The regular meeting of the Faculty Senate was held on March 11, 2015 at 3:00 P.M. in the Chao Auditorium, Ekstrom Library, Belknap Campus, Pamela Feldhoff presiding.

 

Senators Registering Attendance:

A&S: David Brown, Carrie Donald, Jasmine Farrier, Karen Hadley, Greg Hutcheson, Beth Willey, Elaine Wise BUSINESS: Ben Foster, Bruce Kemelgor, Robert Myers DENTISTRY: Ricardo Caicedo, Robert Staat EDUCATION: Patrick Hardesty, Caroline Sheffield, Tom Simmons KENT: Seana Golder, Martin Hall, Wanda Lott Collins LAW: Kurt Metzmeier, Luke Milligan, Enid Trucios-Haynes LIBRARIES: Carrie Daniels, Terri Holtze, Margo Smith  MEDICINE: Yousef Abu-Kwaik, Forest Arnold, Pamela Feldhoff, Saeed Jortani, Sham Kakar, Kenneth Palmer, David Stirling NURSING: Heather Owens, Valerie McCarthy, Karen Singleton PART-TIME FACULTY: Joseph Gutmann, Rose Mills, Michael Wade PUBLIC HEALTH: Ray Austin, Scott LaJoie SPEED: Kyung Kang, J.P. Mohsen

 

Also Attending:

Ex Officio:       Shirley Willihnganz, Ricardo Ullrich

Others:            Tracy Eells, Gretchen Henry, recording secretary

Guests:            Dean Robert Fox, Cate Fosl, Melissa Laning, Peter Hasselbacher, Steve Lippmann, Carolyn Dowel

Press:              

 

Senators Not Registering Attendance:

A&S: Jennie Burnet, Ron Sahoo, David Simpson, Joseph Steffen BUSINESS: Robert Barker DENTISTRY: Donald Demuth, Dave Willis EDUCATION: Monica Delano MEDICINE: Eric Burton, Luz Fernandez, Arun Gadre, Guomin Jiang, Brad Keller, Jeffery King, Rainer Lenhardt, Chin Ng, Michael Tseng MUSIC: Randi Boling, Dror Biran, Krista Wallace-Boaz PART-TIME FACULTY: Donna Gaus, Susan Peacock, John Ritz SPEED: Roger Bradshaw, Kevin Walsh

CALL TO ORDER: – Feldhoff

 

ACTION ITEM: Consideration of the Minutes - Feldhoff

The minutes of the February 4, 2015 meetings were unanimously approved as distributed.

REPORT: Student Government Association – Ullrich

The Student Government Association is working with VP Sands on the SAC renovation project; elections are over; student focus groups are forming to begin work on Gen Ed revisions; and, the SGA is working with Athletics on student ticket availability.

REPORT: Staff Senate – Ginger Brown

No report was made.

 

DISCUSSION ITEM: Foundation Compensation - Feldhoff

A discussion took place regarding the deferred compensation package of the administration. Chair Feldhoff stated that the Board of Trustees had approved the compensation in 2002, and that no tax or tuition dollars had been used.

Below is a summary of the discussion and concerns about deferred compensation

• Question about how donations to UL and UF are different

• UL & UF boards need to be transparent and open when making decisions and conveying information to faculty.
• Appears to be a largess focused on senior administrators at the expense of the most vulnerable, i.e., students with increasing tuition every year as well as staff and faculty who have not received consistent raises
• Suggestion that FS should appoint a special committee to look into the question of the appropriateness of these kinds of deferred compensation packages in light of rising tuition and limited raises.
• Reading about these issues on the front page of the local newspaper is especially jarring, despite the fact that the arrangements may be perfectly legal, especially when faculty have to beg for x-pay funds for special projects/work they are doing.
• There are glaring inconsistencies between the pay for senior administrators and faculty/staff
• Concerns are not about the legality, but about whether all of these payments are ethical.  It is odd that senior administrators are receiving extra monies about their salary given the tuition hikes and very low raises for staff/faculty.
• These payments are not ethical, especially during a time of university budget cuts, people on soft money losing their jobs, etc.
• Whatever the situation may have been in 2002 that justified these deferred compensation arrangements, the situation in 2015 is very different.
• Morale within the university community is an issue.
• Morale is an issue, as well as the corporatization of education.  It appears that the 1% of upper level administration at the university functions like the private sector and CEOs.
• Secrecy is a major issue even if the underlying facts support the decisions that have been made.
• The entire situation reveals a secret culture that is frustrating. It is wrong to have a secret culture in a university setting.
• FS should not try to defend the actions of the administration.
• A related issue in the public at large and within the university community is the large separation agreements awarded to staff.  Were those agreements made using university funds? Is it appropriate to use university funds for these purposes?

