August 29, 2022

Aug 29 2022
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Meeting Minutes

ACADEMIC SENATE

Minutes

August 29, 2022

  1. CALL TO ORDER AND Announcements
    The regular meeting of the Academic Senate, held on August 29, 2022, was called to order at 3:00 pm by Senate President Sonia Salari. As had been announced on the Senate website and by email, this meeting was held using the Zoom online meeting platform. Attendance was confirmed by requiring Senate members (and invited guests and public attendees) to register in advance for the online meeting.

 

Present: Soheila Amirsoleimani, Andrew Anderson, Yoshimi Anzai, Steven Bartlett, Michael Battistone, Pinar Bayrak-Toydemir, James Bekker, Adrian Bell, Matthew Bettini, Melissa Bobick, David Bowling, Simon Brewer, Jonathan Brogaard, Kenneth Bromberg, Jen Brown, Jessica Brown, Richard Brown, Luca Brunelli, Timothy Brusseau, Marc Calaf, Jon Chaika, Owen Chan, Holden Cheney, Gerald Cochran, Kevin Coe, Nanette Dudley, Katie Durante, Nadja Durbach, Melinda Fagan, Zhigang (Zak) Fang, Stacy Firth, Julia Franklin, Gina Frey, Eric Handman, Sara Hart, Tucker Hermans, Max Hernandez-Nietling, Anna Hodgson, Heather Holmes, Harriet Hopf, Howard Horwitz, Rory Hume, Susan Johnston, Bryan Jones, Sam Judd, Youjeong Kang, James Karner, Seth Keeton, Kai Kuck, Audrey Laney, Shelley Lawrence, John Lin, Jack Longino, Alysse Loomis, Janis Louie, Benvin Lozada, Sarah Lucas, Stacy Manwaring, Mikaila McIntyre, Nancy McLaughlin, Meeyoung Min, Eugene Mishchenko, Ed Muñoz, AJ Myers, Anna Neatrour, Will Nesse, Dave Norwood, Adrian Palmer, Yihui Pan, Robert Parker, Alek Peterlin, Sean Redmond, Alessandro Rigolon, Ofer Rog, Carol Sansone, Nathan Seegert, Paul Shami, Xiaoming Sheng, Jamesina  Simpson, Wayne Springer, Sondra Stegenga , Casey Tak, Jessica Van Der Volgen, Jim VanDerslice, Seetha Veeraghanta, Muskan Walia, Ryan Walker, Jennifer Watt, Melodie Weller, Peter West, Jaclyn Winter, Zhou Yu, Kilo Zamora

 

Excused with substitute: Michael Abrahamson, Atif Ellahie, Jay Jordan, Anthony Tenney, Matt Tokson

 

Excused: Alyssa Lee, Maggie Tesch

 

Absent: Lizabeth Cowgill, Janice Darko, Ganesh Gopalakrishnan, Manu Goyal, Jesse Graham, Lela Graybill, Amos Guiora, Leslie Halpern, William Holland, Srabani Karmakar, Titus Larrieu, Feng Liu, Kate Lunnen, Frank McAlpin, Susie Porter, Codrina Rada, Patrick Tripeny

 

Ex Officio: Mike Braak, Shanti Deemyad, Robert Fujinami, Michael Good, Savannah Manwill, Paul Mogren, Allyson Mower, Christina Porucznik, Sarah Projansky, Taylor Randall, Lisa Rigtrup, Sonia Salari, Martell Teasley, Jane Laird

 

Senate President Sonia Salari welcomed Senate members to the first Academic Senate meeting of the 2022-2023 academic year. She offered an overview of how the meetings will be conducted and specific instructions for Senate meetings held on Zoom.

 

  1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
    The minutes dated May 2, 2022, were approved upon a motion James Bekker and a second from Benvin Lozada. There were 25 abstentions.

 

  1. REQUEST FOR NEW BUSINESS

There were no requests for new business.

 

  1. CONSENT CALENDAR

The Faculty Matters Reports were approved by acclamation.  

 

  1. SPECIAL ORDER: Annual Appointments for Senate Leadership – Parliamentarian and Policy Liaison

Sonia Salari reported that the Senate Executive Committee had approved her nominations of Allyson Mower, to be the Senate Policy Liaison, and Paul Mogren, as Parliamentarian, for the 2022-2023 academic year. The two nominations were approved after a motion by Bob Fujinami and a second by Jen Brown.

