Meeting Minutes
ACADEMIC SENATE MINUTES
December 2, 2013
Call to Order
The regular meeting of the Academic Senate, held on December 2, 2013, was called to order at 3:02 p.m. by Allyson Mower, Senate President. The meeting was held in room 110 Spencer Fox Eccles Business Building.
Present: David Ailion, Peter Alfeld, McKay Allred, A.K. Balaji, Keith Bartholomew, Tim Benvegnu, Lyda Bigelow, Michael Blomgren, Kelly Bricker, Nilufer Cagatay, Tully Cathey, Marcus Chen, Mary Ann Christison, John Conboy, Robin Craig, Alison Denyer, Justin Diggle, Maria Dobozy, Florence Fernandez, Francis Friedrich, Sabine Fuhrmann, Jennifer Garvin, William Gershan, Jordan Gerton, Franz Goller, Joan Gregory, Gary Grikscheit, Michael Harris, Mary Elizabeth Hartnett, Leanne Hawken, Rachel Hayes-Harb, Tom Henderson, Robert Hitchcock, Jared Hurdman, Anne Jamison, Xan Johnson, Christian Johnson, William Johnson, Bradley Katz, William Lowrance, Ross Marabella, Erminia Martinez, Ashley McMullin, Duncan Metcalfe, Meredith Metzger, Jill Moriearty, Alfred Mowdood, Patricia Murphy, A. Chris Nelson, Ingrid Nygaard, Sam Ortiz, Patrick Panos, Wanda Pillow, Marlene Plumlee, Christina Porucznik, Matthew Potolsky, M. Pollie Price, Mariana Ramiro, Lorie Richards, Stephanie Richardson, Steve Roens, Gary Rose, Jody Rosenblatt, Debra Simmons, Gregory Smoak, David Stevenson, Taylor Thurman, Li Wang, Rachel Wootton, Jingyi Zhu,
Absent: Marjorie Chan, Thomas Cheatham, William Crowley, Sierra Debenham, Kevin DeLuca, Megan Dolle, Xiao Fang, Ole Fischer, Thad Hall, Michael Hawkins, Thunder Jalili, Amy Johnas, Lori Kowaleski-Jones, Evert Lawton, Uri Loewenstein, Raina Mahanes, Theresa Martinez, Jannah Mather, Heather Melton, Dragan Milicic, Gerald Root, Paul Shami, John Paul Soares
Excused: Vivian Lee, David Pershing
Ex-officio: Steve Alder, Robert Flores, Robert Fujinami, Paul Mogren, Allyson Mower, Ruth Watkins, Amy Wildermuth, Shawnee Worsley
Excused with Proxy: Richard Rabbit for Orly Alter, Ben Cohn for Chrisoula Andreou, Phyllis Coley for John Longino, Thomas Richmond for Joel Miller, Richard Gurgel for Clough Shelton, Rosemarie Hunter for Joanne Yaffe
Others: Liz Johnson, Mary Parker
Approval of Minutes
The minutes of the Academic Senate meeting on November 4, 2013 were approved.
Request for New Business
No new business
Consent Calendar
The resignations retirements, and faculty and administrator appointments dated December 2, 2013, received no objections and will be forward to the Board of Trustees.
Executive Committee Report
Steve Alder, Academic Senate President-elect, provided a summary of the Executive Committee meeting held November 18, 2013.
Report from Administration
Senior Vice President Ruth Watkins gave an update to the Senate on campus activities. Currently there are three leadership searches for deans; College of Social and Behavioral Science, College of Architecture + Planning, and College of Science. The Academic Deans discussed having a transformative excellence faculty hiring program. Another area that has been a discussion for the Deans is the technology and education areas; what areas can we improve and effectively serving current students.
Report from ASUU
Sam Ortiz and Rachel Wootton updated the Academic Senate on ASUU activities on campus. ASUU is working on opening 18 infant slots in the childcare program on campus. ASUU will be providing the funding to remodel the space that has been located with additional funding from grants and the child care program.
ASUU will be working with the Marriott Library, Union Programming Council, and PEAK Health and Fitness to provide Geek Week again this year for the students. The Marriott Library will be open for 24 hours for two weeks from December 8th to December 20th. There will be a number of events including yoga, free food, study supplies, study tips, donuts. Satellite campuses will also have extended hours and will also have giveaways.
