Meeting Minutes
ACADEMIC SENATE MINUTES
December 1, 2014
Call to Order
The regular meeting of the Academic Senate, held on December 1, 2014, was called to order at 3:01 p.m. by Steve Alder, Senate President. The meeting was held in WEB L105.
Present: David Ailion, Peter Alfeld, Chrisoula Andreou, A.K. Balaji, Keith Bartholomew, Karin Baumgartner, Lyda Bigelow, Kelly Bricker, Alicia Brillon, Nilufer Cagatay, Kate Canas, Marjorie Chan, Thomas Cheatham, Cindy Chen, John Conboy, Thomas Cova, Robin Craig, Mollie Cummins, Angel Demirev, Justin Diggle, Maria Dobozy, Nadja Durbach, Ole Fischer, Frances Friedrich, Caren Frost, Disa Gambera, Jennifer Garvin, Jordan Gerton, Stephen Goldsmith, Leanne Hawken, David Hill, Robert Hitchcock, Michelle Hofmann, Lynn Hollister, Avery Holton, Anne Jamison, Brandon Jennings, Peter Jensen, Paul Jewell, Xan Johnson, Christian Johnson, Katherine Kendall, Eric Leishman, Melissa Lewis, Xiaoyue Liu, John (Jack) Longino, Gary Lowder, William Lowrance, Matthew Markham, Joe Marotta, Sandra McIntyre, Julie Metos, Meredith Metzger, Joel Miller, Jill Moriearty, Alfred Mowdood, Maureen A. Murtaugh, Yongmei Ni, Ingrid E. Nygaard, Richard Paine, Adrian Palmer, Les Podlog, Janiece Pompa, Christy Porucznik, Matthew Potolsky, M. Pollie Price, Ravi Ranjan, Reva Rauk, Lorie Gage Richards, Stephanie Richardson, Steve Roens, Gerald Root, Jody Rosenblatt, Michael Shapiro, Lien Fan Shen, Debra Simmons, Justin Spangler, John Sperry, Robert A. Stephenson, Lina Svedin, David Temme, Andrejs Treibergs, Edward M. Trujillo, Raymond Tymas-Jones, Norman Waitzman, Ming Wen, Rachel Wootton, Joanne Yaffe
Absent: Orly Alter, Olga Baker, Ana Christine Bentz, Joan Brenner-Coltrain, Ryann Cooley, Michael Cottle, Devin Daniels, Xiao Fang, Anna Ferguson, Camille George, Mary Elizabeth Hartnett, Michael Hawkins, Nisha Kavalam, Jindrich Kopecek, Lori Kowaleski-Jones, John T. Langell, Maritza Lara, Uri Loewenstein, Anthony Minjarez, Anthony Oyler, Patrick Panos, Lauryn Roth, Paul J. Shami, Kristin Smith-Crowe, John Paul Soares, Satin Tashnizi, Taryn Young, Jingyi Zhu,
Ex-officio: Stephen Alder, Robert Flores, Harriet Hopf, Paul A. Mogren, Allyson Mower, Amy Wildermuth
Excused with Proxy: Jim Pechmunn for David Dinter
Excused: William Johnson, Vivian S. Lee, David W. Pershing
Others: Maureen Condic, Jason Perry, Cassandra Van Buren
Approval of Minutes
The minutes of the Academic Senate meeting on November 3, 2014, were approved following a motion from Xan Johnson and seconded by Rachel Wootton.
Request for New Business
No new business
Consent Calendar
The resignations, retirements, and faculty and administrator appointments dated December 1, 2014, received approval to forward to the Board of Trustees on motion by Joanne Yaffe and seconded by Harriet Hopf. The motion passed unanimously.
Executive Committee Report
Allyson Mower, Academic Senate Past President, provided a summary of the Executive Committee meeting held November 17, 2014.
Report from Administration
Ruth Watkins, Senior Vice President, and Jason Perry, Vice President of Government Relations, gave an update to the Senate on campus activities. There has been an increase of 0.5% for incoming freshman. The percentage of underrepresented students has increased 30%.
The Legislative session will begin January 26 and will last 45 days. The University’s top priority is compensation for faculty and staff. Other priorities include the Crocker Science building (the former location of the Museum of Natural History) and OSH.
