Meeting Minutes
ACADEMIC SENATE MINUTES
August 31, 2009
Call to Order
The regular meeting of the Academic Senate, held on May 4, 2009 was called to order at 3:03 pm by James A. Anderson, Senate President. The meeting was held in room 220 Aline Wilmot Skaggs Building.
Roll:
Elizabeth Adoyo, Brian Saam for David Ailiion, Peter Alfeld, Bob Allen, Tim Ameel, James Anderson, Shmuel Baruch, Amanda Barusch, Tami Beck, David Blair, John Bowman, Frank Brown, Connie Bullis, Steve Carson, Vincent Cheng, Margaret Clayton, Tayler Clough, John Conboy, Suzanne Darais, Larry DeVries, Tina Diekmann, Marianna DiPaolo, Eric Eddings, Marlene Egger, Richard Ernst, Richard Forster, Robert Fujinami, Michael Goodman, Pat Hanna, Michael Hardman, Sandra Hasstedt, Greg Hatch, Henryk Hecht, Jessieann Hibbard, Bob Hill Ray Gunn for Eric Hinderaker, Vladmir Hlady, Lauren Holland, Harriet Hopf, Jay Jordan, Carol Lim for Steve Kern, David Kiefer, Todd Kramer, Stephen Lessnick, Joelle Lien, Laurence Loeb, Jim Metherall, William C. Michel, Chris Brown for Alysha Moore Esplin, Katie Moore, Kathryn Morton, Allyson Mower, Chris Nelson, Maria Newton, David Pendell, Chris Peterson, David Plumlee, Mollie Poynton, Sean Redmond, Steve Reynolds, Rita Reusch, Jerry Root, Andrea Rorrer, Nelson Roy, Donn Schaefer, James Sibthorp, Paula Smith, Sarah Solomon, Sam Thomas, Irving Torres, Vanessa Vincente, David Viskhochil, Margaret Wan, Donna White, Bryce Williams, Cecilia Wainryb, Seth Welborn, Braden York, Nick Wolfinger.
Excused: Richard Barton, George Cassiday, Bruce Landesman, Edward Levine, Brad Lundahl, Lor Randall, Bam Dev Sharda
Ex-officio: A. Lorris Betz, Paul Brinkman, Robert Flores, John Francis, James Graves, Nancy Lines, Paul Mogren, David W. Pershing, Richard Sperry, Raymond Tymas-Jones, Octavio Villalpando, Chuck Wight, Michael K. Young
Others: Ann Floor, Nancy Staggers, John F. Hurdle, Eric Hunter
Approval of Minutes
The minutes of the Academic Senate meeting of May 4, 2009 were unanimously approved following a motion from Larry Devries which was seconded by Connie Bullis.
Request for New Business
There was no new business.
Consent Calendar
The resignations, retirements, faculty appointments, auxiliary, and limited term appointments, appearing in the Appendices received unanimous approval to forward to the Board of Trustees following a motion from Larry Devries and seconded by Connie Bullis.
Executive Committee Report
Jim Metherall, Executive Committee Secretary, summarized his written report of the June 1 and August 24, 2009 Executive Committee meetings.
Report from Administration
President Michael Young delivered the State of the University immediately following the Senate meeting.
Report from ASUU
President Tayler Clough reported that ASUU is working on to major initiatives. The first is a Community Mentoring Program which will enlist 14 graduate students to work with students in grades 9-12 to help them prepare for college and completing college admission applications. Secondly, the Student Fee Committee is working with vice presidents and looking at how students fees are being used. In conclusion, he solicited faculty to forward him any concerns with ASUU.
Notice of Intent
There were no items.
Debate Calendar
Nancy Staggers and John Hurdle gave a précis of the proposed request to change the name of the existing Biomedical Informatics Graduate Certificate and expand it to include Nursing Informatics students, faculty and to allow interdisciplinary growth into the future. The generic title will be more inclusive and accommodate a broader range of disciplines beyond health sciences. A motion from Larry DeVries to approved the request and forward to the Board of Trustees for final approval was seconded by Mollie Poynton and was unanimously approved.
Dean Jim Graves represented the College of Health’s proposed request for an Undergraduate Minor in Health. It is designed for students entering into careers other than health, promotion and education, who wish to have formally-recognized educational preparation in health. The minor will offer undergraduate students content in the areas of public health, positive behavior change and healthy lifestyles. It would also serve as an ideal complement to existing B.S. programs beyond the college in Psychology, Anthropology, Sociology, Political Science, and Communication with no additional resources being required. A motion from Seth Welborn, seconded by Todd Kramer, to forward to the Board of Trustees for final approval received unanimous approval.
Eric Hunter from the National Center for Voice and Speech, gave a short synopsis of the proposed request to bring the well-established entity that has served the nation as a major resource back to the University of Utah. NCVS was conceived as “a center without walls” in 1990 from a National Institute of Health grant on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. and was organized on the premise that a consortium of institutions is better able to acquire and maintain resources to fulfill the global mission of voice awareness than a single organization to understand and promote the best use of the human voice and speech. The objective is not only to re-engage the University but to house their headquarters in the State of Utah can allow it to become the national focal point for advocacy in effective voice and speech use. Utah’s interest in public speaking and singing is extraordinary in and human resources are unmatched along the Wasatch Front, both for research and for dissemination of information to the public. Voice is a small part of many disciplines including the colleges of health, medicine, fine arts, engineering, and science. Several concerns were voiced in a lengthy question and answer session centered around the financial future and direct oversight. A motion from Larry DeVries which was seconded by Jessieann Hibbard, to forward to the Board of Trustees for final approval passed with some reservations.
Information Calendar
The Executive Committee approved several items during the summer months while acting on behalf of the Senate. Included were: 1) the Undergraduate Council’s request to approve a proposal from the Department of Art and Art History to have emphasis areas listed on students’ transcripts; 2) the modification of five policies to accommodate gender identity and gender expression for non-discrimination; 3) a policy to expand reduced tuition to domestic partners; 4) a Master of Real Estate Development and a Graduate Certificate in Real Estate Development from the Business School; and 5) a degree for a Joint Master of Public Administration and Master of Public Health. Also approved was a rule for on-line voting, and the announcements of three new deans: Taylor Randall for the School of Business, Charles Wight for the Graduate School, and David Rudd for Social and Behavioral Science.
The Undergraduate Council’s reviews of the Ethnic Studies Program, and the International Studies Program, were reviewed in the August 24 Executive Committee and approved.
The Graduate Council’s reviews of: 1) the School of Music; 2) the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; 3) the Department of Communication; 4) the Department of Physiology; 5) the Department of Pathology; and 6) the Master of Statistics Program were reviewed in the August 24 Executive Committee and approved.
The annual reports from six of the Senate Committees including Academic Freedom and Faculty Rights, Academic Policy Advisory Committee, Faculty Budget and Planning Committee, Library Policy Advisory Committee, University Diversity Committee and the University RPT Standards Committee were accepted in the August 24 Executive Committee.
The President’s Report and the Honors and Awards were listed for information only.
Jim Metherall as Executive Committee Secretary, and Robert Flores as Parliamentarian, were approved in the August 24 Executive Committee.
New Business
There was no new business
Adjournment:
The meeting adjourned at 3:50 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Nancy Lines