Notice of Intent
The formal proposal for the second-stage of revisions of Policy 6-002 will be presented to the Senate on January 6, 2014. This is part two of the overall project of both changing nomenclature for faculty categories, and integrating “Career-line” faculty into the Senate and other shared-governance councils and committees. The first part, approved last spring, added Career-line members to the main body of the Senate (and they will be arriving for the January Senate meeting), and the second part will integrate Career-line faculty into the Senate’s standing committees as well as otherwise updating and clarifying the overall Senate Policy. Members are advised to be prepared for reading a very lengthy detailed proposal, which will need to be acted upon within a single meeting so that preparations for spring elections can begin immediately afterward.
Debate Calendar
Ann Darling and Mary Parker presented the proposal for Academic Calendar Changes, which was first debated at the November meeting and tabled to return this month after further preparation. The proposal is now modified so that it is proposed to eliminate reading day only for Spring 2014, and then do further study and return to the Senate if a similar change is to be proposed for future years. This elimination would help student to complete finals prior to convocation ceremonies. The committee will gather feedback after spring semester and discuss the continuation of reading day. ASUU has provided a letter of support for the elimination of reading day for Spring 2014. The motion to eliminate reading day for Spring 2014 and for the committee to further review and make recommendations for possible changes for future years was made by Brad Katz and seconded by Xan Johnson. Motion passed.
University Diversity Committee has proposed a change in the charge to include two additional ex-officio members; Director of LGBT Resource Center and Assistant VP for Human Resources. The motion was made by Allyson Mower and seconded by Bill Johnson. Motion passed unanimously. Members were informed that changing the membership of this standing committee of the Senate will be included in the comprehensive revising of Policy 6-002 on the Debate Calendar for the January meeting.
Thomas Cova presented the proposal for a new Undergraduate Certificate in Hazards and Emergency Management. Student and faculty interest and participation in the Department of Geography’s hazards, terrorism, and emergency management courses have led to the development of this certificate. Emergency Management is a very interdisciplinary field that is relevant to a wide variety of majors and career options, and an organized curriculum would improve student marketability. Currently there are no certificate programs in Hazards and Emergency Management in the State of Utah, although there are programs in Fire and Rescue (UVU) and Emergency Medicine (U of U). One similar program was identified at Colorado State University Global Campus. The certificate is designed to be an attribute of an existing course of study for a student or may be earned independently after the successful completion of a bachelor’s degree. The motion to approve and forward to the Board of Trustees was made by Jennifer Garvin and seconded by Chris Nelson. Motion passed unanimously.
The proposal to create the Student Textbook Savings Ad Hoc Committee was presented by Allyson Mower and Sam Ortiz. This committee would convene in January 2014 and disband May 2014. The goal is to provide recommendations to the Senate by May 2014 on how to save students $500 a year on textbooks. The ten member committee will consist of four students, four faculty, and two staff selected by ASUU and the Senate President. The motion to approve was made by Allyson Mower and seconded by Xan Johnson. Motion passed unanimously.
The proposal for converting the existing University Writing Program (a Qualified Interdisciplinary Teaching Program) to the Writing and Rhetoric Studies Department (as a full-fledged academic department) was presented by Maureen Mathison and Mark Bergstrom. The Academic Senate charged the University Writing Program in 1983 with the oversight of all curricular initiatives and teaching of writing on campus. Since that time the program has grown to include an 18 credit minor, with 30 students, a proposed major currently under review by the Board of Regents, and a robust graduate degree offered through three departments; twenty four graduate students are enrolled, primarily at the PhD level. Faculty members affiliated with the UWP are currently distributed in two departments: Communication and English. Due to mutual research and teaching expertise, the proposal is to bring all faculty who deliver the degrees into one department, Writing and Rhetoric Studies. All career-line and adjunct faculty, and (non-faculty) associate instructors, will remain and maintain their current status but now in the new department. Two of the tenure-line members, having long standing relationships in their home departments (English and Communication), will maintain their tenure lines in those home department and be jointly appointed to tenure-line positions in the Department of Writing and Rhetoric Studies. Three tenure-line members will be transitioned entirely from their current home departments to tenure-line positions in the new department once the PhD program is moved over to it, and as the current students complete their graduate degrees through the home departments. Tenure-line hires in the future will then typically be solely in the Department of Writing and Rhetoric Studies. The motion to approve and forward to the Board of Trustees was made by Mary Elizabeth Hartnett and seconded by Greg Smoak. Motion passed unanimously.
Information Calendar
No recommendations were made on the proposal for a new Graduate Emphasis for Master of Music – String Performance & Pedagogy.
The 2013 University Distinguished Teaching Awards were presented. No recommendations were made and the award selections will be forwarded to the Board of Trustees.
Adjournment
Meeting adjourned at 4:05 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Shawnee Worsley