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The seventh meeting of the 2001-2002 year was called to order at 12:17 PM.

Members Present:

Brownell (Art), Lavin (Art), Puerschner (Chemistry), Ullian (Communication), Coburn-Enquist (Communication), Jirsa (ComDisorder/MFT), DaPonte (Computer Science), Nwachuku (Couns/SchPsych), Fullmer (Earth Science), Corbett (Education), Thorson (Econ/Finance), Cairns (Ed Leadership), Petrie (English), Hood (English), Johnson (English), Mee (Exercise Science), Judd (History), Sakalowsky (Geography), Dunklee (Jounalism), Petto (History), Bielefield (Library Science), Wu (Library Services), Nodoushani (Management), Prince (Marketing), Brin (Math), Wallace (Nursing), Young (Part-time faculty), Volkman (Philosophy), Broadbridge (Physics), Paulson (Political Science), Sherman (Psychology), Kahlbaugh (Psychology), Bulmer (Public Health), Grants (Recreation/Leisure), Cusato (Science Ed/Env Stud), Dripchak (Social Work), Skoczen (Soc & Anthro)Brucker (Special Ed/Reading), Major (Special Ed/Reading), Watts (Theatre)

Members Absent:

(Accounting), Maloney (Athletics), Martinelli (Biology), Lawler (Counseling), (Education), Rinehardt (Exercise Science), Verplaetse (Foreign Language), Hernandez (Foreign Language), Schofield-Bodt (Library Services), Bennett (Math), Moss (Music), Prince (Part-time faculty), (Part-time faculty), (Part-time faculty), Haymes (Social Work)

The minutes of November 28, 2001 were approved.

G. Puerschner moved that the agenda be changed so that discussion of the Academic Strategic Plan could proceed immediately, since Vice-President for Academic Affairs, J.P. Smith and Assistant to Vice President for Academic Affairs, R. Gerber were present for that purpose. The motion carried on a voice vote.

Since the Academic Policy Committee is working on this, the floor was turned to J. Fullmer, Chair. The discussion began with some general comments from J.P. Smith, R. Gerber, and J. Fullmer:

• J.P. Smith: As the Vice-President for Academic Affairs, it is myob to examine policy from a broad point of view, as opposed to from within the concerns of a given department or school. Since the current draft of the Academic Strategic Plan was devised by the Deans of the various schools, it made sense to also solicit faculty involvement to get the broadest input.
• R. Gerber: The Academic Strategic Plan benefits from faculty involvement both from the point of view of expertise and of culture. We need faculty expertise to develop a smart plan, and we need faculty involvement to give faculty a sense of ownership of the plan. Such a broad-based participatory effort proved very effective in developing the NEASC report. We faculty should be in on answering questions like: What should our students know? What programs should grow? What programs should not grow?
• J. Fullmer: Let’s look at some of the details of the proposal from which our committee has been working. In the original proposal from Academic Affairs, the plan is to create two very large committees to develop the Academic Strategic Plan. The Academic Policy Committee envisions one committee with several smaller sub-committees and ad-hoc committees to do particular tasks. The point is that while we should like to have broad inclusion, too large a committee would be unwieldy. Of course, expertise and involvement can and should be invited that goes beyond the membership of the committee.

Questions from the floor:

• When is this to be done? Was a Strategic Plan not just finished? J. Fullmer: The strategic plan is not the same as the Academic Strategic Plan. This is the first Academic Strategic Plan. J.P. Smith: This committee would focus on the Academic Strategic Plan.
• Is this planning for the sake of planning? Department Chairs make plans in their annual reports that are routinely ignored—why isn’t this more of the same? J.P. Smith: This committee is designed to attack just this issue, and relates to attaching planning to resources. We need to decide what in general to commit to with resources. Not all planning speaks directly to resources, and without the resources a plan can become moot. R. Gerber: Anytime resources are involved, the stakes are high. That’s why faculty’s sense of ownership of this plan is so important.
• This all seems to be a discussion of process—once committee or two—is there anything of substance to be discussed here? J. Fullmer: This plan calls for determining the "growth and decline" of the various programs. This is obviously a very important matter of real substance. The process matters a great deal here.
• How does all this relate to the draft Academic Strategic Plan developed by the Deans and recently discussed at a meeting of the School of Arts and Sciences? J.P. Smith: The Deans’ draft is a skeleton; it is a starting place. We intend to take what we get from the faculty and bring it before the Deans to see what they say. The Academic Policy Committee has a suggestion to avoid generating two documents, but I will have to talk with the Deans to see where they are on this. R. Gerber: School-based planning is inherently interest-oriented. What is missing is looking across the institution, asking about the role of our faculty and students in what we do. It is hard for anyone to say, "My shop is going to shrink." This is the nature of such planning. There is a vertical process, with the Deans serving as advocates for their particular interests, and a lateral process, where broad-based faculty input speaks to the nature of the University across the different schools.

