The
Regular session – May 5, 2008 – 3:30 p.m. – Jacobson Faculty Hall 102
office: Jacobson Faculty Hall 206
phone: 325-6789
e-mail:
The Faculty Senate was called
to order by Professor Steve Bradford, Chair.
PRESENT: Apanasov (0),
Basic (2), Bass (2), D. Bemben (1), M. Bemben (0), Benson (0),
Bradford (0), Brown (0), Clark (2), Conlon (0), Croft (0),
Edy (0), Eodice (2), Forman (1), Franklin (0), Ge (0),
Grasse (1), Horn (1), Knapp (2), Livesey (0), Magnusson (0),
Marcus-Mendoza (2), C. Miller (0), Milton (0), Miranda (1),
Morrissey (1), Moses (0), Radhakrishnan (2), Rambo (3), Reeder (1),
Riggs (1), Roche (1), Rogers (0), Sadler (3), Schmidt (0),
Striz (2), Tan (2), Trafalis (1), Trytten (0), Veil (0),
Verma (2), Vitt (2), Warnken (0)
Provost's office representative: Mergler
ISA representatives: Cook
ABSENT: Albert (2), Brule (2), Callard (2), Greene (3),
Halterman (4), Kershen (3), McDonald (3), Russell (3), Skeeters (2),
Weaver (3)
[Note:
During the period from June 2007 to May 2008, the Senate held 8 regular
sessions and no special sessions. The
figures in parentheses above indicate the number of absences.]
________________________________________________________________________________
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Announcements:
Schedule of Senate meetings for fall 2008
Summary of Speakers Service program
Faculty retirees
Faculty development award recipients
Faculty tribute
Remarks by Athletics Director Joe Castiglione
Senate Chair's Report:
Budget
Committee A workshop
Pre-finals week
Pick-A-Prof
Certificates of appreciation
Election, councils/committees/boards and Senate standing committees
Election, Senate Executive Committee
Resolution of Appreciation to Prof. Steve Bradford
________________________________________________________________________________
The Faculty Senate Journal
for the regular session of April 14, 2008 was approved.
The regular meetings of the
Faculty Senate for fall 2008 will be held at 3:30 p.m. in Jacobson Faculty
Hall 102 on the following Mondays:
September 8, October 13, November 10, and December 8.
Summary of the activities of
the Faculty Senate Speakers Service for the past year: From May 2007 to April 2008, the Faculty
Senate office arranged for 52 faculty and staff to give 141 presentations to 93
organizations in 24 communities throughout the state. The Faculty Senate and the University
sincerely appreciate the members of the Speakers Service who share their
expertise and knowledge with the people of
A
list of the faculty who retired during the past academic year is below. The Faculty Senate thanks these faculty
members for their dedication and contribution to our community.
|
NAME |
DEPARTMENT |
RETIREMENT DATE |
CAME TO OU |
|
Catlin, Jack |
Classics & Letters |
5/16/08 |
1969 |
|
Fox, Robert |
Educ. Leadership &
Policy Studies |
8/15/08 |
1988 |
|
Jordan, Jack |
Art |
5/16/08 |
1990 & 1974-77 |
|
Knapp, Roy |
Petroleum &
Geological Engr. |
2/1/08 |
1979 |
|
Kondonassis, Alex |
Economics |
7/1/08 |
1958 |
|
Kudrna, James |
Architecture |
5/16/08 |
1979 |
|
Lee, Fred |
Electrical &
Computer Engr. |
1/1/08 |
1985 |
|
Mankin, Charles |
Geology &
Geophysics/OGS |
11/1/07 |
1959 |
|
McNichols, William |
Law |
5/16/08 |
1968 |
|
Patterson, Lotsee |
Library &
Information Studies |
5/16/08 |
1991 |
|
Price, R. Leon |
Management Info.
Systems |
6/1/08 |
1979 |
|
Roe, Bruce |
Chemistry &
Biochemistry |
8/16/08 |
1981 |
|
Smith, Robert |
Law |
5/16/08 |
1983 |
|
Van Gundy, Andy |
Communication |
6/1/08 |
1976 |
The Faculty
Senate is pleased to present the faculty development awards for the spring 2008
semester to Reid Coffman (Landscape Architecture), Janet Croft (Univ.
Libraries), Chung Kao (Physics & Astronomy), Katherine Pandora (History of
Science), Penny Pasque (Educ. Lead. & Pol. Studies), and Logan Whalen
(Modern Languages, Lit. & Ling.).
