RUTGERS UNIVERSITY
SENATE
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
M I N U T E S
May 20, 2011
MEMBERS PRESENT: Bodnar, Borisovets, Fishbein, Gould, Leath, Panayotatos (Chair), Rabinowitz,
Swalagin
(Executive Secretary), Thompson
2011-20012 MEMBERS-ELECT PRESENT: Muse, Yoon
MEMBERS EXCUSED: Barnett, Binetti, Bubb, David, Gillett, Levine
ALSO ATTENDING:Cotter
(Faculty BOG Representative), Jasey (2011-12 Graduate Student BOT
Representative), Yabut (2011-12 Undergraduate Student BOT
Representative)
The regular meeting of the University Senate Executive Committee was held on
Friday, May 20, 2011 at 1:10 p.m. in the Executive Board Room of
Administrative Services Building-III, Cook Campus.
1. Chairperson’s Report
Senate and Executive Committee Chairperson Paul Panayotatos called the
meeting to order at 1:15 p.m. He welcomed all present, including
next-year's Executive Committee members and board members. All present
introduced themselves. Noting that President McCormick, Executive Vice
President Furmanski, and Vice President Fehn
would not be attending the meeting, he said there would be no
administrative report, and the meeting agenda would therefore be short.
2. Secretary’s Report
Senate Executive Secretary Ken Swalagin asked for approval of the meeting agenda, amended to correct a reference to the President's Address meeting in September, and of the Minutes
of the April 8, 2011 Senate Executive Committee Meeting.
Noting that the Executive Committee approves, on behalf of the Senate,
the minutes of the last meeting of each academic year because that
year's Senate does not meet again, Swalagin asked for, and received,
approval of the April 29, 2011 Senate Minutes.
3. Standing Committees
Selection/Nomination of Standing Committee Chairs: Draft
Committee rosters for 2011-12 were distributed in hardcopy at the
meeting. Swalagin noted that, because the Executive Committee meeting
had been rescheduled from its usual June date, committee rosters were
still being completed. The Executive Committee then nominated co-chairs
for the Student Affairs Committee, and the Research, and Graduate and
Professional Education Committee (RGPEC). Secretary Swalagin will
contact the nominees to ask if they're willing to serve as co-chairs. A
co-chair was also suggested for the Budget and Finance Committee (BFC).
Swalagin will first ask BFC Chair Menahem Spiegel if he wants a
co-chair before contacting the nominee.
Review/Continuation of Current Pending Charges:
Standing committees' specific, pending charges were reviewed by the
Executive Committee. There were multiple expired deadlines and deadline
errors listed on the online table of pending charges. Swalagin said
that it appeared to be an older version of the table which had been
uploaded in error, and that he would revise it and bring it back to the
Executive Committee for review in September. The Executive Committee
agreed.
[Draft committee rosters for 2011-12
will be finalized over the summer, and returned to the Executive Committee for approval in September.]
Issues for 2011-12 Senate Committee Consideration/Proposed Charges: Discussion of Additional Issues for 2011-12 Senate/Committee Consideration
- Senate Leadership and Board Representative
Election Scheduling:
Ken Swalagin and Natalie Borisovets, acting as members of this year's
Nominating Panel, suggested that the University Structure and
Governance Committee be charged with exploring the feasibility of
moving the Senate's leadership and board representatives election from
the last meeting of the year to the morning of the President's Address
meeting in September. The suggestion was made in order to address the
continuing problem that, at the time the Nominating Panel meets to
draft a slate of candidates for those positions, an increasingly large
number of units have not elected their Senators or reported election
results. Martha Cotter pointed out that terms of board representatives
begin on July 1. The Executive Committee asked that this item be
brought back for consideration at the September meeting. No charge was
issued.
