University of Iowa
FACULTY SENATE

Tuesday, February 6, 2007
3:30- 5:15 pm
Senate Chamber, Old Capitol
MINUTES

Present: D. Asprey; J. Beckman; J. Carlson; D. D’Alessandro; D. Drake; G. El-Khoury; S. Fagan; R. Herman; B. Justman; C. Kletzing; J. Leddy; T. Loew; K. Marra; S. McGuire; F. Mitros; M. Noonan; F. Nothwehr; M. O’Hara; B. Plapp; L. Richman; C. Ringen; J. Sa-Aadu; T. Schmidt; K. Schuh; A. Sullivan; D. Thomas; T. Ton-That, W. Vispoel; J. Westefeld; J. Woodhead

Excused: D. Balderston; S. Birrell; A. Borreca; K. Brown; G. Bulechek; C. Catney; V. Dominguez; E. Dove; R. Fumerton; C. Green; P. Heidger; Y. Li; M. Maktabi; R. Martin; W. Sharp; L. Snetselaar; K. Southard; S. Vincent; W. Vispoel; R. Wachtel

Absent: L. Ayres; G. Bergus; A. Boezaart; A. Borreca; L. Boyle; M. Cohen; S. Collins; J. Cox; K. Culp; M. Donovan; D. Filios; T. Grabowski; V. Grassian; J. Heggen; G. Hope; M. Karwal; L. Lichtor; S. Lutgendorf; S. Moorhead; A. Morris; A. Poremba; L. Robertson; G. Russell; C. Thomas; B. Thompson; J. Tomkovicz; R. Tubbs; S. Wolfe; C. Woodman

Officers Present:  S. Kurtz; R. LeBlond; V. Sharp

Officers Absent:   J. Glass

Guests: A. Carinder (Student, SJMC); M. Carney (Student, SJMC); K. Casper (Student. SJMC); N. Corph (Student, SJMC); A. Cowell (Student, SJMC); M. Fluker (Student, SJMC); J. Gold (Student, SJMC); L. Heamiston (Cedar Rapids Gazette); S. Johnson (Office of the Provost); K. Knoll (Student, SJMC); L. Marshall (UI Foundation); M. Mann (Student, SJMC); K. McElroy (Student, SJMC); M. Nelson (Student. SJMC); A. Nosel (Student, SJMC); C. Orgren (Emeritus); E. Patterson (Student, SJMC); A. Shurson (The Daily Iowan); M. Streuts (Student, SJMC); A. Warner (Student, SJMC); M. Young (Council on Teaching)

I.  Call to Order – The meeting opened at 3:34 pm

President Kurtz welcomed senators to the first meeting of the Spring semester.

II.  Approvals

A.   Meeting Agenda- Professor Ringen moved, seconded by Professor Drake to accept the meeting agenda as presented.  There was unanimous approval.

B.   Faculty Senate Minutes: November 28, 2006 and Extraordinary Session, December 12, 2006 –There were no additions or revisions suggested to the two sets of minutes.  A motion was made by Professor Loew to accept them as presented; seconded by Professor O’Hara.  There was unanimous approval; the motion carried.

C.    Replacements (Victoria Sharp) 

  • A motion was made by Professor O’Hara, seconded by Professor Loew, to approve Sue Moorhead as the Nursing representative on Faculty Council in Gloria Bulechek’s absence during Spring semester 2007.  There was unanimous approval; the motion carried.

D.         Faculty Senate Elections, Richard LeBlond

Past President LeBlond announced the start of the Faculty Senate election process in the colleges of Business, Education, Dentistry, Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Medicine. He explained the three-part series from nominations through elections on the Senate, the Council and then with the election of Officers at the final meeting of the academic year. LeBlond read the number of vacancies for each of these colleges. He encouraged Senators to run for reelection if their first term was coming to an end and to galvanize interest amongst their faculty colleagues.

