Approved Minutes of the Faculty Senate Meeting
November 7, 2007
http://www.scsu.ctstateu.edu/organizations/facultysenate
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The fifth meeting of the 2007-2008 year was called to order at 12:10 PM.
Members Present: Selvaggio (Anthropology), Vu (Art), Lavin (Art), Maloney (Athletics), 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), Larocco (English), Shea (English), Johnson (English), Petrie (English), Swartz (Exercise Science), Pelayo (Foreign Language), Olson (Foreign Language), Sakalowsky (Geography), Paddock (History), Metaxas (History), McGinn (Library Science), Clerc (Library Services), Toce (Library Services), Goralski (Management), Prince (Marketing), Dennis (Mathematics), O’Brien (Media Studies), Rebeschi (Nursing), Goldblatt (Part-Time Faculty), Gilliland (Philosophy), Horch (Physics), Buterbaugh (Political Science), Sherman (Psychology), Colwell (Psychology), Perlin (Public Health), Cusato (Science Ed/Env Stud), Bloch (Sociology), Tamura (Special Ed/Reading), Nye (Theater), Weiss (UCF).
Members Absent: Emenyonu (Accounting), Feng (Biology), Lawler (Counseling), Dunklee (Journalism), Brin (Mathematics), Kuss (Music), Strawn (Nursing), Carrano (Part-Time Faculty), Roman (Part-Time Faculty), Smith (Recreation/Leisure), Cameron (Social Work), Keenan (Social Work), Brucker (Special Ed/Reading).
The minutes of October 24, 2007, were approved, with the amendment on the Sabbatical leave table.
At this time there was discussion on the Sabbatical Leave years when the allocated money was not fully used. There was an agreement and a motion that the money not allocated during a specific year, they should remain in the funds for distribution the next years. It was unanimously accepted.
President’s Report
v President Johnson distributed his report and requested that all senators read the report and the following issues were discussed :
§ The executive committee met with President Norton and Provost Williams and discussed:
· the reduced number of W courses and the related issues,
· the status of Dean searches (School of Business~suspended and School of Education~continuing)
· the persistent, woeful lack of support for the technology classrooms
v Provost Williams met with Deb Weiss, Jeannette Oppedisano, Maria Diamantis and Senate President Johnson to explore resolutions for the reduced W courses. The following plan will be announced:
1. solicit new sections of W-courses to be added to the spring schedule
2. offer new sections designated with “departmental permission” and restrict to students with 105 or more earned credits
3. email all seniors informing them of the list of new sections
v President Johnson also announced that there are plans for the Senate and Academic Affairs to co-sponsor a forum on assessment. The date is Monday, November 26 from 2-4 pm. First hour will be devoted to four panelists and the second hour there will be open discussion on assessment.
At this time, President Johnson entertained a motion to move to Old Business. Hearing no objection, the motion passed.
Old Business –
After lengthy discussion, the following motion was presented:
Motion to table the vote to approve the Graduate Council's Rules of Order and to form a Senate ad-hoc committee, appointed by the Senate president, to meet with the Graduate Council to discuss the Graduate Council Rules of Order.
Motion was approved with one vote opposed. The ad-hoc committee will report back to the Senate.
There was discussion on what language should be included on the referendum ballots and the following motion was presented :
There will be no statement on the ballot other than the results from the Senate votes.
The question was called and 20 votes yes, 13 votes opposed, and 1 abstention.
Secret ballots were distributed for the vote on support or not of the University Strategic Plan.
The Senate voted to Support the University Strategic Plan by the vote of: 26 Yes; 6 No; and 6 Abstentions. This statement will be on the Referendum ballot.
During this open discussion, President Johnson gathered suggestions to bring to the committee of the four CSU’s before they finalize the plan. Any further comments could be mailed to President Johnson through email.
.At this time the Senate returned to the Agenda item, Graduate Council update.
Graduate Council Update:
In the absence of Senator Brucker, her report was read: (a) there were 460 candidates that attended the Graduate Open House; (b) The Graduate Council requests action on the Rules of Order.
FASP Committee Update:
The oversight committee will be composed of ½ from faculty members and ½ from administration. Their roles are not yet defined. Next Friday, there will be a meeting with the FASP committee to try to define such roles.
UCF Update:
The last UCF meeting was an open forum discussion on education assessment and outcomes for the undergraduate program reviews. The discussions will continue and will include Provost Williams and Dr. Kennedy.
Standing Committee Reports:
Personnel Policy ~ ~ Senator Cusato reported that the committee is continuing to work on the revisions of the P and T document.
Rules ~ ~ Senator O’Brien will be presenting the ULC Constitution and resolution that the committee has submitted.
Student Policy ~ ~ Senator Madonia reported that the Chief of Police visited the committee very briefly who announced that the EMS handbook will be posted for faculty feedback. He also announced that the chairperson of the Health and Safety Committee (composed of both faculty and administrative members) will alternate between the two bodies.
Technology ~ ~ Senator DaPonte reported that the committee is discussing the direction of the classroom technologies. The committee is also discussing the need of lap top carts and the use of “clickers” in the classroom for surveys and assessment.
Academic Policy ~ ~ Senator Bloch announced the committee’s two resolutions for action.
Elections ~ ~ Senator Swartz reported that the nominations have been requested for the all University committees. Elections will follow asap.
Finance ~ ~ there are 203 full time AT’s approved and 40 pending approval.
There are also 28 part time AT’s approved and 8 pending.
The Senate meeting was adjourned at 2:00 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Dr. Maria Diamantis
Secretary of the Senate