2014/2015 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Faculty Senate
A050614
Minutes
2014/2015 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Faculty Senate
Tuesday, May 5, 2:15 p.m.
University Center UC259
1. Call to Order Meeting called to order at 2:45 PM.
2. Roll Call
1. Senators present: Ahmadi, Ambrose, Barger, Brady, Bren, Ciganek, Compas, Dugan, Gapinski, Ghavamshahidi, Gulig, Hartwick, Holmes, Ivry, Kumpaty, Levy-Navarro, Madan, Mandell, Munro, Portman, Sankaranarayanan, Schneider, Schultz, Splinter, Tillet, Toms, Veldkamp, Weston, Winchell, Zhang
2. Senators absent: (*informed Secretary) Hsu, Kopf, Mukherjee, Street, Zhao*, Zhou*
3. Approval of Minutes:
1. Minutes of the 2014-2015 Faculty Senate Meeting, April 14, 2015. (attached) Minutes approved with editorial corrections on a Gulig/ Compas motion. FS1415-48
4. Reports of Committees:
1. University Curriculum Committee:
a. Transmittal of actions of the University Curriculum Committee April 10, 2015 (action Item: Attached) Approved on a Kumpaty/Gapinski motion. FS1415-49
b. Transmittal of actions of the University Curriculum Committee April 24, 2015 (action Item: Attached) Approved on a Bren/Gapinski motion. FS1415-50
2. Faculty Salary Committee: The committee has not met this year. Professor Ghavamshaidi, the incoming chair, would like the committee to be more proactive in future. The Chancellor commented that without any raises the last few years he has not needed to consult the committee, but suggests that the committee should consider how the merit suspension of the last several years will be addressed when we finally do have monies to distribute.
3. Textbook Rental Committee: The committee has not met this year as the Textbook Rental Office has had no issues for it to consider.
4. Financial Aids Committee: Senator Portman reported that this committee has not met for several years and that the Director of Financial Aid suggests that it be abolished. The Organization Committee will need to consider that recommendation.
5. Faculty Election Committee: The chair sent his regrets concerning the errors and confusions that occurred during the spring elections. The committee is developing a guidance document for election procedures to be used in the future.
6. University Library Services: Chair Vosburgh reported that the committee had surveyed faculty and staff on library usage, supported the Library’s tech fee request, and attended information literacy sessions. They were consulted on Library space issues, budget, and the change in administrative reporting by Director McCallister from the Provost to AVC Cook.
5. Old Business:
1. Discussion on Faculty Service (information item – no action)
a. Structure
Recommend changes: There was a lengthy discussion. There was a concern raised about the problem of non-participation of faculty elected to committees and there being no mechanism for replacing non-participants. Changes will probably need to by proposed by the Organization Committee
b. Individual responsibility
End of year – letters (samples) A related issue was documentation of service for one’s purple book. Are Faculty reporting service that they did not really do? Should there be a mechanism for committee chairs to report on member service? Should reporting be required or voluntary? Senate opinion was deeply divided.
No shows
During the discussion, the question was raised on when the new FS chair actually takes over. It was suggested that perhaps the old and new Executive Committees
(Because it was accidentally omitted from the agenda, the election of members to the two Ad-hoc committees concerning the Regents governance and tenure committees will be handled by the Faculty Senate Executive Committee. Both Provost Kopper and Dean Heyning have expressed their willingness to share information with the Ad-hoc committees.)
6. New Business:
1. Department Standards Both standards were approved on a Gapinski/Portman motion. FS1415-51
a. HPRC Tenure and Promotion Standards (action item: attached)
b. Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders (action item: attached)
2. College Standards
a. College of Arts and Communication Standards (action items: attached) Approved on a Portman/Veldkamp motion. FS1415-52
3. Retirement Resolutions (action items: attached) All retirement resolutions approved on a Kumpaty/Hartwick motion. FS1415-53
a. Steven J Albrechtsen – HPERC
b. Lloyd Arphaxad Binagi – History
c. James Alan Jaffe – History
d. Richard Telfer – C & I
4. Resolution of appreciation-Chancellor Telfer (action items: attached) Approved on a Weston/Kumpaty motion. The Chancellor was given a standing ovation by the Senate. FS1415-54
5. Request for Emeritus Chancellor Title (action items: attached) Approved on a Gulig/Compas motion. FS1415-55
7. Announcements and Information (no action unless noted otherwise)
1. Report of the Chancellor: Chancellor Telfer thanked the Senate for the retirement resolution, good wishes, and the campus for the wonderful retirement party.
With regards to the budget, Joint Finance has killed the authority concept and would like to lower the $300 million figures if state revenue will allow. Some flexibilities for System remain. Many details are still muddy, but the governance and tenure changes are still up in the air. The Greater Whitewater Committee is actively lobbying on our behalf.
The Chancellor plans to assist the new chancellor with the transition as much as the new person wants.
He will be meeting with the Faculty Budget Committee later this week to discuss the results of their survey and correct some errors. He gave as an error example, the athletic travel budget – of the University’s $3 million travel budget, $960,000 is for athletics, but only $101,000 is from GPR funds and the rest from SUFAC.
1. Report of Provost: The Regents’ Task Force that she is a member of will be meeting once a month over the summer and she has informed the chair of the ad-hoc committee we are setting up.
Fall move-in is set for Sunday, August 30 with classes to start on Wednesday. September 2, 2015.
Two handouts for Institutional Research were distributed. IR and the Provost’s Office are working to align our SCH/FTE numbers with UWS’s version. UWS uses credits following instructor. There was a discussion about productivity and possible implications for departmental budgets.
2. Report of the Senate Chair: Chair Munro encouraged senators to attend the open forums for the chancellor candidates. We should pay attention to the Legislature’s actions as the changes to Chapter 36 are still in the Governor’s budget and it is unclear if the Board of Regents will be able to recreate shared governance and tenure within the Board’s rules. He was asked about legal situation of tenure status for those already having tenure if the proposed changes are approved, but did not have an answer.
7. Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 4:30 PM on a Gulig/Hartwick motion.