Faculty Senate

Next Meeting of the Faculty Senate is on September 22, 2008, 3pm, Vance.

Present: Abadiano, H., Adams, A., Alewitz, M., Al-Masoud, N., Barrington, C., Bernstein, S., Bigelow, L., Broadus-Garcia, C., Cohen, S., Crundwell, G., Cummiskey, M., Czyrnik, K., D’Addio, D., Daigle, R., Donis, F., Dziuda, D., Foshay, J., Frank, T., George, L., Glagovich, N., Hicks, L., Horan, M., Jarmoszko, T., Kapper, M., Karpuk, P., Koh, K., Kurkovsky, S., Larsen, K., Latour, F., Leake, M., Mamed, O., Garcia-Bowen, M., Mitchell, M., Mulcahy, C., Mulrooney, J., Murphy, G., O’Connor, J., Osoba, B., Osoba, B., Passaro, M., Petterson, P., Ratansi, S.,S anders, D., Sarisley, E., Sianez, D., Sims, D., Spector, D., Tait, C., Tracey, K., Truly, D.,Wagner, L.,Wang, W.,Warshauer, M. Wood, R.,

Ex-Officio: Miller, J. Lovitt, C., Pease, S., Sakofs, M., Kremens, Z., Lemma, P.

Parliamentarian: C. Dimmick

Guests: Wagner, N. CIE, Gendron, M. AAUP, Hosch, B. Institutional Research & Assessment, Hall, L., Recruitment & Admissions

1.      Introduction of Senators:

 2.     Announcements:

a.      AAUP:  President M. Gendron provided a FOI update pertaining to activities of the Faculty Senate as a deliberative body.

b.     SUOAF-AFSCME: Senator Hicks announced the first meeting will be September 10, 2008 and election of officers will be in mid October.

c.      President of the Senate: President Barrington announced the following initiatives:

·       Election Committee and Elections: The Faculty Senate's Election Committee is charged with handling the elections of all faculty and senate standing committees: soliciting nominations, collecting candidate names/statements, sending out ballots, counting ballots, and distributing results.  For the university-wide elections, the current practice is to conduct these elections entirely by hand: paper ballots sent out through campus mail and counted in a locked room.  I was on the committee a few years ago, and I can attest to the enormous time it requires of the committee, not to mention the cost of envelopes and paper.   I am currently working with Bob Cernock, the university’s Chief Information Officer about ways to conduct elections that will ease their burden--and that will be relatively secure and private.  I have been assured by Mr. Cernock that his office will work closely with the Senate Executive Committee and the Elections Committee to develop a system that is as secure and private as the hand ballots—but without all the work. 

·         We’re working to improve the Senate’s website.  If you have suggestions or notice errors, please contact our Secretary, Donna Sims. 

·       If you’ve looked at the CCSU Final Exam schedule posted on the website, you’ll see that the cursed 8:30-10:30 exam slot has been abolished.  I want to thank Provost Lovitt and Joe Paige for correcting this problem early in the semester.

·       Department Guidelines for Promotion and Tenure.  These are beginning to trickle in.  They should, however, be pouring in.  Senators, please go back to your departments, determine if they have sent a copy of their proposed guidelines to the Senate.  If they haven’t they need to as soon as possible--by the end of the month would be very helpful.  Within the week, you will find the procedures for reviewing departmental guidelines.  Soon thereafter, we hope to post a chart listing each department and where its proposed guidelines are in the reviewing process. 

·        The Senate will be sponsoring a series of Faculty-Administration Conversations this academic year.  I envision them as an opportunity to get your questions answered in a public forum. 

·         I want to draw your attention to a frequently overlooked stipulation in the Senate Bylaws:2.10. Members of standing committees who either have missed three (3) regularly scheduled or generally announced consecutive meetings or who have not notified the committee Chair of their intention to serve by the first of November may, by discretion of the Chair, have forfeited membership for that academic year. In such cases, the committee Chair will notify the electing or appointing body. Before I encourage committees and committee chairs to follow this procedure, I want to first encourage everyone serving on a committee to attend meetings, to volunteer to with the duties required of the committee.

·         Finally, please notify me or Donna of your committee meeting dates. 

3.      Minutes: Senator Crundwell moved the approval of the May 12, 2008 minutes, as amended. (Passed)

4.      Election of Elections Committee: The Senate elected the following members to the committee:

S. Braverman, School of Business
D. Sianez, Technology Education
N. Glagovich, Chemistry & Biochemistry
B. Osoba, Economics
S. Kurkovsky, Computer Science
J. Foshay, Special Education

The committee was charged with immediately preparing for the following elections:

            P & T Committee
            Mediation Committee (5 vacancies)
            Excellence in Teaching Committee (1 vacancy in A & S)
            Sabbatical Leave Committee (1 surplus member)

5.     President’s Report: President Barrington spoke briefly regarding plans for the coming year and encouraged the membership to contact her regarding areas of individual interest.

6.      Suspension of the Rules:  President Barrington moved to suspend the rules to consider an item requiring action that was not on the agenda, approval of Exceptions in Department Evaluation Committees. The motion (Passed).

7.      Exceptions in Department Evaluation Committees: Motion to approve was made by Senator Mulrooney, seconded by Senator Kapper: (Passed).(FS0809001B)

8.      Unfinished Business:Senator Cohen presented a report of the Ad Hoc Committee on In Class Peer Assessment. He reported that amendments had been made since it was originally presented in May. An extensive discussion ensued among the membership. President Barring requested a straw poll which resulted in the following plan of action:

·         Concentrate on finishing DEC guidelines

·         Look at original P & T document and the charge to the Ad Hoc Committee

·         Gather information concerning the origin of the Peer In-class Evaluation as an option or mandate

·         Make information available to the Faculty Senate.

Senator Spector moved to postpone consideration to a future meeting date to be decided by the Steering Committee. The motion was seconded by Senator Mamet. (Passed)

9.      New Business:

a.     Steering Committee Membership: President Barrington (deferred) this item until the 9/22/08 meeting.

10.   Adjournment:  The meeting was adjourned at 4:30 pm.