Meeting Minutes
ACADEMIC SENATE MINUTES
May 5, 2008
Call to Order
The regular meeting of the Academic Senate, held on May 5, 2008, was called to order at
3:03 p.m. by Penny Brooke, Senate President. The meeting was held in room 115 C. Roland Christensen Center.
Roll:
David Ailion, Kasi Goodwin (for Erica Anderson), James Anderson, Shmuel Baruch, Margaret Battin, Paul Bernstein, Nicola Kamp, Kuan Chen, John Conboy, Lynette Danley, Marianna DiPaolo, Eric Eddings, Christy Porucznik (for Marlene Egger), Josh Solarez (for Jessica Elder), La Var Harline, Suzanne Darais (for Greg Hatch), Brooke Hopkins, Ali Amundsen (for Tiffany Jack), Randy L. Jensen, Mike Kirby, Thomas Konthly, Karol Kumpfer, Stephane LeBohec, Edward M. Levine, Janet Lindsey, Karl Lins, Janis Louie, Peter Martin, James Metherall, Madsen Thompson (for Katie Miller), Erin O’Connell, Gerardo Okhuysen, Karen Paisley, Lester Partlow, David Pendelll, Patrick Reimherr (for Spencer Pearson), Kevin Perry, David Plumlee, Kathy Pope, R. Lor Randall, Rita Reusch, Donn Schaefer, Leslie Sieburth, Randy Silverman, Bruce Smith, Sandra Smith, Gerald Spangrude, Nancy Staggers, Paul Stout, Michael Timberlake, Andrejs Treibergs, Raymond Tymas-Jones, Sharon M. Weinstein, Mary Youngkin
Excused: Tim Ameel, Kirtly Parker Jones, Richard Lemons, Brad Lundahl, Maria Newton, Robert Wendel, Michael K. Young
Ex-officio: A. Loris Betz, Penny Brooke, Annie Nebeker-Chistensen, James Graves, Nancy Lines, Paul Mogren, Joyce Ogburn, Susan Olson, David W. Pershing
Others: Ann Floor, Robert Flores, Ted Liou, William Lockhart, Stephen Reynolds, Peregrine Schwartz-Shea, Chuck Wight
Special Orders
Penny Brooke expressed thanks to the Personnel and Elections Committee for their effort in selecting faculty for the ballots and called on Jan Robertson, chair of the committee, to conduct the voting for the Senate President-elect and the Senate Executive Committee. Jan explained the process and invited the president-elect candidates, James Anderson and Lester Partlow, to present a brief introduction. Jan then instructed the senators to vote first for the president-elect and then for the Executive Committee. The ballots were collected and will be announced later in the meeting. Jan also reviewed the process for the voting for nine remaining Senate Committees which will be handed in during the meeting.
Approval of Minutes
The minutes of the Academic Senate meeting of April 7, 2008 were approved unanimously following a motion by Mary Youngkin which was seconded by James Anderson.
Request for New Business
There was no new business.
Consent Calendar
The resignations, retirements, faculty appointments, auxiliary, and limited term appointments, appearing in Appendices I, II and III dated April 21 and May 5 received approval to forward to the Board of Trustees following a motion by James Anderson which was seconded by Lester Partlow.
Executive Committee Report
Sandy Smith, Executive Committee Secretary, summarized her written report of the April 21, 2008 Executive Committee meeting.
Report from Administration
Senior Vice President David Pershing thanked the Senate president and the senators for a great year of hard work. He thanked the senators for their effort in attending commencement and also for their support at convocation. He also congratulated the students.
He provided an update on the partnership with Dixie State College. There are currently two graduate degrees being offered through Dixie in nursing and special education. Next year they expect to continue these programs as well as two additional new undergraduate programs in economics and music. There is also interest in offering graduate courses in other areas. They are actively looking for space to create a Graduate Center. During the summer a joint task force steering committee will be recommending a very careful and judicious pace in moving forward.
The vice president announced that the Graduation Guarantee, a program to guarantee students who have signed up for a four to five year path in graduating from the University, will be implemented this fall. The Board of Regents approved the proposal earlier this year and a number of colleges have already signed up to participate.
