Academic Senate: MINUTES 9/20/2011

I.     Call to order:  4:02 pm

II.    Announcements: None.

III.  Present:    Brian Adams, Jim Baillie, Ray Bard, Genevieve Brassard, Drew Harrington, Sally Hood, Aziz Inan, Kristin Johnson, Larry Larsen, Laura McLary, Kathleen McManus, Hillary Merk, Nick McRee, Stephanie Michel, Tamar More, Meike Neiderhausen, Dann Pierce, Rev. Stephen Rowan, Alex Santana, Karen Ward, Joanne Warner, Kaye Wilson-Anderson, Teri Woo. Absent: Rev. E. William Beauchamp, CSC , Mike Eom, Br. Donald Stabrowski, CSC

IV.  Invocation (Kathleen McManus)

V.   Approval of minutes from meeting from 19 April 2011

VI.  Standing Committee Reports:

   a.   Executive Committee, Dr. Larry Larsen

      1.   Committee met Sept. 6

      2.   Larry Larsen spoke with Br. Donald, who could not attend today’s meeting. Br. Donald spoke primary about the upcoming accreditation visit in October.

   b.   Committee on Committees, Dr. Genevieve Brassard

      1.   Committee met in May.

      2.   Committee reviewed surveys submitted by faculty expressing their committee preferences. The committee made appointment recommendations, which were forwarded to Fr. Beauchamp in June. 

      3.   The Committee for Assessment of the Core Curriculum and the Committee for the Institutional Research Board were created after recommendations had been submitted, so some people may have been asked to serve on more than one committee.

   c.   Committee on Rank & Tenure, Dr. James Baillie

      1.   Committee’s work is continuing.

   d.   Committee on Teaching & Scholarship, Dr. Aziz Inan

      1.   Committee will meet on Monday.

      2.   The Butine announcement has appeared in the UpBeat; two Butine workshops were held last week. According to the Controller’s office, $43,610 will be available for Butine funds this fall (this amount may increase due to money left over from last year). For spring, $6,230 is available for Butines. 

      3.   Aziz Inan is continuing to work with the Controller’s office to determine amounts available for the Butines and how they will be distributed.

      4.   Aziz Inan is checking with last year’s committee chair to obtain a copy of the Butine Checklist, which will be posted to the Teaching & Scholarship web site. Other Butine documents on the web site have already been updated; contact Aziz Inan if you have any questions.

      5.   People who received a Butine last year need to submit a Butine Post Funding Form; the Post Funding Form is available on the Teaching and Scholarship web site, and is due this month.

   e.   Committee on Faculty Welfare, Dr. Laura McLary

      1.   Committee met on September 19.

      2.   Focus of meeting was information from visitors:

         a)   Bryn Sopko and Carol Welch from Human Resources presented several updates:

            (1) FlexPlan Services will be visiting campus to provide information about the flexible spending account. As a reminder, there is a 75-day grace period after the start of the year to spend any remaining money from the previous year. 

            (2) Human Resources is working on a template that could be filled out by your doctor’s office so that over-the-counter medications such as Advil could be covered by the Flexible Spending Account (a doctor’s prescription is needed for these items to be covered).

            (3) Kaiser Permanente is creating a micro-site tailored to UP needs. 

            (4) Human Resources is working with Kaiser Permanente to resolve issues with bills that have been difficult to understand.

            (5) A new wellness initiative, Thrive Across America, is starting October 3. This initiative encourages people to get active; people can join teams and complete with others across the country.  

         b)   Alan Timmins, the new Vice President for Financial Affairs, also visited the meeting: 

            (1) Alan Timmins described his background and how he came to UP. 

            (2) He sought input from faculty about topics of interest for his annual report to the Senate in spring. 

            (3) Discussed ideas for making the p-card process and statements more user-friendly.

   f.    Committee on Curriculum & Academic Regulations, Dr. Brian Adams

      1.   Committee will meet next week to consider two proposals from the College of Arts and Sciences.

VII. Presidential Advisory Committees:

   a.   Committee on Student Media, Dr. Kaye Wilson-Anderson

      1.   Committee has not met.

   b.   Committee on Athletics, Dr. Alex Santana

      1.   Committee will meet next week.

   c.   Committee on Health and Safety, Dr. Sally Hood

      1.   Committee met last week. (Committee meets monthly).

      2.   At the last Senate meeting the committee asked for feedback about fire drills. Sally Hood brought the concerns raised by Senate to Jeff Rook for his consideration. Jeff Rook will schedule fire drills for each building. Each building will have one or two building safety managers who will receive some training; building safety managers will be notified before fire drills take place. 

   d.   Committee on Information Technology, Dr. Teri Woo

      1.   Committee has not met.

   e.   Committee on Sustainability, Dr. Hillary Merk

      1.   Committee will meet Wed. Sept. 21.

VIII.       Other Reports:

   a.   Fr. William Beauchamp

      1.   Not present.

   b.   Dean’s Meeting (Br. Donald Stabrowski)

      1.   Drew Harrington reports that the Deans have not met recently due to other conflicts.

   c.   ASUP (Kristin Johnson)

      1.   The Executive Board will be implementing several changes, including:

         a)    Advantage (TV) screens, currently used in dorms, will be installed in several academic buildings to increase communication with students.

         b)   Elections are taking place; the polls are open until tomorrow. Please encourage students to vote.

IX.  New Business:

   a.   None.

X.   Announcements:

   a.   The Senate Executive Committee will meet October 4. Notify Larry Larsen of any business for this meeting.

   b.   The next Senate meeting will be October 25 (after Fall Break). 

XI.  Adjournment: 4:17pm

Note: All members of the University community are welcome to attend any meeting of the Academic Senate. The meetings begin promptly at 4:00 pm .