Faculty Senate Council Meeting

Faculty Senate Council Meeting October 8, 2013 at 11:30 a.m. MINUTES

PRESENT: Richard Melka, Kimberly Bailey, Steve Hardin, Marietta Frank, Kira Leck, David Merwine, and John Slimick [Charity Burlingame, guest speaker]

Items of Business:

Approval of Minutes: A motion to approve minutes from the September 24, 2013 Faculty Senate Council meeting was made by John Slimick. Ernie Kallenbach seconded the motion. The minutes passed unanimously.

Next Faculty Senate Council Meeting: October 22, 2013 in the Academic Dean’s Conference Room at 11:30 a.m.

Next Full Faculty Senate Meeting: October 31, 2013 in Fisher Hall 107 (Rice Auditorium)

Academic Coaching & Tutoring Center (AC/TC): Charity Burlingame was invited to Senate Council to talk about the AC/TC. She distributed a handout, see Attachment #1. AC/TC offers three types of services: individual tutoring sessions [one-on-one], group tutoring sessions, and review sessions. Students at Pitt-Bradford can schedule to receive one hour per week of tutoring in each subject. However, students can attend a friend’s tutoring session (which turns that session into a group session) and receive a second hour per week. This has become a popular student option. Weekly review sessions are scheduled based on need or request and are held in campus classrooms. One-on-one tutoring sessions take place in the AC/TC or the library study rooms. Tutoring is free and appointments can be made/cancelled in person or online at: http://tutortrac.upb.pitt.edu .

Statistically, most of the student population is coming in for biology, chemistry, psychology, and nursing. Demographically, students are struggling in the course or taking it because they are an overachiever. In September 2012, there were 177 visits to the AC/TC compared to 256 visits in September 2013. To date, there are 278 appointments. The math center alleviated the high volume of math tutoring sessions, but did not affect the statistics overall as it allowed opportunity to provide tutoring in other areas.

Tutors can work up to 8 hours a week but were being overextended; recently the AC/TC received increased funding from the Academic Affairs office to increase tutoring hours. There is a call for engineering tutors. To be eligible, tutors must qualify for Federal Work Study (FWS) and have a B+ or better in the subject. They cannot be working anywhere else on campus. Please encourage eligible students as tutoring looks good on the student’s résumé and is also a nice review for graduate school. In the future, the AC/TC would like to be able hire institutional work study so she can get the tutors she needs for tutoring sessions.

0d552f7ae904f6b054f9e4f506bcf2e3.docx08 Page 1 of 4 Submitted by: Kimberly Bailey As far as appointments, the writing center is currently scheduled a week and a half out because students are required to visit the writing center for their composition classes. AC/TC appointments are at will, so they are not as fully booked as the writing or math centers. Thus far, no cost/benefit analysis has been completed, but globally, it has been shown to increase graduation and retention rates.

G.E. Requirements for STEM: A question was posed on whether STEM students should have the same General Education requirements as others due to the amount of credits tied up in remedial math courses. Some schools allow different requirements. Council was reminded that the University of Pittsburgh is a liberal arts institution.

Faculty Year-End Evaluations: Some faculty members have indicated the need to look at the year-end evaluation process as the Tenure process and the self-evaluation are not consistent. Hardin stated that the faculty member and the Division Chair should take the evaluation process seriously and consider how that particular faculty member can improve. Hardin talks with faculty formally and informally to update them of status towards tenure. It was determined that Senate Council does not need to investigate year-end evaluations.

Tenure Document Changes: Due to a movement across the country looking into adjunct faculty, non-tenure track policies are being taken very seriously in Pittsburgh. Hardin received a directive from Pittsburgh to review policies related to non-tenure faculty. There are different expectations for non-tenure-stream faculty. For example, they can be engaged in the discipline and continue as an Assistant Professor. The following changes to the tenure document are intended to clarify those differences.

