Meeting Minutes #154

Friday, March 30, 2007

Members Present: J. Bliss, R. Boikess, R. Bumby, G. Camilli, T. Chase, F. Cosandey, M. Cotter, C. Glashausser, N. Glickman, M. Gliserman, M. Gordon, M. Gursoy, S. Harrington, J. Kokini, R. Kubey, C. Kulikowski, P. Leath, G. Mainelis, H. McGary, K. McKeever, J. Miller, J. Nichnadowicz, P. Panayotatos, E. Ramsamy, J. Rubin, H. Sackrowitz, R. Schuler, K. Scott, J. Shapiro, C. Sims, G. Taghon, K. Thompson, A. St. John

Non-Members Present: J. Cizewski (Graduate School-NB), P. Furmanski (Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs), M. Huang (Targum), P. Lamiell (University Relations), M. Manganaro (Douglass), B. Qualls (Vice President for Undergraduate Education), B. Rose (Associate Vice President for Student Affairs), K. Swalagin (Secretary)

1. Call to Order

Council Chairperson Jozef Kokini called the 154th meeting of the New Brunswick Faculty Council (NBFC) to order at 1:20 p.m. in the Cook Campus Center, Room 202ABC, Cook Campus, welcoming all present to the meeting.

2. Approval of the Agenda and Minutes

The day’s agenda, and the Minutes of the February 23, 2007 New Brunswick Faculty Council meeting, were approved.

3. Report of the Chair - Jozef Kokini

Chairperson Kokini noted that the agenda was a very full one, and that his report would be very brief.

Kokini recognized, and gave privilege of the floor to Professor Charles Sims, who has been a member of the NBFC since its inception, and who is retiring after 42 years at Rutgers. Professor Sims was given privilege of the floor, and spoke about his experience at Rutgers and with the NBFC, and of a few unresolved issues which he would like to see addressed by the council in the future, such as:

this questioning of the eed for evening courses on the New Brunswick Campus
revisions of the curriculum, and strong inertia for the old system
the exam period
fulfillment of reorganization’s promise to reconnect faculty with undergraduate students.

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

Executive Vice President Furmanski, noting that he had been asked to be brief because of the fullness of the day’s agenda, thanked Professor Sims for his service to Rutgers, then presented an administrative report, which included comments on:

the budget situation at the state level;
the university’s acknowledgement and acceptance of the University Senate’s resolution on the four-year rule, on accepting multi-year contracts for up to three years, and other elements [the Senate report is online at http://senate.rutgers.edu/fapcannuals.pdf];
the capital campaign and prioritization process; and
awarding of the Daniel Gorenstein Memorial Award to Professor Richard Falk of the Mathematics Department in New Brunswick.

Furmanski then responded to questions on subjects including:

the status of merger proposals;
tuition increases and caps; and
factors affecting out-of-state student enrollment.

5. Presentation on All Funds Budgeting – Jolie Cizewski , Acting Dean of the Graduate School-NB

Jolie Cizewski, Acting Dean of the Graduate School-NB, noting that Phil Furmanski and Nancy Winterbauer are the experts on the subject, presented information on All Funds Budgeting. The presentation and discussion began at 12:50 p.m. At 1:32 p.m., Robert Kubey’s motion to move on with the agenda was adopted and implemented.

6. Progress Report on the Douglass Residential College – Marc Manganaro, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Douglass College

Marc Manganaro, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at Douglass College, presented a progress report on academic restructuring related to transitioning of Douglass College to Douglass Residential College.

7. Progress on Transformation of Undergraduate Education – Barry Qualls, Vice President for Undergraduate Education

Barry Qualls, Vice President for Undergraduate Education, summarized progress on organization and operation of his office. An organization chart for his office was included in his handouts.

Martha Cotter then offered comments on admission statistics, including the status of applications as of March 29.

8. Resolution Related to the Role of the NBFC in Developing a Campus-wide Core Curriculum – Martin Gliserman

Kokini announced that an anticipated resolution on the role of the NBFC in developing a campus-wide core curriculum had been withdrawn by its authors.

9. Report on New Brunswick Campus Statistics and Trends Related to Tenured and Tenure-track Faculty, PTLs, and TA/GAs - Paul Panayotatos, Chair, Personnel Policy Committee

Paul Panayotatos, chair of the Personnel Policy Committee, distributed handouts related to, and summarized his report on, New Brunswick Campus statistics and trends related to tenured and tenure-track faculty, PTLs, and TA/GAs.

10. Report and Recommendations on Restructuring Proposals - Martha Cotter, Chair, Ad Hoc Committee on Restructuring Proposals

Kokini noted that the report and recommendations on restructuring proposals had been circulated to the council by e-mail, and that many members responded that they were comfortable with the report. He introduced Martha Cotter, chair of the Ad Hoc Committee on Restructuring Proposals, who then summarized and moved her committee’s report on the proposals. The NBFC adopted the report entitled Statement on Proposed Restructuring of the Public Research Universities as well as the following resolution:

Whereas, the New Brunswick Faculty Council (NBFC) is dedicated to the goal of bringing New Jersey public research universities, and Rutgers University in particular, into the top tier of public universities and believes that any restructuring of public higher education in the State must have the promotion of excellence as it primary goal, and

Whereas, the NBFC believes that a well-planned and well-supported restructuring that would unite the health sciences with the arts and sciences and other professions in a single research university would be a major step toward achieving our goal of moving to the next level of excellence, and

Whereas, the NBFC discussed at length proposals to merge all or parts of the State’s public research universities at its meetings of December 8, 2006 and February 23, 2007, and

Whereas, an ad-hoc committee of members of the NBFC Executive Cabinet prepared a statement on restructuring which represents the consensus reached at those meetings.

Therefore, be it resolved that the New Brunswick Faculty Council endorses the resulting Statement on Proposed Restructuring of the Public Research Universities and all the recommendations therein and requests the Chair of the Council to transmit the statement to Executive Vice President Furmanski, President McCormick, the University Senate, and the Chairs of the Rutgers Board of Governors and the Rutgers Board of Trustees.

11. Report from the Ad Hoc University-wide Committee on the Academic Integrity Policy - Brian Rose, Associate Vice President for Student Affairs

Brian Rose, Associate Vice President for Student Affairs, spoke about progress and principles related to development of a revised Policy on Academic Integrity. Rose had spoken to, and received feedback from, the council on this policy previously. Following his presentation, there was extensive discussion of the categories and processes for dealing with offenses.

[At 4:00 p.m., only 16 NBFC members were present.]

12. Resolution Related to Academic Integrity Policy - Robert Boikess, Chair, Academic Regulations and Standards Committee and Teaching Committee

A resolution on the Academic Integrity Policy which was to have been moved by Robert Boikess on behalf of the committee he chairs was tabled due to lack of quorum.

13. Old Business

Robert Kubey objected to the call for adjournment. He raised the issue of funding for the NBFC. There was some discussion of the history of, and support (both budgetary and staff) from the administration fo, the council.

14. New Business

There was no new business.

15. Adjournment

Lacking quorum, the meeting was declared adjourned at 4:23 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Ken Swalagin, Recording Secretary