Report from ASUU
Justin Spangler, ASUU Student Body President, gave an update on student activities. Geek week will be held December 5-19. ASUU has partnered with Marriott Library, Union Programming Council, Residence Halls Association and the U of U satellite campuses to offer students extended hours, activities and food during the end of fall semester.
ASUU will be holding a Sexual Assault Prevention Campaign February 9-13.
Notice of Intent
Proposed revisions to Policy 6-100 were presented by Ed Barbanell. It is being requested to add government obligations (i.e. military duty, jury duty) to the list of reasons for excused absences of students, within the class attendance requirement section of Policy 6-100. This change was initially requested by the Veteran’s Support center, which regularly receives calls from faculty about students being absent because of duties with the National Guard forces. The motion to move to Debate Calendar was made by Jill Moriearty and seconded by Joanne Yaffe. Motion passed unanimously. The Academic Senate continued discussion on the phrasing of the revision, which as proposed would simply refer to absences for “government obligations” without specifying what activities would qualify. Concerns were expressed about the vagueness of that terminology, and the difficulties course instructors might have in determining which activities should be treated as qualifying, and about the length of such absences. Motion was made by Joanne Yaffe to table item. Motion died for lack of second. Further discussion about the importance of getting put into effect quickly at least the military duty concept. A motion was made by Norm Waitzman to amend the proposal to only include “military service” (replacing “government obligations) and approve that version to go into effect for spring semester, and plan to bring a follow-up proposal back to the Academic Senate during spring semester with further proposed changes. Motion was seconded by Joanne Yaffe. Question was called and motion passed. Division of house was called and votes counted. Motion passed.
Debate Calendar
Proposal for Juris Doctor and Master of City & Metropolitan Planning Dual Degree Program was presented by Keith Bartholomew. The JD/MCMP dual degree program is designed to accelerate professional preparation in both law and planning; and to provide a platform for quickly understanding how changes in planning and the law affect their professional activities. Students seeking to take advantage of the JD/ MCMP program must meet current University of Utah admission standards and be accepted into both the JD and MCMP programs. If approved, the dual degree program will be available Fall 2015. The motion to approve and forward to the Board of Trustees was made by Joanne Yaffe and seconded by Xan Johnson. Motion passed unanimously.
Herb Clemens presented the Proposal for Name Change from MS in Mathematics (Teaching) to MS in Mathematics Teaching. There is no established naming convention for similar degrees offered by Mathematics Departments and Mathematics Education Departments of peer institutions. The current degree name on the diploma is misleading and potentially opens to abuse, since the program does not convey, nor is it designed to convey, Master’s degree preparation in the field of mathematics itself. The motion to approve and forward to the Board of Trustees was made by Norman Waitzman and seconded by Maria Dobozy. Motion passed unanimously.
Proposal for combined BS/MS in Geographic Information Science was presented by George Hepner. The proposed degree program is intended to attract qualified undergraduate students into the MSGIS program early and decrease the time required to obtain an MSGIS degree, allowing students to gain valuable job skills and accelerate their careers. The proposed combined degree program is designed to be completed by students in five years and to culminate with simultaneous conferral of the Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees. There is no competing Master’s degree in GIS science in the state of Utah. A combined degree offers the opportunity to capture students who might otherwise go out of state for professional GIS science training. The motion to approve and forward to the Board of Trustees was made by Steve Roens and seconded by Joanne Yaffe. Motion passed unanimously.
Information and Recommendations Calendar
The following items were presented for the information and recommendations of the Academic Senate:
- Proposal for Geography BA/BS emphases
- Ethnic Studies BA/BS Third Year Review
- Revised Rule 3-010A Expenditure and Reimbursement Requirement
- ASUU Academic Resources for students
- Revised College of Humanities Charter
- 2014-2015 Investment Committee Meetings report to the Academic Senate
There was extensive lively discussion about the changes planned for Rule 3-010A Expenditure and Reimbursement Requirement—including discussion about the burdens the new Rule will impose on faculty members whose responsibilities require them to sometimes purchase goods and services using personal funds and then seek reimbursement from University funds. It was expressed that much further discussion is needed between administration and faculty representatives about appropriate implementation of the changes, and discussion concluded with an announcement that Senate President Alder will pursue that further discussion with the Senate Executive Committee and administration representatives.
Adjournment
Meeting adjourned at 4:53 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Shawnee Worsley