160 different e-mails directly,

UNIVERSITY OF HARTFORD

FACULTY SENATE PRÉCIS

March 11 and 13, 2008

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

Tuesday, March 11

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1. Chair Weinholtz called the meeting to order and welcomed the Senate to the 7th meeting of the 2007-2008 academic year.

Suspension of Admissions for the ENHP Counseling Program -- Chair Weinholtz presented ENHP Dean Dorothy Zeiser, and the Interim Provost, Joe Voelker, who requested to address the Senate in regards to Suspension of Admissions for the ENHP Counseling Program, a request made at the December 2007 meeting, by same, to the Senate.

After the Faculty Senate Curriculum Committee voted to support the recommendation brought to the Senate by the Department of Education and Human Services for a one-year exploration of ways of keeping the Counseling Programs viable, both financially and in terms of national accreditation, the Dean and Interim Provost requested to speak to the Senate before they voted.

Dean Zeiser shared with the Senate that she had reports dating back a number of years that recorded concerns with the current program. As the school prepares for the next NCATE accreditation visit these concerns should be resolved. The last review was in 1997, and a new review is now underway. A primary issue is that the program is run by one faculty member.

She spoke of the attempt to integrating the program with the School of Psychology that did not come to fruition. Request to add another faculty was also not met due to other priorities.

A Senator reminded that the wording in the MAPP was established to eliminate programs in a timely fashion. Excerpt follows:

D. Program Elimination, Suspension of Admissions, or Reinstatement of Admissions

1. Notification: When a major or degree program is under serious consideration for either elimination or one-year suspension of admissions to consider elimination, the Provost shall notify in writing the program's dean, chair/director, and faculty; the Council of Deans; and the Faculty Senate.

2. After notification has been received by the Faculty Senate and Council of Deans, the Provost will provide an explanation at the next regularly scheduled meetings of the Faculty Senate and Council of Deans.

a. Ordinarily, within two, regular, academic-year, calendar months of the explanation by the Provost, the Faculty Senate and Council of Deans each, with input from the program's chair and faculty, will make a recommendation in writing to the Provost on the proposed action.

b. If the Provost, Council of Deans, and Faculty Senate are all in agreement, the Provost, in cooperation with the program's dean and chair/director, will implement the decision.

c. If there is not agreement in the final recommendations of these parties, the Provost will notify the President, and the President shall approve the action, not approve the action, or extend the review period. The Provost, in cooperation with the program's dean and chair/director, will implement the President's decision.

3. Temporary Suspension of Admissions

In exceptional circumstances, and only after consultation with the program's dean, program's chair/director, and the chair of the Faculty Senate, the Provost may suspend admissions to a major or a degree program, ordinarily for no more than one year with the intention to reinstate admissions. The Provost shall immediately notify the program's dean, chair/director, and faculty; the Council of Deans; the Dean of Admission; and the Faculty Senate. When admissions are re-opened, the Provost shall notify the same parties.

Dean Zeiser mentioned that according to Graduate Dean Peter Diffly’s research, a higher priority is being given to the Early Childhood Education Program due to its greater viability. With the NCATE accreditation approaching, now appears to be a good time to re-allocate a faculty position to the early childhood program.

Interim Provost Voelker again spoke about their request which is to temporarily suspend admissions while the program is under consideration.

2. PRESENTATIONS

Joe Voelker, Interim Provost, updating the Senate announced that the on-line evaluations will not go forward at this time. On-line evaluation will prove more palatable to faculty when the questionnaires can be filled out in a supervised, technologically equipped classroom.

· He spoke of the Van Roy Center for Complexity and Conflict Analysis. He said a reading group was being formed, and the group will start next fall. He hopes to announce the name of the founding director in April.

· He spoke about the Strategic Planning Committee. An advance draft of the plan include contributions of the Senate, SGA and the Staff Association, and will be presented to the Board of Regents possibly this spring, and to the University's various constituencies by the President and Provost next September..

· Capital Campaign is underway.

· Directors of the Preceptors Program - due to tax law, preceptors will no longer be able to receive vouchers for books as payment. He said he hopes to announce the name of the founding director of the program in April.

