Minutes of the Special Meeting of the Faculty
for February 12, 2009
PSF 36/08-09

At the request of Interim Chancellor Lane Earns, the UW-Parkside Faculty met on Thursday, February 12, 2009 in Molinaro Hall room 107.

Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 3:35 p.m. by Chancellor Earns.  Faculty members attending were Fay Akindes, Simon Akindes, Jeff Alexander, Lori Allen, Rob Barber, Joe Bergeron, Ami Bouterse, Suresh Chalasani, Tsun-Mei Chang, Terry Chi, Norm Cloutier, Herb Colston, Linda Crafton, Laura Gellott, Kate Gillogly, Dennis Kaufman, Farida Khan, Traci Lee, Mary Lenard, Mike Manion, Alex McNair, Marcelo Milan, Bill Miller, Megan Mullen, Dennis Rome, Ed Schmitt, Scott Thomson, Adrienne Viramontes, Ed Wallen, Gary Wood, Rizvana Zameeruddin and Will Zheng.  Others attending included Director of Institutional Research Bill Blanchard, Dean Donald Cress, Interim Associate Provost Doug DeVinny, Assistant to the Chancellor for Equity and Diversity Eugene Fujimoto, Interim Provost Jerry Greenfield, Assistant to the Dean Bryan Lewis, Assistant Dean Kelly McFatter, Senior Lecturer Randy McKee, and Director of the Teaching and Learning Center Jim Robinson.

Approval of Minutes

 

The minutes of the October 29, 2008 faculty meeting (PSF 13/08-09) were approved as distributed.

Old Business

There was no old or unfinished business.

New Business

A motion was on the floor to move to a committee of the whole to discuss matters of general interest according to UWPF 1.04(3).  The motion passed unanimously on a voice vote.  University Committee Chairperson Dennis Rome chaired the committee of the whole discussion. 

Professor Rome noted that a number of faculty members at the Assistant Professor level were in attendance and have been active in University Governance activities and thanked them for their participation. 

Report on Strategic Planning Process – Interim Provost Jerry Greenfield

A kickoff meeting for the strategic planning process was held on January 26.  The strategic planning leadership team met for the first time on February 9.  There is a link to the strategic planning web page on the Chancellor’s home page.  Information about the process including a list of members of the leadership team can be found on the site.  The site may also be used to communicate with the leadership team.  Interim Provost Greenfield stated that he was initially skeptical about the proposed five month timeline for this process, but judging from the initial meetings this now seems quite realistic.  The group has already begun to focus on UW-Parkside’s unique characteristics and is working on a new mission statement.  Subgroups will be identified at next meeting to work on other specific items. 

Professor Rome added that the initial meetings have been very good.

Professor Wood asked if the planning process would go so far as to address individual programs.  The Provost replied that the process would generally not reach that level of detail but there will be an attempt to identify signature programs.  The Chancellor added that the principles of the plan will be used for future analyses of programs and departments and when the Higher Learning Commission reaccreditation review occurs we need to be doing assessment based on the strategic plan.

Professor Gellott added that she is impressed with the consultant.

Report on the Budget – Interim Chancellor Lane Earns

Governor Doyle has rescheduled his budget address for February 17, presumably awaiting the details of the federal stimulus package.  The house version of the federal stimulus bill would be better for higher education than the senate version.  Governor Doyle has been working with UW-System President Reilly.  The state legislature supports the UW-System growth agenda.  The Governor’s budget will most likely maintain support for higher education to the extent that it can.  The cut to the UW-System budget will likely be smaller than the cuts to the budgets of other state agencies.  It is expected that UW-Parkside will receive funds for building and maintenance projects but probably not for new construction.

Professor Khan asked what types of expenditures are likely to be approved.  The Chancellor replied that we have a ten year list of projects but couldn’t predict how much of it would be funded.

Professor Rome added that the Chancellor has assembled a task force on budget reduction which includes Norm Cloutier and Peggy James. 

 

Report on the Chancellor Search and Screen Process – Committee Member Gary Wood

 

Professor Wood reported that the Chancellor Search and Screen Committee has met with two sitting or previous Chancellors, Richard Wells from UW-Oshkosh and Donald Mash, former Chancellor of UW-Whitewater to discuss their perspectives on the qualities of a good chancellor and the workings of search and screen committees.  The committee will being to review applicants during the last week in February and will meet to select semifinalists on March 12.  Approximately 40 applications are anticipated.

Professor Fay Akindes asked the Interim Chancellor if he intended to apply and he said that he did.

Dean Cress asked if any of the recommendations from the report by Steven Portch were being implemented.  The process for selecting a search firm was more rigorous, a UW-System representative (Don Mash) will serve on all search committees and the members of the Regents special subcommittee will be directly involved in the on-campus interviews of the finalists. 

Professor Gellott asked if committee members or UW-System representatives would visit the home campuses of the finalists.  This will most likely not be done, mainly due to privacy issues.

Professor Manion asked if support of a majority of the committee would be required to place a candidate on the list of semifinalists.  Professor Wood answered yes.

Discussion of Sabbatical Policies and Procedures – University Committee Chair Dennis Rome

Professor Rome noted that there was some dissatisfaction with the last round of sabbatical proposal review.  He noted that whatever review process we use must be consistent with the UW-System guidelines.

Professor Khan asked about the importance of the post-sabbatical reports.  Nobody knew the answer to this question.

Professor Rome noted that the University Committee did not run a workshop for sabbatical applicants last year and assured the group that this year it will.  He also stated that the procedures will be clarified and that applicants will receive feedback to assist them in improving their proposals.

Don Cress said that there was some concern about the composition of the review committee in relation to which proposals were selected; notably, there was no representative from the School of Business and Technology.  The Senate may wish to revisit the composition of this group.

Professor Barber noted that the review process needs to be more transparent.  Nobody knew who sat on the review committee and the sabbatical recipients were never announced.

It was noted that even though the number of applicants was down form previous years, still only one half, three out of six, were approved.

Professor Gellott asked if it is still the case that a full year sabbatical carries a 35% salary savings and noted that there has often been a perception of bias toward those proposals because they are easier to fund.

Professor Mullen asked why the names of the sabbatical recipients had not been made known.  Nobody seemed willing to answer this question other than to say that is what has been done (or not).

There was general consensus that the committee of the whole wishes to report the following items.

1.  The process for reviewing and approving sabbatical procedures needs to be clear, fair and transparent.

2.  Sabbatical recipients should be formally recognized, or at least announced

Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 4:42.

Submitted by,

Gary M. Wood, Secretary of the Faculty