Meeting Minutes #247

Members Present:  Francis Ryan, Andrew Parker, Marybeth Gasman, Haym Benaroya, Christine Morales, Karen Sanchez, Kenneth McKeever, Afusat Yusuf, Robert Boikess, Gary Taghon, Julia Ritter, Tugrul Ozel, Ellen Williams, Sanjib Bhuyan, Martin Gliserman, Jeffrey Zahn, Juan Gonzalez, Ted H. Szatrowski, Thomas Figueira, Francois Berthiaume, Anna Haley, Karen Thompson, Elisa Shernoff, Atif Akin, Eleanor Lapointe, Evan Kleiman, Laura Bowering Mullen, Barbara Faga, Carla Cevasco, Thomas Tsakalakos, Nick Linardopoulos, Sue Shapses, Jack Bouchard, Benjamin Paulkin.

Non-Members Present: Ingrid Fulmer, Vice Provost for Faculty Advancement & Faculty Affairs, Joan Collier, Senior Director of Institutional Equity & Strategic Initiatives (representing Anna Branch), Anne Newman, Associate Vice Chancellor & Dean of Students, Keywuan Caulk, Director, Center for Social Justice Education & LGBT Communities, Salvador Mena, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs

Martha Cotter (Parliamentarian)

1. Call to order

The meeting was called to order by Chair Marybeth Gasman on Friday, November 12, 2021, at 1:10 pm via Zoom.

2.  Approval of the Agenda

The Agenda was approved.

3.  Approval of the minutes of the meeting of October 15, 2021

The minutes were approved.

4. Chair's Report – Marybeth Gasman

Chair Gasman welcomed everyone to the meeting and presented the following updates:

  • Reminder NBFC is co-sponsoring a teaching conference with the Chancellor-Provost office on Dec 3, which will be part of President Holloway’s inaugural events.
  • The faculty survey will be distributed next week.
  • Chair Gasman requested that the committee fill out the survey pertaining to the AMP (Academic Master Plan).
  • Chair Gasman met with the Council of the Deans to recruit them to fill in the vacancies of the NBFC. Chair Gasman gave the Deans an overview of the NBFC, the mission, the commitment requirement and plans to follow-up with them individually to round out the NBFC. Special thanks to Martha Cotter for all her hard work pertaining to recruitment.
  • Chair Gasman met with the IRB team to discuss the IRB process. Offered suggestions to make the faculty more involved in the user feedback.
  • Announcements:  In January, Jonathan Zimmerman will be a guest to speak about academic freedom.  In February, Bob Kopp and Angela Oberg will be guests to discuss the Climate Action Plan.

5. Administrative Report – Ingrid Fulmer, Vice Provost for Faculty Advancement & Faculty Affairs

Vice Provost, Ingrid Fulmer shared a PowerPoint presentation on RU-New Brunswick Faculty Development and provided updates in the following areas:

  • Background: COACHE Spring 2019 Working Group recommendations
  • Reviewed COACHE survey from 2019 (Note: Pre-Covid)
  • Focus on Faculty Development & Mentoring satisfaction
  • Recommendations in 3 categories:

1. Leadership and infrastructure

2. Mentoring supports

3. Faculty development supports other than mentoring

Following the presentation, discussion ensued about the following:

  • New Faculty Orientation, The First Fridays series was mentioned by Vice Provost Fulmer
  • Promotions – Vice Provost Fulmer’s role is to assist in preparing faculty for applying for promotion and review what they need to get ready
  • NBFC would like a follow-up presentation from Vice Provost in 6+ months to review progress

6.  Special Guests:

Christine Morales provides background and gives an introduction.     

Discussion related to the Resolution in Support of Students Identifying as Transgender, Nonbinary, and Other Gender Identities at Rutgers.

