Purdue University Northwest > Faculty Senate > News > Senate Meeting Minutes > Faculty Senate Minutes, Friday August 24, 2018

Faculty Senate Minutes, Friday August 24, 2018

August 24, 2018

Voting members present:

Ali Alavizadeh, LaVada Brandon, Rita Brusca-Vega, Ricardo Calix, CC Chen, Ralph Cherry, Frank Colucci, Michael Connolly, Marianne Curia, Cheryl DeLeon, David Detmer, Gayla Domke, Joan Dorman, Tony Elmendorf, Colin Fewer, Marisa Garcia-Verdugo, Donald Gray, Wei He, Robert Kramer, Maureen Mascha, Robert Merkovsky, Janet Davis, Colette Morrow, Ralph Ocon, Libbie Pelter, Joshua Polman, Vanessa Quinn, Sheila Rezak, Kim Scipes, Anthony Sindone, George Stefanek, Pitparnee Stompor, Janice Tazbir, Staci Trekles, Dan Wilbur, Xiuling Wang, Chen Ye, Wangling Yu, Yueqi Zhang, Hairong Zhao, Michael Zimmer

Senators absent:

Sarah Smith, Dave Kozel, Kenny Kincaid, Geoff Schultz

Non-Voting members present:

Thomas Keon, Ralph Mueller, Steve Turner, Saul Lerner, Carmen Panlilio, Riley Owens

Others in attendance:

Donna Whitten, Neil Nemeth, Joy Colwell, Douglas Clark, Hunter Saporiti, Dietmar Rempfer, Lori Feldman, Amlan Mitra, Rebecca Stankowski, George Kacinga, Michael Biel, Cheryl Arroyo, Karen Donah