 

6.. REPORTS

 

Report from Administration

University of Utah President Taylor Randall welcomed everyone to the new academic year and thanked Senate President Salari and the Senate Executive Committee for their work over the summer term. He gave updates on topics that included student housing initiatives, the new Wilkes Center for Climate Science and Policy, and learning that UCLA and USC have elected to leave the PAC 12 Athletic Conference.

 

SVP Michael Good reported that health system capacity, for all metrics, has not kept up with the dramatic growth over the past year. University initiatives, such as the West Valley Heath and Education Center and retention/recruitment efforts, aim to relieve the pressure. Interim SVP Martell Teasley updated Senate members with the Fall enrollment numbers. The University Day of Collective Action is planned for February 8, 2023.

 

Executive Committee Report: Summer Recess Provisional Approval Actions

Senate President-elect Shanti Deemyad reported that the Senate Executive Committee (EC) had used summer authority to provisionally approve the following vacancy elections, proposals, and reports at its June, July and August meetings:

 

  1. New Executive Committee Member Elections: Jim VanDerslice and Xiaoming Sheng
  2. Graduate Certificate: Population Health Sciences
  3. Graduate Certificate: Secure Computing
  4. Department Name Change: Molecular Pharmaceutics
  5. New Minor & New Emphases: FinTech
  6. New Center: Utah Center for Financial Technology/Fintech Center
  7. Policy 6-409 and 6-309: Graduate Student Parental Leave & Rule 6-309A: Post-Doctoral Fellow Parental Leave
  8. New Center: Wilkes Center for Climate Science and Policy
  9. Faculty Staff Notifications Jun 2022
  10. Faculty Staff Notifications Jul 2022

 

Report from ASUU

Benvin Lozada, ASUU Vice President for Internal Relations, explained that ASUU internal discussions led to the request that the ASUU President be able to delegate their seat on the EC and Senate to optimize student participation. He will be the designated Senate ASUU member for the upcoming year. Benvin also gave an overview of the ASUU report, highlighting collaborative initiatives, for leveraging the student voice, in creating a better campus climate. For instance, ASUU administration has been working on relaunching a Student Campus Safety Committee.

 

  1. NOTICE OF INTENT CALENDAR

There were no items for the Notice of Intent Calendar

 

  1. DEBATE CALENDAR

 

New Minor & New Emphases: Real Estate  

Department of Finance faculty member Danny Wall gave an overview of the proposed new minor and new emphasis in Real Estate. Utah’s robust growth has created strong demand for students trained in real estate development, asset management, portfolio management, commercial brokerage, commercial banking, along with other commercial real estate careers. The minor is designed to be flexible and accommodate students from a variety of majors. The emphasis can be completed within elective credits. Nathan Seegert, seconded by Seetha Veeraghanta, moved to approve this proposal The motion passed.

 

New Degree and Major: Earth and Environmental Science 

A proposed new degree and major in Earth and Environmental Science (EES) will be collaboratively administered by the College of Mines and Earth Sciences and the College of Science, explained its Dean Peter Trapa. Its key distinguishing feature is that this major’s approach to environmental issues is rooted deeply in calculus-based quantitative methods and a rigorous natural science core. The proposers worked closely with other UofU colleges to ensure that this proposed major is distinct from other environmental studies programs. The proposed new degree and major were approved after a motion from John Lin and a second from David Bowling.

 

New Center: Utah Center for Promotion of Work Equity Research (U-POWER)

Associate Director of the Utah Center for Promotion of Work Equity Research (U-POWER) Camie Schaefer introduced a proposal to formalize U-POWER as a University center. She explained that U-POWER is a center of excellence in total worker health supported by the national Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. U-POWER’s mission is to build a community that includes faculty, staff, and students from across the university of Utah, as well as partnering with community members and stakeholders in worker health and equity in the Mountain West region. It is dedicated to research, education, and outreach that relate to safe, healthy, and equitable work and workplaces. The theme is the role of power in defining work conditions and how power can be leveraged to advance work equity. Traditionally, occupational health research is focused on the prevention of physical, chemical, and biological hazards at work, but growing recognition that work is a social determinant of health and the key contributor to societal inequities creates opportunities for new interdisciplinary collaborations. Shanti Deemyad’s motion, seconded by Seetha Veeraghanta, to approve the new center passed.

 

Policy 7-013: Section E-Copying by University Libraries

Interlibrary Loan Document Delivery Manager Susan Brusik, joined by Alison Mortensen-Hayes, presented a proposed change to Policy 7-013 to reflect best practices for interlibrary loan (ILL) activities. This update was coordinated with all three UofU libraries to reflect more current practices of ILL by replacing an outdated set of guidelines called the Commission on New Technological Uses of Works, referred to as CONTU. Users will not see an impact or pay anything extra. The proposed updated guidelines in Policy 7-013 are projected to have a positive impact on library budgets and workflows. Policy 7-013 updates were approved by the Senate after a motion from Seetha Veeraghanta and second from James Bekker.

