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MINUTES
Faculty Senate Executive Committee
November 4, 2002

Members present: F. Michael Combs, Beauvais Lyons, Kathy Greenberg, Sam Jordan, Otis Stephens, Glenn Graber, Misty Anderson, Jon Coddington, Paul Phillips, Olga Welch, Loren Crabtree, John Shumaker, Douglas Birdwell, Barbara Dewey, Salvatore DiMaria, Ann Fairhurst, Jim Gehlhar, Louis Gross, Carolyn Hodges, Laura Jolly, Wesley Morgan, Bonnie Ownley, David Patterson, Richard Strange, Fred Weber, Candace White, Sara Williams

Combs called the meeting to order at 3:30 p.m.

President's Report (M. Combs)
Combs thanked K. Sowers, C. White, T. Miller and others who assisted with the Fall 20002, issue of the Faculty Senate Newsletter, which is in the mail. He then noted that a storage cabinet has been ordered for the Faculty Senate meeting room in the UC; keys will be available from him. He noted next that the past presidents of the Faculty Senate will meet with him tomorrow; he hopes to get useful advice from them. Combs then asked how people feel about how Faculty Senate meetings are going. M. Anderson said she feels a little strange being waited on by the student helpers. Others seemed satisfied with the current arrangements.

Combs then announced that D. Noblet, President of the UT National Alumni Association, will attend and speak at the November 18, 2003, meeting of the Faculty Senate. Combs also wants to schedule an open meeting of the Development and Alumni Committee at 3:00 that day for an open conversation with Noblet. Combs also announced that G. Reed will speak at the Faculty Senate meeting on future plans for parking on campus (and maybe provide an update on the University Club). B. Boyd, Marketing Director for Knox Area Transit, will be available to answer questions about the new campus bus system that will begin in January, 2003.

Combs expressed concern about the number of Faculty Senators who did not attend either the
September or October meeting. After some discussion there was a consensus to suggest to Faculty Senators that anyone who cannot attend the next meeting should send a non-voting substitute who will report back to the Faculty Senator's constituency. K. Greenberg suggested that allowing a written vote from the absent senator should be considered. It finally was decided to have a discussion of the matter at a Faculty Senate meeting.

Finally, Combs announced that Provost Crabtree and he have almost finalized the membership of three task forces, which are to consider the concept of the department chairs versus heads, the creation of an acceptable policy for instructional technology, and guidelines for summer and mini terms. Crabtree has assured Combs that the Faculty Senate will be directly involved with the review of the curriculum review process. The Faculty Affairs Committee has agreed to do the preliminary work on the evaluation of administrators as well as to review the current cumulative review process. Combs then asked for volunteers to attend meetings with the Educational Marketing Group, Inc. and to bring three faculty with them. He also invited committee members to volunteer to attend a meeting November 11 of the Enrollment Management Committee with T.-W. Wang and himself.
Proposed New Research Foundation (T. D. McCay)
McCay said that this effort began during the summer to improve the entrepreneurial effort of the university and its faculty. Similar operations at other institutions were reviewed and information was obtained on what should have been done differently. Having a foundation should increase business flexibility, allow capitalizing on intellectual property, decrease bureaucracy, and stimulate research growth. Draft versions of a charter, bylaws and a business plan have been created with the help of outside consultants. Launching of the foundation is expected to occur spring term.

Shumaker thanked McCay for doing so much in so little time and cautioned that plans are still in the draft stage. He also noted that a foundation would be the fiscal agent for all research both for protection and flexibility. He added that the upper administration is aware of concerns that a foundation will impede research and is working hard to see that the foundation helps. L. Gross commented that faculty will need to see details soon if faculty approval is to be obtained by April 1, 2003. McCay responded that the first drafts for review should be available in about two weeks, but he understands that faculty might not be able to consider the drafts until January. He reiterated that everything will be subject to change. Shumaker added that it is better to do things correctly, rather than quickly, so target dates are not really fixed.

In response to a question from J. Coddington, McCay said that the foundation would help the ORNL connection in the area of creative partnerships. Also, in response to a question from D. Patterson, McCay said that it is realized that colleges depend on indirect cost funds. Shumaker agreed and expressed a desire to see that dependence decreased over time. He also said he would expect researchers on the Knoxville campus to be responsible to the top administrators on the Knoxville campus, rather than to a bureaucrat in the foundation.

D. Birdwell said that he sees three concerns in establishing a foundation: accountability (at several levels), sources of funding (to implement ideas), and F & A reallocation (a foundation is another feeder at the trough"). He also spoke strongly in support of opportunities for faculty to review the documents. Shumaker said again that the deadlines will be pushed back if necessary to allow full discussion. P. Phillips then warned that there maybe considerable resistance from researchers who have lost funds through earlier efforts to improve the research situation.

President's Report (J. Shumaker)
Shumaker said he asked a small group to look into UT Fiscal Policy 135 on information technology resources (copies distributed at the meeting). Educating the university community will be a primary focus of this effort. He then turned to "UT 2010," a booklet (distributed at the meeting) describing performance goals and presenting a scorecard completed for 2001). Retention and graduation rates rather than simple growth will be emphasized. Goals in many categories for 2010 are being developed. It is understood that the university does many things that cannot be quantified. In response to a question from Gross, Shumaker said that some of the categories are Lombardy measures, others come from other sources, and some were created locally. Gross suggested including the fraction of applicants with ACT scores above some number who enroll here. Crabtree noted that the "Salary Deficiency-Faculty" entry reflects salaries at all campuses and uses the THEC peer group.

Shumaker concluded by noting that a position paper on shared governance had been distributed at the meeting as a matter of information. He said he would welcome a similar statement to take to the Board of Trustees.

Provost's Report (L. Crabtree)
Crabtree said that the recent blackface incident has had an enormous nasty impact on the community. It is seen as one of a series of incidents. The News-Sentinel has received many letters and an inaccurate Fox News report has led to hundreds of emails from around the world. Many emails accuse the university of violating the students' first amendment rights; some express wonderment that African Americans are objecting to what happened. Crabtree hopes to awaken among students a long-term perspective on our history.

In response to a question from Gross about an organizational chart (distributed with agenda) for the UTK Office of the Vice President and Provost, Crabtree said he sees budget, research, and equity and diversity as missing areas.

Educational Policy Committee (F. Weber)
Weber said the committee approved Undergraduate Council minutes from the meeting of September 17, 2002. The committee also approved a policy requiring instructor approval of undergraduate students taking graduate courses for graduate credit. He also noted that faculty will receive a list of constraints on the academic calendar.

Faculty Senate Information Technology Advisory Committee Proposal (B. Dewey)
Dewey noted the proposal (distributed with the agenda) calls for and describes a new standing committee on IT. Her motion was seconded. A friendly amendment to make the committee a task force for this academic year and to include it in the restructuring of the Faculty Senate was accepted, as was the new name Faculty Senate Information Technology Task Force. The amended motion was approved.

Committee on Senate Structure and Effectiveness (P. Phillips)
Phillips noted that the report (distributed with the agenda) needs extensive study and discussion at another time. Combs agreed. Phillips then briefly summarized the report. Coddington suggested that the committee should consider a budget for the Faculty Senate.

The meeting adjourned at 5:30 p.m.

 

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