Faculty Senate

Minutes - October 15, 2018 - 3:05pm

CCSU FACULTY SENATE MEETING

Present: Adair, S.; Amaya-Bower, L.; Ayeni, T.; Bernstein, S.; Best, F.; Bigelow, L.; Bishop, J.; Blitz, D.; Boscarino, N.; Casiano, N.; Chen, S.; Cistulli, M.; Crundwell, G.; Dharavath, N.; Donohue, M.; Fafunwa-Ndibe, S.; Farhat, J.; Foster, P.; Gamache, J.; Garcia-Bowen, M.; Gardner, P.; Givens, E.; Halkin, S.; Holden, P.; Hughes, H.; Kapper, M.; Karas, R.; Karpuk, P.; Kean, K.; Kim, Y.; Kriscenski, J.; Kurkjian, C.; Latour, F.; Leonidas, E.; Mann, W.; Martin-Troy, K.; McGuire, M.; Mendez-Mendez, S.; Menoche, C.; Mongillo, M.; Morales, A.; Moreno-Fuentes, G.; Pancsofar, E.; Paolino, J.; Pesca, C.; Petras, S.; Phillips, E.; Pope, C.; Ragusett, J.; Rice, T.; Ruhs, T.; Sakaki, H.; Salama, T.; Sikorski, J.; Singhal, R.; Sohn, Y.M.; Spear, E.; Spillman, D.; Styrczula, S.; Sylvester, C.; Tafrate, L.; Tellier, A.; Williams, L.; York, C.; Zering, J.

Ex-Officio: Dauwalder, D.; Fitzgerald, G.; Toro, Z.

Parliamentarian: Dimmick, C.

President of the Senate: Jackson, M.

Guests: Candace Barrington (English, FIRC); Yvonne Kirby (OIRA)

1. Minutes

a. Minutes of September 24, 2018

• Approved unanimously
  

2. Announcements:

a. AAUP President (L. Williams)

• The work-life balance conference was held on Friday, October 5, and there will be a follow-up on November 30.
• The Chapter Meeting will be on October 24; one topic of discussion will be what happened at the work-life balance conference.

b. SUOAF-AFSCME President (L. Bigelow)

•  The Chapter Officer Elections began with the nomination meeting, earlier today. The election will be held from 9am to 1pm on October 22 in the Sprague Carlton Room, Student Center.  If needed, the runoff election will be held from 9am to 1pm on October 29 in the Sprague Carlton Room.

c. SGA (K. Fruin)

• No announcements.

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

• 5 institutions in our system passed resolutions opposing the BOR "Low Completer Policy". The FAC proposed amendments, including additional justifications for continuing what the BOR calls "low completer" programs. The FAC maintains that the BOR has no right to terminate programs without a recommendation to terminate.
• The FAC endorsed a Gateway Community College resolution calling for the dissolution and recreation of the Consolidation Committee.

e. President of the Senate (M. Jackson)

• No announcements.

3. Elections

a. University Planning and Budget Committee

• To be elected: 2 AAUP members, to serve for Fall 2018 only
• Nominees: Reza Ghodsi (Engineering), Serafin Mendez-Mendez (Communication)
  • Reza Ghodsi and Serafin Mendez-Mendez elected to the committee, unanimously

4. Committee Reports

a. Academic Assessment Committee (C. Broadus-Garcia) - postponed to October 29 because the committee has been busy with NEASC

b. Community Engagement Committee (M. Dischino and N. Thai) - postponed to October 29 to allow for a co-chair to attend and present

c. Council of Academic Chairpersons (D. Carter)

• Report received by the Faculty Senate

5. New Business

a. DEC exceptions for 2018-19 (2nd update)

• Approved unanimously

b. Framework Implementation and Review Committee (FIRC) update (C. Barrington)

• CCSU's FIRC representative, Candace Barrington, was present to answer questions about the TAP.
• Senator Mendez-Mendez asked about the process for including programs in the TAP that are not part of it yet. Answer: The TAP manager at the BOR keeps an eye on new programs and makes sure that they are integrated in a new or existing pathway.
• How many students completed a TAP transfer degree at a community college and transferred to CCSU? Answer: Fewer than a dozen. We expect to have more students in the future because the TAP transfer degrees have only been in place since 2016, especially considering the fact that only 4% of community college students take an average of 30 or more credits per year. President Toro pointed out that many of our students transfer from community colleges before completing the 60 credits of the TAP transfer degree.
• More of these students transferred to SCSU than CCSU. Senator Mendez-Mendez commented on the use of a camper by SCSU to go from community college to community college in order to reach out to students. There is a database of thousands of community college students in TAP transfer programs. Who at CCSU should be given access to this database? How should we use it to reach out to community college students? Senator Farhat discussed the importance of having a unified process to personally contact these stuidents.
• How are TAP pathways updated? Answer: That is the purpose of the disciplinary workgroups.
• FAC representative Adair discussed how FIRC asked to do work on the BOR's plan for a consolidated community college and general education program. This seems to fall outside of the change of FIRC, although FIRC should be part of the discussion. If a 21-credit consolidated general education program is ever approved, some changes might need to be made to the 30-credit non-program specific portion of the TAP.
• Senator Foster asked about whether there will be a TAP for elementary or secondary education programs. Answer: That does not seem feasible, due (among other things) to significant differences between the education programs at the 4 CSUs.
• Senator Karpuk asked about the admission requirements for students completing a TAP transfer degree. Do the students need to meet our admission criteria? Answer: Admission is automatic upon completion of a TAP transfer degree. This led to a discussion of the graduation rates of different kinds of students. Yvonne Kirby of OIRA stated that our non-transfer students have a 6-year graduation rate of 52%, compared to a 4-year graduation rate of 54% for transfer students.

6. Adjournment

• The meeting adjourned at 4:05pm.