Minutes
Faculty Senate Meeting
November 4, 2009
Professor Lyn Stallings called the meeting to order at 2:20 p.m.
Present: Professors Lyn Stallings, Stephen Silvia, Leigh Riddick, Fred Jacobs, Naomi Baron,
Barlow Burke, Al Cheh, Carole Gallaher, Robert Karch, Ira Klein, Nanette Levinson, Brett
Williams, Mary Mintz, Tony Riley, John Smith, Lenny Steinhorn, Steve Taylor, Anthony WanisSt.John, Dean Mussell, and Provost Scott Bass.
Welcome and Introduction, Lyn Stallings
Professor Stallings welcomed everyone to the meeting.
The Faculty Senate VOTED unanimously to approve the September and October Senate
minutes.
Report of the Chair, Lyn Stallings
Election Results for the Dean of Academic Affairs Search Committee
The faculty elected three members to the Dean of Academic Affairs Search Committee: Carole
Gallaher, Robert Griffith, and Richard Bennett.
Emeriti
The web content management system will include emeriti web profiles and contact
information on-line. This should be ready on November 7.
The fall Emeriti Luncheon took place on October 21st and was quite successful. The
spring Luncheon will take place on March 17th. Eileen Findlay, CAS, History, will be the
guest speaker.
Report of the Provost, Scott Bass
Faculty Retreat
Provost Bass thanked everyone for their participation in the Faculty Retreat. There were almost
300 faculty, 100 significant others, 40 children, and 9 nannies. The Faculty Retreat required a lot
of preparatory work, but was successful. Preliminary work has begun for the next retreat.
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External Benchmarking
Provost Bass emphasized the importance of external benchmarking, in terms of how AU is doing
at the department, college, and broader university levels. He added that our practices must be
consistent with the best practices of other universities.
Provost Bass said that the greatest threat to this university is its competition, given that
prospective undergraduate students, with their parents, are looking for universities based on
reputation. Our society is undergoing a demographic shift and the profile of the younger
population will be changing in coming years. The total number of high-school graduates will
decline and a smaller percentage of them will be in the Mid-Atlantic region. Thus, AU must
continually make adjustments to be an attractive university for an ever-changing group of young
applicants.
Campus-Wide Academic Programs
Provost Bass added that there has been discussion about university-wide cross-disciplinary
academic programs, which would pose logistical challenges for the administration in allocating
faculty and overseeing the programs. The programs under consideration thus far are in several
areas: public health, human rights, environmental sustainability, and Middle East studies. These
will be cross-campus collaborations. Additional similar events which in the past have proved
successful are in the areas of human rights and Middle East studies.
In response to the decline in enrollment in the Washington Semester Program, the experimental
Graduate Gateway Program was launched this year. This program is designed for students to
take courses sponsored by the Washington Semester Program for credit, but would not count
toward a degree. Thus far, there have been 220 applicants.
Research and Grants Infrastructure Task Force
Provost Bass would like to see every faculty member have an opportunity to comment on ways
that the campus can support this Task Force which is designed to assist faculty in their research
and in their ability to secure grants.
One-Stop Student Center
This center will merge services from the Registrar’s Office, Student Accounts, and Financial
Aid, and is scheduled to open in August 2010.
Budget
Provost Bass outlined key points regarding the university’s budget. He noted that the university
budgeted for ten new faculty lines this year; one full-professor and nine assistant professors.
Provost Bass noted that he has support from President Kerwin to recruit quality faculty and to
not worry about the base salary.
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Not included in this year’s budget will be a new Executive Director for Professional
Development and Training for the Washington Semester Program and a new Associate Dean for
Communications. These positions will come out of the Provost’s office budget for this budget
cycle.
Funds have been committed for the new Center for Latin America and Latino Studies and for the
Frederick Douglass Scholarship Program. The Directors for these programs have been selected.
Provost Bass mentioned that there is a need to find additional office space for faculty on campus.
Open-Discussion about Faculty Retreat
Professor Steinhorn mentioned that it would be valuable to involve more faculty members in the
Faculty Senate somehow. Professor Wanis-St.John added that he felt the tone of the Faculty
Retreat was very positive and constructive. Professor Gallaher particularly enjoyed the speed
networking session, at which faculty were able to meet faculty from other schools. Professor
Steinhorn added that it would be useful to have a place on campus where faculty could go to
relax and meet each other.
