Faculty Senate Minutes of March 6, 2012

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

College of Architecture & The Arts
Jaime Canaves

David Dolata

Daniel Guernsey

Marcia Littley

College of Arts & Sciences
Dawn Addy

Gerardo Aladro

John Berry
Thomas Breslin

Werner Boeglin

Chongsheng Cao

Julian Edward

Piero Gardinali

Paula Gillespie

Alan Gummerson

Steve Heine

Oren Maxwell

Aurora Morcillo

Rene Price

Jean Rahier

Joerg Reinhold
Gene Rosenberg
Dev Roy

Misak Sargsian

Victor Uribe
Hassan Zahedi

Absent:

Krish Jayachandran

Kenneth Johnson

Neptune Srimal

Enrique Villamor

College of Business Administration
Karlene Cousins

Krishnan Dandapani

Delano Gray

Shahid Hamid

Debra Vandermeer

Clark Wheatley

College of Education
Leonard Bliss

Marc Weinstein
Thomas Reio

College of Engineering
Peter Clarke
Jainendra Navlakha

Nagarajan Prabakar
Ibrahim Tansel

Sabri Tosunoglu

Absent:

Osama Mohammed

School of Hospitality
Pablo Simon

David Talty

School of Journalism
Carlos Suris

Absent:

Neil Reisner

College of Law
Cyra Choudhvry

David Walter

Library

No Representation

College of Medicine
Dietrich Lorke
Juan Lozano

Frederick Schild

College of Nursing & Health Sciences
Dorothy Brooten

Jennifer Doherty-Restrepo
Absent:

Amy Paul-Ward

College of Public Health & Social Work
Fatma (Rose) Huffman

Paul Stuart
Ray Thomlison
Absent:

Mariana Baum

Guest:
Elizabeth Bejar

Ben Baez

Melissa Caceres

Andres Gil

Russell Lucas

Brian Peterson

Nicol Rae

Rosa Roche

Mark Rosenberg

Damaris Rubio

Debra Sheridan

David Twigg

Douglas Wartzok

Kathleen Wilson

Faculty Senate Minutes
TuesdayMarch 6, 2012 – 1:00 PM

The meeting was called to order by Senate Chair, Dr. Tom Breslin.

  1. Approval of the Agenda - Moved and approved
  2. Approval of the Minutes of the February 21, 2012meeting - Moved and approved with amendment of adding Rene Price as being present.
  3. Chairperson’s Report – Chair Breslin provided the following report:

Today I note with sadness and a sense of loss the death of Nancy Hershoff, a former Senator and current member of our Honorary Degree and Awards Committee. Please keep her family in mind and treasure your memory of her.

We have a full agenda today. We will receive reports from several committees today touching on weighty matters of curriculum and faculty governance. We will also hear from our President and from our Vice President for Research on matters attached to their official responsibilities.

Our Academic Policies and Personnel Committee raised concerns about personal safety and student behavior. As a follow up, the Steering Committee last week met Chief Casas of Campus Safety and discussed faculty concerns. He reviewed with us his effort to change the culture of his department to have it become more adept at problem solving and at providing timely feedback to faculty and staff who originate calls to his department. The meeting was productive and positive. Sharing as we do in responsibility for the institution, we should remember our own responsibility to provide timely feedback to our students and colleagues.

The Division of Human Resources reminds us that the 2012 Faculty, Staff and Family Spring Picnic will take place on Saturday, April 14, 2012 from noon to 4pm at the Maidique Campus. This is a ticketed event—tickets are free for FIU faculty, staff, and retirees and Children 12 and under; guests are $3. To get your tickets please call Human Resources at 7-2181.

  1. Action Items:
  2. University Core Curriculum Oversight Committee Motion – Lisa Merly

Motion#11/12:36:TheFaculty Senate approves IDS 3XXX (Health without Borders) for inclusion into the Societies &Identities section of the core curriculum. - Moved and approved

  1. Curriculum Bulletin 4

i.Global Learning Curriculum Oversight Committee Motion– Russell Lucas
Motion#11/12:37:The Faculty Senate approves all Global Learning Designation Proposals presented in Curriculum Bulletin 4. - Moved and approved

ii.Curriculum Committee Motions – Nagarajan Prabakar

  1. Motion#11/12:38:The Faculty Senate approves the New Undergraduate Major: “Digital Media Services” in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications. - Moved and approved
  2. Motion#11/12:39: The Faculty Senate approves the Unit-Specific Graduate Admission Standards proposal for Master of Science in Finance: waive GMAT/GRE: if the student
  • has an undergraduate business degree with upper division GPA >= 3.0 and four years of business related work experience
  • or has an undergraduate business degree with finance major from FIU with upper division GPA >= 3.0- Moved and approved
  • Motion#11/12:40: The Faculty Senate approves the Curriculum Bulletin 4.- Moved and approved
  1. Academic Policies and Personnel Committee’s Report on Unit Constitutions – Ben Baez
  1. Motion#11/12:41: The Faculty Senate recommends to the Provost that he instructall deans to work with their faculty to review the Senate report on unit governing documents, review their own unit’s governing documents and to revise themas necessary to strengthen and align them with the Faculty Senate Constitution and By-Laws. - Moved and approved
  2. Motion#11/12:42: The Faculty Senate instructs the Faculty Senators and members of College Faculty Steering Committees to review the Senate report on unit governing documents, review their own unit’s governing documents and work with their deans torevise them as necessary to strengthen and align them with the Faculty Senate Constitution and By-Laws. - Moved and approved with Amendment
  3. Academic Policies and Personnel Committee’s Report on the assignment of textbooks for adjuncts and visiting faculty – Ben Baez

