Members present:  Awbrey, Bednarski, Berven, D., Berven, K.,Cole, Connery, Doman, Dulio, Eis, Folberg, Free, Giblin, Gilson, Grimm, Grossman, Guessous, Izraeli, Jhashi, Kruk, LeMarbe, Licker, Liebert, Mabee, Marks, Meehan, Mitton, Moudgil, Pedroni, Penprase, Piskulich, Polis, Schartman, Schott-Bauer, Shablin, Spagnuolo, Sudol, Tardella, Walters, Wells, Williams, Wood

Members Absent:  Gallien, Graetz, Hightower, Jackson, Kim, Larabee, Latcha, Medaugh, Moran, Russell, Schweitzer, Southward, Switzer, Tanniru, Tracy, Voelck

Summary of Actions:
1.  Informational Items:
            Appointment of Senate Parliamentarian:  Jerrold Grossman
            Appointment of Senate Secretary:  Dikka Berven
            Military Transfer Credit Policy—Mr. Shablin
            Provost Update—Mr. Moudgil
2.  Election of Senate Steering Committee Members
3.  Motion to increase membership of the General Education Committee

Mr. Moudgil called the meeting to order at 3:20 P.M.  He welcomed the senators and guests to the first Senate meeting of the fall semester, and expressed his hope that it would be a good and successful year ahead for everyone. 

INFORMATIONAL ITEMS

• Mr. Moudgil announced the appointment of Jerrold Grossman as Senate Parliamentarian, and Dikka Berven as Senate Secretary.  He expressed his great appreciation for the dedication of Tamara Machmut-Jhashi during her years of service as Associate Provost, and wished her the best as she returns to her faculty position in the Department of Art and Art History.  Mr. Moudgil then welcomed Ms. Schott-Bauer in her new role as Acting Dean of the School of Nursing, and Mary Stein in her new role as Associate Dean of the School of Education and Human Services. 
• Registrar Shablin provided an update on the university’s Military Transfer Credit Policy, and provided a fact sheet for veteran’s certification to summarize the services available.  He indicated that there are presently 187 veterans registered for Fall 2010 classes in 78 different majors.  He announced that Oakland University has been named a “military friendly” university for the second consecutive year by the GI Jobs magazine, a designation given to only 15% of universities.  He observed that the designation is a testament to OU’s institutional commitment to veterans and their dependants.  He introduced as a guest at the meeting, Michael Brennan, a veteran who had done two tours in Iraq, and who is assisting in the Office of the Registrar.   Mr. Shablin provided insight into the long-standing efforts by OU to provide help to veterans by pointing to the minutes from the April 12, 1973 meeting of the Senate, at which time the university’s military transfer credit policy was adopted.  Mr. Moudgil congratulated Mr. Shablin for the recognition by the GI Jobs magazine, and expressed his support for all efforts that assist and pay tribute to veterans for their military service. 
• Mr. Moudgil then provided university updates.  He announced that he will be launching three national searches in the near future for the following positions:  (1)  Dean of the School of Nursing, (2) Dean of Kresge Library, and (3) Vice Provost/Research & Office of Research Administration.  Mr. Moudgil said that he would welcome input and suggestions from members of the Senate in regards to these searches.  Additionally, he expressed his appreciation and good wishes to Dean Voelck, the outgoing Dean of Kresge Library.   
• Mr. Moudgil then took the opportunity to acknowledge and thank several people who have taken on new responsibilities this year.  Brad Roth (Physics) has taken over as Interim Vice Provost/Research & Grants.  Mr. Moudgil observed that Mr. Roth has agreed to take on this duty for a period of six months, at the end of which he will return to his normal duties.  Brian Connery is taking over as the new Director of International Programs, and Gary Shepherd has stepped in to direct the Honors College as Interim Director.  Mr. Moudgil expressed his appreciation to Barbara Mabee for all of her hard work and the inspiration she provided to students as the Interim Director of the Honors College for the last two years. 

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

After the secretary took the roll call, the motion was made to approve the minutes of April 15 and May 25, 2010.  (moved by Kevin Grimm, seconded by Lynne Williams). 