Senators Roberta Magnusson
and Aimee Franklin, Executive Committee members, won awards at the recent
Faculty Tribute ceremony. Prof.
Magnusson received a Regents’ Award for Superior Teaching, and Prof. Franklin received
a Sam K. Viersen Jr. Presidential Professorship.
Prof. Bradford said it has
become tradition for the Athletics Director to speak to the Faculty
Senate. Mr. Castiglione said it has been
his pleasure and privilege to have visited with the Faculty Senate for eight
straight years. He introduced the Faculty
Athletics Representative for the Big XII and NCAA, Dr. Connie Dillon, who has
provided extraordinarily strong service and leadership and is involved with
issues on the national level, and Senior Associate AD Gerald Gurney, who
oversees issues regarding academic affairs.
Mr. Castiglione began with OU’s
response to the big NCAA change referred to as academic reform. Student-athlete welfare has been and always
will be our number one concern. OU has
accepted all that has come through with regard to academic reform and has taken
the opportunity to see how it best fits us and to see that our student-athletes
are prepared and progress toward graduation.
The department looked at some initiatives internally to deal with some
of the issues. The first was to develop
an admissions review committee, made up of faculty, to review student-athletes who
are at risk academically, even though they exceed NCAA eligibility standards. Each case receives full review. This committee is allowed to request any
information they want about a student-athlete, and they can ask to meet with
the coach, who is held accountable for the student-athlete’s success. Second, the Athletics Department is requiring
background checks prior to the time the student-athlete signs the national
letter of intent. OU is one of only a
few institutions doing this. Through the
checks, the department attempts to learn as much as it can about an
individual’s character. They look at any
criminal background or run-ins with the law but can access only information that
is available to the public. Fortunately,
no student-athlete has had to be refused after being offered a national letter
of intent. Third, there are penalties now
that will develop if athletics departments have sports that do not reach a
certain academic progress rate. The OU Athletics
Department has a policy in place to deal with potential penalties, although
none have been imposed yet. In the next several
days, the NCAA will release the rates for all institutions in the country. Last year, the department developed a psychological
resource, which has been a strong asset for current student-athletes but also
assists with the assessment and screening of new student-athletes. In addition, the learning specialist programs
develop strategies for learning enhancement.
The Athletics Department is dealing with a variety of people with varying
preparedness for college-level work. Staff
members have been put in place to assist student-athletes when they arrive and
while they are here. Another program the
department developed as a result of the academic reform movement is a higher
standard for progress toward a degree.
It is a carryover of the retention/graduation task force created by
President Boren. The NCAA requires that
student-athletes must complete a certain percentage of their degree
requirements after each year. The Athletics
Department is encouraging student-athletes to take more than the minimum number
of hours required. It has worked very well. After one year’s data, it appears likely that
more student-athletes could be moved toward a degree in four years. Mr. Castiglione noted that this policy has not
had any deleterious effect on the special admit student-athletes. All of these initiatives address the issues
in the athletics culture and puts the department in a better position to
improve the way student-athletes perform in the classroom.
Mr. Castiglione said is he
really proud of the Athletics Department staff.
This year the National Consortium for Academics in Sports recognized OU
as having the nation’s most successful degree completion program. The program he just described is at the heart
of this success, as is the effort to reach out to former student-athletes to
get them to complete their degree. The
board recognized that the department brought back 112 former student-athletes,
and 87 graduated in the last several years.
With regard to the performance of current student-athletes, 63 percent consistently
earn a 3.0 GPA or better, and 37 earned a 4.0 last year. Nine of the 16 teams average a 3.0 GPA or
better.
This year will be the ninth
straight year that the Athletics Department has balanced its budget. OU is one of the few athletics programs in
the country that does not receive any state funds, institutional funds or
student fees. President Boren likes to
say that the Athletics Department is one of the few programs that actually subsidizes
the academic budget. The academic
enhancement fee, $2 per ticket per football game, is given to the University to
support academic programs. The
department also contributes money to build a $1 million endowment for the library. In spite of the economically challenging
times, the department’s fundraising initiatives continue to go well, and it is
retaining the vast majority of its season ticket holders. The Athletics Department is well ahead of
repaying the loan that was put in place about six years ago for the operating
debt of nearly $15 million, which had accrued before Mr. Castiglione arrived. The loan probably will be paid in full 10 to 11
years earlier than projected.
