Senate meets
Faculty Senate holds first meeting of 2014
(Editors note: For more detailed information, including meeting minutes, visit the Faculty Senate website.)
10:10 a.m., Feb. 6, 2014--The University of Delaware Faculty Senate recommended for approval the provisional establishment for five years of a master’s degree of engineering in particle technology during its regular meeting, held Feb. 3 in Gore Hall.
Because the required quorum of elected senators could not be reached, senators voted to consider actions taken on the resolutions as those of a committee of the whole. Agenda items approved at the meeting will be considered as recommendations and will appear on the agenda for formal approval at the senate's March 3 meeting.
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Doctoral hooding
In other regular agenda actions, senators voted to disestablish, at the conclusion of the spring 2016 semester, the master’s degree and the dual master’s degree and master of business administration degree in organizational development and change, both in the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics.
The senate also approved a request for a one-year extension of the permanent status program review for the master of education in school leadership degree in the College of Education and Human Development.
Senators asked for further clarification on suggested revisions to the Faculty Handbook concerning the conflict of interest policy (4.2.7) on teaching outside UD and to setting class meeting times (3.1.7) that follow the normal standards adopted by most colleges and universities.
Senators took no action on a resolution for a new catalog policy on degree requirements, matriculation dates and catalog versioning pending revisions, but approved a resolution to move the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy from the College of Engineering to the College of Arts and Sciences.
Consent agenda
During the consent agenda portion of the meeting, senators approved requests to revise several concentrations in the master’s degree in music and to revise the doctoral and master’s degree requirements in mathematics and applied mathematics.
Additional consent agenda items approved include requests to revise the doctoral degree in urban affairs and public policy, the ecology major and ecology honors degree, the elementary teacher education major, and bachelor of science majors in physics and physics-astronomy/astrophysics.
Provost report
Provost Domenico Grasso noted that on-campus interviews are being conducted with three finalists for the position of vice president of enrollment management.
“We will have an open forum for each of the candidates, which will be coordinated with officers from the Faculty Senate and other faculty members,” Grasso said. “We are also continuing the search within the University for the position of vice provost for faculty affairs and diversity. We have received quite a few nominations and queries from individuals who have expressed an interest.”
The Responsibility Based Budgeting (RBB) committee, co-chaired by Deputy Provost Nancy Brickhouse, hosted a visiting committee of individuals from five schools, Grasso said.
“These individuals all hold high level positions in their respective budget offices and have a great deal of experience in different RBB-type models,” Grasso said. “They have written and drafted a report that will be incorporated into the final report that will be presented to the Faculty Senate Ad hoc Committee on Responsibility Based Budgeting in the near future.”
Grasso also said plans continue for updating the University’s Path to Prominence strategic plan, and he reported that there was a 6 percent increase in student enrollment in Winter Session this year.
“This provides income for resources for the University and will help us to make Winter Session even more attractive to students,” Grasso said. “This is something that is unique to UD, and we should capitalize on it in an appropriate manner.”
Deni Galileo, president of the Faculty Senate and associate professor of biological sciences, reported on several points of information, including the creation of a form for requesting approval of noncredit certificate programs for the Faculty Senate Coordinating Committee, which is accessible under General Information on the Faculty Senate website.
Galileo also noted the upcoming UDance marathon, which will be held from 9 a.m.-9 p.m., Sunday, March 23, at the Bob Carpenter Center.
“It’s a 12-hour philanthropic dance marathon and raises awareness about pediatric cancer,” Galileo said. “It’s the University’s largest student-run philanthropy and has raised over $1.4 million in seven years. This past year alone they raised over $550,000, benefiting the Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation.”
Tobacco-free campus initiative
Jessica Borcky, president of the Student Government Association (SGA), and Geoffrey Heath, SGA government affairs senator, addressed the senate and asked that a resolution to support a tobacco-free campus be considered by the Faculty Senate Executive Committee.
Borcky noted that more than 72 percent of 2,202 students polled supported the tobacco-free initiative.
Memorial tributes
A memorial tribute video for nine faculty members also was presented.
Former faculty members who were memorialized in the presentation include Lawrence H. Cohen, John J. (Jack) Kramer, Peter J. Warter Jr., Shinya Kikuchi, Arnold D. Kerr, Robert L. Schweitzer, Hester Rose Stewart, Patrick J. (Whitey) White and Mary Beth Kramer.
The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Faculty Senate will be held at 4 p.m., Monday, March 3, in 104 Gore Hall.
Article by Jerry Rhodes