Meeting Minutes
ACADEMIC SENATE MINUTES
January 9, 2017
Call to Order
The regular meeting of the Academic Senate, held on January 9, 2017, was called to order at
3:02 pm by Xan Johnson, Senate President. The meeting was held in the Health Sciences
Education Building, room 1750.
Present: Shundana Yusaf, Sarah Hinners, Robert Allen, Elena Asparouhova, Brian Cadman,
Todd Zenger, Dianne Harris, Alberta Comer, Olga Baker, Yongmei Ni, John Funk, Rajeev
Balasubramonian, Chuck Dorval, Hanseup Kim, Ken Monson, Denny Berry, Michael Chikinda,
Melonie Murray, Stacy Manwaring, Jim Martin, Susan Naidu, Nelson Roy, Les Podlog, James
Anderson, Disa Gambera, Eric Hinderaker, Lex Newman, David Hill, Terry Kogan, Tom Lund,
John Bramble, Alicia Brillon, Luke Leither, Julie Barkmeier–Kraemer, Nadia Cobb, Julio Facelli,
Per Gesteland, Mia Hashibe, Antoinette Laskey, Nicole L. Mihalopoulos, Maureen A. Murtaugh,
Ravi Ranjan, Brad Rockwell, Robert A. Stephenson, Thomas Winter, Ravi Chandran, Paul
Jewell, Sara Simonsen, Lynn Hollister, Andrea Bild, Donald Blumenthal, Randy Dryer, Joel
Brownstein, Tommaso de Fernex, David Goldenberg, Dmytro Pesin, Thomas Richmond, Pearl
Sandick, Michael Shapiro, Jennifer Shumaker–Parry, Andrejs Treibergs, Wade Cole, Thomas
Cova, Korkut Erturk, Duncan Metcalfe, Paul White, Zhou Yu, Jason Castillo, Mary Beth Vogel–
Ferguson, Joanne Yaffe, Lauren Adams, Caroline Li, Ashley Wilcox, Robert Coffman, Rachel
Petersen, Carley Herrick, Sabrina Hancock, Jake Knight, Kyndle Pardun, Connor Roach, Jack
Bender, Kevin Yang
Absent: Brenda Scheer, Adam Meirowitz, Jeff Nielsen, David Plumlee, Mark Durham, Xiaoyue
Liu, Michael Cottle, Ning Lu, Joe Marotta, Julie Metos, Karin Baumgartner, Nadja Durbach,
Avery Holton, Adrian Palmer, Katherine Kendall, John T. Langell, Frederick Strathmann, David
Dinter, Lauren Clark, John Sperry, Adrienne Cachelin, Baodong Liu, Edmund Fong, Zach
Zundel, Zach Marquez, Edwin Lin, Caleb Hoffman, Jake Tschirhart, Anthony Minjarez
Ex–Officio: Bill Johnson, Bob Flores, Xan Johnson, Paul Mogren, Margaret Clayton, David
Pershing
Excused with proxy: Edward Trujillo, Linda Tyler, Yekaterina Epshtyn, Lina Svedin, Madison
Day
Excused: Leticia Alvarez, Mathieu Francoeur, Sudeep Kanungo, Vivian Lee, Ruth Watkins,
Sean Lawson
Others: Steve Ott, Karen Gunning, Henryk Hecht, Joshlyn Resek
Approval of Minutes
The minutes for December were approved with a motion by Jim Anderson. Motion passed
unanimously.
The current list of appointments and resignations dated January 6, 2017 were approved with a
motion by Jim Anderson and second by [unclear]. Motion passed unanimously.
Executive Committee Report
Mardie Clayton said that everything seen by the Executive Committee in its previous meeting
would be seen by the Senate today.
Request for New Business
No new business
Report from Administration
President Pershing gave a report regarding the university administration’s recent activities.
Administration is currently preparing for the upcoming legislative session, which will begin at
the end of January. Senator Evan Vickers is the new Senate co–chair of the Higher Education
Appropriations Committee, and he will continue to collaborate with Rep. Keith Grover on issues
affecting higher education in Utah. Support for compensation increases is the U’s top request,
followed by programmatic money based on market demand, and growth. The U is also looking
for a commitment for $50 million for the new Medical Education building. Other items of note
include that January 24 is the groundbreaking for the new Executive Education building;
additionally, this year’s commencement speaker will be announced on January 10– he is a
graduate of the U and is known in the world of extreme sports.
Report from ASUU
Jack Bender gave a report on ASUU’s activities. ASUU is working on several policy changes for
both ASUU and the university.
