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Faculty Senate Minutes, November 11, 2022

December 2, 2022

Faculty Senate Meeting

November 11, 2022

10:00 AM-12:00 PM: Westville – LSF 002

Minutes

Voting Members Present:
Lee Artz, Gokarna Aryal, Scott Bates, Magesh Chandramouli, Janet Chaney, Karen Covington, Joan Dorman, Mohammed Errihani, Masoud Fathizadeh, Wei He, Meden Isaac-Lam, Dave Kozel, Roger Kraft, Meghan McGonigal-Kenney, Michael, Mick, David Nalbone, Dave Pratt, Sheila Rezak, Tom Roach, Tony Sindone, Michelle Spaulding, Diane Spoljoric, George Stefanek, Wubeshet Woldemariam, Shengyong Zhang

Voting Members Absent:
Ralph Cherry, Anne Edwards, Bankole Fasanya, Cari Furst, Dawit Gizachew, Rob Hallock, Kenny Kincaid, Robert Merkovsky, Geoff Schultz,

Non-Voting Members Present:
Tony Elmendorf , Alan McCafferty

Others Present:
Elizabeth Babcock Depew, Michael Bourgeois, Colin Fewer, Diana Underwood, Anne Gregory, Chris Holford, Collette Morrow, Mary Morrow, Catherine Olsen Maria Watson, Jen Williams, Heather Zamojski

