RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY
UNIVERSITY SENATE MINUTES

Special Meeting of the University Senate

DATE:  December 9, 2005

TIME AND PLACE:  11:00 a.m., Multipurpose Room, Rutgers Student Center, 126 College Avenue, College Avenue Campus 

MEMBERS PRESENT:  Adarkwa, Alger, Allender, Atmeh, Axelrod, Bell, Bernstein, Blimling, Boikess, Borisovets, Boyd, Bravo, Caprio Carr, Cohen, Cole, Colin, Cotter, Curtis, DeLuca, E. Dennis, Downs, Edwards, Farrell, Feinberg, Finc, Fishbein, Friedrich, Furmanski, Gaunt, Gigliotti, Gillett, Gimbar, Goodman, Gould, Hall, Hallmark, Herrera, John, Johnson, Kagan, Kalelkar, Kavanagh, Kirschner, Kokini, Krenos, LaSala, Leath, Liepmann, MacArthur, Markert, Markowitz, Martin, Mayer, McCormick, McKeever, Melwani, Messer, Meyer, Mulcahy, Ng, Niederman, Norville, Obayashi, O’Connell, O’Connor, Palmon, Panayotatos, Puniello, Samuel Rabinowitz, Reed, Rubin, Schein, Scott, R. Simmons, Smith, Soren, Spiegel, St. John, Stroud, Sukhdeo, Vodak, Volk, Wyhopen

EXCUSED:  Apfel, Barone, Boylan, Brazier, Capuano, Chabal, Coit, Darien, DeLisi, Dent, Dutta, Elkholy, C. Ellis, Greenhut, Hankins, Hart, Hmelo-Silver, Jackson, J. Jones, Kanj, Klepac, Laguna-Diaz, Lee, Lipman, Maher, Mandelbaum, Marsh, Mauroff, McKay, Miller, Mohammed, Muller, Oren, Ozbay, Potenza, Poyznyer, P. Simmons, Snyder, Stark, Tittler, Turpin, Van Til, Wang, Williams, Winterbauer, Young, Zhitkevich

ABSENT:  Aladdin, Ambar, Amirahmadi, Arias, Banerjee, Barbarese, Bartosek, Bellany, Bodnar, Boehmer, Breton, Butler, Cannon, Colaizzi, R. Dennis, Deprez, Deutsch, Dhillon, Diner, N. Ellis, Fincher, Fleming, Gyenfie, Heckscher, J. Hughes, Hyndman, Kennedy, Kirby, Klein, Labib, Lashley, Leichenko, Livingston, Marchetta, McCabe, Nelson, Ocone, Rabiner, Sidney Rabinowitz, Reynolds, Ruiz, Schaich, Schock, Schorr, Shah, Sherman, C. Simmons, Simon, Solomon, Spat, Tuckman, Turner, Whang, Whitfield, Zaborszky

ATTENDANCE  SUMMARY:  Faculty:  Of 88 total:  44 present (50%), 23 excused (26%), 21 absent (24%); Students:  Of 55 total:  23 present (42%), 17 excused (31%), 15 absent (27%); Administrators:  Of 37 total:  15 present (41%), 6 excused (16%), 16 absent (43%); Alumni:  Of 6 total:  2 present (33%), 1 excused (17%), 3 absent (50%)

 View Senate attendance record for this year

PRESIDING OFFICER:  Martha Cotter, Chairperson

 [SECRETARY’S NOTE:  This was a Special Meeting of the University Senate, called to discuss responses to the Report of the Task Force on Undergraduate Education. The agenda was limited, and did not include administrative, board, Executive Committee, nor campus faculty liaison reports.  Senate standing-committee chairs assembled together as a panel at the front of the meeting room to hear and respond to input from various groups and individuals.]
 
CALL TO ORDER, DETERMINATION OF A QUORUM, AND CHAIRPERSON’S REPORT:  Tally of Senators signed in having confirmed presence of a quorum, Chairperson Cotter called the meeting to order at 11:13 a.m.  She noted that approval of the Agenda and Minutes of the previous meeting, there were no other docketed action items, and that the meeting could proceed even in the absence of a quorum.  She summarized the agenda, explaining that the Senate would hear from faculty, deans and students affected by the proposals of the Task Force on Undergraduate Education, would then recess for lunch, and thereafter would either continue hearing input or would break into committees to consider the comments received earlier.
 
REPORT OF THE SECRETARY:  Agenda:  The agenda was approved as distributed by the Executive Secretary.  [http://senate.rutgers.edu/1205agen.html]
 
Minutes:  On motion and duly seconded, the Minutes of the November 18, 2005 Senate meeting were approved as distributed by the Executive Secretary.  
 
REPORTS, COMMENTS AND DISCUSSION FROM NON-SENATE CONSTITUENCIES ON REPORT/RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE TASK FORCE ON UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION
 
Senator Paul Leath, Chair of the New Brunswick Faculty Council, summarized the Council’s recent recommendations on the Task Force on Undergraduate Education. The Faculty Council report and recommendations were discussed.
 
[The meeting recessed for lunch at 11:55 a.m.  Lunch was provided in the Lounge of the Rutgers Student Center.  The meeting reconvened at 12:30 p.m.]

The Senate reconvened and heard reports and comments from: ADJOURNMENT:  The meeting adjourned at 1:47 p.m., after which Senate standing committees were to convene to consider how to incorporate any relevant, new information from the Senate meeting.  The Senate’s Task Force Steering Committee, consisting of Senate Executive Committee members, standing-committee chairs, and the New Brunswick Faculty Council chair, convened and continued discussions at 3:15 p.m.
 
   
Kenneth Swalagin
Secretary of the University Senate