FACULTY SENATE COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA August 16 2022

FACULTY SENATE COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA

August 16, 2022

North Lawn Hall, Room 1014

 

Guests: Dr. Stuart Bell, President of The University of Alabama

Dr. James Dalton, Executive Vice President and Provost

 

Roll Call and Quorum Check – (Barb Dahlbach)

Approval/Correction of the Minutes for April 19, 2022 – (Barb Dahlbach)

President’s Report – (Chapman Greer)

• Universal Childcare
• Gen Ed Reform

 

Vice President’s Report – (Matthew Hudnall) – No Report

Secretary’s Report – (Barb Dahlbach)

 

Senate Committee Reports:

• Research & Service – (Shanlin Pan & Clay Voorhees)
  • Goals
    • Partner with VPRED’s office to benchmark IRB performance (both faculty perceptions and objective metrics) and develop a plan to close potential gaps that emerge from benchmarking effort
      • Stakeholder meeting to discuss IRB in Aug or Sept. VPRED along with IRB committee is planning on a Town Hall meeting with faculty representative and faculty senate R&S committee to discuss matters relating to IRB submission and review
    • Partner with VPRED’s office to identify new opportunities to increase support for faculty research

• Student Life – (Amanda Espy-Brown & Kim Parker)
  • Goals
    • REACH: Continue to work with REACH to both raise funds and provide support in outreach. REACH is seeking faculty mentors, which we will work to facilitate
    • Student Mental Health: Work with administration and faculty on providing better mental health services for students

• Faculty Life – (Heather Elliott & Alex Tokovinine)
  • Goals
    • Child Care for Faculty / Staff / Students
    • Support for faculty, staff, and grad students in exigent circumstances (e.g., those affected by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine)

 

• Faculty & Senate Governance – (Jeri Zemke & Ruth Ann Hall)
  • Goals
    • Expand responsibilities to additional members of the committee
    • Update Mediation Committee Website
    • Continue to work w/Barb and committee to update language for FS-related documents
  • Call for Nominations sent out for the following committees
    • Mediation Committee
    • Ombudsperson
    • Graduation Marshalls
  • IT & Strategic Communications – (Patrick Kung & Xiaoyan Hong)
    • Goals
      • Sustain dialogue with StratCom, including implementation of their Department of Web Communications and the development of their Campus Communicators Network
      • Review and communicate (forthcoming) OIT strategic plan to FS constituencies
      • Review supercomputer/cluster computing developments at the levels of campus, UA system, and SEC (e.g., AI policy/curriculum), including how/whether UA faculty research and teaching are impacted/consulted)
    • Committee met on June 28 to review goals for the next AY and plan topics to discuss with OIT and StratComm
    • Committee met with OIT on July 11 and discussed:
      • Blackboard Ultra: An Ultra course view pilot is available (https://cit.ua.edu/technologies/blackboard/blackboard-learn-ultra-course-pilot/) where faculty can request access to a test course to check if they have the functionality that they want. CCS courses will not be supported.  OIT has hired a 3^rd-party service to migrate courses.  Faculty can still request super-sections through MyBama, but online courses will no longer be able to be combined with on-campus courses.  Preferred pronouns will importable from Banner
      • Data Center Construction Update: Expected completion: Jan. 2023
      • New website: http://hpc.ua.edu consolidates research computer information
      • Access to HyperGator (UF’s HPC environment) by any SEC institution for AI research at the same cost as UF’s own faculty
      • Cybersecurity: Consultant hired to do penetration test, which led to changes (including compliance with cyber-insurance underwriters.).  Changes include: clean-up process at OIT, Microsoft Defender to replace McAfee, phishing simulations with staff groups and then faculty.  In Spring 2023, OIT will increase use of student workers in security group to help triage daily alerts.  OIT internally testing use of biometric (face/fingerprint) for Windows workstation login
      • Email: Law School email system is moving into OIT’s centrally managed O365. No firm timeline for completion
      • 2019-22 Strategic Plan report complete (https://oit.ua.edu/about/strategic-plan/empowering-legends/). New 2022-25 Strategic Plan in progress and will be posted in Aug 2022
      • Summer/Fall Workshops: Workshops on HPC, GIS, Adobe, Blackboard, O365 will be available to help people understand tools available. These will be recorded and uploaded to YouTube. Check: https://oit.ua.edu/news/events/, https://cit.ua.edu/workshops/

• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion – (Thomas Herwig & Alessandra Montalbano)
  • Goals
    • Still refining goals

 

• Community & Legislative Affairs – (Joy Burnham & Steven Yates)
  • Goals
    • Continue collaboration with Dr. Samory Pruitt’s Office
    • Keep Faculty Senate apprised of legislative developments
    • Hold Legislative reception
    • Provide support for Brewer-Porch Children’s Center
    • Support United Way’s fundraising effort
  • STARS conference Report

• Financial Affairs – (Todd DeZoort and Tom Baker)
  • Goals
    • Completion of a faculty compensation analysis

• Academic Affairs – (Rona Donahoe & Babs Davis)
  • Goals
    • Faculty Handbook Revisions
      • Summary of July 28^th meeting between AAC co-chairs, members of the Mediation Committee and Lesley Reid to discuss changes needed to Appendix B (Mediation and Grievance) of the Faculty Handbook
    • Gen Ed Reform

 

Reports from Other Committees

 

Old Business

 

New Business

 

Reminders

• Next Senate meeting – September 20, 2022 – Venue: 110 Bidgood Hall

 

Adjourn