February 5, 2018


Feb 05 2018
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Meeting Minutes

ACADEMIC SENATE February 5, 2018 Call to Order The regular meeting of the Academic Senate, held on February 5, 2018, was called to order at 3:01 pm by Senate President Margaret Clayton. The meeting was held in the Moot Courtroom of the College of Law. Present: Sarah Hinners, Nitin Bakshi, Shmuel Baruch, Annie Fukushima, Alberta Comer, Darryl Butt, James Winkler, Rajeev Balasubramonian, Sudeep Kanungo, Ken Monson, John Regehr, Frank Sachse, James Sutherland, Denny Berry, Laurel Caryn, Michael Chikinda, Melonie Murray, Bo Foreman, Stacy Manwaring, Jim Martin, Susan Naidu, Nelson Roy, Alex Terrill, Katharine Coles, Patricia Hanna, Lauren Liang, Maureen Mathison, Lex Newman, Randy Dryer, Terry Kogan, Luke Leither, Julie BarkmeierKraemer, Pinar BayrakToydemir, Nadia Cobb, Julio Facelli, Per Gesteland, Antoinette Laskey, Nicole L. Mihalopoulos, Kalani Raphael, Brad Rockwell, Amnon Schlegel, Debra Simmons, Thomas Winter, Ravi Chandran, Lauren Clark, Susanna Cohen, Sara Simonsen, Donald Blumenthal, Ann Engar, Tommaso de Fernex, Ilya Zharov, David Goldenberg, Sarah Bush, Dragan Milicic, Jennifer ShumakerParry, Gunseli Berik, Sheila Crowell, Kim Korinek, Sharon Mastracci, Duncan Metcalfe, Kathleen Nicoll, Zhou Yu, Jason Castillo, Mary Beth VogelFerguson, Micah Smith, Valerie Guerrero, Chase Peterson, Emina Tatarevic, Jacob Lopez, Elizabeth Pohl, Carley Herrick, Trevor Annis, Michael Stapley, Abigail Stover, India Kozlowski, Zach Berger Absent: Brenda Scheer, Shundana Yusaf, Robert Allen, Elena Asparouhova, Brian Cadman, Jeff Nielsen, Todd Zenger, Olga Baker, Mark Durham, Leticia Alvarez, John Funk, Chuck Dorval, Hanseup Kim, Winston Kyan, Ning Lu, Eric Hinderaker, Sean Lawson, Tom Lund, John Bramble, Ken Johnson, Shaji Menon, Diego Fernandez, Jessica Wempen, Andrea Bild, Linda Tyler, Joel Brownstein, Dmytro Pesin, Adrienne Cachelin, Baodong Liu, Nicholas Gochnor, Chandler Dean, Melanie Barber, Ailien Luu, Summer Mikkelsen, Kaitlin McLean Ex Officio: Margaret Clayton, Robert Flores, Xan Johnson, Paul Mogren, Tom Richmond, David Pershing, Ruth Watkins Excused with proxy: Gema Guevara, Yekaterina Epshteyn, Pearl Sandick, Korkut Erturk, Nathan Ong Excused: Lorris Betz, Jim Anderson, Anne Lair, Brandon Patterson, Mia Hashibe, Jon Seger, Joanne Yaffe

2 Others: Chris Lewis, Sasha Balk, Doug Bergman, Norm Waitzman, Emily Kam, Emily Beard, Andrew Roberts Approval of Minutes: The minutes dated January 8, 2018 were approved with a motion from Xan Johnson and a second from Patricia Hanna. Consent Calendar: The Consent Calendar dated February 5, 2018 were approved with a motion from Katie Coles and a second from Randy Dryer. Executive Committee Report Tom Richmond gave an update on the activities of the Executive Committee. He noted the tremendous participation of the Senate in the University presidential finalist interviews and feedback process. He also mentioned that Senate leadership is looking for nominations for the Senate presidentelect vacancy for the upcoming academic year. Request for New Business No new business Report from Administration: President Dave Pershing gave an update on the recent activities of the U’s administration. He first introduced Ruth Watkins as the next president of the University of Utah, which was followed by an enthusiastic standing ovation. President Pershing noted the strength of the three finalists, but commended the Board of Trustees for selecting the strongest candidate. The transition will occur on April 2, 2018. SVP Watkins then gave a update on the two SVP searches. Both searches are moving forward. The SVPHS started in late fall; a search firm is working on actively recruiting candidates. Tom Richmond, as presidentelect, is representing the Senate on the search committee. The SVPAA search will be launched on February 6. Bob Fujinami will be one of the representatives of the faculty on that committee. There are approximately 25 people on that search committee. President Pershing mentioned that we recently lost two major supporters of the University, Jon Huntsman, Sr., as well as Ian Cummings, on Friday, February 2. Mr. Huntsman’s memorial service will be Monday at 11 am at the Huntsman Cancer Institute. President Pershing also gave a legislative update he and Dr. Watkins testified in front of the Joint Appropriations Committee recently, and will testify in front of the Infrastructure and General Government Committee this week, in which they will ask permission to build, and bond for, the new freshman residence hall on campus. There are nearly 1,200 bills that the legislature will consider this session; administration is monitoring those that would affect higher education and the U. Report from ASUU Zach Berger gave an update on the recent activities of ASUU. The annual Conference on Diverse Excellence was held on February 2. The keynote speaker was Jesse Williams, and turnout was great. The headliners for the annual concert will be announced shortly. ASUU is also continuing
