37th Faculty Senate

Vol. 37, No. 2

September 12, 2002

I. Roll Call.

Present: Beck, Brooks, Cravins, Gendreau, Gibson, Hoar, Hollenback, Kernozek, Krajewski, Majak, Nelson, Poulton, Ragan, Senger, Tayor, Tyser, Vandenberg-Daves, Wingate, Zellmer.

Excused: Barnd, Bigel, Dixon, Shillinger, Wilson.

II. Approval of Minutes.

The minutes of the May 2, 2002, 36^th and 37^th faculty senate meetings were approved as distributed.

III.            Reports.

A. Chair Senger made introductions and welcomed new senators. The Senate Executive Committee is considering filling the temporary vacancies of two senators from the College of Liberal Studies (Alan Bigel who is on leave and Carmen Wilson who is teaching in Scotland). Because of the lack of candidates at the most recent election, the SEC will nominate representatives from CLS to serve on the senate for one-semester. A list of nominations are expected to be before the senate at its next meeting. Incidentally, Chair Senger reminded the senate that last year a temporary vacancy from the same category remained unfilled for the academic year.

The faculty senate web page has been reorganized and expanded to include links to committees, bylaws, and position papers. Be on the alert for the first two position papers from Drs. Bilby and Monte, on the Assignment and Reporting of Grades.

Committee charges have been completed with the exception of the General Education Committee. Last week the SEC met with Emily Johnson, Director of the General Education Program, to discuss last year’s annual report that she submitted to the Senate. It was decided that Dr. Johnson would help generate the new charge to the committee by selecting a list of outcomes that the committee would seek to fulfill. Additionally, at least two items of discussion pertaining to the general education program, will come before the senate this fall.

Copies of an email, from Ron Lostetter, describing the current budget situation were distributed; the Strategic Planning document is expected to be on the 10-10-02 faculty senate agenda; this campus has received permission from UW-System to proceed with our migration project moving from the Unisys platform to that of a database platform running on Windows 2000 with a relational database; faculty senate meeting dates for the remainder of the semester are September 26, October 10, 24, November 7, 21, and December 12.

B. Provost/Vice-Chancellor Hitch reported that her goal is to visit every department on campus this semester. Presently 18 meetings are scheduled with 6 departments already visited. A common theme coming from these meetings is the concern about the timing of the promotion and tenure process. With the upcoming Teacher Education Day, and the NCATE review scheduled for next fall, Dr. Hitch is keenly aware of the need for the whole university to educate teachers.

As reported earlier, the SEC has been briefed on the budget crisis. The same process used last year to fund the $1.2 million in cuts, will be used for the remaining $120,900 shortfall. Deans and division heads are identifying areas for reduction. These proposed reductions will be presented to governance groups as well as to the University Planning & Budget Committee. The next biennium is of more concern. We already know that the $1.2 billion in tobacco money that was used to fund the deficit this biennium will not be available to use. UW-System has approved a no increase budget, however there will be increases in the cost to continue category which includes pay plan items. Already, as positions become vacant, we are examining them carefully to see where we can possibly combine, or hold off for a while to build up a base to use next year. We are trying to protect instructional programs, so the “bank” of positions will not come from the instructional category. We continue to work on diversity and cost savings in the recruitment process. Deans have identified priority positions and been given a go ahead to hire. Eye catching, group ads will be utilized with detailed information found on the web site.

Jennifer Wilson, Executive Director of Human Resources explained the proposed new Super Site, which details employment opportunities at UW-L. While the site is still a work in progress, it is hoped to provide prospective employees with a larger picture of UWL, the La Crosse community, and the surrounding area.

C. UWL Faculty Representative, Georges Cravins, attended a meeting last Friday in Madison. The faculty representatives met with Vice President for Academic Affairs, Cora Marrett and for a short time with President Lyall. The agenda for the year was outlined which will include forming a committee to deal with new testing requirements so we can effectively meet DPI requirements for new teachers; seeking recommendations on academic program review; issues of governance and how it is working on individual campuses; and, performance measures, retention and graduation rates. Discussion continued on a variety of topics including budget requests, salary increases but not specific values, and compression issues (other campuses are looking to us as a model).

IV.        Senate Executive Committee Nominations for:

A.         Joint Promotion Committee (4 new members for a 3-yr term)
            Mike Haupert
            Sandra Krajewski
            Pam Rodgers
            Steven Senger

            Continuing members (2-yr term)
                        Lise Graham
                        Eric Kraemer
                        Lalita Pandit
                        Dean Wilder

                        Continuing members 1-yr term
                        George Arimond
                        Ron McKelvey
                        Curt Reithel
                        Bruce Riley

B.        Consultative Layoff Committee (3 new members for a 3-yr term)
            Sandra Krajewski
            Dianne Morrison
            Marc Rott

            Continuing members (2-yr term)
            David Bange
            Justin Odulana
            Pam Rodgers
           1-yr term
           Michael Abler
           Paul Keaton
           Sara Sullivan

C.        Senate Elections Committee
            T. J. Brooks
            Tom Gendreau
            Jodi Vandenberg-Daves

D.            Committee on Faculty Committees
                        Sue Barnd
                        George Cravins
                        Bob Hoar
                        Jess Hollenback
                        Carmen Wilson

