CCSU Faculty Senate
Minutes—May 5, 2014
VAC 105 1:30 PM
Present: Anderson, C.; Antonucci, C.; Barr, B.; Bernstein, S.; Bigelow, L.; Bilisoly, R.; Blake, E.; Blitz, D.; Boscarino, N.; Braverman, S.; Broadus-Garcia, C.; Christensen, S.; Cox, S.; D'Addio, D.; Delventhal, T.; Diamond, C.; Duquette, J.; Emeagwali, G.; Fallon, M.; Foster, P.; Fothergill, W.; Garcia-Bowen, M.; Hermes, K.; Hicks, E.; Jackson, M.; Johnson, D.; Karpuk, P.; Kean, K.; Kovel, J.; Larsen, K.; Latour, F.; Leon, J.; Liard-Muriente, C.; Mamed, O.; Marquette, C.; Martin-Troy, K.; Melnyk, J.; Pancsofar, E.; Paolino, J.; Pearson, F.; Phillips, E.; Pozorski, A.; Ragusett, J.; Retelle, E.; Santoro, K.; Sarisley, E.; Solomon, P.; Sweeney, D.; Tomoda, S.; White, C.; Williams, C.; Zummer, T.
Ex-Officio: Fitzgerald, G.; Lovitt, C.; Malhas, F.; Shojai, S.
Parliamentarian: Dimmick, C.
President of the Senate: Cohen, S.
Guests: Stephen Adair (FAC to the BOR); Alex Lee (SGA); Mary Ann Mahony (CCSU-AAUP President); Brian Sommers (Geography); Simms Sonet (SGA); many students
1. Approval of Minutes, April 28, 2014
- Approved unanimously
2. Announcements
a. AAUP President (M. A. Mahony)
- The results of the AAUP council runoff election are in; David Johnson will be a council member, and William Fothergill will be an alternate.
- On May 9, Faculty Senate and AAUP Presidents will meet with BOR President Gray at the BOR office. It will be made clear that academic planning is within the purview of the faculty.
b. SUOAF-AFSCME President (E. Hicks)
- The annual meeting will be on June 12.
c. SGA (S. Sonet)
- The SGA strongly supports the Fall Commencement Resolution, which will be discussed later today; many students feel passionately in favor of the resolution.
d. FAC to the BOR (S. Adair)
- The FAC will meet on May 9 at 1pm. This meeting will include a conversation with the Boston Consulting Group.
e. President of the Faculty Senate (S. Cohen)
- No announcements.
3. Election for Standing Committees of the Faculty with members elected by the Senate (S. Bernstein)
- The elections for the committees elected by the Faculty Senate were conducted, and after runoffs were conducted to break two ties, the following were elected:
- Academic Integrity Committee: Amy Gagnon, Paul Hapeman, Tom Jarmoszko, William Watkins
- CCSU Foundation Board of Directors: Carolyn Fallahi
- CCSU Foundation Grant Advisory Committee: Barry Hoopengardner, Joseph Farhat, Lynda Valerie
- Distinguished Service Award Committee: Jesse Turner
- Excellence in Teaching Committee: Karen Ritzenhoff, Alicia Bray
- Grade Appeals Committee: Steven Block, Shelley Bochain, Laura Bowman
- Library Committee: Amy Gagnon, Barry Hoopengardner, Charles Menoche, Michael Wizevich
- Student Affairs Committee: Krishna Saha, Renata Vickrey
- University Athletics Board: John Tully, Lisa Washko
- University Planning and Budget Committee: Patrick Foster, Laura Marchese, Ellen Retelle
4. Committee Reports
-
Curriculum Committee (M. Jackson)
Report approved unanimously
-
Promotion and Tenure Committee (P. Foster)
Report accepted; recommendation for the Faculty Senate President to appoint a working group approved unanimously
-
Graduate Studies Committee (S. Seider)
Senator Blitz asked about the reasoning behind the policy of admitting students conditionally who have not yet taken the GMAT or GRE.
