Oakland University Senate
First Meeting
September 17, 1998
Minutes
Members present: Abraham, Andrews, Benson, Berger, Blume, Boddy, Brieger, Connellan, Dillon, Doane, Downing, Eberwein, Grossman, Halsted, Herman, Hildebrand, Hovanesian, Johnson, Kleckner, Landau, Mabee, Macauley, McNair, Moore, Nakao, Olson, Pettengill, Polis, Reynolds, Riley, Rozek, R. Schwartz, Sen, Speer, Sudol, Wood, Zingo. Guest: Russi, Sieloff
Members absent: Alber, Bertocci, Blanks, Buffard-O'Shea, David, Ganesan, Gardner, Jarski, Keane, Liboff, Lilliston, Long, Moran, Moudgil, Mukherji, Otto, H. Schwartz, Simon.
Summary of actions.
1. Approval of the minutes of April 30, 1998 with correction. ( Andrews, Eberwein) Approved
2. Senate Committee reports.
3. Motion to staff Senate Standing Committees (Reynolds, Andrews) Approved.
Mr. Downing called the first meeting of the 1998-9 to order and opened the meeting with introductions. Beginning with himself, as interim Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost and former and future Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, he expressed his pleasure at being able to work with the Senate in his new role. He stated that this is an exciting opportunity for him and that he is looking forward to a dynamic and productive year. He then introduced Lynne Schaefer, the new Vice President for Finance and Administration. Stating she was delighted to be here, Ms. Schaefer spoke briefly, outlining some of her priorities for the coming year. These include modifications to the budget process so that everyone will feel they have a voice and that their needs are understood. And, although not all the needs will be met because of the nature of the limited resources available, nevertheless, she stated, we will have an understanding of what the needs are. Another priority will be the examination of the business practices in Finance and Administration to see that they meet the needs of the university community.
The minutes of the April 30 meeting were approved as corrected, upon a motion by Mr. Andrews and a second by Ms. Eberwein. Ms. Wood corrected the spelling of her last name which should have been Wood rather than Woods in the minutes.
Mr. Downing then updated the Senate with a number of information items:
1. The Office of Academic Affairs was restructured this summer with the goal of streamlining operations by doing away with the variety of roles and titles and putting everyone on the same footing. There are now four Vice Provosts who have differing responsibilities, none of which are formally tied to the titles. This provides increased flexibility in job assignments and varied career paths and opportunities for individuals. The Vice Provosts include Mr. Connellan, Ms. Awbrey, Mr. Johnson and Mr. Cigna. Mr. Connellan, continuing as Vice Provost, will be responsible this year for the Office of Graduate Study (admissions, recruiting, helping the Deans with program development, marketing), working with personnel and serving as the AAUP liaison, distance learning and other approaches to educational delivery. In a parallel role with regard to undergraduate education, Ms. Awbrey will work with undergraduate instruction, the Honors College, the General Studies Program, program review, continuing education, spring/summer programs and general education. And for the coming year she has the North Central accreditation review as one of her responsibilities. Enrollment management, admissions, student services, financial aid, recruiting of students, outreach, community college relationships, and marketing for undergraduate will be the bailiwick of Mr. Johnson. Since his office works closely with the Registrar, Mr. Johnson took opportunity to introduce the new Registrar, Steve Shablin who was welcomed by the Senate. The fourth Vice Provost, Mr. Cigna will be responsible for information technology, the Office of Computer and Information Services, the Instructional Technology Center, the university technology infrastructure along with the ongoing conversion to the Banner system.
2. The result of last year’s search for an Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Graduate study was a lack of consensus about any of the candidates and, as a result, no candidates were recommended for hire. There was also concern about the position itself and the lack of campus dialogue about what that position should be. So, during the coming year, Mr. Connellan will have responsibility for Graduate Studies and the university will have time to discuss the position, particularly the research aspect of it, and to gather information from the university community regarding what is wanted.
3. In September the Dean of the Library, Ms. Frankie, retired after 15 years of exemplary service to the university and Ms. David has been appointed Interim Dean of the Library. The search for a Library Dean will commence as soon as a search committee has been identified.
Mr. Downing then called the Senate’s attention to the committee report summaries that were distributed with the agenda and asked if there were any questions, comments or observations for the chairs. Ms. Eberwein asked if the General Education Committee is at all involved in rethinking the general education requirements. The chair, Ms. Andersen, responded that their primary job is to oversee the current general education requirements and that no, the committee is not actively involved in rethinking general education. But she added, some members of the committee were invited to be attend a conference and be part of a group that is looking at general education and specifically the problems relating to assessment. Mr. Downing noted that the members of this group include representatives from the General Education and Assessment Committees, chairs in arts and sciences and representatives from the schools. Their assignment was to think about general education and assessment and to clarify and articulate why general education is so important. One problem the Assessment Committee has had is that there is no clear articulation concerning the value of general education requirements. Ms. Awbrey noted that North Central looks seriously at general education and we want to be able to say and to demonstrate to them that we value the importance of general education. Responding to Ms. Mabee’s question about the status of sign language as a language option, Ms. Andersen responded that consideration of it had been postponed indefinitely.
Ms. Awbrey then presented a report of the status of the activities of the North Central Committee. The committee is preparing a self study of the university to demonstrate that we meet North Central’s criteria. A draft report has been completed and copies will be made available in all departments and schools as well as on reserve in the library. For this report, Oakland has prepared not only the traditional report but also included a special emphasis section on the Strategic Plan and the various projects and initiatives underway to implement the plan. She emphasized that the development of this report is a dynamic process and that everyone should review the report, and specifically units should pay close attention to those chapters relating to themselves to ensure that the information is accurate and current. She announced that there will be several open hearings to discuss the report and the report will also be on the October Senate agenda. She asked for written input and urged everyone to pay special attention to chapter 7, the SWOT analysis. Mr. Downing reminded the group that when the NCA team is here they will be walking around campus and talking to people and that it will be in our best interests if everyone is aware of and informed about the North Central visit and the preparation of the report.
As a final information item, Mr. Downing asked if the Senate would be comfortable with electronic dissemination of Senate materials, either via e-mail or the Senate home page. There were no objections to this proposal and so we will begin a trial in October and see how it works.
The only item of new business, a motion to staff senate standing committees was presented by Ms. Reynolds. She moved that the individuals listed in the agenda be appointed to the specified committees for the terms listed and added to the printed motion three additional nominations: Margaret Early (School of Nursing) to the University Committee on Assessment for a 3 year term; Judith Hovey (School of Nursing) to the Library Committee for a 2 year term and Mohinder Parkash (School of Business Administration) to the Academic Conduct Committee for a 2 year term. Mr. Andrews provided the second. Ms. Benson then nominated David Maines to serve on the Honorary Degree Committee but was informed that he is already serving on a Senate Committee and so withdrew her motion. Mr. Downing noted that the Steering Committee normally does not assign individuals to more than one Senate Committee. The motion to staff the committees was then approved.
Moving onto good and welfare, Mr. Downing called attention to the list of existing vacancies on Senate Committees and added that there is also now a vacancy on the Senate Budget Review Committee. And, noting that he should have mentioned it earlier along with the other introductions, he announced Mr. Macauley’s appointment as Interim Dean of Arts and Sciences. As a final item, Mr. Pettengill asked if there was any new information concerning the new SBA building and Mr. Russi was able to respond that the state approved the design earlier today and that ground breaking is expected to occur in the spring.
There being no further discussion, the meeting adjourned at around 4:45 p.m.
Submitted by
Linda L. Hildebrand
Secretary to the University Senate