Meeting Minutes
ACADEMIC SENATE MINUTES
December 3, 2012
Call to Order
The regular meeting of the Academic Senate, held on December 3, 2012, was called to order at 3:04 p.m. by Robert Fujinami, Senate President. The meeting was held in room 215 C. Roland Christensen Center.
Present: David Ailion, Stephen Alder, Lisa Aspinwall, Keith Bartholomew, Clayton Beckett, Barton Blackburn, Tully Cathey, Reaz Chaudhuri, Thomas Cheatham, Kuan Chen, Miguel Chuaqui, Ronald Coleman, Kevin DeLuca, Marianna Di Paolo, Lee Dibble, Richard Dorsky, Kristina Evans, Aria Flatau, Leslie Francis, Sabine Fuhrmann, Michael Gardner, William Gershan, Franz Goller, James Graves, Joan Gregory, Gary Grikscheit, Charles Grissom, Thad Hall, Mary Elizabeth Hartnett, Leanne Hawken, Tom Henderson, Howard Horwitz, L. Eric Huang, Eric Hutton, William Johnson, Bradley Katz, Sharee Lane, Anthea Letsou, Karl Lins, John Longino, Kim Martinez, Theresa Martinez, Melissa Meeks, Heather Melton, McKenna Menees, Duncan Metcalf, Harvey Miller, Tatiana Mixco, Alfred Mowdood, Patricia Murphy, Chris Myers, Ingrid E. Nygaard, Lester Partlow, Matthew Potolsky, Hannah Pratt, Alison Regan, Stephanie Richardson, Gerald Root, Gary Rose, Sonia Salari, Paul Shami, Janet Shaw, Clough Shelton, Gregory Smoak, Jeff Stratman, Orest Symko, Geneva Thompson, Taylor Thompson, Norm Waitzman, Li Wang, Molly Wheeler, Wynchester Whetten, Joanne Yaffe, Angela Yetman, Jingyi Zhu
Absent: Anne Mooney, Marlene Plumlee, Kristin Smith – Crowe, David Rudd, Bruce Gale, Evert Lawton, Justin Diggle, Kathy Chapman, Thunder Jalili, M. Pollie Price, Steven Sternfeld, Christian Johnson, Martin Rechsteiner, Timothy Garrett, John Conboy, Dragan Milicic, Michael Hawkins, Patrick Panos, Charlotte Conerly, Alicia De Leon, Trevor Myrick, Orine Shine, Bryce Williams, Aaron Young
Excused: Vivian Lee
Ex-officio: Robert Flores, Robert Fujinami, Pat Hanna, Paul Mogren, Allyson Mower, David Pershing, Amy Wildermuth, Shawnee Worsley
Excused with Proxy:
Approval of Minutes
The minutes of the Academic Senate meeting on November 5, 2012 were approved following a motion from Joanne Yaffe which was seconded by Steve Alder.
Request for New Business
No new business to address
Consent Calendar
The resignations retirements, faculty appointments, auxiliary and limited term appointments, appearing in the Appendices dated December 3, 2012, received approval to forward to the Board of Trustees on motion by Eric Hutton and seconded by Joan Gregory.
Executive Committee Report
Allyson Mower, Executive Committee Secretary, provided a summary of the Executive Committee meetings held November 19, 2012.
Report from Administration
President David Pershing congratulated Chuck Wight on his new position as President of Weber State University. Donna White has been appointed as Interim Dean for the Graduate School and the search for the new Dean will start in January.
President Pershing spoke to the senate about his goal of excellence. He believes that to be competitive in our current environment we have to be sure to deliver a quality education to the students we are attracting. Part of this is focusing on the students and looking closely at what the students are doing; what courses they are taking and how to support the student. President Pershing has also asked a focus group to review our current commencement ceremonies and to bring the focus back on the students. Currently the schedule for commencement has included some colleges holding their convocations Thursday night and Friday the commencement followed by the remaining college convocations. The focus group has recommended shifting the schedule with the commencement ceremony being held on Thursday night and the convocations on Friday. They believe this will draw more attendance and focus more on the students. It has been proposed that we try this for one year and the students have given their support. With the support of the faculty we will be changing the schedule for the next year and then revisiting the issue after the commencement.
Report from ASUU
Geneva Thompson gave an update on the changes to the ASUU Constitution and the elections of the officials. Reusable utensils are now available through the Reduce, Reuse and Recycle program with the campus food service vendor Chartwells. They cost two dollars and then you save 5% on purchases with Chartwells. Geek Week will be held again finals week this semester.
Debate Calendar
No Items for Debate
Information Calendar
Kevin Perry presented the Interim Rule 6-404B Undergraduate Admission Deferment. Before this Rule was signed by President Pershing, the University did not have any rules or policy on admission deferment. Any student that was accepted to the U and then decided not to begin attending during the semester for they had been admitted would be dropped from the University and would lose all scholarships and/ or financial aid. The admission deferment regulation which is encompassed within this Interim Rule will be incorporated in the revision of the parent Policy 6-404 which will be brought to the Senate for full consideration within the next two months. No recommendations were made and Rule 6-404B was accepted.
The 2012 University Distinguished Teaching Awards were presented. No recommendations were made and the award selections will be forwarded to the Board of Trustees. Bob Flores pointed out that one of the awards for this year is to Carolyn Ownby, who holds a “Lecturer” faculty appointment in the LEAP Program, and explained that this recognition of a LEAP faculty member as a distinguished teacher is only possible because of the decision made by the Senate in 2010, approving University Rule 6-310, which authorized the LEAP Program and four other Interdisciplinary Programs to begin making appointments of Lecturer faculty. The approval of Rule 6-310 was an important step in the University’s improved integration of auxiliary faculty. The current recognition of Prof. Ownby as a distinguished teacher is a testament to the appropriateness of that decision.
A Resolution of Appreciation was presented to Chuck Wight for his service to the University of Utah.
Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 4:17 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Shawnee Worsley