Faculty Senate Honors and Awards Committee
Minutes of December 8, 2006
Meeting called to order at
Those present: Rhonda Hyde, Aparna Bagdi, Bob Davis, Katharine Kerrane, Dennis Mertz, Diane Wright, Matthew Robinson, Heidi Kaufman, Zachary Schafer, Jonathan Urick
Minutes of the November 10, 2006 meeting were approved.
Rhonda Hyde, Chair, welcomed new member Heidi Kaufman, Assistant Professor in the Department of English.
Dr. Hyde requested that all members visit the Student and Faculty Honors Committee websites and check their membership details (name, affiliation, title, phone, e-mail, etc.).
Future meeting dates were discussed.
The Committee discussed a proposal that was sent to Dr. Hyde from a student. The student requested that the nomination rules be changed to allow a non-faculty member to participate in the nomination process for the Excellence in Faculty Undergraduate Advising Award. Dr. Hyde noted that we are a standing committee of the Faculty Senate and the rules are determined by the Faculty Senate. Ms. Kerrane noted that proposals for changing rules and by-laws can be sent by the Committee to the Faculty Senate. The Committee determined that the student should be referred to Human Resources. A suggestion will also be made to the student regarding writing a letter to their Department Chair about the staff member who is advising students. The Committee discussed the fact that service/merit awards are no longer provided to administrative staff. Mr. Davis noted that issues regarding awards should be referred directly to Dr. Hyde as the Committee Chair.
The committee revisited the discussion of alternative methods for contacting students for nominations for the Excellence in Teaching and Excellence in Advising Awards. Mr. Davis spoke to Cynthia Cummings regarding the use of facebook. Ms. Cummings had some reservations about this approach. The student representatives volunteered to meet with Ms. Cummings to discuss the use of facebook in more detail. .
The Committee reviewed the wording on the current nomination
forms. The Committee talked at length about wording the question to determine
if nominations had been solicited. Mr.
Urick proposed text for a drop down box for this question. The Committee decided to add “To help us get
more people…..” to the beginning of the question. The Committee also decided to edit the drop
down menu to incorporate wording that would apply to nominators who were not
students. In addition, the Committee
discussed making a distinction between being prompted to make a nomination by
the faculty member who was being nominated vs. being prompted by a faculty
member other than the nominee.
The Committee discussed rewording the first question on the
nomination form for the Excellence in Teaching Award which reads: “How knowledgeable and
intellectually demanding is this instructor?”
The new question will read: “Comment on and provide examples for how
intellectually demanding and rigorous this instructor is:”
The Committee discussed having a student Management
Information Systems Consulting team review the project that was completed 3
years ago which involved the Committee website and databases. The team will determine if improvements and
upgrades can be made to further streamline the nomination and award
process. The student teams work on the
project during the spring semester so their work will not impact the current
year processes.
Mr. Davis presented proposed honors awards from the
The meeting was adjourned at 10:00 a.m. The next meeting will be on January 12th at 8:45 a.m.