UH HILO FACULTY CONGRESS
MINUTES FOR MEETING OF APRIL25th, 2008
3:00 pm - 5:21 pm, K-127
Members Present: Michael Bitter, Emmeline de Pillis, Sevki Erdogan, Alohalani Houseman, Kerri
Inglis, Jim Juvik, Barbara Leonard, Gail Makuakane-Lundin, Chuck Malenfant, Bruce Matthews,
Cam Muir, Mark Panek, Regina Titunik
Others Present: Philip Castille, Cathy Zenz, Barbara Meguro, Brendan Hennessey, Terrance Jalbert,
Pila Wilson, April Komenaka
Meeting called to order at 3:06 pm by Congress Chair Barbara Leonard
Approval of Minutes from April 4th, 2008:
http://www.uhh.hawaii.edu/uhh/congress/documents/Minutes04_04_08.doc
Motion to approve minutes passed unanimously.
1. Report from the Chair
Barbara Leonard read for the Congress the letter from the Executive Committee to
WASC representative President Michael Ortiz, which explains that since course releases
for the five General Education Certification Committee faculty were denied by the
administration, the newly approved General Education program cannot be implemented.
2. Committee Reports
a. General Education Committee Chair Regina Titunik discussed the Executive
Committee’s recent meeting with the Chancellor regarding GE implementation
issues. Dr. Titunik explained that it would be impossible to implement the GE
without the active support of the administration. Barbara Leonard explained that
the Chancellor was told that implementation will not move forward “until we get
a firm commitment of support from the Administration.”
b. Admissions Committee Chair Emmeline de Pillis explained that the lack of
clarity, campus wide, on the definition of UHH’s mission has frustrated the
committee. She promised a year-end summary of the Admission Committee’s
work at the next Congress meeting.
c. Assessment Committee Acting Chair Sevki Erdogan and Barbara Meguro
presented their revisions of the Guidelines for Academic Program Seven-Year
Review for approval. They indicated that most of their revisions were simply
aimed at making the document, and the process, more user-friendly, and more
efficient for outside reviewers. Motion: to approve the revised document.
Discussion: Cam Muir raised concerns about approving such an important
document without a more complex review of the changes. Gail MakuakaneLundin and Chuck Malenfant suggested postponing the vote until the next
Congress meeting. Sevki Erdogan and Jim Juvik argued that content-wise, the
changes were not substantial, but that the document had basically just been
“restructured.” Barbara Leonard mentioned that everyone had been asked to read
the document days before the meeting.
Motion to approve passed with 4 abstentions.
d. Graduate Council Liaison Keri Inglis discussed recent graduate council actions.
During the academic year 2007-08 the Graduate Council has been actively engaged in the
oversight and development of the graduate program at UH-Hilo.
The following developments are of note:
 The Council has recommended that the Graduate Division be placed administratively
under the VCR as this structure better differentiates the distinctive needs of graduate
programs, parallels the structure of UH Manoa’s Graduate Division, and will provide an
academic leader who can nurture and champion graduate programs. The Council’s
recommendation has not yet been clarified/approved by the administration.
 The council has organized sub-committees as follows: Program Committee to evaluate
program reviews, new programs, and new courses; Curriculum Committee to review
course modification forms and minor program modifications; Admissions Committee
will handle exceptions to a program admission and make policy recommendations to the
Council.
 Graduate Program Review Procedures were passed by the Graduate Council. The review
procedures are modeled after UH-H undergraduate program review procedures, with
some modifications relative to graduate programs. Annual reports will be due to the dean
or director of the college by August 30 for the previous academic year and forwarded to
the Graduate Division by Sept 15.
 Citing the need for support staff for the Graduate Council (record keeping, tracking of
students, assisting with graduate program reviews, admission, etc.) the Graduate Council
has moved that a graduate division office be established on campus.
 The Council has also recommended that graduate program chairs/directors receive, at
minimum, a 3.0 credit course reduction per semester during the academic year, a monthly
stipend, and one month of summer salary. Thus far, CAS has responded that it cannot
afford to comply with the Research Council’s minimum compensation for chairs of
graduate programs as the recommended compensation would result in directors of these
programs being better compensated than the chairs of departments that house those
graduate programs.
Future concerns for the Graduate Council include the growth of the council as new graduate
programs develop and how to maintain a functional Council with broad representation.
e. Academic Policy Committee Chair Michael Bitter reported that he would
circulate a recommendation on Tenure and Promotion procedures a few days
before the next Congress meeting. He then presented the following motion:
UHH Congress Motion on Salary Compression:
Whereas pay equity is a cornerstone of public employment and both State and
Federal labor law, and is a non-trivial issue in University of Hawai‘i Hilo faculty
morale; and
Whereas given current UH Hilo faculty demographics and the implications of
pending salary increases, it is anticipated that a significant increase in faculty
retirements will occur over the next five years; and
Whereas the necessity of hiring new and replacement faculty for salaries that
meet or exceed those of current faculty will only increase as the current UHPA
contract ends; and
Whereas in the past departments have been asked to make the unpalatable choice
of either acquiescing to a high salary offer to attract a desirable candidate (that
would result in compression/equity and potential morale problems among existing
faculty), or remaining within departmental salary scales and potentially losing the
best candidates; and
Whereas current and future hiring is creating problems of salary compression in
many departments across the UH System; and
Whereas the issue of salary compression is decidedly detrimental to faculty
institutional engagement and morale.