LeBlond acknowledged that the work of this body is sometimes routine, but as we have seen recently, it can also be very exciting. He wants to keep people engaged.  He added that he has learned over the six years of service that this is an incredibly important piece of the university’s business.

President Kurtz added that faculty governance is extremely important; it is important that we have good people to serve in the Senate, and it will have an increasing role with the new state governor.  He said that Governor Culver is interested in resuming the traditional role with us.  He has already extended an invitation to him.  Kurtz added that it behooves us all to get and stay involved.

II.  Guest Speaker:  Ms. Lynette Marshall, President, UI Foundation

Kurtz offered a warm welcome to a number of UI journalism students who attended today’s meeting. 

He introduced special guest Lynette Marshall, new President of the UI foundation, which does great works on behalf of the UI. 

Marshall thanked Kurtz for his introduction and said it was a pleasure and privilege to address the Faculty Senate in the Old Capitol. Good afternoon, pleasure and a privilege to speak in old cap.  She has been at the UI since August 2006 when she came from the University of Illinois. 

She described the current financial situation at the UI as the “best of times and worst of times”.  We have just successfully completed a billion dollar campaign, but her predecessor Michael New, the architect of the campaign, died last year.  He led the Foundation to this remarkable success. In addition to the $1 billion campaign, it was the 50 year mark of the Foundation.  During that time there had been only two presidents, Darryl Wyrick, who served for 37 years and was then succeeded by Michael New. 

She quoted from a document written by Loren Hickerson who hired Darryl Wyrick as the Executive Director of the UI Alumni Association in August 1958.  The document, titled “Notes on Old Gold” was written one year after the Foundation was chartered. In it, he spoke of gifts to the UI as being significant to the giver, to the university and to all who benefit. It is the business of the university to teach what is known, but it is also the business of the university to dream, be it a casual fancy or towering thing of depth and form. Conquering of cancer is such a dream or the achievement of a brotherhood of nations. It continued that a dream may be lost for want of substance to make it a reality.

Marshall said the UI Foundation serves as a dream merchant for the university; dreams of a faculty member researching macular degeneration, fluid dynamics of an engineer, or a writer’s first novel.

She added that she was particularly pleased to have attended the dedication of the New Art and Art History Building, Glenn Schaeffer Library at the Writer’s Workshop, and the renovation of Kinnick Stadium.

Marshall provided a brief synopsis of the capital campaign which was completed in December 2006:

  • Named faculty positions increased from 190 to 245
  • Presidential scholarships increased from 50 – 118
  • Foundation & university endowments increased to $832m; and most recently it is reported as $895m. She noted they are closing in on $1 billion.
  • Alumni participation has risen from 11.5 to 15%
  • Private support is being raised for14 new buildings and 419 new programs.

She commented that it costs $0.08 to raise one dollar.

Marshall cited the recent Dance Marathon where $880,000 was raised by 900 students dancing for 24 hours, bringing the total amount to $5.5m from student engagement on behalf of that very important cause.  She said she was incredibly inspired by that.

Marshall listed her goals for the next year, including: 

  1. Student engagement in philanthropy -  Marshall said it is her role to create leaders by sharing knowledge with students so they understand philanthropy in our communities, what role they can play, in the art museum or hospital, for example, and understand their contribution to their alma mater. 
  2. To make corporations understand why their help works here.
  3. Work with Deans to increase staffing. The UI Foundation has 45-50 officers, but needs more people sharing the UI story across the country.
  4. More focus on Chicago—as more and more students come to us from the greater Chicago area they will want to return there. Marshall said it is incumbent on us to have programs for them there.
  5. To reach the $1billion mark.
  6. To increase the endowment per student. 

Marshall said she was proud to speak to the faculty leadership from the Old Capitol which represents the legacy of the university, its governance and future.    She thanked Senators for the time they invest in service to the University of Iowa. 

The floor was opened to questions. Marshall was asked how much cash the Foundation has in the bank.  She was unable to give the deferred gift figure off the top of her head.

Marshall was asked how often universities undertake campaigns. She responded that it is usually every five years over a period of seven years, that is, seven years on, five years off.  

