University of Louisville
Faculty Senate Meeting
May 1, 2013
The regular meeting of the Faculty Senate was held on May 1, 2013 at 3:00 P.M. in Chao Auditorium in the Ekstrom Library, on Belknap Campus, Joseph Steffen presiding.
Senators Registering Attendance
A&S: Annette Allen, David Brown, Jasmine Farrier, Dawn Heinecken, John McLeod, Ron Sahoo, David Simpson, Joseph Steffen, Elaine Wise CoB: Rob Barker, Ben Foster, Bruce Kemelgor DENTISTRY: Ricardo Caicedo, Donald Demuth, Robert Staat, Dave Willis EDUCATION: Roger Buskill, Patrick Hardesty, Daya Sandhu, Tom Simmons KENT: Martin Hall LAW: Kurt Metzmeier, Enid Trucios-Haynes LIBRARIES: Gail Gilbert, Terri Holtze, Margo Smith MEDICINE: Forest Arnold, Richard Downs, Pamela Feldhoff, Lawrence Hunt, Saeed Jortani, Sham Kakar, Brad Keller MUSIC: Ansyn Banks NURSING: Diane Chlebowy, Valerie McCarthy, Karen Singleton PART-TIME: Joe Gutmann, Rose Mills, Susan Peacock, John Ritz PUBLIC HEALTH: Raymond Austin SPEED: Bruce Alphenaar
Also Attending -
Ex Officio: James Ramsey, Shirley Willihnganz, Ginger Brown, Carrie Mattingly
Others: Tamara Yohannes, David Owen, Wendy Pfeffer, and Gretchen Henry, recording secretary
Press: Janene Zaccone (U of L Today)
Senators Not Registering Attendance -
A&S: Wendy Yoder CoB: Robert Myers EDUCATION: Marion Hambrick KENT: Sharon Bowland, Wanda Lott Collins LAW: David Ensign MEDICINE: Nobuyuki Kuwabara, Steven Myers, Steven Nakajima MUSIC: Dror Biran, Krista Wallace-Boaz PART-TIME: Laneshia McCord, Michael Wade PUBLIC HEALTH: Scott LaJoie SPEED: Suraj Alexander, Nageshwar Bhaskar, Roger Bradshaw
WELCOME TO NEW SENATORS: Chair Steffen
Chair Steffen read the names of each new senator.
MEETING ONE: ANNUAL ELECTION MEETING
The annual election meeting was conducted by Senator Ron Sahoo, chair of the Committee on Committees and Credentials. Ballots were distributed to all eligible senators. After the ballots were filled in, they were collected for tabulation. Election results were reported during the regular senate meeting which followed.
The Annual Election Meeting ended and the Regular Monthly meeting began.
MEETING TWO: REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING
ACTION: Consideration of the Minutes
The minutes of the April 3, 2013 meeting were unanimously approved as distributed.
REPORT: Staff Senate – Ginger Brown
The Staff Senate met on April 8th and heard an update on the Student Rec Center and the University’s budget. It meets again on May 13th and will have officer elections at its June meeting.
REPORT: Student Government Association – Carrie Mattingly
Carrie introduced Grant Ford, the newly-elected AVP and the new SGA representative to this body and its Executive Committee. Carrie made a presentation on the A+ grading system to the A&S Faculty Assembly on April 19th. It did not pass. The SGA will decide what they want to do with this issue.
INFORMATION ITEM: Paul Weber Award- call for nominations – Boehm/Brown
SIGS Dean Boehm and Marie Brown from the Delphi Center came before the Senate today to promote the Paul Weber Award for Departmental Excellence. Established in 2005, the award ($30,000) goes to a unit that demonstrates excellence in several designated areas. After the application and selection processes, the winners will be announced in February 2014.
There was a change made to the agenda:
Academic Programs Committee (APC) –
- Proposal for a Certificate in Diversity Literacy – Second reading – This certificate is an interdisciplinary program for graduate students and working adults. Interest from the Jefferson County Public School System drove the development of the 18 hour, 6 course program. It will be housed in the Department of Philosophy. The motion comes from committee, so it requires no second. It passed with one dissenting vote.
