University of Louisville
Faculty Senate Meeting
February 1, 2012
The regular meeting of the Faculty Senate was held on February 1, 2012 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, Dennis Hall, Mary Makris, John McLeod, Ron Sahoo, Joseph Steffen, Elaine Wise, Wendy Yoder CoB – Ben Foster, Bruce Kemelgor, Robert Myers DENTISTRY –Ricardo Caicedo, Robert Staat, Dave Willis EDUCATION – Marion Hambrick, Tom Simmons KENT – Seana Golder, Wanda Lott Collins LAW – Kurt Metzmeier, Luke Milligan, Enid Trucios-Haynes LIBRARIES – Terri Holtze, Margo Smith MEDICINE – Moataz El-Ghamry, Pamela Feldhoff, Lawrence Hunt, Saeed Jortani, Sham Kakar, Nobuyuki Kuwabara, Jeannie Roberts MUSIC – Daniel Weeks NURSING – Diane Chlebowy PART-TIME – Charlie Baker, Joseph Gutmann, Rose Mills, Susan Peacock PUBLIC HEALTH – Ray Austin SPEED – Nageshwar Bhaskar, Roger Bradshaw
Also Attending -
Ex Officio: James Ramsey, Shirley Willihnganz
Others: Beth Boehm, Tracy Eells, Melissa Laning, Bob Stenger, Bob Goldstein, Cheryl Gilchrist, Il Barrow, Gretchen Henry, recording secretary
Press: Janene Zaccone (U of L Today)
Senators Not Registering Attendance -
A&S – Elizabeth Grossi, CoB – Rob Barker DENTISTRY – Don DeMuth EDUCATION –Roger Buskill, Daya Sandhu KENT – Sharon Bowland LIBRARIES – Gail Gilbert MEDICINE –Forest Arnold, Richard Downs, Brad Keller, Steven Myers, Steven Nakajima MUSIC – Ansyn Banks, Krista Wallace-Boaz NURSING – Sandra Holmes, Celeste Shawler PART-TIME –Brian Barnes, Michael Wade PUBLIC HEALTH – Ruth Carrico SPEED – Suraj Alexander, Bruce Alphenaar
ACTION: Consideration of the Minutes
The minutes of the January 11, 2012 meeting were unanimously approved as distributed.
REPORT: Student Government Association – Jody Heil
Mr. Heil reminded senators that the University-sanctioned Rally for Higher Education is next Tuesday, February 7th and that students participating would have an excused absence from class.
REPORT: Staff Senate – Brent Fryrear
The Staff Senate had a budget presentation and would like to work with the Faculty Senate to generate ideas on how to continue moving forward with the cuts.
ELECTION: Student Grievance Committee Members – Holtze
Vacancies on the Student Grievance Committee need to be filled. Senator Holtze, CCC Chair, distributed ballots. A call for nominations from the floor was made. No other nominations came forward. Senator Allen removed her name from the ballot. The votes were cast and ballots collected. The results will be announced later in this meeting.
REPORT: Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (FSSE) – Goldstein
Bob Goldstein (Associate Provost in Institutional Research), Cheryl Gilchrist (Director of Undergraduate Assessment and Retention) and Il Barrow (Institutional Research Analyst) made a presentation to the Senate on the Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (FSSE) used to assess the undergraduate student’s experience at UofL. The survey focused on four areas of interest: perception of classroom practices; levels of cognitive activities in coursework; institutional support and engagement; and, perception of high impact areas of engagement. The collected data is anonymous and has been interpreted to facilitate discussion. The presenters thanked faculty members for participating in this important study.
REPORT: University Provost – Dr. Shirley Willihnganz
Provost Willihnganz opened her report with a reminder that the upcoming Rally for Higher Education will take place on February 7th and is a University-sanctioned event. As such, this gives participating students an excused absence from classes. Looking ahead, she announced that the Celebration for Teaching and Learning will be held on the Shelby Campus on Friday, February 10th and the President’s State of the University address has been tentatively set for September 12th. Discussions are underway for creating a degree for people who have completed more than 90 hours of college work. Those hours may be dated and difficult to put into a current degree, but through the use of technology, they may be able to be salvaged for a degree. There seems to be a middle ground between in-class and online instruction that is being explored. Moving on to administrative searches, Dr. Willihnganz reported that the College of Business has started early and has formed a committee for its dean search, Public Health will soon begin its search for a dean, and she would like to have an internal search for the dean of the graduate school, as this position is linked between units. She will consult with the Graduate Council on how best to handle this search. Upcoming reviews will take place for Jim Chen, Dean of the Law School; Larry Owsley, Vice President for Business Affairs; Ed Halperin, Medical school Dean; and, and Tom Jackson, Vice President for Student Affairs.
