REGULAR MEETING OF THE UNIVERSITY FACULTY SENATE

 

 

OCTOBER 3, 2011 – 104 GORE HALL

 MINUTES

 September 22, 2011

 

TO:                  Senators and Executives

FROM:            Belinda Orzada, Vice President  

                        University Faculty Senate

SUBJECT:       Regular Faculty Senate Meeting October 3, 2011

            In accordance with Section IV, paragraph 6 of the Constitution, the regular meeting of the University Faculty Senate will be held on Monday, October 3, 2011 at 4:00 p.m. in 104 Gore Hall.  The General Faculty meeting will be held this month as well.  This meeting will begin at 3:30 p.m. just prior to the Faculty Senate meeting, and will also be held in 104 Gore Hall.   Please make every effort to attend this meeting.

 

I certify that hard copies of the approval page for each undergraduate and graduate studies academic item on the agenda are filed in the Faculty Senate Office with the appropriate signatures of approval up through the Chair of the Faculty Senate Coordinating Committee on Education.  The Agenda will be as follows:

Members Excused:  Lee Anderdson, Mark Barteau, Karl Booksh, Chris Castillo, John Courtright, John Gillespie, Norma Gaines-Hanks, Stephanie Hansen, Steven Hastings, Jeffrey Heinz, Howard Johnson, Jo Kallal, Paul Laux, Santhi Leon, Glen Loller, Kathleen Matt, James Morrison, Alise Morales, Babatunde Ogunnaike, Lynn Okagaki, Phillip Penix-Tadsen, Dennis Prather, Matthew Robinson, Kate Rogers, Kauskik Sarkar, Nancy Targett, Robin Underhill, Bruce Weber,

AGENDA

 I.                   Adoption of the Agenda:   Approved as presented

 II.                Approval of the Minutes: September 12, 2011: Approved as presented

 III.             Remarks: Provost Tom Apple

            Provost Apple received data about student performance – education proficiency profile. We did an exam with our students – sample was representative – test was administered by ETS and it measures student ability in reading/writing/quant reasoning and critical thinking.  There are 11 levels of proficiency.   2 slides were shown – first one is the performance of freshmen  - yellow bar is UD; blue bar is Research 1 University Freshmen. The second one is the performance of seniors and the 2nd slide clearly shows the learning that happens at UD.  Provost Apple attributed this phenomenal performance to great faculty, smaller class size, study abroad programs and other activities that the UD community engages in.

            Provost Apple also announced the Excellence in Writing Competition – 4 essay contests – First deadline (Oct. 7). The FYE competition had 67 entries – the author of the FYE reading, Rebecca Skloot will be visiting campus. Oral and visual communication competitions will be announced in the future.

John Morgan Q:  when in freshmen year are those tests given? Provost Response: December. JM: It would be good to look at not only averages but also similar bar graphs for our peers and our aspirational peers. Such specific peer to peer comparisons might be good to post on our website. Provost Apple: We might not have access to such data but will check into that.

 IV.              Announcements: Senate President Jeff Jordan

            2 open hearings:

·                    Monday, Oct. 24 – Scheduling committee

·                    Nov, Date TBA – P & T open hearing

Ongoing Senate Projects:

·        Ad Hoc committee on RBB, chaired by Tom Ilvento, who will provide an update report at the Nov FS meeting.

·        Compilation of proposed updates to the Faculty Handbook, led by John Madsen.  Proposals will probably begin to appear on the Nov agenda.

·        Collection of Faculty Senate policies which do not appear in Faculty Handbook, led by Chuck Mason.

·        Discussion continues on the drafting of a policy regulating faculty suspensions.

Item tracking:

·        Resolution concerning the 6/10 rule, introduced by Senator Morrison during the spring of 2011, is at the Rules committee.

·        Review of Add/Drop policy, requested by Senator Morrison during the spring of 2011, is at UGS and GS committees.

·        The resolution to amend the UD Faculty Constitution, to increase the number of FS elected senators to 60, introduced by Senator Morgan, is at the Rules committee.

·        The resolution to amend the UD Faculty Constitution, to add certain requirements governing college elections of University FS senators, introduced by Senator Morgan, is at the Rules committee.

·        The resolution from the Ad Hoc committee on the academic calendar, proposing a three-year pilot program of adjusting MWF class times, is at UGS and GS and CC committees.

·        The resolution from the Ad Hoc committee on the academic calendar, proposing no regularly scheduled Saturday finals (during regular semesters), is at UGS and GS and CC committees.

·        Whether to allow ASL to count for UD admissions is under discussion at UGS, from there it will go to CC, and to Exe committee.  An Open Hearing was held Sept 28 on the issue.

·        The FS Committee on Instructional, Computing and Research Support has been tasked with examining KACE software (and other software products) with regard to computer and network safety, and whether installation is possible without surveillance capabilities, and to make recommendations in these matters.

Commendations:

            Thanks to the following for recent outstanding service, include:

·        Fred Hofstetter & Sheldon Pollack for the Open Hearing.

Reports by:

                              Hans-Jörg Busch, Chair, Adhoc Committee on Calendar Issues at UD

                               Jack Baroudi, Promotions and Tenure

                                    Meet with the Union and Nancy Brickhouse – Now we are fully in compliance with the CBA and there will be a open hearing to gather faculty feedback. One controversial area – Proposal to require external reviews of dossiers going up on the basis of excellence in Teaching.

V.                 Consent Agenda

    1. Announcements for Challenge:  None

VI.              Regular Agenda

1.      Unfinished Business:   

a.   Resolutions:

1.      Recommendation from the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate (Jeff Jordan, Chair) with the concurrence of the Rules Committee (Anu Sivaraman, Chair) for the revision to the Constitution of the Faculty of the University of Delaware Section IV provision 6 (attachment 1)  

Whereas,          there has not been a regular meeting of the Faculty Senate during the month of January since at least 2000, be it therefore

Resolved,         that the UD FACULTY CONSTITUTION be amended to eliminate the requirement for a regular meeting of the Faculty Senate during January.

The resolution was approved as presented. 

                   2.  Recommendation from the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate (Jeff Jordan, Chair) with the concurrence of the Rules Committee (Anu Sivaraman, Chair) for the revision to the Faculty Handbook Section I provision V  (attachment 1)

                        Whereas,          there has not been a regular meeting of the Faculty Senate during the month of January since at least 2000, and,

                         Whereas,          legal holidays occasionally occur on the first Monday on the month, be it therefore

 Resolved,         that the UD FACULTY HANDBOOK be amended to no longer require during January a regular meeting of the Faculty Senate, and no longer require the meeting to be the first Monday of the month.

The resolution was approved as presented.

2.      New Business:          

a.         Confirmation of Appointments  (attachment)

The resolution was approved as presented.

 VII.     Introduction of New Business

Such items as may come before the Senate.  (No motion introduced under new business, except a motion to refer to committee, shall be acted upon until the next meeting of the Senate.)

No new business introduced.

/khs