3 its proposed amendments and changes to the ASUU constitution and bylaws, in an effort to reevaluate the place for ASUU on campus. ASUU elections are March 1215, and faculty are encouraged to remind their students to vote in elections. Notice of Intent No items of intent Debate Calendar Dean Rory Hume presented a proposal for a revision to Policy 5204, with regards to dentistry faculty working in private practice. Policy currently allows dentistry to practice external to the university up to one day per week. However, the policy is now being changed to prohibit faculty from doing so. The change would not limit the rights of faculty to consult externally, but would limit their rights to practice, primarily to just practicing internally within the school’s clinics, (except as otherwise approved by the dean). The change is in pursuit of the longterm interests of the school and would allow the School of Dentistry to build a robust faculty body. This would also align the School of Dentistry with other units in Health Sciences. Motion was made by Katie Coles to approve the proposal and forward to the Board of Trustees. Motion seconded by Nikki Mihalopoulos. Motion passed unanimously. Mike Gardner presented a proposal for a new graduate certificate in Statistics. It would be implemented in three of the five tracks that currently exist in the Masters of Statistics program biostatistics, economics, and educational psychology. Statistics and quantitative skills are highly valued in the workforce. The current master’s degree is intensive; this certificate would be less demanding and would thus reach a wider audience across campus. There is funding to teach additional courses, that would not require the same level of mathematical expertise that the MSTAT courses require. They hope to expand the certificate to other departmental tracks in the future. Motion was made by Pat Hanna to approve the proposal and forward to the Board of Trustees. Motion seconded by Chase Peterson. Motion passed unanimously. Chong Oh presented a proposal for a new minor in Information Systems. There is a large demand for students with IS skills in the job market, particularly locally, in the Silicon Slopes area that is highly concentrated with tech companies. This minor is geared toward School of Business students who wish to expand their IS skills but who do not want to undertake an IS major. It will only be open to students in the School of Business, because the minor requires the base Business core, which is 30 credit hours. Motion was made by Randy Dryer to approve the proposal and forward to the Board of Trustees. Motion seconded by Chase Peterson. Motion passed unanimously. Bob Kessler and Corrinne Lewis presented a proposal for a new minor in Games. Since the Entertainment Arts and Engineering program was started and has been offering an undergraduate major, the program has expanded its capacity and now wishes to offer its courses to students from other departments and majors. This minor is geared toward such students, who might wish to apply game skills to other areas and departments. There are four courses and several electives
4 to allow students to add depth in their desired area. Motion was made by Pat Hanna to approve the proposal and forward to the Board of Trustees. Motion seconded by Maureen Mathison. Motion passed unanimously. Mark Parker presented a proposal for a new BS/MS in Accounting. The Masters of Accounting is a professional program, so most students are also pursuing CPA licensure, which requires a large number of credits. Combining the BS and master’s degree allows more flexibility for students, and allows them to get into graduatelevel courses sooner. The individual degrees still hold the same number of credits, but the joint degree will allow a greater amount of flexibility for students. Motion was made by Xan Johnson to approve the proposal and forward to the Board of Trustees. Motion seconded by Nikki Mihalopoulos. Motion passed unanimously. Information and Recommendations Calendar The following items were presented for the information and recommendations of the Academic Senate: Bob Marquardt gave a presentation on a public education investment initiative entitled Our Schools Now. It will raise funding for public school and higher education. Over the past several years, primarily due to tax cuts, approximately $1.2 billion in education funding has been reduced each year. Additionally, $600 million in state funding that previously went to education now goes to transportation. Furthermore, last year, only 23 percent of Utah students tested as college or careerready. Additionally, less than 50 percent of publiclyeducated students in Utah are proficient in math, reading, or science, at any grade level. More funding would help address these disparities. The campaign has to gather 113,000 signatures to get its initiative on the ballot this fall; they currently have 108,000 signatures. The proposals on the initiative include the following: increasing the state income tax from 5 percent to 5.45 percent, and increasing the state sales tax from 4.7 percent to 5.15 percent (however, this will not affect the food sales tax). This would generate over $28 million in funding for the University of Utah each year. Overall, 15 percent of the funds would go to higher education in Utah. The funding would be distributed to institutions via performance funding, as defined by SB 117, which was passed during the 2017 legislative session. The campaign encourages senators to inform their faculty and student constituents about this project being underway, given that it is of significant interest for higher education in the state. And faculty and students are being encouraged , as private citizens, to: sign the initiative, donate to or volunteer for the campaign, and promote the campaign on social media and by word of mouth. Katie Ullman presented the report of a sevenyear review for the Department of Geography. The department was commended for student satisfaction and high scholarly productivity among faculty. Challenges have been identified, on which the department has begun taking action and making progress. Jeff West presented a proposal to retire Policy 3193, which describes procedures for use of campus orders as a means of payments made between departments. The policy is neither relevant nor timely; it was written in 1981 in the form of a procedure. The
