LRC 160 Multi-Media Room 3:00P.M.-5:00 P.M

Senate Minutes

April 30, 2010

LRC 160 Multi-media Room 3:00p.m.-5:00 p.m.

Senators Present: Sr. Margaret Gannon, Ed O’Brien, David Palmiter, Laurie Cassidy, Laurie McMillan, Peter Hoffer, Sam Olfano, Christine Kessen, Shamshad Ahmed, Patricia Arter, Michelle Sitko, Craig Johnson, Ellen Burkhouse, Linda Partridge, Diane Haleem, Robin Gallagher

Guests: Meghan Cravath, Peter Kilcullen, Mary Jo Gunning, Kari Eiklor

Minutes by Melissa Matsumura

Topic Discussion Action

Approval of the Minutes Ed O’Brien motioned to accept the minutes. Laurie McMillan seconded. Laurie McMillan requested that Unanimously in favor. None opposed. clarification be added to the minutes regarding the Institutional Effectiveness Committee. The Institutional Effectiveness Committee is an Ad Hoc Committee and if it succeeds it will be turned into a standing committee.

Q and A with Sr. Anne Sr. Anne Munley conducted the Q and A. Munley and Dr. Cimbolic One senator inquired on the search for the new Provost. Sr. Anne stated that the search committee is moving in a timely fashion and that the search is currently for Academic Vice President. There are currently 44 applicants and they are in the reference check/phone interview process. The conversation ensued by indicating that faculty will hopefully be able to engage with applicants in the next couple of weeks. Sr. Anne mentioned that she does not see the Vice President and Provost as two separate positions due to the nature of the institution.

The search for Secretary/Legal Council is in progress and references have been checked. There are hopes for publicizing dates for engagement with faculty in the next couple of weeks.

The Aquatics center is on schedule with construction. It should be ready by March 2011. The Woodlands Residence is in progress with hopes to open by this August. Concerns with the surrounding neighborhood are in being worked out currently. One senator asked if the institution has enough beds to accommodate students if the new Residents hall is not ready by August. Sr. Anne assured that everything is being done to ensure that the issues are resolved.

Marketing and Public Peter Kilcullen and Meghan Cravath were present to review the Relations procedures for marketing/publicity. An overview of the marketing staff was provided along with the prior publicity events for Marywood University.

Peter mentioned that there are less opportunities for advertising in the newspaper due to the limited amount of space that the papers offer. The process for submitting a news item was provided. Any news item submitted electronically is directed to Meghan for processing. Peter stated that individuals can sign up for ‘google alerts’ to receive direct emails of Marywood publicity.

The plan for the Fall is to send out regular stories with links to provide promotional activity for the campus community.

The conversation ensued to a Q and A session. One senator asked what the usual lag time for requesting a photographer is. It was stated that a 2 week notice is needed; however, a plan for the events outcome is required.

Another senator questioned if individuals are capable of submitting their own digital pictures. It was mentioned that it depends on the pixels and the camera type. Meghan stated that individuals can send her the pictures and she can view them and respond whether they will work. One senator requested that specifications be provided so people are aware of what can be utilized.

Meghan mentioned that she should be notified if a news story is not posted that was submitted. One senator brought up the point that it is not only faculty but also alumni that are commenting on the lack of stories about Marywood in the media. Meghan commented that Marywood is mentioned in the paper a lot. The stories may not be long, but we do get exposure. It was also further indicated that communication of events sometimes does not occur in enough time to provide coverage.

Once senator inquired whether there used to be an audit system. Peter stated that there was once a study of square inches of column space received by Marywood; however, this implied that the measure of a story was determined by quantity rather than the quality and was abandoned.

It was further stated that more staffing may be needed to produce a system that is capable of providing more stories. Someone is needed to assist with making stories more visible to specific targeted audiences.

Another senator added that it is difficult to recruit faculty due to the opinion of the area. It was mentioned that in the American Profiles series, there are many photographs; however, Marywood is only mentioned and not clearly acknowledged. Furthermore, it was mentioned that brochures should be placed in the city’s visitor center.

Student Athletics Mary Jo Gunning and student athlete Kari Eiklor attended to provide a brief synopsis of some current issues facing student athletes. Mary Jo mentioned that they were in attendance to enhance communication. Student athlete statistics were provided.

It was mentioned that challenges arise when a student athlete has to choose between their commitment to their team and having to miss practice or games for class. The hope is that better communication will occur between athletics and professors.

Kari mentioned some possible solutions to communication issues. (1.) Concerning the amount of practices having to be missed to be in class, a remedy would be to possibly have blocked scheduling. This would allow commuter students to be involved. It was mentioned that if you can’t practice as a team you won’t play like a team. (2.) Another issue is that athletes are encouraged to not take classes after 4pm. More full-time faculty are needed for these later time slots. It was mentioned that there is an understanding that this is difficult to fulfill; however, it may be useful to provide Tuesday/Thursday courses that are each 1.5 hours long. Providing classes from 6:00-7:30 pm could help to reduce the amount of missed class time.

Faculty Handbook Sr. Margaret Gannon motioned to approve a vote for a set of faculty Unanimously in favor. None opposed. Revisions handbook revisions. Laurie seconded.

Revisions for the faculty handbook covered these topics: January Hires, Unanimously in favor. None opposed. Department chairpersons applying for tenure, Department chairpersons applying for promotion, and completion of confidential colleague evaluation forms by untenured faculty members. Laurie motioned to approve changes. Kathy seconded.

For the topic, retirement or resignation of faculty member it was decided that “at least” should be changed to “normally” and “should be” changed to “is to be.”

Notice of the intent to retire or resign is to be submitted by the faculty member in reasonable time, normally before the beginning of the last semester of service. It was motioned and seconded to approve the revision with these Unanimously in favor. None opposed. changes.

Due to lack of time, it was decided to table the revision changes regarding: non-reappointment or dismissal of faculty member, conflict of commitment, and outside evaluation of scholarship.

Merit Restructuring Craig announced the progress made by the Merit Restructuring Craig will email papers for these issues. Committee Committee regarding the Merit Appeals Process and Merit point distribution scheme to be used in the future. A 100-point scale will be used next year to evaluate the FAR's. It was decided that these topics would again be discussed at the next meeting.

Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 5:10 p.m.