Faculty Senate Minutes of October 8, 2013

The meeting was called to order by the Chair Delano Gray with the following Senators and visitors present:

College of Architecture & The Arts
Jaime Canaves
Patrick Schmidt
Steven Schoen
Kathleen Wilson
College of Arts & Sciences
Dawn Addy-Alternate
Gerardo Aladro
Laurel Collins
Piero Gardinali
Maria Gomez
Alan Gummerson
Krish Jayachandran
Fenfei Leng
John Makemson
Oren Maxwell
Assefa Melesse
Marifeli Perez-Stable
Rene Price
Jean Rahier
Joerg Reinhold
Laurie Shrage
Renee Silverman
Ronn Silverstein
Louis Tebou
Enrique Villamor
Hassan Zahedi
Ping Zhu
Absent
Astrid Arraras
Ciprian G Gal
Misak Sargsian
Victor Uribe / College of Business Administration
Krishnan Dandapani
Delano Gray
Shahid Hamid
Cliff Perry
Clark Wheatley
College of Education
Leonard Bliss
Teresa Lucas
Absent
Martha Pelaez
College of Engineering
Malek Adjouadi
Arindam Chowdhury
Quang Gang
Ibrahim Tansel
Absent
Albert Gan
Anthony McGoron
Osama Mohammed
School of Hospitality
Pablo Simon
David Talty
School of Journalism
Neil Reisner
Absent:
Maria Elena Villar
College of Law
Jan Oseitutu
David Walter
Library
Lauren Christos
Patricia Pereira-Pujol / College of Medicine
Sheldon Cherry
Dietrich Lorke
Aileen Marty-Alternate
Alan Wells
Absent
Juan Lozano
College of Nursing & Health Sciences
Florence Keane
Jennifer Doherty-Restrepo
Absent:
Lucie Dlugasch
College of Public Health & Social Work
Marianna Baum
Fatma (Rose) Huffman
Ray Thomlison
Nasar Ahmed-Alternate
Guest:
Elizabeth Bejar
Adam Drisin
Juneisy Hawkins
Meredith Newman
Brian Peterson
Mark Rosenberg
Jorge Rosello
Douglas Wartzok

Faculty Senate Minutes ofOctober 8, 2013

Tuesday october 8, 2013 –1:00 PM
Wertheim Conservatory 130 – Modesto Maidique Campus

Wolfe University Center 15 – Biscayne Bay Campus

  1. Approval of the Agenda/Agenda modification: There will be no graduate council motion because the relevant documents have not yet been received. Moved and approved.
  2. Approval of the Minutes of the September 3, 2013 meeting. Moved and approved.
  3. Chairperson’s Report.

Homecoming week started yesterday October and we expect this to be one of the best event of the Fall Semester. Some of the events of interest are:

  • Panther got Talent October 10 at 5:30 Pm in the Century Bank Arena on the MM Campus
  • Homecoming Parade October 12 3:30 PM Starting at lot 9 on MM Campus. The Grand Marshall for the parade will be FIU Alumni Danny Pino of Law and Order SVU fame
  • Homecoming Game at the MM Football Stadium at 7:30 PM

Other event of interest for the Month of October is “Dead Connection” with Chris Moon at the WUC Ballrooms Biscayne Bay starting at 12:30 PM on October 31.

The Ad Hoc Academic Integrity Committee formerly the Academic Dishonesty Review Committee, charged with the review and revision of Policies regarding academic misconduct, met on September 19, 2013. Alan Gummerson was selected to chair the Committee. The Committee is scheduled to complete its work by spring of 2014.

The Graduate Council met with the Provost on Thursday October 3, 2013 to discuss the clarifications necessary for the implementation of the guidelines on online PhD programs. The results of these discussions will be made available to the Senate as soon as they are available.

Dean Futon in a presentation to the Faculty Steering Committee outline the latest FIU project called iReal.