5 wording is now arcane, and with the modernization of all financial transactions procedures across campus, the policy no longer needs to exist. Randy Dryer gave an update on the activities of the Senate Personnel & Elections Committee. There are approximately 123 vacancies on 25 committees that SPEC will work to fill this year. Additionally, SPEC is reviewing three Senate standing committees that have been relatively inactive in recent years; the Senate Advisory Committees on Library Policy, Budget and Planning, and Salaries and Benefits, and similarly reviewing another University committee the Financial Aid and Scholarships Committee. SPEC will make a recommendation, regarding whether these committees should be reorganized, disbanded, etc., to the Senate Executive Committee. Also members of SPEC and the EC will be making presentations to their departments and colleges to engage faculty in committee service. The Faculty Committee Interest Survey (to match interested faculty members with committee vacancies) is now live, and will remain open through March 9. Randy encourages that Senators help in getting the word out and sending the link to the interest survey to faculty in their areas. Tek Kilgore, as chair of the Senate ad hoc Committee on the Tobacco Free Campus Rule 3300A, accompanied by Campus Wellness Officer Robin Marcus, gave an interim report on the activities of the ad hoc Committee. The committee’s charge from the Senate included to consider whether there should be additional surveys to gather campus opinions on the issues, to understand policies at peer institutions and campuses, and specifically to make recommendations for amendments to the tobaccofree policy, including whether to amend it to allow for having tobaccofriendly zones convenient for use of students, faculty, and staff. The committee has held two town hall meetings, including one focused on student feedback and another focused on venues that bring visitors to campus, such as Red Butte Garden, Kingsbury Hall, and others. There is a third meeting scheduled for Wednesday. Fraternity and sorority houses, being private property not within the University campus, are not included in the policy. Other topics discussed include issues of addiction, enforcement, tobaccofriendly zones, signage costs, budgeting for offices, smoking regulations as part of employment contracts, etc. The committee has discussed possibly recommending changing the enforcement methods from those currently in the initial written policysuch as enforcement being planned to be primarily educational, although there is likely to be a fine schedule for egregious violators. There are over 1,600 tobacco or smokefree campuses across the country. Additionally, most medical campuses in Utah are smokefree. Enforcement (by whom and punishment), warnings and fines, and smokingtolerant zones continue to be the most prominent issues in the committee’s discussions. The committee is finalizing its recommendations, which it will present to the EC and Senate this spring. The final implementation date in the current version of the policy is scheduled for July 1, 2018. Universitycontrolled properties in Research Park and other Universitycontrolled sites which are off the main campus are currently included in the policy to be tobaccofree as well, and signs will designate which spaces prohibit tobacco. The policy includes ecigarette use. The policy will also include a map of the university, which will explicitly show the boundaries of the policy, as well as any tobaccofriendly zones that may be
6 included in the policy. The committee has begun to address the issue of smoking in private personal vehicles. Discussion revealed that there are differences of opinion on whether the current version of the policy is or is not intended to ban smoking in such private personal vehicles while parked or operating within the campus (i.e., the current policy may be unclear on that crucial pointso that revision for clarification would be needed), and differences of opinion on whether or not such vehicles should be included as part of a general ban on outdoor smoking on campus. The membership of the Senate ad hoc Committee on Centers, Institutes, and Bureaus, as approved by the Senate Executive Committee, was brought forward with no objection. The December University President’s Report was brought forward with no objection. New Business No new business Open Discussion The following remarks were made during the Open Discussion portion of the meeting. Jim Martin, Health Jim has been in contact with Alma Allred regarding his question about parking costs (an issue raised at the January meeting). Alma responded that Commuter Services (in charge of parking) cannot receive tax appropriations or tuition funds, and must thus be selfsufficient, which explains the high, and increasing, cost of parking on campus. Adjournment Meeting adjourned at 4:44 pm. Respectfully submitted, Maddy Oritt