Faculty Senate Minutes October 7, 2021

October 7, 2021, 3:30 p.m.
Via Zoom

Present: T. Moretti (Chair), D. DeFino (Secretary), M. Bard, G. Barry, D. Brophy, B. Gaines, H. He, A. Howerton-Fox, M. Hughes, A. Kelso, J. Klein, E. Mariola, H. Park, S. Petrovic, A. Rosenfeld, M. Veyvoda

Excused: N. Gao, R. Lacey, C. Martins, O. Soluade

T. Moretti called the meeting to order at 3:38 p.m.  Quorum was met.

Approval of Minutes

Minutes for the 9/9/21 meeting of the Senate were approved via e-mail on 9/30/21

Announcements

The Iona University chapter of the AAUP recently held Executive Committee elections; the results were as follows: D. Brophy (President), J. Klein (V.President), G. Barry (Treasurer), R. Umashankar (Secretary), D. DeFino (Member-at-Large), T. Delgado (Member-at-Large), N. Naqvi (Member-at-Large), C. Winslow (Member-at-Large)

Discussion Item: Commencement Speakers and Honorary Degrees

The Senate will draft a request to the Board of Trustees that a member of the Committee on Commencement Speakers and Honorary Degrees sit on the BoT Committee on Trustees and Governance

Discussion Item: Recommendations from the Shared Governance Working Group

Recommendations have been forwarded to committee chairs, and several responses have already been received, including questions about the impacts to staff and student membership, plans for when faculty numbers grow in the School of Health Sciences, and whether carve-outs should be made for the Hynes Institute

Discussion Item: COVID-19 Policies

T. Kelso reported on evolving policies and procedures being developed by the COVID Taskforce; several faculty expressed concerns about the lack of clarity in reporting procedures

Discussion Item: Upper-Level Course Caps

Following up on a discussion that recently arose in the Undergraduate Council regarding J. Stabile’s announcement that he would raise upper-level course caps, D. DeFino reported that at his 10/6 virtual office hours, the Dean indicated that this would only be done on a case-by-case basis, and in partnership with departments.  Concerns were expressed that data being used to argue that smaller class sizes do not necessarily lead to better student outcomes were conducted in much larger institutions and used grades as the primary measure of success.  The Senate felt strongly that raising caps would be detrimental to Iona’s branding, ranking, and most importantly, student experience

Discussion Item: RTA & Tenure

D. Wheeler has recent expressed concern about the 90% success rate among tenure applicants, saying that it is higher than our peer institutions.  Senators asked whether this number accounted for the number of faculty who leave Iona prior to applying for tenure; argued that the rate speaks to the College’s success in mentoring faculty in preparation for tenure; and asked why we shouldn’t strive for a 100% tenure application success rate

Discussion Item: Celebrating Faculty Accomplishments

The Senate will reach out to N. Cosby to discuss ways of collecting and disseminating information about faculty accomplishments; the Senate will also look into the possibility of hosting an annual recognition event (perhaps in conjunction with Scholars Week)

Action Item: Fall Faculty Survey

G. Barry, D. Brophy and D. DeFino were selected for a subcommittee to propose questions for the fall survey; several topics were recommended by fellow senators, including accessibility, integration of the School of Health Sciences, and priorities for maintaining the health and continued growth of the College and the faculty

There being no other business, T. Moretti adjourned the Faculty Senate meeting at 5:51 p.m.  The next Senate meeting will be held via Zoom on 11/4/21 at 3:30 p.m.