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Faculty Senate Minutes September 17, 2020

September 17, 2020
Via Zoom

Present: T. Moretti (Chair), D. DeFino (Secretary), M. Bard, A. Bishop, D. Brophy, A. Howerton-Fox, M. Hughes, L. Ivanov, J. Kaalund, A. Kelso, J. Klein, R. Lacey, E. Mariola, C. Martins, S. Petrovic, A. Rosenfeld, O. Soluade
Excused: H. Park, M. Veyvoda

T. Moretti called the meeting to order at 3:36 p.m.  Quorum was met.

Approval of Minutes

Minutes for 8/20 meetings of the Faculty Senate were approved via e-mail on 9/16

Announcements

  • The College will shortly be announcing the hire of a Dean of Students; questions arose around the procedures for hiring, which T. Moretti will take to the administration
  • Fall Convocation will be held on a Friday afternoon in October (precise date to be announced), in mixed mode (no more than 50 in the physical space, with all others attending via live video stream or Zoom)

Information Item: RTA Tenure Clock Proposal

  • The Senate reviewed the discussion at the 9/2 College Council Meeting regarding the Rank, Tenure and Awards proposal to extend the tenure clock for all faculty in a contract year; the discussion included questions about who the proposal might impact, and whether it might have unintended consequences
  • T. Moretti will review the Senate’s comments with J. Meyer (Chair of RTA)

Information Item: Adjunct Faculty Flu Shots

  • The Senate discussed the recent announcement that adjunct flu shots will not be covered by the College this year
  • T. Moretti will reach out to Human Resources to discover the reasons for this change

Information Item: Mixed-Mode Teaching

  • Senators reflected on emergent issues with mixed-mode teaching, including the following:
    • Potential reasons for the declining enrollments in in-person attendance (more students seem to be shifting to online)
    • The impacts of this increasing imbalance on pedagogical efficacy
  • The Senate recommended that the Teacher and Learning Committee (TLC) survey faculty to assess these issues in greater detail
  • The Senate also recommended that faculty take these discussions back to their respective departments, to see if discipline-specific solutions can be found

Action Item: Certification of RTA Election Results

  • The Senate certified that J. Carroll was elected to fill a vacant A&S seat on the Committee on Rank, Tenure and Awards
  • Item closed

Action Item: Faculty Survey

  • The Senate agreed to review the contents of the Faculty Senate Survey, with a view to reinstating it for this academic year.  B. Drophy and D. DeFino volunteered to serve on an ad hic committee to review and report on previous questions and results.  One or two additional volunteers are sought
  • Item remains open

There being no other business, T. Moretti adjourned the Faculty Senate meeting at 5:53 p.m.  The next Senate meeting will be held via Zoom on 10/8/20 at 3:30 p.m.