FACULTY SENATE PRÉCIS
May 8 and 13, 2008
Attendance:
|
P |
Ball, Kevin A. |
P |
Gray, Edward |
P |
Padberg, Carol |
|
A |
Beaulieu, Mark |
P |
Gray, John |
P |
Petry,
Elizabeth |
|
P |
Borucinska,
Joanna |
A |
|
P |
Russell,
Ingrid |
|
A |
Brown,
Jennifer |
A |
Lei, Yu |
P |
Shepela, Sharon |
|
A |
Canedy, Charles |
A |
Machuga, Susan |
A |
Siegel, Paul |
|
P |
Carey, Elen |
A |
Mayer, Howard |
P |
Sumukadas, Narender |
|
P |
Comiskey, Anne |
A |
McMiller,
Darryl |
P |
Weinholtz,
Donn |
|
A |
Davis, Robert |
A |
Mohamed, Osama |
A |
Westfall,
David |
|
P |
Decker, Robert |
P |
Campbell, Nola |
P |
Williamson,
Daniel |
|
P |
Diehl, Susan |
A |
Nolan, Dennis |
P |
Zimmerman,
Christopher |
|
A |
Fang, Clara |
P |
Oliver, Peter |
= |
Present/Absent Attendance: 58% (18 out of 32) |
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Chair Weinholtz welcomed the Senators and guests to
the 9th and last Faculty Senate Meeting of the 2007-2008 Academic
Year.
The following were presented to the Faculty Senate
for a vote:
·
A revised Faculty Senate
Committees structure brought forth by the Constitution and Bylaws Committee.
This required a 2/3 vote of the Faculty Senate body; 23* of the 32 Senators
voted unanimously to incorporate the changes in the Constitution and Bylaws of
the Faculty Senate. (*18 attendees and 5 by proxy.)
·
One representative for the Budget
Advisory Team (BAT) – Professor Frederick (Rick) King, from ENHP, was chosen.
·
Two** representatives for the Provost’s
Committee on Promotion, Tenure, and Academic Freedom. Two names will be given
to the Provost: at the same amount of votes: Professor T. Clark Saunders from
Hartt and Dan Davis from CETA. (**The Provost will select one.) (Post-meeting:
the Provost has selected T. Clark Saunders).
·
A viable slate for Faculty Senate Officers for the
Academic Year 2008-2009 was presented by the Constitution and Bylaws Chair to
the Senate for a vote. Donn Weinholtz, as Chair,
·
The newly re-elected officers were also approved as
the representatives for the Board of Regents.
·
Authorization by vote was also demonstrated
authorizing the Executive Committee to act for Senate until the September
Senate Meeting.
The Clean Up Public Spaces
(CUPS) student organization was scheduled to speak to the Senators, but they
did not show up for the meeting.
COMMITTEE
REPORTS:
Academic
Standards –Chair Petry reported
the MAPP revision on attendance
policies did not go through to the C.O.D.
Associate Provost, C. Colarulli submitted a “no-pass” to the Academic
Standards Committee. The Council of Assistant Deans serves as an advisory
committee to C.O.D., it does not have official veto power and the Chair
Weinholtz has requested a C.O.D. vote on the matter.
Curriculum
Committee – Chair Weinholtz reviewed the
summary of the report submitted by his committee. He pointed out that ENHP
needs state approval on the proposed program “Dual Degree BSHP/MSPO and Master
of Sciences in Prosthetics and Health Professions. An extensive discussion
about the new program followed. The entire
curriculum Committee package was approved.
Development
– Chair E. Gray told the Senators that his
Committee has devised five goals, and is submitting the report to Faculty
Senate for its inclusion in the Annual Report.
Professional
Standards – Chair Shepela
told the Senate that the Committee will be dealing with gathering information
on Independent Studies in the Fall. The Committee (The
Faculty Affairs Committee) will also undertake discussion on required FPM
changes on Sabbatical procedures.
Student
Affairs – Chair Oliver said that the
Committee continued to create an Honesty Values statement to pass on to the 2008-2009
Student Affairs Committee.
