University of Louisville
Faculty Senate Meeting
October 5, 2011
The regular meeting of the Faculty Senate was held on October 5, 2011 at 3:00 P.M. in the Chao Auditorium in the Ekstrom Library, on Belknap Campus, Robert Staat presiding.
Senators Registering Attendance
A&S – Annette Allen, Beth Bradley, Jasmine Farrier, Elizabeth Grossi, John McLeod, Joseph Steffen, Elaine Wise, Wendy Yoder CoB – Ben Foster, Bruce Kemelgor, Robert Myers DENTISTRY – Ricardo Caicedo, Robert Staat, Dave Willis EDUCATION – Roger Buskill, Marion Hambrick, Daya Sandhar, Tom Simmons KENT – Sharon Bowland, Wanda Lott Collins LAW – David Ensign, Kurt Metzmeier, Enid Trucios-Haynes LIBRARIES – Gail Gilbert, Terri Holtze, Margo Smith MEDICINE – Richard Downs, Moataz El-Ghamry , Pam Feldhoff, Lawrence Hunt, Saeed Jortani, Nobuyuki Kuwabara MUSIC – Daniel Weeks PART-TIME – Charles Baker, Joe Gutmann, Rose Mills, Susan Peacock PUBLIC HEALTH – Raymond Austin, Ruth Carrico SPEED – Suraj Alexander, Bruce Alphenaar, Roger Bradshaw
Also Attending -
Ex Officio: James Ramsey, Shirley Willihnganz, Jody Heil, Brent Fryrear
Others: Beth Boehm, Melissa Laning, VPHR Sam Connally, Dean Blaine Hudson, Bob Stenger (ULARP), Susan Duncan (COSW), Gennaro Vito, Ginger Brown, Gretchen Henry, recording secretary
Press: Janene Zaccone (U of L Today)
Senators Not Registering Attendance -
A&S – Dennis Hall, Ron Sahoo CoB – Rob Barker DENTISTRY - Don DeMuth KENT - LAW –LIBRARIES - MEDICINE – MUSIC – NURSING – PART-TIME – PUBLIC HEALTH – SPEED
ACTION: Consideration of the Minutes
The minutes of the September 7, 2011 meeting were approved as amended.
REPORT: Student Government Association – Jody Heil
Mr. Heil reported that the SGA is working on the Student Rally for Higher Education to take place in Frankfort in February. The new SGA administration will work on being more visible to the student body this year. Working with HR, the SGA hopes to hire an Advancement Director to undertake its fundraising efforts.
REPORT: Staff Senate – Brent Fryrear
The Staff Senate held its annual retreat in September. Its focus this year is on the student experience at UofL. The Staff Senate approved of the changes made to the Staff Grievance Policy. It is now looking at the new Performance Review instrument that will take a more narrative approach in the review, instead of numbers.
ACTION ITEM: Consideration of the PhD in Justice Administration – Smith
Senator Smith, from the Academic Program Committee, gave highlights of the proposed program: the department currently offers a minor and BA/Bs and an MS degree; two benchmark institutions offer this degree (University of Cincinnati and Temple); there is a part-time option for students working full-time; the degree will address current state and local needs; the degree will address the state’s mandate for an increase in degrees; revenue from tuition will return to the department; the degree can be earned in three years for a full-time student and in five years at part-time; the program will collaborate with Eastern Kentucky University’s School of Public Safety. After a very brief discussion about residency for part-time students, the proposal was unanimously approved.
REPORT – University Ombudsman – Belak
Mr. Belak reported that in the eleven months he has been at UofL, he has seen 37 people. The main issue is communication and relationships. Out of the well-known TED Talks, Louisville will become the nation’s 6th Compassionate City. Mr. Belak wants UofL to become a Compassionate University and to be a model for Metro Government. In a very brief discussion about the participants in mediation, Mr. Belak reported that he had no information on which participants went on to grieve their issues. He felt that keeping records would change the program. Ms. Laning said the new grievance policy, if passed, would address this communication between mediation and grievance to better evaluate the programs and processes.
REPORT: Faculty Grievance Officer – Trucios-Haynes
In Senator Trucios-Haynes’s first full year as Faculty Grievance Officer, there were no new grievances filed. She attributed this to no Promotion and Tenure cases being filed. The main problem she sees with the current grievance process is the length of time it takes for a resolution to be made.
