Meeting Minutes #254

Members Present: Marybeth Gasman, Crystal Akers, Andrew Baker, Francois Berthiaume, Robert Boikess, Carla Cevasco, Thomas Davis, Barbara Faga, Thomas Figueira, Anna Haley, Rafiq Huda, Nick Linardopoulos, Kenneth McKeever, Anne McPherson, Christine Morales, Tugrul Ozel, Heather Pierce, Francis Ryan, Elisa Shernoff, Ted H. Szatrowski, Karen Thompson, Mary Trigg, Ellen Williams, Ryan Womack, Jeff Zahn.

Non-Members Present: Dr. J.D. Bowers Dean, Honors College, Rutgers-New Brunswick

1. Call to Order

The meeting was called to order by Chair Gasman on Friday, November 11, 2022, at 1:12 pm via Zoom.

2.  Approval of the Agenda

The agenda was approved.

3.  Approval of the Minutes of the Meeting of October 14, 2022

The minutes were approved.

4. Chair's Report – Marybeth Gasman

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

  • The Executive Committee met with Chancellor-Provost Conway and discussed how faculty can be more involved in searches and the discovery advantage – a roll out of the Academic Master Plan.
  • Deans have been asked to nominate people for various committees. Chair Gasman has also been asked and has reviewed members’ academic interests and nominated at least four NBFC members per each area of the Discovery Advantage.
  • Chair Gasman met with Dr. Kathleen Scott, former Chair of NBFC who is chairing the Discovery Advantage initiative, to discuss faculty input and nominations. Chair Gasman encourages those members to whom Kathy Scott reaches out to consider serving if time allows.
  • There will be no Administrative Report today.

5. Committee Reports:

Student Affairs – Christine Morales, Chair

The committee discussed the following:

  • SEBS Academic Mentoring (AM) and Portals to Academic Success (PASS.)  Advisors Julie Traxler and Suzanne Sukhdeo were invited to speak to the Student Affairs Committee about how these courses could be replicated in other RU schools and departments. The AM course is for first generation SEBS freshmen; the PASS course is for SEBS freshmen who were placed on academic probation following the fall semester. AM and PASS are one-credit, required, graded courses. Course content covers topics to help students achieve academic success (e.g., time management, study skills, stress management, etc.). Currently, all AM and PASS instructors volunteer, but there are plans to apply for funding to pay instructors. Chair Morales encouraged SEBS faculty to volunteer and welcomed interested NBFC members to contact her to learn more.
  • Indigenous Student Data: The Committee is continuing its research on Indigenous Student data. The committee has invited Sal Mena, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, to the January committee meeting as well as to the NBFC Executive Committee.  Those interested in attending the committee meeting can contact Chair Morales.

Faculty and Personnel Affairs – Francois Berthiaume, Chair

The committee discussed the following:

  • Part-Time Lecturer Survey: The committee is continuing to work on the survey on PTL teaching loads. The survey is nearing its completion. Those interested in providing feedback can contact Chair Berthiaume.
  • DEI and Promotion Packages: The committee continued its discussion on finalizing a resolution on including language on diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI) in the tenure and promotion package instructions to encourage faculty to highlight their DEI contributions in teaching, research, or service. The committee would like to present the resolution to the full Council soon, probably at the next meeting.

Responses: Andrew Baker suggested that a clear definition of DEI be added to the promotion package to assist faculty in discussing their contributions in this area. Chair Gasman offered to provide some examples of DEI contributions.

  • GRE requirements for Graduate Admission The committee is continuing to discuss whether GREs should be required or optional and whether each program can make its own decision on the matter. There is still no consensus on the issue.  The committee would like to schedule a meeting with the School of Graduate Studies (SGS) to discuss the basis for their policy in this matter.

Response: Chair Gasman said that SGS reached out to her and would like to speak about GRE requirements and answer questions at an upcoming NBFC meeting.

  • Faculty Workload: The Committee is concerned that increases in faculty workloads during the pandemic seem to be continuing now that we are back to in-person learning. The Committee is considering creating a survey on this matter to distribute to the faculty.
  • Costs of Supporting Graduate Students: The Committee began a discussion on the high cost of supporting graduate students on research grants resulting from tuition, high benefits, high overhead rates, and student salaries. The discussion will continue.

Budget, Planning, & Infrastructure – Thomas Figueira, Chair

The committee discussed the following:

  • As part of its ongoing exploration of difficulties with program environments for conducting vital functions such as learning management systems, admissions, and course selection, the Committee is considering preparing two memos to be sent to Chancellor-Provost Conway.
    • Memo 1: During a Senate meeting, Senior Vice President Michael Gower conceded that the Travel Procurement Program pays a commission to the Central Administration.  The Budget, Planning, & Infrastructure committee would like to explore the scale and rationale for that commission, and whether it has served to lower faculty expenses for travel.
    • Memo 2: The Committee is very concerned about (1) the recent decision to forbid faculty to receive purchases from Amazon mailings to their home, and (2) the problem of theft of purchased products from unprotected mail rooms.
  • Operational Excellence: Committee member Andrew Baker reported that the committee was inspired by the discussion with the Chancellor-Provost at the previous NBFC meeting, where the phrase operational excellence was invoked and it was acknowledged that in many areas the University is not hitting the standards. The Committee would like to convene a working group/task force that could look at best practices for selection, implementation, management, and continuous improvement of operational excellence. Positioning this within the New Brunswick Chancellor- led unit could potentially include a number of faculty members not serving on the NBFC who would have highly relevant expertise in the design and management of large software.

