Meeting Minutes #234

Members Present:  V. Ball, F. Berthiaume, R. Boikess, O. Carbonell-Nicolau, E. Curchitser, T. Figueira, M. Flahive-DiNardo, J. Gonzalez, P. Hirschfield, D. Hover, J. Mathew, K. McKeever, K. Morgan, L. Mullen, T. Ozel, J. Ritter, M. Rodgers, F. Ryan, S. Shapses, T. Szatrowski, K. Thompson, R. Womack, L. Yu, J. Zahn

Non-Members Present:  E. Kowler (Associate Dean – SGS), P. Moghe (Provost, RU-New Brunswick), M. Mickelsen (NBFC Recording Secretary)

1. Call to Order – Tugrul Ozel, New Brunswick Faculty Council (NBFC) Chair 
 
New Brunswick Faculty Council Chairperson Tugrul Ozel called the 234th meeting of the New Brunswick Faculty Council to order at 1:14 p.m. on Friday, November 22, 2019 in Room 174 of the Busch Student Center, Busch Campus. Ozel presented his Chair’s Report and answered questions on the following topics:

  • Next steps for the Shared Governance Advisory Group and the lack of interest by the Presidential Search Committee to involve the University Senate;
  • The lack of a response regarding the number of NTT and TTF members from the administration;
  • Specifying the role of the NBFC (and all faculty councils) in the new proposed policy.

2.  Approval of Agenda 
 
The Agenda was approved.
 
3.  Approval of Minutes of October 25, 2019 Meeting

The October 25, 2019 NBFC Minutes were approved.

4.  Administrative Report – Prabhas Moghe, Provost, RU-New Brunswick

Moghe thanked the council for having him speak on behalf of Chancellor Molloy. He gave a presentation which included questions and answers which included the following:

  • the Chancellor’s Office mainly acts in an advisory capacity and any data needed from the administration can come through that channel;
  • Teaching Evaluation Council Working Group, charged with reporting back on what progress is being made surrounding the teaching evaluation process, is soliciting 3-4 faculty from the NBFC to become members;
  • Review timeline of Centers & Institutes – Moghe will share the review template with the NBFC;
  • Event during the spring semester surrounding awards for faculty excellence to help increase the diversity numbers in the STEM fields;
  • Research at Rutgers is suffering due to the lack of TTF who would compete for grants and scholarships to fund larger projects;
  • Research Ideation Forum on December 12
  • Failure to recruit graduate students due to the timing of TA lines not being decided until August;
  • RCM and overall corporatization of the university;
  • Moghe asked the NBFC to identify 3-4 gaps that need to be worked on and would like to come back on March 13 to discuss.

5. Updates on the Graduate School and Student Experience – Eileen Kowler, Associate Dean – School of Graduate Studies

Associate Dean Kowler gave an overview of the School of Graduate Studies and their senior leadership as it pertains to the New Brunswick Campus – which included information on:

  • evaluating the effectiveness of GREs in determining doctoral and masters degree candidates;
  • New program reviews to include the new 4+1 programs;
  • Development of an online Individual Development Plan to assess student performance and encourages long-range pragmatic planning;
  • RISE Program;
  • External Fellowships in the humanities;
  • GradFund;
  • Professional development writing programs;
  • Workshops on publishing books/journal articles and collaboration with the Rutgers Business School (Business courses for PhD students);
  • Council to assess student who need English language support services;
  • Dean Kukor is working actively on issues surrounding the reduction of TA funding.

6.  Discussion of the Draft Resolution on the Administration of the Athletics Program (link resolution)

There was much discussion surrounding the proposed resolution, for and against. At 3:30pm the question was called along with a determination of quorum. Since the number in attendance was 20 and quorum is 21 the motion was dead.

7.  Adjournment 

After determination of the quorum, the meeting was adjourned at 3:32 p.m. No committees reported and no new or old business was discussed.

Written and submitted by:

Mary Mickelsen
NBFC Recording Secretary