She was thanked for her presentation before senators.

III.   Reports

   A.   Faculty Senate President, Sheldon Kurtz

  • President Kurtz reported he heard from Professor John Solow that $250 was raised from the sale of “Radical Minority” pins which was contributed to the Crisis Center.
  • He noted that Senators Carlson and Sa-Aadu serve on the presidential search committee. He expects Dean Johnsen will keep us posted as best as he can.  On-campus interviews are still an open item; it hasn’t been finalized yet. Kurtz said we have a big semester to look forward to and hopefully on-campus interviews.

   B.   Council on Teaching amendments to the Ops Manual, Mark Young, Chair, Council on Teaching–

Proposed changes to Section 15.2 have already been approved by the Faculty Council. The suggested changes concern faculty office hours and increasing use of electronic communication. Further revisions had been suggested by CLAS.

Changes include:

  • Clarification of faculty office hours, in particular for those who teach online courses.
  • Request from CLAS to recognize that many faculty can make their syllabi on line. 
  • To add email address to faculty contact information.
  • Addition of a qualifier “if available” to recognize that some TAs do not have telephones. 
  • Recognition of the fact that there is no longer a printed General catalog. 
  • With increased use of electronic communication and increased potential for misunderstandings and expectations the suggestion is to insert into the syllabus a statement whereby faculty will disclose what kind of communication they will use. 

Professor Young explained there was some Faculty Council discussion consideration of privacy issues.  Faculty are encouraged to refer to the official university policy which suggests the use of standard UI email addresses.

If the Faculty Senate adopts these revisions, they will be forwarded to President Fethke to be approved before it goes into the Ops Manual.

He was asked for clarification about faculty response time, recognizing that students often expect immediate replies.  Young said the sense of the Council is that faculty should be explicit about this to avoid other expectations.  There is nothing to require faculty to respond via email, but they should state how they will communicate with students.

He was asked how many hours per week faculty are expected to offer office hours.  Young said the Council had discussed this and decided not to put specific restrictions on that.  Only CLAS mandates three hours per week. 

He was asked if it’s acceptable for email responses at any time.  Young said there had been discussion about substitution of email responses for office hours, but it was not felt that that this could be mandated at this time in the context of the Ops Manual. Faculty do need to be available at times, i.e., to provide signatures.

Concern was expressed about language in part 1 of the revision which says that those who teach online courses be able to use electronic communication implies that faculty on campus may not use electronic communication.  Of course those on campus may use electronic communication as well.                               

It was suggested that the sentence in Section 15.2.h be revised to read:  “Faculty teaching online courses, or those not located on campus, may use electronic communications in lieu of office hours.”

Professor Loew moved to approve the revisions with the addition of “in lieu of” in Section 15.2.h; Professor O’Hara seconded; there was a unanimous vote; the motion carried.

   C.   Revisions to Collegiate, Departmental and Program Reviews

Professor O’Hara briefly reviewed the proposed changes to Sections 28.2 and 28.3 of the Ops Manual, to make the language related to collegiate and departmental reviews parallel. Dean reviews have been put into its own section. He noted that the word “research” has been changed to “scholarly activity” throughout. These changes have the approval of the Committee on Faculty Policies and Compensation, the Faculty Council, and Vice Provost Pat Cain.

There is a new University wide policy on academic program reviews from the Provost.  There is a diverse committee overseeing that whole review process.  

Professor D'Alessandro moved, seconded by Professor Loew to approve and forward the changes to the President’s Office.  There was unanimous approval; the motion carried. 

   D.   Smoking Policy

Susan Johnson, Associate Provost for Faculty.  Dr. Johnson said she has made this presentation on countless occasions. It concerns the Smoking Policy recommendations that went forward to President Fethke in November, including a series of items that will go into effect in July:

  1. An increase perimeter around entrances and exits to take in account air intakes;
  2. to have the university apartments convert over to non-smoking over a 2-year period;
  3. and a discussion about on-stage exceptions when they might not be an acceptable alternative.  Faculty in CLAS are considering that recommendation.
  4. The biggest recommendation is for the whole campus to be smoke-free by July 2009.

