University of Louisville
Faculty Senate Meeting
December 4, 2013
The regular meeting of the Faculty Senate was held on December 4, 2013 at 3:00 P.M. in the Chao Auditorium, Ekstrom Library, Belknap Campus, Joseph Steffen presiding.
Senators Registering Attendance:
A&S:David Brown, Jasmine Farrier, John McLeod, Ron Sahoo, David Simpson, Joseph Steffen, Beth Willey, Elaine Wise, Tamara Yohannes BUSINESS: Robert Barker, Ben Foster, Bruce Kemelgor, Robert Myers DENTISTRY: Ricardo Caicedo, Robert Staat, Dave Willis EDUCATION: Roger Buskill, Patrick Hardesty, Thomas Simmons KENT: Martin Hall LAW: Kurt Metzmeier, Luke Milligan LIBRARIES: Gail Gilbert, Terri Holtze, Margo Smith MEDICINE: Yousef Abu-Kwaik, Sham Kakar, Brad Keller, David Stirling MUSIC: Dror Biran, Krista Wallace-Boaz NURSING: Diane Chlebowy, Valerie McCarthy PART-TIME FACULTY: Donna Gaus, Joseph Gutmann, Rose Mills, Susan Peacock PUBLIC HEALTH: Ray Austin SPEED: Kevin Walsh
Also Attending:
Ex Officio: James Ramsey, Ginger Brown, Grant Ford
Others: Gretchen Henry, recording secretary
Press: Janene Zaccone (UofL Today)
Senators Not Registering Attendance:
A&S: Carrie Donald DENTISTRY: Donald Demuth EDUCATION: Daya Sandhu KENT: Seana Golder, Wanda Lott Collins LAW: Enid Trucios-Haynes MEDICINE: Forest Arnold, Richard Downs, Pamela Feldhoff, Saeed Jortani, Nobuyuki Kuwabara, Steven Myers MUSIC: Ansyn Banks NURSING: Karen Singleton PART-TIME FACULTY: Michael Wade PUBLIC HEALTH: Scott LaJoie SPEED: Bruce Alphenaar, J.P. Mohsen
CALL TO ORDER: – Steffen
ACTION ITEM: The minutes from October and November were unanimously approved as distributed.
IN MEMEORIAM: Professor George Pack – Wittebort
Attached below
REPORT: Student Government Association – Grant Ford
Grant reported on several topics: the SGA will hold a fundraising event, Raise Red, a dance marathon to benefit the UofL Pediatric Oncology department, on February 28 – March1, 2014; the SGA is developing a Healthy Campus 2020 Committee and seeks a faculty senate representative; and, interviews are underway for Cards in Action – students selected to go to Frankfort and talk with legislators. Following up on the proposed student library fee to offset staffing costs for extended study hours and to update the thesis/dissertation data base, Grant reported that the proposal has not been drafted yet. Asked about the utilization of the new Student Rec Center, no numbers were available.
REPORT: Staff Senate – Ginger Brown
Ginger announced that the Staff Senate Vice Chair, Christian Gamm had accepted a job at Northern Kentucky University, as its Director of Graduate Studies. Her immediate departure requires the Senate to hold an election at its December 9th meeting. The Staff Senate is following up on the 21st Century Initiatives report. The Staff Senate is working with HR on how to incorporate merit into the evaluation process/salary increase. The Staff Senate has developed an ad hoc Internal Communications Committee to address some issues. The committee has been charged by Provost Willihnganz. A couple of senators attended a training workshop on “Active Shooters” and will make a presentation sometime in January. The Staff Senate meets again on December 9th.
ACTION ITEM: Revision of Faculty Senate Bylaws – Elimination of the Committee on Libraries (second reading) – Wallace-Boaz
A very brief discussion took place on the plans for moving forward. Chair Steffen reported that he had spoken with Libraries Dean Fox about having a faculty advisory committee to address issues that are relevant to faculty library needs. The motion to change the Faculty Senate bylaws passed unanimously.
ACTION ITEM: Revision of REDBOOK Minimum Guidelines for Faculty Personnel Actions (second reading) – Wallace-Boaz
A brief discussion took place on the revisions and which will be the final guiding documents for promotion and tenure. Any changes requested by a unit must come before the Faculty Senate for review. The motion passed unanimously.
