FACULTY SENATE MEETING
MARCH 23, 2021
ZOOM
ATTENDING: Julie Bannerman, Silas Blackstock, Serena Blount, Ibrahim Cemen, Jeremy Crawford, Rona Donahoe, Alexis Davis Hazell, Andrea Glenn, Holly Grout, Heather Gunn, Courtney Helfrecht, Conor Henderson, Jolene Hubbs, Christopher Lynn, Preethi Nair, Regina Range, Ignacio Rodeno, Rainer Shad, Jenny Shaw, Sarah Steinbock-Pratt, Edith Szanto, Bulent Tosun, Vaia Touna, Jonathan Whitaker, John Vincent, Greg Cottrell, Jennifer Dempsey, Chapman Greer, Ruth Ann Hall, Matthew Hudnall, BC Kim, Brian Britt, Leah LeFebvre, Alyx Vesey, Steven Yates, Cecily Collins, Suzanne Henson, Nelle Williams, Andrea Wright, Stephanie Buckner, Joy Burnham, Nirmala Erevelles, Keely Guyotte, Latrise Johnson, Michael Lawson, John Petrovic, Stephanie Shelton, Sriram Aaleti, Jaber Abu-Qahouq, Ajay Agrawal, Sushma Kotru, Sundar Krishnan, Patrick Kung, Shuhui Li, John Van Zee, Keith Williams, David Taylor, John Latta, Carla Blakey, Wanda Burton, Babs Davis, Michelle Tong, Jeri Zemke, Courtney Cross, Heather Elliot, Barb Dahlbach, Russel Peterson, Susan Appel, Michael Callihan, Rebecca Owings, Leah Cheatham, Amy Traylor, Robert Riter Parliamentarian,
ABSENT WITH ALTERNATE: Lyndell McDonald/Matt Reynolds, Kelly Shannon-Henderson/Jennifer Feltman, Mirit Eyal-Cohen/Dan Joyner, Russel Peterson/James Gilbreath,
ABSENT: Sheila Black, Seth Bordner, Tony Buhr, Diana Dolliver, Luvada Harrison, John Yoder, Todd DeZoort, Lexi Lowe Edwards, Mary Stone, Bharat Mehra, Michelle Tong, Teresa Welch
GUESTS: Dale Dickerson, John Clements, TUARA Representative Hank Lazer, Andre Denham GET, Erik Peterson GET
The meeting began with a presentation by the General Education Taskforce members – Chapman Greer, Andre Denham and Erik Peterson. The General Education Curricular Concepts were presented for Faculty Senate consideration and voting to prioritize those concepts.
General Education Curricular Concepts include the knowledge of human cultures and the physical and natural world, integrative and applied learning, intellectual and practical skills and personal and social responsibility. When the UA General Education program is completed, all undergraduates should have the fundamental skills, abilities and behaviors to identify them as: an ethical reasoner, individually and socially responsible citizens, inter-culturally competent and knowledgeable individuals, problem solvers, critical thinkers and effective communicators. These student learning outcomes will be used to refine GET’s initial GE models (now called curricular concepts), generated in the Spring of 2020. There are eleven high impact practices, teaching and learning practices and UA employs all eleven of these HIPs. The four High Impact Educational Practices include First-Year Experience, Community Engagement. Capstone Courses and Projects and Diversity/Global Learning. First-year experience is built into the curriculum at some institutions bringing together small groups of faculty and staff. Emphasis is on critical inquiry, writing, information literacy and other skills to develop intellectual and competencies characteristics. Research has found an estimated five to fifteen percentage point increase in retention and four-year graduation rates for participating students. Participation leads to more interaction between faculty and students, more involvement in co-curricular activity, reveals satisfaction with the first-year college experience, and a positive self-perception as college learners achieving higher grades. In particular, the UA student will seek to reinforce the Capstone Creed which freshmen pledge to uphold which reads: “As a member of The University of Alabama community, I will pursue knowledge; act with fairness, integrity and respect; promote equity and inclusion; foster individual and civic responsibility; and strive for excellence in all I do”.
The Carnegie Foundation defines community engagement as “Collaborative interaction with community and related scholarship for mutually beneficial exchange, exploration and application of knowledge, information, and resources (research, capacity building, economic development, service-learning, etc.).” Community engagement is a UA best practice and the goal is to leverage specifically to – Capstone Courses and Projects: The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) defines Capstone Courses and Projects as “culminating experience that requires students nearing the end of their college years to create a project of some sort that integrates and applies what they have learned. The project might be a research paper, a performance, a portfolio of “best work” or an exhibit of artwork”. Clinical experience, practicums, internships, etc. that are required as a part of a degree program would also fit the criteria for a Capstone Course or Project. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: The call to integrate diversity, equity and inclusion into the heart of education is an imperative borne of seeing ourselves as members of a world community, knowing we share the future with others. Beyond more exposure to culturally different others, the campus community requires the capacity to: meaningfully engage those others, place social justice in historical and political context, put culture at the core of transformative learning. The intercultural knowledge and competitive rubric suggests a systematic way to measure our capacity to: identify our own cultural patterns, compare and contrast them with others, and adapt empathically and flexibly to unfamiliar ways of being.
