Faculty Senate

Minutes - April 18, 2016 - 3:05pm

CCSU FACULTY SENATE MEETING

Present: Andreoletti, C.; Antonucci, C.; Arena, J.; Bartone, M.; Best, F.; Bigelow, L.; Bilisoly, R.; Boscarino, N.; Button, C.; Callery, T.; Clapp, S.; Collins, M.; D'Addio, D.; Doolittle, W.; Emeagwali, G.; Fafunwa-Ndibe, S.; Foster, P.; Fothergill, W.; Gamache, J.; Garcia-Bowen, M.; Ghodsi, R.; Grasso, L.; Gross, S.; Harris, D.; He, F.; Jackson, M.; Kapper, M.; Karpuk, P.; Kean, K.; Kim, Y.; King, A.; Kullgren, A.; Larsen, K.; Latour, F.; Lim, K.; Mahony, M. A.; Mamed, O.; Martin-Troy, K.; McGuire, M.; Mejia, G.; Moffo Simpson, T.; Nelson, W.; Paolino, J.; Pearson, F.; Phillips, E.; Pozorski, A.; Ragusett, J.; Rice, T.; Sadanand, N.; Santoro, K.; Simmons, R.; Siporin, R.; Sohn, Y.; Spear, E.; Sweeney, D.; Tellier, A.; Watson, S.; Williams, C.; Wood, R.

Ex-officio: Fitzgerald, G..; Lovitt, C

Parliamentarian: Dimmick, C.

President of the Senate: Cohen, S.

Guests: Martha Kruy (Library); Jim Mulrooney (Academic Assessment Committee); Karen Riem (Special Education and Interventions); Janice Reska (CACE); several students

1. Minutes

Minutes of April 4, 2016

• Approved unanimously

2. Announcements:

a. AAUP President (M. A. Mahony)

• One member (Louise Williams) has been elected to the CSU-AAUP Council. There will be a runoff election for the other seats.
• The contract negotiation deadline has been extended to June 1.
• While ECSU has instituted a hard hiring freeze, CCSU has not.

b. SUOAF-AFSCME President (L. Bigelow)

• The Happy Hour Social will be on Thursday at Tony's.
• The Executive Board will meet on April 28.
• SUOAF-AFSCME members can participate in the state's voluntary furlough program.

c. SGA (C. Fox)

• The new SGA officers are Jahmil Effend, Christopher Cappiello (VP), and Brendan Kruh (returning as Treasurer).
• The election of SGA senators has begun.
• The SGA is sponsoring the annual Good Neighbor Campaign (April 12).
• The SGA is participating in tomorrow's CSCU Day at the State Capitol.

d. FAC to the Board of Regents (S. Adair)

• The new student member of the BOR is a Charter Oak student.
• The FAC will address the BOR on May 10.
• Estella Lopez (interim systemwide provost) will retire. The FAC's position is that the BOR's priority should be to initiate a search for a permanent systemwide provost.

e. President of the Senate (S. Cohen)

• The Open Forum for the CCSU Presidential Search will be on Thursday, April 21, at 3:05pm, in Vance 105.
• The Senate Steering Committee has appointed two members to the Presidential Search Committee: Stephen Cohen and Felton Best.
• Proposal from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry: Board of Regents Censure Resolution (not for action at this meeting)

3. Committee Reports:

a. Elections Committee (C. Baratta and A. Kullgren)

• The call for nominations for Standing Committees of the Faculty has been extended to Thursday, 5pm. Consider nominating yourself for the seats that have no current nominee.

4. Unfinished Business:

a. SGA resolution on availability of course syllabi

• Students responded to some of the concerns of faculty members. They feel that, even though the version of the syllabus that is posted is not the final one, they would still benefit from knowing the grading policies, kinds of assignments, and what will be taught. Also, even though some students may use syllabi to pick "easy" courses, some students are already doing this through other means.
• Senator Larsen said that she always puts her syllabus and the course shell on Blackboard long before the start of the semester, and yet, only a few students look at them.
• Senator King mentioned the difficulty of putting syllabi online so long ahead of the semester.
• Senator Ghodsi said that faculty members may want to change elements of their courses based on information not available by registration time (such as student feedback from opinion surveys).
• Senator Siporin said that, for some classes (such as art), the syllabus is not enough to convey what the course is about.
• Senator Grasso is concerned that students will be upset if there is significant change between the posted syllabus and the actual one. Senator Karpuk agreed.
• Senator Simmons suggested contacting the professor in advance if students have questions about a course.
• Motion (King/Bishop): To set up an ad hoc committee, jointly appointed by the President of the Faculty Senate and by the SGA, to address the SGA's concerns.
  • Approved unanimously

b. Substitute Academic Assessment Proposal

• Senator Mejia spoke of the significant burden that the current assessment regimen represents for his department, which has many programs but few faculty members. Nevertheless, his department supports the idea of assessment, and its reports are some of the best.
• Professor Mulrooney of the Academic Assessment Committee expressed concerns about changing the current policy, on the basis that the university has made progress with assessment, and that changes would undo this progress.
• Senator Siporin emphasized that assessment should serve the needs of departments, and should not be an institution in itself.
• Motion (Cohen/Martin-Troy): To amend the resolution by adding a fifth paragraph: "BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED “Be it further resolved that, in the absence of an agreement between the department or program in question and the Assessment Committee, the annual assessment regimen currently in place will continue."
  • Senator Mejia is concerned that, if the Assessment Committee says no, then the department has no further recourse.
  • Senator Bishop responded that the department could then return to the senate.
  • Provost Lovitt said that changes to our assessment policy could lead to probation or loss of accreditation.
  • Motion to amend approved (2 senators opposed)
• Motion approved as amended (29 senators in favor, 7 opposed).

5. New Business:

a. Community Engagement Promotion and Tenure Guidelines Proposal - amended from last time (R. Simmons)

• Senator Simmons moved that the Faculty Senate approves this document, with the title changed to "Guidelines for Documenting Community-Engaged Research, Teaching, and Service", as a resource on the Faculty Senate website. The used of this document is optional, and it does not supersede departmental guidelines.
• After some discussion, Senator Mejia called for quorum. A quorum was not present, and the meeting was therefore adjourned.

6. Adjournment

• Meeting adjourned at 5:03pm due to lack of quorum.