FACULTY SENATE PRÉCIS

October 10 and 12, 2006

12:15 p.m.-1:50 p.m., Auerbach 426

 

Tuesday, October 10

 

Present: Senators Ball, Beaulieu, Canedy, Comiskey, Davis, Desplaces, Diehl, Eppes, Fang, E.Gray, J.Gray, Katrichis, Larson, Mayer, McMiller, Nolan, Oliver, Osama, Padberg, Petry, Russell, Shepela, Siegel, Sumukadas, and Weinholtz. 78% (25 out of 31)

 

Absent: Senators Borucinska, Carey, Decker, Mori, Westfall, and Williamson

 

Call to Order – Chair Katrichis called the second meeting of the ’06-’07 Senate to order. There were no announcements.

 

  1. Curriculum Committee – Senator J.Gray reviewed the recommendations made by the Curriculum Committee on materials that came before the Committee for review. Report was approved by the Senate.  Please see report at http://uhaweb.hartford.edu/facsenate/CC/FacSenCurrOct-06.htm

Also, check out the addition of SCAA reports to the Senate Web page: http://uhaweb.hartford.edu/facsenate/CC/SCAA-Actions-OCT-06.htm

 

  1. Bent/Larsen/Trachtenberg – Senator Russell announced that the “call for nominations” is ready, and will be distributed in the near future. She encourages participation.

 

  1. Computer and Technology – Senator Sumukadas Updated the Senators on the Provost's Blackboard Planning Committee. A possible upgrade to the Enterprise version of Blackboard is being examined.  Representatives from Blackboard made a presentation on September 15 highlighting the features and benefits of the Enterprise version.  Senators Ball, Desplaces, Siegal, and Sumukadas attended this session. Some of the features include:

·         Allows easier system administration of Blackboard, including integration with Banner, and automation of tedious tasks currently performed manually (such as course creation, student enrollment, etc.).  The upgrade could free up FCLD staff to focus more on learning development.

·         Includes features of interest to users and faculty, such as adaptive release (allows material to be released to students sequentially, after completion of prior steps), dashboard summary (quick overview of students' progress/completion of materials), easier management of groups, messaging system with archive (can replace e-mail, maintains record of communications), syllabus builder tool (provides a template for entry of syllabus information).  Further, the Enterprise version allows the addition of "Building Blocks," or add-ins that provide extra features.  Several building blocks are available for free, including Merlot search, Google Scholar, advanced group management, and discussion grader (allows grading of discussion threads by instructor, or rating by fellow students).  Other building blocks are offered by vendors, such as Turn-it-in (plagiarism detection tool). Discussion in the Senate included the possibility of using funds to support human services vs. the update of the software.

 

  1. Professional Standards – Senator Weinholtz said the HRD appendix is actively being reviewed by the committee for formatting and such, and is expected to be completed soon.

 

  1. Part-Time & Adjunct Faculty – Senator Petry shared with the Senators the make-up of the P/T & Adjunct Faculty Committee. She is “thrilled” the members are passionate about the University, and most of all, they exhibit passion for the students. Members are familiarizing themselves with last year’s committee report as to continue the work initiated by the committee, especially as it relates to part time and adjunct faculty benefits.  It was also requested because Hartt was not initially included in the compensation plans, the committee follow-up and assure the continuation of that piece of the compensation plan. Senator Petry also announced the invitations for the reception honoring the adjunct and part-time faculty are being distributed. It will be held November 8, from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. in the 1877 Club, Harry Jack Gray Center. “The reception provides an opportunity for full-time faculty, administrators and the Faculty Senate to publicly acknowledge the important role adjunct and part-time faculty play in our campus community.”

 

  1. Student Affairs – Senator Desplaces reported on the following:

·         Student conduct inside and outside the classroom

·         Programming: ride-along, Oct. 27

·         Stress management; time management programs planned. It is required that Resident Directors (R.Ds) run a certain number of programs for their assigned dorms.

·         Accountability

·         A “Death protocol” document was requested of Student Life and received. A hard copy will be kept in the Faculty Senate Office.

 

  1. Benefit Task Force – Professors Kagan and Schuyler, faculty representatives to the Benefits Task Force were present to answer questions on the newly announced health plan to take effect January 1, 2007. Concerns were voiced about “after the fact” announcing and not having input into the decision-making. Accordingly, it was reported that the faculty have input into the decision making through the two elected faculty members of the Benefits Task Force.  However, the meetings are “closed,” and do not include discussions outside that group. The Benefits Task Force was formed in 1981 by the Faculty Senate to serve as a “watch-dog” and to make recommendations to the President in regards to benefit issues.. Presently, two staff members, two faculty members, one from Finance, and one from Human Resources form the voting members of the Benefits Task Force. Senators voiced what they saw as a lack of communication between the representatives and the faculty. As a Senate, they had not heard from either of the representatives on any Benefit Task Force issues. It was noted that there have been general reports from the Benefits Task Force published in the UNotes. Concerns were voiced that in addition to the reduction of plans (the HMO was eliminated), there is also a large increase in co-pays, some going from $0 to $200 and even to $500.

