Minutes of the University Senate Meeting

Anderson, Collin

Anderson, Suzanne

Axtman, Benjamin

Baker, Mary

Bass, Gail

Behrmann, William

Berne, Jane

Berwald, Olaf

Boyd, Robert

Bradley, April

Broedel, Hans

Buhr, Jordan

Covington, Chandice

DeMers, Judy

Elbert, Dennis

Elsinga, Lillian

Faruque, Saleh

Ferraro, Richard

Gallager, Robert

Gourneau, Bonni

Grandstrand, Tyrone

Graves, Corey

Hoffarth, Janice

Hume, Wendelin

Hunter, Susan

Iiams, Michele

Iverson, Joneen

Jackson, Margaret

Jeno, Sue

Jerath, Sukhvarsh

Khavanin, Mohammad

Kitzes, Adam

Lawrence, David

Light, Steven

Little, Michael

Lothspeich, Jason

Marshall, David

Mayzer, Roni

Mertz, Tara

Moen, Jan

Myrick, Matthew

Nelson, Susan

Petros, Thomas

Poochigian, Donald

Potvin, Martha

Reza, Hassan

Richards, Thomas

Riedy, Joshua

Rieke, Judy

Schwartz, Rhonda

Smith, Bruce

Stolt, Wilbur

Sun, Jeffrey

Tepper, Nadine

Weisenstein, Greg

Wettersten, Kara

Widmer, Donovan

Wittgraf, Michael

Wu, Min

The following announcements were made:

Tom Steen reported on the Essential Studies program, reminding the Senate that this year is a transition year. The Fall 2008 incoming freshmen will follow the new program. The General Education Requirements Committee (GERC) and the Registrar’s Office have worked on the list of courses and the expectation is that the website will tentatively be available by April 21. On April 11, there is an Essential Studies workshop which includes a revalidation workshop and sessions on the new requirements and advising students. The Essential Studies Task Force or GERC are willing to meet with departments if there are questions about the new program. The Office of Instructional Development has funds available for grants to faculty for designing or redesigning courses to meet new Essential Studies program goals.
Joan Hawthorne reminded the senators of the Higher Learning Commission visit on April 7 and 8. She called attention to a handout and many other ways she has communicated the information to the campus. The visitors have scheduled meetings on Monday and open sessions for faculty and students late in the day. She encouraged attendance at the open sessions. The Tuesday morning schedule is open and the visitors may make drop-in visits at that time.
Josh Riedy, Dean of the Division of Continuing Education, spoke about term-based online courses. He indicated that letters have been sent out to students and faculty regarding term-based online instruction. He shared a presentation with information on the history of correspondence courses and the need for UND to change the online term-based course format. There is an initiative to develop term-based online courses. The initiative has targeted summer and fall 2008. There is a new tuition and tuition sharing model for these courses. Questions regarding quality, transparency, target audience, intellectual property, and tuition were addressed.
Tyrone Grandstrand was introduced as the new student body president. He shared his concerns regarding racism and the recent incident at UND. He introduced Dr. Boyd to speak to the issue. Dr. Boyd shared the speech that he made to the student government.

The chair asked for corrections or additions to the March 13, 2008 minutes. Hearing none, the minutes were approved as distributed.

The question period was opened at 4:50 p.m.

There was a request of the Senate to allow Mike Loewy, chair of the Counseling Department, to address the Senate. The request was approved. Dr. Loewy directed his questions to the administration. He indicated that there was an approved 5% increase for faculty salaries but understood 2.36% was held back for administration. He heard this hold back was due to enrollment reduction, a scholarship funding error, the Division I transition, and dependent tuition waivers. He understands that the administration stood by the 5% salary increase but there was still a reduction in other ways. He is concerned about the impact on departments and the University. The Provost spoke to the matter. First, he reaffirmed that all major budget centers were affected by the reduction. Salary increases were not impacted. The reasons for reallocation were multiple: dependent waivers, increased scholarships due to new scholarship programs, more presidential scholarships, transition to DI as previously announced, and a tuition shortfall due to several years in decline in enrollment and credit hours. The hope and expectation is that the enrollment shortfall will turn around for next year. The picture for the future is quite bright but we need to get through this period. He spoke of the value of DI to UND for visibility and the ability to tell the academic story more broadly. Dr. Loewy requested more communication to the departments. Mr. Weisenstein was open to developing better ways of communicating with the departments.

The question period was closed at 5:10 p.m.

A motion was made by Mr. Marshall, and seconded by Ms. DeMers, to accept and file the Senate Conflict of Interest/Scientific Misconduct Committee annual report. The motion was approved.

Mr. Petros called attention to the Nomination to Senate Committees ballot. He requested deleting #9 which will be addressed at the May meeting. Michele Iiams moved acceptance of the ballot with the deletion. The motion was seconded. There was an observation that Roni Mayzer was not reflected on the ballot as a nomination from the floor. Roni Mayzer’s name was added to #8 of the ballot for the record. The motion to confirm the nominations passed with a vote of 46 for and 1 against.

The report from the Curriculum Committee was presented. Approval was moved and seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

10.

Chandice Covington, on behalf of the Maternity Benefit Task Force, presented the following maternity benefit policy and moved for Senate support:

“A female faculty member who bears a child during the academic year is entitled to 6 weeks of paid maternity leave to commence immediately following the birth of her child.”

The motion was seconded by Mr. Marshall. Questions and discussion occurred. The point was made that there are other areas that need to be addressed on the broader issue of fathers and adoptive births. These future areas will be reported to the Provost for decisions on future directions. The motion passed with a vote of 43 for and 1 abstention.

11.

Mr. Poochigian moved, and Mr. Buhr seconded, to extend the meeting time by 10 minutes. The motion passed.

12.

Ms. Potvin called attention to the handout for a Faculty Handbook change presented by the Chairs’ Role and Compensation Task Force. Ms. Potvin moved approval and Mr. Marshall seconded the motion. The motion was approved with a vote of 45 for and 2 abstentions.

13.

Ryan Zerr, chair of the Senate General Education Requirements Committee, presented a proposal to change the name of the General Education Requirements Committee to the Senate Essential Studies Committee. Mr. Kitzes moved approval and Mr. Wittgraf seconded the motion. The motion was approved with a vote of 45 for and 1 abstention.

14.

Mr. Light presented a resolution recognizing the service of the UND Presidential Search Committee and its chair, Paul LeBel. There was a motion and a second to approve the resolution. The motion passed with a vote of 44 for and 1 abstention.

15.

With no objection to an additional agenda item, Mr. Petros called Jason Lothspeich to present an agenda item. Mr. Lothspeich requested approval of Dr. Marcia Mikulak as the faculty member representative for the student government Multicultural Affairs Committee. There was a motion and second to approve Dr. Mikulak. The motion was approved unanimously.

16.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:30 p.m.

Suzanne Anderson

Secretary to the Senate