Faculty Senate

Minutes - October 29, 2018 - 3:05pm

CCSU FACULTY SENATE MEETING

Present: Amaya-Bower, L.; Ayeni, T.; Bailesteanu, M.; Bigelow, L.; Bishop, J.; Blitz, D.; Boscarino, N.; Casiano, N.; Chen, S.; Christensen, S.; Cistulli, M.; Emiliani, B.; Fafunwa-Ndibe, S.; Farhat, J.; Foster, P.; Gamache, J.; Garcia-Bowen, M.; Givens, E.; Halkin, S.; Hall, P.; Holden, P.; Hughes, H.; Kapper, M.; Karas, R.; Karpuk, P.; Kean, K.; Kim, Y.; Kriscenski, J.; Kullgren, A.; Latour, F.; Leonidas, E.; LoGiudice, S.; Mann, W.; Martin-Troy, K.; Mendez-Mendez, S.; Menoche, C.; Merenstein, B.; Minor, L.; Mongillo, M.; Moreno-Fuentes, G.; Ngazimbi, E.; Pancsofar, E.; Paolino, J.; Pesca, C.; Petras, S.; Phillips, E.; Ragusett, J.; Rice, T.; Ruhs, T.; Sakaki, H.; Sikorski, J.; Singhal, R.; Sohn, Y.M.; Spear, E.; Spillman, D.; Stickland, A.; Styrczula, S.; Sylvester, C.; Vickrey, R.; Williams, L.; York, C.; Zering, J.

Ex-Officio: Colwell, K.; Dauwalder, D.; Kremens, Z.; Toro, Z.; Wolff, R.

Parliamentarian: Dimmick, C.

President of the Senate: Jackson, M.

Guests: Rebecca Boncoddo (Academic Standards Committee); Cassandra Broadus-Garcia (Academic Assessment Committee); An Huynh (American Heart Association)

1. Minutes

a. Minutes of October 15, 2018

• Approved unanimously
  

2. Announcements:

a. AAUP President (L. Williams)

• The membership campaign is ongoing; the goal is to get members to confirm their membership in the union by signing a new membership form, and to encourage part-time faculty to become union members.

b. SUOAF-AFSCME President (L. Bigelow)

• The Chapter Officer Elections have ended. There are no changes to the executive board.

c. SGA (K. Fruin)

• The Good Neighbor Campaign event will be held this Saturday.

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

• No announcements.

e. President of the Senate (M. Jackson)

• Faculty members who wish to attend the Winter Commencement (Sunday, December 16, with inclement weather date Tuesday, December 18) and need regalia should order before November 15 in order to avoid a $25 late fee.
• There is a Commencement Planning Group that has been meeting every Tuesday from 2 to 3pm in Vance 106. It is made up of administrators, but interested faculty are invited to become involved.
• There will be an open house on textbook affordability on November 13-14, 10am-12noon and 2-4pm. Open educational resources and courseware will be demnonstrated.
• The Presidential Open Forum will be on Thursday, November 29, at 3pm, in the Constitution Room.

3. Committee Reports

a. Academic Standards Committee (R. Boncoddo)

• Approved unanimously

b. Community Engagement Committee (M. Dischino)

• Report accepted by the Faculty Senate

c. Student Affairs Committee (C. York)

• Senators York and Sikorski presented a proposal (originating from a student) that faculty should be required or highly encouraged to attend at least one CPR/First Aid training. This training ideally would be provided by CCSU, held on campus, and paid for by the institution so as to make it easy for faculty to attend with low barrier to access. The reason for this is that this student has been in classrooms were unfortunate situations have occurred with other students (in one case, a seizure to be specific), where the faculty member froze up and did not know how to respond. Thankfully at the time there were two students in class with training that could help the student and call for emergency help.
• Senator Zering showed an example of an "emergency procedures" sheet that is present in classrooms at Tunxis Community College. She suggested that a similar sheet could be put in classrooms at CCSU.
• Senator Zering also introduced a guest, An Huynh instructor for the American Heart Association, who spoke of the importance of providing emergency care to those in need, as it can save someone's life ("every second counts").
• Senator Halkin does not believe we should mandate that faculty receive such training, but that it should be offered to faculty. Senator Karpuk added that the training should be offered on campus.
• Senator Blitz reminded the Senate that the Ad Hoc Committee on Campus Safety created a four-page pamphlet describing emergency procedures, which should be distributed to all faculty. It might be a good idea to put it in classrooms. He reminded faculty members that in a case of emergency, they should call 911, and not a dean, secretary, or routing police phone number. He suggested that the Ad Hoc Committee on Campus Safety should be made into a Standing Committee.
• Senator Mongillo asked about personal liability for faculty who attempt to provide emergency services. We should learn about the Good Samaritan Law, which can offer protection as long as some guidelines are followed.
• There was discussion of how to make sure that faculty can make or receive phone calls during class in case of an emergency. Senator Blitz said that faculty should bring cell phones to class (on "vibrate" mode), but some areas of campus have poor cell coverage.
• Motion (Mendez-Mendez): To ask the Ad Hoc Committee on Campus Safety and the Student Affairs Committee to work with the SGA to develop a plan to possibly provide: 1) emergency procedures information in classrooms; 2) opportunities for CPR/first aid training on campus for faculty; 3) the addition of phones to classrooms, especially those in areas with poor cell coverage, and to report to the Senate by the end of the Fall semester.
  • Approved unanimously

d. Academic Assessment Committee (C. Broadus-Garcia)

• Report received by the Faculty Senate

e. Curriculum Committee (B. Merenstein)

• Approved unanimously

4. New Business

a. Proposal to create a new Faculty Senate Listserv (D. Blitz)

• Senator Blitz moved that the proposal be approved, with the addition of "departmental office staff" to the list of those who are included.
• An amendment requesting that the existing listserv be deleted was withdrawn by unanimous consent.
• Senators spoke favorably of the proposal. Some mentioned the need for the Steering Committee to develop rules for using this new Listserv.
  • Approved unanimously

5. Adjournment

• The meeting adjourned at 4:42pm.