Academic Senate: MINUTES 03/20/2007

Present: Fr. William Beauchamp, Dr. Susan Baillet, Dr. Carol Dempsey, Dr. Karen Eifler, Dr. Jeff Gauthier, Dr. Chris Hallstrom, Dr. Angela Hoffman, Dr. Joanna Kaakinen, Dr. Ken Kleszynski, Dr. Lora Looney, Ms. Caroline Mann, Dr. Louis Masson, Dr. Terry Misener, Dr. Elise Moentmann, Dr. Marlene Moore, Ms. Tara O’Boyle, Ms. Megan Olmstead, Dr. Katie O’Reilly, Dr. John Orr, Dr. Peter Osterberg, Dr. Dan Pierce, Br. Donald Stabrowski; Dr. John Schouten, Dr. Zia Yamayee

Absent: Dr. Brian Adams; Dr. Jackie Waggoner, Dr. Bart Rylander

Invocation: The invocation was given by Dr. Marlene Moore.

Minutes of the February 20, 2007 senate meeting were accepted with two amendments.

Standing Committee Reports

Executive Committee: Dr. Jeff Gauthier gave the report. He deferred his time to the six items of new business.

Committee on Committees: Dr. John Orr gave the report. He reported that Dr. Dan Pierce will be chairing the Ad Hoc Committee on Computers and Telecommunications.

Committee on Rank & Tenure: Dr. Louis Masson gave the report. The committee continues to meet and deliberate.

Committee on Teaching & Scholarship: Dr. Carol Dempsey gave the report. Spring Butine awards have been made, and the decisions have been posted on the webpage and by hardcopy. The committee’s April meeting will focus on publishing a fiscal report for the Butine fund. Dr. Dempsey announced the faculty coloqium with Joanna Kaakinen as speaker on April 13. Plans for May faculty development day are underway and the program will be out the first week of April. Decisions on the teaching and scholarship awards are underway.

Committee on Faculty Welfare: Dr. Susan Baillet gave the report. Mr. Roy Heynderickx presented the university’s financial report to the committee, and will present it to the Senate April 17. Dr. Baillet urged senators to invite all faculty to attend the presentation of the university’s financial report. Also at the committee meeting, Mr. Jim Kuffner presented changes in the Kaiser health insurance coverage. Dr. Baillet announced that Kaiser representatives will be speaking to campus in informational meetings. In a brief summary of the changes to the Kaiser policy: premiums are up some, but coverage changes are minor.

Committee on Curriculum & Academic Regulations: Dr. Karen Eifler gave the report. Changes to the Biology curriculum were presented to the committee in the last meeting as a point of information. The committee voted in favor of Catholic Studies Minor proposal. The committee voted in favor of the revised Doctorate of Nursing Practice proposal.

Presidential Advisory Committee Reports

Committee on Student Media: Dr. Jeff Gauthier gave the report. The subcommittees are interviewing candidates for editors of the Beacon, the Log, and manager of KDUP.

Committee on Athletics: Dr. John Schouten gave the report. The committee has not met.

Committee on Health & Safety: No report was given.

Committee on Information Technology: Dr. Chris Hallstrom gave the report. The committee’s current work includes revising the current acceptable use policy to address phones and cameras in the classroom. Committee members are working on the final draft of the state of the web report.   A third-party email management has been adopted and is in use:  Ironport, a new hardware, will filter 100% of spam. Quarantine reports will be issued to each user to give us the opportunity to open blocked email. 

Other Reports

Fr. William Beauchamp: The president reported a 12 million gift to the Engineering building, and that other gifts to Engineering will be announced in future. President Beauchamp reported on the admissions process: 7100 applications have been received, and 4000 have been admitted. In fundraising this year, the goal was $850,000 but the university has already raised $960,000. Archbishop John Foley, who is the head of the Vatican’s communication office, will give commencement address. He announced to whom the university will bestow honorary degrees, and the Christus Magister medal. President Beauchamp responded to a question from the floor as to number of applications received last year: 6400.