Senator Mintz mentioned that it may be more successful to have members of the Faculty Senate
reach out to the faculty and their departments, rather than waiting for faculty to join the Faculty
Senate. Professor Riddick added that many faculty may not be aware of the work of the Faculty
Senate and its committees. Professor Levinson emphasized that it would be a good idea to
remind faculty that they are always invited to attend meetings.
Professor Klein noted that there is not an active intellectual committee at AU. Professor
Steinhorn added that topic-based meetings that cross department barriers would be a good
activity for engaging the entire campus.
Provost Bass said that it is a priority for him to ensure that AU provides an interesting
intellectual environment.
Professor Stallings mentioned that her department, Mathematics and Statistics, is discussing
criteria for promotion. She wondered whether it would be a good idea to have a meeting with
various Rank & Tenure members to visit the subject of updating criteria. Provost Bass added
that he and Dean Mussell have been working on a document about the parameters for promotion,
and that if the Faculty Senate works on a similar document it would be helpful.
Professor Barron suggested that there could be centralized electronic discussion site for the
faculty to exchange ideas and build community. Professor Levinson added that as a short-term
solution, faculty could use Blackboard. Professor Smith said that the Committee on Information
Services is discussing similar ideas.
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Professor Jacobs said that in thinking about what is the best use of his time, it would be helpful
to have an on-campus service to help faculty with making PowerPoint presentations or with
writing student recommendations.
Dean of Academic Affairs Annual Temporary Faculty Report
Professor Stallings announced that she neglected to ask Dean Mussell to prepare this report in
August, and as a result, Dean Mussell will work on it now and present it to the Faculty Senate at
the December meeting.
Recommendation from the Committee on Faculty Relations (CFR), Fred Jacobs
Professor Jacobs, along with Professor Gallaher, presented a proposed procedure for senior hires.
It is intended to be an interim procedure, which will be in force while the Faculty Manual is
being redone.
Professor Jacobs said that the current Faculty Manual does not address the issue of hiring senior
faculty with tenure. Additionally, Professor Jacobs noted that over the years, there has been an
increase in the number of exceptions that are coming to the CFR from the Deans for approval,
and there has at times been some difficulty in attaining additional information from the
departments. Lastly, Professor Jacobs added that over the years, files for CFR recommendation
are arriving later in the year.
Professor Steinhorn noted that the CFR proposal does not address the case of a well-known
person in a particular field who does not have teaching experience but would have very valuable
professional experience to bringto the classroom. Professor Jacobs pointed out that in some
instances such a person may have valuable professional experience, he or she may not be a good
teacher in the classroom. Any effective procedure must be able to address teaching skills.
Senator Mintz made a friendly amendment to add wording in the second paragraph of point 5 of
page 2 of the document as follows: If the three most recent years of evaluations are not
available or if the candidate is not currently affiliated with a college or university, the
department and dean should provide an explanation of why student evaluations of teaching are
unavailable, and prepare alternative measures of teaching effectiveness. Professor Jacobs did
not accept this friendly amendment. After some discussion among the Senators about whether
this added wording from Senator Mintz is useful, Professor Silvia called the question. The
Faculty Senate VOTED and the results were: 5 in favor and 8 against the motion, with 4
abstentions.
Professor Steinhorn made a proposal to add wording in the first paragraph of point 5 of
page 2 of the document as follows: For example, peer appraisals, student evaluation of
teaching at the faculty member’s present institution, and evaluations made during the
candidate’s campus presentations (such as public lectures and presentations to students), as well
as other measures, can be taken into consideration in the teaching unit and college/school
recommendations.
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Prof. Jacobs accepted Prof. Steinhorn’s proposed amendment as friendly. The Faculty Senate
VOTED 16 in favor and with 1 abstention to accept the CFR interim proposal with Professor
Steinhorn’s change.
University Communications and Marketing Report, Terry Flannery
Ms. Flannery made a presentation that outlines the key findings of a campus-wide marketing
study to develop the strategy to communicate the AU identity more effectively. Her committee
designed a group of questions to determine how familiar people are with AU. They wanted to
identify the range of of perceptions about AU. All of these results would be used in forming a
new brand identity for marketing AU. Ms. Flannery mentioned that the findings were obtained
from in-depth interviews with a variety of participants, such as alumni, parents, community
leaders, business leaders, university administrators, and government members.
American University is considered to have a politically active campus and a good location, but
there is little appreciation for the quality of the academic programs. Learning from Leaders was
one of the distinguishing characteristics associated with the university
Faculty Manual Committee Report, Lyn Stallings
The committee will issue a draft on November 16th.
The meeting adjourned at 4:45.
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