    1. Salvador Mena, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs
    2. Joan Collier, Senior Director of Institutional Equity & Strategic Initiatives (representing Anna Branch)
    3. Anne Newman, Associate Vice Chancellor & Dean of Students
    4. Keywuan Caulk, Director, Center for Social Justice Education & LGBT Communities

The following resources related to gender-related issues and transgender and non-binary students were provided:

Student Affairs Committee Crowd-Sourced Resources:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FmOZhU91m73BNAOCFgdsVZ399irjRLKcRJcTjBrBfsc/edit

Rutgers Diversity Peer Educators: https://studentaffairs.rutgers.edu/what-we-do/divisional-initiatives/diversity-and-inclusion/diversity-peer-educators

Bias Prevention and Response: bias.rutgers.edu

Transgender resources: https://www.campuspride.org/topics/trans-advocacy/

Trans Visibility & Empowerment Project 2021: go.rutgers.edu/tve2021 

Division for Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Engagement https://nbdiversity.rutgers.edu/educational-workshops (New Brunswick) | University Equity and Inclusion https://diversity.rutgers.edu/learn

Keywuan Caulk, Director, Center for Social Justice Education & LGBT Communities led the discussion on various resources available as well as lectures and workshops supporting social justice Diversity, Equity and Inclusion issues.

He highlighted the Safer Space program, which is a campus wide program designed to visibly identify students, staff, and faculty peers who support the LGBTQ population, understand some of the issues facing LGBTQ individuals, and are aware of the various LGBTW resources.

Anne Newman, Associate Vice Chancellor & Dean of Students, discussed the following:

  • The use of pronouns and the importance of using them. 
  • Shared the bias statistics (see above).
  • Reinforced the idea of a beloved community and sharing in President Holloway’s mission.

Joan Collier, Senior Director of Institutional Equity & Strategic Initiatives discussed the following issues:

  • Resources that can be shared with faculty and staff so that students are provided with appropriate resources and support.
  • Inclusive classrooms: making sure that the staff/faculty are equipped to have conversations and prepare to handle disruptions and conflict.

7.  Resolution: Student Evaluation of Teaching– Bob Boikess, Chair of Academic Affairs 

Review of the Resolution on Student Evaluation of Teaching

Discussion:

  • Possible revision on the numerical responses to convert them to substantive responses.
  • Response rate in completing the survey is low – need to improve this.
  • Decision was made to add a requirement of teaching portfolios to the first line background section of the resolution.
  • Would like to involve Chancellor-Provost in moving this forward.

NBFC voted on the resolution - it was passed

8. Committee Reports:

Athletic Affairs – Chair: Ken McKeever, Chair

  • More faculty involvement is needed on the AAOC
  • Bob Boikess will serve as an ad-hoc member to push concerns related to the AAOC

Budget, Planning, Infrastructure – Tom Figueira, Chair

  • The committee attendance was low at the meeting.
  • Discussion with NBFC Chair Gasman on athletic expenditures.

Student Affairs – Christine Morales, Chair

  • Committee participated in gathering the resources found in the chat RE: Gender related issues.
  • Discussed the attendance policy.

Faculty and Personnel Affairs – Francois Berthiaume, Chair

  • Discussion related to adding DEI criteria for tenure and promotion decisions and including the appropriate language.
  • Progress on the task force relating to issues of NTTs being appointed as program directors and chairs.
  • Free speech and Jonathan Zimmerman will be guest speaker in January.

 Academic Affairs – Bob Boikess, Chair

The committee discussed the following two items that they would like to be addressed with the Chancellor-Provost office:

  • Movement in American Higher Education to move away from SAT exams.  What standardized tests are required now and how will we move forward?
  • Developing a mechanism to ensure that consultation is taking place before decisions on being made about certain issues.

Other matters:

  • Honors College.  Would like to have a conversation with the Dean, Paul Gilmore.
  • A new resolution on a scheduling grid (time constraints on getting this done). A Qualtrics survey for resolution to vote will be sent out.

9.        New Business

Time ran over and number of members were no longer present. 

10.        Old Business  

            Time ran over and number of members were no longer present. 

11.        Adjournment

            Chair Gasman adjourned the meeting at 3:35 pm.

Respectfully submitted:

Maria Crocco, Office of the Chancellor-Provost