Minutes of the Meeting of the University Committee
for August 30, 2003

 

The meeting was called to order at 2:05 PM by Prof Gary Wood, Chair. Present in addition were Profs Sylvia Beyer, Doug DeVinny, Susan Haller, James Kinchen and Paul Mohazzabi, members, and Prof Walter Feldt, Secretary of the Faculty and staff to the committee. Prof Greg Mayer, Chair of the Faculty Rights and Responsibilities Committee, 2003-04, attended at about 2:45 PM.

Business:

Vice Chair of the University Committee
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Prof Doug DeVinny was elected vice chair of the Committee and the Susan Haller agreed to act as an alternate, should Prof DeVinny not be available for service. The vice chair is also the UC candidate to chair the Senate.

Meeting Schedule
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By prior agreement, the regular meeting times for fall 2004 will be Tuesdays at 2:00 PM. The Committee will meet on specific Tuesdays with other Tuesdays held in reserve.

Faculty Representatives Meeting Report
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Prof Wood reported that he had attended a retreat meeting of the UW System Faculty Representatives held at UW-Superior on August 13-14.

He said that among items discussed were regularizing terms and elections of faculty representatives from the various campuses. He said that the practice on the campuses varied widely. The UC took the position that the current practice of having the UC Chair be the representative was best for UW-Parkside.

Faculty Governance Component for New Faculty Orientation
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It was agreed that there should be a governance presentation as part of the Fall 2005 new faculty orientation program. A 20 minute duration was suggested.

For this fall, it was agreed to invite new faculty members to attend a session with the University Committee on Tuesday, October 12, at 2:00 PM.

Prof Feldt agreed to prepare a handout for the event.

Report of the Ad Hoc Committee to Review the Tenure/Renewal Case of Lester McCann.
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Prof Wood briefly described the set of events that resulted in an Ad Hoc Review Committee (commonly known in the UWS as a Notestein Committee in recognition of the state legislator who introduced the exception which was subsequently adopted as state law) being created in the case of an appeal of Associate Professor Lester McCann.

Prof McCann had been denied tenure by the Department of Computer Science Executive Committee (CSEC). After a reconsideration, he appealed the decision of the CSEC to the Faculty Rights and Responsibilities Committee (FRRC). The FRRC upheld the appeal and remanded the case to the CSEC with instructions. The CSEC again denied tenure. The FRRC tentatively closed the case, but Chancellor Keating asked that it reconsider. Upon reconsideration, the FRRC asked the UC to create an Ad Hoc Committee under the provisions of UWPF 6.08(4). The UC appointed a committee consisting of three professors, one each from UW-LAX, UW-EAU and UW-PLT. The Ad Hoc committee met on August 24 and unanimously agreed to recommend tenure for Prof McCann. At Prof McCann's request, the meeting was open and attended by Profs Wood, Feldt and Stuart Hansen, new Chair of the CSEC.

The Notestein committee has filed its report. The Committee agreed to report this fact to the Chancellor and the FRRC. It was further agreed that the appeal was concluded and thus the work of the FRRC on this matter is concluded.

The Notestein committee recommendation will be forwarded to Dean Wafa of the School of Business and Technology. The Dean will ask the advice of the Personnel Review Committee (PRC) and then forward his recommendation to the Provost, who, in turn, will advise the Chancellor.

It was agreed that Prof Wood would act in place of the executive committee chair should the PRC have questions after an evidentiary meeting. He would forward questions raised, as appropriate, to either the CSEC, Prof McCann or the Notestein committee, with questions to Prof McCann and the CSEC being limited, as much as possible, to factual matters.

The Board of Regents (BOR) may only grant tenure if it has positive recommendations from the chancellor and the academic department or, under the Notestein exception, the Ad Hoc Committee. See http://www.uwsa.edu/gc-off/deskbook/tenure.htm.

Prof Mayer said that he would convene a meeting of the 2004-05 FRRC shortly to receive and file the report of the Notestein committee. Prof Feldt agreed to provide him with the updated membership list.

Next Meeting
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The next regularly scheduled meeting of the University Committee is scheduled for Tuesday, September 9, at 2:00 PM in Moln D135.

Adjournment:

The meeting adjourned at 3:00 P.M.

Respectfully Submitted,

Walter T Feldt
SECRETARY OF THE FACULTY & Professor of Engineering
Molinaro Hall D135
University of Wisconsin - Parkside
Kenosha, WI 53141-2000
262.595.2483 / 2384