 

Policy 1-020: Required Professional Boundaries in Relationships

Deputy General Counsel Robert Payne identified proposed revisions to Policy 1-020: Required Professional Boundaries in Relationships as mandated by a statutory change in Utah Code Section 63G-7-201. Educational Institutions in Utah now must include specific language in professional boundary policy about persons, in supervisory roles over students, sharing sexually explicit photographs and images. The UofU already has multiple professional boundary and harassment policies in place but needs this specific language addition to align with state code.

 

The added policy language proposed had been reviewed by multiple bodies, including a Senate Executive Committee group that met to closely review and advise on the specific wording now proposed. Seetha Veeraghanta, seconded by Jen Brown, moved to approve the new Policy 1-020 language. The motion passed.

 

Senate Policy 6-002 Update: Asia Campus Senator

Christy Porucznik and Allyson Mower introduced updates to Policy 6-002: The Academic Senate and Senate Committees: Structure, Functions, Procedures. The key revision is to establish Senate faculty representation of the UofU Asia campus (UAC). The proposed Policy adds a UAC voting-senator seat. It also updated other parts of the Policy including the ASUU request to allow its President to delegate her/his seat on the Senate and Senate Executive Committee and revising language that clarified some sections of the existing version. The Policy 6-002 update was approved after a motion from Steve Bartlett and a second from Jim VanDerslice.

 

  1. INFORMATION AND RECOMMENDATIONS CALENDAR

 

HR Benefits Decision Process Transparency Report

Jeff Herring, Wendy Poppleton, and Wendy Peterson, from the University Human Resource office, presented an overview of some of the processes for and issues faced when making employee benefits decisions. The discussion was in response to transparency, communication and representation questions raised recently by faculty about retirement and health benefit decisions. The presenters discussed the reasons why health plan out-of-pocket payments had gone up, methods of communicating these types of changes to employees, and representative changes that will be made to the health and retirement committees to make sure those committees’ decision makers reflect the constituent community. Jeff said that they welcome feedback and ideas on how best to communicate updates and changes to employees. The retirement and health insurance committees will also now have member representation that mirrors UofU employee types and percentage of the workforce. Administrator membership on those will be reduced, while other employee categories will have an increased number of seats. Senate Advisory Committee (SACAP) Chair Mary Beth Vogel-Ferguson and Human Resource Administration will coordinate filling new faculty seats.

 

2022 Regional Accreditation Peer Review Oct 19-21

Graduate School Dean Dave Kieda explained that he is the accreditation liaison officer for the UofU and asked Senate members to mark the Accreditation Peer Review visit taking place on October 19-21. The team will be meeting with various groups, including the Academic Senate, during that visit. He encouraged members to participate in that as well as the open sessions for faculty, staff, and students.

 

 

Information and Reports

Sonia Salari explained that meeting materials posted included resources, updates, and reports for review. The posted files were:

  1. New Senator Orientation 2022-2023 Recording and Slides
  2. UofU Staff Council Appointments to SACEDI
  • ASUU Resolution: ASUU President Designee 2022-23
  1. Appointment of Senate Standing Committee Chairs 2022-2023
  2. SACUSP 2022-23 New Member Appointments
  3. Policy 5-206: Vehicle Parking
  • Policy 3-233: Operation of Motorized Vehicles on Pedestrian Walks
  • Policy 5-108 Transfer of Benefits Eligible Staff Members
  1. Graduate Council Seven-Year Reviews
  • MS in Clinical Investigation Program
  • Department of Physical Therapy and Athletic Training
  1. College of Nursing Charter
  2. UACI Annual Report
  • SACUSP Final Annual Report
  • Course Fee Annual Report
  • University Teaching Committee 2021-2022 Report
  1. UofU President’s Reports to Board of Trustees June 2022
  • UofU President’s Report to Board of Trustees August 2022
  • Senate Report to Board of Trustees Report June 2022

 

  1. NEW BUSINESS

There were no items for New Business

 

  1. OPEN DISCUSSION

Senate President Salari asked Senators to consider Senate meetings’ modalities, such as keeping the online format, having hybrid options, or returning to in person meetings. She will continue to gather more member input on this topic before the next Senate meeting.

 

  1. ADJOURNMENT
    Meeting adjourned at 5:23 pm.