DISCUSSION ITEM: 21st Century University Initiative – Holtze
The discussion today is focused on the remaining 2 areas of the report: Financial Health and Culture of Excellence. The discussion began with the first question: Where will the financial resources come from to achieve the University’s goals? The report did not address income and made no recommendations for it. How will funds be allocated? Many budget discussions focus on state allocations, but there are other sources of income that are not covered in those discussions. Without this information, there cannot be an informed budget discussion. At a more basic level, a glossary of terms is needed to provide clarity for all participants. Early budget preparation was also mentioned as necessary to prevent a last minute rush. It was asked how the RCM (Responsibility-Centered Model), where funds are allocated based on revenue-creating activities, could benefit or harm the University. A discussion took place on how tuition is income and how that may jeopardize smaller programs and/or degrees that don’t produce a significant income. The question of how to measure and value quality was raised. There was a sense that the report did not address quality programs/degrees by any other measure than income. Further concerns included financial accountability – making sure funds are spent as agreed to further the University’s goals. The consolidation of services was discussed and some senators were concerned about efficiency trumping effectiveness. The subject of procurement prompted a discussion of price differences on office supplies and scientific equipment. The discussion returned to tuition and how it generates income. Chair Steffen remarked that students taking 15 hours receive 3 free hours, as full-time tuition is based on a 12 hour course load. More revenue could be generated from a strong summer session, was also mentioned. The conversation moved on to the second category for today’s discussion: Culture of Excellence. From the listed areas in the report, some felt it focused on the work culture more than the academic culture. Retention was seen as a focus of the report and something that stemmed from a student’s positive interaction with faculty and staff. There was no connection or reward for programs/degrees with good retention rates. It was pointed out that there was no mention of intellectual engagement or exploration, or any recommendations that would foster the creation of an intellectual atmosphere. It was recommended to consider both the place and the product, as in, the work place and the academic product. The “hiring for excellence” point was troublesome to some senators. It had no definitions to clarify its meaning. The lack of definitions throughout the report gave some senators the idea that there was an underlying agenda. It was noted by Associate provost Eells that this is a work in progress and not a finished product. All the information came from the committees, made up of UofL faculty and staff. The consultants are merely facilitators to the process. As the discussion wound down, it was pointed out that the document lacks a student perspective. In order to create a culture of excellence, where students want to stay, there must be good interactions between them and the faculty. Students were on each committee and now there is a student committee to address these issues. In summary: The Planning & Budget Committee will create a report from these discussions and, after review by the Executive Committee, will forward it to Provost Willihnganz.
REPORT: Standing Committee Reports
Academic Programs Committee (APC) – This committee did not meet.
Committee on Committees and Credentials (CCC) –
Part-time Faculty Committee (PTFC)-This report was available online.
Planning & Budget Committee (P&B)- This committee is creating the 21st Century Report response.
Redbook & Bylaws Committee (RB) –The readings above.
Executive Committee (XC)- This report was available online.
OTHER REPORTS:
Human Resources Advisory Committee (HRAC) - Online
University-Wide Committees – Online
New Business
None
Old Business
Photos for the web site – Tom Fougerousse will take photos at the January meeting.
Announcements
None
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 4:55 P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Gretchen Stein Henry
Faculty Senate Secretary
IN MEMORIAM: GEORGE PACK
I met George when he came to the University of Louisville in or around 1998. Although we had never met before, we had similar scientific interests with common friends, one of whom was a legitimately gifted scientist with whom both of us had worked at separate times. So, we were good friends from the start.
One of the most important scientists that I know, an institute professor at MIT and a seriously serious person, emphasized that good science is good fun and George brought this to Louisville with his generous way of combining work with fun.
There are many examples of this, but an old one came to mind earlier this week. George had decided that, rather than one or two of us take an important guest to a nice restaurant, we would include a larger group and gather at someone’s home. And we, a group of chemists, would cook. I recall that I managed to get a couple of very large slabs of salmon off the grill at approximately the right time. With adequate food and George’s casual charm, our famously abrasive guest was completely disarmed. Rather than droning on about why his theories of how enzymes work were unfairly regarded as controversial, he told great stories about the early days of quantum mechanics and how the ultimate winner, Schrodinger, was initially spurned. I was reminded of this wonderful evening, not because George died, but because the guest, Arieh Warshel, was awarded this year’s Nobel prize in chemistry. George brought fun and good times to Louisville that were academically meaningful.
Immediately after arriving in Louisville and through the next 12 years as chemistry department chair, George expanded the horizon’s of his department beyond its established boundaries. He initiated real relationships with the Cancer Center, the University of Louisville central administration and even folks at the University of Kentucky. For the first time, a group from UofL (BCC + chemistry) outflanked the competition from Lexington to bring a large federal grant to Louisville. This was repeated several years later. These and other administrative successes resulted in a larger, more productive and recognized faculty, more and better graduate students, increased publications and increased funding. The chemistry dept. now has 2 endowed chairs and 2 distinguished fellows. All of these are hallmarks of a quality university and all involved George in some direct way.
George grew up in comfortable surroundings on Long Island, was a diehard Yankee fan and enjoyed treating students and higher ups as equals. He also reserved a large space in his heart for the underdog and I think this allowed him to have a special fondness for the University of Louisville. He made special efforts with minority students and he hired women faculty when possible. I also saw him lobby hard to hire a young scientist that had done solid science but lacked polish and had taken a non-traditional route to an academic position. The candidate had gone to graduate school after earning a living in the coal mines of eastern Kentucky.
To end, I would like to relate a brief experience from when I accompanied George’s brother to one of George’s offices to recover personal effects. Amongst the scattered papers on George’s desk, almost all of which dealt with the interminable administrative details inherent to a modern university administrator, there was a letter of recommendation for one of George’s former graduate students. These things are confidential so I can’t read it here, but let me say that it was an impressively thoughtful and detailed letter. Although the student had left George’s group 9 years ago, George had kept up with his work and expertly reviewed it in the context of ongoing science. So what does this tell you about George? He cared about science and he cared about the people around him. As our university grows, this is a key attribute going forward. Academic endeavors must remain at the heart of how we run our daily business, how we interact with colleagues, what we expect from students and how we treat each other. In that spirit, there is now an endowment supporting the outstanding thesis award in chemistry, something that greatly pleased George in his last days.
Richard Wittebort