REPORT: University President – Dr. James Ramsey
Dr. Ramsey reported that he has met with legislators and the CPE on budget issues. He said the CPE made a good presentation to the legislators for allotting state funds to higher education. Together, the CPE and the state institutions are working hard to get a better budget, but there is not much hope that there will be any significant improvements to the budget.
At this point the Provost added that the cuts will be felt throughout the units as she is asking them to prepare for a 3% cut. She does not want to implement it, but want s the units to prepare as if it will happen. She pointed out the high cost of adding three new buildings and the energy costs that come with them. Some things that were on the table before the budget was announced include new vice presidents that were hired and dean’s contracts that must be honored. Due to some tightening, our initial $20M deficit is now down to $10M, though we will still have a 5% tuition increase and a 1.5% pay raise. Furloughs have been taken off the table and are very unlikely to happen. In looking for solutions, many options are discussed and some are explored further. This is a necessary step in working out the numerous issues a budget situation such as this creates. We are hiring a consulting firm to study our operations and how we can do what we do better. Areas under consideration will be bulk purchasing of supplies and how our Tier I system works. These areas are examples of places we may be able to do things more efficiently to save money.
President Ramsey then addressed the hospital merger by saying because the governor vetoed the proposal twice, there is a very high probability the merger will not happen. When the merger was first explored, there were many options. Now, some of those other options are looking good. Some of the options are: a limited merger; a joint maintenance/operation relationship; and, a limited partnership. Baptist East, Catholic Health Initiatives and UofL are having conversations about some of these options. On February 16th the Board of Trustees meets and President Ramsey will have another option that will protect and generate funds for the School of Medicine and University Hospital. Addressing the Signature Partnerships program, the president reported that the Access Center at Simmons College opened today. This is a program for adults wanting to earn a degree. Simmons College is located at 7th and Dumesnil, and the 13th poorest zip code in the country. We chose to partner with them as that is where the need is the greatest. A brief discussion took place in the possible creation of a University of Pikeville and its funding sources.
ANNOUNCEMENT: 2012 Celebration of Teaching and Learning – Brown
This one day event, held on Friday, February 10th, will explore the challenges and opportunities of teaching and learning in the digital age. The celebration will be held on the Shelby Campus.
Committee Reports
Academic Programs Committee (APC)- This report was available online.
Committee on Committees and Credentials (CCC)- The results of the Student Grievance Committee elections are: Robert Barker (CoB), Sharon Bowland (Kent) and Elizabeth Reilly (Libraries) were elected to serve on the Student Grievance Committee.
Libraries Committee (FSCOL)- This report was available online.
Part-time Faculty Committee (PTFC)-This committee did not meet.
Planning & Budget Committee (P&B)- This report was available online.
Redbook & Bylaws Committee (RB)- This committee did not meet.
Executive Committee (XC)- This report was available online. Melissa Laning and Neal Nixon have been selected as the co-chairs for the Faculty Grievance Committee.
Other Reports
Academic Technology Committee (ATC) – This report was available online.
Alternative Transportation – This report was available online.
Bookstore Advisory Committee – This committee did not meet.
Commission on Diversity and Racial Equality (CODRE) – This report was available online.
Commission on the Status of Women (COSW) – This report was available online.
Dining Services Committee - This committee did not meet.
Employee Assistance Program (EAP) – This committee needs a faculty representative.
Faculty Athletics Representative (FAR) - This report was available online.
Human Resources Advisory Committee (HRAC) – This report was available online.
Ideas to Action (i2A) – This report was available online.
Parking Advisory Committee (PAC) – This committee did not meet.
Student Care Team – No report was made.
Chair’s Report – Robert Staat
This report was available online.
Old Business
None
New Business
None
Announcements
- Senate elections are coming up in May.
- The Faculty Senate will meet again on March 7, 2012 at 3 p.m. in the Chao Auditorium.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 4:30P.M.
Gretchen Stein Henry
Faculty Senate Secretary