Concept #1 – First-Year Experience, Core Curriculum, Community Engagement, Capstone.
Concept #2 – First-Year Experience, Core Curriculum plus I.P.S. courses, Community Engagement and Capstone; Information Literacy, Intercultural/Knowledge & Competence, Critical & Creative Thinking, Inquiry & Analysis.
Concept #3 – First-Year Experience, Pathways, Information Literacy, Intercultural Knowledge and Competence, Critical and Creative Thinking and Inquiry and Analysis.
Over 100 different general education programs across the nation were reviewed and the trend seems to be toward the model referred to as Pathway. Each Pathway would be themed with a variety of courses. The student selects the Pathway and the institution selects the courses in that Pathway. Institutions are adopting this model to attract and retain a diverse student body. The model can be flexible or conservative. Conversations are being conducted with those departments across campus concerning these concepts giving feedback to the taskforce. There will be ongoing reviews and assessments on the impact the model has on students. Research has been done on retaining students which is included in the three concepts. Faculty interaction with students, particularly their first year, greatly improves the student’s college experience. Following the discussion about credit hours and switching pathways, a Qualtrics link was placed in Chat to rank the three concepts presented today.
An open forum will be held April 8 at 1:00 P.M. Go to the General Education website to register.
Secretary’s Report – (Barb Dahlbach) Roll call and quorum check by Faculty Senate Secretary Barb Dahlbach.
Faculty Senate meeting minutes of February 18, 2021 were approved.
President’s Report – (Rona Donahoe) The Presidential Advisory Committee met last Friday. Phase One C of the vaccine program went into effect yesterday which includes anyone 16 or older with a high-risk medical condition. UA has not received any vaccine for the last two weeks and none so far this week. Vaccine will not be received until April delaying the vaccination of students. UMC has administered more than 8,500 vaccinations since January. A very limited amount of first doses are on hand at this time. Vaccinating students at this time would be problematic since the waiting period would put the second dose during final exams.
The Alabama State Mask Order will expire on April 9th and will not be extended although businesses are encouraged to continue requiring masks. The UA Systems office has the authority to require the wearing of masks and social distancing with plans to continue those requirements during the summer courses. These policies will be reviewed as needed.
There will be summer camps this summer operating on a very limited basis. There will be no overnight camps and will be operating at 20% capacity. Final plans are ongoing.
“A” Day game will be ticketed this year for the first time in memory.
The Student Health Center will be moving from Student Life to the University Medical Center with the goal of providing a higher level of student health care and improve record keeping and reporting.
The UA System’s Dashboard Sentinel testing revealed three positive cases out of 1,474 for the week ending March 11th. For the week ending last Friday there were zero positive cases out of 1,757 tests. Only eleven are in quarantine/isolation spaces on campus. The Athletic Department reports no positive test results among student-athletes for three weeks. There are spikes in variant cases in Europe and in the State of Wisconsin. Vigilance must be maintained to prevent the spread of this virus. UMC has reserved second doses of vaccine for those who received their first dose. UA has no plans to change the current practices. The CDC has changed the social distancing from six feet to three feet and Rona will ask the question concerning classroom distancing in the next Presidential Advisory Committee meeting.
The document regarding Tenure Track Faculty allowing all faculty and junior faculty who were appointed between April 16 and May 15 the option of a Covid tenure clock extension was presented. President Donahoe and the Faculty Senate Academic Affairs Committee have reviewed the document. Some did not take the option last year and have been unable to do research partially due to travel restrictions. This basically says there is a one and done deal and only for newly hired people. The opt-in deadline for this proposal is June 15th and would exclude anyone not hired within that window between April and August and would not cover anyone who chose not to opt-in last year. The suggestion was made to give rollbacks on decisions. Rona is willing to go to the Provost and advocate for a second opportunity for junior faculty who are not in their second promotion year to opt-in for this one- year extension.
There will be nine ceremonies looking much like last May with masks and social distancing. There will be approximately 5,000 students graduating this May. Some aspects of the ceremony will be electronic. There will be two ceremonies on Friday, four on Saturday and three on Sunday. Commencement Marshals will not be needed. Information is available on the Registrar’s website.
There was an issue with the fall syllabi with courses not in place in the system. Instructors were not able to publish their syllabi in time for student registration. OIRA was able to resolve the problem and it was up and running on Monday.
There will be a banquet to raise funds for the Safe Center. Safe Center provides forensic nurses and care for an individual who has suffered a sexual assault. UA partnered with the community and law enforcement to establish this center. They rely on contributions. There are sponsorship levels and two years ago the Faculty Senate sponsored a half table for attendees. The banquet will be held on April 18 at the Half Shell restaurant. If anyone would like to contribute, please let Rona know by email.
