Meeting Minutes
ACADEMIC SENATE MINUTES
November 3, 2014
Call to Order
The regular meeting of the Academic Senate, held on November 3, 2014, was called to order at 3:02 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, Marjorie Chan, Thomas Cheatham, Cindy Chen, John Conboy, Michael Cottle, Thomas Cova, Mollie Cummins, Angel Demirev, Maria Dobozy, Randy Dryer, Nadja Durbach, Ole Fischer, Frances Friedrich, Caren Frost, Disa Gambera, Jennifer Garvin, Jordan Gerton, Mary Elizabeth Hartnett, David Hill, Michelle Hofmann, Lynn Hollister, Avery Holton, Anne Jamison, Brandon Jennings, Peter Jensen, Paul Jewell, Xan Johnson, Christian Johnson, Nisha Kavalam, Katherine Kendall, John T. Langell, Eric Leishman, Xiaoyue Liu, John (Jack) Longino, Gary Lowder, William Lowrance, Matthew Markham, Joe Marotta, Julie Metos. Meredith Metzger, Joel Miller, Jill Moriearty, Alfred Mowdood, Maureen A. Murtaugh, Yongmei Ni, Richard Paine, Les Podlog, Janiece Pompa, Christy Porucznik, Matthew Potolsky, Ravi Ranjan, Reva Rauk, Lorie Gage Richards, Stephanie Richardson, Steve Roens, Gerald Root, Paul J. Shami, Michael Shapiro, Lien Fan Shen, Debra Simmons, Kristin Smith-Crowe, John Paul Soares, John Sperry, Robert A. Stephenson, Lina Svedin, Andrejs Treibergs, Edward M. Trujillo, Raymond Tymas-Jones, Norman Waitzman, Ming Wen, Rachel Wootton, Joanne Yaffe, Taryn Young, Jingyi Zhu
Absent: Orly Alter, Ana Christine Bentz, Joan Brenner-Coltrain, Kate Canas, Ryann Cooley, Robin Craig, Devin Daniels, Justin Diggle, David Dinter, Xiao Fang, Anna Ferguson, Camille George, Stephen Goldsmith, Glen Hanson, Leanne Hawken, Michael Hawkins, Robert Hitchcock, Jindrich Kopecek, Maritza Lara, Melissa Lewis, Uri Loewenstein, Sandra McIntyre, Anthony Minjarez, Ingrid E. Nygaard, Anthony Oyler, Adrian Palmer, Patrick Panos, M. Pollie Price, Jody Rosenblatt, Lauryn Roth, Justin Spangler, David Stevenson, Satin Tashnizi, David Temme,
Ex-officio: Stephen Alder, Robert Flores, Harriet Hopf, William Johnson, Paul A. Mogren, Allyson Mower,
Excused with Proxy: Lori Kowaleski-Jones (Barbara Brown)
Excused: Vivian S. Lee, David W. Pershing, Ruth V. Watkins, Amy Wildermuth
Others: Ed Barbanell, Margaret Clayton, Maureen Condic, Cassandra Van Buren
Approval of Minutes
The minutes of the Academic Senate meeting on October 6, 2014, received no objections.
Request for New Business
No new business
Consent Calendar
The resignations, retirements, and faculty and administrator appointments dated November 3, 2014, received approval to forward to the Board of Trustees on motion by Joanne Yaffe and seconded by Xan Johnson. The motion passed unanimously.
Executive Committee Report
Bill Johnson, Academic Senate President-Elect, provided a summary of the Executive Committee meeting held October 20, 2014.
Report from Administration
No report from Administration
Report from ASUU
Rachel Wootton, ASUU Senate Chair, gave an update on student activities. The Game on the Green was held on November 1st at the Spence Eccles Field House. It was presented by ASUU, MUSS, Campus Recreation, Parent Association, and Utah Athletics. The tutoring center at the Marriott Library is now open Sunday through Thursday 6:00 pm to 10 pm in 2130 Frances Hoopes Seminar Room. Additional information can be found at tutoringcenter.utah.edu.