Tenure Document Change #1: 2. Professional Development Professional development includes research; publications and creative activity; active participation in professional meetings; membership in appropriate professional organizations; and service to the profession. The goal of excellent teaching effectiveness cannot be reached unless faculty members maintain an active interest in their disciplines and continue to expand and refine their knowledge and understanding of their fields. In recognition of this, Pitt- Bradford encourages faculty to pursue the highest possible levels of scholarly achievement, research, and creative endeavors. Individual contributions to professional development, as defined above, are expected. The quality of scholarly work of the faculty member may be judged on the basis of finished but still unpublished manuscripts, scholarly presentations at professional meetings, or on published materials. The quality of scholarly work of the faculty member may be judged on the basis of professional activities, scholarship and creative activities, publications, and professional recognition (See Appendix 1). Peer-reviewed publications or juried creative productivity are expected, and required for tenure. Page 4

Tenure Document Change #2: C. Full-Time, Non-Tenure-Stream Faculty 1. Appointment, Reappointment and Promotion Among the various faculties, there are persons who possess special skills contributing substantially to the mission of the University who are not hired to devote full-time effort to the University, or whose positions are funded for a finite period, or whose professional and academic preparations are not complete, or who are not expected to perform the same range of duties expected of a tenure-stream member of the faculty or to make the same

0d552f7ae904f6b054f9e4f506bcf2e3.docx08 Page 2 of 4 Submitted by: Kimberly Bailey contributions to the University community, and who are agreeable to a non-tenure-stream appointment without implication of tenure. These individuals will be evaluated for appointment, reappointment and promotion on the basis of performance dimensions as set forth in such documents as initial letters of appointment, letters of reappointment and annual performance reviews.

Appointments outside the tenure stream and without tenure may be made at the ranks of instructor, assistant professor, associate professor and professor. Appointments or promotion to the rank of associate professor or professor are subject to review by the Tenure and Promotion Committee and the Committee of Full Professors, respectively. For promotions to these ranks outside the tenure stream, the criteria and procedures described in Sections III and V will be followed. Reappointments at the rank of instructor and assistant professor, as well as for promotions from instructor to assistant professor, are subject to review by the Promotion and Renewal Committee. The criteria and relevant portions of the procedures described in Sections III and V will be followed. For reappointment of non-tenure-stream faculty, the degrees of attainment within the categories of teaching effectiveness, professional development, and service may be different than for tenure-stream faculty.

Non-tenure stream faculty seeking reappointment or promotion will be evaluated on the basis of the same set of categories as set forth for tenure-stream faculty: Teaching Effectiveness, Professional Development, and Service. Degrees of attainment within these categories, along with the agreed-upon performance dimensions, are set forth in section III.A and Appendix 1, section III.B and will be similar to the expectation for tenure-stream faculty. Page 7

A motion to accept both tenure document changes above was made by John Slimick and seconded by David Merwine. The motion passed unanimously. Changes will be presented at the next Full Senate for approval.

Academic Affairs Update:

Searches: Search requests for 6 positions were sent to Oakland some time ago. Last year the approvals for the searches came through on October 17th so Pitt-Bradford is hoping to get responses from Oakland soon.

ITV: The ITV courses are moving forward. Please remind colleagues that courses will be available from Greensburg and Johnstown.

Freshman Seminar Committee: The Freshman Seminar Committee is up and running. They are currently in the brainstorming stage to improve the Freshman Seminar. One of the current topics is whether or not to incorporate College Success into the seminar.

Distance Education: Hardin is investigating the quality of online, hybrid, and ITV courses.

Matter Arising:

Faculty Assembly Report: John Slimick reported three issues from Faculty Assembly. 1) The Faculty Assembly in Pittsburgh wants to close more meeting. 2) In Oakland, community contacts have become a high priority. 3) Michael Spring wants to create a standing committee for research.

0d552f7ae904f6b054f9e4f506bcf2e3.docx08 Page 3 of 4 Submitted by: Kimberly Bailey A motion to adjourn was made by John Slimick; David Merwine seconded the motion. The meeting adjourned at 12:40 p.m.

0d552f7ae904f6b054f9e4f506bcf2e3.docx08 Page 4 of 4 Submitted by: Kimberly Bailey