Summary Minutes of the November 10, 2009 Faculty Senate Meeting

 

 

Chair Report

 

Chair Mark Lockhart reported to the Senate concerning:

 

  • State of the University address by President Garrison on October 22, 2009 by expressing appreciation for the address and summary of UAB breakthroughs.  The address is available at http://main.uab.edu/Sites/president/presentations/.
  • Senate officer’s discussions with Provost Capilouto concerning the selection process for the Interim Dean for the College of Arts and Sciences. Discussions included identification of issues and types of questions to include in the selection process. This process was a first time opportunity for Senate participation in the selection process for an interim dean position.
  • Provost Capilouto will present to the Senate at the December meeting concerning UAB budget information.
  • Athletic Advisory Committee has been scheduled for a presentation to the Senate in February 2010.
  • Topics identified at the October 2, 2009 Open Faculty Forum have been summarized to thirteen items; the listing of topics is being reviewed and summary statements as to action plan for each item and the compiled information will be made available to faculty via several channels of communication.
  • Attendance at the October Board of Trustees meeting in Tuscaloosa with reference to the institutional presentations by UA and the Chair of the Senate at UA; the UAB institutional presentation and Senate Chair report will be held in February on UAB campus.
  • Provost quarterly report for the last quarter as “no grievance committees formed, no termination for cause committees formed;” and for the first time reporting [as the Senate Executive Committee has requested] about the number of faculty cases under review by the UA System Ethics Hotline with three faculty cases reported as under review.
  • Chair Lockhart will attend meeting for an update on the salary and equity survey and the progress of the work by an external consultant to summarize data for UAB.
  • The School of Education Senate representative to the UPC will be Senator Retta Evans.

 

 

President Report

 

President Carol Garrison announced the following:

 

  • Appreciation to faculty for support of the UAB Homecoming events during the past week.
  • The announcement of the Interim Dean for the College of Arts & Sciences [CAS] will be released on November 10, 2009 and the plans for the search committee for the new dean will be announced by December 1, 2009.
  • UAB hosted a statewide Diversity Conference for Alabama universities with identification of best practices for continued support for the UAB core value of diversity.
  • Appreciation to Senate for attention to research concerns identified at the October 2, 2009 Open Faculty Forum and that the Board of Trustees did approve a new research system that will support the UAB research infrastructure.

 

 

Open Forum

 

Topics discussed during the open forum:

 

  • Questions were presented about the recent articles in news about UAB extension of health benefits to domestic partners as sponsored dependents. The questions were about criteria utilized to identify sponsored dependents and when was the announcement that there would be a benefit audit in January 2010.

-         President Garrison responded that she would contact HR and request that specific information be forwarded to Chair Lockhart that could be forwarded to the Senator asking the questions.

-         Information is available at these UAB HR/Benefits links:

      http://www.hrm.uab.edu/main/benefits/oe2009/2010%20Newsletter-final.pdf

http://www.hrm.uab.edu/main/benefits/oe2009/dependent_eligibility_audit.html

 

 

Faculty Policies and Procedures Committee (FPPC) Recommendations to Senate

 

Chair-elect Mark Hickson and Senate representative to the FPPC lead the discussion of the second reading of two recommendations/motions from the FPPC concerning these topics:

 

Topic # 1:  UAB Faculty Participation in Shared Governance

 

This recommendation was presented as an addition of a new section to be added to the UAB Faculty Handbook and Policies. The revised Section 1.2 Governance and Section 1.2.2 The University of Alabama at Birmingham shall include the following titled sections of text:

 

1.2.2.2             UAB Faculty Participation in Shared Governance

1.2.2.2.1          Faculty Representation and Participation on University-wide Committees

1.2.2.2.2          Faculty Representation and Participation on Academic or Departmental Unit Committees

1.2.2.2.3          Faculty Representation and Participation of Appointed Groups on University-wide, Academic and Department Unit Levels

1.2.2.2.4          Faculty Participation in Evaluation of University and Academic Administrators

1.2.2.2.4.1       Faculty Senate Supervised Evaluation of University and Academic Administrators

1.2.2.2.4.2       Faculty Participation in Administrator Evaluations Conducted at the Academic Unit or Departmental Level

 

The recommendation was approved by majority vote and will be forwarded to Provost Capilouto.

 

Topic # 2:  Ethics Hotline

 

Information about the UA System Ethics Hotline is available at http://www.uab.edu/ethics/.

 

This topic has been discussed by the Executive Committee, the FPPC and in meetings of the Executive Committee with President Garrison and Provost Capilouto. The current recommendation to be sent to the Provost is to obtain clarification regarding the process/guidelines for handling complaints against faculty [at UAB] and how faculty members are represented in this process. The recommendation contains specific questions to be addressed with feedback from the Provost to the Senate with a specific request for development of guidelines with faculty input for UAB. This recommendation was approved unanimously and will be forwarded to Provost Capilouto.