Therefore be it resolved:
The UHH Congress respectfully requests that the UHH Administration provide
UHH campus faculty with a policy statement, funding commitment and timetable
for addressing salary compression issues in the beginning of the 2008-2009
academic year. The UHH Congress believes that the UHH administration is in
violation of the spirit (if not the letter) of collective bargaining agreements and
other state and federal labor law on this issue of salary compression. The UHH
Congress moves that the UHH administration should consult with the faculty in
formulating a clear policy and appropriate budget to ensure that, in the
competitive hiring process, equity/compression issues generated by new hires are
immediately resolved. The UHH Congress further urges the UHH Administration
to take a proactive role in ongoing negotiations with UHPA to ensure that
compression/equity pay become an integral part of future collective bargaining
agreements.
UHH Faculty Congress Motion on Salary Compression passed unanimously.
Mike Bitter, Chair of the Academic Policy Committee then introduced the
following motion:
UHH Congress Motion on the Immediate Hiring of a Permanent Director of
the Office of Technology and Distance Learning:
Whereas distance education is becoming an expanding component of higher
education; and
Whereas UH Hilo is expanding its Distance Learning options due to the
increased demand for Distance Learning on the Island of Hawai‘i and statewide;
and
Whereas UH Hilo currently ranks last among all campuses of the UH System in
most measures of distance education achievement; and
Whereas permanent and competent administrative leadership is immediately
required for this initiative,
Therefore be it resolved:
The UHH Congress calls for the UHH Chancellor to immediately initiate a
search for a new permanent Director of the Office of Technology and Distance
Learning and advise the UHH Congress no later than May 12, 2008, of her
acceptance or rejection of this Faculty Congress motion.
Motion passed unanimously.
Mike Bitter introduced the next motion from the Academic Policy Committee:
f. Interim CCECS Dean April Komenaka updated the Congress on issues related to
Distance Learning. Her goal in addressing the Congress was to assure the faculty
that ownership over DL, as DL programs hopefully expand across campus, will
remain with individual faculty and their departments, and that the Distance
Learning Center is meant simply to alleviate the “hack work” (putting a DL
course up, dealing with admissions and records, etc.) involved in conveying
courses online. “The institution,” she said, “will do everything but teach and
design courses. The programs will belong to the departments.”
g. 4:02. Jim Juvik was appointed as Acting Congress Chair. Barbara Leonard
discussed the concern (#6) raised in WASC’s preliminary report (posted on the
Faculty Congress website), which reads, “Purview over curricular revision and
new curricula should move to the Faculty Congress to ensure appropriate
university-wide input and avoid redundancy in courses across the university
curricula.” Dr. Leonard presented a “draft” of a motion to amend the Congress
bylaws to add a new standing committee to Faculty Congress: the Curriculum
Review Committee. Since a revision to the by-laws needs two readings, it was
suggested that this be taken up as new business in the Fall.
Motion: Jim Juvik moved to defer discussion until the Fall.
Motion passed unanimously.
h. Brendan Hennessey, Institutional Researcher, requested making various “breakout” groups of courses such as ELI, DL course at the division level, and graduate
courses so that teaching evaluation comparisons are more valid. Congress
approved this recommendation by consent. He also asked to begin “folding”
teaching evaluation results into program reviews, promising that anonymity will
be preserved for individual faculty members. Congress approved this
recommendation by consent. Finally, he asked the Congress what an appropriate
time period would be to archive all of the paper associated with teaching
evaluations.
Motion: Cam Muir moved for a policy of archiving the paper version of the
teaching evaluations for five years, and then have the faculty vote on the policy.
Motion: Sevki Erdogan moved to table Cam Muir’s motion until the faculty
were polled first. Motion seconded.
Sevki Erdogan’s motion passed unanimously.
5:00 to 5:21 The Congress met in executive session.
5:21: Meeting adjourned by Chair, Barbara Leonard.
Respectfully submitted by Mark Panek, Congress Secretary, May 2nd, 2008.
Appendix B (Motion tabled until Fall 08 Congress convenes)
UH Hilo Faculty Congress
April 25, 2008
Motion to amend the bylaws:
Move to add a new standing committee under “5. Standing Committee
Membership” as follows:
f. Curriculum Review Committee
The Congress will appoint a Curriculum Review Committee of not less than five
members with at least one member from each college, the Vice Chancellor for
Academic Affairs or his/her designate, and the Registrar or his/her designate.
The Congress will also appoint a faculty member currently serving on Congress
to serve as Chair of this Committee. The purview of this committee will be to
approve all curricular revision and new curricula university-wide. Members shall
serve two-year staggered terms. The Chair of this committee will receive a onecourse course reduction or one-course overload payment for year. Terms of
office will be overlapped so that each year half of the membership will be
replaced to provide continuity from year to year.