RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY
UNIVERSITY SENATE MINUTES 


Regular Meeting of the University Senate 

DATE:  September 30, 2005

TIME AND PLACE:  1:10 p.m., Multipurpose Room B/C, Cook Campus Center, 59 Biel Road, Cook Campus 

MEMBERS PRESENT:  Allender,  Atmeh, Axelrod, Bartosek, Blimling, Bodnar, Boikess, Borisovets, Boylan, Brazier, Butler, Caprio, Capuano, Chabal, Cohen, Coit, Colaizzi, Cole, Colin, Cotter, Curtis, DeLisi, DeLuca, Dhillon, Dutta, C. Ellis, Farrell, Fincher, Fishbein, Fleming, Furmanski, Gigliotti, Gillett, Gimbar, Gould, Hall, Hallmark, Hart, Heckscher, Hmelo-Silver, Hyndman, Johnson, Kagan, Kalelkar, Kanj, Kavanagh, Kennedy, Kirby, Kokini, Krenos, Laguna-Diaz, LaSala, Lashley, Leath, Liepmann, Lipman, MacArthur, Markert, Markowitz, Martin, Mauroff, Mayer, McCabe, McCormick, McKay, McKeever, Messer, Miller, Mulcahy, Muller, Ng, Norville, Obayashi, Ocone, O’Connell, O’Connor, Ozbay, Palmon, Panayotatos, Potenza, Puniello, Rabiner, Samuel Rabinowitz, Sidney Rabinowitz, Reed, Rubin, Ruiz, Schaich, Schein, Scott, P. Simmons, Simon, Smith, Soren, Spiegel, St. John, Sukhdeo, Tittler, Vodak, Volk, Wang, Williams, Winterbauer, Wyhopen, Zhitkevich

EXCUSED:  Arias, Barone, Bay, Bell, Bellany, Carr, Darien, Deutsch, Diner, Downs, Friedrich, Gaunt, Goodman, Guo, Jackson, R. Jones, Labib, Lee, Leichenko, Livingston, Maher, Mandelbaum, Marchetta, Marsh, Mohammed, Oren, Portilla, Schock, Sherman, C. Simmons, Stroud, Turpin, Van Til, Whitfield, Zaborszky

ABSENT:   Adarkwa, Aladdin, Alger, Ambar, Amirahmadi, Apfel, Banerjee, Barbarese, Bernstein, Boehmer, Boyd, Bravo, Breton, Cannon, E. Dennis, R. Dennis, Deprez, Edwards, Elkholy, N. Ellis, Greenhut, Gyenfie, Hankins, Herbst, Herrera, Hughes, John, J. Jones, Kirschner, Klein, Klepac, Melwani, Meyer, Nelson, Ontell, Poyznyer, Schorr, Shah, R. Simmons, Snyder, Solomon, Spat, Stark, Tuckman, Turner, Whang, Young

ATTENDANCE SUMMARY:  Faculty:  Of  89 total:  56 present (63%), 18 excused (20%), 15 absent (17%); Students:  Of  55 total:  29 present (53%), 
8 excused (14%), 18 absent (33%); Administrators:  Of 36 total:  16 present (44%), 7 excused (20%), 13 absent (36%); Alumni:  Of 6 total:  4 present (67%), 2 excused (33%), 0 absent

View Senate attendance record for this year

PRESIDING OFFICER:  Martha Cotter, Chairperson

CHAIRPERSON’S REPORT: Chairperson Cotter called the meeting to order at 1:25 p.m., apologizing for the late start.  Her chairperson’s report included the following:

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY: 

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT:  President McCormick, noting that his September 16 Annual Address had been comprehensive, thanked the Senate and all other participants for their discussion and comments on the recommendations and report of the Task Force on Undergraduate Education.  He said that his next Administrative Report will include comments on campuses and facilities, as well as any emerging news from Trenton.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

 Instruction, Curricula and Advising Committee – Natalie Borisovets, Chair - Response to Charge S-0308, Use of Course Management Systems

Original Charge S-0308:  Examine the various types of online instructional software (courseware) being utilized by departments and units at Rutgers.  What are the consequences of using a growing number of different courseware products (sometimes even within an individual course) for faculty, staff and students?  Determine whether Rutgers should decide upon and use a standard courseware product.

Senator Borisovets summarized the Instruction, Curricula and Advising Committee (ICAC) report on Charge S-0308, on Use of Course Management Systems.  She said that new data had been incorporated into this revised report since it was first introduced in April 2005.  Following discussion, the Senate adopted the report, which included the following recommendations:

1.             Rutgers University should move toward the use of one primary course management system.

2.             Both knowledgeable faculty and those not currently using course management systems should involved in the selection process, and should be given the opportunity to specify the features they would deem necessary for any CMS that they would be likely to use.

