Meeting Minutes
ACADEMIC SENATE MINUTES
October 31, 2016
Call to Order
The regular meeting of the Academic Senate, held on October 31, 2016, was called to order at 3:05 pm by Xan Johnson, Senate President. The meeting was held in the Carolyn Tanner Irish Humanities Building, room 109.
Present: Sarah Hinners, Robert Allen, Brian Cadman, Adam Meirowitz, Dianne Harris, Alberta Comer, Mark Durham, Rajeev Balasubramonian, Chuck Dorval, Mathieu Francoeur, Hanseup Kim, Xiaoyue Liu, Ken Monson, Edward M. Trujillo, Denny Berry, Joe Marotta, Melonie Murray, Stacy Manwaring, Jim Martin, Susan Naidu, Nelson Roy, Les Podlog, James Anderson, Karin Baumgartner, Disa Gambera, Eric Hinderaker, Lex Newman, Adrian Palmer, Tom Lund, John Bramble, Alicia Brillon, Julie Barkmeier-Kraemer, Nadia Cobb, 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, Lauren Clark, Lynn Hollister , Andrea Bild, Donald Blumenthal, Randy Dryer, Joel Brownstein, Tommaso de Fernex, Yekaterina Epshten, Dmytro Pesin, Thomas Richmond, Pearl Sandick, John Sperry, Andrejs Treibergs, Adrienne Cachelin, Wade Cole, Duncan Metcalfe, Paul White, Zhou Yu, Edmund Fong, Mary Beth Vogel-Ferguson, Joanne Yaffe, Caroline Li, Ashley Wilcox, Zach Zundel, Zach Marquez, Rachel Petersen, Carley Herrick, Edwin Lin, Sabrina Hancock, Jake Knight, Kyndle Pardun, Connor Roach, Jack Bender, Franco Jin
Absent: Shundana Yusaf, Brenda Scheer, Elena Asparouhova, Jeff Nielsen, David Plumlee, Todd Zenger, Olga Baker, Yongmei Ni, John Funk, Michael Cottle, Ning Lu, Nadja Durbach, Avery Holton, Sean Lawson, David Hill, Terry Kogan, Luke Leither, Julio Facelli, Katherine Kendall, John T. Langell, Frederick Strathmann, David Dinter, Linda Tyler, Michael Shapiro, Jennifer Shumaker-Parry, Thomas Cova, Korkut Erturk, Baodong Liu, Lauren Adams, Madison Day, Skyler Walker, Caleb Hoffman, Jake Tschirhart, Anthony Minjarez
Ex-Officio: Dave Pershing, Ruth Watkins, Xan Johnson, Mardie Clayton, Bill Johnson, Paul Mogren, Bob Flores, Amy Wildermuth, Bob Fujinami
Excused with proxy: Julie Metos, Sara Simonsen, David Goldenberg, Lina Svedin, Jason Castillo
Excused: Leticia Alvarez, Sudeep Kanungo, Michael Chikinda, Vivian Lee, Carrie Byington
Others: Allison Riederer, Heather Sobko, David Carrier, Steve Ott, Tasha Keyes
Approval of Minutes
The minutes for September were approved with a motion by Joanne Yaffe. Motion passed unanimously.
Consent Calendar
The current list of appointments and resignations dated October 31, 2016 were approved with a motion by Joanne Yaffe and second by Paul White. Motion passed unanimously.
Executive Committee Report
Mardie Clayton gave a brief update on the Executive Committee’s activities. She discussed the recent PAC-12 Academic Leadership Coalition meeting that Senate leadership attended. It was a great opportunity to share best practices and learn what issues other peer institutions are facing and how they are approaching them. The U will now be the hub of the organization, with Bill Johnson serving as president and Maddy Oritt serving as executive director.
Request for New Business
No new business
Report from Administration
President Dave Pershing gave an update on the administration’s activities. He noted the recent groundbreaking for the new Carolyn and Kem Gardner Hall, which will replace the OSH building. It will be the new home for the College of Social & Behavioral Science, as well as a new dining facility, the Hinckley Institute of Politics, and a new welcome center for the university. It will help recruit students and be a new core classroom building for campus. He encouraged all faculty and students to vote on Election Day. There will now be on-campus voting sites. Dr. Pershing has become the PAC-12 representative to the NCAA Presidential Forum. He recently traveled to Minneapolis for a meeting; the presidents are working on understanding and defining what a student-athlete’s experience on a university campus should be. They met with athletes from schools across the country, and discussed what is valuable to them as part of their university experience, outside of just athletics.
Report from ASUU
Jack Bender gave an update on ASUU activities. The It’s On Us campaign, spearheaded by President Obama and Vice President Biden as a way to end campus sexual assault, was successful. There were tables at both entrances to the Marriott Library where students could pledge to take responsibility for ending campus sexual assault. As President Pershing noted, the U will have on-campus voting stations this Election Day. The U is also working with TurboVote and competing with other universities across the state for the highest voter turnout rate. Finally, Jack noted that the Get Campus Lit campaign has been successful; there were 99 responses to the survey where faculty and students identified areas with dim lighting or lights out on campus. This Wednesday, November 2, will be the Night Walk, during which students and representatives from Facilities will walk around campus to find more spots that are dim or dark.