“Toward A New Strategic Plan – The iREAL Survey

We, all of us who are part of FIU, are at a vital crossroads for our university. Dramatically changing models for the funding of public education and increased expectations of students, employers, parents, legislators, donors, and other stakeholders necessitate a re-envisioning of higher education. As part of our ongoing inquiry into FIU’s evolving roles and responsibilities in this new environment, we are undertaking an initial study (iREAL) that will pave the way for the university’s next strategic plan (2015-2020).

What is iREAL?

FIU iREAL is integrating Research, Engagement, Assessment and Learning.

Across the country, universities are reevaluating fundamental issues such as:
• What is our role in educating students?
• How do we prepare students to be professionally and personally successful in a century that is likely to be defined by rapid and unpredictable change?
• What is the role of research in higher education?
• How will our graduates integrate research, coursework, and field experiences into skills that attract employers eager for adaptable, multi-disciplinary, life-long critical thinkers?
• How do we assess the success of our efforts?

The FIU iREAL process seeks to investigate these issues and to chart a path that strengthens and enriches FIU’s future”

We will be hearing more on this project in the future.

The new system for approving curriculum changes and programs, is up and running. There are still a few bugs to iron out, but we hope that for bulletin 2 will be, the process will be smoother.

Online enrolment for the fall was up 10%. At least 30,000 students were enrolled in at least one online course.

Convocation was well attended. Congratulations to all the Faculty who were honored. Continue to excel in you field of study, teaching and service.

The University now has a Safety Officer in addition to the Police. He will be responsible for all non-police related incidents. His duties do not cover hazardous waste and related incidents and emergency preparedness. Call 305-FIU-Safe for more information.

The Advisory Council of Faculty Chairs (ACFS) will be meeting on October 18, 2013 at UCF in Orlando. Among the topics for discussion are:

  • General Education Reform
  • BOG Metrics for Performance Based Funding
  • Impact of the Affordable Healthcare Reform
  • Faculty participation in LBR process on each campus
  1. Action Items.
  1. Faculty SenateSteering Committee Motions.

Motion: The Faculty Senate approves the addition of the Nominating Committee to the exceptions in the Faculty Senate Constitution, Article 5, Section C. The new wording shall be: “The term of membership for all standing committees except the Steering and Nominating committees shall be two years with terms of membership staggered so that one-half of the membership is renewed each year.”

This is the first time that the motion will be read; the second time will be the next meeting of Senate.Moved and approved.

Motion: The Faculty Senate approves the addition of the Faculty Fellow position to the Faculty Senate membership eligibility list on Article 2, Section A of the Faculty Senate Constitution. Motion fails.

  1. Tabled Graduate Council Motion.

Motion:The Faculty Senate approves the recommendation of the University Graduate Council stipulating the guidelines for proposals to establish new online degrees at research and professional practice doctoral levels. These guidelines do not replace any existing requirements for program proposals stipulated by the Board of Trustees, the Board of Governors or the University Graduate School.Motion tabled.

  1. Reports:

A.President’s Report—President Rosenberg.

  • Thank you to the members of the Faculty Senate for their service.
  • With regard to Homecoming Week:there will be many visitors on campus, the Paul Gallagher Memorial on Friday, October 11.
  • Willy Alvarez, the new FIU Safety Officer is introduced to the Faculty Senate.
  • Raises for faculty and staff were announced by the Provost last week. These raises were the result of collective bargaining. The Florida Legislature provided raises as well. Thanks are due to Kathleen Wilson and other faculty members for their work.
  • The opening of the Parkview facility: Parkview is a new residence hall with opportunities for alternative learning for students; it also lends itself to holding meetings. All of this ishelpful for recruitment.
  • FIU’s record enrollment this year: This record enrollment is a statement of confidence in the faculty.
  • Admission has already begun for next year: there will be a new freshman high school class in the MAST Academy at Biscayne Bay. The MAST program will blur the boundaries between high school and college in creative ways, thus responding to concerns about the cost of college education as articulated byPresident Obama and the Secretary of Education.
  • Research symposium for students: Various partnership and internship opportunities will help students get jobs upon graduation (85% of FIU students hold full- or part-time jobs).
  • iREAL, led by Dean Ken Furton: iREALis helping us to think through what is going on at the university. It also sets the stage for new strategic plan, the writing of which willa year from now. We are experiencinga paradigm shift in public universities. We no longer hold a monopoly on learning, assessment, or place, as we did before. iREAL will help us be sustainable into the future.
  • Regarding the anonymous attacks on one of our recently hired Deans (Business School). This is a respect and professionalism issue. The President wishes to consult the Faculty Senate on the course of action and response.