Tamara Machmut Jhashi then read a statement on behalf of Joel Russell who was unable to attend the Senate meeting.  Mr. Russell’s statement is as follows: 

“The minutes of the May 25, 2010, University Senate meeting correctly recorded the following comment:  “Mr. Folberg … pointed out that the by-laws of the School of Health Sciences were approved five years after the Senate approved the school’s constitution.”  At the time I thought this statement was in error but wished to make certain before asking for a correction to be made.

The initial constitution and by-laws for the School of Health Sciences were both approved by the Health Science Faculty Council on February 10, 1984 and subsequently both approved by the University Senate on April 23, 1984.  The April 23, 1984, Senate minutes mentioned only the constitution but both documents were presented and approved as noted on the file copies in the School of Health Sciences Dean’s office.  Both documents were developed under my leadership while I served as Interim Director for the Center for Health Sciences.”

Next, Mr. Grossman requested a correction to the Minutes of May 25, 2010, in the section following the motion that the Senate should recommend approval of the new Constitution of the School of Medicine to the Board of Trustees.  The end of a paragraph on page 4  reads as follows:  “Mr. Folberg, speaking on behalf of the faculty (upon Ms. Bee’s agreement), noted that the SOM would be grateful if the Senate would approve the SOM Constitution with the requirement that they would return to the September with the revisions.”   Mr. Grossman observed that the last several words should be changed to read:  “…they would return to the September Senate meeting with the revisions.”

Mr. Grossman then requested an update from Mr. Moudgil as to the status of that particular item.  Mr. Moudgil provided a brief update, saying that he had checked with the SOM to see if the revisions had been made, and upon finding that they were ready, he had passed them along to Joel Russell to provide initial input to the SOM.  This was done in anticipation of the revisions coming back to the Senate for the October meeting.  Dean Folberg clarified that the revisions were accomplished by the SOM faculty under the supervision of Dr. Mary Bee, and will need to go back to their faculty committee after Mr. Russell completes his comments.  Mr. Folberg indicated that it will probably be November before his faculty committee will be ready to present the revisions to the Senate. 

There being no Old Business, Mr. Moudgil then moved on to New Business.

NEW BUSINESS: 

1.  Elections:  Lynne Williams (Chair, Elections Committee), with the assistance of fellow Elections Committee members, Ken Mitton and Annie Gilson, took over the election procedure for the Senate Steering Committee.   Ms. Williams explained that subsequent to the preparation of today’s agenda which stated that the Senate needs to fill a one-semester vacancy on the Senate Steering Committee (Karen Miller (CAS)—Fall 2010, one-semester replacement), one more position needs to be filled as well (Annette Osbourne, SEHS, Fall/Winter 2010/2011, one-year replacement). 
Therefore, current membership of the Steering Committee includes:  Kevin Grimm (CAS), Michael Polis (SECS), Frances Jackson (SON), and Ron Tracy (SBA). 
 
The first election conducted was for the one-year replacement.  Ms. Williams explained that the CAS was excluded from the nomination for the one-year replacement position because Karen Miller (CAS) will be back in the Winter 2011 after her sabbatical.  Ms. Williams then opened the floor for nominations.  Tom Pedroni (SEHS) nominated Mark Doman from the SEHS.  Mr. Doman was elected by enthusiastic acclamation by the Senate members.  

Ms. Williams then moved on to the second election for the one-semester position.  Andrea Eis (CAS) nominated Jay Meehan from the Sociology Department.  Mr. Meehan was elected by enthusiastic acclamation as well.   

The 2010/2011 Senate Steering Committee is thus composed of the following members: 
Kevin Grimm (CAS), Michael Polis (SECS), Frances Jackson (SON), Ron Tracy (SBA), Mark Doman (SEHS) and Jay Meehan (CAS) (Fall replacement). 

Mr. Moudgil expressed his thanks to Mr.  Doman and Mr. Meehan for their willingness to join the Senate Steering Committee this year.   

2.  General Education:  Michael Polis made the following motion to increase membership of the General Education Committee: 

     MOVED that the membership and terms of the General Education Committee consist of the following:

Twelve faculty members, one of whom shall be chair, appointed to staggered three-year terms by the Senate upon nomination by the Steering  Committee, and one student; ex officio and non-voting:  the Vice-Provost for Undergraduate Education, a representative from the Advising Steering Committee, and the Registrar, or designee, and the Director of the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment, or designee. 

