Approved Minutes of the Faculty Senate Meeting

December 12, 2007

http://www.scsu.ctstateu.edu/organizations/facultysenate

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The seventh meeting of the 2007-2008 year was called to order at 12:10 PM.

 

Members Present: Emenyonu (Accounting), Selvaggio (Anthropology), Vu (Art), Lavin (Art), Feng (Biology), Pang (Chemistry), Petroski (Communication), Jirsa (Com Disorders/MFT), DaPonte (Computer Science), Smith (Couns/Sch Psych), Fullmer (Earth Science), Mills (Econ/Finance); Diamantis (Education), Madonia (Ed Leadership), Shea (English), Johnson (English), Petrie (English), Swartz (Exercise Science), Olson (Foreign Language), Sakalowsky (Geography), Paddock (History), Metaxas (History), Dunklee (Journalism), Clerc (Library Services), Toce (Library Services), Page (Management), Prince (Marketing), Dennis (Mathematics), O’Brien (Media Studies), Strawn (Nursing), Goldblatt (Part-Time Faculty), Gilliland (Philosophy), Horch (Physics), Buterbaugh (Political Science), Sherman (Psychology), Cameron (Social Work), Keenan (Social Work), Bloch (Sociology), Brucker (Special Ed/Reading), Nye (Theater).

 

Members Absent: Maloney (Athletics), Lawler (Counseling), Larocco (English), Davie (Exercise Science), Pelayo (Foreign Language), McGinn (Library Science), Brin (Mathematics), Kuss (Music), Rebeschi (Nursing), Carrano (Part-Time Faculty), Roman (Part-Time Faculty), Capone (Part-Time Faculty), Colwell (Psychology), Faraclas (Public Health), Cusato (Science Ed/Env Stud), Tamura (Special Ed/Reading).

 

The minutes of November 28, 2007, were approved as amended.

Announcements: 

·        January 2nd is the deadline to enter grades for Fall 2007.

·        Faculty members Drs. Hochman and Soneson were recognized for attending Senate.

 

President Johnson proposed a motion to move to Standing Committee Reports as the Senate is expecting President Norton to arrive.  There were no objections, therefore the standing committee reports commenced.

 

Standing Committee Reports:

 

Student Policy  ~ ~  Senator Madonia reported that the new Director of Residence Life and Housing, Dr. Angela Todaro, visited the committee and will continue to work with the committee in the future.  

 

Technology  ~ ~  Senator DaPonte reported that the committee met with Joe Brignola to discuss further investigation of additional laptop carts and work with an ad-hoc committee to investigate other more effective solutions.  They also discussed the use of clickers in the classroom and will continue investigating the personal response units further.  The committee discussed other issues, such as the minimum configuration for the high tech classrooms and the increase of portable AV carts, which seems to be in great need.

 

At this point President Norton arrived and the standing committee reports got postponed to later time. 

 

President Norton expressed appreciation for the invitation and invited discussions on the IT concerns/issues from the senators.  There was a lengthy open discussion with many issues from senators and concerns of IT services. 

What follows is a summary of some comments/concerns:

§         Irresponsiveness from IT to faculty needs, specifically for high-tech classroom needs

§         Although IT services have improved,  there is some history of inconsistency of services

§         High tech classrooms (such as EN A 105) has no internet connection and help desk has been contacted repeatedly but there has been no resolution.

§         Help from help desk on desktop issues has resolved in loss of hard drive saved information, which has increased frustration  and decreased ability to be successful in the classroom, not to forget inability to continue research

§         There seems to be great need of technical assistance to trouble shoot correctly and solve problems, we can’t rely on students for such work

§         STARRS students are great but the need is for more permanent, qualified technical support

§         Help desk hours have improved to cover evening hours; however classes go till 10 pm not to forget Saturday/Sunday classes

§         Equipment in the high tech classrooms (ie electrical chords) are left up to the faculty/departments to purchase when the plug is far away from the instructor’s desk

§         Help desk and technical assistance has not increased although the number of high tech classrooms have increased, some inconsistency in that area

§         Monitor in EN B 216 is not functioning and the cart that was brought for replacement had monitor problems and had to be replaced.  A week later the same replacement computer cart was delivered with the monitor unable to work again.

§         Wall plugs in EN B 216 are not working

§         Responsiveness from IT services is sometimes to some faculty but other requests are not responded to

§         Decision making on calls to help desk might need to be re-evaluated

§         Clear communication might resolve some issues

§         On line requests for help was not working, yet faculty was told that help-desk request can not be done in person, only online

§         Help desk response needs to be fast since class time is 50 minutes long, it is problematic if the response time for assistance is not quick

§         Help in a department has been very positive and response has been very quick, as a matter of fact all adjunct members have been provided with lap tops

§         Help responses for the Mac’s is very good but help for the PC’s has been very problematic

§         New faculty needs are not being addressed.  Faculty were hired and the call for technology needs was forwarded to the IT office in June.  The IT response was that nothing can be done till August, it was November when action was taken, a bit too late

§         Dr. Chai is innovative, has assisted in many problems and is supportive of faculty requests but is working with minimum resources

§         Since Dr. Chai’s arrival IT services have improved, the issue is that we might need administrative support to hire appropriate resources.  In the past, searches for such  assistance have been completed but the position has been canceled

§         The current need might be a person dedicated on checking all high tech classrooms at the end of each day who also follows through with the resolutions of the issues

At this time, President Norton departed and the Senate voted to move to Old Business and postpone the Standing committee reports to a later time.  No objections

 

Old Business:  Revision on the Graduate Council Rules of Order

 

After a very lengthy discussion on the revision of the Graduate Council Rules of Order the following questions/issues transpired:

1.    is there an accreditation need/requirement to have such faculty status/designation?

2.    which body makes such determination (department or Graduate Council)?

3.    what might be the standards?

4.    what other universities of equal status as SCSU have?

5.    what standards for this status do the other universities have?

6.    what is the list of such universities?

 

Motion on the floor:  Postpone this decision until beginning of the next semester and invite Provost Williams to justify the need for this faculty status.

 

Motion was passed by majority, two abstentions.

 

At 2 pm, there was a presentation to Senator Fullmer for his years of volunteering on the Senate and for his leadership in the different subcommittees.  The Senate is indebted in his past services and wishes him continued professional success as he is stepping down from the Senate.

 

The Senate meeting was adjourned at 2:10 pm.    

 

Respectfully submitted,

Dr. Maria Diamantis

Secretary of the Senate