Meeting Minutes
ACADEMIC SENATE MINUTES
March 5, 2012
Call to Order
The regular meeting of the Academic Senate held on March 5, 2012, was called to order at 3:06 p.m. by Patricia Hanna, Senate President. The meeting was held in room CRCC 115.
Roll:
Senators: Stephen Alder, Lisa Aspinwall, Alexander M. Balk, Joanna Bettmann, Tully Cathey, Kathy Chapman, Reaz Chaudhuri, Kuan Chen, Margaret (Mardie) Clayton, Ronald Coleman, Lee Dibble, Marianna Di Paolo, Richard Dorsky, Richard Ernst, Leslie Francis, Sabine Fuhrmann, Robert Fujinami, Bruce Gale, Michael Gardner, Timothy Garrett, William M. Gershan, Franz Goller, Michael Goodman, Joan Gregory, Charles “Chuck” Grissom, Thad Hall, Martin Horvath, Howard Horwitz, Thunder Jalili, William (Bill) Johnson, Bradley J. Katz, Maureen Keefe, Stephen Lessnick, Anthea Letsou, Karl Lins, Kim Martinez, Theresa Martinez, Teri J. Mauch, Duncan Metcalf, Heather Melton, Joseph Metz, Allyson Mower, Dragan Milicic, Patricia Murphy, Rachel Nardo, Arthur C. (Chris) Nelson, Chris Pantelides, Lester Partlow, Chris Peterson, Martin Rechsteiner, Sean Redmond, Andrea Rorrer, Gary Rose, Sonia Salari, Janet Shaw, Clough Shelton, Gregory Smoak, Jeff Stratman, Orest Symko, Brenda Vanderwiel, David Viskochil, Norm Waitzman, Margaret Wan, Li Wang, Angela Yetman
Student Senators: Elle Barker (University), Ryan Brinn (Health), Jackson Chambers (Fine Arts), Jillian Jensen (Humanities), Grace Ku (Business), Heather McElroy (Engineering), Sara Nassof (Social Work), Cory J. Nelson (Academic Affairs), Neela Pack (ASUU President), Eleni Schenk (Pharmacy), Taylor Spendlove (Architecture), Taylor Thompson (Science), Jeffery Van Hulten (Law), Molly Wheeler (Social & Behavioral Sci)
Ex-officio: Robert Flores, Robert Fujinami, Patricia Hanna, Paul Mogren, Dave Pershing, Amy Wildermuth, Shawnee Worsley
Others: Martha Bradley, Sylvia Torti, Cassandra VanBuren
Excused: A. Lorris Betz, Tina Diekmann, Rachel Hayes-Harb, James, Metherall, Vivian S. Lee
Absent sent Proxy: Bob Allen, Kevin DeLuca, Eric Hutton, Todd Kramer, Chris Myers, Alison Regan
Absent without Proxy: Amanda Barusch, George Cassiday, Richard Forster, Gary Grikscheit, Sharee Lane, Evert Lawton, Anne Mooney, David Rudd
Approval of Minutes
The minutes of the Academic Senate meeting on February 6, 2012, were approved following a motion from Jim Anderson (present as proxy senator) which was seconded by Neela Pack.
Request for New Business
No New Business
Consent Calendar
The resignations retirements, faculty appointments, auxiliary and limited term appointments, appearing in the Appendices dated March 5, 2012, received approval to forward to the Board of Trustees as moved by Stephen Alder and seconded by Rachel Nardo.
Executive Committee Report
Robert Fujinami provided a summary of the Executive Committee meetings held on February 27, 2012.
Report from Administration
President David Pershing reported on the legislative session that ends March 8th. Pershing believes all state employees will get a 1 percent increase. Higher ed will likely get $8 million for mission-based and equity funding, which will be divided among the higher ed institutions. A portion of that will go toward student retention. It’s likely that the U will get $3 million in one-time funding and $3 million in ongoing funding for USTAR, which will be shared with Utah State University. Our request for $50- million for infrastructure upgrades will likely not be fully funded, but we expect to get part of it. We don’t yet know about the request to restore and add to the size of the medical school class but we are doing what we can to encourage it. There were a number of other bills that could have had negative implications for the University but it looks like those are under control. Asked about the Legislature’s plans for increasing tuition, Pershing responded that the Board of Regents makes that decision. It is unclear how big the increase will be, but it will be significantly less than last year’s 9.5 percent.
On March 12, David Pershing became the 15th president of the University of Utah. Lorris Betz will continue as a special assistant to the president through Commencement in May. The official inauguration will take place in October.
Report from ASUU
ASUU President Neela Pack reported on recent activities of students that include the following: Students are on the hill speaking with legislators on behalf of higher education issues, specifically funding the Student Life Center; campus elections are under way and faculty are encouraged to remind their students to vote March 6 and 7; ASUU is encouraging students to skip spring break and instead attend their party caucus meetings in mid-March; and award-winning author and poet Maya Angelou will be on campus April 11.A link to tickets, free to faculty, staff, and students, will be sent to faculty by the Academic Senate office.
