Faculty Senate

Minutes - September 23, 2019 - 3:05pm

CCSU FACULTY SENATE MEETING

Present: Adair, S.; Al-Masoud, N.; Amaya, L.; Arena, J.; Austad, C.; Ayeni, T.; Bailesteanu, M.; Baratta, C.; Barr, B.; Best, F.; Bigelow, L.; Bishop, J.; Blitz, D.; Boscarino, N.; Bray, A.; Broulik, W.; Chen, S.; Donohue, P.; Duquette, J.; Fafunwa-Ndibe, S.; Foster, P.; Gamache, J.; Garceau, T.; Garcia-Bowen, M.; Gardner, P.; Gichiru, W.; Givens, E.; Halkin, S.; Holt, J.; Hou, X.; Hughes, H.; Kapper, M.; Kean, K.; Kriscenski, J.; Kullgren, A.; Kumar, R.; Kurkjian, C.; Langevin, K.; Latour, F.; Leonidas, E.; Mann, B.; Matzke, B.; Menoche, C.; Mongillo, M.; Morales, A.; Nicoletti, J.; Pancsofar, E.; Paolino, J.; Petkova, O.; Ragusett, J.; Ruhs, T.; Sakaki, H.; Salama, T.; Sikorski, J.; Skinner, L.; Small, I.; Sohn, Y.M.; Spear, E.; Spillman, D.; Stickland, A.; Tafrate, L.; Watson, S.; Williams, L.; York, C.; Zering, J.

Ex-Officio: Dauwalder, D.; Kim, J.; Robinson, C.; Toro, Z.

 

Parliamentarian: Dimmick, C.

President of the Senate: Jackson, M.

Guests: Nancy “Rusty” Barceló (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion); Tom Burkholder (Information Technology Committee); Yvonne Kirby (OIRA); Janice Palmer (Marketing & Communications)

1. Minutes

a. Minutes of September 9, 2019

• Approved unanimously

2. Announcements:

a. AAUP President (L. Williams)

• No announcements.

b. SUOAF-AFSCME President (L. Bigelow)

• No announcements.

c. SGA (R. Tahir)

• No announcements.

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

• A document on the proposed consolidation of Community Colleges was sent to NECHE. It will be considered at their November meeting.
• The BOR expects the work on the common General Education, the shared governance structure, and the common catalog for the consolidated community college to be completed by the end of the 2019-20 academic year, and the work on program alignment to be completed by the end of the 2020-21 academic year. The BOR defines "program alignment" as "programs with the same name but at different campuses should be identical". The BOR keeps talking about local curriculum committees on individual campuses which seems to contradict the idea of having a common catalog and aligned programs. There is currently no adminitrative or committee structure in place to make the dozens of decisions that would need to be made in order to meet the BOR's desired deadline.
• Senator Halkin asked if unique programs that are offered on only one campus can be kept (yes).
• It was pointed out that many discipline-specific accreditation agencies will not accredit programs that are offered on multiple campuses.
• Senator Blitz pointed out that the BOR's "common catalog" initiative is similar to the BOT's failed initiative of common CSU courses, which was implemented about a decade ago.

e. President of the Senate (M. Jackson)

• The Faculty Senate representative on the President's Commission on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion will be Senator Kurkjian. Vice President Bishop, who is the Chair of the Diversity Committee, will also be a member.
• President Jackson is working on creating an FYE task force. Martha Kruy, Jan Bishop and Scott Hazan will be members.

3. Elections Committee

a. Election of Committee on Committees

• Senators Barr, Salama, and York were elected to the committee

b. Election of Committee on Constitution and By-Laws

• Senators Blitz and Chen were elected to the committee, with the Senate Parliamentarian serving ex officio

c. Election of Committee on Academic Freedom

• Senators Barr, Bray, and Morales were elected to the committee

d. Call for Nominations: Standing Committees of the Faculty

• The Elections Committee is seeking faculty members to fill seats on the following committees: Academic Assessment Committee (1 seat), Board of Regents Research Award Committee (2 seats), Board of Regents Teaching Award Committee (1 seat), Distinguished Service Award Committee (1 seat), Information Technology Committee (2 seats), Promotion and Tenure Committee (6 seats), and University Planning and Budget Committee (2 seats). A more detailed call for nominations will be sent tomorrow.

4. Committee Reports

a. Academic Standards Committee (E. Leonidas)

• Clarification of residency requirement for BS in Elementary Education (plus Art Education)
• Motion: “The Faculty Senate affirms that, for the purposes of the residency requirement for the major, in the case of BS in Elementary Education and Art Education programs, the ‘major’ includes both the major courses in the designated discipline and the Elementary Professional Education courses”.
  • Approved unanimously

5. New Business:

a. DEC exceptions for 2019-20 (updated)

• Approved unanimously

b. Minor update to External Review Policy (For consent agenda; this policy was approved last semester, but since then a change to the structure of OIRA was made. No change to the substance is being proposed, but we want the Senate website to have the most up-to-date version.)

• Approved unanimously

c. Update to Promotion and Tenure Guidelines

• Update to clarify that faculty members being evaluated have the option to submit an electronic portfolio
• It was emphasized that the use of electronic portfolios is optional. Candidates can still submit a physical portfolio.
• Senator Amaya asked if candidates and committee members will be provided with training on how to use the electronic portfolio system (yes).
• Senators discussed how to include the results of student opinion surveys in an electronic portfolio; it was pointed out that making the numerical summaries of online surveys available in CSV or Excel format would be helpful, as would having handwriting recognition software for written comments.
• Senator Petkova asked what happens to the files once the evaluation process is complete. Answer: The faculty member being evaluated controls the folder (both throughout and after the evaluation), and shares the folder with the DEC, Dean, P&T committee, and Provost. DEC members who make paper or electronic copies of the folder should destroy them once they are no longer needed.
• Senator Blitz asked if the candidate will be able to update the folder after sharing it (yes, just like a candidate has the right to update a regular DEC portfolio).
• Senator Bishop asked about the procedure for a candidate who files a rebuttal of an evaluation letter.
• Senator Foster suggested that electronic portfolio directions should be posted on the Faculty Senate website, together with the P&T guidelines.
  • Update to P&T guidelines approved unanimously

6. Adjournment

• The meeting adjourned at 4:11pm.