University of Louisville
Faculty Senate Meeting
June 3, 2015
The regular meeting of the Faculty Senate was held on June 3, 2015 at 3:00 P.M. in Room 124 in the Dental School, HSC Campus, Pamela Feldhoff presiding.
Senators Registering Attendance:
A&S: David Brown, Jennie Burnett, Greg Hutcheson BUSINESS: Rob Barker, Ben Foster DENTISTRY: Ricardo Caicedo, Robert Staat EDUCATION: Thomas Simmons LAW: Enid Trucios-Haynes LIBRARIES: Carrie Daniels, Terri Holtze, Margo Smith MEDICINE: Yousef Abu-Kwaik, Forest Arnold, Eric Burton, Pamela Feldhoff, Sham Kakar, Brad Keller, Kenneth Palmer, Chin Ng, David Stirling, Michael Tseng MUSIC: Krista Wallace-Boaz NURSING: Heather Owens PART-TIME FACULTY: Susan Peacock PUBLIC HEALTH: Ray Austin SPEED: Kyung Kang, J.P. Mohsen
Also Attending:
Ex Officio: James Ramsey, Ginger Brown, Alex Stewart
Other University Representation: Tracy Eells (Provost’s Office), Bob Stenger (ULARP)
Guests: Steve Gohman, Rohan Christie-David, Richard Germain, Steven Lippmann
Press: Janet Cappiello (UofL Today)
Senate Coordinator: Gretchen Henry
Senators Not Registering Attendance:
A&S: Carrie Donald, Jasmine Farrier, Karen Hadley, Ron Sahoo, David Simpson, Joseph Steffen, Beth Willey, Elaine Wise BUSINESS: Bruce Kemelgor, Robert Myers DENTISTRY: Donald Demuth, Dave Willis EDUCATION: Monica Delano, Patrick Hardesty, Caroline Sheffield KENT: Seana Golder, Martin Hall, Wanda Lott Collins LAW: Kurt Metzmeier, Luke Milligan MEDICINE: Luz Fernandez, Arun Gadre, Guomin Jiang, Saeed Jortani, Jeffery King, Rainer Lenhardt MUSIC: Randi Bolding, Dror Biran NURSING: Valerie McCarthy, Karen Singleton PART-TIME FACULTY: Donna Gaus, Joseph Gutmann, Rose Mills, Joh Ritz, Michael Wade PUBLIC HEALTH: Scott LaJoie SPEED: Roger Bradshaw, Kevin Walsh
CALL TO ORDER: Feldhoff
ACTION ITEM: Meeting Minutes - The meeting minutes from May 6, 2015 were approved unanimously as distributed.
REPORT: Student Government Association –Stewart
Alex Stewart introduced himself as the SGA’s new Academic Vice President and representative to the faculty Senate for the coming academic year. The newly-elected SGA officers are transitioning into their roles. The initiatives they will work on for the coming year are: simplifying online advising; placing student representatives on university-wide committees; continue work on the L Trail; and, working with the Library on study areas.
REPORT: Staff Senate – Ginger Brown
The Staff Senate met on May 11th, when both CFO/COO Sands and Interim Provost Pinto were in attendance. Interim HR Director Jeanell Hughes reported that 100% of performance evaluations had been turned in. There was a discussion of the 3% pool disbursement between COLA and merit. Ms. Hughes said that goal setting was the starting point of the performance evaluation process. Staff Senate elections will be held on Monday, June 8th. Angela Lewis-Klein and Steve Colston are running for senate chair; Will Armstrong, for vice chair and Vickie Tencer, for secretary-treasurer.
ACTION ITEM: John Schnatter Center for Free Enterprise – P&B Committee - Brown
On April 8th, the Planning & Budget Committee reviewed the proposal for the Schnatter Center for Free Enterprise. At that time, the committee had questions about possible hiring issues and the budget. The revised proposal, with all questions and concerns adequately addressed, was received on April 22, 2015. The approved documents had not been processed for posting with adequate time for review by the full senate. Several senators expressed concern about moving forward without time to review the documents. A motion was made and passed unanimously to delay action until the July Faculty Senate meeting.
