Members Present: Patricia Bach (PSYC), Jeff Budiman (CAE), Howard Chapman (Kent), Warren Edelstein (AMAT), Ali Emadi (ECE), Bill Grimshaw (SocSci), Joyce Hopkins (PSYC), Andy Howard (BCPS), Sanjiv Kapoor (CS), Robert Krawczyk (ARCH), Art Lubin (AMAT), Victor Pérez-Luna (ChEE), Boris Pervan (MMAE), David Rudstein (Kent), John Snapper (HUM), Phil Troyk (BME), Catherine Wetzel (ARCH), Chris White (BCPS)
Members Absent: Jay Schieber (ChEE), XiangYang Li (CS), Geoff Williamson (ECE), Vijay Kumar (ID), Ganesh Raman (MMAE), William Newman (MSED), Joel Goldhar (SGSB)
Student Representative Absent: Jason Tenenbaum.
Student Observer Present: Avelo Roy.
Visitors Present: Doug Geiger (Dean of Students), Pattie Piotrowski (Galvin Library), Christopher Stewart (Galvin Library), Charles Uth (Galvin Library)
Call to Order: The meeting was called to order about 12:38pm on Monday 22 September 2006 in the West Ballroom of the HUB.
Schedule for remaining University Faculty Council meetings in fall 2007: Phil Troyk, UniFC chair, asked the Council when it wanted to meet during fall 2006. He suggested that Fridays continue to be the clearest days for meetings. After some discussion the Council approved meeting dates of Friday 27 October, Friday 10 November, and Friday 8 December. The meetings will be held from 12:30 to 2:15 on those dates, with lunch available beginning at 12. The UniFC secretary will ask Noreen Kozak to arrange for rooms and lunches for those dates. (Secretary's note: the Council has also been asked to meet with the NCA visitors on Monday 16 October from 1:15 to 2pm. This meeting is being set up now.)
Scheduling of UniFC-called University Faculty Meeting for fall 2006: Phil and Chris brought up the subject of a University faculty meeting prior to the one that President Collens will call on Wednesday 25 October. After some discussion the group agreed that the UniFC-called University Faculty Meeting will be held from 12 noon to 2pm on Friday 13 October. The UniFC secretary will communicate that information to Noreen Kozak. The primary agenda items already planned for the meeting are consideration of University voting rights for category II faculty members during 2006-07, and further action on the IPro proposals put forth in the spring.
University Committee on Promotions and Tenure: Phil stated that a high-priority concern was for the UniFC to nominate individuals to replace members of UCoPT whose terms have expired. These nominations are to be submitted to the Provost, who will make the actual appointments; we are encouraged to submit more names than we have actual positions to fill. Phil pointed out that, according to the Faculty Handbook Appendix C, members whose term has come to an end may not succeed themselves, so the nomination by Architecture of Mahjoub Elnimeiri cannot be forwarded to the Provost. On the other hand, the affirmation by the Council that John Grimes was appointed to replace Prof. Sato (ID) last year, so that his seat does not need to be re-filled.
The names of Ali Emadi (ECE), Miles Wernick (ECE), and Margaret Stewart
(Kent) have been submitted to fill the expired terms. It was noted
that Architecture and MMAE could potentially still offer up candidates.
Neither of those academic units was prepared to make a nomination at
the meeting, and Bob Krawczyk and Boris Pervan agreed to bring this need
back to their respective academic units.
The Council then considered the reaffirmation of John Grimes for
serving on UCoPT.
After brief discussion Andy Howard moved and Bob Krawczyk seconded his
reaffirmation; the motion passed unanmimously.
The Council then discussed the three names already nominated as new members.
After some discussion it was moved and seconded that the names of
Ali Emadi, Miles Wernick, and Margaret Stewart be submitted to the Provost,
and that Architecture and MMAE provide recommendations back to the Council
for two additional names. The recommendations from Architecture and MMAE
are to be confirmed by e-mail ballots of the UniFC next week.
This motion passed unanimously.
(Secretary's note: by Monday 25 September, Architecture had recommended
David Hovey and MMAE had recommended Sudhakar Nair. These names have been
circulated to the UniFC membership. As of 5:50pm Monday twelve positive
votes for both candidates had been received, and no dissentions.)
Proposed Biochemistry Undergraduate Degree Program: Kathryn Spink (BCPS) presented a proposed Biochemistry undergraduate degree program, drafted primarily from the Biology Division but with extensive discussions in advance with the Chemistry Division and with senior faculty in BME and ChEE. The program differs from the MBB program in that it has somewhat more technical electives than MBB, and as such offers more flexibility. This is likely to prove advantageous to premedical students in BCPS, for whom the physics- and math-intensive nature of the MBB degree has sometimes proven to be a problem. Jack Snapper said the program was approved at the 2 May 2006 Undergraduate Studies meeting; Kathryn said the only change made at that meeting was to describe the electives as "technical electives" rather than "science electives." After a modest discussion it was moved and seconded that the program be approved as amended by the UGSC. The motion passed unanimously.
