Meeting Minutes
ACADEMIC SENATE MINUTES
February 7, 2011
Call to Order
The regular meeting of the Academic Senate was called to order at 3:04 p.m. by James E. Metherall, Senate President. The meeting was held in room 115 C. Roland Christensen Center.
Roll:
Senators: Stephen Alder, Peter Alfeld, Bob Allen, James Anderson, Lisa Aspinwall, Amanda Barusch, Tami Beck, Joanna Bettmann, David J. Bjorkman, David Blair, Kumi Boike, Francis H. Brown, Craig Caldwell, Steve Carson, Doug Cartwright, Reaz Chaudhuri, Kuan Chen, Vincent Cheng, Ronald Coleman, Suzanne Darais, Larry DeVries, Lee Dibble, Richard Dorsky, Nadja Durbach, Bethany Buck-Koehntop for Richard Ernst, Jaimee Farrer, Leslie Francis, Robert Fujinami, Bruce Gale, Timothy Garrett, Gwyndolynn Gentry, Michael Goodman, Chuck Grissom, Max Hanna, Sandra Hasstedt, Henryk Hecht, Vladimir Hlady, Lauren Holland, Howard Horwitz, Tom Huckin, Eric Hutton, Chase Jardine, Keith Keddington, Wen Kuo, Sharee Lane, Stephen Lessnick, Anthea Letsou, Joelle Lien, Karl Lins, Kim Martinez, Teri Mauch, Joseph Metz, William Michel, Ann Mooney, Ryan Morrison, Allyson Mower, Chris Myers, Rachel Nardo, Chris Nelson, Chad Nielsen, Lester Partlow, Chris Peterson, Alison Regan, Grace Ku for Kristina Rodriguez, Sasha Bordell for Sara Schneider, Janet Shaw, James Sibthorp, Joseph Sin, Paula Smith, Sandy Smith, Randall Stewart, Jeff Stratman, Orest Symko, David Viskochil, Norm Waitzman, Bryce Williams, Angela Yetman
Ex-officio: Robert Flores, John Francis, Pat Hanna, Nancy Lines, James Metherall, Paul Mogren, Susan Olson, David W. Pershing, Chuck Wight
Others: Ann Floor, Jeff West, Jim Haisley, Kevin Hansen
Excused: Sara Schneider, Richard Ernst, Kristina Rodriguez
Excused without proxy: Kristina Diekmann, Kathryn Morton, Andrea Rorrer
Absent without proxy: Richard Barton, John Bowman, George Cassiday, Breanne Chipman, Margaret Clayton, Eva Comollo, Sean Erickson, Richard Forster, Martin Horvath, John Metcalf, Martin Rechsteiner, Steve Reynolds, Nelson Roy, Sonia Salari, Jeremy Sanchez, Neil Vickers Chase Winder
Approval of Minutes
The minutes of the Academic Senate meeting on January 10, 2011, were approved following a motion from Jim Anderson which was seconded by Steve Alder.
Request for New Business
There was no request for new business.
Consent Calendar
Resignations, retirements, faculty appointments, auxiliary, and limited term appointments, appearing in the Appendices dated January 24 and February 7, 2011, and the received approval to forward to the Board of Trustees as proposed by Larry DeVries and seconded by Jim Anderson. Also included is the appointment of Professor Douglas Hacker, Department of Educational Psychology, for the John R. Park Teaching Fellowship. Dr. Hacker will be teaching at Dién College in Tseile, New Mexico.
Executive Committee Report
Pat Hanna, Executive Committee Secretary, summarized her written report of the January 24, 2011, Executive Committee meeting.
Report from Administration
Senior Vice President David Pershing reported that we are in the middle of the Legislative Session and they passed a seven percent (7%) budget cut for Higher Education and State agencies. The Governor feels that by mid-February some back-fill revenues may be available to help defray a good portion of the cut. The Senior Vice President noted that President Young presented the University’s case to the Legislature last Thursday and informed the legislators that the University is a very good deal as it has the lowest costs in terms of what the tax payers pay for undergraduate education in the State of Utah, which prompts tuition to be higher. The President also informed the legislators that the U awards the most undergraduate degrees as well as graduate degrees in the State. It was also reported that the economic impact for the state is approximately $100 million while the U’s budget is about $200 million.
The senior vice president is cautiously optimistic regarding Capital Facilities Infrastructure budget request which is needed to replace pipes and electrical.
Senior Vice President Pershing reiterated the announcement of our Commencement speaker, Mitch Albom, well known author and story teller. He noted they are planning to cut down the length of the commencement exercise.
SVP Pershing congratulated the department eliminating two unnecessary degrees and requested that all look at their home department’s programs, certificates, and degrees to see if any are obsolete and can be discontinued. He recognized that this would be the third year with no raises and said that it will not work as ‘hot properties’ are too valuable to lose. Plans are underway to find other sources to address the issue and will depend on the amount of the cut.
Report from ASUU
Chase Jardine, ASUU President, reported that they have worked all year on the Career Advantage, a program of students helping other students. He showed a short video where three students studying in different areas provided their witness for the importance of education at the U. The ASUU goal is to help as many students as they can. Their website has about a dozen more witnesses offering the same encouragement.
Notice of Intent
Jim Metherall explained the new cover sheet which will be used in all proposals requesting policy changes. He acknowledged Bob Flores for designing the cover page and requested that he give a short explanation of the purpose for the cover page. Professor Flores said that is was essentially a check list designed to provide a better understanding for the proposed changes and to confirm that the proposal has gone through the proper channels before coming to the Senate as required by the Institutional Policy Committee.
Jeff West, Associate Vice President for Financial and Business Services, explained the proposed revisions to Policy 3-111 addressing Independent Consultant/Contractor Professional Services Agreements. This policy revision resulted from an internal audit. The revised policy is more clear and descriptive. Jim Haisley from the Office of General Council commented that any questions regarding the policy should contact the Procurement Office or the Office of General Council. A motion to forward to the Debate calendar was made by Jim Anderson, seconded Bob Fujinami and was approved with one opposition.
Debate Calendar
As there was no further debate on the proposed Policy 3-111, Jim Anderson motioned to approve and forward to the Board of Trustees for final approval which was seconded by Dean Frank Brown and approved unanimously.
Information Calendar
The Information Calendar contained the approval of new rule 3-030C re Travel Per Diem and Mr. West commented that the reason for the new rule and advised all to document all transactions and practice the honor system. New Rule 3-110A for Equipment Leasing was put in place to encourage the purchase of equipment rather than leasing equipment which is very costly. With both of these rules now in place the University could annually save nearly $400,000 dollars.
The Combined Emphases with in the School of Computing and the Department of Film and Media Arts in Game Engineering, Game Production and Game Arts has also been approved
New Business
There was no new business
Adjournment:
The meeting adjourned at 3:43 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Nancy Lines