KUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY

Minutes of the University Senate

Room 203, Academic Forum

Thursday, December 7, 2006

W. Bateman called the meeting to order at 4:13 p.m.

Present: Marilyn Baguinon, Len Barish, William Bateman (President), Eric Beaven, Kristin Bremer, Dan Cates, Kate Clair, Roberta Crisson, Camille DeMarco, Mike Demetor, Patricia Derr, William Donner, Jack Entriken, Lisa Frye (Secretary), Joe Gushen, Jo Cohen Hamilton, Roger Hibbs, Ted Hickman, Yong Huang for James Hall, James Hvidding, William Jefferson, Lori Don Levan, Susan Mangold, Robert Martin, Justin McCleary, Walter Nott, George Paterno, Morris Perinchief, Sylvia Pham, Ilene Prokup, Karen Rauch, Maria Sanelli, Loline Saras, Randy Schaeffer, Judith Smith (Vice-President), Laura Springman, Pietro Toggia, Carlos Vargas-Aburto, and Madan Varma.

Absent: Deborah Barlieb, Diane Fegely, Ina Grapenthin, Kathleen Hartman, Tracy Keyes, John McAndrew, Dennis Rains, Robert Ryan, Paul Sable, David Wagaman, and Karen Willliams.

Also in Attendance: Miles DeCoster, Michael Gambone, Jordan Marche, Christopher Sacchi, Gerald Silberman, Robert Smith, Daniel Spiegel, James Sutherland, and Richard Zera.

     I.     Announcements

Provost Vargas updated the Senate on a proposal to provide student support for all faculty that will be teaching large classes. APSCUF is currently reviewing this proposal. Undergraduate and graduate students would fill these positions.

Provost Vargas announced that several searches will be starting soon. These searches are for the following positions: Dean of the College of Business, Dean of the College of Education, and Dean of the College of Graduate Studies. Provost Vargas also stated that the Office of the Provost would be identifying someone to assist with the Academic Affairs Budget, possibly the Dean of the College of Graduate Studies.

Provost Vargas announced 50 temporary faculty positions would be converted into tenure-track positions.

R. Zera provided an update on the training for the Academic Forum. The IT Department held 46 sessions during nine days. Seventy-four faculty attended training. Of these, 36 will be teaching in the AF in the spring. Also attending the training sessions were 41 staff members and 133 students. Additional training will be held next week from 9 to 3:30 and before the start of the spring semester in January.

D. Spiegel reported on the pilot program for the Personal Response System (PRS). The pilot will continue through the spring semester to verify success in large classes. A survey was sent to all faculty and students that competed in the pilot during the fall semester. There were 130/330 students that responded. The majority of responses were positive with one common negative response being the price of the clicker devices for students. Faculty interested in utilizing the PRS devices in a class should contact the IT Department and inform the bookstore so sufficient clicker devices can be ordered for students.

L. Springman announced that SGB just completed their first ever on-line election and it was a huge success, with approximately 700 students voting, almost twice as many as previous elections. SGB will continue to use on-line voting for elections.

W. Bateman asked if there were any substitutions in attendance. Yong Huang responded that he was substituting for James Hall, Philosophy Department.

    II.     Approval of the Agenda

R. Crisson moved, L. Springman seconded, to approve the agenda. The motion passed.

  III.     Approval of the Minutes

R. Schaeffer moved, T. Hickman seconded, to approve the Minutes of the November 2, 2006 meeting. M. Baguinon noted some corrections to November’s minutes. Under I. Announcements, page 1, the last paragraph, the word “to” should be after the word “unable”. Also on page 2, under V. Old Business, the word “to” should be after the word “spring”. The minutes were approved as amended.

  IV.     Committee and Task Force Reports

   A.     Committee on Committees

J. Smith, Chair, made a motion for a proposed amendment to Article VI, Section B, of the University Senate Constitution. The motion is:

Members appointed by the Committee on Committees who are granted a leave of absence, sabbatical, or medical leave from the University exceeding 8 weeks, shall be replaced for the duration of their leave by the Committee on Committees and shall rejoin those committees on their return to the University for the remainder of their term. Where practical, the members granted a leave would suggest a replacement(s) for the committee(s) on which they serve from the appropriate constituency (i.e. department, college, administrative unit), but actual appointment to committees would remain the responsibility of the Committee on Committees.

