Nov.5, 2007 Faculty Senate Minutes Summary
December 5, 2007
I. Roll – The following senators were absent: Afolayan, Barcelona, Calculator,
Dowd, Hamlin, Kaen, Park, Tenczar, Walsh, and White. Excused were Barrows,
Graham, and Nimmo. The Student Senate observer was a guest.
II. Remarks by and questions to the chair – The senate chair welcomed
the Student Senate observer to the Faculty Senate, in accordance with the Faculty
Senate motion of 9/13/04. Tentatively the Faculty Senate will host a potluck
supper for the Student Senate on December 3, just after the Faculty Senate
meeting. The graduation rate for student athletes was five percent greater
than for all undergraduates at UNH, and that ranks among the best in the National
Collegiate Athletic Association. Mimi Becker and the senate chair will meet
soon with Alan Ray and Leigh Anne Melanson to discuss the field trip guidelines.
Regarding concerns that the Liberal Arts Dean Search Committee should have
a chair or co-chair who is a Liberal Arts faculty member not serving in a major
administrative role, the provost has told the senate chair that the provost
has heard the faculty concerns and will take them into serious consideration,
when he finalizes the structure of the search committee later this week. Also
the search for a new dean of the UNH Library is having an on-campus visit by
the fourth candidate and an open forum on 11/8/07 at 2:00 p.m. in the library.
III. Minutes – The senate unanimously approved the minutes of the last
Faculty Senate meeting.
IV. Motion one from the Academic Affairs Committee – The senate’s
Academic Affairs Committee investigated and arrived at two findings concerning
the process involved in the selection and implementation of the tuition-based
model for financing managed study abroad programs. The first finding is that
the tuition-based model became the de-facto policy without prior consultation
with the directors of the managed study abroad programs. The second finding
is that interactions between program directors and administrators focused on
how the new policy could be implemented rather than on whether the model should
be implemented. Therefore, the senate’s Academic Affairs Committee made
a motion that “a minimum guideline for shared governance concerning new
policies is that the process should begin with collaborative discussion of
the problem, initiative, and/or issue that needs addressing and/or a remedy.
Affected and appropriate faculty should be involved at this initial stage.
The senate leadership can assist administrators with identification of affected
and appropriate faculty to implement this guideline.” This motion and
also its rationale were originally presented at the previous senate meeting
and held over so that senators could have time to consider the motion and consult
with their colleagues. Today the motion passed with thirty-two ayes, no nays
and one abstention.
V. Motion two from the Academic Affairs Committee – The senate’s
Academic Affairs Committee made a motion that the Office of the Provost provide
a proposal explaining how procedures for shared governance will be incorporated
in the process of analysis, review, and implementation of the tuition and fees
policy for study abroad programs. Earlier, after many faculty expressed concern
about the tuition-based model for financing managed study abroad programs,
there was an administrative decision to view the now current policy as an experiment
that will be reassessed after a three-year trial period, which is now in its
second year. An integral part of this experiment is the identification and
evaluation of procedures for effective shared governance.
A senator expressed concern that the financial policy change made by the administration
might cause some of the academic programs to fail before the three years are
up. The chair of the Academic Affairs Committee said that the administration
has indicated that it will mitigate the financial impact on the programs which
are negatively affected by the policy change. The head of the study abroad
program to London said that his program is now running a deficit of $36,650
per semester and that it is his understanding that, although the College of
Liberal Arts would cover that debt, the London Program would later have to
pay back the college. Some senators said that it is unconscionable that either
the college or the program should have to be strapped with a big debt incurred
because of a decision made in the provost’s office and that the decision
was made with a lack of shared governance. Even if the money were to be refunded
to the program, student decisions to join or not join a program will be affected
by the higher or lower costs instituted by the new policy; and therefore the
new policy could steer students away from certain study abroad programs and
also away from certain majors which require those study abroad programs. Many
faculty want better communication with the financial staff so that they will
understand the academic priorities better. Some professors said that, because
there is good reason to be concerned about those academic programs, the senate
should consider a third motion to accelerate the policy review before students
apply for next year. Are there legal issues involved in this matter? Motion
two passed with thirty-seven ayes, no nays, and two abstentions.
VI. Liberal Arts deans search – David Richman said that last week the
Agenda Committee became aware that the provost was making a decision about
the composition and chairs of the search committee for a new dean of the College
of Liberal Arts and that the intention was apparently to have as co-chairs
a college dean and an institute director. The Agenda Committee believes that
the committee should be chaired or co-chaired by a senior Liberal Arts faculty
member who does not have a major administrative role. David Richman has requested
input from many members of the college, including all of the faculty senators
from Liberal Arts. He received forty responses, and all agreed with the Agenda
Committee. The senate chair then communicated with the provost who indicated
that he had heard and would be cognizant of this concern. Today David Richman
moved and Mimi Becker seconded that the Faculty Senate chair, on behalf of
the Faculty Senate, send the following letter to the provost with a copy to
the president. This motion gives the Faculty Senate chair and the Faculty Senate
coordinator full authority to edit the letter and to make any stylistic modifications
they deem necessary.
