UNIVERSITY SENATE
Executive Committee

A G E N D A
April 10, 2015 - 1:10 p.m.


1.    Chair's Report - Ann Gould, Senate Chair

2.    Secretary’s Report - Ken Swalagin, Senate Executive Secretary 3.    Administrative Report - Robert Barchi, University President

4.    Standing Committees

Committee Reports: 

Research, and Graduate and Professional Education Committee (RGPEC) Response to Charge S-1207 on Support for International Students [Survey used to collect data for this report]- RGPEC Chair Jane Otto

The RGPEC has been charged as follows: Charge S-1207, Support for International Students: "Investigate and make recommendations with regard to core university support for international students and postdocs, particularly in the area of visas."  [Interim Report for information only issued November 2014.]

Faculty and Personnel Affairs Committee (FPAC) Response to Charge S-1406 on Balance of Full-time and Part-time Faculty Teaching - FPAC Co-chair Ann Gould

The FPAC has been charged as follows: Charge S-1406, Balance of Full-time and Part-time Faculty Teaching: “Consider the 1999 Report on the Balance of Full-time and Part-time Faculty Teaching at Rutgers University, and, with updated numbers and charts from the Office of Academic Affairs, make recommendations concerning changing trends and shifting percentages.  [Notes: Data received from the administration on this issue in 2010 were updated but incomplete. The request for updated information was renewed in March 2012. A Preliminary Response on this matter was adopted by the Senate at the May 2014 meeting. This charge is a continuation of Charge S-1012.]”

Academic Standards, Regulations and Admissions Committee Response to Charge S-1414 on Removing Barriers to the Education of Veterans [Currently Draft] - FPAC Co-chair Martha Cotter

The ASRAC has been charged as follows: Charge S-1414, Removing Barriers to the Education of Military Veterans: "Examine obstacles preventing military veterans from expeditiously completing their education at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. If appropriate, recommend policy and process changes that would expedite completion of studies, and promote growth of intercampus collaboration. Refer to the Student Caucus rationale for this charge when deliberating."

Issues/Proposed Charges:

Proposal to Reorganize the School of Public Health (RSPH) - Submitted by Jasjit Ahluwalia, RSPH Dean Designate, and Brian Strom, RBHS Chancellor [Supporting documents were emailed to Executive Committee members, and will be distributed in hardcopy at the meeting.]

Potential Charge to Budget and Finance Committee (BFC) on Office of Information Technology Responsiveness - Submitted by Charles Heckscher, BFC Member - Senator Heckscher wrote, in part, "My department has asked me to voice a concern about the way the computer outage was handled a couple of weeks ago -- especially the lack of any information at all for over 48 hours. Many faculty struggled individually to figure out what was going in that time and to work out how to reach their students."

New Brunswick Faculty Council (NBFC) Resolution on Shared Governance - Submitted by Robert Boikess, Senator and NBFC Committee Chair

Proposed Charge to Instruction, Curricula and Advising Committee on Class Attendance Recordkeeping Requirements for Students Receiving Federal Funds - Suggested by Fran Bouchoux, Interim Senior Vice President, on behalf of Enterprise Risk Management - A rationale for this charge was requested of Dr. Bouchoux at the March Executive Committee meeting. It has not yet been received. Ken Swalagin is pursuing the matter.

5.   Commencement Speaker and Honorary Degrees Committee - Leslie Fehrenbach has issued a call for nominations for commencement speakers and honorary degree candidates. The nominations will be sent to Ken Swalagin as they come in. The Executive Committee members, and board representatives may constitute the Senate group that will review the nominations. See the Senate report on this issue for how the committee is constituted, and the interim process to be used.

6.    Nominating Panel - Ken Swalagin has issued to all Senators a call for self-nominations to Senate leadership, Executive Committee member, and board representative positions. It may be necessary to suggest others to be asked if they are interested in running for those positions if there aren't enough self-nominations. Robert Puhak has volunteered to co-chair the Nominating Panel, as he did last year. This year's Nominating Panel charge is online.

7.    Old Business

Questions from Senate Committees related to the  Division of Graduate Studies Proposal, and Overview of Graduate School - New Brunswick, and GSBS Overview - Submitted by Kathleen Scotto, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences Dean, and Jerome Kukor, Graduate School - New Brunswick Dean. The questions have been sent to Deans Scotto and Kukor.

Proposed Charge on Modifying Academic Calendar and Exam Times for Online Courses, submitted by James Massachaele, Executive Vice Dean of SAS-NB via email as follows:

"I write in my capacity as Executive Vice-Dean of SAS to ask the Senate to consider a proposal for making an adjustment to the University's exam schedule. A number of faculty in SAS have asked for an improved process for scheduling final exams in online courses. Currently the University makes no provision for this. Many faculty who teach online courses feel that in-person final exams are the best way to ensure the integrity of the exam. To make the scheduling of final exams for online courses more effective, we propose that the University set aside and advertise certain time slots as standard exam times for online courses. You can find details of the proposal on the attached document. Please let me know if you need more detail or if there is a different avenue I need to pursue to have the proposal considered by the Senate."

This matter was discussed at the January Executive Committee meeting, where it was suggested that ASRAC Chair Martha Cotter would consult with Instruction, Curricula and Advising Committee (ICAC) Chair Natalie Borisovets to determine how this issue may fit in with ICAC discussions on exam space and facilities, and online course exams. The issue was discussed again at the February meeting, at which Academic Standards, Regulations, Admissions Committee Co-chair Martha Cotter and Instruction, Curriculum and Advising Committee Chair Natalie Borisovets were present. Cotter and Borisovets agreed to draft a charge on the matter, which will come to the Executive Committee. It was again discussed in March 2015. Borisovets will draft a charge to be issued to the ICAC on related work the ICAC is already doing.

8.    New Business

9.    University Senate Agenda for May 1, 2015
 10.    Adjournment