This is the first reading of the motion; the second reading will occur at the next Senate meeting. The motion to make the proposed change to the Constitution passed.

J. Smith made a motion to add the Director of Recreational Services to the Events Advisory Council Committee. This person was previously a member of this committee as a representative from Athletics, but no longer reports to Athletics. This motion passed and goes into effect immediately.

J. Smith announced that all vacancies for faculty and professional staff on the 33 Governance Committees have been filled.

J. Smith announced that the Committee on Committees is in the process of having the Willingness-to-Serve form added to Profs Online. It should be in place by February 2007.

    B.     Strategic Planning and Resource Committee

C. Sacchi reported on the subcommittee that was formed to discuss what it would mean for Kutztown University to become a Tier 2 institution according to the U.S. News and World Report college rankings. The committee members are: Dr. C. Vargas (Chair), P. Ache, S. Chambers, F. Garman, L. McGhee, and C. Sacchi.

This subcommittee met for the first time last week and discussed some of the pros and cons of what it would mean for Kutztown to become a Tier 2 institution. It was reported that U.S. News and World Report eliminated Tier 2 by combining Tier 1 and Tier 2 into a Top Ranked category. The ensuing discussion in Senate seemed to indicate that the most important factor should be academic quality at the university. The effect of Kutztown being an open-access institution was discussed. W. Nott stated that Kutztown is in the top 361 universities in the Princeton Review.

C. Sacchi will forward the criteria used by U.S. News and World Report to rank universities and the table comparing the universities to W. Bateman. W. Bateman will forward this information to all Senate members. W. Bateman will also send a statement to all faculty about this subcommittee of the SPRC. Dr. Vargas stated that the subcommittee hopes to have a progress report by the middle of the spring semester.

   V.     Old Business

   A.     Discussion about the Academic Forum

M. Sanelli, Chair of the Ad-Hoc Committee on the Academic Forum, gave a brief report on the committee’s first meeting with the Provost. At this meeting the Provost discussed the political and economical reality of being part of PASSHE and how the performance indicators influenced the decision making for the Academic Forum. Dr. Vargas also addressed how the budget decentralization might affect the Academic Forum along with the APSCUF contract that will be up for renewal. The Ad-Hoc Committee will meet with the Provost each of the next two Mondays.

T. Hickman made a motion to have the Senate President send an email to all faculty asking them for input about the future use of the Academic Forum. M. Sanelli seconded. The motion passed.

    B.     Discussion about the Commonality Document

M. Gambone, Chair of the Senate/APSCUF Ad-Hoc Committee on Commonalities, announced that the committee met with Jim Moran, Associate Vice President for Academic & Student Affairs at PASSHE. At this meeting, approximately 25 areas of concern were identified. The overarching issue is that a computer system is driving policies at the university. The identified areas of concern will be sent to APSCUF and Senate for discussion and feedback. The Chancellors Office gave a deadline of March 1 for a report of possible solutions. W. Bateman noted that if the cost is reasonable, then the administration has stated it would set aside funds to help KU maintain its current academic policies.

  VI.     New Business

   A.     Posthumous degrees

W. Bateman asked for a motion to award two (2) posthumous degrees to Tamsin Gonsalves and Rachel Lesher. T. Hickman moved, R. Crisson seconded. The motion passed.

    B.     Approval of Students for Graduation

W. Bateman called for a motion to approve the December 2006 graduates as certified by the Registrar’s Office. M. Perinchief moved, E. Beaven seconded, to approve the December graduates. The motion passed.

   C.     Election of Senate President and Senate Secretary

The meeting was turned over to E. Beaven, Chair of the Ad-Hoc Election Committee. The other committee members were K. Bremer and P. Sable.

E. Beaven announced that there were two nominees for Senate President, R. Schaeffer and M. Sanelli. There were no additional nominations from the floor. After the votes were counted in a secret ballot, M. Sanelli was declared the winner.

E. Beaven announced that there was only one nominee for Senate Secretary, L. Frye. There were no additional nominations from the floor. L. Frye was declared the winner by acclimation.

VII.     Adjournment

J. Smith moved, M. Demetor seconded, to adjourn the meeting. The motion passed and the meeting was adjourned at 5:52 p.m.

Signed:

       ___________________________________           ___________________________________

                   William E. Bateman, President                                        Lisa M. Frye, Secretary

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