ACTION ITEM: Second reading: School of Nursing Personnel Documents; Second reading: SPHIS policy revisions; First reading: School of Nursing Bylaws – REDBOOK Committee - Wallace-Boaz
- Second reading: SPHIS Personnel Document revision. There was no discussion. VOTE: Passed unanimously.
- Second reading: School of Nursing Personnel Documents There was no discussion. VOTE: Passed unanimously
- First reading: School of Nursing Bylaw revisions. The second reading will take place at the July meeting
REPORT: Interim University Provost - Dr. Neville Pinto
Dr. Pinto welcomed the Faculty Senate to the Dental School and wished all a good summer. He started his report by recognizing the accomplishments of the faculty for their role in the graduation of 4800 students in May. This included 2800 undergraduate, 1200 master and 400 professional and 180 research PhD degrees. There are some transitions in academic unit leadership coming up. Kent School Dean Terry Singer is stepping down in 2016. The search committee is moving forward. School of Dentistry John Sauk is retiring at the end of December. Dr. David Dunn will oversee this search. The search for the College of Business dean will begin in July. A search committee has not been formed yet. There are no 5 year dean reviews due this year. Dr. Willihnganz is still officially the Provost until June 30th and he is still the Speed School Dean, until then, as well. When the change officially takes place on July 1, John Usher will become the Acting Dean of the Speed School. With the addition of Harlan Sands to the leadership team, there has been a restructuring of the senior administrative level: if approved by the Board of Trustees, the Vice President for Student Affairs will move under the Provost’s Office and Mike Mardis will be the Vice Provost for Student Affairs and the Dean of Students. Addressing the 21st Century Initiative as the mid-point check for the 2020 Plan, Dr. Pinto said that President Ramsey had charged Dr. Willihnganz to summarize all the work and discussions over the past 2 years and create a framework to present at the Board of Trustees retreat in July. After she makes her final report, and it is approved by the Board, the Initiative’s implementation phase will begin. It will include studying national best practices in general education curriculum, considered the foundation of education. Arts & Sciences Dean Kempf-Leonard and Dr. Dale Billingsley, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Affairs, will lead the charge and complete this important undertaking by 2016. Reporting on the new academic building on Belknap Campus, Dr. Pinto said that faculty members are encouraged to weigh in on its design, to ensure it is first rate. The final selection for an architect is underway. Commenting on the amount of construction going on throughout the Belknap Campus, he said the temporary inconvenience will be rewarded with a transformation to the east entrance to campus. Some dates to remember: June 5th is Family & Friends – a day for high school children of staff and faculty to tour the SAC; June 26th is the Cards under the Stars family movie night. Asked to clarify the change in the title of Vice President for Student Affairs to Vice Provost of Student Affairs, Dr. Pinto said it the only change was that Housing will be moved under Harlan Sands area and come out of Student Affairs. Housing is a business for students, but the business negotiations and decisions will be made by Harlan Sands’ office, thought the Dean of Students will be included in discussions, but not in the facility negotiations and management. The title change was to place focus on academics. Senator Foster (CoB) asked about a news item on UofL Today about faculty signing up for United We Dream. He had contacted Dr. Willihnganz to find out who had done this. He wondered if there was a process or policy to restrict faculty members from joining unauthorized groups. Dr. Pinto said he would look into the matter, and said it’s a challenge at such a large institution and that, in some instances, we don’t want to stymy creative thinking. Senator Arnold congratulated Dr. Pinto on his new position, thanked him for attending today’s meeting and remarked that HSC is not so far from Belknap. Dr. Pinto replied that there are plans for a pediatric building in the next 2 years.