Notice of Intent
General Counsel Liz Winter presented the realignment and revisions of policies regarding
discrimination and sexual misconduct. Liz noted that the current process is cumbersome for
someone accused of or accusing another of sexual harassment. The goal of these changes is to
streamline the process and help individuals to navigate the system. Additionally, there have been
two interim rules in place but never formally ratified as policy. In this proposal the interim rules
have been incorporated and the policies have been realigned. Faculty members accused of sexual
misconduct will go through the standard Consolidated Hearing Committee process that is in
place for other faculty complaints. Other changes are due to the need to comply with Title IX
rules, including giving the complainant the same right to appeal as the respondent. Working
groups with representation from much of campus worked on these modifications and
improvements. There was much discussion, primarily about the quandary faced by a faculty
member when a student who has been a victim of sexual misconduct wants to confide in and
seek advice from the faculty member. It was explained that the university rule, as mandated by
federal regulations, requires that faculty member to report the information to the OEO/AA even
if the student asks the faculty member not to share the information with anyone. It was advised
that in such circumstances, a faculty member should give advance warning to a student
explaining that such information disclosed to the faculty member must be reported. Motion was
made by Steve Ott to move this item from the Intent Calendar to the Debate Calendar, rather
seconded by Joanne Yaffe. Discussion followed about whether senators should have the next
month to confer with their constituents and gather input before voting on such an important
proposal. It was mentioned that it would be useful to have the proposal approved quickly
because federal auditors are arriving soon to investigate the university’s process for sexual
misconduct complaints. Motion passed with more than 2/3 majority. Motion was made by Joanne
Yaffe to approve the proposal. Motion seconded by Jim Anderson. Motion passed with one
abstention.
Patricia Hanna, Hank Liese, and Amy Wildermuth presented a preview of revisions to the policy
governing the tenured faculty review process. The TFR policy is moving out of Policy 6–303,
and a new policy will be created to make it clear that the tenured faculty review is not the same
process as the tenure review. The new policy will also create an orderly appeal process if the
initial review conclusions are disputed by the department or the individual. The Senate Faculty
Standards Review Committee will develop a template for tenured faculty review criteria and
standards that departments may use to formulate their own standards and criteria. The template
will promote clarity. The impetus for the revisions was the extremely slow nature of the passage
of standards. The template will allow departments to move more efficiently on these matters.
There was a question about the responsibility of the department committee to make the
recommendation regarding the status of the faculty member following the review; this will be
clarified in the new policy proposal before it is brought back on the Debate Calendar next month.
Debate Calendar
Barb Wilson and Pam Hardin presented two separate but related proposals. First—a proposal for
a new emphasis in nursing organizational leadership for the Doctorate of Nursing Practice (DNP)
program, and second— a proposal for a new graduate certificate in nursing organizational
leadership. Nurse leaders want a program that will better prepare them for complex healthcare
environments, and help them navigate nursing leadership within healthcare organizations. The
programs focus on systems–level approaches, finance and budgeting, and management skills. The
certificate is a post–graduate certificate and will require four core courses along with one
elective, selected from a large list, such as managerial negotiation, marketing, IT risk and
controls, data analysis and decision making.
Motion was made by Joanne Yaffe to approve the proposal for the new emphasis and forward to
the Board of Trustees. Motion seconded by Paul White. Motion passed unanimously. Motion was
made by Joanne Yaffe to approve the proposal for the new graduate certificate and forward to
the Board of Trustees. Motion seconded by Jim Anderson. Motion passed unanimously.
Gianluca Lazzi, Rich Brown, and Todd Zenger presented a proposal for a new graduate
certificate in engineering entrepreneurship. Engineering students desire more business education
to improve their success in start–up company development. Several other elite schools have
developed similar programs. Student interest is already strong, and courses are filling. The
program is a joint venture between the School of Business and the College of Engineering. There
are five required courses for the certificate. Motion was made by Joanne Yaffe to approve the
proposal and forward to the Board of Trustees. Motion seconded by Nikki Mihalopoulos. Motion
passed unanimously.
history. Public history is a growing subset of the field of history, and is in line with both
departmental and college goals for their growth and development. The College of Humanities
recently underwent a strategic planning process, and a graduate certificate in public history
emerged as a priority for the college and the department of History. Motion was made by Joanne
Yaffe to approve the proposal and forward to the Board of Trustees. Motion seconded by Paul
White. Motion passed unanimously.
Information and Recommendations Calendar
The following items were presented for the information and recommendations of the Academic
Senate:
Bob Flores discussed the renaming of the new Master of Software Development degree,
explaining that the overall proposal for the new degree was previously passed by the
Senate with a slightly different name the Master of Software Engineering degree. Then
concerns about that name of the program were raised at the state Board of Regents level.
To resolve those concerns, the name is being changed Thus, this proposal is identical to
the previously approved proposal, with the exception of the name of the degree program.
Because there was some urgency in completing the change of name, the renaming was
approved on behalf of the Academic Senate by the Executive Committee last month.
Unanimously ratified by the Academic Senate today
New Business
No new business
Adjournment
Meeting adjourned at 4:21 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Maddy Oritt