In the last couple of years,
the Athletics Department has made significant advances in improving diversity
in student-athletes as well as in staff and coaches. All but two women’s sports are coached by
women. The department’s commitment to
compliance and integrity rules has grown in the last nine years and is
absolutely strong and unwavering. Any
situations are faced the right way, with swift and decisive action. The performance of the sports programs
continues to be very strong. Several
teams have won conference or national championships and participated in NCAA
tournaments. He distributed copies of
the annual report.
Prof. Bradford asked about
women’s rowing. Mr. Castiglione noted
that women’s rowing is OU’s newest sport.
Leeanne Crain was hired as the head coach, and she is on campus now
putting everything together. Competition
is expected to begin a year from now, in the spring. Most of the first year competitors will be
walk-ons, and they will be taught to become technically skilled. Prof. Bass asked about the amount of
principal left on the $15 million note. Mr.
Castiglione said it was just under $6 million.
Prof. Striz asked whether ice hockey would become an NCAA sport. Mr. Castiglione said a lot of people are
interested in that. However, with OU’s commitment
to gender equity, Title 9, it will be quite awhile before we add a men’s
sport. Women’s rowing eventually will
get us to proportionality.
Prof. Bradford commented that
the better job the Athletics Department does at recruiting, the more athletes leave
early to go pro instead of graduating. Mr.
Castiglione said the methodology in place begins to recognize but does not fully
address the issue of student-athletes who are in good academic standing and
leave campus to pursue a professional career.
Another situation is student-athletes who do not get enough playing time
here will transfer to another school.
Heretofore, we have not been able to get credit for the person who
graduates from the other school.
Prof. Brown asked what
happens to students who have a felony record.
Mr. Castiglione said OU has not taken a student with a felony record, so
they do not end up here. Prof. Bradford
asked how well the Athletics Department knows individuals after recruiting them. Mr. Castiglione answered that the NCAA significantly
restricts the amount of time the coaches can interact with prospective
student-athletes. Coaches try to build a
relationship with their student-athletes.
When they get here, the coaches will know more about their academic
preparedness, their character, and so forth.
Institutions around the country are facing some of these situations with
non student-athletes. Sometimes even
outstanding student-athletes make an error in judgment.
Prof. Marcus-Mendoza said she
has been amazed at the services that have been put in place since 1992. She commented that a lot of student-athletes
and athletics staff go through the Human Relations program, and the quality of
students is wonderful. The summer camps
put on by the various sports are great opportunities for children to learn and
grow, and the Athletics Department should be commended. Mr. Castiglione said the department has a
terrific group of head coaches who keep priorities in order. In today’s world, with a focus on winning, people
forget that student-athletes are still growing, dealing with stress, managing
all the demands in a short amount of time, and trying to be as good as they can
be in their sport. The program has high
standards for athletic performance. It gets
great support from the President, Provost, and staff. Student-athletes need the faculty’s
leadership and guidance as they transition from secondary to higher education. It is important to Mr. Castiglione that the Athletics
Department reflects positively on and is an integral part of OU’s institutional
mission. The reason for coming to the
Faculty Senate meetings each year is to make sure the faculty knows the
Athletics Department is fully transparent.
Everything the Athletics Department does is a reflection of the
mission. The department staff tries to
do everything with integrity and class. The
staff interacts with the Athletics Council, which is made up predominantly of
faculty, or interacts with faculty on a daily basis. This year, Mr. Castiglione just finished his
first semester of teaching graduate students.
He said it was wonderful to come to a place where you can set the bar as
high as you can, and people will support you in reaching or exceeding that
threshold. He is proud and privileged to
be the Athletics Director at OU. The
program continues to have success, and its best days are still ahead.
The Senate Executive
Committee discussed the budget outlook with President Boren on May 1. The second week of May the state board of
equalization will certify revenues. The
board may find more gross production tax than expected. If so, everyone will be fighting for those dollars. It is possible we could get some additional
funding, which could translate into a slightly smaller tuition increase or a slightly
larger salary increase. The state is almost
$100 million behind in its match of endowed faculty positions for OU. There is some possibility of a state bond
issue to provide funding.
Provost Mergler had a
Committee A workshop on disruptive individuals.
One of the points that came out of the meeting was that the University provides
many support services, and faculty should refer troubled students to one of
those offices.
The students have asked for
an amendment in the pre-finals week policy to change the amount of work that
can be due from 10 percent to 5 percent.
Prof. Bradford said he saw the proposal as a move by the students to
give them time to study for finals and so that faculty would not spring
surprises on them the last week. Handouts
were distributed at the meeting of the current policy in Faculty Handbook
section 4.10, the student proposal, and the Executive Committee’s preliminary
suggestions. The proposal will be discussed
in the fall.
