Meeting Minutes
ACADEMIC SENATE MINUTES
December 5, 2011
Call to Order
The regular meeting of the Academic Senate held on December 5, 2011, was called to order at 3:05 p.m. by Patricia Hanna, Senate President. The meeting was held in room 1150 Marriot Library.
Roll:
Senators: Stephen Alder, Bob Allen, Lisa Aspinwall, Alexander M. Balk, Joanna Bettmann, George Cassiday, Tully Cathey, Kathy Chapman, Kuan Chen, Margaret (Mardie) Clayton, Ronald Coleman,
Kevin DeLuca, Tina Diekmann, Lee Dibble, Marianna Di Paolo, Richard Ernst, Leslie Francis, Sabine Fuhrmann, Bruce Gale, Michael Gardner, Timothy Garrett, William M. Gershan, Franz Goller, Michael Goodman, Joan Gregory, Thad Hall, Rachel Hayes-Harb, Martin Horvath, Howard Horwitz, Eric Hutton, Thunder Jalili, William (Bill) Johnson, Maureen Keefe, Todd Kramer, Sharee Lane, Stephen Lessnick, Anthea Letsou, Karl Lins, Kim Martinez, Teri J. Mauch, Heather Melton, Duncan Metcalf, Joseph Metz, Allyson Mower, Dragan Milicic, Patricia Murphy, Chris Myers, Rachel Nardo, Chris Pantelides, Chris Peterson, Martin Rechsteiner, Sean Redmond, Alison Regan, Andrea Rorrer, Gary Rose, Sonia Salari,
Janet Shaw, Clough Shelton, Gregory Smoak, Jeff Stratman, Orest Symko, Brenda Vanderwiel, David Viskochil, Norm Waitzman, Margaret Wan, Angela Yetman
Student Senators: Emma Atkinson, Elle Barker, Andrew Black, Doug Chan, Will Hoang, Jillian Jensen, Grace Ku, Heather McElroy, Sara Nassof, Cory J. Nelson, Neela Pack, Eleni Schenk, Taylor Thompson, Jeffery Van Hulten, Molly Wheeler
Ex-officio: Robert Flores, Robert Fujinami, Patricia Hanna, Paul Mogren, James Metherall, Dave Pershing, Amy Wildermuth, Shawnee Worsley
Others: Kurt Hegmann, Daniel Lofgren, Richard Sperry, Kevin Taylor, Chuck Wight
Excused: Vivian S. Lee, David W. Pershing
Absent without Proxy: Amanda Barusch, Reaz Chaudhuri, Richard Dorsky, Richard Forster, Gary Grikscheit, Charles Grissom, Bradley J. Katz, Evert Lawton, Anne Mooney, Arthur C. (Chris) Nelson, Lester Partlow, David Rudd, Li Wang
Approval of Minutes
The minutes of the Academic Senate meeting on November 7, 2011, were approved following a motion from Sonia Salari which was seconded by Todd Kramer.
Request for New Business
No New Business
Consent Calendar
The resignations retirements, faculty appointments, auxiliary and limited term appointments, appearing in the Appendices dated December 5, 2011, received approval to forward to the Board of Trustees as moved by Stephen Alder and seconded by Mardie Clayton.
The Recommendations for the 2012 University Distinguished Teaching Awards was accepted to be forwarded to the Board of Trustees.
Executive Committee Report
Robert Fujinami, Executive Committee Secretary, provided a summary of the Executive Committee meetings held on November 21, 2011
Report from Administration
Interim President Betz represented the University at a White House event sponsored by the Department of Energy and the Executive Branch called the Better Buildings Challenge held on December 2, 2011. The program goal is to reduce energy consumption by 20 percent by 2020. The university has been involved in these types of projects for several years and has spent $1.2 million in renovation projects in the last three years. The result has been $800,000 plus in energy savings which will be passed on to future projects. Dr. Betz noted the good work of Dean Brenda Scheer and her colleagues in the College of Architecture, and their goal of retrofitting the College of Architecture + Planning building into a Net Zero building.
Dr. Betz reported the Board of Regents recently updated the policy on post-tenure review. The University’s current policy is in compliance with this; consequently, we do not anticipate any immediate or drastic changes to our policy.
Recent news reports show that the U’s six-year graduation success rate is lower than the average of the other Pac-12 schools. Dr. Betz believes that this is due to the lack of qualifications and preparation of incoming students. In conjunction with other institutions, the University is taking steps to correct this. In addition, the University is working to ensure that qualified students are able to attend the U. Part of this effort has been to increase the number of scholarships available to student; this has been a priority for the capital campaign, which is now in its sixth year. More than $120 million in new scholarships funds have been raised during this time.
Report from ASUU
Neela Pack, ASUU President, reported to the Senate on the development of Geek Week. Geek week will occur during the week of finals with the Marriott Library being open 24/7. Students will receive parking validations, notepads, food, and other items to help support them in making it through final exams.
Notice of Intent
No Items
Debate Calendar
Dr. Kurt Hegmann presented the proposal for a trans-disciplinary Ph.D. degree in Occupational and Environmental Health (OEH). The new degree completes a complement of graduate degrees in OEH at the U. It also meets significant market demands for which there are no alternatives in Utah or elsewhere in the inter-mountain west. Three areas of emphasis include: Industrial Hygiene; Occupational Injury Prevention; and General Occupational and Environmental Health. A motion from Norm Waitzman to approve the proposal was seconded by Thad Hall and unanimously passed.
Kevin Taylor presented the proposed Revision 3 of University Policy 4-004 (U of U Information Security Policy). This proposal makes the policy more specific to implement a sound information security program that will apply to all staff, faculty, students and other affiliated with the U. The revisions reflect changes in information security requirements and the University’s adoption of the Information Technology Council of the ISO 27002 standards. These standards are considered international best practices for information security and have been mapped with U.S. Standards. A motion from Rachel Nardo to approve was seconded by Stephen Alder and unanimously passed.
Information Calendar
Jason Perry, vice president for government affairs, presented information on the University’s priorities for the January 2012 legislative session. Topping the list is a request for $50 million to replace critically failing electrical and high temperature water systems on campus. There is solid support for this request from the trustees, regents, Utah State System of Higher Education, and the Utah State Building Board, all of whom consider it their No. 1 priority. If the funding is granted, the U will use the $50 million to bond for an additional $49 million (to be requested in 2013) which will be needed to complete the entire $99 million project.
A few years ago, the U lost $10 million in federal funding for medical school students that was replaced by neither the Legislature nor the University, so the difficult decision was made to cut the medical school student class size by 20 to 82. The University is requesting $9.6 million in ongoing funding to restore the 20 seats back and add 20 more on top of that which is the optimal number according to Vivian Lee, vice president for health sciences. The Legislature considers restoring the class size a return on investment so the University is optimistic that the request will be successful.
The University is meeting with the Utah State Building Board about approvals for new buildings for a dental school and for the College of Law. These would be non state-funded projects, but the state would be asked to help with operation and maintenance (O&M) costs. The law school currently has $60 million in place. A donor for the dental school has given the entire amount and has also agreed to cover the O&M costs, so there would be no costs to the state for this building. Two locations are being considered—one in Research Park and one near the University Hospital.
Talking points on these priorities are available from the Office of Government Affairs. Contact Natalie Tippits at 801-581-8514 or send email to natalie.tippits@utah.edu
Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 4:10 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Shawnee Worsley