RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY
UNIVERSITY SENATE

MINUTES: Regular Meeting of the University Senate

DATE: September 19, 2008

TIME AND PLACE: 1:10 p.m., Multipurpose Room, Rutgers Student Center, 126 College Avenue, College Avenue Campus, New Brunswick

MEMBERS PRESENT: Abercrombie, Agarwal, Alger, Anand, Ashraf, Barone, Barrett, Beachem, Bhuyan, Blimling, Bodnar, Boikess, Borisovets, Boylan, Brooks, Brown, Brush, Burrell, Carr, Chann, Ciklamini, Cooke, Cotter, Covey, Cowen, Creese, Davidson, DeLisi, Deutsch, Dutta, Edwards, Ellis, Fagley, Figueira, Finegold, Fishbein, Furmanski, Gale, Gao, Gillett, Gimenez, Glickman, Gomes, Gonzalez-Palmer, Robert Goodman, Roe Goodman, Gould, Grant, Graycar, Greaux, Greenberg, Greenhut, Gursoy, M. Hall, S. Hall, Hanebrink, Hicks, Holcomb, Hughes, Hyndman, Janes, Joel, Kalelkar, Kanj, Kaplan, Katz, Kemeny, Kerrigan, Kowler, Kukor, Lee, Lemieux, Leonard, Levine, Levinson, Lintakoon, Loh, LoSasso, Lynch, Malik, Mariscal, Markert, Markowitz, Marsh, McArdle, McCormick, Messer, Miller, Mistry, Mittra, Molloy, Muse, Nolfi, Norville, Nycz, Oliver, Panayotatos, Papathomas, Picarelli, Pignatiello, Pinchuk, Pottick, Prekopa, Rabinowitz, Ramasamy, Rankin, Rhee, Rocafort, Roth, Rudman, Rudrapatna, Schantz, Schement, Schnetzer, Schramke, Sheflin, P. Simmons, R. Simmons, Spiegel, Stauffer, G. Stein, J. Stein, Stevens, Stewart, Stone, Szatrowski, Thakuri, F. Thompson, K. Thompson, Tittler, Tomassone, Toney-Boss, Traxler, Tumer, Vodak, Wagner, Walters, H. Wang, Y. Wang, Weinstock-Gallagher, West, Wild, Williams, Winterbauer, Wozunk, Yannakogeorgos, Yares, Zullo

EXCUSED: Allender, Blumenthal, Buckley, Bumby, Caprio, Cohick, Cooper, Diner, Foley, Gaunt, Heckscher, Husein, Hussein, Jaluria, Kerkhof, Kind, Koza, Leath, Ludescher, Matsuda, McKeever, Meyer, Minsky, Palis, Perrone, Rockland, Rodgers, Schurman, Sharp, Simon, Sukul, Vitello, Wyhopen, Yakal-Kremski, Yip

ABSENT: Adam, Appiah-Kumi, Benovitz, Bubb, Cruzan, Diamond, Gill, Gliserman, Goldman, Guo, Habib, Hey, Holzer, Kern, Kociol, Lehne, Li, Lomiguen, Niederman, Pedersen, Solomon, White, Yeagle

ATTENDANCE SUMMARY: Faculty: Of 97 total: 66 present (68%), 18 excused (19%), 13 absent (13%); Students: Of 57 total: 44 present (77%), 6 excused (11%), 7 absent (12%); Administrators: Of 36 total: 23 present (64%), 10 excused (28%), 3 absent (8%); Alumni: Of 6 total: 5 present (83%), 1 excused (17%), 0 absent; Staff: Of 10 total: 10 present (100%)

View Senate Attendance Record for this year

PRESIDING OFFICER: Samuel Rabinowitz, Chairperson

CHAIRPERSON’S REPORT: Chairperson Rabinowitz called the meeting to order at 1:16 p.m. He said that those present shared a common vision for making Rutgers a bigger and better university. He welcomed board members, legislators, Senators, media, guests, and all Rutgers-community attendees. He summarized the Senate's mission and composition, as well as those actions taken by the Senate during the previous academic year. Rabinowitz thanked everyone for supporting the Senate’s goal of making Rutgers University even better in the future than it is in the present. He then introduced Senate executive secretary Ken Swalagin, administrative assistant Linda Mickelsen, and Senate Parliamentarian Ryan Cooke.

STANDING COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSONS' REPORTS: Chairperson Rabinowitz introduced the chairs of the Senate's standing committees, who gave brief reports on their respective committees and their plans for the coming year.

PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS QUESTION-AND-ANSWER PERIOD PROCEDURES: Chairperson Rabinowitz then outlined the procedure for the question-and-answer period which was to follow President McCormick’s Annual Address to the Community. The procedure, intended to enable as many community members as possible to participate in the process, allowed anyone present to pose a question, with no preference given to Senators, but questions were limited to one per person, and to one minute or less, with no follow-up.
 
PRESIDENT’S ANNUAL ADDRESS TO THE UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY: Chairperson Rabinowitz introduced President McCormick, who took the lectern. President McCormick then presented his Annual Address to the University Community, the theme of which was “Jersey Roots, Global Reach.” The text of the address has been posted online at http://www.president.rutgers.edu/address08.shtml.
 
A question-and-answer period followed, during which President McCormick responded to questions from Senators and other members of the Rutgers community on a wide range of issues. The Q&A session is also available at the above link.
 
ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business before the University Senate, Chairperson Rabinowitz adjourned the meeting at 2:52 p.m.
 
Kenneth Swalagin
Secretary of the University Senate