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FACULTY SENATE MINUTES, March 6, 2015
3:00-4:55 P.M., Lynett Boardroom
Senators present:Dhanapati Adhikari, Sr. Gail Cabral, Bill Conlogue, Ed Crawley, Frank DeMatteo, John DePoe, Chris Fryer, Lynn Hutchings, Sarah Kenehan, Tom Kent, Chris Medley, David Palmiter, Michelle Sitko, Charles Truitt,Stephanie Wise, Shelby Yeager
Others present:Tammy Amosson, Estelle Campenni, Brooke Cannon, Annette Fisher, Craig Johnson, Laurie McMillan, Ed O’Brien, Mary Ann Zimmer
Minutes submitted by: Bill Conlogue
TOPIC / DISCUSSION / ACTIONREVIEW OF MINUTES FROM February 27, 2015MEETING / Minutes were approved as written.
Executive summary statement
Academic Computing Advisory Committee proposal
Tuition benefit proposal
Learning Commons Committee update
AAUP update
Faculty representation on the Budget Committee
Faculty representation on Academic Council
Follet IncludED
Negotiations
Unionization / Senators discussed the executive summary statement for the reportsfrom the Ad Hoc Committee on Shared Governance and the Faculty Morale Subcommittee.
Faculty Senate decided to invite the President, the Vice President for Business Affairs, and the Vice President for Academic Affairs to an all-faculty April meeting to discuss issues of shared governance and faculty morale. Senators will contribute to a Moodle forum possible questions for these administrators.
Mike Mirabito, chair of the Academic Computing Advisory Committee, offered an overview of his committee’s proposal that students be required to bring to campus a laptop or tablet. After outlining several of the key issues and questions related to the proposal, he encouraged senators to offer feedback about the proposalthrough the Faculty Senate Moodle forum. He requested that senators also seek input from their constituents. (College Moodle forums are one way to gather this information.) The information collected will be reposted to the Faculty Senate Moodle site as a single document for the Senate to revise in preparation for the April 10 Senate meeting.
Senators also recommended that student input about this proposal be sought and considered.
After discussing the revised tuition benefit proposal, Senators decided to invite to the April 10 Senate meeting the President, the Vice President for Business Affairs, and the Vice President for Academic Affairs. Senators will contribute to a Moodle forum possible questions for these administrators. Three volunteers will review the collected questions, decide which questions to ask, and forward the final set of questions to the Faculty Senate president, who will post the list to the Faculty Senate Moodle site for the Senate’s review. An approved list of questions will be forwarded to the above administrators prior to the April 10 meeting.
The March 5 forum sponsored by the Learning Commons Committee was rescheduled for March 19. The event will feature one of the architects of the Learning Commons.
Brooke Cannon reported that the Marywood AAUP chapter is investigating the March announcement about the university’s retirement plan. The chapter is also working with Faculty Senate to bring to campus a speaker from AAUP.
Senators discussed a proposal to increase from one to three the number of faculty representatives on the Budget Committee. The proposal also recommends that the committee be involved in all stages of the budget planning process.
Senators discussed a proposal to include the president of Faculty Senate as a regular member of Academic Council.
Senators discussed Follett IncludED. Several questions were raised. (See “Announcements” below.)
Craig Johnson, chair of the Negotiations Team, reported that his committee is working with the administration to create a detailed written contract that will be posted to university’s website. Senators noted that proposed changes to an approved contract should go back to the Negotiations Team before implementation.
Senators discussed the feasibility of forming a faculty union. Several questions were raised. The possibility will be discussed at future Senate meetings. / The Senate unanimously approved the reports of the Ad Hoc Committee on Shared Governance and the Faculty Morale Subcommittee with the executive summary attached as written. The reports are to be distributed electronically on Monday, March 9.
The Senate unanimously approved the proposed revision of the Budget Committee. The proposal will be forwarded to the Executive Committee of Policy.
The Senate unanimously approved the proposal to make the Faculty Senate president a regular member of Academic Council. The proposal will be forwarded to the Executive Committee of Policy.
Announcements / Bill Conlogue announced that he is working with the Instructional Effectiveness Committee to sponsor afaculty forum that would focus on several items (and their related issues) that have the potential to change teaching and learning on campus:
1)online courses;
2)the laptop/tablet requirement proposal;
3)the Learning Commons;
4)Follett IncludEd and Follett Discovery.
Bill Conlogue reported that the minutes of the February 12 meeting of the Budget Committee note that the Board of Trustees approved a request from the Vice President for Business Affairs to borrow from the quasi-endowment up to $12 million to help to finance the Learning Commons project. The money is to be repaid within five years “from pledges for the Learning Commons and other available sources.”
ADJOURNMENT / Adjournment:4:55 p.m.