REPORT: University President - Dr. James Ramsey
President Ramsey began with an update on activities in Frankfort. He said that the tax revenues for the month of April were the highest in history, reaching $1B. The turnaround from last November, when a possible cut was feared, has required a reforecast in March of this year. Due to the increased job growth, there is now a $60M revenue surplus. The structural imbalance in expenses still exists, with the pension and Medicaid being the biggest expenses. At the President’s Meeting, the CPE is still talking about a performance-based funding model. The comprehensive schools, NKU and WKU, are working to add equity to their funding and both research institutions, UofL and UK must create their own performance metrics. There will be 5 metrics for both UofL and UK. Three metrics will be common and 2 will be specific to each school. It is hoped that the CPE will not set the metrics so high that they are unattainable. Our 2020 Plan is a good model and uses metrics for each year. If we surpass last year’s goals, we can achieve a good, better, best score. We would like to include community engagement and diversity in our metrics. The Board of Trustees meets tomorrow on HSC and will tour clinics, Frazier Rehab and various areas in UL Hospital. The Board has many new members and these tours are to help them understand UofL more clearly. In May, the Board toured Atkinson Elementary and The Academy @Shawnee. The Board’s annual retreat in July will be in eastern Kentucky, where UofL participates in the SOAR (Save Our Appalachian Region) program to improve the health, education, economic and overall well-being of the that region. At his last Board of Trustees meeting, former BOT Chair Frank Minnifield challenged the Board to “become a great team”. It is still a team divided. Dr. Ramsey said he is not sure what will happen to the Board. In September, there is to be an election for a new chair. An obscure state statute says that faculty, staff and student Board members may not vote for the Board of Trustees chair. This is the first time there have been 2 candidates for chair – the vice chair and another candidate. At the July meeting he will present all the goals that have been met. It is a good time to reflect on achievements and new goals. We have our issues and are not perfect, but we have not had to deal with some of the issues of other schools: academic fraud; hazing; and, allegations of sexual assault. We did address issues with a fraternity here. With all that has gone on this year, it is still a great place. Then, President Ramsey took questions. Asked if the 6 year graduation rate will be the standard, Dr. Ramsey said that our 6 year rate was below the national average and there is more work to be done on that. All of our data is reported to the government and he is not sure what will come out of the federal efforts on this issue. Asked how to address the issue of voting privileges revoked for faculty, staff and student members of the Board of Trustees, President Ramsey suggested getting a willing legislator to make an amendment to the statute, especially, if it does not apply to all schools.
REPORT: Standing Committees of the Faculty Senate
Academic Programs Committee (APC) – Demuth – This committee had no report.
Committee on Committees and Credentials (CCC) – Sahoo – This committee had no report.
Part-time Faculty Committee (PTFC) – Peacock – This report was online.
Planning & Budget Committee (P&B) – Brown – This committee did not meet in May.
Redbook & Bylaws Committee (RB) – Wallace-Boaz – As above
Executive Committee (XC) – Trucios-Haynes –This report was online.
OTHER REPORTS:
- Faculty Athletic Representative (FAR) – Elaine Wise – This report was available online.
REPORT: Faculty Senate Chair – Feldhoff
The Board of Trustees meets tomorrow. She has looked at the statute regarding the ineligibility of faculty, staff and student Board of Trustees members of voting for the chair. UofL’s REDBOOK states that all Board of Trustee members have full voting rights.
New Business
- Regarding the earlier question about United We Dream: Vice Chair Trucios-Haynes, who is on the committee, responded that it is merely a call to faculty to stand with students who are undocumented. She knows of no policy that would prevent the participation in either activity – forming a group of interested faculty or making the call to the faculty at large.
- Regarding the online posting of Senate documents: Senator Hutcheson requested that documents be posted earlier to allow time for review and consideration. Agreeing, Chair Feldhoff stated that documents should be posted a week ahead of the upcoming meeting.
Old Business
None
Announcements
None
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 4:15 P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Gretchen Stein Henry
Faculty Senate Secretary