The Arts and Sciences Council (ASC), September 23, 2019, 3:30-5:00, UMC 247
Meeting Minutes
Representatives present: Daniel Appel枚, APPM; Tania Barham, ECON; Barbara Buttenfield, GEOG; James Cowell, LING; Fran莽oise Duresse-Stimilli, AAH; Erica Ellingson, APS; Michaele Ferguson, PSCI; Gerardo Gutierrez, ANTH; Lew Harvey, PSYC; Peter Hunt, CLAS; Daniel Jones, HNRS; Dan Kaufman, PHIL; Robert Kuchta, BCHM; Angelica Lawson, ETHN; Ramesh Mallipeddi, ENGL; Matt McQueen, IPHY; Christina Meyers-Denman, SLHS; Stephen Mojzsis, GEOL; Cecilia Pang, THDN; Lonni Pearce, PWR; 聽Roger Pielke, ENVS; Patricia Rankin, PHYS; Evelyn Shih, ALC; David Stock, EBIO; Tim Weston, HIST; Annje Wiese, HUMN; Ding Xue, MCDB; Masano Yamashita, FRIT; Mike Zerella, RAPS
Representatives not present:聽Tanja Cuk, CHEM; Juan Herrero-Senes, SPAN; Leslie Irvine, SOCY; Alison Jaggar, WGST; Berit Jany, GSLL; Julie Lundquist, ATOC; Hanna Shell, CINE; Rob Tubbs, MATH; Rebecca Wartell, JWST; Deborah Whitehead, RLST
Ex-officios: present:聽Roshanne Ebrahimian, SAC; Robert Ferry, BFA; Melynda Slaughter, SAC; Kristy Tiampo, GEOL
Also in attendance: Jenny Schwartz, PSYC; Jim White, A&S
The meeting was called to order at 3:30 p.m.
Chairs remarks, Stephen Mojzsis
Stephen Mojzsis welcomed the assembled representatives to the first ASC meeting of the academic year and introductions were made.
Given the likelihood of a college restructure as well as the University鈥檚 Accreditation self-study being underway, the ASC meetings are increasingly important.聽Mojzsis asked the representatives to think about what faculty governance should look like; the ASC has historically been a unit that reacts to administrative decisions that affect the professional lives of all faculty.聽Is the ASC able to go beyond this role and become more proactive?
The Faculty Advisory Board to the Academic Advising Center is meeting.聽This is a new group encouraged by Dean White and endorsed by the ASC.聽This group will report to the ASC at the end of the semester.
Mojzsis is a member of the Provost鈥檚 Faculty Governance Committee.聽He is currently meeting with department faculty to help explain the role of the ASC.聽Mojzsis also meets monthly with Dean White and he will be meeting with the divisional deans.
Dean鈥檚 remarks, Jim White
Dean White spoke of the College of Arts and Sciences聽goals for the academic year:
The Dean鈥檚 Office is interested in solving organizational problems before the reorganization.聽The floor was opened to discussion.
Standing Committee updates
The Diversity Committee hasn鈥檛 met yet.聽They expect to be continuing last year鈥檚 work with the Curriculum Committee; reviewing courses that satisfy the Gen Ed diversity requirement and working on diversity and inclusivity statements for new hires.
The Budget Committee has met, once in the summer and a meeting in the fall.聽Ann Schmiesing and Carla Ho-a were guests at the recent meeting. The Budget Committee is working to improve transparency, encourage productive dialog with the campus, increased understanding of the base budget and clearing up the confusion over course fees.聽Committee chair Patricia Rankin welcomed questions from faculty.
The Planning Committee hasn鈥檛 met yet; last year was spent working with Academic Advising.聽The committee plans to meet with Dean White and Mojzsis to discuss possible areas of focus.
The Curriculum Committee has met and reviewed business left over from last year.
The Personnel Committee starts meeting next week.聽There is a heavy load of cases this year.聽Committee chair Kristy Tiampo is visiting departments to discuss the reappointment, promotion and tenure process.聽The process is now paperless.
The Online Education and Technology Committee hasn鈥檛 met yet.聽The committee expects to address online teaching as part of the regular teaching load and departmental and Curriculum Committee review of online courses.聽
The assembled representatives discussed faculty responsibilities over curriculum and pedagogy.聽Mojzsis proposed the Online Committee consult with the Curriculum Committee and discuss possible policies to propose.
Proposal: ASC form an ad hoc committee "Faculty Affairs"
Mojzsis would like an ad hoc committee to form dealing with the implementation of the Instructor Task Force recommendations; many of which don鈥檛 apply solely to instructors but also to tenure track faculty and lecturers.聽As there were no objections from the representatives, Mojzsis will invite Rolf Norgaad and Jenny Knight from the Instructor Task Force to make the case for the new committee.
Proposal: Ad hoc committee to implement the College鈥檚 Strategic Plan
In April 2019, the Strategic Plan was endorsed by the ASC.聽Mojzsis proposed the ad hoc committee that was outlined in that report, also report to the Provost鈥檚 Faculty Governance, Budget and Structure Committees for the purpose of reminding them to consider the College鈥檚 Strategic Plan in their deliberations.
Proposal: Ad hoc committee to explore the role of Lecturers in the College and their relationship to the goals of the college鈥檚 Strategic Plan
In the end of the 2018/2019 academic year, the ASC endorsed the Instructor Task Force Report.聽In this report, lecturers were mentioned and lecturers attended the final meeting.聽Mojzsis would like to form a task force that will explore the role of lecturers and their relationship to the College鈥檚 Strategic Plan.聽Many lecturers feel underrepresented and work under very temporary conditions.聽Mojzsis would like to task the committee to gather data, e.g., how many lecturers are in the college, how long they鈥檝e been in their departments, how many classes they teach.
Dean White said there are lecturers who teach 6-8 courses a year and should be instructors.聽There are costs to that transition as full time instructors are eligible for benefits; the Dean鈥檚 Office is identifying those costs.
Some lecturers are happy with their situation and others not; it is important to speak directly to lecturers and find out how many would prefer a more permanent situation.聽After information is gathered the committee would report to the ASC.
Looking ahead
Mojzsis asked the ASC if the new University of Colorado President Mark Kennedy should visit an ASC meeting.聽All such requests go through the Chancellor鈥檚 Office.聽There were no objections to asking President Kennedy to attend a meeting so Mojzsis will contact the Chancellor鈥檚 Office. The goal of this visit will be to let the President know the College of Arts and Sciences聽takes faculty governance seriously.聽
Council invited to be heard.
In December the Provost will take the three聽recommendations from the Provost鈥檚 committees and has given the impression that he will only refuse recommendations if they are too costly.
The meeting was adjourned 4:53
Minutes submitted by Janice Jeffryes and approved 10-3-19.