Meeting Minutes #260

Members Present: Alexander Pichugin, Ana Pairet Vinas, Anna Haley, Benjamin Paul, Bharat Sarath, Crystal Akers, Dilafruz Nazarova, Eleanor LaPointe, Ellen Williams, F. Javier Diez, Francois Berthiaume, Gary Rendsburg, Heather Pierce, Jack Bouchard, Jeff Zahn, Jennifer Shukaitis, Jeremy Morgan, John Kolassa, Julia Maxwell, Karen Thompson, Kenneth McKeever, Linda Oshin, Madeline Flahive Di Nardo, Marci Meixler, Mariann Bischoff, Mary Trigg, Meenakshi Dutt, Mei Ling Lo, Nikolaos Linardopoulos, Peter Morrone, Ralph Bowen, Robert Boikess, Ronnee Ades, Sue Shapses, Tanja Sargent, Ted H. Szatrowski, Thomas Davis, Thomas Figueira, Thomas Stephens, Tuğrul Özel, Gerben Zylstra, Xenia Morin

Non-Members Present: Barry Komisaruk, Distinguished Professor of Psychology, RU-N, Chair of Newark FC, Bonnie Jerome-D'Emilia, Associate Professor, School of Nursing-Camden, past chair of Camden Faculty Council, Christine Rohowsky-Kochan, Professor at NJ Medical School, President of RBHS Faculty Council, Kathleen Scott, Professor, Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, Martha Cotter, Parliamentarian

1. Call to Order

The meeting was called to order by Chair Haley on Friday, October 27, 2023, at 1:10 pm via Zoom.

2.  Approval of the Agenda

The agenda was approved.

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

A total of 9 NBFC members who did not attend the previous meeting abstained. Otherwise, the minutes were approved without objection.

4. Chair's Report – Anna Haley

We currently have 70 representatives serving our Council, out of the total of 85 potential slots for representatives. The Chair is dedicated to filling the remaining 15 vacancies, and also asked those who have joined the NBFC, but have not yet affiliated with a committee, to do so as soon as possible.

The Chair briefly mentioned today’s speakers (chairs of the other faculty councils, chair of the Discovery Advantage Initiative), and explained that she would like to encourage speakers to avoid giving an extended formal presentation in favor of a shorter presentation of shared points, and then allow for more time for audience interaction and engagement.

The Chair also mentioned that a survey will soon be published, to find out what faculty are most excited and concerned about, what they would like the NBFC to look into, and on what topics advice to the Chancellor should be provided.

The Chair also reiterated the importance of the work conducted by NBFC committees, which generate the majority of the reports and recommendations that may become resolutions for the entire body to consider and vote on.

5.  Faculty Councils Panel:

NBFC Chair Haley invited council chairs from the other 3 main Rutgers campuses to share critical issues that their faculty are facing. She noted that the purpose of this panel is to (1) learn about and strengthen ties with our peers at our other campuses, and (2) learn how each campus faculty addresses its own issues. She then introduced the panel members, consisting of the Chair of the Newark Faculty Council (Barry Komisaruk), the past Chair (because the current chair was not available) of the Camden Faculty Council (Bonnie Jerome Demilia), and the President of the RBHS Faculty Council (Christine Rohowsky-Kochan).

• Barry Komisaruk – The Newark Council meets once a month, and consists of 17 faculty members with 6 senior members of the administration (including the Chancellor Nancy Cantor) usually present. Some of the main initiatives that were worked on include (1) getting funding for a seed grant program; (2) increasing the number of electric car charging stations; (3) arranging town hall meetings of faculty and deans; (4) discussing issues on the nature of shared governance; (5) passing a resolution in support of the part time lecturer pay and supporting the strike; (6) writing a letter to the Rutgers President in support of renewing the appointment of Chancellor Nancy Cantor.
• Bonnie Jerome Demilia – The Camden Council has about 8 faculty members with the Chancellor and Provost usually attending as well. Some of the issues that have been worked on include renovations of spaces for cafeteria and food services and best practices on how to work with part-time lecturers (PTLs). However, the Council feels that it is difficult to have its voice heard by the administration. In addition, it was mentioned that no Camden professors ever seem to win university awards, there is a serious lack of research support, and there are pay equity issues.
• Christine Rohowsky-Kochan – The RBHS Council has representatives from the New Jersey Medical School, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, the School of Dentistry, the School of Nursing, the School of Health Professions, and the School of Public Health. The big issue that was discussed recently is the merger of New Jersey Medical School and Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, about which the council had reservations due to lack of support from the faculty and lack of clarity on how it would happen. This culminated in a vote of no confidence against Chancellor Strom. Other issues discussed are the fluctuating fringe rate on research grants and physicians working at University Hospital.