Resolution of Appreciation
A resolution of appreciation was presented by Senate President Pat Hanna in honor of Tom Loveridge, an associate vice president of the U, who unexpectedly passed away Feb. 6. Hanna’s remarks included the following:
Tom was smart, funny, sensitive, and caring. He was a wise counsel to others, and saw his role as supporting others so they could be successful. His normal mood was one of good humor and happiness even at the busiest and most stressful of times. Tom made the world a better place for the rest of us.
The resolution was accepted by acclamation.
A scholarship fund in Tom’s honor—the Loveridge Memorial Scholarship—is now active. Contact the Office of Institutional Advancement for additional information.
Notice of Intent
No Items
Debate Calendar
The Proposal to Discontinue the American Sign Language Teaching Major was presented by Pat Eisenman (College of Health dean’s office). This request is to deactivate the ASL Teaching Major in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. This is a procedural request as the major was in practice discontinued in 2008. Since 2008 the Department no longer offers courses related to the ASL major and no longer has faculty hired to teach in the major. The program suffered from low enrollment and there was difficulty retaining ASL faculty. A motion was made by Jim Anderson to approve. This was seconded by Rachel Nardo and passed unanimously.
The Proposal to combine Communication majors was presented by Robert Avery (faculty, Dept. of Communication). The Department of Communication at the University is requesting a consolidation of its 2 current majors (BA/BS Mass Communication and BA/BS Speech Communication), into 1 major ( BA/BS Communication; see attachment A for current and proposed curriculum). The Department is collapsing the current ten narrowly defined sequences into three sequences and increasing the required number of courses from 13 to 14. A motion was made by Jim Anderson to accept. This was seconded by Rachel Nardo and passed unanimously.
Information Calendar
Jim Anderson, in the capacity of chair of the ad hoc committee Futures Committee charged by the Executive Committee to look into the future direction of the University, presented an update on the committee’s findings. His report elicited a lively discussion about the direction of higher education. The report indicates that the U will not continue as it has in the past; big changes are coming. The Senate was informed that the Senate Executive Committee had voted to accept the report and forward to the U’s Strategic Planning Steering Committee.
Marty Shaub (director of the U’s Office of Environmental Health & Safety and Emergency Management), reported on a campus-wide earthquake disaster preparedness exercise planned for April 17, from 10:15 a.m. to 11 a.m. Participants in the region-wide earthquake exercise will include the U as well as FEMA Region 8, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, the State of Utah, and nine other counties and their cities. Several different assessments have determined that the single greatest loss of life threat on the Wasatch Front is a 6.5 to 7.5 earthquake in the Salt Lake City segment of the Wasatch Fault. This has been known since a seismic survey was completed in 1987-88, so the U is building capacity to deal with it. The exercise will include a series of text message instructions to guide everyone through the 45-minute drill. Buildings will be evacuated, and white tents will identify outdoor assembly locations, determined in advance. The tents will be located in areas where there are no underground threats such as steam tunnels and electrical infrastructure.
Chuck Wight (dean of the Graduate School) presented the report of the Graduate Council Review of the Department of Exercise and Sports Science. No questions or recommendations were raised by senators.
The proposal to create Emphases in Mechanical Engineering was described by Bruce Gale (faculty, Dept of Mechanical Engineering). This emphasis is expected to attract higher quality undergraduates to the Mechanical Engineering program, promote academic success and help BSME graduates secure jobs and gain admission to graduate. Per University Policy, such Emphases are approved by the Undergraduate Council and reported for the information of the Senate. No questions or recommendations were raised by senators.
Reports from the appropriate committees were presented, that the following individuals have been recommended for Distinguished Professors: David Grainger, Distinguished Professor of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Chemistry; Robert Mare, Distinguished Professor of Ophthalmology; and Kathryn Stockton, Distinguished Professor of English. Jay B. Barney was named Presidential Professor of Management. This was accepted by the senators and will be forwarded to the Board of Trustees.
The following individuals have been recommended for Distinguished Innovation and Impact Awards:
Ellen Bromberg, Professor, Modern Dance; Stephen Jacobsen, Professor, Mechanical Engineering; and Florian Solzbacher, Professor Electrical and Computer Engineering. This was accepted by the senators and will be forwarded to the Board of Trustees.
Alma Allred (director of commuter services), reported on a significant change ahead for parking on campus. Terraces rather than surface parking lots are being planned. Parking permit fees will increase over several years to pay for the construction. The U is requesting permission to build three of the seven parking terraces that are included in the campus master plan. A consultant will do a traffic study and then suggest locations based on their study and public comment.
Respectfully submitted,
Shawnee Worsley