Each semester, each departmental Student Advisory Committee can request up to $75 in reimbursement funded at 100% of the cost for an open house event. These events should be open to all students. Student groups can also request funding from ASUU through a similar process.
ASUU also provides funding through reimbursement to help students attend conferences. This money is divided up by the Student Advisory Committees in each department and students can request up to $5,000 for conference funding. Some restrictions do apply. If a student is interested they can contact ASUU.
ASUU Child Care Program now offers drop-in child care Monday – Thursday evenings for children 1-7 years old. ASUU hopes these new hours will help students who need child care in the evenings to attend group projects, study groups or possibly meeting with a tutor.
Notice of Intent
No Notice of Intent
Debate Calendar
The proposal for transfer of administrative responsibility for the Documentary Studies Minor Program was presented by Kevin Hanson. The Department of Film & Media Arts is requesting the administration of the Minor be transferred temporarily from the Department of Communication in the College of the Humanities to the Department of Film & Media Arts in the College of Fine Arts. The three relevant department chairs of Communication, Architecture, and Film have agreed that, for the moment, moving the administration of the minor to Film and Media Arts will remediate leadership issues associated with the minor and will allow Nancy Green, the Adjunct faculty member currently responsible for most day today administration of the minor, to better apply her efforts. There are no planned changes to the requirements for the minor. There was discussion about the faculty category and rank of Nancy Green as the person in the position being described as having the primary responsibilities for the minor (currently entry-level rank of Assistant Professor-Adjunct) and a concern that such a junior level rank in an adjunct (i.e., part-time) position does not seem consistent with the significant responsibilities her position is described as undertaking for this minor, nor consistent with the qualifications she is described as having. Kevin Hanson committed to address the concerns by reexamining the position responsibilities and appropriate title and rank. The motion to approve the proposal as presented and forward to the Board of Trustees was made by Joanne Yaffe and seconded by Randy Dryer. Motion passed unanimously.
The proposal for a new Undergraduate Certificate in Social Justice Advocacy was presented by Irene Ota. This certificate would give students a broad range of knowledge and options in how to strive for and achieve equity and change. This certificate will give individuals an education that focuses on the opportunities to use a combination of multiple approaches to get to change and social justice. The motion to approve and forward to the Board of Trustees was made by Joanne Yaffe and seconded by Jill Moriearty. Motion passed unanimously.
Lorie Richards presented the Proposal to Discontinue the Occupational Therapy Studies BS. The
Division of Occupational Therapy would like to discontinue the Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy Studies. These changes are needed because this profession has changed to requiring a doctorate as the entry level degree. As of August 2015 students will no longer be able to enroll into this program. However, the program will remain active until August 2016 to ensure that all students already in the program will be able to finish. The motion to approve and forward to the Board of Trustees was made by Xan Johnson and seconded by Jo Yaffe. Motion passed unanimously.
The Proposal for a Dual Degree in Master of Architecture and Master of Science in Architectural Studies was presented by Keith Bartholomew. If approved, this degree will be available Fall 2015. Students must meet current University of Utah admission standards and be accepted to both degree programs. The Master of Architecture Degree provides a broad preparation of the spectrum of architectural practice while the Master of Science in Architectural Studies (MSAS) degree provides a deeper technical expertise to those seeking a specific focus in their career direction. The Master of Architecture/MSAS program is designed for those students seeking to combine their broader professional practice with a specific technical focus.
The Proposal for a Dual Degree in Master of Architecture and Master of Real Estate Development was presented by Keith Bartholomew and Danny Wall. The program is designed for those students seeking to combine the design and development professions. Over their careers, successful architects learn much on-the-job about development, while over their careers successful real estate developers learn much on-the-job about architecture. The dual degree also provides broader employment options both after graduation and over their careers.