  1. Determination of quorum.
    • Quorum determined at 10:04
  2. Call to order.
    • Meeting called to order at 10:05
  3. Approval of the agenda.
    • Motioned for approval by Tom Roach
    • Seconded by Joan Dorman
    • Approved by voice vote with the friendly amendment adding FSD 22-07
  4. Approval of the minutes from October 14, 2022.
    • Motioned for approval by Rob Merkovsky
    • Seconded by Tony Sindone
    • Approved by voice vote
  5. Remarks by the Senate Chair
    • Stipend for K. Vasilko for Benchmarking Committee
      1. The Chair said the Exec decided to give a $500 stipend for a benchmarking report
    • Stipend for A. McCafferty for serving as Secretary
      1. As a result of a change in status A. McCafferty will receive half of a stipend for the remainder of this semester and will receive the full stipend for the following semester.
    • Public Forum on Academic Freedom and Governance
      1. The Vice Chair announced the upcoming event, distributed fliers, and passed the floor Lee Artz.
      2. Lee Artz explained that there will be two speakers on campus to speak about the latest status of academic freedom. From the University of Chicago, Dr. Topel is a member of the Alliance for Academic Freedom and has frequently published, written and spoken on academic freedom. The second speaker is from Indiana University. He is a professor of Middle East Studies and has studied censorship and academic freedom largely in the Middle East, but has also spoken widely on academic freedom and faculty governance, he was the former chair of the Indiana University Faculty Senate.
    • Ongoing negotiations with Provost on Senate budget and course releases.
      1. The Chair said they have an agreement with the Provost that the Senate Chair and Curriculum Committee Chair will automatically receive releases each year, and the budget will stay the same
  1. Remarks by the Chancellor
    • The Chancellor was not in attendance, the floor was passed to the Provost.
      1. The Provost said there were some incidents of classroom disruption from non-students that occurred on campus. In response to that a memo was distributed from Academic Affairs that provides links to all university policies and campus police contact information for both campuses about classroom disturbances. They announced a virtual meeting that will take place on November 15 which will address questions concerning these sorts of safety matters.
      2. The Provost said they have previously talked about sponsored research activity on campus. July through October grants are now over $5M.
      3. $5.9M to support first-generation low income and underrepresented minority students. TRiO Student Success. Educational Talent Search will continue on at least for the next five years with increased levels of support.
      4. Spoljoric asked about the classroom disruption information, whether it would be posted in classrooms. She also asked about the gates at campus entries. The Provost said to contact Brian Miller about individual classrooms across campus and where phones are. They said they were unaware of any gates going up anywhere.
  1. New Business
    • FSD 22-04 Reintroduction of Resolution on SB1 (Collette Morrow, Diana Underwood-Greg, Lee Artz)
      1. Lee Artz said this resolution was brought back as a result of similar resolutions being proposed and passed at PUFW, PUWL. They said the only additions to the document were some minor editorial changes. The only addition to resolution is also to share this with the Indiana legislature.
      2. Collette Morrow thanked L. Artz and Diana Underwood for keeping this resolution going and apologized to the body of the Senate for missing the previous two meetings it was originally addressed.
      3. Lee Artz motioned to move resolution to action.
      4. Tony Sindone said the resolution states that we are going to, “… engage in research on the short-term, long-term impact of this legislation, hold educational public forum…” and asked if the resolution was necessary considering the faculty are already free to do this anyway. What currently is preventing PNW faculty from engaging in the research?
      5. Collette said it was their understanding that there are questions about how medical professionals are going to be able to teach about this particular health procedure. Diane Underwood added that it is important for faculty to understand that this should be a place that supports and encourages this type of research.
      6. Concern was posed that faculty with opposing views would be undermined if wholesale commitments were made to the verbiage of the document. The importance for open dialogue on both sides of the matter was mentioned.
      7. Dave Kozel said faculty should be encouraged to do research and understand what the effects are, one way or another.
      8. Diane Spoljoric suggested rewording the document to omit language that is not neutral.
      9. The Vice Chair said this also affects faculty, explaining a situation that took place at IU Health.
      10. Lee Artz said that SB1, as a law under penalty, would have a direct effect on our students, on enrollment, and the ability to recruit faculty.
      11. Michelle Spaulding asked whether the wording of the PUWL and PUFW documents was objective, or the same as the resolution being presented. Lee Artz said PUWL’s document was almost two pages long and mostly addressed how SB1 would negatively affect student enrollment and the ability to recruit faculty.
      12. Scott Bates said they would like to take this document back to their dept for review.
      13. Motioned to move to action today by Lee Artz
      14. Seconded by
      15. Vote by show of hands: 12 in favor, 10 opposed
      16. Does not pass. Will be up for action at the December meeting.
  1. For Action:
    • Proposed amendment to the bylaws stating that survey results should not be disseminated. (Mary Morrow)
      1. Mary Morrow explained that they did not understand why faculty needed to evaluate administrators considering there was already a process in place of how that was going to be done. What took place during Faculty Convocation in April prompted them to create the proposed amendment for FAC to change the verbiage from “periodic feedback” to “periodic evaluation.” Feedback would be confidential and provided only to the administrator of the survey
