Minutes - January 28, 2019 - 3:05pm
CCSU FACULTY SENATE MEETING
Present: Adair, S.; Amaya, L.; Austad, C.; Ayeni, T.; Bailesteanu, M.; Baratta, C.; Bernstein, S.; Best, F.; Bigelow, L.; Bishop, J.; Bishop, R.; Blitz, D.; Boscarino, N.; Broadus-Garcia, C.; Casiano, N.; Chakraborty, S.; Chen, S.; Cistulli, M.; Dharavath, N.; Emiliani, B.; Farhat, J.; Foster, P.; Gamache, J.; Garcia-Bowen, M.; Gardner, P.; Givens, E.; Gutierrez, S.; Halkin, S.; Hedlund, J.; Hughes, H.; Kapper, M.; Karpuk, P.; Kean, K.; Kim, Y.; Kriscenski, J.; Kurkjian, C.; Latour, F.; Leonidas, E.; Martin-Troy, K.; Mendez-Mendez, S.; Menoche, C.; Mongillo, M.; Morales, A.; Pancsofar, E.; Paolino, J.; Phillips, E.; Ragusett, J.; Ruhs, T.; Sakaki, H.; Sohn, Y.M.; Spear, E.; Spillman, D.; Stickland, A.; Styrczula, S.; Sylvester, C.; Tafrate, L.; Vedeler, H.; Wang, W.; Williams, L.; York, C.
Ex-Officio: Dauwalder, D.; Kremens, Z.
Parliamentarian: Dimmick, C.
President of the Senate: Jackson, M.
Guests: Mark Evans (Geological Sciences); Joanna Flanagan (Office of Victim Advocacy); Kassandra Fruin (SGA); Jason Melnyk (Physical Education and Human Performance); Ivan Small (Anthropology); Robbin Smith (Political Science)
1. Minutes
a. Minutes of December 3, 2018
- Approved unanimously
2. Announcements:
a. AAUP President (L. Williams)
- The Chapter Meeting is Tuesday, January 29, at 11:30am, in the Connecticut Room.
b. SUOAF-AFSCME President (L. Bigelow)
- SUOAF-AFSCME President Bigelow thanked all those in Facilities Management for their work on the moves to the new Willard-DiLoreto building.
- SUOAF-AFSCME is concerned that no collective bargaining has been done on the issue of Institutional Research consolidation.
- Members should be familiar with the concept of "durable power of attorney", which may be useful for enacting retirement benefits in some circumstances.
- Professional development funds can be used to cover the cost of books and registration fees for members taking courses.
c. SGA (K. Fruin)
- The SGA discussed the task force report and the result of the sexual misconduct investigation, Corrective actions have been proposed.
- There will be a special election to fill 9 seats on the Student Senate. Faculty are urged to encouraged students to run. These are paid positions.
- The SGA wishes to keep lines of communication open with the Faculty Senate.
- The Academic Advising Committee thanked the SGA for supporting the Advising Forum.
d. FAC to the Board of Regents (S. Adair)
- The FAC met on Friday, January 25 and drafted a memo explaining how the consolidation should proceed (assuming it does), from the perspective of curricular changes. There is concern that the BOR's plan violates NECHE Standards 3.3 and 3.14. Senators questioned the value of continued participation in certain BOR committees.
e. President of the Senate (M. Jackson)
- The Strategic Plan and its timeline were discussed. Faculty are encouraged to participate in the Open Forum on Wednesday, Feburary 6, and to complete online surveys. The goal is for the plan to be presented to the Faculty Senate by November 2019, and to the President by December 2019.
- The Information Technology Committee has put together a pilot for online submission of renewal portfolios. The pilot is open to faculty submitting a First Year Renewal portfolio this year. A workshop for those interested will be held on Friday, February 1. Senators discussed the pros and cons of online portfolios.
- Guest Joanna Flanagan was introduced; she is the new Sexual Assault and Violence Prevention Specialist.
- Senators were invited to nominated themselves if interested in joining the systemwide Council on Classroom Availability, which will meet on Fridays from 1 to 3pm, once a month. Jennifer Nicoletti (IDTRC) has already joined this committee.
- The new Faculty Senate Listserv is now ready and will be launched this week.
3. Election
a. University Planning and Budget Committee special election
- Jason Melnyk and Serafin Mendez-Mendez were elected to the UPBC for Spring 2019.
4. New Business
a. Discussion of Sexual Harassment Task Force report
- Senators discussed: the need for faculty input in university organizational changes (such as Human Resources and Diversity and Equity), senior administrator hiring (via the Committee on Appointments and Personel), the ability of the Senate to propose policy changes or weigh in on changes proposed by the administration, the need to make sure that procedures are followed by the university, and the need to provide faculty with proper training on these issues.
- Guest Joanna Flanagan said that she values feedback from faculty so as to make sure that the training offered to faculty is as relevant and useful as possible.
5. Adjournment
- The meeting adjourned at 4:24pm.