 

Other points discussed:

·         The Flex Spending account, which includes a “credit card,” allows the use of pre-tax dollars to pay for medical expenses.  This can help in easing the burden of increases in health care costs.

·         The choices facing the BTF for choosing an insurance plan was to either increase deductibles, or take on a much higher premium plan.

·         Debates on these choices were held during the early spring and announced in the summer (click here for letter). Due to increases in healthcare costs, it costs dramatically more for the same coverage employees currently have.

·         The 20/80 split was explained. The split is increasing by one percent each year to a goal of 25/75 in five years

·         The employee three-tier plan was explained; since no employees fall in the first tier, it is expected that a revised tier will be put into place in within the next year.

·         The two choices in plans include a “point of service” plan that has lower deductibles and higher monthly premium, and a “point of service” plan that has very high deductibles, and a lower monthly premium. (Explained at an informational session: Doctors and service centers should stay the same.)

·         In response to questions about ConnectiCare, it was explained that coverage was limited mostly to Connecticut, UnitedHealthcare is nation-wide.

·         Senators voiced their opinion on their lack of input as a faculty group.

·         The Benefits Taskforce is moving in the direction of multi-year contracts.

·         Representatives of the Taskforce see themselves as “watchdogs” for faculty’s benefits.

 

Base information is included in the following letter, which was posted in UNotes on September 13, 2006:

The Benefits Task Force has carefully reviewed a wide range of medical insurance options in recent months, with the goal of maintaining high-quality, comprehensive, and affordable coverage in the face of rapidly rising health care costs.

The challenge for the Benefits Task Force has been to keep health care cost increases as low as possible, while maintaining the University’s excellent medical benefits. “Over the years, the Benefits Task Force has been very effective in keeping our medical coverage affordable, without compromising the quality of the benefits,” said Beverly Maksin, chair of the Task Force. “For 2007, I am pleased that we will be able to offer employees a real choice between two affordable options that will continue to provide comprehensive medical coverage.”

After extensive deliberation, the Task Force recommended and President Walter Harrison approved retaining United Healthcare. The University will continue to offer the existing United Healthcare Point of Service (POS) plan, which will be called the “Enhanced” POS plan.

The United Healthcare HMO plan will be replaced by a “Core” POS plan, which will still provide access to United Healthcare’s extensive provider network, and offers the benefit of lower premiums in exchange for higher out of pocket co-pays. For 2007, faculty and staff will have the opportunity to choose between the “Enhanced” POS plan and a new “Core” POS plan.

A full comparison of co-pays and premiums for the two plans will be included in open enrollment packets, to be distributed to employees later this month. There will also be informational meetings in early October to answer your questions about the various options for medical coverage. Employees are encouraged to attend these meetings.

·         [Post meeting – UnitedHealthcare has ended their contract with Quest Laboratories, and have signed up with LabCorp. It is expected that they will be setting up Laboratories throughout the state. There are currently only a few.]

 

  1. Peter Diffley, Dean of Graduate Studies – Dean Diffley described the structure of the Graduate Council and what he hoped the Council would accomplish. He shared these observations:

·         7,266 students who enrolled in the Fall 2006 term, 23% are graduate students

·         About half of international students on campus are enrolled in graduate programs

Dean Diffley said the President of the University has looked out over the next 50 years and sees a strong residential undergraduate program, an increased numbers of graduate and professional students, and an internationalized student body. This means that the dean of graduate studies has his work cut-out.  His first step is to build an interconnected graduate community on this campus starting with the Graduate Council.  To be effective, he wants on the Council:

·         Representation from all constituencies.

·         Decision makers on the committee.

·         The purpose and goals for the group clearly defined and relevant.

The goal for this year is to study and produce a best practices manual on recruitment and admissions.

Unfortunately, recruitment and admissions is a large and complex topic and the council is too large to tackle even a focused issue. "To solve both of these problems, I broke the process of graduate recruitment and admissions into smaller steps and then asked the members of the council to sign up to study one of the steps,” Dean Diffley said.

·         Building inquiries. How to get from: “Hmm I think I need to go to grad school,” to “What does the University of Hartford have to offer?” Defining the target groups, full time vs. part time, domestic vs. international, masters vs. doctoral, etc, is very important. What methods are currently being used here and elsewhere to get potential applicants to think of the University of Hartford?

·         Going from inquiry to application.  When potential applicants look at promotional material of graduate programs at the University of Hartford, what do they see?  Is it compelling?

·         Evaluating and processing applications. How does a department determine capacity? What in an application is a harbinger of doom and what indicates a high likelihood of success? What is the probability excepting the department’s offer? How long does it take to make a decision?

·         Post admissions recruiting and processing. Finally you need to close the deal.  How do you get the student to commit? This not only includes one-on-one communication but departmental and university orientation activities.

Four committees will continue to gather data, and meet November 29, when the entire council will convene to hear and discuss the results.   “I believe at that point I will have the raw material to produce a best practices manual,” Dean Diffley said.