Senator Blitz moved to divide the question to allow for the consideration of the “Conditional Admission” paragraph of item 4 separately from the rest of the report: motion failed (8 senators in favor)
Report approved (1 senator opposed)
-
University Planning and Budget Committee (C. Valk)
Report will be presented in Fall 2014 semester
-
Academic Assessment Committee (J. Mulrooney)
Report will be presented in Fall 2014 semester
-
Academic Integrity Committee (K. Love)
Report will be presented in Fall 2014 semester
-
CCSU Foundation Grant Advisory Committee (R. Waterman)
Accepted as part of consent agenda
-
Community Engagement Committee (S. Stookey)
Accepted as part of consent agenda
-
BOR Teaching Award Committee (K. Larsen)
Accepted as part of consent agenda
-
BOR Research Award Committee (K. Beyard)
Accepted as part of consent agenda
-
Diversity Committee (J. Werblow)
Report will be presented in Fall 2014 semester
-
Excellence in Teaching Committee (R. Schwell and R. Smith)
Accepted as part of consent agenda
-
Grade Appeals Committee (P. Morano)
Accepted as part of consent agenda
-
Student Affairs Committee (K. Sugg)
Report will be presented in Fall 2014 semester
-
University Athletics Board (P. Resetarits)
Report will be presented in Fall 2014 semester
5. Unfinished Business
a. Academic Standards Committee (R. Schwell)
i. Fall Commencement Resolution
Graduate Studies Committee's response to Fall Commencement Resolution
Student Government Association letter about Fall Commencement
- Senator White asked about the Graduate Studies Committee's opposition to the merging of the undergraduate and graduate commencements; why would that be so bad?
- Senator Martin-Troy said that, in the past, when undergraduate and graduate students shared a commencement, the graduate students left after they got their diplomas.
- Senator Jackson added that the combined commencement was long, had large number of guests, that guests of graduate students were unable to sit near the students, that the hooding of the graduate students was neglected, that the invited speaker had the difficult task of speaking to all graduating students(undergraduate and graduates), and that participation of faculty teaching graduate courses was down.
- Senator Pancsofar said that the concerns of the Graduate Studies Committee had been addressed by the Student Government Association's letter.
- Provost Lovitt said that President Miller would have to make the final decision to add a third commencement, and that, although he does not wish to speak for the President, it would be a hard sell.
- SGA representatives said that, in a survey, 273 students expressed support for a Fall commencement, with 7 students opposed. A Fall commencement would be especially beneficial for students doing student teaching in the Fall. Also, students said that the hard work of students completing the challenging requirements of their degree in the Fall should be recognized in a Fall commencement ceremony, and that students graduating in Fall 2014, and are therefore part of the Class of 2014, should be able to celebrate in 2014.
- SGA President Simms Sonet talked about what the commencement ceremony represents for the students, and especially for first-generation college students.
- Senator Broadus-Garcia warned the students that a third commencement would probably be held on campus rather than at the XL Center, and therefore, each student would receive a smaller number of tickets than normal (perhaps as few as two).
- Senator Liard-Muriente said that today's students are tomorrow's alumni, and that we would like their last experience at CCSU to be a positive one.
- Senator Barr said that we need to recognize that many of our students do not fit the traditional model of eight semesters of full-time study followed by a Spring graduation.
- Senator Karpuk said that if the Board of Regents can afford to spend $1.8 million to hire the Boston Consulting Group, they can certainly afford to spend $20,000 or $30,000 on something that the students want.
- Resolution approved (5 senators opposed)
b. Committee on Committees - Bylaws revisions
i. Board of Regents Research Award Committee bylaws
- Approved as part of consent agenda
- Approved as part of consent agenda
- Approved as part of consent agenda
iv. Sabbatical Leave Committee (AAUP) bylaws
- No proposal submitted - no action
6. New Business
a. Ammon School of Arts and Sciences resolution
7. Adjournment
- Senator Latour moved to suspend the rules to allow for consideration of this item before item 5a: Approved (4 senators opposed)
- Resolution approved unanimously
- The meeting adjourned at 3:07pm.