Faculty Senate
Faculty Senate holds first meeting of fall semester
(Editor's note: For more detailed information, including meeting minutes, visit the Faculty Senate website.)
9:38 a.m., Sept. 10, 2014--The University of Delaware Faculty Senate held its first meeting of the 2014-15 academic year on Monday, Sept. 8, in Gore Hall.
Fred Hofstetter, Faculty Senate president and professor of education, welcomed senators, faculty and members of the UD administration.
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With no items for consideration on the consent and regular agendas, Hofstetter gave an overview of the responsibilities and role of the UD faculty and the Faculty Senate.
Provost’s report
UD Provost Domenico Grasso outlined several initiatives that he hopes to see accomplished to create a collaborative and inclusive environment at UD.
“Inclusiveness is a value that I hope we all share,” Grasso said. “In that spirit, I will be holding town meetings in the fall and continuing to make myself available to the campus community.”
Grasso said he would like to be able to report a year from now that another area of importance, the Continuing Non-tenure Track Faculty (CNTT) Commission, was able to take on some of the major issues it faced.
“The process was, and continues to be a model for shared governance,” Grasso said. “By this I mean that we truly demonstrated that together we can live up to the ideals, and work toward common goals to bring about real, substantive results -- results that make a difference in our workplace -- even when the issues are complicated, and the resolutions to problems don’t come easily.”
Completing the University’s new Delaware Will Shine strategic plan also is a major goal for the newly started academic year, he said.
“I’m confident that our plans will help us be the best version of ourselves that we can be,” Grasso said. “As we pursue this course, our goal is for UD to continue to be known as a research university that never stops teaching or learning.”
CNTT
George Watson, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, updated members of the senate on the progress of the Provost’s Continuing Non-tenured Track Faculty Commission.
The commission is the result of a resolution passed during a special meeting of the Faculty Senate held May 28 calling for the creation of a commission with representation from, consultation with and agreement by the administration, the Faculty Senate, the CNTT Caucus and the UD chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). The commission was given the task of investigating issues regarding titling and promotion of CNTT faculty members.
Watson serves as chair of the committee, with Matthew Kinservik, vice provost for faculty affairs, serving as ex officio member. Invited members include Prasad Dhurjati, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering; Nicole Donofrio, associate professor of plant and soil sciences; Jill Flynn, associate professor of English; Laura Glass, assistant professor of education; Thomas Kaminski, professor of kinesiology and applied physiology; Robert Opila, professor of materials science; Thomas Powers, associate professor of philosophy; and Anu Sivaraman, assistant professor of business administration.
“There were five elements of the charge from Provost Grasso, and I think these will come as no surprise,” Watson said. “We want to understand fully the roles of the continuing track faculty at UD as part of our overall faculty composition.”
The question of hiring and promotion has been under discussion for the past few years, with clear expectations set, including position description and promotion guidelines, Watson said.
“The question that really launched the commission was the question of titling of continuing track faculty members,” Watson said. “The provost made it very clear to us that we are to tackle these questions and be very fair, representative, appropriate and transparent.”
Watson said the commission will strive to submit a draft report to the Office of the Provost early in the spring 2015 semester that includes recommendations and discussion of the potential positive and negative impacts.
“Our intention is to spend a lot of time with the stakeholders, primarily the faculty. We will accept invitations to come meet with other groups,” Watson said. “We hope you will take the time to let us know your feelings.”
General Education Task Force
John Pelesko, professor and chair of the Department of Mathematical Sciences, and Norman Wagner, Alvin B. and Julia O. Stiles Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, briefed the senate on the progress of the General Education Task Force.
The task force, with Pelesko chairing the Core Working Group, is charged with examining the University’s core goals in undergraduate education. Wagner serves as chair of the UD Faculty Senate General Education Committee.
The creation of the task force continues a process begun in 2011 with the Middle States Commission of Higher Education self-study and follows on work by the Faculty Senate General Education Committee over the last three years, Pelesko said.
“One of the things that is a job for this body this year is to reconsider and reimagine general education,” Pelesko said. “Provost Grasso mentioned that there is a strategic planning initiative under way. The General Education Task Force is operating in tandem with that and closely collaborating with that. What we are trying to do is bring a long-term process to a culmination.”
Wagner said the members of the Faculty Senate General Education Committee felt the goals of the task force warranted an open senate hearing, which will be held later this month.
“I hope everyone here can participate in this open hearing and voice their interest and raise issues and discuss the proposals of the task force,” Wagner said. “We really have an obligation for a variety of reasons to students and the academy as a whole to move forward.”
Safe UD
Deborah Hayes, vice president of communications and marketing, and Mark Seifert, emergency communications and information technology manager with Campus and Public Safety, showcased the recently launched “A Safe UD Starts with Me” campaign that focuses on campus safety and wellbeing.
“After an incident this summer involving a man placing video cameras in restrooms, we felt it was important to make sure the entire community is aware of the resources we have and to reinforce the message that everyone needs to be involved,” Hayes said. “We must all be on the lookout for anything unusual and report any suspicious activity to UD Police.”
“A Safe UD Starts with Me” employs a theme similar to the Amtrak “See Something, Say Something” campaign, Hayes said.
“We developed this message by working with our colleagues in offices across the campus, including valuable input from several students who served in a focus group for us,” Hayes said. “Now we are reaching out to important groups on campus, such as the Faculty Senate, to involve them in the campaign.”
The ultimate goal of these collaborative efforts is to promote the importance of safety for all members of the UD community, Hayes said.
“Our campaign so far has included posters and flyers. I hope you have seen them in classrooms and on bulletin boards around campus,” Hayes said. “They also have been distributed to residence halls.”
A series of short videos supporting the idea that “A Safe UD Starts with Me” are slated to appear later this week, Hayes said.
“We ask your help in ensuring that everyone on campus is aware of the importance of safety and that they know to look up, watch out and speak up,” Hayes said.
Seifert discussed a new LiveSafe smartphone app that is downloadable from iTunes or Google Play.
LiveSafe modernizes communications between the campus community and safety officials by leveraging key components of smartphone technology, including GPS-location, camera, and text capabilities. It allows UD students, faculty and staff members to directly and seamlessly contact UD Police concerning a range of safety issues.
“This app leverages the thousands of people everyday on campus that have smartphones on their person,” Seifert said. “It basically is a ‘blue light’ phone in a pocket. It’s an electronic device that is leveraging technology that is emerging every day here on campus.”
The app provides an instant communications link to UD Police and paramedics in New Castle County’s paramedic center and various other public safety resource centers including the Newark Police Department, Seifert said.
“It is a new communications channel for reporting incidents to the UD Police,” Seifert said. “We have done extensive outreach starting with the Student Government Association. We’ve done a lot of presentations with UD sponsored clubs and associations and to various administrative units on campus.”
Seifert also reminded members of the senate that the new app does not replace the 911 emergency system.
“Even though you might have your iPhone as you walk down Main Street, if you might come across a person in medical distress, we want you to call 911,” Seifert said. “The app does provide that ability if necessary, but we want students, staff and faculty to understand that 911 is still your first and primary call.”
A General Faculty meeting will be held at 3:30 p.m., Monday, Oct. 6, in 104 Gore Hall, followed by the regularly scheduled October meeting of the Faculty Senate at 4 p.m. in the same location.
Article by Jerry Rhodes