      2. The Chair said there may be a misunderstanding about the purpose of evaluations. They said the point was for us, as one of our responsibilities as the Faculty Senate, to monitor and evaluate administrators.
      3. Tony Sindone said FAC is currently researching best practices for evaluations in order to design an evaluation system that is an appropriate compromise.
      4. The Parliamentarian said that this document is for action and must have a motion to approve before further discussion.
        1. Motion or action by Meghan McGonigal-Kenney
        2. Seconded by Karen Covington.
        3. Dave Kozel proposed an amendment adding direct supervisors to those who would receive the evaluation results.
        4. The motion for the proposed amendment was not upheld.
        5. Tony Sindone said the research into best practices is still ongoing and any suggested recipients of evaluation results would be brought forward to the Senate for discussion before being finalized.
        6. Diane Spoljoric motioned to add Faculty Affairs to the list of recipients
        7. The Vice Chair said FAC is still researching this and that reaching a decision at this time would be premature. They added that when this process was initially put in place the administration was asked to jointly work on it with the Faculty Senate and the administration refused, which suggests a lack of interest in any results they might be provided.
        8. The Vice Chair moved to table this amendment
        9. Seconded by Tony Sindone
        10. Approved by voice vote, the motion is tabled
  • Awards Committee documents (Meden Isaac-Lam)
    1. Meden Isaac-Lam explained modifications to the documents which were made for uniformity.
    2. Motioned for approval by Meden Isaac-Lam
    3. Second by Diane Spoljoric
    4. Approved by voice vote
  • FSD 22-06 REVISED CES COT Proposed Merger (Diane Spoljoric)
    1. Diane Spoljoric said Ed Policy was approached about the potential merging of two colleges, the College of Technology and the College of Engineering and Sciences. The proposal was to create a STEM College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. At that time Ed Policy reviewed what was being presented and advised leadership to resurvey faculty because of previous low voter turnout. Leadership resurveyed faculty, Ed Policy reviewed those results and came up with a split decision from faculty who responded. With all of that considered, Ed Policy advises against the proposed merger of COT and CES.
    2. Dave Kozel said 32% of CES faculty were in favor and 55% were opposed, which is a difference of more than 23%. The COT faculty were 55% in favor and 36% opposed. Because CES is twice the size of COT there was a 10% margin where 49% were opposed and 39% in favor. 12% had no preference. Many of the comments from those who voted without preference indicated a shared belief that administration will do as they please either way.
    3. The Chair clarified that what is currently being voted on is approval of the report disapproving of the merger.
    4. Motioned for approval by Diane Spoljoric
    5. Seconded by Michelle Spaulding
    6. Approved by voice vote
  • FSD 22-07 University College
    1. Motioned for approval by Lee Artz
    2. Seconded by Rob Merkovsky
    3. Approved by voice vote
    4. Diane Spoljoric said Ed Policy was asked to consider a proposal regarding a formal University College to be designated at Purdue Northwest. Undecided students are currently being taken in by the Honors College. These are not marginal students by any means. They are the students who might need one more class to in to a degree program. The University College would give these students a home where advisors could watch over them and provide a sense of belonging. It also would assist with any kind of applications for funding. GS19100 and Honors College curriculum people are supportive of the designation. Ed Policy was told there would be one dean over both, which is currently Jonathan Swarts. Ed Policy unanimously recommend the Senate Approve this resolution for the creation of a University College.
    5. The Provost clarified that the Honors College name would be maintained, but it would become a department under the University College, just like a department in an academic structure.
    6. Meden I-L asked what the budget would be for the UC.
      1. The Chair said the Honors College is currently funded out of Academic Affairs. They would like to move toward a self-sustaining model. GS19100 courses do not belong to any of the academic colleges, revenue from those courses would provide support as well as HON designated courses. Funding from Honors courses that replace Communications and English courses would still be received by CHESS.
    7. Approved by voice vote
  1. Discussion Items:
    • Presentation of MyPNWLife (Colin Fewer)
      1. Heather Zamojski presented the new campus experience and student organization management platform. The software is called CampusGroups but has been branded for our purposes as MyPNWLife. Used for student organization recruitment, event management, tracking and checking for events, and communication. A mobile app is also provided as part of the product. A point system provides friendly competition among students. All faculty and students have been loaded into the system. Faculty can also access to see what’s happening on campus and what student orgs are doing. The onboarding step allows users to enter their interests and connects those who enjoy similar activities. Colleges and departments are able to add their events so students can register and know more about what’s happening on campus.
      2. Dave Kozel asked if those departments would be specific to the students. H. Zamojski said there was a call out for any departments or colleges that wanted to join. Forms were filled out for those who expressed interest and training was provided. Students who are related to those colleges and departments are put into those groups so they can see information that is pertinent to them.
      3. Michelle Spaulding elaborated that this is not another social media platform. They added that students are reluctant to add their personal social media and this is an opportunity to eliminate that barrier.