Comment:  This will increase the committee membership from nine to twelve faculty members and increase the term of service from two to three years. 

The motion was seconded by Annie Gilson.   Kevin Grimm then asked why there was a need for expansion of this committee.   Laura Schartman explained that there has been a great increase in the number of new courses that need to be approved, and in assessment activities.  Also, the committee spends a great deal of time on petitions of exception, and has little time to discuss other matters.  She said the amount of work that needs to be done on this committee provoked the extension of the term of membership because of the learning curve involved.  Mr. Grimm expressed his concern that it might actually be turning into two committees.  Ms. Schartman said that the petitions and assessments get easier, but there is still a lot of work that needs to be done.  She suggested that the Gen Ed Committee may have to divide into teams in order to get all the work done.  Mr. Grimm then said that he would like to suggest that the General Education Committee should have proportional representation by the College of Arts and Science, and perhaps even have a majority of members from the CAS, because of the important role that the CAS plays in the Gen Ed program.  Ms. Schartman said that she did not disagree, but she said there should be representatives from the other Schools as well.  Mr. Moudgil concurred. 

This was the first reading:  debatable, amendable, but not eligible for final vote at this meeting. 

GOOD AND WELFARE: 

• Laila Guessous observed that the Fall semester is one week shorter than the Winter semester will be.  She wondered how this had happened.  Mr. Moudgil referred the question to Mr. Shablin, who explained that this situation is a contract issue.  Ms. Guessous pointed out that she teaches on a Monday/Wednesday schedule, and she has fewer class meetings than those who teach on Tuesday/Thursday.  Mr. Shablin said that the academic calendar resides in the AAUP agreement which sets the start and end dates.  He expressed his hope that in the next faculty contract negotiations, care would be taken to make sure that we have the right number of classes for each semester. 
• Dikka Berven noted that this semester there have been students in her classes whose financial aid loans were not released in a timely manner, and therefore there were students who were still without books because they could not afford to buy them.  She wondered whether there was anything that could be done to help them. 
• Mr. Polis asked for an update concerning lingering issues about the BALS program, suggesting that there were matters from the previous Senate meeting that needed to be addressed.  Dean Sudol responded that he did not know what issues Mr. Polis was referring to.  Mr. Polis suggested that perhaps a list of the issues should be prepared. 
• Jerry Grossman expressed his concerns about the plan for the landscaping of the traffic circle at the Squirrel Road entrance to the campus.  He had seen an article in the Oakland Press that suggested the decision as to what the landscaping in the circle would include would be made administratively.   He had learned that the trees that were taken down were sick and needed to be removed.  But he had also heard that they would be replaced by a half wall and possibly by a life-sized statue of Matilda Wilson.  He said that there should be input from the Senate, from faculty members, from staff and from students on this matter.  Mr. Moudgil explained that he had contacted John Beaghan who explained that the trees were sick and in danger of infecting other trees as well, and so they had to come down.  But there was no plan for a replacement.  There have been suggestions, but nothing had been finalized.  He suggested that it would be prudent for Mr. Beaghan to come to the Senate to address this issue.  Mr. Grossman re-iterated his opinion that there should be involvement by the university community in this decision, and he expressed his hopes that information would be on-going, and not presented after the decision had been made. 
• Mr. Grimm noted that in the packets for the meeting was a document entitled “Joint Statement on Academic Freedom/Oakland University Board of Trustees/Oakland University Senate”, and he asked for clarification as to what exactly this statement is.  Mr. Moudgil said that there was a committee headed by Joel Russell with members Ken Mitton, Tamara Machmut-Jhashi and Susan Awbrey, which had been charged with preparing a revised draft to combine two statements on academic freedom that were presently being used by the university.  This is the “Joint Statement on Academic Freedom” found in the packet, to be reviewed by the Senate before it gets passed on, ultimately to the Board of Trustees for their approval. 

Meeting was adjourned at 4:10 P.M. 

Respectfully submitted,
Dikka Berven, secretary