Minutes for the Executive Senate Meeting 04/04/14

Members present: Lincoln Godshalk, Rebecca Ostertag, Tracy Wiegner, Mazen Hamad, Yucheng Quin, Jan Ray, Jean Ippolito, Randy Hirokawa, Johann Kuipers and Faith Mishina.

1. Minutes for the Executive Senate meeting on March 7th were read and approved.

2. Nominations for next year:

  • Tracy Wiegner agreed to continue a second term for Natural Sciences.
  • Jim Beets is interested in serving on the Executive Senate for Natural Sciences.
  • Jean Ippolito emailed Seri Luangphinith for possible members of the Executive Senate from Humanities.
  • Jean Ippolito talked with Kay Daub to solicit faculty from Nursing for Senate positions.

She will ask Kay again for at least one faculty member to sit on the Executive Senate.

3. Report from the APC:

  • Kathyrn Besio stated that there is no Chair of the APC; rather, they alternate.
  • Currently there will be 3 members for next year: Kathryn Besio, Jene Michaud and Yoshiko Fukushima.
  • After reviewing the new version of the Senate Charter, the APC recommends two changes: Section 3A: There is an inconsistency in the committee sizes. All standing committees should consist of 4 members. Section 6: There was objection to vague language: “professional welfare”. Because of it nebulous meaning, it was recommended that it be stricken from the Charter.
  • Jean will send email these revisions for member to agree on an editing change of the Senate Charter.

4. Report from the CRC:

  • There was no report.
  • Jean Ippolito asked if the CRC could discuss how to make the CRC process easier. She

asked if Steve Colbert could send her a bulleted list of ways to make the CRC task easier.

  • She stated that there are 6 or 7 things that the department chairs have identified that should be fast-tracked through the process. The Dean produced a paper with a list of things that should go the campus CRC and a list of things that should not go to the campus CRC. Faith Mishina will contact Steve Colbert.
  • There are several kinesiology courses that the CRC should address.

3. Old Business:

1. The Dean’s Evaluation is going out on Tuesday. Faculty will have one week to respond.

2. Ballots were counted for the Tenure and Promotions’ Revision.

  • Humanities: Out of 24 votes, there were 8 YES, 7 NO, 6 Abstain and 7 To extend discussion.
  • Natural Sciences: Out of 21 votes, there were 13 YES, 7 NO, 1 Abstain and 2 to extend discussion.
  • Social Sciences: Out of 19 votes, there were 12 YES, 5 NO, 1 Abstain and no requests to extend discussion.
  • 64 voted YES; the vote passes the 51% quorum.
  • Several other issues were suggested on ballots, however, these were not voted on.
  • The Revision will be sent to the Dean, who will send it to the Vice Chancellor. The VC

will report to UHPA. UHPA’s response will be sent back to the VC and the Dean. The Dean will report back on the response from the union to the Executive Senate.

New Business:

1. A discussion ensued about the possible creation of a “School” of Natural Sciences.

  • Departments are run by faculty chairs; no accreditation is necessary for a department.
  • Colleges are run by deans.
  • Schools are run by directors and there are accreditation requirements. The School of Nursing and the School of Education have accreditation requirements. Their directors sit on the Dean’s Council, but “director” is just a label. They remain under CAS structure.
  • Tracy Wiegner stated that there was much less enthusiasm for a “School” of Natural Sciences as the NS faculty felt that not much would change. Several years back there was an 82 approval from Natural Sciences for a “College” of Natural Sciences. The current problem is that there is no position number for a dean available.
  • A proposed amalgamation of Natural Sciences and CAFNRM was rejected by the CAFNRM faculty in the past. Randy Hirokawa suggested that this might be due to the politics on the state level and the fact that CAFNRM faculty have an 11 month appointment, unlike Natural Sciences.
  • It was suggested that CAFNRM be given incentives to join with Natural Sciences. CAFNRM students take a significant amount of Natural Sciences courses. They are dependent on Natural Science. A College of Natural and Applied Sciences would be appropriate academically.
  • Ken Hon, Jim Beets, Norbert Furumo and Philippe Binder are preparing a proposal on this issue.Their proposal should come to CAS in a week.

2. There were 3 suggestions for the All Senate Meeting on Friday May 2:

  • Extend an invitation to Matt Platz to discuss Tenure and Promotion.
  • Hold a discussion on the possibility of a “College” of Natural Science.
  • The Dean offered to spend 10 minutes on the new budget model and its applied significance.
  • Jean Ippolito will present a report on the motions passed by the Executive Senate this scholastic year.