Minutes
Faculty Senate Meeting
February 6, 2008
Gary Weaver called the meeting to order at 2:15 p.m.
Present: Professors Weaver, Silvia, Loesberg, Belson, Douglass, Forst, Girard, Hall, Kim, Klein,
Langbein, Leap, Mintz, Pike, Reece, Riddick, Sha, Stallings, Steinhorn, Yates, Young, Dean
Mardirosian, and Provost Broder.
Welcome and Introduction, Gary Weaver
Professor Weaver welcomed everyone to the meeting. The December minutes were approved by
the Senators.
Report of the Chair, Gary Weaver
• Professor Weaver announced that the Spring Emeriti Luncheon will be held on Monday, April
14, at noon in the Butler Board Room. The luncheon will feature the Dean of the School of
International Service (SIS), Louis Goodman, and the Dean of the School of Communication
(SOC), Larry Kirkman. They had recently made a presentation to the Board of Trustees
regarding the plans, philosophy and progress in the development of a new building for each of
the schools. They will reprise their presentations at the lunch.
• At the last Faculty Senate meeting in December, Professor Weaver had announced that he was
considering creating a new committee very much like the former University Senate Executive
Committee. This committee would assist the leadership of the Faculty Senate to set the agenda,
to discuss issues before they come to the floor, and to serve as a nominating committee.
Professor Weaver envisions this committee to begin as an informal advisory council to the Chair,
and would be experimental in the beginning until it is determined that it is useful.
• Professor Weaver distributed a handout with the Faculty Senate office hours. The office is
officially open every morning at 8:30. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays the office
closes at 1:30. On Tuesdays it closes at 12:30 and on Fridays the office is open from 5:30 to
12:30 and 1:30 to 5:30.
Report of the Provost, Dr. Broder
Admissions
The early admissions process is complete. The early decision pool was much stronger this year
than it was last year. There was a very significant increase in the number of applicants and in the
number of students who were admitted. The Admissions Office had been aggressively talking to
students about the advantages of early decisions. It also targeted certain areas of the country. For
instance, there was a substantial increase in applicants from Illinois. The early admission pool is
more multi-cultural and international. The GPA of the admitted students is on par with last year.
For the regular fall admissions, there was a very slight decrease in the total number of
applications, but a very solid increase in the GPA/SAT scores of the applicants.
New York State Attorney General’s Office
American University -- along with Harvard, Brown, and Columbia Universities among others -received a subpoena from the New York State Attorney General’s Office regarding a nationwide
investigation of the practices of study abroad programs. The New York State Attorney General’s
Office has requested documents and answers to several questions.
Study Abroad in Kenya
American University has been sending students to Kenya since 2005. Every year, the University
sends about twenty students to a university in Nairobi. This year, we have thirteen students there.
They are adamant about staying, despite the political turmoil. The students are in very close daily
contact with the US Embassy in Nairobi, who is monitoring their safety. The University is also
monitoring their safety and developments in Kenya very closely.
Nigeria
Sara Dumont, the head of AU Abroad, has just returned from a visit to the American University
of Nigeria. The reason for her visit was that many AU students have been asking about studying
in Nigeria. Ms. Dumont was impressed with the American University of Nigeria, so it is likely
that we will be sending students there soon.
Legislative Actions
Dr. Broder accepted the December 5 vote on changes to the academic calendar regarding the
status and scheduling of final-examination week. She has forwarded her approval to the Office of
the Registrar.
Regarding the November 7 Faculty Senate vote to change regulations governing the teaching of
writing proficiency, Dr. Broder is not accepting the change at this time. After hearing the Senate
debate about the proposal, it was not clear to the provost whether the concerns raised related to
the students who would be affected by this proposal, who, by and large, are the students with
better incoming credentials. In subsequent conversations with members of the Senate, some
senators told the provost that they voted for this change even though they did not think it would
necessarily address the writing issues they saw. In discussions with Dean Mussell, who has
engaged the Literature Department and the College Writing Program, the provost and dean have
agreed that it is time to review college writing more broadly. John Hyman, the director of
College Writing, welcomes such a review. Dean Mussell will assemble a committee to address
questions, such as how does the program at AU compare nationally, what are the needs of the
AU schools and colleges from the College Writing Program, and how well does the program
function to facilitate the transition from high school to college. Provost Broder indicated that
outside expertise may be employed to assist in the review.
