Approved Minutes of the Faculty Senate Meeting
March 14, 2007
http://www.scsu.ctstateu.edu/organizations/facultysenate
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The twelfth meeting of the 2006-2007 year was called to order at 12:10 PM.
Members Present: Skoczen (Anthropology), Pang (Chemistry), Petroski (Communication), Paul (Com Disorders/MFT), DaPonte (Computer Science), Smith (Cons/Sch Psych), Fullmer (Earth Science), Mills (Econ/Finance), Diamantis (Education), Madonia (Ed Leadership), Larocco (English), Pelayo (Foreign Language), Piemontese (Foreign Language), Sakalowsky (Geography), Amerman (History), Madison (History), Dunklee (Journalism), McGinn (Library Services), Clerc (Library Services), Stepanovich (Management), Prince (Marketing), Dennis (Mathematics), O’Brien (Media Studies), Wagner (Nursing), Aronson (Nursing), Capone (Part-Time Faculty), Gilliland (Philosophy), Buterbaugh (Political Science), Sherman (Psychology), Faraclas (Public Health), Cusato (Science Ed/Env Stud), Keenan (Social Work), Bloch (Sociology), Brucker (Special Ed/Reading), Tamura (Special Ed/Reading), Nye (Theatre), Nicaise (FASP).
Members Absent:
Emenyonu (Accounting), Guagliumi (Art), Slomba (Art), Maloney (Athletics), Lerud (Biology), Lawler (Counseling), Madonia (Ed Leadership), Blackmer (English), ____ (English), Swartz (Exercise Science), Rinehardt (Exercise Science), Reynaga (Library Services), Bennett (Mathematics), Kuss (Music), Anderson (Part-time faculty), Roman (Part-Time Faculty), Young (Part-Time Faculty), Enjalran (Physics), Mackey (Psychology), Panza (Recreation/Leisure), Cameron (Social Work), Joe Fields (UCF).
The minutes of February 28, 2007 were approved.
Announcements:
Ø Dr. Heron requested for a volunteer from the Senate to serve on the search committee for the Director of Residence Life. Senators Peter Madonia, Kathleen Skoczen, and Rhea Paul volunteered to serve on the committee.
Ø Senator Dunklee announced that the Women’s Basketball Team has qualified for the Elite Eight and they are flying to Kearney, Nebraska. The games will be announced at the WSINradio.org and two members of the Journalism department will follow them to the championship game.
Ø Senator Brucker announced that David Roth will be performing for faculty on March 29th at 2-4 pm at the Adanti Ballroom. This presentation will be made possible due to a Faculty Development Grant and if anyone is interested to please contact Barbara Schiller.
Ø On Saturday, March 24, Southern will be hosting the Odyssey of the Mind event. This event is for elementary school students where they are required to provide creative solutions to given problems.
Ø On Sunday, March 18, 2-4 pm, Senator Dunklee will be moderating a discussion amongst officers of the Chapter of Professional Journalists. The topic: The state of the Journalism in the state of Connecticut.
Ø Keep our colleague Patricia Olney from the Political Science department in your thoughts as she has been moved to Hospice. The Senate will sent our greetings to her at Hospice.
Ø Senator Diamantis announced that our colleague Bob Jirsa is doing well and he might be going home soon. We will be collecting monetary donations to give Bob and provide some entertainment for him while he will be recuperating at home.
Guests:
1) Provost Selase Williams and Dr. Ron Heron.
Dr. Williams and Dr. Heron visited the Senate to discuss the University Strategic Plan and to receive feedback from the Senators.
· The Mission statement will need BOT approval. The Strategic Plan will not, but will be presented to the BOT’s April meeting.
· The Appendices will not be part of the final published document.
· The final draft is scheduled to be completed before the spring break.
· Discussion followed on parts that need some more work or clarification. The suggestions will be brought to the USP committee’s meeting for consideration.
· President DaPonte reminded the senate that there will be a ballot during the University committees’ elections run by the Senate, so that faculty can voice their support for the University Strategic Plan.
2) Professor Patti DeBarbieri is not present at this meeting but she will report to the Senate on a future date on the requested information on the SCSU Foundation Board.
At this time, President DaPonte asked for any objections to moving to the FASP Update prior to the President’s Report. Hearing no objections, the FASP update will occur before the President’s Report.
FASP Update: Dr. Nicaise
The FASP committee met on Friday, March 9, 2007. Provost Williams was the guest and he answered questions from several members regarding the USP document. Suggestions were presented and the FASP committee voted on the USP. It was a unanimous YES in favor of the document. Future FASP meeting dates are not defined at this time.
President’s Report
President DaPonte distributed his report and highlighted the following:
Ø President Norton met with President DaPonte and discussed:
o The Climate Survey summary will be posted on the web this Friday.
o The University Strategic Plan will be presented to the BOT on their April meeting.
o The IT consultants will be available to meet and discuss their assessment with the faculty senate committee and the ETAC committee.
Ø The Senate Executive met with President Norton and discussed the Classroom Scheduling and its inflexibility for the departments to schedule classes.
Ø The CSU Lobby Day, March 29th, is approaching and AAUP will be sponsoring busses to Hartford at 8 am. President DaPonte urged senators to announce this to their departments and call Linda Cunningham for seat reservations for the bus.
Ø Deadline for midterm grades is Wednesday, March 28, 2007 as extended by Provost Williams. The means of distributing midterm grades is faculty choice of Banner or hard copies. Question from the floor: will the last date to Withdraw be changed or will it stay the same?
UCF Update
No report, Joe Fields was absent
Graduate Council Update ~~ Jon Bloch
Conrad Colandra will be meeting with graduate coordinators to assist them in signing off students for graduation electronically through Banner.
Standing Committee Reports
Technology ~~ Senator Petroski
The senate technology committee met and discussed in detail the IT assessment report.
Academic Policy ~~ Senator Bloch
The committee has drafted two resolutions to be presented later.
Elections ~~
In the absence of Senator Swartz, President DaPonte announced that the request for nominations is emailed and is due after the spring break.
With the elections for committee members, the ballots will include a statement on the top of the page for the University Strategic Plan.
Finance ~~ Senator Brucker
There are 4 full time faculty waiting in the queue for TA approvals.
Personnel Policy ~~ Senator Cusato
The committee is almost done with the review of the Senate’s P & T document. They will wrap it up after break and will be presenting it to the Senate soon. Senator Cusato requested that Senators bring their copy of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (contract) at the next meeting.
Rules ~~ Senator O’Brien
The committee submitted questions on the graduate council’s rules of order document to Dr. Leslie and hope to hear from his soon.
Student Policy ~~ Senator Madonia
The committee is discussing student services after 4 pm. Senator Madonia invites electronic communication of any thought/comment on student services after 4 pm.
Question on the status of the academic misconduct was raised and Senator Madonia replied that it is not resolved because it is more complicated than it sounds. Upon his request, the sense of the senate was to continue in this direction on defining such process within legal limits.
Old Business
Ø Workload Ad Hoc Committee: the members of this committee are Steve Larocco, Pam Brucker, Barbara Aronson, and Sue Clerc. President DaPonte asked Senator Larocco to coordinate this ad hoc committee.
New Business:
#1. The Resolution to Increase Funding for Faculty Searches. Since Provost Williams has already approved an increase of funds for each faculty search, this resolution was withdrawn from the floor.
#2. The Resolution to Accelerate the Process of Approving Faculty Searches will be tabled at the next meeting due to time restriction.
Senate adjourned at 1:55 pm.
Dr. Maria Diamantis
Secretary of the Senate