Orders of the Day. (The Senate adjourned until May 13.)
Attendance:
|
P |
Balco, Cat |
P |
Gray, Edward |
A |
Pedro, Joan |
|
A |
Ball, Kevin A. |
|
Gray, John |
A |
Petry,
Elizabeth |
|
P |
Beaulieu, Mark |
P |
|
P |
Pogio, Natacha |
|
A |
Borucinska,
Joanna |
P |
Lashgari, Malek |
A |
Russell,
Ingrid |
|
P |
Brown,
Jennifer |
P |
Lei, Yu |
P |
Shepela, Sharon |
|
|
Campbell,
Nola* |
P |
Machuga, Susan |
P |
Siegel, Paul |
|
A |
Canedy, Charles |
P |
Mayer, Howard* |
P |
Tetel, Mihai |
|
P |
Case, Karen |
A |
Mohamed, Osama |
P |
Weinholtz,
Donn |
|
P |
Comiskey, Anne |
A |
Mori, Akane |
A |
Westfall,
David |
|
|
Davis, Robert* |
P |
Nolan, Dennis* |
P |
Williamson,
Daniel |
|
P |
Decker, Robert |
? |
Oliver, Peter |
P |
Zimmerman,
Christopher |
|
P |
Fang, Clara |
P |
Padberg, Carol* |
= |
Present/Absent |
|
|
*outgoing Senators |
|
|
|
Attendance: 64 % (20 out of 32) |
Reconvene
Chair Weinholtz announced this is Interim Provost Voelker's last meeting with the Senate. Faculty Senate
Chair Weinholtz read a letter of thanks to him, from the Senators. The Provost
said it has been a great pleasure and thanked the Senate in return. The letter
follows:
“Dear
Joe, On behalf of the entire Faculty Senate, we thank you for your dedicated
service as Interim Provost. At last
August’s Opening Kickoff, you alluded
to the job being like “sipping water through a fire hose.” By now. with good cause, you
probably feel as though you have ingested much of Long Island Sound.
More seriously, this has been a very
important year for the University, as the strategic planning efforts that you
have so successfully facilitated will set our course for the next five years.
Throughout, you have shown yourself to be a tireless advocate for high caliber
instruction and scholarship, as well as a shrewd and thoughtful planner.
Furthermore, in our other interactions with you, you have proven to be a candid
and fair-minded administrator.
It has been our pleasure to collaborate
with you throughout this past year, and we look forward to working together in
the future. Thank you again for all of your contributions to the University.
Sincerely, Donn Weinholtz, Chair, Sharon Shepela,
Vice Chair, and Elizabeth Petry, Secretary, on behalf of the Senate.”
Presentations:
President Harrison addressed the Senate and updated
them on the following:
·
Undergraduate Administration
Reports
·
Demographics
·
Summer: Interim Provost Voelker covering while the President travels to
·
New Director of Public Safety
Lieutenant John D. Schmaltz was appointed as the
·
The Mort and Irma Handel Performing Arts Center is on time and on budget. He is being told that it
will be ready by mid-July. It is expected that classes will start in September,
with a September 12 formal inauguration scheduled. The
·
This summer the Regents Park
Residence hall will get new siding and windows. S.L.A.M. Collaborative is
heading the project.
·
The footbridge will also be
re-vamped. The President credited John Michalewicz
with the idea of moving the bridge to restore it, creating a savings.
President Harrison spoke of a Soltage
Renewable Energy Provider presentation made to the Physical Plant Committee.
The Committee will be considering this Solar power
provider.
President Harrison said Interim Provost Voelker will be in Hillyer Hall but still doing routine “provostial”
work from the move back on May 21 until the New Provost Lynn Pasquerella is here full-time as of May 30. She
has met with the Deans and others and is aware of the major issues in academic
affairs. Interim Provost Voelker assured the
Senate that she is very smart and pragmatic and he looks forward to working
with her.