Athletic Affairs – Kenneth McKeever, Chair

  • Due to a scheduling conflict, the committee was unable to meet today, but Chair McKeever has given committee members a task to come up with questions for an upcoming meeting with the liaison to the Big 10 Academic Alliance.
  • Chair McKeever urged other NBFC members to send him any questions they may have about the Big 10 Academic Alliance and how it can be beneficial to the university.

 Academic Affairs – Robert Boikess, Chair

The committee discussed the following:

  • Use of SIRS in Personnel Decisions The committee wants to put together a resolution on this issue similar to what was discussed prior to the pandemic.
  • GREs: The committee looked at the recommendations that were made by an ad hoc Senate committee. Their recommendation, to make it optional with certain restrictions and requirements, seems like the best compromise. The committee therefore decided not to weigh in on this issue.  There were also financial suggestions to reimburse some students taking and preparing for the GREs.
  • A brief overview of what Dean Bowers will be discussing including Honors College admissions, faculty participation and financial assistance.

6.  New Business

Ellen Williams had questions about Stride training and its relation to the selection process for search committees.  Chair Gasman will do some research on this and report back.

7.  Guest speaker: Dr. J.D. Bowers Dean, Honors College, Rutgers-New Brunswick

Dean Bowers introduced himself and briefly discussed his extensive background in honors education. He is thrilled to be at Rutgers and believes we have a number of strategic advantages including the Honors College building, the automatic $10,000 scholarships, and the outstanding opportunities offered honors students. His philosophy: the Honors College is everybody’s college – it belongs to all of us and we are all going to benefit from it, work with it, and utilize it for the best benefit to the University.

Dean Bowers then made the following points about his plans for the Honors College:

  • He is working on reconstituting the Faculty Advisory Board
  • There are currently 3 live-in faculty fellows. A review of the faculty fellows program is nearly completed.
  • Next semester there will be a curricular review which will be a yearlong process, entailing review of the three honors college mission-based courses, including their structures, purposes and the way they are taught.
  • A student awarded an Honors College scholarship will lose the scholarship if he or she withdraws from the Honors College.
  • We need to get to a more holistic, transparent admissions process, but this will take some time. It’s too late for fall 2023 but we’re looking to fall 2024.

In the discussion after his presentation, Dr. Bowers discussed the reasons students leave the reasons students leave the Honors College: 

  • Transfer into their “dream” school
  • Not completing their required service hours
  • Financial problems
  • Unsatisfactory academic performance

NBFC Proposed Resolution - First Year Honors at Rutgers New Brunswick

Chair Bob Boikess presented the resolution on behalf of the Academic Affairs Committee.

He began by briefly discussing each of the five recommendations:

1. The application for admission to Rutgers NB should contain clear information about the various first year honors programs that are available. It should make clear the differences between the Honors College and the honors programs offered by four schools. The applicant should then be asked to check a box indicating interest in being considered for the Honors College and/or another box indicating interest in school honors programs. This information provided by the applicant will make it possible for Enrollment Management to identify more manageable pools of students to be considered for selection for either of these options. It will also avoid admitting an applicant to a program that they do not want.

2. To facilitate the acceptance process, Enrollment Management can separate the students in each pool into one of three groups: Very likely to be admitted; Somewhat likely to be admitted; and Not likely to be admitted. This information should then be transmitted to the Honors College or the relevant school for decisions on which students should be admitted. Decisions on admissions to the Honors College should be made first, as is the current practice.

3. All admissions decisions should be based on criteria that include concern for diversity and equity. In addition, the composition of the entering class of the Honors College should reflect the relative student populations of the schools that they are representing.
 

4.Final decisions about admissions must be made by the Honors College or the relevant schools. They should be based on a holistic evaluation process, and they should be made by a group that includes faculty and honors staff.

5. Faculty can contribute to honors programs in various ways. In addition to participating in the selection process, they can teach special courses for honors students. They can also be part of the “living-learning community” of the Honors College. In order to make it possible for faculty to carry out such work, the faculty member’s department should be given the funds necessary to provide course release for the faculty member. These funds should be equal to the minimum salary earned by an NTT faculty member for teaching one course.

Chair Boikess then moved the resolution: The New Brunswick Faculty Council urges Chancellor/Provost Francine Conway to implement these recommendations

The resolution was seconded by Francis Ryan  and was approved unanimously.

8. Old Business  

Faculty Dining Hall Closures: The Budget, Planning, & Infrastructure committee will look into this.

9. Adjournment

 Chair Gasman adjourned the meeting at.2:50 PM.

Respectfully submitted:

Maria Crocco, Office of the Chancellor-Provost