Jane Horvath, University Academic Director of Early College High School and Associate Dean of Curriculum and Academic Planning High School – Professor Horvath told the Senators that since August 2007, she has not been associated with work on the University High School. However, she can inform the Senate that the two Early College Courses are up and running thanks to the earlier two committees and specifically the work of Lou Manzione, Hisham Alnajjar, Senator Osama Mohamed (ES 143), Mako Haruta and Jean McGivney Burelle (M140). She said that they also offered to schedule a RPW 110 dedicated section, but high school student interest was not sufficient. Professors Mark Blackwell and Nels Highberg were responsible for the appropriate high school placement in the college course. Professor Horvath praised their work and commented that it should serve as a foundation for the future. She suggested we speak to the Dean of the High School, Alan Hadad for more in-depth and updated information.

Values Committee -- Professor Horvath reminded the Senate that the University’s 51 years makes us a “young” school. She said we are at the stage of defining and discovering who we are. “In some ways that is the work we (the values committee) are engaged in.” She added, we are defining who we are as a community, what our shared values are, and how we wish to use our shared values in our programming, to foster community and to enhance the educational experience.

The committee has been meeting since mid-December.  Committee members include: Courtney Gomez (student, ENHP), Osama Mohamed (assistant professor, CETA), John Nordyke (associate professor, HAS), Irwin Nussbaum (Residential Life), Fred Sweitzer (professor, ENHP), Rebecca Tyrrell (student, A&S), Norm Young (Facilities).

The Committee’s Charge is to create a statement of shared values that represents the University of Hartford community.

· The statement should be organic, having been developed through a series of community conversations that involve all segments of the University of Hartford, and should reflect our shared understanding of what it means to be part of the University of Hartford community.

· Provide a series of recommendations on how the statement of shared values will be used institution-wide to improve our collective sense of community.

To date, Professor Horvath said they have been developing a plan to meet this ambitious charge and mapping out how to engage this work. She outlined a multi-step process as follows:

Step 1: April -- Meet with small established groups to help frame the questions and

issues for the community conversations: SGA Ex Committee, Faculty Senate Executive Committee, Staff Association Executive Committee, Officers, COD.

Step 2:  June: Groups on campus during summer Early September: other groups; groups typically on campus during the academic year. Fan out and expand for conversations with more groups, larger groups.

Step 3: September/Early October: Open Meetings and Community Conversations. Specifics are still in the planning stages.

Beyond Step 3:  Back to the Community for feedback, reaction. Then recommendations to President Harrison by end of fall semester.

Professor Horvath hopes to be invited back to the full faculty senate in the future for an update. She will be happy to hear any questions, comments or reactions, via e-mail: horvath@hartford.edu, or by phone, at x4905.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

BLT – Senator Russell reported that the Committee has completed its work in the selection of award recipients, and made the recommendations to the President.

Constitution & Bylaws – Senator Decker informed the Senate recommendations for the organization (or re-organization) of the Faculty Senate committees will be forthcoming.

Curriculum Committee – Chair Weinholtz reviewed the Curriculum Committee report shared with the Senators. After discussion, the report was approved unanimously.

Part-time Faculty Committee – Senator Siegel reported that the Committee continues discussions and work on the survey.

Student Affairs - Senator Oliver updated Senators on the meeting of his Committee. They will meet again in early April to discuss the feedback that the committee members have received on the latest draft of the university Academic Honesty Values Statement.

Orders of the Day.

Thursday, March 13

5. Chair Weinholtz reconvened the meeting.

· After discussion on the proposal to eliminate the Sixth Year Certificate in Educational Leadership, the Senators voted unanimously in favor.

· Also, after discussion, the Senate voted unanimously in favor to suspend admissions to the HAS MFA Residence Program.

· After further discussion on the Suspension of Admissions for the ENHP Counseling Program, three separate paper ballot votes we distributed.

