Meeting Minutes
ACADEMIC SENATE MINUTES
October 1, 2007
Call to Order
The regular meeting of the Academic Senate, held on October 1, 2007, was called to order at 3:05 p.m. by Penny Brooke, Senate President. The meeting was held in room 115 C. Roland Christensen Center.
Roll
David Ailion, Erica Anderson, James Anderson, Shmuel Baruch, Margaret Battin, Brooke Bennett, Paul S. Bernstein, Dan Brinton, Ronald Bruhn, Nicola Camp, Kuan Chen, Hiram Chodosh, Liz Clark, John Conboy, Lynette Danley, David Derezotes, Marianna DiPaolo, Jessica Elder, Gary Ellis, Jessie Fan, Gene Fitzgerald, Alan Fogel, Dheerajvalkya Gadicherla, La Var Harline, Greg Hatch, Rachel Hayes-Harb, Bob Hill, Brooke Hopkins, Kelly T. Hughes, Tiffany Jack, Randy Jensen, Ryan Jensen, Megan Jolley, David Kiefer, Thomas Kontuly, Stephane LeBohec, Richard Lemons, Edward M. Levine, Janet E. Lindsley, Karl Lins, Zheng-Rong Lu, Brad Lundahl, Daniel Medwed, Lex Newman, Maria Newton, Paul Nielsen, Erin O’Connell, Gerado Okhuysen, James Owen, Karen Paisley, Kevin Perry, Kathy Pope, A. Lor Randall, Rita Reusch, Donn Schafer, Antonio Serrato-Combe, Randy Silverman, Bruce Smith, Sandy Smith, Gerald Spangrude, Nancy Staggers, Michael Timberlake, Andrjs Treibergs, Raymond Tymas-Jones, Mary Ann Villarreal, Kimberly Walsh, Sharon M. Weinstein, Lisa Western, Mary Youngkin
Ex-officio: A. Loris Betz, John Francis, James Graves, Kirtly Parker Jones, David Kieda, Nancy Lines, Paul Mogren, Susan Olson, Spencer Pearson, David W. Pershing
Excused: Tim Ameel, Pat Hanna, Kirtly Parker Jones, Mike Kirby, Lester Partlow, Tim Slover
Others: Ann Floor, Robert Flores, Ted Liou, Rochelle McConkie, Sandy Meek, Steven Parker, Stephen Reynolds, Jan Robertson, Phil Smith, Angie Stefaniak, Joanne Yaffe, Cathleen Zick
Approval of Minutes
The minutes of the Academic Senate meeting of August 27, 2007 were unanimously approved.
Request for New Business
Senate President-elect David Keida reluctantly offered his letter of resignation as he was recently named chair of the Physics Department. The Executive Committee voted in the preceding month that it was appropriate to hold a fresh election (rather than simply elevating the runner-up candidate from the earlier election). Nominations were opened and two candidates were nominated: Paul Mogren and Joanne Yaffe. The candidates’ names and bios were circulated to the Senate, and then the PEC chair conducted the election during the Senate meeting, using secret ballots. The vote resulted in the election of Paul Mogren to serve the remaining 2007-2008 term as Senate President-elect. He will then become Senate President for 2008-2009.
Consent Calendar
The resignations, retirements, faculty appointments, auxiliary, and limited term appointments, dated September 17 and October 1, 2007 received unanimous approval to forward to the Board of Trustees.
Executive Committee Report
Sandy Smith, Executive Committee Secretary, summarized her written report of the September 17, 2007 Executive Committee meeting.
Report from Administration
President Young reported that the University has received a large number of grants. The largest was $19M for HIV research followed by $2M from NSF to expand the number of engineers in the state and university; and $6M from the Sorensen Legacy Foundation for a new Discovery and Innovation Studies Center in the School of Business. A NIH New innovator Award of $1.5 M was received by Jody Rosenblatt from Huntsman Cancer Institute. He also commented on the new research faculty hired for the USTAR program and indicated that they will work collaboratively on multidisciplinary projects.
President Young also announced the creation of two new centers, The Confucius Institute and the Office of Sustainability. The Confucius Institute will partner with the Chinese government to expand Chinese studies at the U. The Office of Sustainability will promote more opportunity campus wide for a network to sustain environmental behaviors and practices.
President Young informed the Senators of the upcoming legislative requests. The University’s goals will be open and clear with salaries and benefits to remain the top priority. In addition, two major Physical facilities requests to expand the teaching facilities in the School of Business and in partnership with the State complete the new Museum of Natural History. President Young responded to a concern that previous monies allotted were misspent. He stated that the majority is encumbered for things already in process but a cushion of approximately $22M is retained for needs of the University.
The renovation of the Marriott Library will be completed in 2008 as well as the new Humanities building and the College of Mines building.
President Young noted that the University’s student credit hours are down in the undergraduate programs but up in the graduate programs. The decline is due mostly to transfer students and the economy.
Report from ASUU
Spencer Pearson reported on the ASUU activities. Homecoming was successful and the blood drive exceeded their past donations by collecting over 600 units. They are working on a sales tax exemption on text books, and the ‘Campus Environmental Impact Day’ in conjunction with the Office of Sustainability. They are looking forward to the visit of Max Weinberg, band leader on the Late Night with Conan O’Brien on October 23 and encouraged senators to spread the word.
Notice of Intent
There were no items.
Debate Calendar
Cathleen Zick presented an overview of the combined BA/BS/MPP Degree. She noted that the combined degree, awarded at the end of the senior year, would allow a small number of top undergraduate students to simultaneously complete a master of public policy degree in 5 years. A motion to move this request to the debate calendar was unanimously approved. The motion by Gene Fitzgerald to approve and forward to the Board of Trustees received unanimous approval.
Phil Smith explained the reason for his request for a name change for the Institute for Combustion and Energy Studies to Institute for Clean and Secure Energy. The name change would more clearly indicate the goals of their research and better reflect a newly expanded vision for the institute. A motion by Peggy Battin to table the name change was seconded by Gene Fitzgerald. A vote was taken and the motion was defeated. A second motion to approve the name change and forward to the Board of Trustees passed with three abstentions.
Information Items
Ted Liou, chair of the Annuities and Salaries Committee, reported on the work of the committee during last year. Finally, after completion of the work regarding faculty retirement options, he referred to the letter in the agenda packet and announced that it will be sent to all faculty. He also reiterated the success of the wellness program and the committee’s intent to work on long term care and child care this year. Responding to questions regarding complimentary medicine and donations already deposited into long term care, he agreed to the suggestion to create and distribute a simplified summary of all the new options available to faculty.
Eric Hinderaker and Chris Hill presented the annual report of the Athletics Advisory Council. Eric explained that the AAC serves as a policy recommendation and review body for the Athletic Department and intercollegiate athletics at the university. In addition to four standing committee, an ad hoc committee on student welfare was created in response to a recommendation from the NCAA recertification process in 2005-2006 to asses student athlete welfare issues.
A written report from the Personnel and Elections Committee was found in the agenda packet for the meeting.
New Business
No new business
Adjournment:
The meeting adjourned at 4:35 pm.