The
Regular session – April 13, 2009 – 3:30 p.m. – Jacobson Faculty Hall 102
office: Jacobson Faculty Hall 206
phone: 325-6789
e-mail: facsen@ou.edu web site:
http://www.ou.edu/admin/facsen/
The Faculty Senate was called
to order by Professor Cecelia Brown, Chair.
PRESENT: Ahmed,
Atiquzzaman, Basic, M. Bemben, Blank, Bradshaw, Brown, Buckley, Clark, Conlon, Eodice,
Forman, Franklin, Grasse, Greene, Hahn, Hawthorne, Kent, Kershen, Lifschitz, Livesey,
McDonald, Miller, Milton, Morrissey, Moses, Muraleetharan, Rambo, Reeder, Riggs,
Rogers, Russell, Sadler, Schmidt, Tan, Trafalis, Vehik, Verma, Vitt, Weaver,
Wyckoff
Provost's office representative: Mergler
ISA representatives: Bondy, Cook
ABSENT: Apanasov,
Asojo, Bass, D. Bemben, Brule, Graham, Horn, Strauss, Striz, Yi
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Announcements:
Faculty Tribute
Bike to Work Day
Scholarly Publication Colloquium
Bicycle Resolution
Making up classes due to unscheduled closings
Remarks by
Preliminary nominations for councils/committees/boards
Senate Chair's Report:
Campus campaign
Wellness program
Recycling efforts: hand dryers
________________________________________________________________________________
The Faculty Senate Journal
for the regular session of March 9, 2009 was approved.
The Faculty Tribute will be
held on Thursday, April 23, at 4:00 p.m. in the Sandy Bell Gallery of the Fred
Jones Jr. Museum of Art.
The
Fifth Annual Bike to Work Day event for
A
colloquium will be presented on Friday, April 24, in Wagner Hall 280 on the
subject of scholarly publication. Panel
discussions will be held in the morning, and a presentation will be held in the
afternoon to help scholars develop a research and writing plan. Lunch will be provided. Further information is available at http://www.ou.edu/admin/facsen/ColloquiumApril24-1.htm
or from Prof. Michele Eodice,
The proposed bicycle
resolution (attached),
suggested by the Senate Executive Committee, was discussed at the last meeting,
and an amendment was made to add “wide paved shoulders.” Prof. Vitt cautioned that thought should be
given to planning because increased bicycle traffic can be a risk for
pedestrians. He cited some problems at the
University of California-Davis in the 1980s.
Prof. Muraleetharan said the bicycle lanes at
Prof. Brown said she had
received a lot of emails when the university was closed because of the weather. As a result, the Executive Committee decided
to propose an addition to the Faculty Handbook to give instructors some
guidance as to how they could make up material if their class was
cancelled. It does not talk about
decisions to close. Prof. Brown said the
Executive Committee wanted to get the input of the Senate and hear whether the
senators thought this was a worthwhile endeavor. The proposed paragraph would be added to the
end of section 4.20 (see also attached; proposed
language is highlighted):
If the University has an unscheduled closing, all instructors are encouraged to offer additional face to face or virtual office hours to facilitate transmission and understanding of the materials missed. In addition, the instructor may hold class during the regularly scheduled meeting time in an alternate format that makes use of existing technology available to the majority of students. The instructor may also schedule make-up class(es) at a time convenient to the maximum number of students. The materials will be made available in paper and/or electronic form for those students who cannot attend the alternate format or make-up class meetings.
Prof. Milton said it seemed
obvious that instructors could schedule outside of class; he questioned the
need for the addition. Prof. Brown
replied that it was not obvious to everyone.
By having language in the handbook, faculty members would know what they
are allowed to do, and students would know that they are responsible for the
material. The Senate will consider the proposal at the next
meeting.
University College Dean Doug
Gaffin said he was asked to tell the Senate about the new student academic services
building, which is called Wagner Hall. He
distributed an article, available online, that described the thinking that went
into the building. The building came
about as a result of some discussions concerning graduation and retention. A subcommittee looked at other schools across
the country that had similar student quality but were outperforming us in
graduation and retention. One of the
findings was OU did not have a comprehensive, centralized facility for tutoring
and learning assistance, nor did it have bridge programs. The group worked with the development office
to put a proposal together to attract donations for a new building. Lissa and Cy Wagner from
Provost Mergler mentioned the
summer enrollment program. Dean Gaffin said
the program, which starts the week after classes end, enrolls next year’s class. Fifty students are served every day for 52
days. With the new building, parents can
wait in the atrium while the students are being advised.
Prof. Vitt asked how the
success of the programs was measured. Dean
Gaffin said they could not really do an experiment, but they look at the
at-risk factors and do interventions. They
consider the impact a program has had on first semester GPA, retention for the second
semester and retention for the second year.
They put together a regression analysis that identifies at-risk
students. Some of the risk factors for
incoming freshmen are finances, ACT scores, high school GPA, rank in class, gender,
and distance from OU. Women are
outperforming men by quite a margin. If a
student’s family lives too close to OU, there is a bit of a risk factor. About seven factors are pretty good at
predicting risk.
Prof. Miller asked if there
was just one writing center or if another center was available for students who
have English as a second language. Prof.
Eodice,
The Senate Committee on
Committees’ preliminary nominations for the end-of-the-year vacancies on
university and campus councils, committees, and boards were distributed at the
meeting and will be voted on at the May meeting. One tenured faculty member was still needed for
the Faculty Appeals Board.
“This year the Faculty Senate
participated in the Campus Campaign to benefit the Sooner Heritage
Scholarship. Our prize was lunch for two
with David Levy, former Senate chair in 1985-86, at the University Club plus a
signed copy of his book, The
“As part of the new Blue
Cross Blue Shield health care plan, the office of Human Resources has hired a
wellness director, Breion Rollins, who may be coming to speak to us next month about
his activities. On April 9 Human
Resources sent everyone an email announcing the free health screenings that
Blue Cross Blue Shield is providing to all faculty and staff in
“Last month Bill Henwood,
Physical Plant, gave a presentation to the Faculty Senate about recycling. There was some discussion about the
possibility of using hand dryers instead of paper towels, which cannot be
recycled. Physical Plant will be
undertaking a pilot project to test the cost/benefit of air dryers instead of
paper towel in some restrooms to see if it is a better thing to do. He is not sure yet where they will be tested because
they need to get electricity to them, but he will let the Senate know the
results.”
The meeting adjourned at 4:15
p.m. The next regular session of the
Faculty Senate will be held at 3:30 p.m. on Monday, May 11, 2009, in
Jacobson Faculty Hall 102.
____________________________________
Sonya Fallgatter, Administrative Coordinator
____________________________________
Paula Conlon, Faculty Secretary