  1. Determination of quorum
    1. Declared at 10:33 a.m.
  2. Special business
    1. Standing committees met at 10:00 a.m. and elected chairs. The results were:
      1. Curriculum: Lavada Brandon.
      2. Educational Policy: Kim Scipes.
      3. Faculty Affairs: Rita Brusca-Vega (co-chair) and Vanessa Quinn (co-chair).
      4. General Education and Assessment: Libbie Pelter.
      5. Student Affairs: Tony Sindone.
      6. Nominations: Ali Alavizadeh.
  1. Approval of Agenda
    1. Amendments: Prof. Detmer stated that items 2 and 4 came from Executive Committee, not Faculty Affairs.
    2. Prof. Elmendorf moved for approval, Prof. Tazbir seconded. The motion carried.
  2. Approval of Minutes from 5-4-18
    1. Prof. Brusca-Vega moved for approval, Prof. Merkovsky seconded. The motion carried.
  3. Remarks by the Chair, Prof. Detmer.
    1. Two senators are needed to serve on the Commencement committee. Please declare your interest to the Senate Chair.
    2. One senator is also needed for the Learning Management System Executive Steering Committee. Please let the Senate Chair know if you are interested.
    3. The Registrar, Cheryl Arroyo, reminded the faculty that next Friday, August 31 is the deadline for certifying Initial Course Participation, which is a federal requirement for student financial aid. Please use the system to ensure that all students are accounted for accordingly.
    4. Prof. Detmer further noted, in the context of the current discussion of the Strategic Resource Allocation initiative, that the Senate’s role is the upholding of faculty governance. As per the Constitution, Section B.3, faculty hold authority over curriculum, including proposals for new programs, and the discontinuation or elimination of academic programs.
  4. Remarks by the Chancellor
    1. Chancellor Keon addressed concerns about Purdue Global and online classes and programs, such as that which is run by the College of Nursing. No formal agreements have been made as yet. The College of Nursing and Purdue Global have discussed non-compete options; it was suggested that Midwest states (IN, IL, WI, MN) would be able to be marketed to through PNW, while all others could be covered exclusively by Global. For programs in the College of Technology, no like programs are offered by Global, therefore there is no competition there. However, there may be competing programs through West Lafayette or the Polytechnic Institute.
  5. Remarks by Vice Chancellors Mueller and Turner: Strategic Resource Allocation discussion
    1. Please review the PowerPoint slides included in agenda. Further, a recording of the 8/16/18 presentation to the campus has been made available on http://www.temp.pnw.edu/imagine-PNW.
    2. The nomination form for the academic and support task forces are also available on the website. Fifteen members are needed for each task force, and faculty representation is needed on both task forces. VCAA Mueller stressed that a university-wide perspective is needed for individuals and the committee as a whole.
    3. VCAA Mueller agreed with the Chair’s remarks on the role of faculty, and stressed the importance of a collaborative process.
    4. Vice-Chancellors Mueller and Turner gave the following timeline: Phase 1 is the Strategic Resource Allocation Process, which happens during the 2018-19 academic year. Phase 2 involves the drafting of the Strategic Plan in 2019-20, with a report to the Higher Learning Commission on the outcome of the strategic planning process taking place in 2020.
    5. VCAA Mueller stressed that the budget is not changing. Instead, different allocations may be made to programs or areas based on the outcome of the Strategic Resource Allocation process.
    6. A template will be developed by the task force for each identified unit to complete for the evaluation. The task force will then evaluate these to make recommendations to answer the question of how should we allocate resources, with evaluations being placed in one of five categories – Invest, Promote, Maintain, Streamline, and Divest.
    7. Information sessions with the Consultant are coming up on September 4 and 5. Emails have been sent out, and all are requested to please RSVP and take time to attend.
    8. Prof. Gray asked for clarification on the five categories of resource allocation. Vice-Chancellors Turner and Mueller stressed that the Streamline and Divest categories (4 and 5) could have resources allocated to the upper categories, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that those programs would go away. Instead, those areas may be looped in to new initiatives, as per the direction of the Strategic Plan, to ultimately grow the university as a whole.
    9. Prof. Elmendorf expanded on the question of closing programs versus closing enrollment of programs, making the point that closing enrollment should be considered tantamount to closing a program.
    10. Guest Prof. Amlan Mitra was recognized to ask further clarification on closing enrollment in a program. VCAA Mueller noted that evaluations of such decisions will not be made merely on financial grounds.
  6. Presentation on Curriculog, Prof. Donna Whitten, former chair of Curriculum:
    1. All documents are available linked in the Agenda.
    2. The curriculum process has previously been paper-based, but there is a new program available known as Curriculog, which integrates with the university catalog.
    3. All faculty can sign in to see the stage of the process a document is in. Approved documents are searchable as well.
    4. The Senate needs to approve the use of Curriculog before it is to go into official use. A recommendation from the committee is forthcoming.
    5. The Registrar’s office is developing training documentation to make available, and will offer training to each College curriculum committee and the Senate curriculum committee.
    6. Graduate programs also have entry into Curriculog. Please contact Joy Colwell for questions about graduate entries.
  7. New business
    1. Election of senators, balancing terms:
      1. One third of the Senate should turn over each year, but there were some technical issues this past year in assigning new senators. Prof. Elmendorf has asked that those that have 2- or 3-year seats to contact him and Prof. Alavizadeh (Nominations) if you opt to have your term shortened for balance purposes.
    2. FSD 17-03, Update on Reimbursement of Academic Units
      1. In a discussion of a previously approved document, VCAA Mueller was questioned on the follow-up actions to this document regarding departmental reimbursement of administrative stipends for long-term work. It was noted that the deans have received this information and are acting accordingly.
    3. Update from Ad Hoc Committee, Faculty Feedback on Academic Leadership (R. Vega, Faculty Affairs):
      1. The committee is mostly formed, although a College of Business representative is yet to be named.
      2. Current members of the committee include R. Brusca-Vega, R. Such, N. Parashar, J. Holt, P. Miranda, and B. Fasanya.
    4. Merit Pay:
      1. The Executive Committee previously discussed the issue of merit pay and how it is distributed.
      2. Prof. Elmendorf asked for clarification on the fact that recent merit pay was determined based on the last calendar year only, and suggested that merit be considered on multi-year rather than single-year performance. Chancellor Keon supported this.
    5. FSD 17-32 – Grade Notification(Discussion; T. Elmendorf, Senate VC):
      1. FSD 17-32 was offered in response to a Student Government request in its Mandatory Grade Posting Act (included in document).
      2. Prof. Sindone noted that the Senate document for discussion includes a mandate that grades are provided at least once a month. This is prescriptive and possibly hard to enforce.
      3. Student Government Association Representative Owens noted the reason for this is that based on SGA members’ experience, many faculty do not consistently post midterm grades; however, Senate members noted that some classes’ structures may not fit into the posting requirement well, and therefore flexibility is appropriate for the requirement.
      4. Prof. Lerner suggested that the effective date be added to the document prior to bringing it to vote.
  1. FSD 17-35 – Active-Shooter Video(Discussion; T. Elmendorf, Senate VC)
    1. The Active Shooter training video is posted on the University police website, and SGA has asked that the video be made mandatory viewing in a class/classes of each college’s choosing, beginning in the Fall 2018 semester. Senate Document FSD 17-35 supports the SGA resolution, and allows for flexibility in how colleges implement it.
    2. Prof. Ocon suggested that consistency be agreed upon between colleges to ensure greater levels of training effectiveness.
    3. VC Turner stressed that safety is of utmost importance and recommended that all faculty also review the video.
  1. Remarks by Student Government Representative (Riley Owens, SGA President)
    1. The Student Government Association has created a new body, the House of Representatives, which is volunteer-based. At this time, 25 applications are in out of a maximum of 35 available seats.
  2. Remarks by University Senator/IFC Representative (J. Pula)
    1. Jim Pula, IFC/University Senate, noted that the next University Senate meeting is on the week of September 10. Please let him know if there are questions or issues to bring forward.
  3. Open Discussion
    1. Lerner informed the faculty that Constitution Day presentations will be held on September 17. Dr. Frank Colucci and Dr. Rosemary Levinson (Valparaiso University) will speak on the Constitution and Supreme Court, and students will receive electronic copies of the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and related documents. Please announce to students and encourage them to attend.
    2. Detmer encourages all committees to consider creative initiatives to improve the quality of faculty teaching, scholarship, and service at PNW. He also asks all Senate members to provide him with feedback as the year progresses.
  4. Adjournment
    1. 12:13pm