Dean’s Report: Bro. Donald Stabrowski gave the report.The deans have met sporadically due to travel conflicts. Bro. Donald reported the success of the shuttle which transports campus members between the university and the Interstate Max station. He also urged campus members to take advantage of the Flexcar program. Bro. Donald reported that at the last deans’ meeting, Mike Walsh discussed theme houses to promote more of them in Haggerty and Tyson Halls. He announced that the Founder’s Day program is now available. Bro. Donald announced the process of choosing, which included interviews with candidates, this year’s Commencement Valedictorian: Ms. Chelsea Egbert.

ASUP:   Ms. Megan Olmstead gave the report. Funds raised will be used to improve indoor or outdoor seating for Cove. Decision underway as to the professor who will be asked to give a “last lecture” in the Last Lecture series organized by ASUP.

New Business

Amendment to the By-Laws concerning Senate Membership. A motion was made to accept proposal, followed by one question from floor as to changes to current Senate membership: CAS will lose a seat (from 11 to 10 members) and each professional school will have at least two. Proposal approved by a voice vote from floor. 

Catholic Studies Minor Proposal. Dr. Karen Eifler presented Dr. Peg Hogan who gave a brief presentation on the minor proposal. She explained that Catholic Studies is a growing trend in the nation and the West coast. She reported that the proposal was considered and researched for one year and included conversations with faculty. She added that a decision was made to stick with courses now present in the Bulletin. Dr. Matt Baasten gave a historical overview of the proposal: a request from ASUP was made in 2005 to teach more Catholic courses, and Theology responded in 2006-2007 with several more Catholic courses. Dr. Baasten then gave an overview of the minor’s requirements: PHL 150, already a university core requirement, plus 4 other upper-division courses from three different disciplines (eight disciplines will be available to choose from for upper-division coursework). Questions from floor included, why are 18 hours required for the minor? Dr. Baasten responded that all students take PHL 150, so really 15 hours are required for the minor. Other questions posed why PHL 150 not listed as a prerequisite, and referencing Dr. Robin Anderson’s letter, why is THE 457 not deleted as an elective, as recommended? Dr. Baasten explained that PHL 150 gives a historical basis for the minor, and it is directed at transfer students who may not have had it. An amendment from floor to take THE 457 from the minor proposal was approved. Another question included the reasoning for joint ownership of the minor by Theology and the GaraventaCenter. Dr. Hogan replied that the GaraventaCenter provides funding and a donor stream, while Theology provides an academic home. A final question for clarification for adding a new course was posed, especially the wording in the proposal, “to foster?” Dr. Hogan explained that a decision would be made between Dr. Hogan, Dr. Baasten, the faculty member to teach course, and the chair of the faculty member’s department. Catholic Studies Minor proposal passed by a voice vote from floor.