A sense of the Senate determined unanimously that the Senate prefers the Academic Policy Committees proposal to establish a single, unified committee that includes both Deans and faculty to the original proposal from Academic Affairs to have two parallel committees. J.P. Smith said he would communicate this to the Deans and see what they had to say about it.

President Paulson called special attention to the status of Faculty Travel Funds. "Thanks to the hard work of Pam Brucker," Senate Treasurer, approximately $25,000 has been found for travel by full time faculty. President Paulson urged faculty to unencumber travel funds they turned out not to need, to claim reimbursement after travel in a timely manner, and to investigate other sources of money than Faculty Travel Funds if one is traveling for the purpose of university service rather than profession or creative activity.

The motion to create the Writing Board has passed the UCF. This involves a change to the UCF constitution, and that is an issue that can be vetoed by the Senate if action is taken today.

J. Tait reported that the motion to create a Writing Board passed, but that this was considered as a separate matter from the details and structure of the Board. He said that these details will be sent to the Senate as a major motion, so the details will be subject to review by the Senate. Senator S. Judd asked when a finished revised UCF Constitution would be forthcoming. J. Tait explained that it should be ready sometime next semester. Senator K. Skoczen asked whether those who drafted the Writing Board proposal would be on the committee to devise the details and structure. Tait responded that he would strive to ensure that no one on the committee that fills in these details and structure would be "entrenched" on either side of this controversial matter. The Interim Writing Board will not be on that exploratory committee.

• J. Fullmer: I am in possession of some lunar samples that will have to go back to NASA soon. If anyone would like to take a look, let me know. I also have an interesting Soviet-era map of Afghanistan that may be of interest in light of current events.
• P. Kalbaugh: At the last meeting of the University Library Committee, we learned the the library may not get its planned renovations after all, due to funding issues. The Operating Expenses budget was cut 37% in the last round of budget cuts. Library Director Susan Cirillo would some Senate action on these concerns.

Standing Committee Reports:

1. Rules: No report.
2. Personnel Policy:
• The committee considered drafting a resolution in support of the AAUP action regarding the scoping of issues before the Labor Board, but chose not to.
• The committee investigated a resolution regarding flu vaccines and discovered that the Health Services was without the funds or personnel to distribute more vaccines this year.
• The P&T committee Chair, G. Appleby, spoke with us regarding the ongoing revisions we are making to the P&T documents.
3. Student Policy: We have continued investigating the legal issues regarding Student Disruptive Behavior.
4. Technology:
• Upgrade letters should be distributed by the end of the week for those faculty eligible for this round of upgrades.
• There is a plan to create a central call center that would be open from 7:45am to 10:00pm. The center will include UAs cross-trained under IT.
• IT is surveying users of high-tech classrooms to determine levels of access and success.
• WebCT is SCSU’s new provider for services related to online courses.
• A new email client will become standard this summer.
5. Academic Policy: We mostly worked on the proposal from Academic Affairs regarding the Academic Strategic Plan, discussed earlier today. We will now turn back to work on the Late Withdrawal Policy and the Dean’s List.
6. Elections: The results of recent elections are listed below.
• Terminations Hearing Committee:
• John Nwangwu
• Vicki Mick
• Marie Selvaggio
• Part-Time Faculty Senators:
• Sharon Dobbins
• Jexey Jack
7. Finance: As noted in the President’s Report, $25,000 has been added to the Travel Account. $18,000 of that came from newly unencumbered funds. Tell your colleagues to unencumber funds they did not use!

Old Business:

8. Rules: Accountability of Senators (Vote for the Record)

The motion passed, 34 yes to 3 no.

New Business:

Due to the time-sensitive nature of some items on the agenda for New Business, G. Puerschner moved that the resolution from the Technology Committee be considered first. The motion passed by voice vote.

9. Technology: High Technology Classrooms (attached to 12-12-01 agenda)

The motion passed by a voice vote.

10. Rules: Graduate Council by-laws resolution (attached to 12-12-01 agenda)

The motion passed by a voice vote.

11. J. Dunklee moved that everyone should have a happy holiday.

Meeting was adjourned at 2:00 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Resolutions Passed:

F-01-08 High Technology Classrooms