4. Old Business
Proposed Charge on Best Practices for Assessment of Student Learning Goals:
Leslie Fishbein read her draft, proposed charge on best practices for
assessment of student learning goals. She had been asked to draft this
charge when she raised the issue at previous Executive Committee
meetings. Her proposed charge was as follows: "Investigate best
practices for improving assessment of student achievement of learning
goals as they are reflected in individual student master of the
learning goals on the placement tests they take upon entry to Rutgers,
including the question of whether these test results should be employed
as the sole assessment mechanism or in conjunction with other criteria,
and in the remedial and E-credit courses in which they are enrolled at
Rutgers in order to ensure: 1) that students are placed properly in
introductory courses; 2) that grade inflation is minimized because
fewer students will be placed in courses whose learning goals they
already have mastered; and 3) that student learning outcomes thereby
are enhanced." EC members noted that the Senate does not usually get
involved with construction of tests, that the matter seemed to be
something best left to the faculties of the various units, and that the
Senate should not be making distinctions that would be necessary to
tailor testing for multiple areas and disciplines. Panayotatos
suggested the issue may be more appropriate for the New Brunswick
Faculty Council. After continued discussion, on vote, the EC declined
to issue the charge.
Follow-up on Form 1A Corrections:
Leslie Fishbein said she had spoken with Richard Tedesco, in the office
of Institutional Research and Academic Planning, who said that he has
no indication that the recommendations from the February 2011 Senate report on Form 1A
are being implemented in the units. Panayotatos asked Vice Chair Ann
Gould to follow up on the matter. Panayotatos also said that this issue
was raised in the Faculty and Personnel Affairs Committee (FPAC) during
discussion of the 10-year rule report,
and that EVP Furmanski had said he would wait for the 10-year rule
report and recommendations before acting on the Form 1A issue, but that
Furmanski's resignation from the EVP position left the matter in
question and in need of an additional, follow-up charge to the FPAC.
Senate Operating Budget:
Panayotatos explained that the Senate's non-salary operating budget is
currently set at zero, and that Swalagin and Furmanski had a verbal
agreement that Furmanski would cover the Senate's operating expenses,
but that the total lack of an operating budget was not acceptable in
principle because the Senate should be able to pay for its meetings and
operation, and because Furmanski is resigning. Swalagin presented to
the EC documentation that supported a request for a minimum of
$12,000-per-year budget allocation to cover operating expenses. Paul
Leath suggested that the Senate should have a similar budget request
each year, based on needs and inflation. Panayotatos will write to
Furmanski and McCormick to request that minimum budget allocation.
Recruiting New Faculty Senators:
Panayotatos said that the Ad Hoc Shared Governance Task Force had
discussed ways in which newly tenured faculty could be made aware of,
and encouraged to participate in, the University Senate, and had
decided to ask President McCormick to recognize newly tenured faculty
at the President's Address meetings, and to enable a gathering or
mechanism afterward by which those faculty could be approached and
encouraged to join the Senate, and to also ask President McCormick to
invite the EC faculty members to the reception he holds each year at
his house for newly tenured faculty. Panayotatos said he had asked
President McCormick about those ideas, and that he had agreed to do
them.
President's Address Meeting Invitations:
Panayotatos said he had discussed with, and received agreement from,
President McCormick the idea of sending President's Address invitations
jointly from himself and the Senate chair, except for those invitations
sent to legislators, which will be sent from the president to those
legislators inviting them on behalf of himself and the Senate chair.
5. New Business
Meeting with Dick Edwards, Acting Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs:
Martha Cotter suggested that, at some point after July 1, someone
should contact Dick Edwards and arrange a meeting with him, Cotter,
Swalagin, Panayotatos, Ann Gould and Paul Panayotatos as a delegation
from the Senate to discuss the Senate and its relationship to the
administration. Cotter will make that contact to arrange a meeting, and
also to let Edwards know that there will be a meeting with himself,
McCormick, Panayotatos and Gould to discuss issues in, or of interest
to, the Senate.
6. Adjournment
Panayotatos thanked everyone present, and, in particular, thanked
those who would not be returning next year, adding that it had been a
privilege to work with them. The meeting adjourned at 2:15 p.m.
Minutes Written and Submitted by,
Ken Swalagin, Executive
Secretary of the University Senate