Faculty Senate

Minutes - March 14, 2016 - 3:05pm

CCSU FACULTY SENATE MEETING

Present: Anderson, C.; Andreoletti, C.; Antonucci, C.; Arena, J.; Baratta, C.; Bartone, M.; Bigelow, L.; Bilisoly, R.; Boscarino, N.; Button, C.; Callery, T.; Clapp, S.; Collins, M.; D'Addio, D.; Doolittle, W.; Duquette, J.; Emiliani, B.; Fafunwa-Ndibe, S.; Foster, P.; Fothergill, W.; Gamache, J.; Garcia-Bowen, M.; Ghodsi, R.; Grasso, L.; Gross, S.; Hamilton, H.; Harris, D.; He, F.; Jackson, M.; Kapper, M.; Karpuk, P.; Kean, K.; Kim, Y.; Larsen, K.; Latour, F.; Lim, K.; Martin-Troy, K.; Martin, M.; McGuire, M.; Mejia, G.; Mongillo, M.; Nelson, W.; Ngazimbi, E.; Paolino, J.; Pearson, F.; Phillips, E.; Pozorski, A.; Sadanand, N.; Santoro, K.; Simmons, R.; Siporin, R.; Spear, E.; Styrczula, S.; Sweeney, D.; Tellier, A.; Williams, C.; Wood, R.

Ex-officio: Adair, S.; Fitzgerald, G.; Lovitt, C; Mahony, M. A.; Malhas, F.

Parliamentarian: Dimmick, C.

President of the Senate: Cohen, S.

Guests: Monique Durant (Accounting); Yvonne Kirby (OIRA); Zdzislaw Kremens (Academic Affairs); Martha Kruy (Library); Jim Mulrooney (Academic Assessment Committee); Thomas Rein (Anthropology); Chad Valk (UPBC)

CCSU FACULTY SENATE MEETING

1. Minutes

Minutes of February 22, 2016

• Approved unanimously

2. Announcements:

a. AAUP President (M. A. Mahony)

• Remember to vote in the upcoming election for council representative.
• There will be a chapter meeting after Spring Break, on Tuesday, March 29.

b. SUOAF-AFSCME President (O. Mamed for L. Bigelow)

• The SUOAF-AFSCME chapter meeting will be on March 17.

c. SGA (e-mail from C. Fox)

• Throughout the day CCSU's Student Government is hosting guests from Southern, Western, Eastern, and various Community Colleges for 'ConnCOSGA,' the Connecticut Conference on Student Government Associations. It is a day long event to showcase our SGA and learn aspects from the SGA's of other schools to apply to ours.

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

• The BOR meeting has been postponed from March 17 to March 29, because the Board will not be ready to vote on a tuition increase by March 17. The meeting will be at MCC rather than CCSU.
• The FAC met on Friday.
• Don't forget the FAC-sponsored systemwide conference on April 8.

e. President of the Senate (S. Cohen)

• The Faculty Handbook committee will reconvene.
• An advisory committee has been constituted for the SCSU Presidential Search. The decision will be done by the BOR, but the legwork will be done by the faculty. Our search should begin in early May.

3. Committee Reports:

a. Elections Committee

• Call for Nominations: President, Vice President and Secretary of the Faculty Senate (election to be held at the first meeting in April)
  • Elections for Senate Officers for the 2016-18 term will be held at the next Faculty Senate meeting. Nominations should be sent to the Senate Elections Committee: Catherine Baratta (co-chair), Amy Kullgren (co-chair), Roger Bilisoly, Daniel D'Addio, Patrick Foster, William Nelson.

b. Graduate Studies Committee (E. Leonidas)

• Admissions Policy for MS in Accounting
  • Approved unanimously

c. Academic Assessment Committee (Y. Kirby, J. Mulrooney)

• Report on the use of Multistate Collaborative data to assess General Education
  • Jim Mulrooney reported positively about the pilot, which he claimed produces the best general education assessment data we have ever had, at a low cost and will little burden to departments.
  • Senate President Cohen asked whether this would be how we assess general education in the future; the answer was "maybe", but it is worth continuing our pilot.
  • Senate Vice President Karpuk expressed concern that, by collecting data from advanced courses, little is done to assess the skills gained in quantitative reasoning by students who are not majoring in a quantitative field, for instance.
  • Motion: To extend the Academic Assessment Committee's mandate to assess General Education using Multistate Collaborative data for another two years, with a requirement for the committee to report on this assessment within two years.
    • Approved unanimously

d. Provost's report on results of change to minimum enrollment for summer 100/200-level courses

• It was pointed out that classes with 6 students still result in a net profit for the university, although it is a smaller amount than the profit from a larger class.
• Faculty asked the Provost about the impact of canceled classes on students' progress through their program, and about the increase in the number of online courses since 2013.
• Senate President Cohen asked whether this would be how we assess general education in the future; the answer was "maybe", but it is worth continuing our pilot.
• Senate Vice President Karpuk expressed concern that, by collecting data from advanced courses, little is done to assess the skills gained in quantitative reasoning by students who are not majoring in a quantitative field, for instance.
• Faculty requested more data about the number of canceled sections that had 6 or 7 students at the time of cancellation.

e. University Planning and Budget Committee (C. Valk)

• Report on the status of the university budget
  • At this point, there are more "unknowns" than "knowns" in the budget.
  • The UPBC met with division heads and submits its recommendations to President Miller.
  • The University suffered cuts in September and December, and the Governor's budget includes a large cut to our system's budget.
  • We will have a better idea what the state's financial situation is around April 30, when a forecast of the income tax due April 18 will be available.

f. Curriculum Committee (M. Jackson)

• Approved unanimously

4. New Business:

a. Further discussion - BOR contract proposals

5. Adjournment

• The meeting adjourned at 4:59pm.