Members present: Andersen, Awbrey, Bee, Berven, D., Berven, K., Doman, Folberg, Frick, Fu, Gallien, Giberson, Grimm, Guessous, Hay, Hoag, Latcha, Jhashi, Leibert, Meehan, Miller, Reger, Roth, Rammel, Shablin, Spagnuola, Stano, Thompson, Wells, Wood
Members absent: Aigbedo, Butler, Chamra, Cole, Connery, Condic, Dalton, Dulio, Dvir, Eis, Estes, Gamble, Giblin, Graetz, Grossman, Hightower, Lauer, LeMarbe, Adriene, Mourdjian, Pickard, Polis, Riley-Doucet, Schartman, Schuiling, Sethi, Solomonson, Sudol, Tanniru, Taschereau, Thor, Tiegs, Williams, Zhang
Summary of Actions:
Informational Items:
Senate Committee Roster Proposed
Provost’s Updates
Unfinished Business:
Approval of Master of Education in Higher Education Leadership
Approval of Ph.D. in Applied and Computational Physics
Interim Provost called the meeting to order at 3:10 P.M.
INFORMATIONAL ITEMS
1. Senate Committee Roster Proposed -- Ms. Berven
Ms. Berven updated the Senate on the proposed Senate Committee roster for the next academic year. She expressed the Steering Committee members' thanks to those who had volunteered to be on a committee, and observed that there were very few vacancies left to fill because of all the volunteers.
2. Provost’s Update
Interim Provost Susan Awbrey thanked Senate members for their presence. She observed that it was the first Senate meeting following the departure of Provost Virinder Moudgil, and looked forward to comments of appreciation for him during the Good and Welfare portion of the meeting.
APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES of April 19, 2012
The minutes of the Senate meeting of April 19, 2012, were approved.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
1. Motion from the Steering Committee to recommend approval of the Master of Education in Higher Education Leadership in the School of Education and Human Services.
MOVED that the Senate recommend to the President and Board of Trustees approval of the Master of Education in Higher Education Leadership in the School of Education and Human Services (Kris Thompson).
Jana Nidiffer (Chair EL) was present to answer questions about the proposal. Mr. Russell congratulated the writers of the SEHS proposal for getting the letter of support for this program from the Dean. He pointed out that the Dean will support the budget, but there are fewer than four students. He asked if it makes sense to support a graduate program with fewer than four students. Mr. Gallien replied that the program is imperative to the higher education program, and he said that there is expanding growth in this field. He said that he did not foresee a problem of having too few students. Mr. Russell observed that in response to SPRC, Mr. Gallien had said that the future is well-documented by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but Mr. Russell questioned how one is able to document the future. Ms. Nidiffer stated that the Bureau of Labor Statistics stated that this is a field that is likely to grow, and she indicated that she will change the wording to: The Bureau of Labor Statistics has “documented that those who make statistics have predicted growth”. Mr. Russell then asked about the need of graduate degrees for entry level positions. Ms. Nidiffer replied that graduate degrees are needed for entry level positions in this field. Mr. Russell then said he had a question for SPRC. However, there were no SPRC members present to answer the question.
The motion was passed unanimously.
2. Motion from the Steering Committee to recommend approval of the Ph.D. in Applied and Computational Physics in the Department of Physics.
MOVED that the Senate recommend to the President and Board of Trustees approval of the Ph.D. in Applied and Computational Physics in the Department of Physics (Laila Guessous).
There was no discussion. The motion was passed unanimously.
GOOD AND WELFARE
Mr. Russell provided the following comments to the Senate in tribute to Virinder Moudgil:
"As one of the most senior faculty, if not the most senior currently active faculty member, and a senator serving under every Senate presiding officer from Chancellor Varner to Provost Moudgil, I wish to offer a brief tribute and expression of gratitude to Provost Moudgil. I was the AAUP president when the AAUP conducted the quick mid-summer poll in which the then Biology Chair Moudgil emerged as the faculty’s choice for Interim Provost. The majority of faculty participating in this poll favored Professor Moudgil over three more senior academic administrators due to this strong academic credentials and performance particularly in the area of scholarship. This was an era when Oakland’s administration stressed non-academic areas and the faculty felt we needed a provost who could speak forcefully for academic interests and priorities.
For the past decade Provost Moudgil has lived up to our expectations. We have observed a gradual resurgence of academic statements and actions first adding academic priorities to non-academic ones and finally to stressing our academic mission and strengths in most public statements culminating in the establishment of the OUWBSOM. Through years of declines in state appropriations Provost Moudgil fought for and generally succeeded in shielding Academic Affairs from budget cuts. Under his watch the number of full-time faculty positions kept pace with enrollment growth for the first time in several decades. On numerous occasions Provost Moudgil obtained funding to cover year-end deficits by academic units caused by inadequate base funding. For example, it has been years since chemistry had to use gift dollars to cover chemicals and supplies for undergraduate teaching laboratory courses. The gifts, although unrestricted, had been solicited to support student research. Professor Moudgil has made undergraduate student research a university priority and significantly increased its funding. Even though he no longer had the time to compete for external funding, Provost Moudgil maintained an active research laboratory mentoring undergraduate students in development of research skills and allowing them to experience the excitement and satisfaction of performing and interpreting experiments no one else had ever performed. After the conclusion of one faculty negotiation, Professor Moudgil secured $250,000 to begin to address the faculty salary compression issue. On these and many other topics Provost Moudgil has been the forceful spokesman for faculty priorities, faculty rights, academic freedom and respect for shared governance. Consistent with these values Provost Moudgil throughout his tenure as Provost maintained his AAUP membership.
The timing of the announcement of Provost Moudgil's new position after the agenda for action items was set is indeed unfortunate. I would love to have offered this tribute and expression of gratitude as a Sense of the Senate motion. However, as a former AAUP president I could never participate in any action in violation of the Senate Constitution. I suggest we show Provost Moudgil how we would have voted had such a motion been in order by giving him a standing ovation."
Senate members responded with applause and a standing ovation.
Interim Provost Awbrey then added her comments that Dr. Moudgil had been a mentor and a friend to her, and she wished him well in his presidency. She quoted Mahatma Ghandi as saying that a nation’s culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people, and she said that the same can be said of a university, and Virinder Moudgil left his mark on Oakland University’s culture and in the hearts and souls of the members of its community.
ADJOURNMENT
Meeting was adjourned at 3:40 P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Dikka Berven