 

 

INFORMATION ITEM: Status/Update on Libraries - Fox

Dean Fox spoke to the Faculty Senate today to give an update of what has taken place since he came to UofL, 4 years ago. The work of the Faculty Senate’s Committee on Libraries was mostly focused on the program proposals that came up for review. Dean Fox wanted a more advisory committee with a broader view, so he created the Faculty Advisory Library Committee with 12 members from across the University (except, Law, which has its own library). The committee met in November and will later this month. Then, Dean Fox presented a new project that University Libraries is undertaking: THINK:IR, a new web site has been developed that will serve as the University’s institutional repository for scholarly writing.  Documents have already started being transitioned and can be digitally embargoed and searched in Google. The system has many capabilities. The second phase of the project will be faculty publishing, which may also help with grant writing. Another use could be housing published journals. This could create the opportunity to discuss how faculty can hold on to their own work. It would also give faculty the chance to create their own journals. And, finally, data management is an issue, as many grants are mandating that applicants have this capability. This would eliminate that hurdle. Dean Fox then gave an update on Ekstrom facility updates. Here is a link to the renovations: http://louisville.edu/library/ekstrom/reno/home. Renovations are scheduled to begin on May 4^th, 2015. He then reported that though the collections have not moved forward, none have been cut in 4 years. Books are now ordered only by request and there is some room in journal packages to work with titles.

 

 

INFORMATION ITEM: Special Assistant to the Provost for Engaged Scholarship - Fosl

Dr. Cate Fosl, Special Assistant to the Provost for Engaged Scholarship, spoke to the Senate today on the current state of Engaged Scholarship at UofL. She reported that UofL’s strong tradition of community service provides many opportunities for engagement activities, either service or scholarly. A handout provided definitions of terms and addressed the myths and misconceptions of community engagement. A Power Point presentation outlined best practices for successful community engaged scholarship.

REPORT: University Provost – Dr. Shirley Willihnganz

Provost Willihnganz began her report by thanking Dr. Fosl for all her work on engaged scholarship and that there is no agenda to make everyone participate. We all choose our areas of research and this is not for everyone. We know that the more the students are engaged, the more likely they are to stay and graduate. As was announced, Dean Neville Pinto (Speed School) will become the Interim Provost at the end of the semester. She will remain at UofL until graduation and then take one year off. She said that the ACC is the first athletic conference that prides itself on academic support of student-athletes. It will also provide opportunities for our faculty to participate with other schools. UofL was chosen one of five ACC schools to name ACC Distinguished Fellows. UofL chose Dr. Maureen McCall. McCall holds joint appointments as professor in the Departments of Anatomical Sciences and Neurobiology and Psychological and Brain Sciences. She will travel to other ACC schools and talk about UofL and her research. The ACC will give us $2500 for any ACC lecturer to visit UofL. The Provost then moved on to the federally mandated participation of ‘responsible parties’ in reporting sexual violence as stated in the Title IX and Clery Act. She said there are many details they are working through in order to provide a culture of safety on all campuses. She said all responders and student advocates are trained in working in these situations, and that it is not a random person that will be contacting student/victims. She is working with SIGS Dean Boehm on the issue of GTAs being identified as faculty/responsible party. Addressing the concern for the time it takes to get an appointment at the Student Healthcare Counseling Center, Dr. Willihnganz said that more counselors need to be added and the hours of service don’t always match students’ availability.

Asked about the changes in the School of Medicine’s Surgery department, she replied that it was positively reviewed on all levels, no changes were made to the academic programs and it will now go to the Board of Trustees. Asked about the Koch-Schnatter announcement of the Schnatter Institute for Free Enterprise and how the proposal has not come through any of the approval channels yet. The Provost said that it would go through the channels and that it was just an announcement of the financial gift. Nothing will move forward without input. We accepted the gift so we could write the proposal. A concern was raised that the Planning & Budget Committee members may feel pressured to approve the proposal. Dr. Willihnganz encouraged committee members to do their due diligence, to give it (the proposal) an honest look and to use their integrity throughout all of it. Asked if the institute would open later than this fall if it is not approved, the Provost said that classes could be offered, but the institute may not be up and running. Asked if there was any HR news, she said that COO/CFO Harlan Sands was here and is looking at integrating all of our systems, and HR is part of that. He will hire an interim and will most likely make an announcement in a week.

 

 

REPORT: University President: Dr. James Ramsey

President Ramsey’s report is below.

 

 

REPORT: Standing Committee Reports

Academic Programs Committee (APC) – This committee did not meet.

Committee on Committees and Credentials (CCC) – This committee met today to begin working on the election.

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

Planning & Budget Committee (P&B) - This committee met on February 11^th with the Executive Committee for a budget presentation and will meet again in April to review the Koch-Schnatter proposal.

Redbook & Bylaws Committee (RB) – No report to make, but the committee is currently reviewing documents.

