Faculty Senate Minutes ofNovember 12, 2013

The meeting was called to order by the ChairDelano Graywith the following Senators and visitors present:

College of Architecture & The Arts
Jaime Canaves
Jamie Ousley- Alternate
Steven Schoen
Kathleen Wilson
Absent
Patrick Schmidt
College of Arts & Sciences
Gerardo Aladro
Astrid Arraras
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
Misak Sargsian
Laurie Shrage
Renee Silverman
Ronn Silverstein
Louis Tebou
Enrique Villamor
Hassan Zahedi
Ping Zhu
Absent
Ciprian G Gal
Victor Uribe / College of Business Administration
Krishnan Dandapani
Delano Gray
Clark Wheatley
Absent
Shahid Hamid
Cliff Perry
College of Education
Leonard Bliss
Teresa Lucas
Absent
Martha Pelaez
College of Engineering
Arindam Chowdhury
Osama Mohammed
Ibrahim Tansel
Absent
Malek Adjouadi
Albert Gan
Anthony McGoron
Gang Quang
School of Hospitality
Pablo Simon
Absent
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
Juan Lozano
Absent
Dietrich Lorke
Alan Wells
College of Nursing & Health Sciences
Lucie Dlugasch
Jennifer Doherty-Restrepo
Florence Keane
College of Public Health & Social Work
Marianna Baum
Fatma (Rose) Huffman
Ray Thomlison
Guest:
Juneisy Hawkins
FuziaNausheen
Brain Peterson
Rick Tardanico
Fred Blevens

Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes
Tuesday November 12th, 2013 – 1:00 PM
Wertheim Conservatory 130 – Modesto Maidique Campus
Marine Science 362 – Biscayne Bay Campus

  1. Approval of the Agenda. Moved and approved.
  2. Approval of the Minutes of the October 29th, 2013 meeting. One change: An addendum will be sent with names of the attendees of the Oct. 29 meeting. Moved and approved.
  3. Chairperson’s Report.

The Board of Governors will be meeting on November 20-21, 2013 in the Ballroom; Graham Center at Florida International University, Modesto A. Maidique Campus. Please make an effort to attend.

The Search Committee for the new Chancellor will be meeting in Miami on November 19, 2013 to interview the finalist(s) and will have them meet with the Board on November 20, 2013.

A draft of the final report on “Aligning Workforce and Higher Education for Florida Future” prepared by the Commission on Higher Education Access and Education Attainment, is scheduled for discussion at the upcoming meeting of the Board of Governors. The report includes a chart of projected under-supply in Florida of occupations requiring a Bachelors Degree, “the gap analysis”.

The Division of Human Resources has engaged an independent consulting group to conduct a climate survey in the College of Business. The Company, C-Suites Analytics has conducted interviews from October 21st to October 25th, 2013.

The Provost in his memo to the Faculty and Staff has indicated that the process will be conducted in the strictest confidence and is intended to “(1) seek candid, confidential feedback from a broad cross-section of members of the College of Business community, (2) understand areas of success, and (3) identify areas where improvements are needed”.

Some members of the Faculty are still concerned that there may be adverse repercussions for participating in the survey.

The Bill of Collective Rights and Principles of Governance states:

Senate Section A.

Academic freedom is the freedom of faculty members to present and discuss all relevant matters in the classroom and in the public forum; to select instructional materials and determine grades; to pursue all avenues of scholarship, research, and creative expression; to speak freely on all matters of University governance; to speak out in matters of controversy; and to write and act as individuals, all without institutional reprisal or restraint and unhindered from internal or external groups.

This has been endorsed by the Administration and the Board of Trustees.

The Faculty Council of the College of Business had scheduled a meeting for this past week. I will be meeting with the Chair of Council to determine what action they intend to take and report that discussion to the Senate for further deliberation or action.

You may have received the Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) survey form our Faculty Fellow. The intent is to use the survey to try and improve the workplace for the Faculty. If you have received the email, please complete the survey. It takes about 25 minutes and the website will be up until January24, 2014.

Thanks for your kind cooperation.

  1. Action Items:

A.Curriculum Bulletin: 1 Tabled Motions

  1. Global Learning Curriculum Oversight Committee Motions – Rick Tardanico, Chair

Motion: The Faculty Senate approves the following Global Learning proposals from Curriculum Bulletin 1:Moved and approved. EEC 3400: Family Literacy and the Young Child, OCB 2003: Introduction to Marine Biology, GLY 4734: Changing Coastlines.

The following Global Learning Proposals from Curriculum Bulletin 1 were not approved: IDH 4007– 4008: Honor Seminar, IDS3xxx: Introduction to Responsible Global Citizenship and Sustainable Institutions—Change Your World

  1. Curriculum Committee Motions – Shahid Hamid, Chair

Motion: The Faculty Senate approves the New Graduate Track in MS in Hospitality Management: Specialization in Real Estate.Moved and approved.

