Approved Minutes of the Faculty Senate Meeting

February 27, 2008

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

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

 

Members Present: Emenyonu (Accounting), Vu (Art), Lavin (Art), Feng (Biology), Pang (Chemistry), Petroski (Communication), Jirsa (Com Disorders/MFT), DaPonte (Computer Science), Smith (Couns/Sch Psych), Fleming (Earth Science), Mills (Ecom/Finance); Diamantis (Education), Madonia (Ed Leadership), Larocco (English); Shea (English), Johnson (English), Troy (English), Swartz (Exercise Science), Davie (Exercise Science), Pelayo (Foreign Language); Sakalowsky (Geography), Paddock (History), Metaxas (History), Dunklee (Journalism), McGinn (Library Science); Clerc (Library Services), Toce (Library Services),

Page (Management), Prince (Marketing), Dennis (Mathematics), Gubitose (Mathematics), O’Brien (Media Studies), Bochain (Nursing), Gilliland (Philosophy), Horch (Physics), Buterbaugh (Political Science), Faraclas (Public Health); Smith D. (Recreation/ Leisure);

Cusato (Science Ed/Env Stud); Cameron (Social Work), Keenan (Social Work), Bloch (Sociology), Brucker (Special Ed/Reading); Tamura (Special Ed/Reading); Nye (Theater); Weiss (UCF).

 

Members Absent: Selvaggio (Anthropology), Maloney (Athletics), Lawler (Counseling), Olson (Foreign Language), Kuss (Music), Rebeschi (Nursing), Carrano (Part-Time Faculty), Goldblatt (Part-Time Faculty), Roman (Part-Time Faculty), Capone (Part-Time Faculty), Colwell (Psychology), Sherman (Psychology).

 

The minutes of February 13, 2008, were approved by majority, one abstention.

Announcements: 

ü      Music Performance:  “Anything goes” on Friday and Saturday March 4th- 8th at 8 pm and matinees at 2 pm.

ü      Senator Brucker is a new grandmother! Congratulations on your first granddaughter!

ü      Senator Jirsa announced that the Communications Disorders department is offering hearing tests for free to faculty.

 

President’s Report:  President Johnson distributed the report.

·        Discussion followed on the reverse 911 emergency calls and concerns about this topic were expressed

·        Legislative Day is Wednesday, March 5th in Hartford.  Buses will depart from SCSU at 8 am.  Faculty  need to contact Linda Cunningham for reservations.

 

At this time, President Norton arrived and the discussion on safety issues and the emergency management plan were discussed.  Many senators expressed concerns about the different means of emergency communication being examined.  Faculty was encouraged by President Norton to send their comments/feedback to her office or to the Emergency Management Plan committee (Bonnie Farley Lucas is a member on that committee).   President Norton informed the senators that the EMP is always revised and updated.  Faculty raised their concern about the company that handles the reverse 911 calls, if it is the same as at UCONN ~ where the company failed to respond in a timely manner as recently as last week.  President Norton confirmed that we are using a different contractor than UCONN.  She also pointed out that immediate communication is important and critical to all emergencies.  Many different avenues of communication are being discussed and examined for effectiveness.  The need is to blanket the campus with as many communication strategies as possible and include strategies for the hearing impaired.  Further discussion included resolutions on students or others who display disruptive behavior.  Reporting such incidences/observations to the Police or Counseling Services or even Human resources is a necessity.   

 

Graduate Council Update:  No report

 

UCF Update:  Deb Weiss reported that UCF is very busy with many topics such as reviewing the flow of proposals for courses and the General Education Task force will be introducing their draft to UCF very soon.

 

Standing Committee Reports:

  1. Academic Policy ~ Senator Bloch reported that the committee met with Lynn Kohrn last week and discussed the resolution of students retaking a course.  They discussed the necessary details and limitations.  Lynn will take the committee’s suggestions to the Provost.
  2. Elections ~ Senator Swartz had no report
  3. Finance ~ Senator Brucker reported that faculty should continue sending their TA’s for approval.
  4. Personnel Policy ~ Senator Cusato reported that the committee is at the final stages of the P & T document which should be coming to the senate floor pretty soon.
  5. Rules ~ Senator O’Brien reported that the committee is waiting for Provost’s visit to discuss the ULC constitution.
  6. Student Policy ~ Senator Madonia had no report.
  7. Technology ~ Senator DaPonte reported that Dr. Chai visited the committee.  Joe Brignola also attended their meeting.  They discussed the raised problems/issues and reported that 95% of the problems are resolved asap.  20 all-purpose classrooms remain to have some type of technology configuration, therefore the technology committee will work on a resolution to have a total of $320,000 to complete all rooms.  Senator DaPonte also reported that there exists training for the EXCHANGE software.   The Technology committee will not meet next Wednesday so that senators can attend the CSU Legislation event in Hartford.

 

 

At this time President Johnson requested a volunteer to be the Senate’s representative at the CSU Academic Affairs Committee.  This position was filled by former senator Fullmer.  The committee meets once a month on Wednesday am and the senator is simply the liaison to bring current issues back to the Senate.

 

President Johnson announced that he hasn’t presented the ULC resolution to President Norton since the UL By Laws are still in effect and since President Norton retracted her action on the By Laws.  President Johnson asked for discussion on the resolution and invited senators input.  After discussion, there was a motion (which was seconded) to have the resolution tabled until further detailed information is provided with updates from discussions with the administration. 

Motion was accepted by majority, 2 senators opposed and 2 senators abstained. 

New Business: 

1.  SCSU Statement on Shared Governance ~ the statement was presented and discussion commenced. 

This is a statement that will be presented to President Norton and Provost Williams for their review and if accepted it will go out to the whole community.

Motion to accept the statement was seconded and the motion was accepted unanimously.

 

President Johnson thanked the ad hoc committee and complimented Tony Russo’s input and assistance to the committee.

 

2.  Grade Appeal Process:  Due to time limitations, the Grade Appeal Process was discussed but no action was taken.  President Johnson opened the discussions.  Many senators were concerned with the presented document and after a Sense of the Senate, the results showed a split on how the grade appeals process should be.  President Johnson suggested that the APC committee come up with another draft document and bring it to the floor for vote taking into consideration the suggestions from today.

 

The Senate adjourned at 2:05 pm.    

 

Respectfully submitted,

Dr. Maria Diamantis

Secretary of the Senate