3.             OIT should consider the above faculty needs as they work on the development of the Sakai course management system.

4.             Implementation of any primary course management system should follow the Newark model of planned and supported integration.  Priority should be given to support for faculty training and assistance with course development.

5.             Until such time as there is sufficient evidence that the chosen course management system can appropriately handle 100 percent online courses, eCollege should continue to be used for fully web-delivered courses.

6.             Until such time as there is a perceived impetus to change, Blackboard should continue to be used as the primary Newark course management system.

University Structure and Governance Committee – Gary Gigliotti, Chair; Kathleen Scott, Former Co-chair - Resolution:  Support for Chair of the University Senate 

Senator Scott, who co-chaired the University Structure and Governance Committee when this resolution was first introduced at the April 2005 Senate meeting, summarized the resolution.  Senator Panayotatos moved the following amendment/addition:  “The University Senate believes that it would enhance the role of shared governance and, especially, it would send a strong message to all levels that service is indeed appreciated, if FASIP, P4P or other appropriate rewards were given at the president’s level to individuals providing significant service to the university through the Senate.”  The motion was seconded, and adopted by the Senate.  The Senate then adopted the full resolution, as amended, as follows:

Finding:  The Report of the Joint Commission on University Governance in June 1979 recommended that the Chair and other responsible officers of the University Senate receive support in order to encourage them to seriously carry out their important duties. This issue has been adopted twice by the Senate in the past. The University Structure and Governance Committee agrees with this recommendation.

Recommendation: Recognizing the increased responsibilities of the Senate Chair, and to improve the effectiveness of the Senate’s operations, we recommend to the President that the central administration provide additional support to the Senate. If the Chair of the Senate is a faculty member, that person’s department should receive relief which allows the department to provide one course release to the faculty member. If the Chair of the Senate is a student, there should be a provision for students to receive elective or independent course (or internship) credit for their service to the Senate through arrangements with an appropriate department. Appropriate relief should be made if the Chair is a representative of other constituencies of the Senate. The University Senate believes that it would enhance the role of shared governance and, especially, it would send a strong message to all levels that service is indeed appreciated, if FASIP, P4P or other appropriate rewards were given at the president’s level to individuals providing significant service to the university through the Senate.

COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE:  Discussion of Report of Task Force on Undergraduate Education

Chairperson Cotter outlined the procedures for committee-of-the-whole discussion, noting that no motions or voting will be in order during this portion of the meeting, and that speakers are asked to speak for no longer than two minutes, and to speak only once until all others waiting to speak have been heard.  In regard to the Senate’s action on the Task Force Report, which is primarily a New Brunswick issue, she pointed out that one of the legislative powers of the University Senate is regulating relations among units, that the Senate sets minimum standards for admission, and that President McCormick must seek the Senate’s advice on matters of this degree of importance.  She added that, although the New Brunswick curriculum is within the domain of the New Brunswick faculty, other elements of the Task Force recommendations are within the Senate’s purview. 

Cotter then explained that the Senate Executive Committee and standing-committee chairs had met and set up a timetable for addressing the Task Force issues.  The committees then met and provided the Executive Committee with input on committee-specific charges, which input was then considered by the Executive Committee and incorporated into individual charges for each Senate standing committee.  Updates from committees are expected to come before the Senate in November, with further discussion at the special December Senate meeting after reports of constituencies such as student governing associations and the New Brunswick Faculty Council have been issued.  This timetable should enable to the Senate to make its final recommendations on the Task Force recommendations at the February 2006 meeting.

Charges which had been issued to the Senate’s standing committees were distributed and reviewed.

At 2:05 p.m., Senator Scott rose and moved the Senate into Committee of the Whole for discussion of the Report of the Task Force on Undergraduate Education.  Chairperson Cotter explained that the discussion would be divided into three sections:  structure (including admissions), student experience, and incentives for reconnecting faculty to students.  Vice Chairperson Rabinowitz then assumed the chair at Chairperson Cotter’s request, so that she may present her comments from the floor. 

Thirty speakers made comments from the floor.  At 3:27 p.m., Acting Chair Rabinowitz asked if there were any other comments.  There were none.  Senator Scott then rose and moved the Senate out of committee of the whole.

ADJOURNMENT:  On motion and duly seconded, the meeting adjourned at 3:30 p.m.

Kenneth Swalagin