Amended Doctorate of Nursing Practice Proposal. Dr. Karen Eifler gave an overview of the revised proposal: the major changes to proposal included multiple entry points for the student entering the DNP program and a stronger financial presentation. Dr. Joanne Warner presented an overview of the revised proposal: faculty concerns were heard about recruitment and enrollment numbers for the DNP, hence the adoption of multiple entry points. Dr. Warner listed four faculty concerns: 1. Who else is offering a DNP? (15 schools last June were enrolling DNP students, as of now there are 27, and 150 schools are now preparing a DNP program; OHSU and UP will offer the only DNP programs in Oregon; the greatest difference with OHSU is that UP is a part-time program grounded in Catholic social values, and an integrative health approach; UP can be better compared to small, faith-based schools, and we want to be leaders in the growing DNP nationwide) 2. Will this shift resources away from our existing programs? (The DNP will be cost-neutral, revenue-generating, and not revenue-draining; in fact, the Nursing program will enroll a similar number of students as now; there are ample classrooms because Friday evening classes are held in the Nursing program) 3. Does your faculty mix compare with other schools? (We have a mix of doctorate-prepared faculty and master’s-prepared clinicians to support our practice-oriented program) 4. Why us? Is this a match? (We are in the right place at right time: the crossroads of a broken nursing profession and a movement towards healthcare reform; the care of the vulnerable population is the mission of the Catholic church, and this region is in need of a faith-based nursing program). Questions from floor included what will happen to the faculty phased out of the master’s program? Responses included that the Nursing faculty currently teaches across the program, and that Providence can help with the faculty shortage. Another question included if the program was revenue-neutral at 4 students, part-time, and the tuition cost? Responders explained that DNP students will pay six hours of tuition making the DNP program revenue-neutral at four part-time students. A recommendation from the floor was given to approve proposal: there is a Catholic healthcare professionals shortage, and Catholic universities founded on educating teachers and nurses. All the graduate degrees are professional at the university. The UP model has always been to support the undergraduate programs with graduate programs, which is the reverse on most campuses. It was reiterated that this proposal is a transition from the master’s to doctorate, not a new program. It was stated that Fr. Tyson wrote a recent letter to urge us to approve the DNP because it is in step with the mission. It was argued that the DNP improves and tightens our relationship with Providence hospital, and not to approve it could jeapordize this relationship.  The DNP proposal passed by a majority written vote.

Proposed Changes to Original Butine Principles of Distribution AND Procedures of Administration and Management of the Arthur Butine Development Fund.  Dr. Carol Dempsey presented the two proposals in a single context (later in the Senate meeting it was clarified that only the Procedures proposal is a Senate document, and hence can be modified by the Senate, not the Principles document which is original to the foundation of the fund): To support every single faculty member changes in allocation have to be made, especially to the summer stipend benefit, as not all faculty have opportunities to teach in the summer, and others have to teach in the summer.   Currently roughly 70% of the awards goes out to salaries. The fund entrusted to the university under the Provost, and the administration of the fund is delegated by the Provost to Committee on Teaching and Scholarship. The Provost can set up its own council to administer the Butine fund. Today’s proposal the fourth draft, and previous drafts included course release ideas. Carol explained changes to the Procedures document:   a stipend will be available at critical junctures in one’s professional career; a $5000 grant will be available for opportunities related to teaching or scholarship; Student Worker funding is available for research assistance, the meal cap raised to $35. Questions from the floor on the Principles document clarified that it is not subject to amendment by the Senate, and that the reasoning for eliminating stipend benefits from the Butine primarily to stop paying fringe expenses (taxes) on salary stipend grants. The chair ruled that the first motion to approve the Principles document was out of order, and the motion was made to approve the Procedures document. The paragraph on no Butine funding for sabbatical with exceptions was discussed on p. 8 of the Procedures document. A friendly amendment was passed to take out the paragraph of exceptions to Butine funding during sabbatical on p. 8. The critical juncture paragraph on p. 8 was also under discussion particularly the examples of third-year review because, it was stated, this is not early enough in a junior faculty’s career to support research and scholarship. A question included the reasoning of limiting the critical juncture grant to $3000, and a suggestion was made to offer an one-time stipend opportunity to junior faculty in the first or second year. The related point was made that summer teaching, to otherwise fund research, is not available to all junior faculty. Speaking for the Committee on Teaching and Scholarship, Dr. Dempsey stated that $3000 was a firm cap. The question was called, and a written vote was requested. The Procedures proposal passed by a majority.

ASUP Paper Reduction Initiative Proposal. Ms. Megan Olmsted presented the proposal: the resolution was already passed by ASUP; it encourages faculty to use the Print Shop and departmental budgets to make course packets, syllabi and other teaching materials. A suggestion from the floor was made to ASUP to amend the resolution to show the actual cost difference to the student between the electronic reserve (print quota) price and the Print Shop price for a single course packet, say. A suggestion was made to ask faculty to make course packets via the bookstore and publishing companies. The resolution was approved by a voice vote from floor. 

Adjournment: Meeting adjourned at 5:50 P.M.

Respectfully submitted,Lora L. Looney, Secretary to the Senate