As
semi-autonomous professionals, we are contracted by the state yet the state
recognizes that we are professionals with special knowledge and skills.
Some may question the raw business model of
productivity (having ten majors). What
is the basis that we are asked to rubber stamp the deletion of the German
major? Is the basis for asking us to do
this based on our unique size and General Administration’s approval of our
unique mission? Are we asked to delete
this based on the quality of the major as indicated by its number of Fulbright
awards? No, we are asked to delete this
because GA told us to. He asked Senators
to think deeply about why we would vote yes to delete the German major. Think about it in terms of intellectual
reasons, not because we have been told to do it.
·
Dr.
Russell said she had lingering concerns about the future implications –
concerns that Dr. Haas outlined about the same measurement being applied across
all universities and comments Dr. Larson made at the last meeting about our
need to be aware of developing quality indicators, such as the number of
Fulbright awards associated with the German department. This is a reminder that we need to think of ways
we can move forward from this situation and prevent these kinds of
cancellations of programs in the future.
She did not know by what qualitative measures these decisions are made
besides having 10 majors. She reiterated
our need to think in terms of qualitative measurements for future
assessment.
·
Dr.
Pierce asked as a practical matter, what happens if we vote no. It will have no practical affect in terms of
whether we have a German major or not. It
will be a statement. He asked if it be
would forwarded to the Board of Governors.
·
Dr.
Fernandes said we have been asked to delete the German major and she brought
the request to the Senate. If the Senate
refuses, the decision will be brought to the Board of Governors.
·
Dr.
Frank argued that above and beyond the particular case of German, there is a
question of fairness and principles involved.
One can speculate as to the consequences. There could be consequences to us as an
institution – how we come to solutions above and beyond the response from General
Administration. There are also
consequences for the institution in terms of integrity, cohesion and
credibility when we make a principled decision.
·
Dean
Gwen Ashburn said this program has been at risk for the last ten years and all
faculty bear some responsibility. Have
we been advising people to be interested in German? Consider this: sometimes challenges open up
new opportunities. The Foreign Language
department is looking at how a number of schools have decided to approach
languages – not to have individual silos – but to consider making the degree
Modern Languages and Cultures and offer various tracks. This would protect smaller areas.
·
Dr.
Fernandes said a vote to delete the German major will not change the German
language and cultures classes that we offer now. Students will have the choice to elect it as
a concentration. We are not going to
eliminate German from this campus – we are voting to change the way it is
structured. If the Senate is really
concerned about this we could accept this action and then commit to making it
stronger. All the data we have indicates
that students, even when they select German as a concentration, select
something else as their major. For
better or worse, we are part of a system and we need to consider the
implications of our decision, not just for UNC Asheville but within the
system. She has had some conversations
with Dr. Trautmann and Dr. Ashburn about changing the department to a major in
modern languages and literature. That
will take a lot of cooperation among the different levels of the system.
·
Dr.
Bell was concerned that if German is no longer a major, then when there is a
retirement in the current department, it might make it more likely that the
position will not be filled. Dr. Dohse
noted that there is currently only one faculty member in the department.
·
The
Senate briefly discussed the implications of a no vote; it could potentially
create confusion for our students. The
APC document directly affects the Catalog.
·
Dr.
Frank asked Senators to assume this was Classics or Chemistry. At some point he had to agree that internal
factors could have reduced the number of majors in German. Yet this is also a question of tradition
versus authority. This undermines a
liberal arts school that should be a part of tradition.
APC 3 failed by a
vote of 8 to 9.
·
Dr.
Haas said if this is going to the Board of Governors, they should understand
that we were not being recalcitrant, but rather there was a reasoning that may
fall outside of their business model. We
are not assembly line workers.
·
Dr.
Larson said if ever there was a program, a few years ago, that he thought ought
to be discontinued it was Classics. It
had two members of the faculty and they were both basically at retirement. In some sense it effectively
disappeared. But what happened? We brought in new, spectacular people. Today we have a thriving, magnificent Classics
department. That would be his hope for
German.
[APC
Approved by 4-2 vote]
APC 17: 3-Year Academic Calendars 2010-2011;
2011-2012; 2112-2013
·
Dr.
Bell said this proposal was recommended to APC by the Calendar Committee.
·
Dean
Keith Krumpe said he proposed the opening date to the Calendar Committee. This was driven by the fact that issues
involving advising, planning, curricular changes, and business needs to be
conducted prior to the start of school. A
majority of schools post an opening of the semester that proceeds the first day
of class. It tells everyone this is when
the business of the university starts.
This proposal formalizes this so that there is an expectation that there
is work to be done before the first day of classes.
·
Dr.
Haas asked who served on the Calendar Committee.
o
Dean
Krumpe said there were 13 members on the committee, including approximately six
faculty members. Dr. Dohse and Dr.
Russell served on the committee.
o
Dr.
Russell said she had concerns about the expectation that all faculty need to be
in their offices a week before classes start.
She was persuaded by the argument from advising that students need to
have some faculty presence on campus. It
sends a signal to students that we are here to help them make this transition
into classes. In the past we have also
had retreats in the department.
·
Dr.
Haas noted that when advising takes place in the summer faculty are paid to
advise students. Faculty also volunteer
time to participate in Open Houses. He
questioned the need to have a bureaucratic mechanism in place that required five
days of faculty presence when Dr. Fernandes could simply request that Chairs
find a faculty member to be here and share the work load.
·
Dr.
Bell said another concern expressed by APC was the situation where programs
have activities during the period between the official start of school and the
first day of classes. Would faculty
participating in these activities be penalized for their absence from
campus? This might be a particular
problem during winter break where faculty take students on field trips. He was persuaded by the argument that faculty
who have legitimate reasons to be off campus on university business will not be
penalized for being off campus.
·
Dr.
Reynolds said she was willing to vote for this now, but she also offered to be a
representative on the next Calendar Committee to have a representative from the
biological sciences.
·
Dr.
Moorhead asked if there had been problems with students or parents accessing
faculty on campus before classes start.
o
Dean
Krumpe said there tend to be more problems between terms in January than there are
in August. There have been concerns in
terms of advising and answering questions from students and parents. It is also difficult to make decisions based
on enrollments in Enrollment Services when trying to get additional classes
added because more transfer students are coming in.
·
Dr.
Moorhead and Dr. Haas said before school starts they are typically contacted
via email to see if they can meet with someone before school starts. It is not a problem. Dr. Haas said everyone may not be as cooperative
but he questioned the need to have five days to handle university
business.
APC accepted Dr. Haas amendment to make the opening of
the semester two business days before classes start each semester. APC 17 passed as amended without dissent
and became Senate Document 2910S.
VII. Old Business
There was no Old Business.
IX. New Business
There was no New Business.
X. Adjourn
Dr. Dohse adjourned the meeting at 5:12pm.
Respectfully submitted by: Sandra Gravely
Executive
Committee