Meeting Minutes #156

Members Present: J. Bliss, R. Boikess, R. Bumby, B. Callaway, J. Cantor, M. Cotter, H. Davidson, H. Fisher, D. Fishman, M. Flahive DiNardo, M. Gliserman, M. Gordon, S. Harrington, A. Isenberg, T. Jiang, Y-S. Kim, R. Kubey, C. Kulikowski, P. Leath, M. Lesk, G. McGhee, K. McKeever, G. Mainelis, M. Markert, A. Norris, P. Panayotatos, E. Ramsamy, J. Reed, J. Rubin, H. Sackrowitz, R. Schuler, T. Szatrowski, K. Thompson, S. Tomasello, R. Wilson

Non-Members Present: P. Furmanski (Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs), K. Hull (Director of First-Year Seminars), B. Qualls (Vice President for Undergraduate Education), K. Swalagin (Secretary)

1. Call to Order

Council Chairperson Martin Gliserman called the 156th meeting of the New Brunswick Faculty Council (NBFC) to order at 1:26 p.m. on September 21, 2007 in the Cook Campus Center, Room 202ABC, Cook Campus, welcoming all present to the meeting.

2. Approval of the Agenda and Minutes

The meeting agenda was approved. The Minutes of the May 4, 2007 New Brunswick Faculty Council meeting were approved as distributed by the secretary.

3. Report of the Chair - Martin Gliserman

Chairperson Gliserman asked all new Council members to introduce themselves. There was a suggestion from the floor that all members introduce themselves, but only the new members did so. Executive Committee members and standing committee chairs present also introduced themselves. Gliserman displayed a list of Council committees, and asked Council members to let him know which committees they’d like to join. He also displayed a list of the seven main areas of the institutional self-study for the Middle States accreditation [http://middlestates.rutgers.edu/index.shtml], and asked Council members to tell him which of those areas they are interested in examining.

4. Administrative Report - Philip Furmanski, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs

Executive Vice President Furmanski presented an administrative report, which included comments on:

  • Middle States accreditation activities;
  • the capital campaign;
  • implementation of the transformation of undergraduate education in New Brunswick;
  • status of some key searches, including completion and anticipated announcement of the conclusion of the search for dean of the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, the ongoing search for dean of the School of Arts and Sciences-New Brunswick, newly initiated searches for deans of SCILS and the Graduate School-New Brunswick, and institutional searches for a new chief financial officer to replace Jeff Apfel and a new Camden provost to replace Roger Dennis; and
  • continuing processes and discussion of revisions to the Academic Integrity Policy.

Furmanski then responded to questions on subjects including:

  • admissions, and numbers of first-year and transfer students;
  • the status of UMDNJ, and merger proposals;
  • recently enacted articulation-agreement legislation;
  • the capital campaign and related, ongoing processes; and
  • some specifics of the general-education requirements acceptance mandated by the articulation agreement legislation.

5. Academic Integrity Policy Revision - Martha Cotter

As a follow-up to the Administrative Report, Martha Cotter, former chair of the University Senate, and current and past chair of the Senate committee charged with reviewing the Academic Integrity Policy revisions, briefed the Council on the status and plans related to the policy revisions. She said that EVP Furmanski had put together a group consisting of members of the Senate committee and others to make recommendations, and that the University Senate will host a committee-of-the-whole discussion on the policy in November. She and Robert Boikess, who chairs the Council’s Academic Standards, Regulations and Admissions Committee, will work to generate and document faculty input.

Questions arose from the floor, and Gliserman asked members to hold their comments, as the issue will be coming before the Council in the near future.

6. Report on Implementation of Transformation of Undergraduate Education - Barry Qualls, Vice President for Undergraduate Education, and Kathy Hull, Director of First-Year Seminars

Varry Qualls, Vice President for Undergraduate Education, first commented briefly about the process by which articulation agreements and general- education transfer questions were being addressed.

Qualls then briefed the Council on progress and plans for continuing implementation of transformation of undergraduate education. He said that the desire to simplify and make transparent the operations in New Brunswick was the underlying goal. He said that the process had “gone remarkably well, if not perfectly,” and mentioned details related to transfers of departments and personnel, appointments of deans for transfer and non-traditional students,placement of SAS advising offices on every campus, efforts to ensure all students receive the advising they need, appointment of campus deans, and the recent “spectacular” convocation. Qualls also spoke about staffing of his office, including a new fellowship office, as well as an office for first-year seminars, headed by Kathy Hull, whom he introduced.

 Kathy Hull, Director of First-Year Seminars, then told the Council about her own background, and what she and her office are doing to develop and promote first- year seminars, including plans to call for proposals for new seminars in October, and to convene a committee to meet in December or January to look at those proposals for 2008.

7. Report on Enrollment - Courtney McAnuff, Vice President for Enrollment Management

Courtney McAnuff, Vice President for Enrollment Management, gave a thorough report on enrollment, including a PowerPoint presentation, hardcopies of which were distributed at the meeting. He told the Council that he would send them the PowerPoint slides electronically if they request them. McAnuff then responded to questions on topics which included:

  • summer research opportunities and other means of attracting New Jersey’s best high-school students;
  • departmental identification of summer assistantships with research components, and faculty incentives to facilitate those assistantships; and
  • scholarship opportunities.

8. New Brunswick Faculty Council Committees Update - Committee Chairs

Council committee chairs spoke about the activities and plans for their respective committees, as follows:

Academic Standards, Regulations and Admissions Committee Chair Robert Boikess said his committee will be looking at the academic integrity policy, and how grades are assigned, changed and appealed in the system.

Curriculum, Teaching and Honors Committee Chair Paul Leath noted that his was a new committee that would likely deal with the core curriculum this year. He also distributed handouts of, and summarized, a draft program for the upcoming teaching conference, which he had asked to help organize. There was some discussion on the floor concerning the core curriculum, and the need for faculty to be involved in its development.

Budget and Planning Committee Chair Robert Wilson said the first item his committee will deal with will be representation of the School of Arts and Sciences-NB on the Faculty Council, an issue on which several scenarios will be presented to the Council later in the year to promote discussion and revision of Council bylaws. He asked members to e-mail him if they are interested in being on the committee or involved in that issue. In response to Martha Cotter’s related question regarding the outcome of the Council’s request to have its description revised in University Regulations, Phil Furmanski said that it needs further discussion, and will probably be coming back to the Council. Cotter also said that University Senate Chair Sam Rabinowitz had mentioned that Margaret Marsh is interested in getting a campus-wide Camden Faculty Council organized.

Faculty Affairs and Personnel Policy Committee Chair Paul Panayotatos reviewed continuing charges in his committee, including one on extending evaluation of deans to academic vice presidents, and also mentioned a proposal currently in the University Senate’s committee pipeline which suggests converting annual and teaching appointments to tenure-track teaching lines.

Libraries and Academic Resources Committee Chair Dan Fishman spoke of his committee’s continuing charge to look at the process by which resources are allocated to departments and disciplines in terms of electronic and print resources, as well as cost of textbooks.

9. Old Business

There was no old business.

10. New Business

There was no new business.

11. Adjournment

Chairperson Gliserman reminded all to sign-in. The meeting adjourned at 3:19 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,
Ken Swalagin, Recording Secretary