1. The Faculty Senate supports the suspension of admissions to ENHP Counseling Programs - Masters and 6th year (Senators voted: YES:15; NO: 9)

2. (If Yes, or No, on first vote) The Senate recommends a full and fair program evaluation, honoring the Department of Education and Human Services’ request for a one-year exploration of ways of keeping the Counseling Programs viable, both financially and in terms of national accreditation. (Senators voted: YES:24; NO: 1)

3. The Senate recommends that any deliberation, which may result in the suspension of admissions of admissions to a program or to a recommendation that a program be eliminated, begin with a transparent collaboration between the dean and the faculty involved followed by a full and fair program evaluation. (Senators voted: YES:23; NO:0; ABSTAIN:1)

PRESENTERS:

President Harrison began by announcing the results of the Provost Search: Lynn Pasquerella, currently vice provost for academic affairs and dean of the graduate school at the University of Rhode Island was announced this morning in UNotes as the new University of Hartford Provost. She is scheduled to begin May 30. He said she thought it would be a good idea to be here during the summer to learn about the University. “Both she and I are looking forward to that.” For more information, please see UNotes on the web http://www.hartford.edu/provost/newprovost.asp

President Harrison thanked all of those who took part in the Provost Search process, which included a number of Senators. He shared that he received 160 different e-mails and 100 people filled out the forms at various sessions with the candidates. He said he read them carefully, and had to make what he called “the most difficult decision” he ever had to make deciding between Interim Provost Joe Voelker and Lynn.

He thinks that the different strengths Lynn Pasquerella will bring to the University will be a good balance with his own. As President Harrison has been here 10 years, he said he is acutely aware of needing someone with fresh eyes.

He highlighted that Lynn has written two books and several articles on various ethics of medicine and biological research, she has been recognized for her academic work as well as an administrator; she was honored by Change Magazine and the American Association of Higher Education as one of the nation’s "Young Leaders of the Academy."

She lives in Woodstock, Ct., an advantage, as she will not need to move her family. Her first request was to get a University of Hartford e-mail address: Pasquerel@hartford.edu

President Harrison then discussed the future of the University in relation to demographics and future enrollment in the “jumping around” economy:

o Fall to Spring Statistics were better than expected (better than last year). A better indicator, President Harrison believes is who will accept our offer of admission. As we monitor, we have “rolling admissions” in most of our schools, and many people wait until the last two weeks in April to decide whether they will come to the University or not, therefore, it is hard to predict. However, until now we do not see a change. He added that if we did, we would probably change our financial aid package.

o Another indicator is whether students who are here now come back next fall. We will not know much until the summer.

o In his personal view the economy may not be as bad as the media makes it out to be, but perception has a big part in things becoming a reality.

o A Senator suggested that in addition to an exit interview, a follow-up a year later would help guide us on what “really” turned them away.

o Generally, the northeast population is going down while southwest is climbing. And their effect on the University’s future.

o He said 22% of our undergraduate students are students of color--approximately 12% black, 8% Latino, 2% Asian or Native American (they are not spread out over colleges). He said, and Senators agreed, that colleges need to look at ways to develop in order to market and attract those students and stay competitive.

o Even though we are a national University, 75% come from the Northeastern part of the United States.

o In a national study, compared to private universities, (not broken down by competitors) the University of Hartford has a small number of “rich” students, it also has fewer poor students. Compared to private universities, we are smaller in the top 10% of the economic scale, and smaller in the bottom 10%, but heavier in the middle class; 21.5% in socioeconomic class. Theoretically, we will be most affected by the economic downturn, as it is likely to hit the middle class, which makes up 80% of our student population.

It is hard to determine where and how recession hits. The President reassured the Senators that the University is being pro-active.

He added, better than glossy brochures or media ads, the best advertisement for the University is a friend or relative that goes back and tells of his or her good experience at the University of Hartford.

Lee Peters, Vice President for Student Affairs, spoke with the Senators about decline in enrollment “from the student affairs side of the house.” How do we get students here and how do we keep them here. This discussion continued from President Harrison’s conversation with the Senators. Vice President Peters confirmed that for the last couple of years the University’s feedback from students has included comments of their dissatisfaction with residence halls and campus life. He said that they are addressing the issues is by having renovated the first year hall and having built Hawk Hall. They continue looking at initiatives to help student retention.

He also informed the Senate that he is in the process of hiring a Director of Residential Life, and feels he has a good pool of candidates.

Being no further business, the Senate adjourned at 1:50 p.m. The next meeting of the Faculty Senate will be April 8 and 10, 2008, at 12:15 p.m., in Auerbach 426.

Respectfully submitted,

Maria Marques

Recorder

Office of the Faculty Senate