Meeting Minutes
ACADEMIC SENATE MINUTES
October 2, 2006
The regular meeting of the Academic Senate, held on October 2, 2006 was called to order at 3:02 p.m. by Kirtly Jones, Senate President. The meeting was held in room 115 C. Roland Christensen Center.
Roll:
Kirtly Jones (Senate President), Anish Abu-Ramaileh, Stephen Alder, Margaret Battin, Cynthia Berg, Martha Bradley, Richard Brown, Carrie Byington, Lyle Campbell, Ben DeFiebre, David Derezotes, Gary Ellis, Gene Fitzgerald, Luiza Franca, Leslie Francis, Michael Free, Shadie Ghaibi, Andrea Goldstein, Jessica Griffith, Ray Gunn, Douglas Hacker, LaVar Harline, David Hillyard, Jan Hobson, Brooke Hopkins, Michelle Hosp, Paul Hu, Russ Isabella, Charles Jui, Mike Kirby, Kacee Kniazeva, Thomas Kontuly, Lynette Land, Janet Lindsley, Karl Lins, Zehg-Rong Lu, Daniel Medwed, Erin Miedema, Lex Newman, Erin O’Connell, Karen Paisley, Lester Partlow, Brian Patrick, Clay Perkins, Kathy Pope, Paul Roberts, Edward Rubin, Sarah Shippobotham, Barry Schultz, Maged Senbel, Mikhail Skliar, Bruce Smith, Sandra Smith, Gerald Spangrude, Nancy Staggers, Paul Stout, Michael Timerlake, Peter Trapa, Raymond Tymas-Jones, David Vergobbi, Sharon Weinstein, Robert Wendel, Gage Williams, Joanne Yaffe, Mary Youngkin
Excused: Gary Grikscheit, Howard Lehman, Gerardo Okhuysen, Karen Paisley
Ex-officio: Penny Brooke, Fred Esplin, Robert Flores, John Francis, James Graves, Nancy Lines, Paul Mogren, Susan Olson, David Pershing, Brenda Scheer, Michael K. Young
Proxies: Ann Marie Breznay, Khan Chaichara, Larry DeVries, Stephan LeBohec, Nicola Longo, Alice Schmid, Floyd Shiery
Others: Coralie Alder, Robert Allen, David Dynak, Ann Floor, Chris Hill, Eric Hinderaker, Chris Ireland, Gary Levy, William Moore, Diana, Pounder, Don Wardell
Minutes:
The minutes of August 28, 2006 were unanimously approved.
Consent Calendar:
The resignations, retirements, faculty appointments, auxiliary, and limited term appointments, appearing in Appendices I, September 18, 2006 and October 2, 2006, received unanimous approval to forward to the Board of Trustees.
Executive Committee Report
Joanne Yaffe presented the president’s report from the Executive Committee.
Report from Administration
President Young gave a recap of the current construction projects that are underway:
- The Warnock Engineering Building is scheduled for completion in December.
- The David Grant NMR Building ribbon-cutting was held last month and will take two years to move in all of the equipment.
- The Carolyn Tanner Irish Humanities Building site ground breaking was held a few weeks ago.
- The Sutton Geosciences Building is under construction and will affect traffic around the Park Building for the next two years.
- The Hospital expansion is underway.
- The Marriott Library renovation continues on schedule.
President Young discussed the Utah Supreme Court’s 4 – 1 decision and reviewed the history of the issue and a brief synopsis of the reasons behind the law suit. President Young is hopeful that a favorable solution will be worked out with legislative leaders that would retain their claim on regulatory power while permitting the university to ensure safety on campus. The university and the attorney general have asked for a stay the federal case until March 28, which has been granted. President Young reminded the senators that the university’s gun policy has always applied only to faculty, staff and students and not to visitors. A brochure listing a variety of resources on campus is available from the Counseling Center and from the Office of the Dean of Students. President Young also reconfirmed the administration’s unwavering support for anyone who feels threatened or intimidated in any way on campus. He pointed out that security services are available for disciplinary hearings and other times where one feels the parties involved are at risk for violence.
Report from ASUU:
Shadie Ghaibi, student senate chair, provided updates on the ASUU programming events during the past few weeks. Their goal of providing a sense of community among students on campus was met with RedFest, Homecoming activities, including a dance in the Fine Arts College, SongFest, and a collaborative event with the Alumni Association. The number one request from students is to know what is going on around campus. ASUU has signed up over 1,000 new students for U-Life, an informational website managed by ASUU. Faculty were invited to sign up as well as students on the website, www.asuu.utah.edu/ulife/subscribe.php. The student recreation center is one of the main objectives for this year as well as a new traditional event that will be held in March; Rock the U, which is a dance contest with proceeds going to Huntsman Cancer Institute.
Information Calendar:
- Information items accepted unanimously by the Senate included the Graduate Council reviews of the Department of Marketing; the School of Accounting and Information Systems; the Department of Finance; and the Department of Management all from the David Eccles School of Business. In addition, the Graduate Council’s review of the Department of Medicinal Chemistry was unanimously accepted.
- An updated charter for the College of Fine Arts was presented as an information item and no acceptance or vote was necessary.
- A proposal to create a Teacher Leadership Emphasis within M.Ed. Program within the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy was submitted as an information item as it had already been approved by the Board of Regents.
- The Annual Report of the Athletics Advisory Council was presented as an information item. Chris Hill and Eric Hinderaker responded to questions about the budget deficit. Hill explained that the newly signed contracts will bring in more revenue to offset last year’s deficit.
Hill informed the Senate of their Life Skills program and its importance in the athletic program and encouraged anyone with questions about athletic issues, including behavior by coaches and athletes, to contact the Athletic Advisory Council, Larry Gerlach, Eric Hinderaker or himself.
New Business:
Brenda Scheer requested that the issue of the university’s certificate and specialization programs with a focus on how they are represented on transcripts, how they are managed, and how they are dealt with by the registrar be an agenda item on the next Senate meeting. Senators reaffirmed their interest in reviewing the policy.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:23 p.m.