End-of-year committee reports are due.
Vice President’s Report – (Chapman Greer) Everyone was reminded to vote on ranking the curricular concepts. There are 52 responses with voting to close at 5:00 P.M.
Secretary’s Report – (Barb Dahlbach) The senator election has been completed. Committee preference forms have been sent out with only six not being returned. Cathy Pagin has been elected Ombudsperson to begin serving January 1, 2022.
Faculty & Senate Governance – (Ibrahim Cemen & Jeri Zemke) The Faculty Senate officer elections will be held at the March meeting via zoom. There are two candidates for President – Chapman Greer and Steven Yates; one nominee for Vice President, Matthew Hudnall; and one nominee for Secretary, Barb Dahlbach. Steven Yates and Chapman Greer gave a short presentation on reasons for running for the position. Chapman Greer was elected President, Matthew Hudnall elected Vice President and Barb Dahlbach as Secretary. These officers will assume the positions April 1, 2021.
Laurie Bonnici and Ron Dulek were elected to the Mediation Committee to begin serving on August 15, 2021.
The Committee on University Committees Faculty Member Election closes today at 5:15 P.M. The link is on the agenda of today’s meeting.
Academic Affairs – (John Vincent & Babs Davis) The Academic Affairs Committee met with Dean Messina to discuss first-year tenure-track faculty retention reviews which proposes eliminating first year reviews. This issue will go back to Council of Deans.
The committee met with Provost Han regarding the “Academic Misconduct Policy” changes. There are significant issues – student has five days to respond to complaint; student doesn’t speak English and doesn’t understand complaints and needs a University approved interpreter; when student doesn’t respond/ permission to move forward; student advisor accompany student into meeting. Academic Affairs Committee will come back with a more polished version.
Two clauses in the “Leaves Associated with Distinguished Fellowships, Awards and Grants Policy” have been removed. This changed policy was presented to the Faculty Senate Steering Committee which voted to table the issue
This was the final meeting for John Vincent who has served the Faculty Senate in several capacities over many years including the office of president. John Vincent’s leadership, guidance and unswerving attention to Faculty Senate issues and issues involving the University as a whole was invaluable. He will be sorely missed.
Community & Legislative Affairs – Joy Burnham & Steven Yates) The date for the reception for Legislators has been set for April 5, 2021 in Gorgas Library from 4:00 until 6:00 P.M. Everyone was encouraged to attend.
Information Technology & Strategic Communications – (Matthew Hudnall & Patrick Kung) The main email service for UA has migrated to Outlook environment. Student email will migrate to the Cloud by May. There is a massive security flaw in our server and UA, OIT and Microsoft reviewed email to make sure no one’s account had been hacked. The Chinese hackers were able to get to step two out of four and were part way in to compromise the exchange servers on campus but were not successful in completing their efforts. OIT has eliminated and rebuilt the servers so there is no residual evidence of the hacking remaining. There is a big high performance upgrade coming with computer housing relocation involved. Blackboard nine will be upgraded in Fall 2021 migrating to Blackboard Ultra in the future.
Financial Affairs – (Rainer Shad & John Van Zee) The Financial Affairs Committee met with Matt Fajack, Vice President of Financial Development. UA has managed the financial situation during the pandemic well. The State of Alabama’s appropriations for UA looks encouraging for this budget year. Fall enrollment preliminary numbers are overall stable. The committee continues to review overhead research funds. It was suggested to check with UAB and UAH regarding their financial situation.
Research & Service – (Sriram Aaleti & Ajay Agrawal) The Alabama Board of Safety found some violations during the last review and those were quickly corrected.
The committee met with Vice President for Research, Russ Mumper. Several initiatives to promote and enhance research such as partnerships and significant funding opportunities were presented. NASA is interested in working with UA through such initiatives as the Space Manufacturing. There is a mobility and power initiative being discussed with Alabama Power and Mercedes.
Ajay Agrawal will not be returning to the Faculty Senate and his expertise in research funding and issues were invaluable and will be sorely missed. There is much regret regarding his departure.
Student Life – (Jennifer Dempsey & Ruth Ann Hall) President Donahoe requested this committee write a resolution commending the University Medical Center and the Student Health Center staffs for their outstanding service during the Covid pandemic. The first draft is attached to the agenda. This resolution will be voted on at the next Faculty Senate meeting.
The next Faculty Senate meeting will be on April 20 with new senators participating in their first meeting following a brief new senator orientation. Co-chairs will be elected following approval of committee assignments.
President Rona Donahoe was commended on her three years of unselfish and outstanding service as the President of the Faculty Senate.
Meeting adjourned 5:30 P.M
PDF Version of March, 23 2021 Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes