Minutes for University Faculty Council Meeting,
12:30pm - 2:00pm, Friday 3 October 2008
Trustees' Dining Room, Hermann Union Building

Members Present: Javad Abbasian (ChBE), Paul Anderson (CAEE), Guillermo Atkin (ECE), Patti Bach (Psyc), Warren Edelstein (AMat), Ali Emadi (ECE), Andy Howard (BCPS / Secretary), Art Lubin (AMat), Boris Pervan (MMAE), Dietmar Rempfer (MMAE), David Rudstein (Kent), Jack Snapper (Hum), Xian-He Sun (CS), David Venerus (ChBE), Catherine Wetzel (Arch), Chris White (BCPS / Chair).

Absent: Mark Anastasio (BME), Shlomo Argamon (CS), Howard Chapman (Kent), Dale Fahnstrom (ID), William Grimshaw (SocSci), Joyce Hopkins (Psyc), Nasrin Khalili (Stuart), Bob Krawczyk (Arch), Judith Lederman (MSEd).

Visitors: Mary Anne Smith (Counsel), Phil Troyk (BME).

Call to order:
University Faculty Council chair Christopher White (BCPS) called the meeting to order at 12:38 and noted that a quorum was present. He and the secretary, Andy Howard (BCPS) noted that the UniFC membership roster for 2008-09 is now complete. Some of the expriration dates listed on the UniFC website may be wrong—some members' terms that really expire in 2010 are listed as expiring in 2011. The secretary will look into this.

Action and Discussion Items

  1. Election of Vice-Chair:
    The departure of Professor William Newman from IIT means that the University Faculty Council needs to elect a new Vice-Chair. Javad Abbasian (ChBE) has agreed to stand for election to this position; Ali Emadi (ECE) nominated him, and Andy Howard seconded. His election passed unanimously.

  2. Minutes of September meeting:
    Council members noted that the September minutes mis-stated the date of this (October's) meeting, and Xian-He Sun (CS) is listed as absent. In fact, today's meeting was to be on 3 October, and Dr. Sun was present. Jack Snapper (Hum) moved approval of the revised minutes; Patty Bach seconded, and the minutes were approved unanimously.

  3. Committee Structure:

    1. Campus Committees:
      Chris White asked that the Council approve deletion of paragraphs D and E from Article V of Appendix B in the Faculty Handbook. These paragraphs describe a Main Campus Committee and a Downtown Campus Committee: these committees are no longer relevant to the revised organizational structure of the University, and have not met since before the reorganization began. He moved deletion of these paragraphs, and Jack Snapper seconded; this proposal passed unanimously.

    2. Ad hoc committees
      Paul Anderson (CAEE) asked whether the UniFC is empowered to appoint ad hoc committees. Chris affirmed that it can.

    3. Computing Committee:
      Chris asked that the Council consider deletion of paragraph J of the Article V of Appendix B. This paragraph establishes an Academic Computing Committee. Dietmar Rempfer (MMAE) argued against abolishing this committee, on the grounds that the computing resource centers might benefit from university-wide oversight. Xian-He Sun noted that the committe did useful work the last time the campus-wide network was overhauled, so it might make sense to keep it available in case it's needed. Phil Troyk noted that this committee legitimizes faculty participation in the decision-making processes regarding computing. As long as the Council is prepared on a problem-by-problem basis to get involved in decision, then we don't necessarily need a committee. After some additional discussion, Chris withdrew the motion to delete this paragraph.

  4. Membership on Committees:

    1. Academic Affairs;
      This Committee is constituted and has some oversight responsibilities with respect to the various levels of Committees on Promotion and Tenure. Among other things, it is focusing on the interaction between the review by administators (chairs and deans) and the review by the CoPTs. The Academic Affairs Committee is in a position to run it. Ali Emadi and Art Lubin (AMat) said they wanted to be on the committee; Catherine Wetzel (Arch) noted that Geoff Williamson has had strong opinions about this set of issues.

    2. Academic Freedom & Tenure:
      Mary Anne Smith noted that there should be a chair for this committee available in case a grievance comes up. Patti Bach (Psyc) said that Joyce Hopkins (Psyc) is interested in this committee. The Council approved her appointment to that committee by general consent. David Rudstein (Kent) also indicated an interest, and he was appointed as well.

    3. Financial Affairs:
      Howard Chapman (Kent) has agreed to prepare a Financial Report again this year. Dietmar Rempfer volunteered to participate as well. Chris noted that last year, Phil Troyk, Joel Goldhar, and one other faculty member handled budgetary issues; Dietmar and Howard will perform that task this year, and will recruit a third member for the committee.

    4. Undergraduate Studies:
      This committee's membership has been fully defined already.

    5. Graduate Studies
      This committee is somewhat unusual in that its chair is the Graduate Academic Dean, Sudhakar Nair. But it does report to the Faculty Council.

    6. Sabbatical Leaves committee:
      This committee performs important work each year, and it needs to be populated. David Venerus agreed to chair it, and said he would recruit additional members before the November meeting.

    7. Library: After the Library Committee was reorganized by vote of the full faculty in spring 2008, the Committee needs to be populated. The Council officers said they would pursue this.

    8. Academic Computing

      As noted above, the Council decided to reconstitute this commiteee. Dietmar Rempfer said he would recruit members, and Xian-He Sun volunteered to be on this committee.

    9. Student Affairs:
      Jack Snapper and Catherine Wetzel agreed to assemble a Student Affairs committee.

    10. Academic Grievance Committee:
      Jack Snapper, Chris White, and Patty Bach said they would serve on this committee.