Motion#11/12:43: The Faculty Senate advises the Provost that it is the custom of academic units to allow departments to select texts for adjuncts and this practice is not inconsistent with the principle of academic freedom. - Moved and approved

  1. Presentation of Slate of Officer Nominations from Nominating Committee – Krishnan Dandapani

Proposed Slate of Officers: Chair, Delano Gray; Vice Chair, Leonard Bliss; Secretary, Dawn Addy. There were no nominations from the floor.

  1. Reports:
  2. President’s Report – Dr. Mark Rosenberg, FIU President
  • The President offered his condolences to Nancy Hershoff’s family and friends.
  • The FIU baseball team will be playing the Marlins in an exhibition game tomorrow night, tickets are available.
  • Please participate in the FIU Diversity Week activities throughout this week. It is especially important given the current climate and incidents with a radio announcer and female law student at another institution.
  • Steve Fain is leading the Ignite campaign and we are seeing a great faculty response.
  • This was a tough legislative session but FIU ended up with $24M in cuts for next year. We believe we will be able to maintain our current hiring levels and cover this one-time cut through our reserves.
  • The legislature approved a 15% tuition increase.
  • $946,000 was received for the Medical School, $.5M for a democracy conference, $250,000 for a Washington Center and $.5M for simulation teaching and research center which is largely directed at nursing.
  • We have admitted 9,000 new students to FIU for the next academic year.
  • We are working with the Youth Fair to find them a new location. 16 sites were identified but only one was found suitable. The site west on Tamiami trail is zoned so it could be used as a recreation facility. We are trying to avoid any ties to local party politics around this issue.
  • Jackson Hospital is currently aligning itself with our medical school as well as with the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
  1. Provost’s Report—Provost Wartzok
  • We are currently reviewing patent policies in light of the Stanford v. Roach case. We want the university to be in charge of its patents. This arrangement protects the professors’ interests as well.
  • Under the negotiated CBA, faculty will receive a 2% salary base increase and become eligible for a 1% merit increase next year.
  • As we reviewed the UFF report on Administrative growth, we observed that over half of the new administrative positions were at the Assistant Director level. There were six additions at the level of Assistant Dean and above. Three of these were in Advancement, two in Engagement and one in the Office of President.
  • April 7-18 Fall registration will be open to current FIU students, then closed until Aug. 6, when Fall registration re-opens. Spring, 2013 registration will open Nov. 5, 2012
  1. Report on Division of Research – Andres Gil, Vice President
  • We met with the Search & Activities Committee to develop a ten step research development initiative.”
  • In the period from 1999-2009 FIU saw substantial growth in grant awards.
  • Due to the economic climate changes, Federal grant awards have decreased and some on-going grants have been cut back. NIH is limiting the number of grants awarded to institutions and Pis, especially older PIs. This increases our need to focus on team cross-disciplinary research activities and more mentoring of junior faculty as PIs.
  • A recent study indicated there may be a bias against African Americans and Hispanics to obtain grant funding.
  • One path to funding is for faculty to get involved in service to grant review committees.
  • We are seeing an increase in grants available in STEM areas.
  • We are currently looking for one-page proposals identifying faculty we can help mentor in writing proposals. Three weeks from now we will host a roundtable discussion on this.
  • With salary savings we are employing more graduate students, repairing confocal microscopes or purchasing (if necessary) and supporting core facilities.
  1. UFF Report—Kathleen Wilson, UFF-FIU President - Dr. Wilson provided the following report:

UFF-FIU elections were held on Feb. 24. Incoming UFF-FIU President Teresa Lucas (education). See UFF-FIU website for complete list of officers and Senators.

UFF-FIU President Kathleen Wilson met with a number of Florida State Senators in Tallahassee on 2/21 and 2/22, building on relationships established during office visits at home, and during the event in Tallahassee co-hosted by UFF and UF Miami Dade on Dec. 5, attended b y 10 State Senators. They were asked to support Higher Ed, FIU in particular, and faculty benefits. Also thanked them for their help in defeating the privatization bill and the “ethics” bill that would have prevented faculty from serving in the legislature.

Judge Fulford ruled today that the 3% that was taken from faculty paychecks for retirement was unconstitutional, and should be repaid with interest. This was a result of a lawsuit brought by FEA, to which UFF contributes a percentage of our UFF dues for such purposes.

