University Senate - April 2, 2018 Meeting Minutes

The University Senate was called to order at 3:50 p.m., in Room 111, Harrison Hall, Oxford Campus, on Monday, April 2, 2018. Members absent:  Kenya Ash, Burcin Bayram, Shelly Jarrett Bromberg, Chip Hahn, Charles Kennick, Vaishali Raval, Justin Saul, Aaron Smith, Steven Tuck, Scott Walter, Andy Zeisler, and Kara Zirkle.

Call to Order and Announcements

  1. Announcements and Remarks by the Chair of University Senate, Phyllis Callahan

    1. John Jeep and Monica Schneider will lead the convocation group. A call for facilitators is on the Office of Liberal Education website: http://miamioh.edu/liberal-ed/faculty-staff/summer-reading-program/call-for-facilitators/index.html. There is a form available for staff and faculty to volunteer to lead a discussion group for the Summer Reading book following convocation. This experience is a student’s first academic experience at Miami.

    2. On April 19, there is an event entitled ‘New Era: Innovation & Commercialization’ in King Library, from 3:30 – 4:45.  This will be followed by an Inclusion Series presentation hosted by Dr. Stephen Quaye on racial fatigue.  The location for this event is in 320 King

Approval of University Senate Minutes

  1. A motion was received, seconded, and carried to approve the March 12, 2018, minutes of University Senate.

Consent Calendar

  1. The following items were received on the Consent Calendar without debate.

    1. Curriculum dated March 28, 2018 

      Note that the proposed revisions to the Theatre major have been tabled at this time and will come forth at a later date.

    2. Graduate Council Minutes – February 13, 2018

    3. Benefits Committee Minutes – November 7, 2017

A motion was received, seconded, and carried to approve the Consent Calendar.

Special Reports

  1. Academic Policy Committee Report – Nazan Bautista, Chair and Dana Cox, Senate Liaison 

    1. The committee’s membership and charge was reviewed. The committee is to provide recommendations to the Provost and Senate on academic policies.  There have been three meetings this year.  During the March meeting, the changes to P & T Guidelines and Schedule Changes for Final Exams were discussed.  The P & T Guidelines will be coming to Senate in April.

    2. The proposal regarding Schedule Changes for Final Exams raised a question regarding the final exam schedule and logistics between campuses. There have been circumstances where a student has final exams in consecutive time blocks that are on different campuses. It was stated that formal approval will still need to be given for a student to change their exam time, but this question will be taken to Senate Executive Committee for further discussion.

  1. Council on Diversity and Inclusion Report – Ron Scott and Jane Goettsch, Co-Chairs

    1. A history of the Council on Diversity and Inclusion was given. It was established in 2000. Advisory committee of University Senate

    2. Last year, CODI initiated an inventory project. Divisions and departments were asked to report what they are doing in regards to diversity and inclusion. A 75 page report was compiled.  The future goal is to have this regularly updated, and to have data accessible on the Diversity and Inclusion website.

    3. CODI will be submitting a proposal to Senate Executive Committee to increase membership to be more representative. At the advisement of Executive Committee, CODI has restructured to have a small executive committee and several sub-committees.  This allows the committee to continue to grow and not lose functionality.

    4. CODI will be involved in the assessment of the plan that comes forth from the climate survey.

    5. A question was asked regarding the role of students on CODI. CODI has 2 undergraduate and 1 graduate student representative, and a student is on the executive council.

    6. A question was asked about having all data and reports available to the community. It was noted that some of the reports cannot be disclosed, and a suggestion was made to have General Counsel come to Senate to discuss data disclosure.

    7. The terminology of ‘Blind Spot’ was discussed.  There was a concern that this term is derogatory to sight-impaired employees.

New Business

  1. SR 18-07 – LCPL Second Promotion Point

    1. Discussion centered around use of the words ‘academic advising’ in the criterion that the candidate must demonstrate ‘a cumulative record of high-quality teaching and academic advising’. The concern is that some LCPLs do not advise. It was noted that the same language is used in the criteria for the first promotion point. Provost Callahan will raise this concern with COAD on April 4.

    2. A concern was raised regarding using ‘or’ in the third criterion that the candidate must demonstrate ‘distinction or excellence in some area of pedagogy or service’.

    3. The question was called, and there was a motion to suspend the rules.

SR 18-07

April 2, 2018

BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED that University Senate endorses a second promotion point for Lecturers and Clinical/Professionally Licensed Faculty. To achieve promotion, the candidate must demonstrate:

      • a cumulative record of high-quality teaching and academic advising;
      • continued strong productive professional service; and,
      • distinction or excellence in some area of pedagogy or service.

SR 18-07 was approved by voice vote.

  1. SR 18-08 – LCPL Title Changes 

    1. Keith Fennen, Chair, Faculty Welfare Committee shared the results of the title survey sent to current LCPL Faculty with non-terminal degrees. A total of 54 were surveyed with an 82% response rate.  The top choice for title was:  Assistant/Associate/Senior Lecturer; and, Assistant/Associate/Senior Clinical Lecturer. Senators agreed with the survey results and the previously proposed titles: Assistant/Associate/Full Teaching Instructor; and, Assistant/Associate/Full Clinical Instructor were struck from the proposed resolution.

    2. A suggestion was made to add ‘non-terminal’ as a descriptor for those having a Master’s degree.  This was added to the proposed resolution to read:  ‘For those lecturers currently holding a non-terminal Master’s degree’; and, ‘For those clinically/professionally licensed faculty holding a non-terminal Master’s degree’.

    3. Concerns were raised regarding the word ‘Teaching’ used in the proposed title of ‘Assistant/Associate/Full Teaching Professor’. For some, it implies that Tenure/Tenure track faculty don’t teach, and that there are tracks that can be chosen, such as teaching and research.

    4. Concerns were raised regarding use of the word ‘Full’ in the proposed titles: Assistant/Associate/Full Teaching Professor; and, Assistant/Associate/Full Clinical Professor.  It was decided to strike the word ‘Full’ from the proposed titles.

    5. A motion was made and carried at 5:15pm to table the discussion until the April 9 meeting. Senators are to continue to discuss the proposed changes with their constituents.

Adjournment

  1. A motion was received, seconded, and carried to adjourn the Regular Session of University Senate.