  5. Committee Business:

    1. IPro oversight committee:
      Phil Troyk (BME) passed out information about this group. The proposed membership as of the meeting date was: Jim Braband (Stuart), Susan Feinberg (Hum), Margaret Huyck (Psyc), Peter Lykos (BCPS), Kevin Meade (MMAE), Nartina Nieswandt (MSEd), Michael Peljmajer (AMAT), Paco Ruiz (MMAE), Mazin Safar (INTM), Ken Schug (BCPS), Mark Snyder (CAEE), Phil Troyk (BME), and Tom Wong (ECE). Phil said the committee is attempting to recruit Javad Abbasian or Don Chmielewski (ChBE), Keiichi Sato (ID), Steve Sennott (Arch), and Wai Gen Yee (CS). He noted that this committee was constituted after the 2006 discussions, and its membership is to be approved annually by the UniFC in consultation with the Undergraduate Studies Commmitee. Phil began AY07-08 by asking Tom Jacobius for a list of faculty participants in IPROs to help get things started. Little happened in that academic year, and Phil intends to become much more involved this year, including getting the committee directly involved in reviewing IPRO proposals.

      Phil noted that the Interprofessional Studies Committee is a different entity: it is appointed by the Vice-Provost for Undergraduate Affairs, Mike Gosz, and does not report to the UniFC. Phil is working with Margaret Huyck to activate the UniFC-based committee. He expects the final list of names to be somewhat different from the one given above, based on interest and available time. Jack Snapper noted that two UGSC members are on this committee—namely, Martina Nieswandt and Michael Pelsmajer. Jack commented that this is not a balanced group in the sense that it includes skeptics about the IPRO system: it mostly consists of strong proponets of IPROs. He asked that the Council allow the committee to add and subtract members on its own so it can keep up with the tasks before it. David Venerus agreed that this is not an impartial group. The membership is, in fact, partly drawn from past members of the Interprofessional Studies Committee, and David suggested that the two groups should merge. Chris White suggested that we populate the committee with the people on Phil's list now and advertise its existence; we can then invite participation by other interested individuals. David asked whether this group's charge might include more than just providing oversight of the type done by an NIH review committee. Chris moved acceptance of this list; Patty Bach (Psyc) seconded. The motion passed unanimously. Phil will report back to the Council after the Committee has begun work.

    2. Undergraduate Studies:
      Greg Fasshauer is currently chair of this body, and Jack Snapper is its secretary. Jack noted that the planned joint BS/MS in Applied Mathematics is on the agenda for this group; it has not yet been approved. He also noted that it is forming a subcommittee to reexamine the General Education requirement.

    3. Graduate Studies: No report was made available.

  6. Stuart School proposal
    The Stuart School has submitted a proposal to merge its Master of Financial Markets degree program into its into Master of Finance program. There is some question whether or not this kind of merger constitutes a major program change. Chris White argued that it is; David Venerus said it isn't. Andy Howard moved to postpone consideration of this program until the November meeting, when a Stuart School representative could articulate the logic behind proposal. Dietmar seconded this motion, and it passed unanimously.

  7. Strategic Planning Process:
    Paul Anderson noted that there has been a radical change in the schedule for the strategic planning process: the core Task Force has been asked to complete its wor by mid-November, rather than by February Four groups have formed: a Core Task Force, a Support Systems group, a "Sandbox" group, and a "Blue-Sky" or bold-vision group. All are to report on 10 October with their preliminary findings. All of this is in response to President Anderson's determination to put more meat on his vision for the future. Some faculty members have asked what kind of messages will come back to the faculty. Some messages will come to the full faculty, and others to the faculty members who responded to the original survey. It will be difficult for the Taskforces to respond to specific faculty recommendations.

  8. UCoPT membership:
    The Provost's Admistrator, Noreen Kozak, has pointed out that there are problems with the current and proposed membership of UCoPT. Specifically, Sarah Harding is up for promotion at Chicago-Kent. The Handbook says that the UniFC should send a list of nominees to the Provost, and the Provost can appoint actual members from that list. The problem arises when the Provost receives only one name for each slot. David Venerus asked whether the Faculty Council has been given the list of UCoPT members. Chris replied affirmatively; the 2008-09 list is Jay Schieber (ChBE), Mahjoub Elnimeiri (Arch), Patrick Corrigan (Psyc), Margaret Stewart (Kent), Sarah Harding (Kent), Siva Balasubramanian (Stuart), Braja Mandal (BCPS), Ed Reingold (CS), Miles Wernick (ECE), along with a replacement for Greg Fasshauer from CSL and a replacement for John Grimes from ID. The Council and Noreen have continued to ask the Institute of Design, Architecture, and Kent for actual slates of candidates.

  9. Tenure Information:
    Chris said that dates but not places have been set for meetings between Provost Cramb and the Assistant Professors, and between the Provost and the Associate Professors. He will use these meetings to help those groups understand what he is expecting them to do to earn promotions. Mary Anne Smith said she will soon run a meeting about the tenure process, similar to the one she ran last winter.

  10. Faculty meeting:
    The University Faculty meeting will occur on 22 October. The proposed handbook changes to eliminate the Main Campus and Downtown Campus Committees will be on the agenda at that meeting. Chris noted that the Provost's office, rather than the President's office, is organizing the meeting.

  11. Online voting issue: Andy has asked the University Counsel for helping in planning a mechanism for online voting in the Faculty Council. This issue has proven to be more complex than he had originally expected it to be, so consideration of it will be postponed.

  12. Proxies & substitutes: The Council discussed the use of proxies and substitutes at UniFC meetings. Jack Snapper suggested that the best solution would be to allow substitutes, but not proxies, for voting purposes at meeting. The Council was generally favorable to this idea, but by then we had lost quorum, so no action was taken.

  13. Adjournment: The meeting adjourned by general consent at 2pm.