Following up on a question
raised at the last meeting, Prof. Bradford said he had asked Provost Mergler
about the university’s subscription to Pick-A-Prof. Provost Mergler told him that student
government had petitioned to have class grades released to Pick-A-Prof. Legal Counsel agreed to release the grades as
long as students could not be identified because a class was so small. The Graduate Student
Senate has expressed some concerns.
Prof. Bradford said he thought the GSS should act first, if it wants,
and pass a resolution opposing the subscription to the Pick-A-Prof service, and
then the Faculty Senate could decide what to do.
Prof. Bradford thanked the
provost for attending the Senate meetings and for meeting regularly with the
Executive Committee and the Chair. He thanked
her for discussing issues openly and for her support. He also thanked the Executive Committee members
for their opinions and ideas and said it always was a pleasure to meet with
them. He thanked the senators. He said it had been a pleasant year. What he learned this year was that many
problems were problems only because somebody had not spoken to somebody
else. The job of the Senate is to seek
information before drawing conclusions or taking sides.
Certificates of Appreciation
were presented to the following outgoing senators who completed full three-year
terms (2005-08): John Albert, Hugh
Benson, Janet Croft, Aimee Franklin, Susan Marcus-Mendoza, Alan Roche, Martha
Skeeters, Deborah Trytten, and Charles Warnken.
Certificates also were presented to other senators whose terms expired
and to the outgoing members of the Senate Executive Committee.
The Senate approved the Committee
on Committees' nominations for end-of-the-year vacancies on university and
campus councils/committees/boards and Faculty Senate standing committees (attached). Prof. Brown pointed out that Chris Sadler was
substituted for Michael Sullivan on the Parking Violation Appeals
Committee. The names of the remaining volunteers
will be forwarded to the administration to consider for the appointments they
make.
The Senate elected the following faculty to the Faculty
Senate Executive Committee for 2008-09:
EXECUTIVE
COMMITTEE AT-LARGE MEMBERS:
Loretta Bass (Associate Professor of Sociology, Ph.D. Connecticut, at
OU since 1999)
Scott Moses (Associate Professor of Industrial
Engineering, Ph.D. Purdue, at OU since 1999)
Jeff Schmidt (Associate Professor of Marketing,
SECRETARY
Paula Conlon (Associate Professor of Music, Ph.D.
Montreal, at OU since 1996)
CHAIR-ELECT
Aimee
Before
reading the following resolution of appreciation to Prof. Steve Bradford,
outgoing Senate chair, Prof. Magnusson explained that Prof. Bradford’s research
areas are ancient
Whereas Steve has sailed many seas and weathered many storms, keeping our ship afloat and on course through another historic year,
Whereas he has sought to retain our students lest they be washed overboard before reaching the safe harbor of graduation,
Whereas he has sought to build consensus rather than sow the apples of discord,
Whereas he has consulted the wisdom of campus committee
Solons and brought faculty concerns to the administrators on
Whereas he has consulted the oracles of IT in order to decipher their Delphic prophecies about Student Information Systems,
Whereas he helped shield our 4x4 identities from the pirates of the Internet,
Whereas he sacrificed his Spring Break to summon the phalanxes and spearhead the opposition to the prospect of guns on campus,
Whereas he has faced the threat of draconian cuts and Spartan budgets,
Whereas he has helped the faculty thread its way through the health care labyrinth,
Whereas he has supported Green efforts to preserve our Arcadian campus,
Whereas his term was marked by an epic ice storm that nearly shattered the Groves of Academe,
Whereas he has conducted Senate business with calm and cheerful efficiency, so that meetings did not drag on into marathon sessions,
Whereas he has upheld the classic traditions of reason, democracy, and civility in a world too often beset by irrationality, tyranny, and demagoguery,
Be it resolved that the Faculty Senate expresses its appreciation to Steve Bradford for his outstanding leadership and service for the academic year of 2007-2008.
The resolution was
unanimously approved by the Senate.
Prof. Brown presented Prof. Bradford with a certificate of appreciation
and an engraved OU arm chair. Prof. Brown
then assumed the office of 2008‑09 Senate chair.
The meeting adjourned at 4:35
p.m. The next regular session of the
Faculty Senate will be held at 3:30 p.m. on Monday, September 8, 2008, in
Jacobson Faculty Hall 102.
____________________________________
Sonya Fallgatter, Administrative Coordinator
____________________________________
Roberta Magnusson, Secretary