Minutes of the Meeting of the University Committee
for January 21, 2003

Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 2:03 PM by Prof Peggy James, Chair. Present in addition were Profs John Buenker, James Kinchen, Donald Kummings and Gary Wood. Prof Gregory Mayer was excused. Also present was Prof Walter Feldt, Secretary of the Faculty and staff to the Committee.

Business

Secretary of the Faculty - Prof James advised the Committee that Prof Walter Feldt (Engineering) has accepted an offer of appointment as Secretary of the Faculty.

Upcoming UC Meetings - The Committee asked the Secretary of the Faculty to attempt to schedule a meeting of the Teacher Education Department (TEDU) Faculty with the Committee for Tuesday, January 28. The TEDU Chair requested this meeting. If scheduled, this meeting will begin at 2:30 PM.

Academic Actions Issues - Carried over from the fall, the Committee expressed a desire to meet Prof Thomas Fournelle, Theron Snell and Mary Power, all of whom are active in the Academic Actions arena. Two general concerns would be addressed.

(1) The role of student affairs personnel and information in the process of suspending and readmitting students for academic reasons.

(2) The implementation of the Course Add Policy (PSF 24/00-01), the Course Drop Policy (PSF 25/00-01) and the Withdrawal from the University Policy (PSF 26/00-01) have not been fully implemented.
Prof Feldt will try to set this meeting for February 11. [Postscript: This meeting has been arranged.]

Faculty Perception of the Performance of Senior Academic Administrators - The Committee intends to survey the members of the faculty concerning their perceptions of the performance of senior academic administrators. This has been done several times, somewhat irregularly, in the past.

Prof James has consulted with Chancellor Keating and Dean Cress concerning the questions to be used. She will meet shortly with Dean Wafa. The Provost will not be evaluated this year since she just started work here last spring. The results will be shared with those evaluated and a summary of the results will be posted to governance.

Prof Feldt will check to see if labels and printing can be arranged to allow for a February 14 return date for completed surveys.

Workload Policy Implementation - Prof James stated that the academic departments have until February 15 to respond to her request from last fall for details on how the departments are implementing PSF 11/95-96, titled Faculty Workload Principles.

It was agreed that the Committee would not make substantive judgments about the statements submitted, but that subcommittees would be created to review the statements before passing them on to the deans.

Prof Feldt agreed to remind the department chairs by sending them the original request via email. [Postscript: This has been done.]

Personnel Review Committee Appointments - In accepting the position of Secretary of the Faculty, Prof Feldt, along with Secretary of the Faculty Emeritus Duetsch and Prof James, concluded that it would be best if Prof Feldt resigned his position as a
member, and chair, of the PRC.

After considering previous election results, the Committee designated Assoc Prof Jamie Wang (Business) as a member of PRC and Prof Carole Vopat as a member of the Full Professor Subcommittee, replacing Prof Feldt who was a member of both groups.

It was further agreed to ask Prof Frances Kavenik to convene the PRC meeting scheduled for January 31 and to ask her to, at least temporarily, assume the duties of chair in order to appoint review subcommittees as called for in the PRC procedures.

Prof Feldt agreed to make the necessary contacts.

Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 3:30 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Walter T. Feldt
Secretary of the Faculty