Dear Provost Mallory:
The Faculty Senate has recently learned of your apparent choice of co-chairs
for the Dean of Liberal Arts search. We understand your decision to balance
the chair responsibilities with a dean and a Center director. Yet we note with
great discomfort that no one from the faculty of Liberal Arts appears to be
co-chairing this search. It seems to us that a senior faculty member in the
Liberal Arts, possessed of considerable institutional memory and a profound
nuanced understanding of the liberal arts and their associations with teaching
and learning, would best meet the responsibilities of co-chair. A Liberal Arts
faculty member who serves as co-chair carries the tacit imprimatur of the faculty
as one who can speak for that faculty as well as the university.
Our concern is not with the individuals you chose as co-chairs. We are concerned
with our reduced voice in the search committee and with the apparent lack of
shared governance in the process. The Liberal Arts Faculty, best represented
by their chairs and coordinators, should, we think, play a decisive role in
determining the leadership and composition of the search committee for dean
of the college.
In many ways, the selection of a dean as a co-chair is predicated on the central
administration's need on the search committee for perspective of administrative
practices at UNH and is similar to the faculty's need to have someone with
knowledge of how liberal arts are conceptualized and taught at UNH. While a
co-chairing dean or director looks to the fit within the administration of
the candidate, a faculty member looks for fit with the college, its departments
and programs. In the current case, the situation is further complicated by
the relative newness to UNH of the deans.
The college faculty is closest to the action in the college and, therefore,
should be closest to the action of selecting the new dean.
The Faculty Senate leadership is most willing to discuss this matter with
you and to work with you in finding a solution in which the concerns of the
parties are effectively addressed. We look forward to such a discussion before
the membership of the Liberal Arts Dean's Search Committee achieves its final
form.
A senator said that this matter is a shared governance issue and is not related
to the individuals involved. Another senator noted that the search committee
for the current Liberal Arts dean was chaired only by a senior teaching faculty
member from Liberal Arts, and the senator asked why there should be a dean
as co-chair now. The institute director who was intended as the co-chair of
the current search committee has a joint appointment in Liberal Arts and in
Health and Human Services. Professors said that the letter should state both
that this search committee should be chaired or co-chaired by a senior faculty
member who does not have a major administrative role and also that this criterion
should be used not only in the current search but also when selecting future
chairs for search committees for deans of any college. A senator said that
for many years he has been concerned about the composition of search committees,
because the administration chooses the members; and he believes that faculty
would be better off with a more representative method of choosing the search
committee members. The provost had asked the department chairs in Liberal Arts
for suggestions for the current search committee members. However, many of
those department chairs also said that the search committee should be chaired
by a senior teaching faculty member of the college, with no major administrative
role. Therefore, this is a matter of shared governance.
Some senators suggested removing the last sentence in the third paragraph
of the letter, in order to avoid discussion about the relative newness of the
dean chosen as co-chair, since that is an extraneous issue. Professors also
suggested removing the second sentence in the first paragraph, since many faculty
believe that the committee should be chaired solely by a senior teaching faculty
member from the college. However, some other senators could see reasons for
having a dean as co-chair. Since the announcement of the committee chair or
co-chairs may be made soon, it is important to pass the motion and send a letter
to the provost within a short period of time. The motion gives freedom for
the senate chair and senate coordinator to modify the language of the letter.
The mover of the motion suggested that the senators should trust the senate
chair to consider the senate’s concerns and then edit the letter appropriately
and send it promptly to the provost, with a copy to the senators. After a discussion
of criteria for a motion of no confidence, the senate passed the original motion
with thirty-five ayes, no nays, and two abstentions.
VII. McNair Graduate Opportunity Program – Cesar Rebellon said that
he serves as the Senior Faculty Advisor for the McNair Graduate Opportunity
Program on campus. The program seeks to provide eligible students from disadvantaged
backgrounds with assistance in getting research experience and applying to
graduate programs. The director of the program, Antonio Henley, asked him to
disseminate information about the program to the faculty senate, to assist
in recruiting undergraduate students. A new McNair student orientation is scheduled
to take place on Saturday, November 17th. Students who have not yet applied
but who are interested in knowing more about the program should contact Antonio
Henley at 862-0087 or at antonio.henley@unh.edu about attending this meeting
as a way of learning more about the program and how to apply. Faculty may pass
on the McNair website address, http://www.unh.edu/mcnair/index.html, to any
students that they feel might be eligible for and interested in the McNair
experience, as a way of strengthening their prospects for getting into the
graduate program of their choice. It is preferable for students to be in their
sophomore or junior year to apply. Also, faculty members are asked to add their
contact information to the McNair faculty contact database. That takes about
thirty seconds to do and in no way commits a faculty member to be a mentor
at any point in time. Rather, this simply gives the McNair Program a sense
of who might be interested, to facilitate contacting faculty members about
their availability in the future. Faculty interested in the McNair Program
can access the database and provide their contact information at the following
website: http://www.unh.edu/mcnair/faculty-info.html. If faculty have questions
or suggestions about the McNair Program, they are welcome to contact Cesar
Rebellon directly. Please share the information about the McNair Program with
your departmental colleagues.
VIII. Adjournment – Today’s meeting was adjourned.
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