Meeting Minutes #259

Members Present: Alexander Pichugin, Ana Pairet Vinas, Anna Haley, Anne McPherson, Bharat Sarath, Crystal Akers, Don Schaffner, Eleanor LaPointe, Ellen Williams, F. Javier Diez, Francis Ryan, Francois Berthiaume, Glenn Amatucci, Heather Pierce, Jack Bouchard, Jason Geary, Jeff Zahn, Jeremy Morgan, John Kolassa, Jon Oliver, Julia Maxwell, Karen Thompson, Kenneth McKeever, Linda Oshin, Madeline Flahive Di Nardo, Mariann Bischoff, Mary Trigg, Matt Sequin, Meenakshi Dutt, Mei Ling Lo, Narayan Mandayam, Nikolaos Linardopoulos, Rafiq Huda, Robert Boikess, Ronnee Ades, Sanjib Bhuyan, Sue Shapses, Ted H. Szatrowski, Thomas Davis, Thomas Figueira, Thomas Stephens, Tuğrul Özel, Lei Yu

Non-Members Present: Carolyn Moehling, Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education, Denise Nguyen Hien, Vice Provost for Research, Francine Conway, Chancellor of Rutgers University–New Brunswick, Nayland Smith, Senior Vice Chancellor for Finance and Chief Business Officer, Saundra Tomlinson-Clarke, Provost & Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Martha Cotter, Parliamentarian, Maria Crocco, Chancellor's staff

1. Call to Order

The meeting was called to order by Chair Haley on Friday, September 29, 2023, at 1:12 pm via Zoom.

2.  Approval of the Agenda

The agenda was approved.

3.  Approval of the Minutes of the Meeting of February 24, 2023

The minutes were approved.

4. Chair's Report – Anna Haley

The new NBFC Chair Anna Haley welcomed everyone to the meeting and explained her deep commitment and belief in shared governance, which prompted her to become Chair of the NBFC. She also explained what she thinks shared governance means: "It acknowledges and seeks to actively learn about differences of interests, opinions, experiences, and goals. It faces the inherent tensions between them, head on as the literal core of the management enterprise. Shared governance methodically works to come up with solutions that optimize those different interests and opinions, by creating a meaningful place at the table, whenever possible at the outset, for every stakeholder group, systematically, transparently, and consistently." Although shared governance may seem inefficient because it seeks input from many, the solutions that are developed are more inclusive and more popular, and also probably better because they leverage the wide expertise that is distributed among faculty across the campus.

Chair Haley explained the general functioning of the NBFC, including the work of committees that lead to resolutions put up for a vote, and noted that she wants to do whatever possible to support the impact of that work. She ended her message by thanking all very much for serving on the NBFC.

Some NBFC members followed up with comments:

  • There is a need to better follow up on the resolutions and other advice given to the Chancellor and her staff, in order to ensure that they do not shy away from closing the loop on the issues the Council brought up.

5.  Administrative Report: Chancellor Francine Conway

The Chancellor began by saying that she is looking forward to working with the NBFC, that she is committed to shared governance and to sharing information both ways to advance issues. She also touched upon the following subjects:

  • The new Provost Office has been set up.
  • We are moving into the second year of the Academic Master Plan (AMP); feedback is requested on the various taskforce reports, and additional input from the community will be sought for each pillar of the AMP

The Chancellor then commented on two questions that were asked beforehand by the new NBFC chair and took questions asked by various NBFC members during the meeting:

  • About shared governance: she agrees with two-way communication between Chancellor and NBFC to seek input from faculty and also agrees to provide a list to the NBFC of items for which she wants input.
  • About cost of salary increases following the new contract, especially as it relates to research-grant-supported individuals: she invited comments from Nayland Smith, who explained that a process needed to be set up, which has been explained to the Rutgers-New Brunswick community. Although there is some confusion surrounding the source of funds due to different language used in the new contract, he explained that this is a New Brunswick campus issue, and that the cost is to be covered within the New Brunswick campus. Questions were asked and comments made by NBFC members related to finances and the university strategy to cut costs by decreasing the number of courses, and a follow up with the Budget, Planning, & Infrastructure committee was suggested to go over these details.
  • About workload and course quality changes that happened following the pandemic: The Chancellor invited Carolyn Moehling to comment, who said that more information from the faculty will be requested to better understand the issues.
  • Comments were made that we need to make sure that Lecturers issues, including lack of compensation for service and working a full-time load while still being appointed as part-time, are addressed by the Provost in the Faculty Affairs space. Saundra Tomlinson-Clarke responded that these concerns are duly noted and that workshops on Lecturers and career paths are going to be organized.
  • A question was asked about the follow up on a prior resolution that recommended the establishment of a poet laureate. The Chancellor responded that she is looking for help from the NBFC to implement this award.
  • A question was asked about course scheduling, which appears to be quite variable from one semester/year to the next. Carolyn Moehling commented that the goal is to make it more stable, but that it is also a challenge due to the large number of new courses offered each year.
  • A comment was made that it is possible that a course that should be offered in-person may in fact be given online and that the distinction between in-person and online can be blurred. Carolyn Moehling commented that she is not aware that this is a widespread issue, but usage data from the podiums can be collected to verify that a class was (likely) given in the lecture hall, as opposed to online.

6.  Committee Reports:

Athletic Affairs – Kenneth McKeever, Chair

The Committee

  • explored the big 10 Academic Alliance, how it benefits faculty and students in the general community, how it's being promoted and underutilized, and how that can be improved to benefit the academic side of the university.
  • discussed keeping a positive attitude, which opens doors, leading to more visits with the athletic director.

Student Affairs – Crystal Akes and Ana Pairet Vinas, Chairs

The Committee 

  • reviewed last year's work and guests and discussed ways to support those already working on student services.
  • brainstormed new ideas for this year that relate to the student experience, such as the campus bus app, tuition issues, as well as how to access information about the student experience.

Faculty and Personnel Affairs – Francois Berthiaume and Heather Pierce, Co-Chairs

The Committee

  • discussed some "old business", especially a survey and yet to be completed report that investigated the work habits and satisfaction of lecturers at Rutgers, with a special focus on those who have been working the equivalent of full-time loads, without being appointed as full-time faculty.
  • discussed new business it would like to discuss this year, including (1) how to advise departments and programs to better incorporate lecturers into departmental decisions that involve curriculum, committees, etc.; (2) term limits for department chairs to address the issue that in some departments there has been little opportunity for turnover in that position (in some cases the same person was chair for decades); (3) increasing class enrollment while there are fewer classes being offered, thus resulting in classes with more students; (4) emphasizing community service as a valuable contribution that should be viewed positively enough to not only count as "service" in promotion decisions, but also warrant course release or other compensation; (5) better equipping faculty to support students with disabilities, especially when dealing with increasingly larger classes; (6) potentially issuing a resolution in support of a former Rutgers visiting scholar jailed in Azerbaijan.

Academic Affairs – Bob Boikess, Chair

The Committee

  • discussed issues related to the library, which seems to have a number of problems with how it is operating and managed (e.g. scheduling, resources, hiring practices). There will be a report on a survey carried out last year about library experiences of faculty.
  • discussed the problem of using student evaluations in personnel decisions, and how we can evaluate teaching in a way that is as unbiased as possible, which may rely more on teaching portfolios and peer evaluations.
  • discussed the need to better communicate what the NBFC does to the faculty, and to take measures so that the NBFC is taken more seriously by the administration.

Budget, Planning, & Infrastructure – Thomas Figueira, Chair

The Committee

  • discussed the issue of the management of the travel program and the commissions and fees raised by the central administration.
  • noted that it is preparing a resolution dealing with the software changes that affected the conduct of professional duties, such as scheduling, etc.
  • pleaded for more members to join the Committee.

7.  New Business

A lot of effort is currently being spent on recruiting members for the NBFC, as there are over 20 vacancies.

A survey is forthcoming to identify what topics/issues faculty members would like the NBFC to address this academic year. Faculty concerns will be shared with the Chancellor, and the Chancellor will share her concerns with the NBFC.

The Discovery Advantage Report is something that the Chancellor would like to get input on from the NBFC faculty. Both individual committees and individual members of the NBFC are highly encouraged to take the time to look at this report and provide feedback.

A social in-person gathering is planned to take place in November.

The chair asked for speaker suggestions for the academic year.

8.  Old Business  

 There was some discussion largely of items already brought up by individual committees.

10.  Adjournment

Chair Haley adjourned the meeting at 2:48 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Francois Berthiaume, NBFC Vice Chair