Meeting Minutes #236

Members Present:  Aiello, Bal, Benaroya, Berthiaume, Bhuyan, Boikess, Figueira, Flahive-DiNardo, Gajic, Gasman, Gould, Greenfield, Hirschfield, Hoover, Linardopoulos, Longo, McKeever, Morgan, Mullen, Ozel, Shapses, Szatrowski, Thompson, Womack

Non-Members Present: Prabhas Moghe (New Brunswick Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Research and Academic Affairs), M. Cotter (Parliamentarian)

1. Call to Order - Tugrul Ozel, New Brunswick Faculty Council (NBFC) Chair

Chairperson Ozel called the 236th meeting of the Faculty Council to order at 1:11 PM on Friday, February 28, 2020 in Room 174 of the Busch Student Center, Busch Campus..

2. Approval of Agenda

The agenda was approved.

3. Approval of the Minutes of the January 31, 2020 Meeting

The minutes were not yet available due to the illness of Recording Secretary Mary Mickelsen. They were to be posted on the NBFC website when received and approved formally at the next NBFC meeting.

4. Chair's Report - Tugrul Ozel

Chairperson Ozel updated the Council on two current matters (link):

  • He reported on the University Senate's University Structure and Governance Committee's (USGC)  ongoing consideration of its charge to consider endorsing the request from the four faculty councils to be included in the University Policy Library. The USGC has prepared a first draft of its response to the charge, which Chair Ozel (a USGC member) read to the NBFC members present. While the draft response does endorse inclusion in the Policy Library, it includes some provisos with which Council members have expressed concerns. The USGC's work on the charge continues.
  • He reported that the Appeals Committee has been set up for our appeal of the University's implementation of Course Atlas without the required consultation with faculty. As specified by the Senate Bylaws, the Committee is chaired by Senate Vice Chair Peter Gillet. The NBFC's written arguments supporting the appeal are due March 5th.

The Chair's report led to a lively discussion of how best to document the case for the appeal. 

5. Administration - Prabhas Moghe, New Brunswick Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Research and Academic Affairs

Provost Moghe gave a presentation (link) on the survey of faculty satisfaction carried out last spring in partnership with COACHE, Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education, at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. During his presentation, the Provost

  • gave an overview of the survey and faculty responses, including structure and range of the survey, profile of the respondents, areas of highest faculty satisfaction, and areas of lowest faculty satisfaction.
  • urged NBFC members to review the survey data and provide feedback on the Office of the Provost website, which provides an overview of the survey and allows faculty to examine the data in depth on an interactive platform created by the Office of Institutional Research and Planning. He indicated that feedback from the whole Faculty Council is also welcome.
  • presented his thoughts on where we should go from here and invited input from the NBFC.

In order to help address areas of lowest faculty satisfaction, the Provost is setting up working groups on

  • faculty development and mentoring
  • research support and infrastructure
  • strategic planning and communication

Someone suggested from the floor that a member of the NBFC should be added to each of the working groups. Provost Moghe welcomed the suggestion and asked for volunteers. The volunteers were Marybeth Gasman for faculty development and mentoring, Ryan Womack for research support and infrastructure, and Bob Boikess for strategic planning and communication.

6. Discussion of the Appeal to the University Senate on Not Consulting Faculty Before Implementing   Course Atlas

Chairperson Ozel asked if anyone wanted to add comments or suggestions to the discussion after the Chair's report.  No one wished to do so.

(The next item on the agenda was scheduled to be a presentation by Emily Kane, Chief of Staff of the Rutgers Student Assembly, on the Office of Student Conduct's need for more faculty to serve on hearing boards. Ms Kane was unable to attend the meeting due to an earlier meeting that did not end on time.)

7. Committee Reports

  • Academic Affairs Committee - Robert Boikess, Chair
    • Boikess reported the committee is still gathering data to try to examine the extent and causes of grade inflation at Rutgers, New Brunswick over the years. Among the possible contributing factors to be considered are changes in the faculty, changes in the quality of students, overreliance on student evaluations, and course enrollments. 
  • Athletic Affairs Committee – Ken McKeever, Chair
    • McKeever reported the committee is close to presenting a number of positive recommendations on how faculty can be involved in Athletics.
  • Budget, Planning, & Infrastructure – Ryan Womack and Tom Figueira, Co-Chairs
    • Womack reported that the committee is debating whether to send the list of questions formulated last year in response to the parking survey results to Jack Molenaar and invite him to an NBFC meeting.
  • Faculty and Personnel Affairs - Francois Berthiaume and Karen Thompson, Co-Chairs
    • Thompson reported the committee discussed the issue of increasing numbers  of NTT faculty serving as directors of centers, bureaus, and institutes. Co-Chair Berthiaume has prepared a list of  such NTT faculty. The committee will try to go beyond the list to examine the impact and appropriateness of this trend.
  • Student Affairs – Emily Greenfield and Haym Benaroya, Co-Chairs
    • Greenfield reported that the committee is continuing to discuss how better to provide students with important information about resources available to them using mandatory entries on course syllabi and other means.

8. New Business

There was no new business.

9. Old Business

There was no old business.

10. Adjournment

Chairperson Ozel adjourned the meeting at 3:05 PM,

 

Written and submitted by

Martha Cotter, NBFC Parliamentarian and substitute Secretary