Purdue University Northwest > Faculty Senate > News > Senate Meeting Minutes > Faculty Senate Minutes, December 10, 2021

Faculty Senate Minutes, December 10, 2021

January 12, 2022

Faculty Senate Minutes, December 10, 2021

Purdue University Northwest Faculty Senate

10:00 AM-12:00 PM: Zoom 
Minutes

Voting Members Present:
Jai Agrawal, Khair Al-Shamaileh, Lee Artz, Minoo Ashoori, Matthew Bauman, Tantatape Brahmasrene, Magesh Chandramouli, Ralph Cherry, Renee Conroy, Joan Dorman, Anne Edwards, Tony Elmendorf, Mohammed Errihani, Rob Hallock, Meden Isaac-Lam, Hansung Kim, Kenny Kincaid, Dave Kozel, Roger Kraft, Bob Kramer, Vincent Marasco, Maureen Mascha, Meghan McGonigal-Kenney, Robert Merkovsky, Michael Mick, Colette Morrow, Shoji Nakayama, David Nalbone, Dave Pratt, Vanessa Quinn, Sheila Rezak, Tom Roach, Julia Rogers, Michael Roller, Kim Scipes, Tony Sindone, Diane Spoljoric, Sham Tickoo, Shengyong Zhang

Voting Members Absent:
Omer Farook, Maria Garcia-Verdugo, Michelle Spaulding

Non-Voting Members Present:
Alan McCafferty, Janusz Duzinkiewicz

Others present:
Michael Biel, Karen Bishop-Morris, Michael Bourgeois, Heather Bowers, Joy Colwell, Michael Connolly, Lori Feldman, Colin Fewer, Lisa Goodnight, Emily Hixon, Chris Holford, Lisa Hopp, Michael Lynn, Paul McGrath, Yu Ouyang, Geoff Schultz, Rachel Smith, Becky Stankowski, Jon Swartz, LaVada Taylor, Stephen Turner, Feng-Song Wang, Maria Watson, Oriana White, Donna Whitten, Jenn Williams

 