Comments from the attending NBFC members generally emphasized that it is important to continue arguing for shared governance, that the Faculty Councils should not be relegated to merely providing advice, and that tenured faculty members also have a right to project opinions more broadly within and outside the university, if they need to.

6.  Q&A about Discovery Advantage – Kathy Scott
Related materials at: https://discoverynb.rutgers.edu/

The Chair introduced Kathy Scott, the Chair of Discovery Advantage (DA), an initiative to improve the student experience at Rutgers, to present some of the high points of the report and answer questions from the audience. Kathy Scott shared a document with preliminary recommendations for different areas of the report. She also explained that the recommendations are aspirational, that the implementation will be affected by the budget, and will likely require multiple stages. One example she gave is academic advising, with a need to improve the student to advisor ratio from 500:1 to 300:1. She asked the NBFC to weigh in on these recommendations and also help with prioritization of them.

During the Q&A, issues that were discussed include: (1) how to deal with under prepared students and help them integrate into the community; (2) mental health counseling; (3) advising of students; (4) study spaces for students; (5) introducing students to the library resources; (6) the lack of a language requirement while we expect students to engage in global learning and initiatives; (7) tracking of student progress by centralizing student data storage; (8) the cost of high-impact practices. At the conclusion, the NBFC Chair encouraged all members, through their committees, to contribute feedback to the DA report in a short timeline. The NBFC plans to collate this information and provide it to the DA Chair and the Chancellor.

Athletic Affairs – Kenneth McKeever, Chair (Thomas Stephens spoke)

Topics discussed were:

• whether budget should be included in the committee’s discussions or not.
• how the NBFC could interact with the Big10 Academic Alliance to help athletes at Rutgers.

Student Affairs – Crystal Akes and Ana Pairet Vinas, Chairs (Ana Pairet spoke)

Topics discussed were:

• how to provide feedback to the Discovery Advantage Report in an efficient way.
• what topics to work on this year.

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

Topics discussed were:

• finalizing the Lecturer Survey Report, which requires better organization and clean-up.
• the list of charges for this year, which included creating a guide to advise departments on how to better incorporate lecturers into departmental activities and decisions, making a recommendation on term limits for department chairs, and compiling a repository of department bylaws to see what are the current policies regarding the preceding two items.
• to prepare a resolution for the release of a former Rutgers scholar who is currently detained in Azerbaijan.

Academic Affairs – Ted Szatrowski, Chair

Topics discussed were:

• providing feedback to the Discovery Advantage Report.
• assigning more faculty advisors to support under-prepared students, in particular those who have few peers that can help them.
• budget issues with the libraries that prevent book purchases and librarian faculty hiring, which is a concern for a research university.

Budget, Planning, & Infrastructure – Thomas Figueira, Chair

Topics discussed were:

• the committee previously sent a letter about the Central Administration’s levying of fees on travel plans and contracts. Senior Vice President Gower responded by asking one of his staff members to provide explanations, but the explanations were confusing and now that staff person has left the university. To follow up, we will ask the Chancellor to identify someone who can competently respond to the questions on that letter.
• activities in the Senate committee that is investigating fiscal matters related to the Rutgers President.

7.  Old Business

No old business was discussed.

8.  New Business  

Xenia Morin suggested that we (1) discuss the issue of affordability of graduate students, which are increasingly difficult to support, as well as the teaching loads of TAs; (2) begin conversations about education of graduate students, especially since there is a new dean at SGS; and (3) invite the new SGS Dean, Mark Robson, to speak to the Council.

Bharath Sarath suggested we discuss the issue of parking accessibility for faculty when parking lots may be blocked off for other purposes, such as games and conferences. It was pointed out by Thomas Figueira that faculty can usually speak to the attendant to let them park. John Kolassa said the same, but that graduate students may not get the same treatment. A charge to investigate this issue may be initiated.

10.  Adjournment

Chair Haley adjourned the meeting at 2:48 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Francois Berthiaume, NBFC Vice Chair