 

The Senators had questions regarding culture change at the University, branding of the University name; Barney, Hartt issues. The Senate summarized that Colleges need to focus on their “best” expertise.

 

  1. Admissions Strategies 2006 – Chuck Colarulli, Associate Provost, and Rick Zeiser, Dean of Admission, discussed strategies and innovations in full-time undergraduate recruitment that have allowed for eight years of meeting budgeted enrollment goals and increasing enrollment from just over 4000 to just over 4700 students.  In particular, we have abandoned the static stages of the traditional admissions funnel in favor of an approach to recruitment that simultaneously allows for prospecting inquiries, application development, and admission processing for much of the eighteen months of the recruitment cycle.  Activities and innovations include geo-demographic targeting, extensive use of personalized, mass html-email requiring an action on the part of prospects, an award winning website that secures prospect information during visits, an award winning admitted student brochure that uses variable data printing that allows for responding to individual student interests, and on-campus events that address student and parents interests and concerns in an organized and effective manner. Questions were limited due to meeting end time. Associate Deans Colarulli and Dean Zeiser offer to answer any questions that Senators may not have had a chance to ask via e-mail; colarulli@hartford.edu and zeiser@hartford.edu. You may also contact the Office of the Faculty Senate, at FacSenate@hartford.edu

 

  1. Orders of the Day – meeting was adjourned until Thursday, October 12.

 

Thursday, October 12

 

Present: Senators Ball, Beaulieu, Borucinska, Canedy, Comiskey, Davis, Desplaces, Diehl, Eppes, Fang, E.Gray, J.Gray, Katrichis, Mayer, Nolan, Oliver, Osama, Padberg, Petry, Russell, Siegel, Sumukadas, and Weinholtz. 68% (23 out of 31)

 

Absent: Senators Carey, Decker, Larson, McMiller, Mori, Shepela, Westfall, and Williamson

 

  1. Faculty Chair Katrichis reconvened the meeting.

 

  1. Conversation with President Harrison and Provost Randall. The president introduced the topic of the Spellings report to the Senators. Provost Randall followed with a presentation where she presented an overview of the Spellings’ Commission Report, which lays out the U.S. Department of Education’s intentions for engagement with higher education. The report was more conciliatory than many people expected. The major recommendations included:

·         Expanding the “effective principles” of No Child Left Behind to high schools, renewing a push by President Bush that Congress has thus far failed to carry out over two budget cycles. Spellings suggests that the higher education commission’s work could give a new impetus to this drive by showing how many high school students graduate unprepared to do college level work.

·         Streamlining the process by which students apply for financial aid, to “cut the application time in half and notify students of their aid eligibility earlier than spring of their senior year to help families plan” to pay for college. Spellings said in the interview that the commission’s broader recommendation about reviewing and streamlining the entire federal system of student financial aid (which she described as “highly complicated, byzantine even") “certainly requires Congressional action,” and that she expected the Education Department to come up with a framework for such a review in the coming months.

·         Building a national framework that provides “the same kind of privacy-protected student-level data we already have for K through 12 students,” and using “that data to create a higher education information system.” Spellings avoided using the loaded phrase “unit records” system to describe this project, which has been vigorously opposed by private colleges and leading Republicans in Congress, but her speech aims to ward off the objections they’ve raised about possible invasion of students’ privacy. “This information would be closely protected; it would not identify individual students, nor be tied to personal information — it wouldn’t enable you to go online and find out how Margaret Spellings did in her political science classes,” the draft of her speech says.

·         Providing “matching funds to colleges, universities and states that collect and publicly report student learning outcomes.” She did not provide additional details about this plan.

·         Convening accreditors and other higher education leaders and policy makers in November to help prod the country’s college accreditation system away from its emphasis on inputs “toward measures that place more emphasis on learning.” “Currently, institutions are asked ‘Are you measuring student learning?’ and they check yes or no. That must change. Whether students are learning is not a yes or no question — it’s how? How much? And to what effect?”

Those wishing to read more about the Spellings report can find useful information on the following:

http://insidehighered.com/news/2006/09/26/spellings

http://www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/hiedfuture/reports/pre-pub-report.pdf#search='spellings%20report

 

  1. New Business – Environmental Task Force – Senator Borucinska Environment & Recycling – Senator Borucinka led a discussion with the Senators where the University Senate is proposing to create an Ad hoc Environmental Task Force to deal with issues of environmental responsibility and sustainable policies on campus. The first item to be examined by the proposed task force will be the assessment of existing recycling policies and procedures.  Future items might include a variety of projects that will respond to the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection call to support climate change efforts by making our campus more energy efficient and environmentally friendly.  These might include the use of more eco-friendly landscaping techniques, the application of sustainable technologies, and the formation of an ecological club and community garden.  The Senators are kindly asked to disseminate the above information to faculty in their colleges; anyone interested in working on this task force please contact Senator Borucinska at borucinsk@hartford.edu.

                                                       

  1. The meeting adjourned at 1:50 p.m. The next Faculty Senate Meeting will be held November 9 and 14, 12:15 p.m. to 1:50 p.m., A426.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Maria Marques

Recorder