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Faculty Senate Minutes April 25, 2019

April 25, 2019
3:30 p.m., Faculty Reception Room
(Approved 4/30/19)

Present: T. Moretti (Chair), D. DeFino (Secretary), M. Bard, D. Brophy, A. Bishop, M. Draeger, A. Howerton-Fox, M. Hughes, J. Kaalund, A. Kelso, E. Mariola, C. Martins, M. Nadel, C. Tsai, M. Veyvoda

Excused: L. Ivanov, E. R. Jantzen, H. Park, S. Petrovic

Guests: D. Wheeler, J. Matich-Maroney

T. Moretti called the meeting to order at 3:32 p.m.

Announcements

  • None

Performance-Based Pay Metrics Proposal

  • D. Wheeler and J. Matich-Maroney outlined the proposed plan
  • D. Wheeler asked that the Senate recommend faculty for working groups in each of the following units to determine discipline-specific criteria: Business, Fine and Performing Arts/Hynes, Humanities, Professional Studies, Social Sciences, and STEM.  Each working group should consist of one member from each discipline within the unit
  • The Senate will take time to consider the document more closely over the coming week

Self-Nomination Results & Faculty Appointed Committee Selection

  • The Senate unanimously confirmed the results of the Elected Committees ballots:
    • Faculty Senate: M. Hughes (A&S); T. Moretti (A&S), Smiljana Petrovic (A&S); 3 LaPenta seats remain open
    • Academic Affairs: F. Baile (A&S), A. Griffith (LaPenta)
    • RTA: T. Delgado (A&S), J. Gerometta (A&S), J. Meyer (LaPenta), N. Redcross (A&S), A. Stackhouse (A&S)
    • Budget: J. Haber (LaPenta), I. Stabell (A&S); 1 LaPenta seat remains open
    • Human Resources and Compensation: J. Haber (LaPenta); K. Spagnol (A&S)
  • The Senate made the following appointments to standing committees (based on self-nominations):
    • Institutiuonal Advancement: C. Doughterty (A&S)
    • Student Life: T. Lyle (A&S), Y. Makimura (A&S); 1 LaPenta seat remains open
    • Athletics: C. Briscoe (A&S), M. Hughes (A&S); 2 LaPenta seats remain open
    • Enrollment Management: B. Cesario (A&S)
    • Arts Council: N. Naqvi (A&S), V. Stanionis (A&S), M. Veyvoda (A&S)
    • Honors Council: B. Gaines (A&S), N. Mitra (A&S), A. Rosenfeld (A&S)
    • Institutional Review Board: B. Cesario (A&S), J. Miao (LaPenta), L. Olsen (A&S), A. Suen (A&S)
    • Core Curriculum: K. Kristian (STEM), J. Matich-Maroney (PROF); 1 HUM and 1 STEM seat remain open

Action Item: Election of Faculty Senate Secretary

  • The Senate voted unanimously to re-elect D. DeFino as Secretary of the Faculty Senate and College Council

Action Item: Approval of Undergraduate Academic Master Plan

  • The Senate determined that it is premature to consider the proposed plan for a vote, since both the Committee on Academic Affairs and the Undergraduate Council have both voted it down. But the Senate urges the UGAMP Committee to consider the following before proceeding:
    • Moving both Physics and Environmental Studies from “to be suspended” to “needs significant restructuring,” to avoid the interruption and discontinuity that suspensions effect (suspending programs weakens their ability to build a cohort, and attract future students and faculty)
    • Recommending departments that use upper-level (300 and 400) courses as Core disciplinary requirements include pre-requisites and/or exclude freshmen from enrolling
    • Requiring more BIO for Environmental Studies, based on the already existing option of the Environmental Science major and offering interested students the opportunity to focus on areas such as environmental policy, environmental justice, planning, and other non-science areas of the field

Action Item: Approval of Strategic Plan Proposal

  • The Senate approved the Plan: 11 yes, 1 abstention

Action Item: Approval of Activity Hour/Scheduling Proposal

  • The Senate voted separately on the four recommendations outlined in the proposal:
    • On keeping the current block schedule: the Senate voted 11 yes and 1 absention. Motion passed.
    • On adding activity hours to M and W: the Senate voted yes unanimously.  Motion passed, but with the following  recommendations:
      • committee meetings be added to the list of scheduling exceptions (with the loss of a teaching block, this will be particularly important for attracting faculty to committees that normally meet on M or W at 3:30)
      • Monday and Wednesday activity hours be scheduled to begin at 12:45 (rather than 12:30), to accommodate 4-credit courses that run past 12:30
  • On the new catalog language defining “Activity Hours”: the Senate voted yes unanimously. Motion passed.
  • On the recommendation that tenure-track faculty schedules be created to support the goal of achieving tenure: the Senate voted 1 yes, 10 no, and 2 abstentions. Motion failed. Those voting no noted the following:
    • The language is vague, but insinuates that having a two-day-per-week schedule is preferable for tenure-track faculty
    • The survey results do not account for the fact that many tenured faculty serve as chairs or in other roles with attendant remissions that make it easier to schedule in the limited number of blocks available in the M/W schedule
    • While it should certainly be the goal of all departments to support tenure-track faculty, the means of doing so should be determined by individual departments, not by applying a rule based on the results of a general survey

Old Business

  • UPDATE: T. Moretti met with MarCom and the Deans of Arts and Science and LaPenta to discuss the status of adjunct faculty information on the College website. It was agreed that, given the fact that MarCom has only one person assigned to make Web updates, for this year at least the number of adjuncts whose information will be included on the website will be limited to 30

New Business

  • None

T. Moretti adjourned the meeting at 5:49 p.m.