Minutes
Faculty Senate Meeting
April 4, 2012
Professor Girard called the meeting to order at 2:20 PM
Present: Professor Jim Girard, Leigh Riddick, Barlow Burke, Phil Brenner, Joe Dent, Christine
DeGregorio, Larry Engel, Bryan Fantie, Phil Jacoby, Jonathan Loesberg, Sarah Menke-Fish,
Candice Nelson, Gemma Puglisi, Patricia West, Lacey Wootton, Mary Hansen, Provost Scott
Bass and Dean Phyllis Peres
Approval of Minutes, Jim Girard
Professor Girard asked the senators to approve the minutes from December 7, 2011. Professor
Girard opened the floor for corrections and changes. No changes were voiced so the senate voted
unanimously in favor.
Welcome and Introduction, Jim Girard
Professor Girard began with the election results for the new Senate at-large seats and senate
committees. He congratulated John Douglass and Jerzy Sapieyevski for winning the at-large
seats. The Committee on Faculty Grievance membership is Ruth Lane, Martin Shapiro, John
Douglass, Zehra Peynircioglu and Alan Kraut. The Committee on Faculty Hearing appointed
members will be Ruth Lane, Mary Gray, Mary Hansen, Deborah Payne Fisk and Mary Mintz.
Elections in the schools and colleges are in progress and these results will be complete by the
May 2, 2012 meeting.
Professor Girard stated that he would like to voice his gratitude to the CFA who has worked hard
this year and done a great job. They have updated the CFA guidelines after all the changes that
have been made in the manual. The process has been working well for both the CFA and the
DAA’s office.
Provost’s Report, Scott Bass
Provost Bass also stated that he would like to recognize the stellar work of the CFA this year. It
has been a pleasure working with them and things have run very smoothly.
Provost also stated that the dean’s search in the School of Communication had narrowed the
search to three finalists and they were strong and very interesting candidates. He stated that he
will have the responsibility of figuring out the next steps and the search should be completed by
the end of the month.
New student recruitment is underway. Visits around the country have begun. Provost Bass stated
that last year there were twelve visits and this year there will be 24. He said that he was in
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Boston this past weekend and there were 425 people in the room and that this reception went
very well. He stated that President Kerwin is doing the California visit and last year there were
40 in San Francisco and this year there were 80. There is a lot of energy out there which is
terrific.
Provost Bass stated that he has completed the on campus department visits. They were very
enjoyable and he is very happy to learn about different issues and what departments are planning.
People are talking more and he said it was great to see.
Guest Speaker, Gail Hansen, Vice President of Campus Life
Vice President Hansen thanked the senate for inviting her to speak. She stated how important it
is to know the perspective of the AU students outside of the classroom and be able to put them
together. She stated that she will be discussing how students engage campus life.
Vice President Hansen stated that a couple of the trends that we are seeing from students coming
to AU include extensive volunteer work. Often the students come with these volunteer hours
being earned in high school. She stated that the students also come stating that they socialize
with more diverse people and find that they are engaging in more conversations to include
politics. These trends are going up and up. Students are also coming to college with more AP
classes. Students coming to AU with these AP classes are driving an earlier graduation date from
the traditional 4 years. Nationally 70 percent of those students that are going to four year
colleges have at least one AP class and almost a quarter have as many as five.
Vice President Hansen informed the senate that there is another more serious side of the students.
Students have physical and mental health problems. More students coming out of high school
say they have experienced feeling depressed and overwhelmed and students are feeling this way
here at AU.
Vice President Hansen continued with an update on living arrangements. She stated that students
arrive expecting a nice room, but also a place that provides a community that compliments the
classroom. AU has become one of the model schools to introduce a residential curriculum.
Faculty, academic advisors and resident assistants are in the dorms to assist students with various
subjects that will be beneficial to the students and their career paths. VP Hansen stated that
students who start together want to stay together while completing their time at AU and others
are grouped together by various other criteria.
VP Hansen stated that the academic access and performance comes mostly from the academic
support center. She said that there are a fairly large number of students seeking individual
services. Last year there was 1200 first, second and third year students and the balance is a mix
of the remaining population. These students have various learning disabilities and do include
ADD and ADHD. Also, we have a large group for supplemental education. Last year there were
1200 participants and we have found that grades increase more when the students have been
involved in supplemental education. She also stated that there is a large group of student’s week
in mathematics as well as English comprehension and writing.
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VP Hansen informed the senate about the STEP program. This is one of the oldest gateway
programs at AU. Students are picked because they have great potential but might not have the
number credential required for regular admission but show all other requirements of being able
to make it here. The program funds forty students that attend seven weeks during the summer.
