Governance Council

Governance Council

Monday, October 15, 2014

10:00AM

UNH 306

Cynthia Fox, Chair

Minutes

PRESENT:Chesin, Sorrell E; Dutta, Saurav K; Fox, Cynthia A; Gulatee, Yenisel;

Janiszewski, Caitlin I; Kearney, Ann; Malavasic, Jolene; Moore, Chris;

Scheck, Helene; Zemel, Alan

GUEST:Stefl-Mabry, Joette

The meeting convened at 10:00 a.m.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

The minutes of September 22, 2014were approved with minor changes and 3 abstentions.

CHAIR’S REPORT

Chair Fox noted that Interim Provost Mulcahy has reported to the SEC that he has been charged by the President with forming 2 committees related to the recent budget announcement.The first committee will look at contingent and part time faculty issues including the appropriate proportion to full time faculty, fair compensation and improvements to the current system of evaluation. The second committee will look at graduate student issues, especially compensation. It is expectedGOV will be asked forrecommendations in constituting those committees.

Senate Chair Stefl-Mabry and GOV Chair Fox met with UUP leadership and laid groundwork for useful collaborations. Both will attend the UUP Executive Committee Meeting November 11th to report on Senate activities and answer questions. The Chairs also met with Chief of Staff Leanne Wirkkula as part of the regularly mandated Senate Chair meetings withthe President. It was a productive meeting about ways that the Administration and Senate Governance can better communicate. There has been an initiative to start informal meetings with the Chief of Staff Wirkkula, UUP Chapter PresidentBret Benjamin, the Senate Chair and, perhaps the Vice Chair – again to consider ways in which constituents can better communicate and cooperate.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Meeting Schedule

The next meeting had been rescheduled to Wednesday, October 29th at 10:00 a.m. in UNH 306, then back to Monday afternoons. It seems the Monday afternoonschedule is possible for everyone next semester, so we will go ahead setting up those spring meetings.

Survey of Governance

Chair Fox and Senate Chair Stefl-Mabry reviewed the purpose and basis of the survey, the process by which it was conducted in Spring 2014, and shared with GOV the results. Chair Fox stated she would be sending out copies of the report results to GOV members. The survey, they explained, was divided into 2 parts: Students, and Professional Staff and Faculty. There were both quantitative and open ended questions. A summary of the results is as follows:

Student Survey–About 1¾ % of students responded. Five themes emerged:students want information on governance, donot know about governance, feel their opinions do not matter, have negativity toward governance leadership, and share recommendations.

Professional Staff and Faculty–About 12 % responded. Three themes emerged: they feel governance is ineffective, expressed distrust of leadership, and share recommendations.

The results were to be shared at the upcoming Senate meeting. GOV members were asked to review the results and provide feedback, including constructive criticism and suggestions.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting adjourned at 11:34 a.m.

Respectfully submitted by

Elisa Lopez, Recorder