Faculty Senate

Minutes - November 23, 2015 - 3:05pm

CCSU FACULTY SENATE MEETING

Present: Anderson, C.; Andreoletti, C.; Arena, J.; Bantley, K.; Bilisoly, R.; Bishop, J.; Boscarino, N.; Callery, T.; Cistulli, M.; Clapp, S.; D'Addio, D.; Dharavath, N.; Doolittle, W.; Emeagwali, G.; Emiliani, B.; Flinn, B.; Foster, P.; Fothergill, W.; Garcia-Bowen, M.; Ghodsi, R.; Givens, E.; Grasso, L.; Gross, S.; Harris, D.; Horan, M.; Jackson, M.; Kapper, M.; Karpuk, P.; Kean, K.; Kim, Y.; Kostelis, K.; Koulidobrova, H.; Latour, F.; Lim, K.; Mamed, O.; Martin-Troy, K.; McGuire, M.; Mejia, G.; Moffo Simpson, T.; Mongillo, M.; Nelson, W.; Ngazimbi, E.; Paolino, J.; Pearson, F.; Pozorski, A.; Ragusett, J.; Rein, T.; Sadanand, N.; Spear, E.; Strickland, A.; Styrczula, S.; Sweeney, D.; Tellier, A.; Watson, S.; White, C.; Williams, C.; Wolff, R.; Wood, R.

Ex-officio: Fitzegrald, G; Mahony, M. A.

Parliamentarian: Dimmick, C.

President of the Senate: Cohen, S.

Guests: Caroline Fox (SGA); Paul Petterson (VP, CCSU-AAUP); Janice Reska (CACE); Ed Sarisley (Manufacturing & Construction Management)

1. Minutes

Minutes of November 9, 2015

• Approved unanimously

2. Announcements:

a. AAUP President (P. Petterson for M. A. Mahony)

• The Board of Regents meeting is on December 3, as well as the faculty rally. The FAC will be presenting its biannual report at the meeting.
• The Chapter Meeting and holiday social will be on December 9, from 3 to 6:30pm.
• Faculty members should have a look at the new website that debuted late last week.
• Faculty members need to log on to Core-CT by December 4 in order to obtain W-2 tax forms for this year, because the State has switched to a paperless system. The deadline for doing so is December 4.

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

• The holiday luncheon will be on December 7, along with the toy gathering for Toys for Tots.

c. SGA (C. Fox)

• Thanks to everyone who participated in Competition for a Cause.
• The SGA has a bus going to the rally on December 3; meet in the Student Center Circle at 9am.
• On December 3, from 4 to 6pm, there will be an open forum featuring State Senator Mae Flexer. The topic will be sexuall assault awareness.

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

• There is still signficant concern about outcomes-based funding. The committee met on Friday. They have received a report from consultants from the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems; the report claims that only Yale and UConn produce substantial research in Connecticut, so CSU research should not factor in the outcomes formula. The consultants also want to follow the Tennessee model, which allocates all state funding on an outcomes-based model, not just a small amount.

e. President of the Senate (S. Cohen)

• The Leadership group met with BOR President Ojakian, who is keeping an eye on this proposal. He does not think that outcomes-based funding will happen this year.
• President Ojakian will be touring the campuses of the CSCU system.
• President Ojakian mentioned an uptick in the number of calls and e-mails for legislators.
  
• The SCSU Faculty Senate approved a statement on the BOR contract proposals: SCSU Faculty Senate Statement on BOR Contract Proposals. Should we write our own similar statement?
• Senator Harris said that, while he agrees with the SCSU statement, it is abstract, and we should write our own statement that points out specific problems with the BOR proposals. Senator Latour said that we should be careful not to word our statement so as to imply that we do not believe that the only problematic proposals are the ones that our statement points out. Senator Wolff agreed that we should write our own statement. Senator Karpuk agreed and said that we should endorse the SCSU Faculty Senate's statement as well.
• SGA President Fox said that the Student Senate approved a statement in support of the Faculty.
• Motion: To suspend the rules to allow for consideration of the SCSU Faculty Senate's statement.
  • Approved unanimously
• Motion (Harris/Wood): The CCSU Faculty Senate endorses the SCSU Faculty Senate's Statement on Contract Proposals of the Board of Regents for Higher Education.
  • Approved unanimously
• Senator Wolff agreed to write a draft of a CCSU statement on the BOR proposals and to send it to the Steering Committee.

3. Committee Reports

a. Excellence in Teaching Committee (C. White)

• Senator Kean, on behalf of the part-time faculty, stated that he appreciates the report, but believes that it falls short. Part-time faculty are at a disadvantage, because they teach fewer classes than full-time faculty. They have less contact with students, little support in terms of facilities. They teach introductory classes disproportionally, and thus have fewer repeat customers. They do not advise students, work in anonymity and isolation, and it is harder for them to find a fellow faculty member to write a letter for them. In addition, the part-time award is currently optional. The process and procedures need to be changed to encourage more part-time faculty to participate.
• Senator White said that the committee is making every effort to encourage students to nominate as many faculty members as possible, especially part-time faculty members. The committee sent notices to department chairs to encourage them to write letters of support for part-time faculty, used social media and the student center television. She said that one major stumbling block is Spring availability; since the committee needs to observe finalists, part-time faculty who are not teaching in the Spring cannot participate. Is there a better way to assess part-time faculty members' without observing them?
• Senator Foster asked whether there is a part-time faculty member on the committee. Senator Latour said that there is no part-time faculty seat on the committee, although theoretically a part-time faculty member could be elected to represent his or her school on the committee.
• AAUP President Mahony said that the subject and sender line for messages coming from the EIT committee should be more recognizable. Senator Kullgren said that this could be done with a call to the IT help desk to "change the display name" for the e-mail address.
• If there is a desire to change the bylaws and procedures, the part-time advisory committee could put together a series of proposals and send them to the EIT committee co-chairs (Rachel Schwell and Karen Kitzenhoff).

4. New Business

a. Online learning implementation committee: Online course cap proposal

• Senator Harris asked whether an increase in the number of hybrid classes was considered. Answer: there is no limit on the number of hybrid classes.
• The Sociology department opposes the resolution, because they have concerns about making pedagogical decisions based on facilities constraints, and because they are not convinced that there really is a space issue. In addition, we have not yet reached the current limit (20), and there is concern about training of faculty. The department would like to wait until the current cap is reached before increasing it.
• Some senators said that they would prefer a permanent increase in the cap, because of the substantial effort needed to develop an online course that they may not be able to offer in the future.
• Motion (Grasso/Harris): To amend the motion by striking the part of the first paragraph that comes after "40" and by strking the second paragraph.
• Motion (Wolff/Andreoletti): To postpone this motion and the proposed amendment to the December 7 meeting.
  • Motion to postpone approved; 27 senators in favor, 9 opposed.

b. Further discussion - BOR contract proposals

5. Adjournment

• The meeting adjourned at 5:01pm.