      4. Tony Sindone said this was a great example of equal opportunity for both Hammond and Westville students.
    • Budget Committee (Tony Sindone)
      1. Tony Sindone said the Executive Committee is recruiting and reconstituting the Budget Committee. He said he is the only person currently on the committee, it appears all other members have resigned. He said he will be working with Meden Isaac-Lam and the Nominations & Awards Committee to recruit new members. The charter of the committee is going to be to report back to the Senate about our own internal budget of $27,000. They will also collect and disseminate thoughts, feedback, and contributions to the discussion about university budget.
    • FSD 16-31 Formation of a joint taskforce for evaluations (Tony Sindone)
      1. Tony Sindone said, in doing research on the creation of evals, this document was discovered. He said it is important that the leadership team, senior leadership team and any other administrators should have some kind of say into how they think they should be evaluated. He said this process should be reconstituted by working with senior leadership to see what we can do to put together a true evaluation system that effectively and equitably evaluates the administrators. Part of that will be to decide who gets to see evaluation results.
      2. Diane Spoljoric asked how often evaluations are done on administration? Tony Sindone said there is nothing in the Bylaws addressing this specifically. Historically they have been done every year over the last three or four years.
      3. Mary Morrow said there is already a process in place for faculty to provide feedback on administrators, 360. The Vice Chair clarified that 360 is conducted every five years.
  1. Reports from Senate Standing Committee Chairs
    • Curriculum (Lee Artz)
      1. Lee Artz said there will be 30 proposals next month. He reiterated that the deadline for submissions to the Curriculum Committee for a program revision or a program institution.
      2. Jen Williams said December 16 is the deadline.
      3. An email will be distributed to clarify.
    • Ed Policy (Diane Spoljoric)
      1. Diane Spoljoric said two resolutions were brought forth, which were both passed today.
      2. New business regarding creation and development of online courses and programs.
      3. What is the policy about flipping a classroom? A flipped classroom is when a three-hour course is reduced to two hours, the remaining hour being completed by the student on their own time.
    • Faculty Affairs (Tony Sindone)
      1. Tony Sindone said FAC will continue working on evaluations.
      2. A resolution was tabled about what the distinction between Department Heads and Department Chairs. They will continue working on this.
      3. The Website needs work. Subcommittees are placed incorrectly under Standing Committees. The Secretary will work with whomever can assist with providing current and accurate information.
    • Gen Ed & Assessment (Cari Furst)
      1. Dave Pratt presented on behalf of C. Furst.
      2. Working on validating courses on social sciences and humanities. Coming up with a checklist to confirm qualifications are being met.
      3. Met with First Year Experience and NSO. Discussed their main overriding goals or outcomes that can be tied throughout those courses. M. Cook from the Center of Faculty Excellence mentioned that there is a community practice, a group that’s reading the book about 33 best practices for first-year and first-generation students. Dave Pratt said he would be meeting with the group to share ideas on how to improve FYE.
      4. Update on NSO, discussed process that should be developed to involve more faculty. Mentorship needed for student athletes.
    • Nominations, Elections, & Awards (Meden Isaac-Lam)
      1. Meden Isaac-Lam said their next task is populating Athletics Advisory Committee. One more is needed. They will also be working on Budget Committee population.
    • Student Affairs (Michelle Spaulding)
      1. Michell Spaulding said Student Affairs is discussing Wi-Fi providers in classrooms and on campus.
      2. Brightspace Management Committee working to make sure students know how to use Brightspace.
      3. Looking into ways to stay informed about construction on both campuses.
  1. IFC Report (Lee Artz)
    • Lee Artz said there was a long discussion on SB1. Will take D. Kozel’s motion into consideration.
    • Faculty were not included in search for the new PUWL President. Serious consternation about how the upcoming president was appointed by BOT. Faculty there were hopeful after their provost resigned because they were involved in that search. They are hopeful that that means that there is a recognition that the faculty should be included in searches of higher administration.
    • IUPUI will be no longer. PU and IU are separating. Two departments will stay with WL, although they will still be housed in Indianapolis akin to an extension program.
    • It is not clear how tenure is kept with consideration of the IUPUI split, departmentally or university-wide. The option is for them to have university tenure, which means they have no home. It is not clear who would make the determinations for their tenures and promotion without being in a department or college.
    • Interest was expressed in the upcoming PNW Faculty Senate discussion on academic freedom and a Zoom link was requested by those interested at both PUFW and PUWL. The Chair and Vice Chair will discuss providing access.
  2. SGA Report (David Bolton)
    • David Bolton said SGA is working on Fall Winter Ball. Working on renovating prayer on Hammond campus. Planning for the spring semester.
  3. Open discussion (as time permits).
    • Tony Sindone recognized Veterans Day, saying there was once a county-wide celebration in Westville. A list of all area veterans was read aloud at that event. T. Sindone said he would like to bring this event back to PNW.
    • The Vice Chair asked the Provost if the PUWL President-Elect requested or was referred to meet with Senate Leadership.
      1. The Provost said the President-Elect was here for a tour of the physical assets of the institution and the schedule was dictated by the office of the President-Elect.
  1. Adjournment
    • Meeting adjourned at 11:43a.m.