Report from ASUU
Our newly elected ASUU president, Patrick Reimherr, provided an update on the two initiatives currently under way. The first is Red Pages which will provide students valuable information for campus wide opportunities and services available to them. The second will be the proposed implementation for an on-campus voting site to encourage student voting as well as faculty and staff. One senator congratulated ASUU on bringing voting to the campus. Another senator suggested that ASUU look into the millennial learner program as an adaption to a new way of learning.
Notice of Intent
No notice of intent items.
Debate Calendar
Bill Lockhart, chair of the Academic Policy Advisory Committee, presented an overview of the proposed changes to the Complimentary Books Policy. The new policy was developed to ensure that faculty will not risk being prosecuted for violations of the Utah Public Employees Ethics Act which prohibits employees from accepting gifts that could be used to steer business to the gift givers for personal gain. Approving the new policy would allow faculty to continue to receive complimentary copies of books to keep for their personal use, donate to library services, or discard for recycling. Following an amendment to add “or received as compensation for lawful services rendered” after “personal funds” and change the word “dispose” to “rid themselves”, the proposal received unanimous approval to forward to the Board of Trustees for final approval following a motion from Sharon Weinstein which was seconded by Lynette Danley.
Professor Lockhart also presented the two alternatives for the proposed changes regarding course instructors assigning as required reading any materials authored by the instructors. The policy forbids any faculty member or employee of the University who has authority to assign or recommend materials for courses to receive any personal financial gain. Following a failed vote for acceptance of the second modified version, alternative #1, the original version that was presented at the April Senate meeting which applies only to self-authored course materials assigned in the authors’ own classes, received approval to forward to the Board of Trustees for final approval following a vote of 19 in favor and 16 opposed.
Special Orders: Election Results for 2008-2009 Senate President-elect and Executive Committee:
The Senate elected James Anderson, a faculty member in the College of Humanities, as the Senate president-elect. The following were elected as members of the Academic Senate Executive Committee: Peter W. Alfeld, Tim Ameel, Randy L. Jensen, David M. Kiefer, Karol Kumpfer, Bruce M. Landesman, James E. Metherall, Donn Schaefer, Randy H. Silverman, and Nancy Staggers.
Ballots for the other Senate-elected committees will be counted by the chair of the Personnel and Elections Committee and Nancy Lines during the week and the results will be announced at the first Senate meeting of the fall.
Information Items
Joyce Ogburn, director of Libraries, presented a brief overview of the annual report of the Library Policy Advisory Committee. She reported on the new National Institutes of Health Public Access Policy which requires the deposit of peer-reviewed articles within 12 months of publication of the research. Ms. Ogburn also reviewed policies currently being supported by the committee which include funding for a new position for a Scholarly Communication Librarian, promoting new forms of scholarship, and informing the scholarly community about intellectual property issues and urging their help for classroom support. She also announced that the library will be rededicated in the fall of 2009.
Ted Liou, chair of the Annuities and Salaries Committee, was invited to report on a meeting held with President Young regarding a couple of important issues. The first issue was retirement benefits for Emeritus faculty. Until five years ago the retirement benefits were subsidized by the legislature. The lack of benefits since then creates difficulties in recruitment as well as retirement of current professors due to the high costs in health benefits. The second issue discussed was child care. The committee is co-sponsoring an assessment of the child care needs for all students, faculty, and staff. The last assessment was made in 1990 and the population at the University has increased by nearly 15,000 since then.
Dr. Liou also reported that the committee has also been involved in the Well-U program which will provide a $40 benefit to all who sign up. The committee also looked into the request from the Senate regarding coverage for complimentary medicine. They discovered that the cost for this type of coverage is extremely expensive and only a couple of universities provide coverage for this. Employees can still receive benefits by enrolling in the flex plan.
New Business
There was no new business.
Adjournment:
The meeting adjourned at 5:00 pm.
Respectfully submitted:
Nancy Lines, Secretary to the Faculty