 

 

Curriculum and Research Committee Report

 

  • Chair Kay Clements reported that the committee met on Monday November 9, 2009 and discussed goals for the year, Senate interaction with UPC on proposed independently designed majors, QEP concerns, Faculty Development Grants Program and the responsibilities of members of the Senate and identification of strategies for improving communications with university-wide committees concerning topics of interest to the Senate’s Curriculum & Research Committee.

 

 

Faculty Affairs Committee Report

 

  • Chair Sue Kim reported that the IDEA department chair reports are being prepared for distribution to the chairs evaluated and to the affiliated dean. The comments are to be distributed only to the chair.
  • The response rates for the IDEA department chair process was that of 65 departments participating only 7 had response rates less than 60% with 2 of the 7 at less than 50%.
  • A communication with the chairs includes encouraging chairs to share a synopsis of survey results with constituent faculty and inclusion of possible actions to be taken if needed as a means of closing the feedback loop to the faculty.
  • Senator Tino Unlap will serve as the vice chairman for the FAC during 2009-2010.

 

 

Faculty Policies and Procedures Committee Report

 

  • Senate Chair-elect Mark Hickson as the Senate representative to the FPPC reported that the FPPC did not meet during October due to the fall break date conflict and that subcommittees have been working on various topics.
  • Subcommittee on Policies Review Processes includes a working group to examine the current contents of the UAB Faculty Handbook and Policies in perspective of needed revisions resulting from the December 1, 2009 implementation of the new online Policies and Procedures Library. This new library will be a central location for UAB policies and the changes in the Handbook will be to have links to the policies and original sources of information of specific concern to faculty with limited information if any in the Faculty Handbook. Additionally, the working group is reviewing handbooks from other universities to determine topics that should be considered for inclusion in the UAB Handbook such as merger policies and processes, dean and chair selection, job descriptions and reappointment processes. This work is ongoing and the goal is to enhance communication of relevant information to all faculty members.

 

 

Finance Committee Report

 

Chair Jeanne Hutchinson reported the following:

 

  • Interaction with the Commission on the Status of Women [CSW] with participants from the Senate and the FPPC and HR occurred on October 26, 2009. Two pending recommendations from the CSW have been reviewed as to status of approval/implementation and it was determined that these recommendations need to be reviewed by HR. The group requested HR to consider the development of a summary of information about current practices/benefits for maternity leave and be added to the currently available Leave of Absence folder. These recommendations will be followed with HR and Chair Hutchinson will work with the FPPC to have a subcommittee to review total benefit packages including maternity and parental leave at other universities. This work will expand the recent work by the FPPC and Senate approved recommendation concerning no changes to current benefits for vacation and sick time accrual. The Senate/FPPC will work with the Fringe Benefits Committee through Chair Hutchinson who is a member of the Fringe Benefits Committee.
  • The Finance Committee addressed the need for members of the committee to be better informed about the UAB budget process and the committee is recommending that the members be permitted to participate with the faculty development workshops directed to department chairs. Chair Hutchinson will present this topic to the Executive Committee for consideration and interaction with Dr. Peel.

 

 

Governance and Operations Committee Report

 

  • Chair Janelle Chiasera reported that the committee is continuing its review of the Senate Constitution and Bylaws.
  • Chair Lockhart reported to the Senate that the Executive Committee has communicated with President Garrison and Provost Capilouto concerning the impact of the new College of Arts and Sciences [CAS] on the structure and representation to the Senate. Until the new structure is finalized and for the upcoming spring 2010 election cycle the Senate will continue to use the current representative structure. The Senate will need time to rewrite the Constitution and Bylaws as needed and to implement a different election process once the CAS is defined as to terminology as to unit, departments, divisions or other terms. This topic will be addressed by the Governance & Operations Committee as the appropriate information becomes available to the Senate.

 

 

University-wide Committees with Senate Representatives Reports

 

  • Senator Jeanne Hutchinson as a Senate representative to the Undergraduate Programs Council [UPC] announced that the UPC will have Senate representatives on each of the three committees for the year including Academic Policies and Procedures (APPC) chaired by non-Senator Becky Trigg, the Articulation & Curriculum Committee (AAC) chaired by non-Senator Joe March and the Instructional Environment Committee (IEC) chaired by Senator Hutchinson.
  • Senator Annette Wright as the Senate representative to the Commission on the Status of Women reported that she will be working with the Child Care Center subcommittee and will be addressing the current benefits for UAB employees concerning sick child care.

 

 

Announcements

 

  • Next Executive Committee Meeting – November 18, 2009
  • Next Executive Committee Meeting with President and Provost – December 1, 2009
  • Next Senate Meeting – Administration Building Penthouse CR1 – December 8, 2009
  • Next FPPC Meeting – Administration Building Penthouse CR1 – November 20, 2009

 

 

UAB Faculty Senate – http://www.uab.edu/fsenate/home.html

 

 

Secretary Pat Greenup submits this draft summary of the minutes for distribution via eReporter with a more complete record to appear on the Senate page after approval of expanded minutes at the December Senate meeting. The minutes of the Senate and the Faculty Policies and Procedures Committee are posted on the Senate web page.