Associate Dean of ENHP Fred Sweitzer will be Assistant Provost,
replacing Katherine Black, who will be Chair of the new united Psychology
Department, and A&S Interim Dean Harry Workman
will return to Chemistry.
The Provost's office has completed the program
review cycle of all 89 curricular programs at the University as a form of
curricular assessment in preparation for the next NEASC visit, which is scheduled to take place in 2011.
Interim Provost Voelker
shared that everyone on the third floor is worrying about the weather for Sunday’s commencement. Our high tech
meteorological consultants have not decided whether or not it will rain.
Graduate Education at the
Dean Diffley discussed
the new initiatives that Graduate Studies undertook in the last year.
1. With regard to graduate recruitment, he listed the
following.
a.
The Best Practices Manuals were completed by
Graduate Program Directors (GPD) over the summer of 2007 in preparation for a
meeting with the provost to discuss recruiting strategies.
b.
Graduate
Studies initiated a mini-grant program.
GPD could submit proposals up to $7500 for recruiting ideas that they
wanted to conduct over the 2007-08 academic year.
c.
Emeritus
professor Walter Banzhaf was contracted to assist
graduate programs in the development of their websites. In July 2006, there were only four adequate
sites. By May 2008, nineteen sites were
good recruiting tools. Only six programs
remain to be upgraded.
d.
Graduate
Studies spent money on web marketing.
Google ad words helped get programs on the first page of a search. GradSchools.com was contracted to display
programs on the first page of their educational search engine. Judging from the number of visits to UH
graduate program sites over the last six months, many programs have benefited.
Internet Traffic. Gradschools.com traffic in the last six (6)
months:
6671 visits (35/day)
from 74 countries
Programs with the most
hits:
MBA (571)
Clinical Psychology
(535)
Neuroscience (510)
Physical Therapy (443)
Communication (343)
Architecture (281)
School Psychology (204)
e.
In an effort
to help programs get their best applicants to enroll, the Presidential Scholar
Program was launched. GPD nominated
their best applicants in the spring or summer 2008 terms for a 2 year, 25%
tuition scholarship. Judging from the
first awards, the scholarship program was successful.
2008 Presidential Scholars
|
·
Jodi (MSOP) was a
member of 6 honor societies and graduated from Lehigh with a 3.9 GPA. |
|
·
Susan (MEd) won 3 academic awards as an undergrad at UH and
graduated with a 3.7 GPA. |
|
·
Elizabeth (MFA)
already has a BFA (Carnegie Mellon), an MA ( |
|
·
Peter (MMEd) is a young music teacher who graduated from SUNY with
a 3.9 GPA. |
|
·
And 3 more (PsyD, DPT, Comm) with similar
credentials. |
2. With regard to graduate admission, Dean Diffley discussed the development and
implementation of the online application for admission. In the Spring of
2007, there was no online application.
For the Fall of 2008, two-thirds of the
applications came over the internet.
3. With regard to graduate student education, Dean Diffley discussed the following:
a.
the work of the Graduate Council concerning the
various ways graduate students are developed and assessed.
b.
the implementation of the Student Professional Travel
Grant Program which defrays the cost of travel (up to $500) to make
presentations at professional meetings.
This helps the students in their professional development and increases
the academic visibility of the University.
c.
the schedule of program reviews was set and new
formats for existing graduate program reviews and new graduate program
proposals.
4. Next year, the graduate council will study
and discuss the terminal events in a
graduate student’s education; i.e., commencement, placement, alumni
affairs.
The Dean
welcomed questions and offered his e-mail address (Diffley@hartford.edu) for specific
questions.
Senators
asked:
The
University’s Strategic Plan Committee has not heard a commitment for Graduate
programs that cost the University money. What faculty commitment has been made,
what is the growth potential, how will health education
play out.
Regarding
post acceptance recruiting, how are we communicating, when are we starting the
advising process. Vanguard for summer?
Do
teaching assistantships include tuition? No, there are $6,000 to $12,000
stipends, Dean Diffley responded.
There
being no other business, the meeting
adjourned at
Respectfully
submitted,
Maria
Marques
Recorder