Johnson expects to have a deal of discussion about the final item.  She said the committee has now been dissolved.

Johnson was asked if this policy applies to smokeless tobacco products.  It does not. The committee’s motivation was primarily about secondhand smoke exposure. The Health Sciences campus is in the process of creating a communication plan.

It was recommended that the smoking cessation education program include smokeless tobacco as well.  Perhaps the Health Science Deans should be petitioned on this question.

Discussion ensued whether Kinnick Stadium, the Field house and Law School are considered part of the west side Health Science campus. Johnson said there is some confusion about where smoking is allowed. The same issue will arise with the Iowa City community when the whole campus goes smoke-free.

Professor Loew moved; seconded by Professor Plapp, to endorse the final recommendations of the smoking cessation policy.  The motion was adopted with one dissenting vote.

   E.   Fund Solicitation, revisions to Ops Manual, Susan Johnson, Associate Provost for Faculty 

AP Johnson explained that one :one solicitation interactions between peers are allowed only during the two months when on-campus solicitation takes place and not within the public arena. The revisions were strongly supported by Provost Hogan and were approved by the Faculty Senate. 

Professor O’Hara moved; Professor Loew seconded, to approve Ops Manual revisions to the section on Fund Solicitation.  The motion carried by unanimous approval.

   F.   “Roads Scholar” program update – Professors Downing Thomas and Steve McGuire

This program, under the formal name of Iowa Engagement Corps, was introduced in May 2006, proposed on behalf of Faculty Senate, and approved by President Skorton.  Jane Van Voorhis was responsible for organization and planning. 

Last May, a group of faculty members traveled to points in western Iowa, with two aims:  (1) outreach to engage more directly with the people of Iowa; and (2) getting faculty members together from different colleges with a view towards faculty development programs.  There was a great response from communities in western Iowa.

This year, another trip to northeastern Iowa has been planned to Decorah on May 17-18, with a visit to Luther College for a meeting with alumni. 

Professor Thomas encouraged senators to volunteer to participate in the program and to promote the program amongst their colleagues. He added that they would like Provost Hogan and President Fethke to attend.

Professor McGuire said it was important for the university to have a face in the public. This program provides a positive experience for faculty. None of the faculty who attended the first time expected how well they would be received.  The goodwill continues to this day.

This year’s theme is a kind of Chautauqua. When the host communities were asked what themes they would like to discuss with UI faculty, they responded “the environment.”  McGuire hopes to identify faculty in engineering to speak to this.  He added they want an alumni story swap where alumni and faculty get to know each other.

Last year, faculty self-nominated towards the end to fill the bus, but this year, McGuire wants to identify terrific representatives from the start.  He asked for direct help from Kurtz and LeBlond.  He added that he hopes Faculty Senate Officers will be able to attend.

   G.   Performance Reviews:  Maureen McCormick, UI Learning and Development. 

One year ago, she became chair of a committee to look at performance review issues, to target the indicator directly related to this.  By 2010 she wants 100% participation.  They were also asked to look at the Ops Manual to make it more meaningful, and to create a communication plan. Susan Johnson clarified that this is applies to faculty in that they are often supervisors. 

Professor O’Hara thinks it’s a best practice not to couple annual salary reviews with the performance reviews.  One of the recommendations we make is to make it on the anniversary date.  Attention is focused on performance, and not the number they will get in June. It is a fairly decentralized process. 

Professor Kletzing said we should tailor different reviews rather than use generic ones.  McCormick referred senators to the Learning and Development website.  She wants to add to it, including templates about how to do the job well.  She asked people to send their recommendations to her.

VI.  Adjournment

The meeting closed at 5:06 pm

The next meeting of the Faculty Senate is scheduled for Tuesday, March 20, 2007, Senate Chamber, Old Capitol