April 7, 2005

W. Bateman called the meeting to order in Room 223 of the Student Union Building at 4:04 p.m.

Present: Marilyn Baguinon (Secretary), William Bateman (President), Eric Beaven, Kristin Bremer, Janice Chernekoff, Roberta Crisson, Miles DeCoster, Peggy Devlin, Samuel Westmoreland for William Donner, Bruce Gottschall, James Hall, Kathy Hartman, Ted Hickman, James Hvidding, Deryl Johnson (Vice President), Patricia Kelleher, John McAndrew, Matthew McKernan, Morris Perinchief, Dennis Rains, Greg Hanson for Karen Rauch, Linda Rinker, Randy Schaeffer, Neil Shea, Judith Smith, Peg Speirs, John Vafeas, Edward Vicic, David Wagaman, and Dana Wilcox.

Absent: Len Barish, Deborah Barlieb, Emily Button, Dan Cates, Joan Davis, Dennis Dietrich, Jack Entriken, Michael Gambone, Ina Grapenthin, Roger Hibbs, Kimberly Johnston, Tracy Keyes, David Laubach, Robert Martin, George Paterno, Karen Rauch, Charles Roth, Gail Rothermel, Paul Sable, Raymond Tumbleson, and Karen Williams.

Others in Attendance: Duane Crider, Marilyn Hudzina, Debra Lynch and Edward Simpson.

I.    Announcements

W. Bateman announced that there is a new permanent secretary in the Senate Office. Her name is Lisa Dietrich and she can be reached at ext. 3-4675 if there are any questions or concerns in regards to the Senate.

Dana Wilcox announced that the Kutztown Student Government Board is hosting a “Parents Night Out” on Saturday, April 23, from 6:30 – 9:00 p.m. in the Keystone Arena. This is a pilot program that is going to be available for any children in grades 1 – 5 to attend. There will be snacks, kickball, basketball, board games, arts/crafts, and a movie and different organizations here on campus will serve as the supervision. Please see to it that you fill out and return the form to the university by April 18, so they can have an idea how many children will be attending.

W. Bateman reported that Kutztown University was awarded a community partnership award for the first time ever in regards to this past fall 2005 SECA Campaign at the annual United Way Awards Banquet held on Wednesday, April 6. The Reading newspaper carried a story about the awards the next day.

R. Crisson moved, T. Hickman seconded, to approve the Agenda. The motion passed.

B. Gottschall moved, M. Perinchief seconded, to approve the minutes of the February 3, 2005 meeting. W. Bateman noted a correction under Counseling Center report from last month’s minutes. The two suicides that occurred during the fall semester were among the student population but they occurred off campus. Also under the Counseling Center report, it was noted that the Dean’s Office is that of Robert Watrous. J. Smith also wanted to let us know that under the members present from last month’s meeting J. Givler should not be listed as a substitute for Maria Hodel because she actually a substitute for J. Smith. The minutes were approved as amended.

A.    Committee on Committees
D. Johnson announced that the Willingness-to-Serve Forms are due in the office by Friday, April 8th, but we will accept them up until the end of the business day on Monday, April 11th. The committee will then meet and gives the Senate their recommendations for the different committees. He also noted that some of the Committee on Committees have not yet met this academic year. Some have not picked a chairperson. This needs to be done as soon as possible. Due to the many secretarial changes in the Spring 2005 semester, there are some things that have not been getting done on time and we want to try to get caught up so that we can update all the information on the web site by the end of the semester. Hopefully this will help so that the committees can get started at the beginning of the Fall 2005 semester.

B.  General Education Restructuring Team
D. Lynch reported that the Team has begun meeting with departments that had invited them and have met with two departments so far and the meetings went will. The documents that were shared with those departments will hopefully be put up on the website over the weekend. She said that if you are a department that has not made an appointment and would like to do so, the Team is now scheduling meetings for the fall semester.

C.  Academic Technology Committee Report
D. Crider reported that he had promised that an assessment piece would be developed before the end of the semester. He is happy to report that an assessment plan was developed and revised both so that the two pieces fit more smoothly together. This has been done and it has been posted on the website for all to read. E. Beaven asked how many of the senators had actually looked at it and no one responded. He then moved to table until the next Senate meeting on Thursday, April 28. The motion passed. Senators were asked to look at the ATC Report as their homework assignment. W. Bateman agreed to send out a reminder email about this to all members and then we will act upon it on April 28.

D.  Formation of the Budget Decentralization Committee
W. Bateman reported that he is the chair of this committee where there are 12 other members chosen from various constituencies across campus. Vice President of Administration and Finance J. Sutherland is going to give 3 presentations to committee members on the following: 1) the current funding model 2) the funding formula 3) examples of various schools that have decentralized successfully as well as unsuccessfully. This initiative is coming from the Strategic Planning Committee and will involve all aspects of KU and will attempt to solicit everyone’s input. President Cevallos will make the final decision. The entire process may take as long as three years to complete.
There was considerable amount of discussion and many questions about the process. W. Bateman and Provost Rinker gave assurances that the process would be very open. It would fair to say that speakers expressed a great deal of skepticism during the discussion. W. Bateman promised to check to see if Senators could attend the three presentations to be made by J. Sutherland.

E.  Formation of the Budget Decentralization Committee
Committee Chair E. Simpson reported that the budget decentralization process is a major topic being discussed by the Strategic Planning and Resources Committee. E. Simpson also reported that another major topic of discussion is the possibility of renting part of the TriQuint property in Breinigsville. There are many creative ideas being considered as to who might move to that location and what the building would be used for. The committee is also discussing any related problems that may arise in this connection. If anyone would like to see the Breinigsville location, they can contact G. Paterno to schedule a visit there. The earliest any classes be scheduled or offices opened there would be the fall semester 2006.

W. Bateman announced that there was no old business.

W. Bateman announced that there was no new business.

R. Schaeffer moved, M. DeCoster seconded, to adjourn the meeting. The motion passed and the meeting was adjourned at 4:55 p.m.