Phil noted that this was the first new degree program to be acted upon
according to the provisions of the amended Appendix P of the Faculty
Handbook. Under these new rules, a new program that passes at the UniFC level
can be forwarded directly to the President for implementation provided that
fewer than ten faculty members object to the proposed program.
The faculty are allowed thirty days to enter their objections.
Andy Howard said he would announce the passage of this program by email
such that the faculty could raise their objections prior to the 25 October
University Faculty Meeting called by President Collens.
If ten objections have been received by 25 October, the University Faculty
will discuss the proposal at that meeting; if not, the proposal will be
sent directly to the President.
(Secretary's note: the relevant email went out to all Category I faculty
on 25 September, allowing the 30-day period to end on the day of the faculty
meeting.)
Selection of chair for the Undergraduate Studies Committee: Phil explained that the Faculty Handbook specifies that the Provost should appoint a chair of the UGSC, choosing from a list of at least two names provided to him by the UniFC. He explained the rules of eligibility for the chairmanship. Jack Snapper said the Committee has put forth three names of individuals that satisfy the eligibility requirements: John Kallend, John O'Leary, and Don Ucci. Jack moved that all three names be forwarded to the Provost, and Victor Pérez-Luna seconded this motion; it passed unanimously.
Faculty involvement in search for new University President: Phil affirmed that the Council has been asked to forward the names of at least nine faculty members to the Board of Trustees as candidates to serve on the search committee for the new President of IIT. At least three of these nominees will be chosen to serve on the committee. The Board has asked for the UniFC's nominations by 29 September so the list can be finalized by 6 October. Because this issue had been announced prior to the UniFC meeting, Council members had had already submitted several names for consideration, and Council members brought forth additional names at the meeting itself. Extensive discussion ensued. Some Council members were concerned about who would be choosing the three actual committee members out of the UniFC nomination list: Phil agreed to recommend that the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees make the choices when he forwards the UniFC's list to the Board.
The Council discussed the list of names before it, which by then had grown to nineteen names. Some Council members pointed out that faculty administrators (chairs, deans, and associate deans) could potentially be chosen for the search committee separate from the faculty list, so that it might be appropriate to exclude those names from the list that the UniFC submits. There were four such names on the list, and the consensus was that their names should be omitted. That left a list of fifteen names: Ali Emadi (ECE), Howard Eglit (Kent), Joel Goldhar (SGSB), Sarah Harding (Kent), Steven Harris (Kent), John Kallend (MMAE), Bob Krawczyk (ARCH), Martin Malin (Kent), John O'Leary (CAE), Ed Reingold (CS), Jafar Saniie (ECE), Tamara Sher (PSYC), Phil Troyk (BME), Catherine Wetzel (ARCH), Chris White (BCPS). The Council briefly discussed some of the specific names remaining on the list, but several Council members suggested that it could take a very long time to discuss all of them. Some Council members felt that diversity (including gender diversity and discipline diversity) would be better guaranteed by a shorter list; others felt that the longer list would leave the Executive Committee an opportunity to realize that diversity. Andy Howard moved that the UniFC submit the entire remaining list of fifteen names to the Board for their selection; Bob Krawczyk seconded this motion. The motion was approved by a vote of 11-3.
The Council discussed whether it would be useful for the UniFC itself to meet prior to the Board of Trustees' 6 October meeting in order to try to influence the search process itself. In the end the Council decided not to do so.
Student Government Association proposal for student-faculty activities: Doug Geiger was unable to stay to present this proposal, but before his departure he indicated he would try to present it to the full faculty either at the 13 October University Faculty Meeting or the 25 October meeting.
Discussion of IIT's libraries Christopher Stewart and two of his colleagues attended the meeting in the hopes of introducing the most pressing needs of the IIT libraries and to provide information on Library Subject Specialists. The meeting was running late by this time and there was no longer a quorum present, so Christopher presented an abbreviated version of his concerns, particularly as regards Collections and faculty involvement in library affairs. He is eager to see the UniFC revive and invigorate a standing Library Committee.
Faculty involvement in University financial planning (Phil, Howard Chapman): Phil asked Howard Chapman if the effort to gather data for a fall financial report back to the full faculty was underway. Howard said it was.
Appointment of committees that report to the UniFC, and discussion of promotions and tenure procedures: These items were postponed to a later meeting.
Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned about 2:20pm.