  1. Determination of quorum.
    • Quorum determined at 9:58am
  2. Call to order.
  3. Approval of the agenda.
    • Item added to the agenda: discussion of syllabus template proposal.
    • Revision of FSD 20-xx General Education Course List update. Removed from Agenda.
    • Merkovsky motioned for approval
    • Sindone seconded
    • Approved by voice vote
  4. Approval of the minutes from November 12, 2021.
    • Motioned for approval by T. Elmendorf
    • Seconded by R. Merkovsky
    • Approved by voice vote
  5. Remarks by the Senate Chair (K. Scipes).
    • Senate size reduction measures were approved by the Senate. Votes due Monday, December 13, 2021.
    • Lerner volunteered to act as parliamentarian but could not make it to today’s meeting, J. Duzinkiewicz is filling in.
    • Executive Committee invited SLT to provide a formal presentation about enrollment decline. SLT agreed to provide a presentation at the January 14 Senate meeting.
    • Allegations of questionable activities in some administrative units by students.
    • The Chair said they have been working with administration to promote faculty. They explained that senior leadership has been marketing 18 faculty members through various channels such as the student newspaper and the university website. Senators shared thoughts about hypothetical biases of the administration in choosing faculty to promote. They said faculty should have some input in the recognition process.
  6. Remarks by the Chancellor
    • Chancellor Keon had another appointment. Provost Holford spoke in their place.
    • The Provost said they would be happy to do a shared governance highlighting of faculty.
    • Lion Hearted Leaders is a six-month faculty highlight initiative in the student newspaper and has been discussed on the radio.
    • The Provost discussed an email about the COT Mechatronics group and their robot making coffee, toast, and eggs.
    • They confirmed the presentation about current enrollment situation and what is being done about it. A new advising model called appreciative advising will be shared. They said retention is up 8%.
    • TECH 157 is now open for business. It contains tutoring and student services.
    • COVID-19 update:
      1. Active cases: 2 faculty, 0 staff, 9 students reported positive.
      2. Cases in NWI are rising.
      3. An effort to measure where we are at as a campus community with voluntary uploading of COVID vaccination information.
        1. 25% of faculty and staff (416), 10% of students (665), have uploaded vaccination records.
      4. We are not removing our mask mandate for the foreseeable future.
    • New campus record for external grants. 39 awards totaling $9.6M.
    • Commencement announcement.
    • Introduced Megan Cook of the Center of Faculty Excellence.
    • Highlight of student athletes and athletic programs.
    • Recruitment initiatives
      1. Bishop Noll students now coming onto campus for CEP credits.
      2. PNW hosting high school esports tournament at Westville.
    • Hosting Science Olympiad at Hammond Campus pending COVID status
    • Questions:
      1. What is the cumulative number of COVID cases this semester?
        1. No answer currently available
      2. What is the current cost of athletic programs?
        1. No answer currently available
      3. How often are COVID numbers generated?
  1. New Business:
    • Resignation of Parliamentarian—need new Parliamentarian (K. Scipes)
    • Curriculum Documents Approval (L. Artz)
      1. Revision of CHESS 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000 core is up for approval today.
        1. Motion for approval
        2. Seconded by R. Conroy
        3. Approved
      2. ITS365 – Applied Machine Learning
        1. Motioned for approval
        2. Seconded by M. Mascha
        3. Approved
      3. Old Business
        • Senior Leadership Team (SLT) requested to formally respond to Executive Committee’s data showing continuing enrollment drops during Chancellor’s tenure (since 2011)-delayed. (K. Scipes)
        • Voting by Faculty on reduction of Senate size from 14% to 12% of faculty re FSD 21-05, which passed the Senate in October (T. Elmendorf)
      4. For Action:
        • None listed.
      5. Discussion Items:
        • Status of protection regarding COVID-19 – addressed in remarks by the Provost.
        • Best procedure for carrying out election for Vice Chair in April. (T. Elmendorf)
          1. Hybrid attendance will make conducting an election difficult. Senators shared the necessity for all-inclusive voting.
        • FSD 20—xx General Education Course List update (D. Pratt)
          1. Tabled
        • Provost needing to increase budget for Senate’s course releases/compensation (K. Scipes)
          1. The Chair and Vice Chair are in ongoing meetings with the Chancellor and Provost.
        • Discuss process of hiring at Dean level and above: invite maximum participation, available over Zoom, recorded (K. Scipes)
        • Ed Policy has met and reviewed revision to syllabus template. The proposal was read by the Committee Chair.
          1. Motioned
          2. Seconded by R. Merkovsky
          3. Moved to Action
          4. Motioned
          5. Seconded by majority
          6. Approved
  1. Reports from Senate Standing Committee Chairs
    • Curriculum (L. Artz)
      1. Update on procedures for program/course approval (L. Artz)
    • Ed Policy (A. Edwards)
      1. Revised syllabus template
        1. See above
      2. University admissions requirements
        1. Still in conversation about ACT/SAT requirements, working on draft of resolution
  • Faculty Affairs (T. Sindone)
    1. Discussion of university policies contributing to institutional racism.
      1. Ad hoc committee has come up with a proposal to bring to the Senate in January.
    2. Administrator evaluations-update and process of evaluation and reporting.
      1. Expecting to bring up at January meeting.
    3. P & T document revisions-update
    4. Recognition awards-update
      1. List in progress
  • General Education & Assessment (D. Pratt)
    1. Assessment of two outcomes (Composition & Science)-update
      1. Reviewed data provided in Taskstream. Participation seems to have tapered. Committee Chair stressed importance of submitting data.
    2. Preparation of course list NOT being used for Gen Ed-update.
    3. Instructions for submitting assessment for EXL—update.
    4. Steering committee for transfer issues.
  • Nomination & Awards (T. Elmendorf)
    1. Committee Chair encouraged faculty to vote for Constitutional Amendment by deadline.
    2. Candidates needed for Vice Chair election.
  • Student Affairs (K. Kincaid)
    1. Working on student recognition program.
  • University Senate IFC Representative (C. Morrow, V. Quinn)
  1. Executive Sub-committee Reports
    • Budget (P. McGrath)
      1. Met with S. Turner about budgets of the two campuses. Athletics went through same exercise.
    • Westville (A. Sindone/V. Quinn)
    • PUWL/IFC (V. Quinn)
      1. PUWL Senate meeting documents passed
        1. SD 20-
        2. SD 20-10 – Sexual assault and misconduct resolution.
          1. Policies streamlined and provided on webpage
          2. Senate supports requirement of consent and misconduct module for students at the beginning of each academic year.
        3. SD 20-11 – Academic regulations update.
          1. Updating grade status shall be made available in with graded feedback and written feedback at least twice during course terms.
        4. SD 20-58 – Change in number of Senators for 2022
      2. For Discussion
        1. SD21-12 – Proposal for medically excused absences.
        2. SD20-13 – Mental Health Action Week being recognized on official Purdue calendar.
        3. SD21-14 – Dissolution of PUWL Senate.
          1. Senate disavows any efforts of a taskforce to dissolve the Senate.
        4. Next meeting is January 24, 2022.
        5. Questions:
          1. Is there any more information on the reduction of PUWL Senate?
            1. FSD20-58 – reapportionment of Senate for AY 2022-2023.
          2. Report from SGA. (O. White)
            • SGA announced their Cram Jam event.
            • All pronouns removed from SGA governing documents.
            • Trans equity survey
            • Aluminum sculpture being built in Gyte Annex
          3. Open discussion:
            • A request was made for the Executive Committee to create an impact study of unification on decreased enrollment.
          4. Adjournment