UNIVERSITY SENATE

Meeting Minutes

April 17, 2023

The University Senate was called to order at 3:30 p.m., in 111 Harrison Hall on Monday, April 17, 2023. Members absent:  Jackson Abram, Steve Bailey, Kevin Ballard, Rodney Coates, Riley Crabtree, Eli Davies, Tyler Eyster, Michael Gallo, Chip Hahn, Patrick Houlihan, Kennedy Hughes, Spencer Izor, Martin Johnson, Yong Lin, Kevin Messner, William Moser, Carla Myers, Murali Paranandi, Carrie Powell, Taylor Stambaugh, Danelle Stein, Medhi Zanjani

1. 1. Call to Order and Announcements and Remarks – Tom Poetter, Chair of University Senate Executive Committee
      1. Next week is our last Senate meeting and we will be electing senate leadership for next year. We will be inviting our new senators to attend to elect the next chair elect and faculty senator at large. If you are interested in either of these positions please let us know. You can email any member of Senate Executive Committee.
      2. There is likely going to be New Business on the table since this is going to be our last meeting please make sure that you are ready for that. Typically we introduce new resolutions at one meeting and vote the next, but we are out of time and will need to take a vote on the same day that this is introduced. It is a curricular resolution.
   2. Approval of University Senate Minutes 
      1. University Senate Full Meeting Minutes_04.10.2023  (44- Yes, 0-No, 2-Abstain)
   3. Consent Calendar
      
      1. Curricular Items _04.12.2023 
      2. LEC Meeting Minutes_04.04.2023 
      3. LEC Meeting Minutes_04.11.2023
      4. Grad Curriculum Meeting Minutes_04.11.2023 
      5. Committee on Faculty Research Annual Report_04.10.2023 
   4. Old Business
      1. SR 23-19 Changes to Tenure Track and Promotion and Tenure Policy, Liz Mullenix, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, Discussion and Vote  (Result: 44 -Yes 1-No, 1-abstain)
         
         1. Updated Policy
            1. No minimum time in rank is required for promotion to Professor. However, anyone seeking promotion to Full Professor must meet the criteria as outlined by their departments, divisions, and the university.; these criteria include demonstrating a cumulative record of excellence beyond what was achieved for tenure. Thus, it is expected that While there is no minimum time in rank required for Associate Professors, faculty members will typically need to spend up to five years enough time in rank to achieve a cumulative record of teaching, research/creative activity, and professional service as defined in Miami’s policy regarding requirements for Full Professor. before applying for promotion. All faculty members planning to apply for promotion to Full Professor are strongly encouraged to engage in a formative evaluation with their promotion committee prior to seeking promotion. If a candidate seeking promotion to Full is denied, the faculty member must wait at least one full academic year between receiving the denial and submitting materials again for consideration.
         2. So I think that this tries to encourage faculty to have a formative review, notes that cumulative aspect and requires someone that just came up to wait a year.
         3. Senator:  Thank you this is so good and I really appreciate a Provost that listens to us and goes back to with our changes. (A) Thank You
         4. Senator:  Likewise, can we get rid of the word ‘full’ and just go with Professor? (A) This would be a friendly amendment, so that should be fine.
         5. Senator:  I believe we need another heading that says denied or a heading that says a faculty member who has been denied is eligibility again for clarification? (A) The language from assistant to associate goes to the R&R language. 
         6. Senator: Friendly Amendment Suggestion: If a candidate seeking promotion to Professor is denied, eligibility for promotion and re-submission will re-open after one academic year following receiving the denial. (A) That is good then that would be considered a friendly amendment too. 
         7. Senator:  Can we just add a paragraph before the last sentence with the friendly amendment? (A) Yes, that would be considered friendly.

         8. Final version:

            Anyone seeking promotion to Professor must meet the criteria as outlined by their departments, divisions, and the university. While there is no minimum time in rank required for Associate Professors, faculty members will typically need to spend enough time in rank to achieve a cumulative record of teaching, research/creative activity, and professional service as defined in Miami’s policy regarding requirements for Professor. All faculty members planning to apply for promotion to Professor are strongly encouraged to engage in a formative evaluation with their promotion committee prior to seeking promotion. 

            If a candidate seeking promotion to Professor is denied, eligibility for promotion and re-submission will re-open after one academic year following receiving the denial.