B.Graduate Council Motion – Fred Blevens, Chair

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.Moved and approved.

  1. Reports:

A.Provost’s Report—Kathleen Wilson, Faculty Fellow, gives the Provost’s report in place of Elizabeth Bejar. B. APLU (American Association of Public Land Grant Universities) National Conference: Provost Doug Wartzok and Vice Provost Elizabeth Bejar both presented at the conference. FIU won the graduation initiative award (Most Visible Improvement Award).B. Climate survey in the Business School: C-suite Analytics has been selected. They are recognized globally. Only non-attributable summary date will be shared with the University. All data will remain with external consultants. Please call (407)-948-0321 to speak directly with consultants if you wish to air any concerns.C. FIU will host the BOG meeting Nov. 20-21. The morning of the 20th, all Trustees from all 12 universities will be at FIU for a first-time summit on governance in higher education. Speakers include the Vice Chancellor from Oxford University. This relates to the new Florida-Oxford Scholar program. The program is open to Florida residents studying in the State system. The level of study is one-year, full-time Master’s courses. Subjects include science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The value will be 100% of university and college fees and a grant for living costs (at least £ 13,726). The duration corresponds to the period of fee liability (one year). There will be 10 awards. Closing date: those who apply by January 10 or 24 will be given priority, depending on the course, although later applications will be accepted. Another speaker at the BOG meeting will be Thomas Ross from the University of North Carolina. FIU has 4 new Market Rate programs for the BOG to approve: Master of Science in Human Resources Management; Master of Science in International Real Estate; Executive Master’s in Public Administration; Professional Master of Science in Counseling Psychology. D. AAALAC (Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care): FIU is applying for accreditation. This the gold standard for animal care. There will be a site visit this week. FIU has passed the first bar and has moved on to the next stage. AAALACInternational is a private, non-profit organization that promotes the humane treatment of animals in science through voluntary accreditation and assessment programs. E. The McNair Conference: Named after the African-American astronaut killed in the Challenger accident, the McNair Inaugural Research Scholars Conference for Florida is being hosted by FOI in Oct. 2014. The conference will celebrate 10 years in place; it has made awards to approximately 250 undergraduate students. Ronald E. McNair Post-baccalaureate Achievement program: Funded under Title VI of the Higher Education Act of 1965, to help low-income Americans enter college, graduate, and progress to become experts in their fields. The Ronald E. McNair Post-baccalaureate Achievement program was established in 1986. Its primary goal is to increase the number of Ph.D. students among under-represented groups. Benefits of the program include faculty mentorship, opportunities to present research at various graduate school enrollment opportunities, and a generous stipend. F. COACHE Survey: Please take the time to complete the survey. Faculty Fellow Kathleen Wilson will be chairing the committee to examine the results and address concerns. Some faculty contacted the Faculty Fellow to say that they did not receive the link to the survey. After a check, consultants from Harvard confirmed that they sent the link. Harvard will re-send the link today, Dec. 3, and Jan. 21. The survey closes Jan 24. G. PAW (Panther Alumni Week) is Feb. 3-7. This is an initiative of the Trustee Grant. It includes a reception at the Frost Museum, hosted by the Alumni Association and President Rosenberg on Friday from 6-8 p.m. Please take this opportunity to invite an alum to your class, as an opportunity to build and establish alumni relations. Next:Kathleen Wilson as Faculty Fellow discusses her annual goals. She sees her role as facilitating faculty communication with respect to the various surveys. Please feel free to contact her via e-mail at , or by phone at ext. 1999. Among her personal initiatives as Faculty Fellow is to serve as an ombudsman for department Chairs. Her definition of ombudsman encompasses the following qualities: confidential, neutral, informal, and independent. It includes shuttle diplomacy, mediation, brainstorming, exploring options, and presenting upward trends to the Administration. K. Wilson is particularly interested in issues regarding university performance reviews and post-tenure reviews. She would like to call on the faculty to share their best practices. K. Wilson briefly describes an upcoming professional development program for FIU leaders (Chairs and above). The Faculty Fellow will be the iREALCommissioner for “how new modalities of higher education will impact graduation rates, an important performance funding criterion by the BOG.” She is also the point person for policies regarding Tenure and Promotion, Third-Year Review, and Sabbaticals. (Otherwise, contact Priscilla Williams.) K. Wilson is the Chair of the Textbook Affordability Committee. She likewise offers support of Chairs and CAC, and will continue with the visits to legislators. In sum, K. Wilson’s overall role as Faculty Fellow is facilitate communication between faculty and Administration. She will present faculty ideas and concerns to the Provost and Academic Affairs.