E.            Ombudspersons
                    David Bange
                    Joe Heim
                    Susannah Lloyd

F.            Parking Appeals Board

Charles Marx – member and Ron Glass - alternate

M/S/P to accept the nominations as presented. (voice vote)

V.            Proposed Biochemistry Major.

Drs. Todd Weaver and Sandra Grunwald gave a brief history of the approval process:

·         they started to build a course, and ended up building a major
·         they got an entitlement to plan approved a couple of years ago
·         they had 2 reviews done
·         the UCC passed it earlier this week
·         they met with others in the state who have/want BioChem programs

Senator Wingate spoke in favor but questioned the long-term need. There was some discussion and clarifications of the pre-requisites listed.

M/S/P to approve the Biochemistry Major. (voice vote)

VI.            Proposal for an Ad Hoc Committee to Perform an Audit & Review of Administrative Offices.

In response to senate discussion last year, Chair Senger reviewed the proposal to create an ad hoc Committee to collect, analyze and report on faculty concerns relative to those administrative offices that directly affect the teaching and research environment of the university.

Proposed Committee to Conduct an Audit & Review of Administrative Offices

The SEC proposes the creation of an Ad Hoc Faculty Senate committee to collect, analyze and report on faculty concerns relative to those administrative offices that directly affect the teaching and research environment of the university. The analysis should, where possible, clarify faculty opinion and identify the root cause of faculty concerns and suggest solutions. The goal is to improve the articulation of faculty opinion and reinforce faculty oversight of administrative functions that concern areas of faculty responsibility.

The committee would be composed of eight faculty members chosen to equally represent the four colleges. The committee will be given broad discretion to determine the scope and methods used in this audit and review. The initial charge will consist of the following points.

1. The committee will meet with Deans and Provost to discuss current administrative review procedures and formulate a review process that will improve university operation.

2. The committee will determine a mechanism to collect faculty input concerning the college offices, Provost office and other units as may seem appropriate to the committee.

3. The committee will review faculty input and produce an analysis of concerns.

4. The committee will recommend whether the Faculty Senate should form a standing committee for audit and review of administrative offices. If a standing committee is recommended the committee will make recommendations regarding the structure, scope and operation of such a committee.

With respect to the Provost’s office, faculty opinion may cover a variety of areas including
·         Effective communication with faculty through college offices.
·         Appropriate oversight and involvement in curricular issues.
·         Appropriate support and use of faculty development resources.

With respect to the college offices, appropriate areas for faculty comment may include
·         Effective communication between faculty and college Dean.
·         Effective use of college governance structures.
·         Effective use of elected department chairs.
·         Appropriate involvement in faculty hiring, retention, promotion, tenure and compensation decisions.
·         College priorities and goals are consistent with faculty priorities.
·         Support for faculty curricular priorities.
·         Support for faculty research/scholarship priorities.

  Nominees
        CBA           Michael Haupert and Ken Winter
        CLS           Bart VanVoorhis and Dorothy Zeisler-Vralstad
        HPERTE     Kent Koppelman and Pat Dirocco
        SAH            Roland Roskos and Linda Host

The Senate discussed the proposal. The first year would be an ad hoc group with input solicited from faculty. The objective is to lay a productive process for the future, and make a reasoned evaluation of how the offices run effectively. This would not be an evaluation of individual administrators.

M/S/P to approve. (show of hands: 14-yes, 2-no, 3-abstaining)

VII.       Draft Guidelines for Certificate Programs.

Former Interim Provost/Vice-Chancellor, Ron Rada and Dr. Greg Wegner joined the Faculty Senate.    Dr. Rada reviewed the background for offering the proposed Certificate Programs. The proposed pilot program (to run for two years) has been discussed/approved at many levels, including the Deans Council, the Undergraduate Curriculum and the Graduate Curriculum Committees, Graduate Council, the University Registrar, former Faculty Senate Chair, Joe Heim, and the Director of Continuing Education & Extension. Everyone agrees it is important to have a framework in place. In a memorandum summarizing discussions by the UCC and the Academic Planning Committee, Dr. Ray Schoen (Chair of both committees) indicated that:

The key points for credit-bearing certificate programs were as follows:
(1) credit-bearing certificate programs proceed through the normal approval process for sub majors, i.e., similar to those for minors and concentrations,
(2) all credit-bearing courses follow the usual path of approval through UCC and/or GCC, and
(3) because credit-bearing certificate programs are new to UW-L, a post-approval oversight process should be established.

The key points for the non-credit-bearing certificate programs were as follows:
(1) non-credit-bearing certificate programs must be endorsed by all affected departments,
(2) non-credit bearing certificate programs must be approved by the dean(s) and provost, and
(3) a post-approval oversight process be established.

After a spirited discussion, the following motion to table the issue was approved.

M/S/P to table. (voice vote) This item will be on the next faculty senate agenda.

VIII.       Old Business.

IX.        New Business.

X.            Adjournment.

The meeting adjourned at 5:20 p.m.

Submitted by
Robert Hoar, Secretary