Some of the information that they have shared with us is that they feel they are not prepared in
high school for college research and writing, they struggle with balancing academics and
extracurricular activities. Students of color, first generation and Pell eligible have expressed
concern on classroom climate and have raised the question if faculty has cultural sensitivity
around political, religious and socioeconomic diversity. They are also concerned about money
and worry if they will they be able to afford their books, study abroad and work at unpaid
internships. This information is gathered after their first academic year.
VP Hansen continued with students with disabilities. During faculty orientation this tends to be
an area of anxiety. Faculty is concerned about having to accommodate these students. Last year’s
numbers were around 195 which is growing. Breaking down this number by groups would
include areas of psychological, physical mobility, medical chronic illnesses and
autism/Asperger’s. Medication is often involved and is being monitored by the health center.
VP Hansen also stated that due to the large amount of students that need special test
accommodations this floor will possibly be transformed into a new testing center.
VP Hansen stated that there is also a large number of students that are dealing with various types
of stress. From personal, academic to professional, the need for professional services has grown.
There has been a large growth with students using the online screening since it is something that
can be done in the privacy of their room. The results do not indicate how many of the students
that take the screening are actually seen because it is anonymous. This area is of great concern
and we have many options in place for students to receive services.
VP Hansen stated that the next area is called “heart and soul.” This area is a reflection of service
and spirituality. 559 students do service during welcome week. This propels them into more
onetime service events, as well as more trained events such as tutoring. There is a large variety
of spiritual affiliations on this campus but note that denomination affiliation is declining.
VP Hansen continued with student conduct. She stated that they have seen a decline of
infractions because several of the low level offences have been taken off the violation scale. Last
year there were 598 cases, and 1248 charges. About 73% involve alcohol or drugs. 59 students
last year were taken to the hospital in an ambulance. There is a task force always addressing
these issues and looking for ways to intervene.
Last VP Hansen stated that she would like to close with diversity and inclusion. The students that
come to AU expect to engage in diversity. One of the events we have is the “Talk Intercultural
Communication workshop.” Last year there was 98 participants’. This group meets for 7 or 8
meetings and to talk about identity and cultural experiences and develop a deeper understanding.
This is run out of International Student and Scholar Services. Another group is the Dialogue
Development Group which had 155 participants. This group is larger and addresses difficult
topics like religion, culture, gender, sexuality identity and race. There has been such a demand
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for these groups that they became too large and are being cut back to a smaller group to insure a
more personal setting. These groups create leaders and we watch our leaders closely so we know
that they are paying attention to their studies. They average GPA is 3.44 and if they drop to a 2.5
GPA we have a cautionary conversation and if the GPA falls below a 2.5 a sensitive discussion is
had to ask them to step down from their responsibilities. Fraternity and sorority life is growing.
About 18% of our undergraduates belong to these groups which include historically black and
Latino organizations. The Greeks have an average GPA of 3.30, so they are performing well.
They are very involved in study groups to help keep the GPA high.
VP Hansen closed by saying that students are attracting to AU not just because of the
outstanding academics but because AU is in Washington DC. They state they are political, smart,
liberal, global and diverse to name a few of the words the students have used to identify who the
AU student is. She stated that she hopes that is was a useful presentation and any questions
would be happily answered.
Review of the Graduate Regulation, Leigh Riddick
Discussion was had on the following items and changes or corrections were made and voted on
where indicated;
•
Internships- redundancy of language cleaned up
•
Quality Control Committee to insure Dissertation Committee meets regulations;
extensive discussion was had on the Dissertation Committee in general.
•
Final review of Graduate Regulations was completed and the senate VOTED
unanimously in favor of the document with changes as discussed.
Annual Review Timeline for Pre-Tenure Faculty, Leigh Riddick
Discussion was had to clarify if a member of the faculty is hired with previous service, how
much service can they take and when can they take it.
Dean Peres stated that when she speaks with new faculty member who are being offered a
position at the university, she tells them that if they have prior service and are offered a position
at AU, they can speak with their department chair, division director or dean to determine how
much prior service they would like to take. She said that they are told they are to take up to four
years of prior service and any time prior to the first campus wide review they can change the
number. She stated that is not a denial but a negotiation.
Further discussion to resolve language to clarify if the candidate wants to take up to two years
and could negotiate up four. General opinion was that the candidate needs the flexibility.
Professor Riddick stated that she would make the changes that were discussed and will bring
them back to the next meeting.
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Professor Girard stated to the senate that there will be an additional meeting on April 18, 2012 in
order to address University/Distinguished Professors and conflict policies. The final meeting will
be in May where we will introduce the senate membership.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:45 PM
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