Faculty Senate

Information for the Faculty of the University of Louisville.

MIN1214

 

 

UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE

FACULTY SENATE MEETING MINUTES

DECEMBER 3, 2014

 

 

The regular meeting of the Faculty Senate was held on December 3, 2014 at 3:00 P.M. in the Chao Auditorium, Ekstrom Library, Belknap Campus, Pamela Feldhoff presiding.

 

Senators Registering Attendance:

ARTS&SCIENCES: David Brown, Jasmine Farrier, Karen Hadley, Greg Hutcheson, Ron Sahoo, Beth Willey, Elaine Wise BUSINESS: Bruce Kemelgor, Robert Myers DENTISTRY: Ricardo Caicedo, Donald Demuth, Dave Willis EDUCATION: Patrick Hardesty, Caroline Sheffield, Thomas Simmons KENT: Martin Hall, Wanda Lott Collins LAW: Kurt Metzmeier, Enid Trucios-Haynes LIBRARIES: Carrie Daniels, Terri Holtze, Margo Smith MEDICINE: Yousef Abu-Kwaik, Eric Burton, Pamela Feldhoff, Sham Kakar, Kenneth Palmer, Chin Ng, David Stirling, Michael Tseng MUSIC: Randi Boling, Dror Biran, Krista Wallace-Boaz NURSING: Heather Owens, Valerie McCarthy, Karen Singleton PART-TIME FACULTY: Joseph Gutmann, Rose Mills, Susan Peacock, John Ritz PUBLIC HEALTH: Ray Austin, Scott LaJoie SPEED: Roger Bradshaw, Kyung Kang

Also Attending:

Ex Officio:            Shirley Willihnganz, Allie Funk, Ginger Brown

Others:                 Tracy Eells, Robert Stenger (ULARP), Jongwoo Kim, Gretchen Henry, recording secretary

Press:                    Janet Cappiello, UofL Today

 

Senators Not Registering Attendance:

ARTS&SCIENCES: Jennie Burnet, Carrie Donald, David Simpson, Joseph Steffen BUSINESS: Rob Barker, ben Foster DENTISTRY: Robert Staat EDUCATION: Monica Delano KENT: Seana Golder LAW: Luke Milligan MEDICINE: Forest Arnold, Luz Fernandez, Arun Gadre, Guomin Jiang, Saeed Jortani, Brad Keller, Jeffery King, Rainer Lenhardt PART-TIME FACULTY: Dona Gaus, Michael Wade SPEED: J.P. Mohsen, Kevin Walsh

 

CALL TO ORDER: – Feldhoff

 

ACTION ITEM: Consideration of the Minutes - Feldhoff

The minutes of the November 5, 2014 meeting were unanimously approved as distributed.

REPORT: Student Government Association – Allie Funk

The SGA officers are working on the following:

  • Working with the Athletics Department to work on a bowl trip package to offer to students
  • Developing a 21st Century Initiative Plan for students
  • Moving forward on purchasing new furniture for the study area in the Ekstrom Library
  • Moving forward on the L Trail’s lighting plan

 

REPORT: Staff Senate – Ginger Brown

The Staff Senate met on November 10th. Senator Sandy Russell has been appointed as the new Staff Grievance Officer. The VPHR Connally reported that the RIF Policy was revised to state that the probationary period for RIF’d employees that are rehired will be reduced to 3, from 6 months. If the employee does not work out, they will return to the RIF pool. Regarding the Community Service Pilot Program, he will recommend that it be increased to 2 days.  HR is also working on a telecommuting policy and expects it to be completed soon.  The Staff Senate meets again on Monday, December 8, 2014.

 

ACTION ITEM: School of Music revised Personnel Documents & Speed School Bylaws  – Wallace-Boaz

This was the second reading of these documents, which allows discussion. The School of Music’s personnel document was revised due to the restructure of the school’s departments. No questions were asked and no discussion was held. The revised document passed unanimously.

Speed School bylaws were revised to reflect the change in the number of departmental committees – from 10 to 4. No questions were asked and no discussion was held. The revised document passed unanimously.

 

ACTION ITEM: Suspension of the PhD in Art History – Demuth

Due to a lack of demand, it is proposed to suspend the PhD in Art History for the next 5 years. This amount of time will allow current students to complete their degrees. Financial support will continue until all students graduate and will then go to the Master’s in Fine Arts degree, which has a higher demand. For a PhD program in Art History to be considered healthy, it should produce about 5 PhDs per year. Since 2008, this program has only produced 1-2. Provost Willihnganz added that the CPE has set a productivity standard for each PhD program at 5.  The motion to suspend the program passed unanimously.

INFORMATION ITEM: Vision & Strategic Plan for the College of Business – Dean Christie-David

Dean Christie-David presented the Faculty senate with an informational power point presentation on his views of where the College of Business has been, where it is, and where it is headed.  He gave a history of the college and its several locations; the addition of various degrees and programs over the years; and, its ranking and the career paths of graduates. Looking forward he is interested in developing programs that address trends. The next big trend, which, unlike a short-term fad, lasts for 10 years or more, is in big data. Big data curricula are being developed as minors to augment business majors. These can include big data management, big data analysis and big data software use. Community engagement, mentorships, and corporate responsibility are all on the dean’s radar of things to come.

REPORT: University President and Provost – Dr. Shirley Willihnganz

President’s Report: President Ramsey could not attend today’s meeting, so Provost Willihnganz gave his report first.

Though the state sales receipts are slightly improving, there has been no information on any possible budget cuts. Many hard discussions have been held regarding a new funding model currently under consideration.  It would be based on performance, and would put UofL and UK into a pool for research, then all other state schools, and, then the comprehensives.  Each degree would be tied to points, as would each student (based on demographics/ethnicity). It is a very complicated model that will, certainly, generate many issues.  The CPE is also looking at its next strategic plan and scorecard.

Provost’s Report:  The Provost briefly mentioned an article in today’s Courier Journal on UofL’s affordability. Our student’s average school debt upon graduation is about 23K, as opposed to the national average of $100K. The article did not tell the whole story of how a university operates.  Moving on to the issue of course evaluations, Dr. Willihnganz said that she and Bob Goldstein are piloting something new this year – withholding grades until the last day, unless the student participates in the course evaluation.  A brief discussion on other options to entice student participation took place. The Provost is open to paper, cell phone, in class, or any other suggestion to increase student participation.  Dr. Willihnganz announced that Sam Connally is no longer employed at UofL, and that she cannot share any more information than that. Harlan Sands will take over as CFO/COO on January 1, 2015. Until then, Dana Hummel will be the HR point person.  Brief discussions took place on units’ carryover funds; the idea of the Commonwealth degree; and, rewriting the summer school plan.

 

REPORT: Standing Committee Reports

Academic Programs Committee (APC) – This committee report was online.

Committee on Committees and Credentials (CCC) – This committee had no report.

Part-time Faculty Committee (PTFC) - This committee report was online.

Planning & Budget Committee (P&B) - This committee report was online.

Redbook & Bylaws Committee (RB) –This committee report was online.

Executive Committee (XC) - This committee report was online.

OTHER REPORTS

Chair’s Report – This report was available online.

Faculty Athletic Representative (FAR) – This report was available online.

New Business

None

Old Business

None

Announcements

Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 4:30 P.M.

 

 

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

Gretchen Stein Henry

Faculty Senate Secretary