Quasi Endowment
At the December Faculty Senate meeting, Professor Brian Forst (SPA) asked Dr. Broder why the
Annual Report no longer includes information about the Quasi Endowment. Dr. Broder asked
University Vice-president for Finance, Don Myers, who told her that it has been about a decade
since that information has been published in the Annual Report because accounting requirements
changed regarding what needed to appear in financial reports. To clarify this question with the
Faculty Senate, Dr. Broder distributed a balance sheet and a graph that indicated the size of the
endowment and Quasi Endowment.
Committee Reports
Strategic Planning Committee
Professor Leigh Riddick (KSB), Chair of the committee, reported that the strategic plan
committee has been drafting a short list of important items for the strategic plan. Additionally,
they are going over guidelines and goals, and are looking at strategic plans of other institutions.
Dr. Broder attended a recent meeting and offered some input to the group.
Committee on Information Services
Brian Yates (CAS) introduced University Librarian, Bill Mayer, who made a presentation to the
Faculty Senate on the book collection space needs of the library. There is not enough shelf space
to accommodate the books on hand and the books being bought every year. Mr. Mayer proposed
to move all of the print journals out of the library, freeing up about 2,000 shelves, and to put
those print journals into WRLC storage. Mr. Mayer stressed that this is still a temporary solution.
Electronic journals usage has skyrocketed, and thus, has reduced the number of print journals
used. Mr. Mayer said that this is a good way for the librarians and the faculty to discuss what
journals they would like to maintain on hand and what other library needs exist. Mr. Mayer will
make this presentation to the Board of Trustees at the end of this month.
Committee on Student Learning and Academic Engagement (SLAE)
Julie Mills, a member of the Undergraduate Government/Senate, spoke to the Faculty Senate
about student involvement in faculty governance proposal, which was jointly put together by the
Undergraduate Government/Senate and the Graduate Leadership Council. Ms. Mills outlined
why the students should have a place in the Faculty Senate. She stressed that both the students
and faculty have similar concerns, and working together would present a united front to the
University.
SLAE Committee Chair, Professor Ira Klein (CAS), pointed out that there had been student
representation on the old University Senate. He read a statement from the SLAE Committee in
support of having an undergraduate student on the Faculty Senate. The statement stressed that
such a step would ensure adequate consideration of student concerns, and be good for student
morale and campus spirit. Closer ties between students and faculty would also promote the
inclusive tradition at AU.
Joint Committee on Curriculum and Academic Programs (JCCAP)
Committee Co-Chair, Professor Kiho Kim (CAS), updated the Faculty Senate with the five
proposals that they have reviewed over the past months. The first proposal came from the School
of Communication to develop an “investigative employee workshop” centered on the faculty at
SOC, allowing for developing a methodology for investigative research. The JCCAP supported
this proposal and passed it on to the Provost. A second item, which came from the Kogod School
of Business, proposed to develop a minor in International Business. TJCCAP supported this too
and forwarded it on to the Provost. The third proposal, which was from the School of Public
Affairs and the Washington College of Law, was for a series of dual degrees including JD, LLM,
MPA, MPP. The principal benefit of the change was to expedite the progress of students through
various programs. The fourth proposal was a Bachelor of Science in the business of music.
JCCAP approved the third and fourth proposals and sent them to the Provost. The fifth proposal,
which JCCAP is still considering, is an online nutrition education program from the School of
Education.
Faculty/Staff Campaign
Professor Sarah Irvine Belson (CAS) spoke about the faculty/staff campaign. She mentioned that
the contribution rate is much higher for the staff than the faculty.
For the Good of the Order
Budget
There was discussion about the role of the Faculty Senate and the budget. Dr. Broder spoke
about the role of the Quasi Endowment with regard to the Operating Budget of the University.
Ms. Mary Mintz (Library) discussed how the members of the Faculty Senate are interested in
having more involvement in setting budget priorities. Professor Jonathan Loesberg (CAS) added
that it would be helpful if the budget committee could make a presentation to the Faculty Senate
about the budget priorities and the Faculty Senate’s involvement in the process.
Publicity
Professor Weaver mentioned that American University received very good publicity recently
when Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama came and spoke on campus.
The meeting adjourned at 4:45.