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

New Business

None

Old Business

None

Announcements

None

Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 4:50 P.M.

 

 

 

Report to Faculty Senate from Jim Ramsey

 

I regret that I will be unable to join you for the rescheduled meeting of the Faculty Senate.  As I mentioned in our conversation last week, the presidents of the ACC institutions are meeting in conjunction with the men’s basketball tournament this week in Greensboro.  I will be attending as we continue to talk about a variety of high profile issues including cost of attendance, freshman eligibility, etc.

 

It should be an interesting meeting, particularly in light of the recent Syracuse revelations – this, on top of what’s been going on at UNC for several years, creates an interesting and important dynamic to our conversations.  (The spring ACC presidents meeting is held in conjunction with the men’s basketball tournament one year, and the women’s tournament the following year.)

 

As you remember, I also missed the February meeting because of ongoing performance based budget discussions with the Council on Postsecondary Education.  Below is a quick synopsis of some of the points that I had planned to discuss with you at last Wednesday’s meeting.

 

1. Legislative session.  Weather has created issues for all of us – the General Assembly has missed five or six legislative days as a result of the weather.  While that great American philosopher, Yogi Berra, said, “It ain’t over till it’s over,” at this point it doesn’t look as if anything of significance (good or bad) will be enacted effecting higher education.  Of course, this is a non-budget year so we have been engaged with members of the House and Senate, setting the stage for the 2016 budget session.

 

2. CPE.  Consistent with the above, the Council on Postsecondary Education and their performance funding work group continues their work.  Originally Bob King, President of the CPE, had hoped to “wrap up” these discussions at the February meeting.  This did not occur.  The presidents did have a conference call last Wednesday and my best summary of where we are today is below:

 

a.   There has been an agreement between UK and UofL that if we are going to do performance funding, we should do “real” performance funding with real performance metrics and not be bound to the Mississippi model suggested by the CPE staff and endorsed by the comprehensive universities – a model that is primarily enrollment based.  With the CPE’s blessing, UK and UofL are being given the opportunity to develop our own performance metrics with emphasis on degree production and research/scholarly activities.  These discussions with UK continue.

b.   Bob King suggested to the comprehensives that they follow the lead of UofL/UK and adopt “real” performance metrics as opposed to a model based primarily on student credit hour production.  It does not appear that the comprehensives have an appetite for this and there is still disagreement among the comprehensives as to what constitutes public funds in their model – state appropriation or state appropriation plus tuition dollars.  President King would now like to finalize the performance distribution portion of a funding model by April and then begin to focus on components of an appropriate request for higher education given the myriad of budget cuts dating back to 2006.

3.   Board of Trustees

 

a.   The Board of Trustees of the University of Louisville were scheduled to meet last Thursday.  The meeting, of course, was cancelled because of the weather.  At the request of what one blogger called the “dissidents” on the board, the Chairman proposed an ad hoc committee of the board to review governance issues.  This was to be discussed at the board meeting – of course, discussion could not take place since the meeting was cancelled.  Chairman Hughes conveyed the mandate of the ad hoc committee and membership via correspondence.

 

 

b.   We were to have honored Jeffrey Skinner for his Guggenheim and other recent recognition and to deal with by-law changes as recommended by several of our schools and colleges.  We were also to have had a Personnel Committee meeting – the main topic was a review and approval promotion in tenure cases.  These actions have to wait until the April board meeting which will be held at the Academy as Shawnee High School (there is a potential for a special called personnel meeting before that date; we are working on scheduling now).  Finally, I had planned to talk with the board at its Personnel Committee meeting about the appointment of Dean Neville Pinto as our interim Provost.  It felt that with the cancellation of the meeting I needed to move forward so Neville would have an opportunity to begin his transition working with Shirley.

 

1. The next meeting of the board will focus on community engagement and the primary location for the meeting will be at Shawnee, in the west end.  We may also visit Atkinson’s which has been the primary site for the development of our clinical model of teacher preparation.  The agenda for that meeting is now being finalized.

 

1. The primary focus of the June meeting will be the budget for the next year (currently we are getting feedback on “Scenario B”) and follow up on KentuckyOne.
2. The July retreat of the Board of Trustees will by July 16-17^th in Prestonsburg, Kentucky – the university is engaged in the SOAR (Shaping Our Appalachian Region) initiative.

 

1. The weather disruptions are difficult.  Those involved in making the campus safe during these time periods have done an amazing job.  We try to function to the maximum degree possible – but the safety of our faculty, staff and students is always paramount.

 

1. Today we announced the gift to our business school to create a Center for Free Enterprise and Entrepreneurship – $4.6 million from John Schnatter, $1.6 million from the Koch Foundation.

 

Thank you.

 

Jim Ramsey

 

 

 

 

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

Gretchen Stein Henry

Faculty Senate Secretary