B.Provost’s Report—Provost Wartzok.

  • Improvement of notifications about expiring parking stickers: An e-mail was recently sent out. It pointed out that the system was now taking on-line orders and advertised the availability of temporary permits. We have until the end of October to get decals. There will be no enforcement until next week.
  • Ready to open website for block scheduling for Hospitality Tourism, International Business, Marketing, and Psychology: On MWF, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., all necessary courses will available to students in those degree programs. There will be information sessions on the subject.
  • Sunday commencements have been instituted as of this semester to assist students and their families who work.
  • Complete Florida Program: We are under a tight deadline for July, 2014. (Implementation must be decided upon by October 18). Decisions have to be made about A/B/C semester schedules and how to evaluate credit for life experience, among other items. The Governor and the Florida Legislature are very interested in this program.

C.UFF Report—Teresa Lucas, UFF-FIU President.

UFF Events
We will be holding our Fall Chapter Meeting soon. Be on the lookout for the date, time, and place. We will vote to ratify the Memorandum of Understanding that spells out the results of the negotiations between the UFF and the FIU Administration that resulted in the preservation of the 1% contractual raise and bonus, and the salary increases and bonuses designated by the Florida Legislature.

Bargaining for the new contract to replace the current 2011-2014 agreement will begin on November 8. The UFF and Administration bargaining teams concluded training on the interest-based bargaining process.

Survey on issues you would like to see discussed in negotiations will be available again next week.

The UFF-FIU Executive Council will hold its meeting this Friday, October 11, at the Labor Center Conference Room, from noon to 2 p.m.

UFF is on the agenda for the College of Business Faculty Assembly this Thursday, October 10.

Our next Open House here at MMC will be on Thursday, October 17, from 4 – 7 p.m. in PC 111. We are planning an open house at BBC soon.

UFF representatives from FAMU, Liz Davenport and Nandi Riley, assisted in the successful efforts of faculty at Harris-Stowe University in St. Louis to form a union.

Adjunct dies broke

The death recently of Margaret Mary Vojtko alerted the nation’s consciousness to a growing population that Gary Rhoades refers to as the “new working poor”: Afterworking for 25 years at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Dr. Vojtko was terminated last year and died impoverished. Colleges and universities rely increasingly on adjunct faculty. As reported by the Gainesville Sun: “The University of Florida cut full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty by 9.4 percent and increased adjunct and other non-tenure faculty by 9.8 percent over five years of budget cuts.”

Nationally, adjuncts now represent 49.3% of faculty in Higher Ed, and 70% in community colleges.
The Services Employees International Union (SEIU) is conducting the Adjunct Action Project in the Boston, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles areas and in Washington State. Part-time adjuncts at Tufts University in Massachusetts voted 128 to 57 to unionize.

Shared governance?

Although a survey of top academic administrators and faculty leaders at over 300 public and non-profit universities indicated relations between administrators and faculty are good, more than a dozen universities, including at NYU, University of Virginia, and Cleveland State University, have held votes of no-confidence in the last two years. A recent article in The New Yorker suggests that administrators are increasingly making decisions about academic matters without consulting faculty. Rachel Aviv in The New Yorker from September 9 suggests that the visions of the faculty often conflict with the ambitions of trustees, who want more flexibility to stake out their corner of the market as quickly as possible.

D.SGA Report— Lianne Sippin, SGA-MMC President.

Not present

  1. Unfinished Business/None.
  2. New Business/None.

Announcements/None.

Motion to adjourn.Moved and approved.