Faculty Senate Minutes Summary, December 3, 2007
February 6, 2008
I. Roll – The following senators were absent: Afolayan, Baldwin, Barcelona,
Dowd, Hamlin, Huang, Kaen, Nimmo, Park, Sample, Tenczar, Walsh and Zunz. Excused
were Bachrach, Bailey, Barrows, Becker, Echt, Lieber, and Slomba. Guests were
Alissa Marchant and Kevin Linton of Student Senate.
II. Remarks by and questions to the chair – The potluck dinner which
the Faculty Senate intended to host for the Student Senate this evening will
be cancelled due to the snow storm, and the Faculty Senate will try to reschedule
a get-together with the Student Senate next semester. The senate chair has
forwarded the senate’s concerns on the field trip guidelines to Alan
Ray and Leigh Anne Melanson and is awaiting their response. The co-chairs of
the search committee for a new dean of the College of Liberal Arts will be
Charlotte Witt of the Philosophy Department and Joe Klewicki, the CEPS dean.
The senate chair said that many Liberal Arts faculty extend their thanks to
the senate for its support in this matter.
The senate chair has attended a meeting of the Central Budget Committee, which
is considering a summer dining and housing rate increase, a new reserves policy
for RCM units, an indirect cost recovery plan, the EOS deficit and a possible
bandage for that, an RCM research review, and a current budget review. The
new recommended reserves policy is that six to ten percent should be held in
reserve depending on the unit and its funding sources. Reserves are end-of-year
surpluses which carry over from year to year and may be used to cover a subsequent
year’s deficit. Senators expressed concern that it would be very difficult
to get reserves of six or ten percent. At a future senate meeting, perhaps
faculty and administration members of the Central Budget Committee could give
an overview of the committee’s work.
The Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space apparently is now running
a deficit of about 4.2 percent and may receive funds such as monies from the
president’s strategic fund, for a limited time perhaps until 2011, and
a possible single lump sum from the provost’s office, as well as hold-harmless
mitigation and money for a director’s position. Some senators expressed
concern that this is a lot of dollars which will not be available for other
purposes. The EOS deficit is not due to any reduction of income but rather
to a change in the way funds are assessed centrally via the new RCM formula.
The RCM plan was reviewed not long ago and is expected to be reviewed every
five years. A senator said that, although work to rule precludes the standard
invitations to administrators, the senate can ask administrators to come to
the senate to discuss issues of particular concern to faculty and that perhaps
the president or the vice president for financial affairs could come to the
senate to discuss these EOS mitigations, subventions and such. The senate chair
said that a committee is being set up to review how RCM acts to motivate or
inhibit research. That committee is separate from the research strategic planning
committee. The CBC is also reviewing the current UNH budget which seems to
be doing fairly well at the present time.
III. Minutes – The senate unanimously approved the minutes of the last
Faculty Senate meeting.
IV. Student Senate – The Student Senate is considering a resolution
to request that faculty post their booklists on Blackboard and allow guest
access to the lists on Blackboard at least two weeks prior to the start of
the spring, 2008, semester and that faculty advertise this opportunity to students.
Student Senate had already passed a resolution proposing that faculty send
textbook lists to both the Durham Book Exchange and the UNH Bookstore and also
that faculty make the booklists available to students before the beginning
of the semester, so that students would have more options for purchasing textbooks
and perhaps reducing textbook costs. Students would like to have the booklists
before arriving on campus, but Blackboard is often only available to students
one day before classes start. At the last Faculty Senate meeting, faculty had
asked that the student leaders arrange with the UNH Computing and Information
Services to provide an easily accessible webpage where faculty who are willing
to do so could post the booklists in advance. The students are working on this
with CIS; but that change will take time; and so the students are proposing
the blackboard method as a temporary solution. A professor suggested that,
if Student Senate could establish an email address to which faculty could send
booklists, that would be a good solution for courses which are not on Blackboard.
Student Senate will discuss this with CIS. Faculty who may be concerned about
open access to their course materials on Blackboard could set the open access
to apply only to the booklist and only for the two weeks before class starts.
V. Research – The senate chair said that the Faculty Senate needs to
decide whether, during work to rule, the senate will nominate a member for
the Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity Strategic Planning Committee.
The interim vice president for research would like to have a ten-year strategic
plan ready by August, and the new vice president for research is expected to
be hired and start work by September. The senate declined, during work to rule,
to participate in work on the Academic Plan and the NEASC Self Study but did
agree to provide representatives for the president’s search committee
last year and the search committee for the vice president for research. Regardless
of the senate’s decision on committee representation, the research strategic
plan will be brought to the Faculty Senate for review and input.