Notice of Intent
No Items of Intent
Debate Calendar
Sheryl Scott presented a proposal for the discontinuation of the MPhil degree in Neurobiology & Anatomy. The program only accepts doctoral students. It is cumbersome and redundant to have both the MPhil and MS degree. Faculty within the department voted unanimously to discontinue this degree. Motion was made by Randy Dryer to approve the proposal and forward to the Board of Trustees. Motion seconded by Joanne Yaffe. Motion passed unanimously.
Angie Fagerlin presented a new dual MPP/PhD with Population Health Sciences. There is no Master’s degree program within Population Health Sciences; this new dual degree program will enable students interested in health policy to move fluidly between their Master’s and doctoral degrees. Students will reduce their courseload by 20 credits. The new dual degree program will also create a stronger connection between the two departments. Motion was made by Bob Allen to approve the proposal and forward to the Board of Trustees. Motion seconded by Joanne Yaffe. Motion passed unanimously.
Angie Fagerlin presented a new dual MSTAT/PhD with Population Health Sciences. This new joint degree program will also reduce total course load by about 20 credits and enable students to be connected to advisors earlier on so that they become prepared for PhD coursework from an earlier point. This degree proposal also has the potential to recruit more students to the MSTAT program.. Motion was made by Joanne Yaffe to approve the proposal and forward to the Board of Trustees. Motion seconded by [unclear]. Motion passed unanimously.
Sean Bridegam presented an interim rule for international travel. Many U faculty who travel internationally on university-affiliated trips are unknown to the U outside of small populations (i.e. Learning Abroad). The interim rule will allow the U to understand who is traveling, to where, the length of the trip, and any risks associated with that travel, so that the U can provide resources, assistance and support to those U affiliates. The interim rule will be enforced in that, if a U affiliate does not register his/her international travel, the U will not pay tax on the travel expenses and may not reimburse the individual. The U has also renegotiated its emergency travel insurance policies and rates, which are very modest and reimbursable. The interim rule will also help the U reach out to its affiliates in case of a significant security or natural disaster event. The insurance provider is Cultural Insurance Services International; currently, all U of U students on recognized Learning Abroad programs have been receiving this coverage for the past few years. There will be an FAQ page on the Office of Global Engagement website to promote transparency regarding these changes. Motion was made by [unclear] to approve the proposal and forward to the Board of Trustees. Motion seconded by Joanne Yaffe. Motion passed unanimously.
Information and Recommendations Calendar
The following items were presented for the information and recommendations of the Academic Senate:
- Ruth Watkins, Cathy Anderson, and Sandy Hughes presented information regarding the new budget model. The main aspect of interest in the new budget model is the portion dedicated to activity-based funding, which is less than 10 percent of the entire U budget. Very few people were happy with the previous system; the impetus for the change was faculty dissatisfaction. Additionally, there were negligible changes made following the financial crisis in 2008. Thus, multiple constituent groups gave input during the budget model process, including deans, faculty members, and Academic Senate representatives. No colleges have seen their funding reduced, and the Colleges of Science, Fine Arts, Humanities, and Social and Behavioral Science have received more funds. The new model better aligns with how the state distributes money to the U. Additionally, the enhanced stability and predictability is one of the largest benefits of this model. Ruth emphasized that the primary goal is to support students as best we can.
- Consolidation of geography emphases
- Dmytro Pesin and Tamara Young presented a proposal to convert existing physics tracks into emphases to better serve students. There are two proposed emphases, based upon existing tracks, in applied physics and biomedical physics. The third physics track, pre-professional physics, has become the central physics bachelor’s degree.
- Harriet Hopf presented the Athletics Advisory Council report. The Athletics Advisory Council is comprised of seven faculty members, the Faculty Athletics Representative, the Athletics Director, the Senior Women’s Administrator, the Dean of Students, two student-athletes, and the president of ASUU. Harriet briefly discussed last year’s progress. She then discussed the focus of the AAC for this coming year, under new chair Howard Lehman. The Task Force on Academic Advising will focus on tutoring practices and services for student-athletes. The Task Force on Gender and Equity will focus on marketing, recruitment, and retention of student-athletes of color. The Task Force on Transparency will focus on faculty perception of student-athletes.
- Ian Godfrey and Rick Anderson presented information regarding the Marriott Library deselection project. One of the library’s challenges is managing an ever-increasing amount of material and content, and the fixed amount of space. Their project was based upon answering the question of how much space could be made available for repurposing without damaging students’ and faculty’s ability to do research within print collection. There is currently little room for growth in special collections, and there is always a need for more student study and productivity space. The U compared its holdings with several across the country, including institutions within the PAC-12 and with the Greater Western Library Alliance. The findings were threefold: that there are many items in the collection that are rare and need better treatment and should stop circulating more broadly; that there are items that are used frequently and should be kept in regular circulation; and that there are items that could be removed from circulation and from the library. Based on several criteria, a list will be compiled of titles and items that will be deselected. The list will be published online, so that faculty and students may review it and request items to be kept. Of the deselected items, some will be given to other libraries, some will be sold in book sale, and some will be pulped. They reiterated that the importance of this project is that it will allow the acquisition of materials in the future. The collection should be a living organism, and as such, some materials must be deselected. The website will be available for browsing in spring 2017.
New Business
No new business
Adjournment
Meeting adjourned at 4:42 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Maddy Oritt