B.Finance and Administration Report – Kenneth Jessell, Chief Financial Officer. A. The BOG meeting is coming up at FIU. 4 finalists will be under consideration for the position of the new Chancellor. B. K. Jessell met with all budget managers a couple of months ago. Under discussion was the way in which Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act would impact state revenues going into an election year. It is proving difficult to get tuition increases. There is a struggle to obtain the 1.57% statutory increase. If the State government makes a statement negating the tuition hike, then there will be no increase. With regard to PICO appropriations, we are on the top. However, it does not look like this number will be so large next year (perhaps 90 million dollars, perhaps not). These monies will go to infrastructure. There is much uncertainty regarding the budget. There may be a 2% budget reduction for next year. We must be realistic and do the budgets based on revenues. It is important to account for the fact that we have gone more towards performance-based funding (20 million dollars). We did well with the 3 existing metrics: excess hours; the number of students employed or enrolled in graduate school; and wages. It is believed that there will be 10 new metrics for coming year. Discussions on this subject will be on-going over next couple of months. The outcome is difficult to anticipate so we should use an abundance of caution. C. K. Jessell notes that there is will be a construction project involving the Red Garage. As a result of the project, there will be some challenges in the Spring and Fall of 2014. Measures designed to help with these challenges include the presence of safety officers and the availability of alternate parking, particularly in the first few weeks of Fall 2014. The Red Garage project will bring 2,000 new parking spaces as well as retail. The 112th Street entrance will be redone and a traffic circle will be installed. D. We had the best response ever to an emergency management test a week and a half ago, which means that there have been improvements to the WIN system.

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

Bargaining
The first bargaining session to negotiate the renewal of the Collective Bargaining Agreement for the period 2014 – 2017 was held last Friday, with UFF represented by Florence Keane, Joan Baker, Alan Gummerson, Jose Mitrani, Helen Simon, and Teresa Lucas. The FIU Administration representatives present were Tonja Moore, Hilary Landorf, John Stuart, and Luis Salas. Following the guidelines of Interest Based Bargaining, the session was dedicated to establishing the ground rules for future meetings, and to presenting the issues that are up for consideration. The UFF faculty survey served as the basis for the topics that will be brought to the table by UFF, including salaries, benefits, and workload. The next bargaining session will be on Friday, November 22, from 1 – 4 p.m., in AHC 4202.
Upcoming events
Open House: Thursday, November 21, 4-7 p.m., PC 111
UFF Holiday Party: Thursday, December 5, 4-8 p.m., Faculty Club

Board of Governors meets at FIU
The Florida Board of Governors will meet at FIU next week on Wednesday, November 20, from noon – 5 p.m. and on Thursday, November 21, from 8:30 a.m. to noon, in the GC Ballroom. Among other items on the agenda is the renewal of Mark Rosenberg’s contract, approved by the FIU Board of Trustees in September. The agenda and materials for the meetings are available at

Shared governance

As faculty are invited to participate in several surveys, including the general COACHE Survey of Faculty Job Satisfaction at FIU, and the C-Suite Analytics Climate Survey specific to the faculty of the College of Business, be mindful of the right of faculty at FIU to speak out on all relevant matters, enshrined in both the Faculty Senate Bill of Collective Rights and Principles of Governance and in the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the UFF and the Board of Trustees.

The Faculty Senate Bill of Collective Rights and Principles of Governance states:

Senate Section A: Academic freedom is the freedom of faculty members to present and discuss all relevant matters in the classroom and in the public forum; to select instructional materials and determine grades; to pursue all avenues of scholarship, research, and creative expression; to speak freely on all matters of University governance; to speak out in matters of controversy; and to write and act as individuals, all without institutional reprisal or restraint and unhindered from internal or external groups.

The CBA states:
Article 5 (5.1): Florida International University affirms the principles of academic freedom and responsibility, which are rooted in the concept of the University as a community of scholars committed to free inquiry in an atmosphere of tolerance, without fear of censorship or reprisal. (5.2): Academic freedom is the freedom of an employee to present and discuss all relevant matters in the classroom, to select instructional materials and determine grades, to pursue all avenues of scholarship, research and creative expression, to speak freely on all matters of University governance, and to speak, write or act as an individual, all without institutional discipline or restraint.

D.SGA Report— Liane Sippin, SGA-MMC President.Not present.

  1. Unfinished Business. No.
  2. New Business. Announcement of the new Astroscience Center. The grand opening will take place this week. Note that at 3:30 p.m. today, a Nobel Laureate will give a lecture on the universe at the university. At 8 p.m. there will be a Star Party.

Announcements

The next Faculty Senate meeting is on Tuesday December 3rd, 2013 at 1:00PM in the Wertheim Conservatory 130 on the MMC Campus. Go to facultysenate.fiu.edu for regularly updated information on the Faculty Senate.