REPORT: University President and Provost– Dr. Shirley Willihnganz
President Ramsey is meeting with the CPE in Frankfort today. Many state university presidents were aggravated that the governor and the CPE decided to cap tuition increases to 3%. Our proposed 3.1% increase would have put us at the same rate as UK’s freshman tuition. Some of the comprehensive schools had built their budget on a 5% tuition increase. For us, it meant a $200K shortfall and Financial Aid had to rewrite all the award letters. The Provost reported that there is a group called Rural Access Workgroup that is pushing for a new state university in Pikeville and advocating more online courses. This is worrisome for several reasons. Some of which are: students with weak academic backgrounds are less likely to be successful; technology is not available in all rural areas; adult learners need more attention as they reenter academia; and, eliminating online course fees will weaken the quality of instruction. This is an attempt to create an Adult Learner Degree that gives credit for prior college coursework and life experiences. The amount of advising this will entail is extremely labor intensive. There will be an alliance of schools that will give the credit, but the “home’ school would award the degree. The state legislature decided that the CPE would undertake this project. We are moving forward on this in 2 ways: The CPE created workgroups. Dale Billingsley is our representative. The Alliance proposed asking the Brown Foundation for seed money. We will take this on as a pilot project to see if it can be done without becoming too unwieldy. On other matters, the budgeting process is wrapping up and will go before the Board of Trustees in May. The 21st Century Initiatives committees are moving forward. Committees and subcommittees are meeting and reviewing various aspects: future technology needs; business functions for efficiency; procurement and possible savings; enrollment planning for better students; diversity and engagement in teaching and research; developing a global point of view and mindset; academic and research priorities; and, investigating the idea of entrepreneurship across units. Moving on to the Voluntary Separation Incentive Program (VSIP), she told the deans to take a step back and wait to see how it all unfolds. It will take a few months for the dust to settle. Provost Willihnganz then gave an update on administrative searches: Public Health’s is finished; Medicine is almost done; and, Education and Law are on hold. All administrative reviews are moving forward.
Committee Reports
Academic Programs Committee – as above
Committee on Committees and Credentials (CCC) – Chair Sahoo reported the election results:
- FACULTY SENATE CHAIR – Joe Steffen
- FACULTY SENATE VICE CHAIR – Pam Feldhoff
- STANDING COMMITTEES
- EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE – Bruce Kemelgor and Tamara Yohannes
- ACADEMIC PROGRAMS COMMITTEE – Annette Allen, Alan Attaway, Carrie Donald, Robert Myers and Sham Kakar
- COMMITTEE ON COMMITTEES & CREDENTIALS – Martin Hall and Susan Pea cock
- COMMITTEE ON LIBRARIES – Daniel Weeks and Valerie McCarthy
- PART-TIME FACULTY COMMITTEE – Dylan Naeger
- PLANNING & BUDGET COMMITTEE – David Brown and Richard Downs
- REDBOOK COMMITTEE – Daya Sandhu (1 year) and Mary Makris (3 year)
- UNIVERSITY WIDE COMMITTEES
- ACADEMINC TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE – Robert Barker
- ALTERNATE TRANSPORTAION COMMITTEE – John McLeod
- BOOKSTORE ADVISORY COMMITTEE – Annette Allen
- DINING SERVICES COMMITTEE – Scott Campbell
- IDEAS TO ACTION COMMITTEE – Roger Buskill
- PARKING ADVISORY COMMITTEE – Karen Karp and Karen Singleton
- STUDENT CONDUCT HEARING BOARD – Carol Brinkman and Carrie Donald
- STUDENT GRIEVANCE COMMITTEE - Elizabeth Smigielski
Libraries Committee (FSCOL) – No report
Part-time Faculty Committee (PTFC) - This committee did not meet.
Planning & Budget Committee (P&B) - This committee did not meet.
Redbook & Bylaws Committee (RB)-
- School of Music bylaws revision- 2nd reading – the revisions were minor and the motion comes from committee, needing no second. The School of Music bylaws passed unanimously.
Executive Committee (XC) - This report was online.
Other Reports
Faculty Athletics Representative (FAR) - This report was online.
Human Resources Advisory Committee (HRAC) – This report will be sent out.
Chair’s Report – Joe Steffen
- Kudos to Senators
- Jasmine Farrier
- Roger Buskill
- Daya Sandhu
Old Business
None
New Business
- New Faculty Handbook – Senator Staat
This project was undertaken a couple of years ago. A committee was formed and each member took charge of certain areas. It is housed on the Provost’s web site but will be linked to the Faculty Senate’s web site, as well.
- Celebration of Faculty Excellence will be in the fall. Please send in ideas to Chair Steffen.
Announcements
The Faculty Senate will meet again on June 5, 2013 at 3 p.m. in the Dental School, Room 131.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 4:35P.M.
Gretchen Stein Henry
Faculty Senate Secretary