The Proposal for a Dual Degree in Master of City and Metropolitan Planning and Master of Real Estate Development was presented by Keith Bartholomew. The MCMP/MRED program is designed for those students seeking to combine the planning and development professions. Over their careers, successful planners learn much on-the-job about development, while over their careers successful real estate developers learn much on-the-job about planning. The dual degree program is designed to accelerate professional preparation in both planning and development; and provide the platform for quickly understanding how changes in planning and development affect their professional activities. It is anticipated two to six students annually will be successfully completing the joint degree program once it is offered.
The motion to approve and forward to the Board of Trustees all three of the above dual degree proposals (Dual Degree in Master of Architecture and Master of Science in Architectural Studies, Dual Degree in Master of Architecture and Master of Real Estate Development, and Dual Degree in Master of City and Metropolitan Planning and Master of Real Estate Development) was made by Mary Elizabeth Hartnett and seconded by David Ailion. Motion passed unanimously.
Xan Johnson presented the proposal to revise the Faculty Club Constitution (for which Senate and Trustee approval is required per Policy 6-300). The Constitution is being updated to reflect the changes to faculty categories as defined in Policy 6-300. Another change is adding a treasurer to the Executive Committee of the Faculty Club, and another is to allow use of email for voting by the Club members. It was explained that once the authority is provided to have member voting conducted by email, there will likely be a further revision considered to extend membership eligibility to adjunct faculty members. The motion to approve the current proposed revision was made by Joanne Yaffe and seconded by Harriet Hopf. Motion passed unanimously.
Information and Recommendations Calendar
The following items were presented for the information and recommendations of the Academic Senate:
- Revisions to Policy 2-002: Board of Trustees (bringing the Policy into compliance with Board of Regents requirements by formally recognizing the roles of the Senate President representing the University faculty and the University Staff Council President representing staff employees, as non-voting participants in meetings of the Trustees).
- Revised Rule 3-010A Expenditure and Reimbursement Requirements
- Interim Regulations on Campus Safety and Sexual Misconduct
- Book Arts Minor Third Year Review
- Revised Documents for Senate Committee on Academic Freedom and Faculty Rights
- Senate Enhanced Learning Outcomes Ad Hoc Committee
There was extensive discussion about revised Rule 3-010A, which was presented by Associate VP Jeff West, who explained that implementing this revised Rule will greatly change how faculty employees purchase goods and services for their University work projects. The Rule will limit the ability to be reimbursed for the sales tax portion of costs of items purchased using personal funds and then submitted for reimbursement from University funds. One solution will be to have departments provide “Purchasing Cards” for use by faculty members—but it is not yet clear that department administrators will be providing enough such cards to meet the needs of faculty members. Responding to the serious concerns expressed, Jeff agreed to study the matter further and return and hold another discussion with the Senate in December or January prior to the Rule change being implemented,
In discussion of the Interim Regulations on Campus Safety and Sexual Misconduct, presented by Associate General Counsel Robert Payne, it was explained that the interim regulations will be replaced by permanent versions which will be brought to the Senate later this year—and likely several of the now separate regulations will at that time be combined into a single project of an overall policy on campus safety being developed by Krista Pickens of the OEO/AA office.
There was extensive discussion about the Revised Documents for Senate Committee on Academic Freedom and Faculty Rights, which were presented by Maureen Condic (the University’s new ombudsman for faculty), and Mardie Clayton (chair of the Committee). In response to various questions, explanations were given about the services being provided through the newly created ombudsman offices for Academic Affairs and Health Sciences faculty, and how those services mesh with the work of the Committee. It was explained that even with the services of the two offices and the role of the Committee the University does not currently have an effective system for addressing disputes regarding reappointment and promotion of career-line faculty members, and so the Senate Executive Committee has now charged a Task Force on Career-line faculty to study and develop within this academic year a proposal to establish such a system. Senator Randy Dryer (Honors—Interdisciplinary Teaching Programs) is a co-chair of the Task Force. Updates about progress on the proposal will be provided to the Senate from time to time.
Adjournment
Meeting adjourned at 4:57 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Shawnee Worsley