ACTION ITEM: Second readings of unit documents and REDBOOK revisions – Willis
- School of Medicine personnel document – Senator Willis gave an overview of the changes made to the document. It was brought to the Senate by the REDBOOK Committee. There was no discussion and the revisions passed unanimously.
- REDBOOK 4.3.3 – Chair Staat asked that this be tabled. The vote to table this discussionpassed unanimously.
- REDBOOK 4.4/REDBOOK 4.5.3 – Senator Willis gave a background on the Grievance Policy and the faculty’s desire to move toward dispute resolution, which seems to be working. The revisions were explained as: a Type I Dispute – is not career-ending, and the parties meet first with the Ombudsman to try to reach a resolution. There are no lawyers for either side; Type 2 disputes may be career-ending. The parties bypass the Ombuds and go directly to the Grievance Committee. The Grievance Committee Chair calls a panel of committee members to work on the issue. Electronic discussion is allowed to simplify and move the process along. If an administrator does not participate, the Provost, or next in the chain of command, is alerted. A discussion tool place on the role the Board of Trustees would play in the even a grievance was filed against the University President. Currently, the policy states, the Board of Trustees would review the grievance in 15 days, which it has been decided is too short of time to work. The language in Section 4.4.5 “d” was changed to say the Board of Trustees would review the action at “its next regularly scheduled Board of Trustees meeting”. As this recommendation came from the REDBOOK Committee, it needed no second and passed unanimously.
REPORT: University President – Dr. James Ramsey
President Ramsey began his report with an update on activity in Frankfort. The report was not very optimistic. Kentucky lost 300 jobs and its revenue was down in August. The CPE makes budget request to the state legislature on behalf of the state’s post secondary institutions. Funding requests have been made for building maintenance, the research trust fund, and College Readiness (a remedial program for underperforming students). These funds would be recurring in the first year of the biennium. The funding requests for the second year of the biennium would all be performance based. Using its performance metric, the CPE said UofL is a leader among the other schools. Turning to the hospital merger, President Ramsey said that Dean Halperin will attend the Faculty Senate meeting in November to answer questions. There will also be an open community forum on October 19th at Memorial Auditorium. Then, Dr. Ramsey spoke about athletic conferences, the revenue associated with each, and about how changes can affect member schools.
REPORT: University Provost – Dr. Shirley Willihnganz
Using a Power Point presentation, Provost Willihnganz reported on the accomplishments on the 202 Plan Goal Sheet. One of the goals she is most proud of is the increase in the graduation rate. It has gone from the 30%s to 52.8%. The average is 50%. Her office is planning a celebration for this accomplishment. She gave credit, and her gratitude, to the faculty. We have achieved beyond our expectations in sustainability, and hit all the goals for diversity. This is the same scorecard used to rate the President’s performance. The CPE is now going to implement a similar scorecard in assessing the state’s schools.
REPORT: Healthcare Benefits - VPHR Connally
All the current healthcare options are available with no changes.
REPORTS: Standing Committees
Academic Programs Committee (APC) - This committee worked on the proposal for a PhD in Justice Administration as presented above.
Committee on Committees and Credentials (CCC) - The committee will convene soon to get its charge from Chair Staat.
Libraries Committee (FSCOL) - This report was available online.
Part-time Faculty Committee (PTFC)-The Part-time Faculty Orientation, held on August 19th, included a benefits presentation. The next one will be on January 6, 2012.
Planning & Budget Committee (P&B) - This report was available online.
Redbook & Bylaws Committee (RB) - This committee worked on the REDBOOK changes presented above.
Executive Committee (XC) - This report was available online.
Other Reports
Academic Technology Committee (ATC) – This committee did not meet.
Bookstore Advisory Committee – This report was available online.
Commission on the Status of Women (COSW) – This report was available online.
Dining Services Committee – This committee meets next week.
Employee Assistance Program (EAP) –There was no report.
Faculty Athletics Representative (FAR) – This report was available online.
Human Resources Advisory Committee (HRAC) – This report was available online.
Parking Advisory Committee (PAC) – This report was available online.
Student Care Team – There was no report.
University Librarian Report – There was no report.
Chair’s Report – Robert Staat
This report was available online.
Old Business
None
New Business
None
Announcements
The Faculty Senate will convene on the HSC Campus for the November 2nd meeting.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 5 P.M.
Gretchen Stein Henry
Faculty Senate Secretary