Meeting Minutes
ACADEMIC SENATE MINUTES
April 2, 2007
Call to Order
The regular meeting of the Academic Senate, held on April 2, 2007 was called to order at 3:04 p.m. by Kirtly Jones, Senate President. The meeting was held in room 115 C. Roland Christensen Center.
Roll:
Kirtly Jones (Senate President), Stephen Alder, Michael Bastiani, Margaret Battin, Paul Bernstein, Paul Bresslof, Arthur Brothman, Richard Brown, Carrie Byington, Lyle Campbell, David Derezotes, Gary Ellis, Gene Fitzgerald, Leslie Francis, Michael Free, Robert Glasgow, Peter Goss, Ray Gunn, Douglas Hacker, David Hillyard, Jan Hobson, Brooke Hopkins, Charles Jui, David Kieda, Mike Kirby, Jacob Kirkham, Kacee Kniazava, Thomas Kontuly, Lynette Land, Howard Lehman, Richard Lemons, Janet Lindsley, Karl Lins, Janis Louie, Zheng-Rong Lu, Mary Lucero, Clifton McIntosh, Daniel Medwed, Sanford Meek, Erin Miedema, Joey Mortensen, Lex Newman, Gema Guevara, Gerado Okhuysen, Rob O’Neill, Richard Paine, Karen Paisley, Lester Partlow, Brian Patrick, Kathy Pope, Paul Roberts, Jan Robertson, Edward Rubin, Sarah, Shippobotham, Barry Shultz, Bruce Smith, Sandra Smith, Gerald Spangrude, Shonn Tanner, Michael Timberlake, Joanne Yaffe, Mary Youngkin
Excused: Dan Adams, LaVar Harline, Russ Isabella, Ken Jameson, Michael Young
Ex-officio: Loris Betz, Penny Brooke, Robert Flores, John Francis, Nancy Lines, Paul Mogren, Susan Olson, David W. Pershing,
Others: Ann Floor, Dustin Gardner, Kathy Hajeb, Jannah Mather, Robert Newman, Steven Ott, Spencer Pearson, Phyllis Vetter
Approval of Minutes
The minutes of the March 5, 2007 Academic Senate meeting were unanimously approved.
Request for New Business
There was no new business.
Consent Calendar
The resignations, retirements, faculty appointments, auxiliary, and limited term appointments, appearing in Appendices I, II and III dated April 2, 2007 received approval to forward to the Board of Trustees.
The following faculty were selected as Distinguished Professors: Brenda Bass (Biochemistry), Mary Beckerle (Biology), Cynthia Burrows (Chemistry), James O’Connell (Anthropology) and Anil Virkar (Materials Science and Engineering). Arthur Brief (Management) was appointed Presidential Professor. A motion to accept these appointments and forward to the Board of Trustees was unanimous.
The Calvin S. and JeNeal N. Hatch Prize in Teaching was granted to a current senator, Professor Gene Fitzgerald. The motion to accept this selection and forward to the Board of Trustees was unanimous.
The Early Career Teaching Awards were announced and the recipients are: Assistant Professor Steven Burian, Assistant Professor Jonathan Butner, Professor Nancy McLaughlin, Assistant Professor David Morton and Assistant Professor Paula Smith. A motion to accept these appointments and forward to the Board of Trustees was unanimous.
As a follow-up to the March 5th Senate meeting, Joyce Ogburn distributed a letter to the senators encouraging them to support public access to federally funded research by logging into The Petition for Public Access to Publicly Funded Research in the United Sates (http://www.publicaccesstoresearch.com) and sign the petition.
Executive Committee Report
Joanne Yaffe, Executive Committee Secretary, summarized her written report of the March 5, 2007 Executive Committee meeting.
Report from Administration
Senior Vice President Pershing reported on the faculty searches underway. The new Associate Vice President for Diversity is Octavio Villapando. Richard Garcia is the new director for CESA. The new head basketball coach is Jim Boylen from Michigan State, former assistant coach in the NBA of the Houston Rockets. The search for the Dean of Students and Dean of the College of Science is underway.
Pershing commented on the newly formed committee on Campus Safety which will focus on safety issues in the physical sense as well as a safety policy and support for faculty.
The vice president informed the senate of the Campus Master Plan that is underway to provide a guide for physical environment, the placement of new buildings, traffic pattern, bike and pedestrian paths. Opportunities for campus and community interaction town meetings will be part of the plan during the anticipated one-year process.
Lastly, SVP Pershing reported on the on-going Marriott Library construction project scheduled to be completed in another year. He recently toured the facility and was especially impressed with the faculty and student reading rooms and the “Knowledge Commons”.
Report from ASUU
Jacob Kirkham reported on the successful “Rock the U” dance marathon which raised $93,000 for the Huntsman Cancer Institute.
Jacob introduced the new ASUU president for 2007-2008, Spencer Pearson.
Kirtly Jones, Senate president, thanked Jacob for his service on behalf of the entire Senate, and wished him well in his future endeavors.
Notice of Intent
- Paul Mogren provided updated information for the Academic Freedom and Faculty Rights revisions to PPM 9-5.5, 8-5 and 9-3 and the revisions to the Code of Faculty Rights and Responsibilities, PPM 8-12.2. A motion to accept all the revisions and move to the Debate Calendar was unanimous and they will be sent to the Board of Trustees.
Debate Calendar
- The Academic Freedom and Faculty Right revisions to PPM 9-5.5, 8-5 and 9-3 were voted upon. A motion to accept all the revisions and forward to the Board of Trustees was unanimous.
- Robert Flores led a discussion regarding the proposed changes to the Faculty Appointments Policies, PPM 9-5, 9-5.1 and 9-4, considering each change on an individual basis. Following several motions to take a straw vote on some of the changes and motions to end the debate a motion was made to accept the entire package except 9-4.2C. This section of the revisions refers to college council structure. This section of the revision was tabled with the plan to form an Ad-hoc committee to review and propose wording for policy in the future. The rest of PPM9-5, 9-5.1 and 9-4 were accepted unanimously. The changes in policy will be forwarded to the Board of Trustees.
Information Items
- John Francis presented an overview of an internal Faculty Interest Database. This database is currently only available to faculty and students. Professor Francis noted that this database would be an asset to connect our faculty with students, researchers and funding opportunities outside the university if it were available on the web. The senators responded to this suggestion by voting to support the option of making the Faculty Interest Database available on the web.
New Business
There was no new business.
Adjournment:
The meeting adjourned at 5:03 pm.