      2. SR 23-20 TCPL Policy Changes, Dana Cox, Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs, and Tracy Haynes, Chair-Elect, Senate Executive Committee and Senior Lecturer, Department of Biology  Discussion and Vote (Result: 45 -Yes 0-No, 1-abstain)
      3. SR 23-21 TCPL Guideline Changes, Dana Cox, Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs, and Tracy Haynes, Chair-Elect, Senate Executive Committee and Senior Lecturer, Department of Biology  Discussion and Vote (Result: 45 -Yes 0-No, 1-abstain)
      4. SR 23-22 CEC TCPL Cap Change, Timothy Cameron, Associate Dean of Engineering and Computing Professor Discussion and Vote (Result: 46 -Yes 0-No, 0-abstain)
      5. SR 23-23 Academic Integrity Policy Revision,  Brenda Quaye, Assistant Director for Academic Integrity, Ted Peters, Senior Assistant Dean, Academic Advising   Discussion and Vote (Result: 45 -Yes 0-No, 1-abstain)
         1. Senator: Do we know why we decoupled this from the fake ID policy? (A) That was back in 2008 or 2009 when they were put together. At that time, Academic Integrity went one way and the Student Code of Conduct went another. Then the fake ID violation got removed from the dishonesty violations. We are retaining the ability to look at the dishonesty aggravating factors from both directions.
      6. SR 23-24 Registration Policy Proposal,  Amity Noltemeyer, Associate Dean of the Graduate School, Professor of Educational Psychology  Discussion and Vote (Result: 46-Yes 0-No, 0-abstain)
      7. SR 23-25 Probation Policy Revision,  Amity Noltemeyer, Associate Dean of the Graduate School, Professor of Educational Psychology Discussion and Vote (Result: 46 -Yes 0-No, 0-abstain)
   5. New Business
      1. SR 23-26 Vote to Allow SEC to continue committee filling, Dana Cox, , Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs and University Senate Secretary,   and Tammy Patterson, Recording Secretary of University Senate  Discussion and Anticipated Vote on April 17, 2023  (Results: 46 -Yes 0-No, 0-abstain)
         1. Committee Selection Process 2023
            1. Staff membership is considered and selected by representatives from CPAC and UPAC, assisted and coordinated by Staff-At-Large members of SEC. These seats are often filled over the summer.
            2. Student membership is considered and selected by ASG, RSG, and GSA. These seats are not filled until fall 2023.
            3. Faculty membership is considered and selected by the Chair, Chair-Elect, and Secretary of Senate.
            4. Presidential Appointments
         2. Faculty Selection Process 2023
            1. Secretary of Senate Identifies positions that need filling using the roster and bylaws. 
            2. Chair, Chair-Elect, and Secretary consider the list of self-nominees and identify candidates. Senate Liaisons are identified first.
            3. If volunteers are not available, we often ask the chair of the committee to weigh in with additional information or nominees. Whenever possible, we select from those who indicated interest.
            4. For councils, we MUST consult with administrators. (i.e. LEC)
            5. Invitations to serve are emailed.
            6. We will support each committee in selecting new leadership when invited, but leave these decisions to the committee.
            7. Website is updated to reflect new membership by August 2023.
            8. Contact the new chair and inform them of the membership list for 2023-2024.
         3. New This Year: SEC will email the people coming off of the committee and thank them for their services
         4. Faculty Selection Update
            1. Still seeking Senate Liaisons for 11 of 19 committees, must wait until new senators are seated.
            2. The following have been seated:
               1. Awards and Recognition Committee (welcome Michael Vanni and Tresa Barlage Zianno)
               2. Benefits Committee (no faculty openings)
               3. Campus Planning Committee (no faculty openings)
               4. CODI (On hold for now)
               5. University Committee on Internationalization (Tamise Ironstrack will continue as chair)
         5. Senate Liaisons 2023-2024
            1. 9 committees have liaisons with continuing terms - Athletic Policy, Awards and Recognition, Campus Planning, Center for Teaching Excellence, Faculty Research, Governance, Honors Program Advisory, Library, and Undergraduate Research
            2. 8 will require senators to serve on a new committee - Academic Policy, CODI, Council for Undergrad Curriculum, DPIP, Fiscal Priorities, Internationalization, IT Policy, and Liberal Education Council
            3. 2 have senators currently serving who can be invited - Benefits, and Faculty Welfare.
         6. Reason we are running a little behind this year is because of the reapportionment. We have to confirm who the new senators are and then reach out to the new liaisons. Since that didn’t occur until last week that puts us a little behind.
         7. Senator indicated that they might know some people who might be interested, but  are not sure which committees still need people. (A) We do have that data. But if you know someone who might be interested, they can always email us to let us know that they missed the survey but are interested in working on a committee.

         8. Senate voted to approve the resolution. (Results: 46 -Yes 0-No, 0-abstain)

Provost Update

1. 1. 1. Senate Bill 83 
         1. IUC and ODHE are working hard to address SB 83. Several Universities including us have introduced resolutions regarding this Bill which is wonderful.
         2. There is a great article in Chronicle recently and how Accreditation was impacting their decision to strip all the D&I language off of it. So I encourage you to read that.  So there is a lot still going on with this.
      2. Congrats to Michelle Navakas and Former Senator Mike Hatch on becoming Altman Scholars this year, among other great faculty.
      3. Police department will come to your department or community to do a workshop with you around active shooters and violence on campus. I highly encourage it. It’s important for all of us to know and make a plan. Does your office door lock? Classroom? If not, what’s your plan? MUPD will tell you about hide, run, fight. Revisit it each semester and talk to your students. 
      4. There is also emergency communication on the website for instant alerts. So that they can get out the information to you as fast as possible. 
      5. Can alerts come through the canvas page. (A) Yes, they do come through the computer including when you are logged into canvas. These messages will come through all Miami-owned devices.
      6. The provost office will be working on things this summer.
         
         1. A task force for the humanities so that we can work on trying to innovate and be a national model in that space. 
         2. We are thinking about how to shine more of a national spotlight on our Teacher scholar model.  As a first step, we sent Liz Wardle and HCWEs book out because we are proud of the work to many institutions with the hopes of raising our profile.
         3. We are working with a non for profit right now which is a news organization with topical essays like climate change etc. who can take your amazing scholarly work and make it more accessible for the general public. Faculty will hear more about that in the upcoming months
            1. I just want to second that Scott Kenworthy has been featured here and it is a good clear pathway for other opportunities. (A) Yes, and there have been others such as Tammy Kernodle and Megan Gerhardt.
         4. I hope to do an examination of all academic policy to learn and fix what is overly bureaucratic.
         5. BOT is here the 2nd week of May; there are 3 committees of the BOT (Finance,  Investment and Academic Affairs and Student Success). Howe Center for Writing Excellence and the Center for Teaching Excellence will both be featured before the Academic Affairs and Student Success committee.
         6. Thank you to everyone that has participated in Make it Miami and helped students make their decision. Our confirmations are down compared to previous years but a lot can happen in the next 2 weeks as May 1st is the deadline and this is around the time we see the biggest number. If you are still working and talking  with students who are still trying to make that decision this is a critical next couple of weeks and thank you.