Faculty Senate

Minutes - January 27, 2020 - 3:05pm - Vance Academic Center 105

CCSU FACULTY SENATE MEETING

Present: Adair, S.; Al-Masoud, N.; Amaya, L.; Austad, C.; Baratta, C.; Barr, B.; Bigelow, L.; Bishop, J.; Blitz, D.; Bragg, C. (3:05 to 3:50); Bray, A.; Broulik, W.; Chakraborty, S.; Donohue, P.; Duquette, J.; Fafunwa-Ndibe, S.; Foster, P.; Gamache, J.; Garceau, T.; Garcia-Bowen, M.; Gardner, P.; Ghiloni-Wage, B.; Gichiru, W.; Givens, E.; Gutierrez, S.; Halkin, S.; Holt, J.; Hou, X.; Hughes, H.; Jarmoszko, T.; Kapper, M.; Kean, K.; Kriscenski, J.; Kullgren, A.; Kumar, R.; Kurkjian, C.; Langevin, K.; Latour, F.; Leonidas, E.; Matzke, B.; Menoche, C.; Mongillo, M.; Morales, A.; Moreno-Fuentes, G.; Nicoletti, J.; Pancsofar, E.; Paolino, J.; Ruhs, T.; Sakaki, H.; Salama, T.; Schenck, S.; Sikorski, J. (3:50 to 5:03); Small, I.; Sohn, Y.M.; Spear, E.; Sylvester, C.; Tafrate, L.; Watson, S.; Williams, L.; York, C.

Ex-Officio: Dauwalder, D.; Farhat, J.; Kim, J.; Toro, Z; Wolff, R.

 

Parliamentarian: Dimmick, C.

President of the Senate: Jackson, M.

Guests: Rusty Barceló (Interim VP, Diversity, Inclusion & Equity); Charlene Casamento (CFO); Martie Kaczmarek (Assessment Coordinator); Yvonne Kirby (Associate VP, Planning & Institutional Effectiveness); Jason Melnyk (UPBC Chair)

1. Minutes

a. Minutes of December 10, 2019

• Approved unanimously

2. Announcements:

a. AAUP President (L. Williams)

• No announcements.

b. SUOAF-AFSCME President (L. Bigelow)

• SUOAF-AFSCME President Bigelow made the following statement:
  • “AFSCME Council 4, on behalf of the SUOAF bargaining unit, and me in particular, has filed anti-union animus and other related charges against Dr. Zulma Toro, CCSU President, with the State Department of Labor. Related charges are also being filed with other State agencies.

    These charges stem from the personal treatment and professional sabotage I have faced since chairing and resigning from the UPBC last year.  I have decided to include this in today’s SUOAF announcements so that this information may be entered into the official minutes of the Senate to document this attack on shared governance and a member of the Central “family.”  It is hoped that no other SUOAF member will be subject to what I have been subjected to because of the work they do as a SUOAF representative on a Senate or University committee.”

c. SGA (R. Tahir)

• No announcements.

d. FAC to the Board of Regents (D. Blitz)

• FAC representative Blitz presented the report. He is a candidate for the chairpersonship of the Faculty Advisory Committee. Senator Panscofar said that he appreciates the thoroughness of the report.
• Faculty members are being encouraged to stop participating in the work of the various committees for the so-called "Students First" plan, because concerns of faculty on these committees are not being heard, and faculty members who express concerns are being scolded or disregarded. Faculty members are encouraged to sign a pledge to that effect.
• President Toro spoke to the BOR's Academic and Student Affairs Committee on January 24, 2020. The NECHE report on CCSU's accreditation was on the agenda.

e. President of the Senate (M. Jackson)

• Members of the university community are encouraged to participate in the Campus Climate survey, which will open in the week of February 3. There are three separate surveys, for faculty, staff, and students.
• The new recreation center has opened; the formal opening will be in May. There is a walking track, and Vice President Bishop and Senator York will continue to lead the faculty walking group on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 12:15pm.
• President Jackson will send an e-mail later today on the topic of the First Year Program (FYP). The e-mail will request that faculty members send input to FYP subcommittee chair Kris Larsen. We hope to have a pilot program for FYP in place by Fall 2020, with full implementation (after collecting feedback) by Fall 2021.

 

3. New Business

a. Strategic Plan

• Strategic Plan 2030
• Summary of campus feedback
• UPBC Memo to faculty Senate
• Master-Action Plan to Faculty Senate
  • Senate President Jackson spoke of the process of creating the Strategic Plan, which began with the Steering Committee in the summer of 2019, took input from the campus community through an open forum and a survey, and went through UPBC to the Faculty Senate.
    • Senator Halkin asked about the past proposal to have a 20:1 student:faculty ratio (it is not in the Strategic Plan).
    • Senator Kurkjian asked about the relationship between the Elements of Distinctiveness and the Strategic Plan (the Elements of Distinctiveness are listed on page 4, but they are present throughout the Plan).
    • Senator Kean is concerned about the goal of improving course availability while reducing the number of under-enrolled sections (5.2.A.4. in the Master Actionm Plan) and its potential impact on part-time faculty.
    • Senator Barr is concerned about the many references to efficiencies in the Master Action Plan.
    • Senator Blitz supports adoption of the Strategic Plan, with one proposed amendment (see below). He urges a full discussion of the contents of the Master Action Plan, as he believes that some of the goals (especially 2.2.C.9, Make greater use of the DFW reports to identify course sequencing patterns to assist in the development of support strategies, 1.2.B.1, Implement meta-majors for CCSU students who are unsure about which major is best for them, and 1.2.B.3, Successfully guide undeclared students toward meta-majors by the end of their first year and selection of a major by the time 60 credits have been reached), are problematic. He also supports an explicit rejection of the financial modeling spreadsheet that has been posted on the Strategic Plan website, which currently projects that $37,364,206 will be saved through optimizing the efficiency of our use of faculty resources where possible to serve the needs of our students, without compromising academic excellence and educational quality.
    • The Senate was assured that there is NO desire to eliminate all part-time faculty sections, and that the financial modeling speadsheet is one of many tools used by the CFO. Future financial requests will be vetted by UPBC as they have been in the past.
    • Senator Blitz moved that a mention of the University's commitment to the African-American community be added to the Strategic Plan 2030 after consultation with Dr. Felton Best.
      • Senator Small moved to amend Senator Blitz by adding Asian, Native American, and other minorities to the added mention.
      • It was pointed out that the current draft already includes a broad statement of commitment to diversity.
      • President Toro clarified that a Hispanic-Serving Institution is a federal designation that provides access to Title III funds.
      • Motion to amend failed by voice vote.
    • Motion to add a statement after consultation failed by voice vote.
    • Senator Leonidas asked what was meant by a "potential" metric. (Answer: It's an example of a metric that could be used; the administration would work with UPBC to establish the actual metrics.)
    • Senator Austad moved to postpone discussion of this item to the next regularly scheduled meeting of the Faculty Senate.
      • Motion to postpone approved unanimously by voice vote.

4. Adjournment

• The meeting adjourned at 5:03pm.