ORP (defined contribution). While nothing in writing yet, the budget does indicate that 2% less will come from the state for the ORP, resulting in a decrease from 10.43% two years ago, to 7.4% last year (with faculty contributing 3%), to 5.15% proposed for the coming year. FRS (or defined benefit), was an 8% contribution from the state two years ago, to 5% last year (with faculty contributing 3%). FRS will remain the same for the coming year. Rationale from the legislature is that now there is equity. However, we would argue differently, as the employer assumes the market risk for the FRS while the employee assumes the risk for the ORP. Faculty will not see a reduction in their paychecks, but those on the ORP will receive 2% less in their retirement accounts. FEA legal is determining whether a suit will be filed regarding the ORP reduction.

UFF Newsletter. Comes out on Mondays with legislative updates, scheduled events, etc. Of note is the essay from Republican outgoing Senator Paula Dockery.

P and T workshop Friday 3/23, 2-4 pm on both campuses.

Membership density currently at 53%. Goal is 60%.

Gender Equity study to be released soon.

Grievances. Of approximately 30 possible grievances, almost all were resolved to the satisfaction of the grievant, either before step 1 or early in the process. This often involves consultations that either the president and/or grievance chair have with the Provost.

  1. SGA Report—Patrick O’Keefe, MMC SGA President (none)
  1. Unfinished Business- none
  2. New Business - none

The next Faculty Senate meeting is Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Appendix

10-Step ‘Upstream’ Research Development Initiative

  1. Homegrown workshops/roundtables using FIU experienced faculty (April 2012)

Will occur monthly.

We will use DoR Mentors-in-Residence (see below).

  1. Foster more visits by federal program officers (May 2012)

Have already partnered with UM, FAU, Barry, St. Thomas, MDC, FMU (Federal officers can only visit for “regional” meetings. Targeting 1-2 visits per semester.

  1. Quarterly Awards Newsletters (April 2012)

Will list PIs and Co-Is, and will include selected stories from PIs regarding all the steps the team took to obtain the funding.

  1. Successful Proposal Collections (April 2012)

Obtaining copies of successful grants through ‘Freedom of Information Act.’

Several FIU faculty have already agreed to share copies of their successful proposals.

  1. DoR Mentors-in-Residence Program and Coordination of Mentoring with Colleges (Summer 2012)

Mentors-in-Residence Program will consist of cohorts of grant-funded experienced faculty members (2-3 per cohort) who will be based at DoR for two semesters (spring-summer and summer-fall) to provide mentoring to less experienced faculty submitting grants.

Both cohorts will overlap during the summer semester in an attempt to make summer a semester of high grant writing intensity.

For spring and fall semesters, DoR will pay for a course buy-off.

For summer semesters, DoR will pay for summer effort (perhaps .50 FTE).

Mentors-in-Residence efforts will be coordinated with new Faculty Mentoring Program initiated in Arts & Sciences (which will be joined by the College of Engineering ( They will also coordinate the workshops under #1 above.

  1. Research Forums and Interdisciplinary Research Networks (Ongoing)

Sponsors are increasingly interested in broad interdisciplinary themes.

Funding opportunities are increasingly requiring quick “turn-around” (often 45 days)

Will create Interdisciplinary Networks consisting of faculty working together on common areas of interest with administrative support from DoR.

Existing Faculty Research Support Program (FRSP) [internal research funding opportunities] will be focused toward these networks

Existing Networks:

1)Interdisciplinary Nuclear Research Group (currently very active) – Led by Bernard Gerstman, Inez Triay and Davie Roelant

Planned Networks

Extreme Events/Disasters, HIV/AIDS & Substance Abuse/Addictions, Health Disparities, Environment/Climate Change, Immigration

  1. Proactive effort to place more FIU faculty in federal Grant Review Panels (Ongoing)

Serving on review panels is like graduate education in grant writing.

Agencies need new reviewers each year and are seeking to enhance diversity.

DoR will focus on connecting PIs with program officials (PO’s) and offering reviewers with specific expertise.

  1. Coaching and Editing of Grant Applications – Grant writers in colleges and/or DoR

DoR will provide central support and will partner with colleges to provide grant writer support.

The UGS-DoR Graduate Research Center is currently providing support for graduate students writing grants.

  1. Development of better online tutorials for grant writing (April 2012)

New DoR website will have online tutorial for grant writing

Website will provide links to best materials for researchers working on grant applications. For example:

  • NIH:
  • Foundation Center Short Course:
  1. Provide opportunities for internal reviews of proposals (Summer 2012)

Encourage a culture of proposal reviews prior to application submission.

Grant reviewers will be recruited from VPR Research Advisory Council, from college mentoring program and from DoR Mentors-in-Residence.

Early-Stage Proposal Reviews by Mentors: PI provides summary/specific aims of research idea for early feedback 3-4 months prior to submission deadline.

Late-Stage Proposal Reviews: PI provides draft of application 6 weeks prior to submission deadline and receives feedback within2 weeks.