A senator said that doing the research strategic plan now is putting the cart
before the horse and appears to be an attempt to maintain the status quo, a
situation that works less well for the faculty at large and very well for the
small establishment that has controlled research resources for the past ten
years. A new strategic plan will set up how the university arrives at its research
priorities and where it will spend its funds. He added that UNH has gotten
about two hundred million dollars in federal ear-marked funds since 2000 and
that there has not been enough discussion on how ear marks are developed and
the results. One option would be for the Faculty Senate to participate in the
Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity Strategic Planning Committee but
to clarify and modify what this committee will do. He said that the purpose
of the committee should be to survey the strengths and weaknesses of the UNH
research organization, how it serves the university faculty, how the office
of research works to further the university’s goals, and what the relationship
should be between the vice president for research and the provost. When the
committee has defined the current situation and the new vice president for
research starts work, the committee could then work with the vice president
on the goals, rather than presenting an already prepared ten-year plan.
Another senator said that faculty need to influence the process at its beginnings,
that a strategic plan for research is critical, and that the strategic plan
will take too long to prepare after the new vice president for research is
hired and gets his bearings. A professor said that the office for research
should serve the interests of the faculty as a whole and not just the centers
and institutes. Another senator said that, although these matters are important,
the faculty have waited a very long time for a contract and should honor work
to rule, not work on planning, and expect that the administration will not
form strategic plans without the standard shared governance which cannot happen
during work to rule. A professor suggested that the faculty should work with
the committee but that the committee should do preliminary surveys and not
prepare a strategic plan. He added that the interaction of the office for research
and the academic programs could use improvement and that, if a strategic plan
were to be drafted now, it would build up momentum and be hard to stop. Another
senator said that faculty are better off if they are involved in strategic
planning from its inception.
Jeff Salloway moved and Anita Klein seconded a motion that the Faculty Senate
direct the Agenda Committee to choose a representative of the senate to serve
on the Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity Strategic Planning Steering
Committee. After discussion of an alternative motion to decline to provide
a representative during work to rule, a professor said that a third alternative
would be to influence whether or not the actual strategic planning happens
now. A senator said that the senate chair or the Agenda Committee should discuss
this matter with the president. Rather than setting out a ten-year plan, the
strategic planning steering committee could survey and study the issues so
that a newly-hired vice president for research will be well informed about
what the issues are. The senate chair has written the interim vice president
for research that, when any strategic plan is drafted, it must be brought to
the Faculty Senate for vetting. Last year the Faculty Senate passed a motion
stating in part that:
The Faculty Senate will take no decisions and no actions during this period
of work to rule, and the Faculty Senate expects the university administration
to take no decisions and no actions on all those areas over which the faculty
has primary or co-equal responsibility. Should such actions be taken, the Faculty
Senate will be prepared to take appropriate action including but not limited
to motions of censure and no confidence.
The senate chair said that today’s senate minutes will be published
and will also be sent to the interim vice president for research. A senator
suggested that the senate instruct the Agenda Committee to appoint a representative
but also ask the senate chair to make the president and interim vice president
for research aware of the senate’s concerns about the drafting of a strategic
plan at this time. A professor said that the Faculty Senate should send an
observer to and not a member of the committee for now and that the senate should
discuss these matters further at its next meeting. Another professor said that
the senate chair should discuss with the president and interim vice president
that the office of research should focus on traditional research and not primarily
on the big research centers and institutes. A senator said that, since the
president is pouring money into EOS, the senate should ask for a specific statement
from the president on the focus of the office for research. A professor added
that faculty play a central role in research but that research is also bound
to academic programs. If those programs are not competitive in getting good
graduate assistants, that has a profound effect on both research and teaching.
Support for teaching assistants is very important.
David Richman proposed a friendly amendment to the motion, to add that the
senate will send the minutes of this meeting to the president and the interim
vice president for research and that the senate chair will discuss the issues
thoroughly with both. The maker and seconder of the original motion accepted
this friendly amendment. Then Larry Prelli proposed and the maker and seconder
of the original motion accepted an amendment that the senate should provide
an observer to rather than a representative for the committee. After discussion,
the senate passed the amended motion, with seventeen ayes, ten nays, and no
abstentions. The senate chair agreed to make clear to the president and interim
vice president the difference between an observer and a representative and
the reasons for this choice. Today’s meeting was adjourned.
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