UH HILO FACULTY CONGRESS
MINUTES FOR MEETING OF APRIL 4th, 2008
3:00 pm - 5:00 pm, K-127
DRAFT
Members Present: Michael Bitter, Jason Cabral, Emmeline dePillis, Sevki Erdogan, Ramon
Figueroa-Centeno, Alohalani Houseman, Kerri Inglis, Raina Ivanova, Jim Juvik, Barbara Leonard,
Gail Makuakane-Lund, Chuck Malenfant, Bruce Matthews, Cam Muir, Mark Panek, Sabry Shehata,
Regina Titunik
UHHSA Member:
Others Present: Philip Castille, Cathy Zenz, Brandon Hennessy
Meeting called to order at 3:07 pm by Congress Chair Barbara Leonard
1. Approval of Minutes from February 28, 2008:
http://www.uhh.hawaii.edu/uhh/congress/documents/Congress0708Minutes02_29_08.doc
Motion to approve minutes passed with one abstention.
2.
Report from the Chair.
The Chair shared a letter to the Chancellor in which Faculty Congress asks for
course releases or overload pay for a five senior faculty committee involved in
helping the university reach its goals for student success by giving what will
certainly be huge amounts of time to help implement our new General Education
plan, which was approved by 60% of the faculty.
Phil Castille said that he disagreed “on principle” that General Education
committee faculty responsible for working with departments campus-wide to
implement General Education program changes should be paid in any way for
their time. When the Chair asked him to clarify his objection to faculty
compensation for such an arduous and time-consuming task, he said that such
service should be counted heavily by TPRCs and DPCs when Gen Ed committee
members came up for promotion.
Cathy Zenz indicated that we have until February 2009 at the very latest to make
sure necessary changes can appear in the AY 2009-10 catalogue. Regina Titunik
indicated that she was working on an implementation plan to enact the proposal
with this deadline in mind.
3.
Committee Reports:
a.
Report from Admissions Committee Chair: Emmeline de Pillis
Dr. dePillis said that “It is not as clear as I thought it was what our [UHH’s]
mission is,” but that it is completely clear that the students we are admitting
need more resources than we’re providing. Gail Makuakane-Lundin
underscored the fact that the support students get upon arrival at UHH heavily
impacts their experience here, and that we need more programs like the
clearly successful Kipuka. Cam Muir suggested looking at a tutorial system,
and agreed to share information for what one might look like. It was noted
that George Kuh of NSSE fame will be coming to UHH soon to talk to us
about our student engagement.
b.
Budget Committee Chair – Barbara Leonard – UH System Goals
Barbara Leonard reported that most new budget allocations for the next
biennium will be going towards maintenance and repair. She indicated that
the UH system is holding back some operating funds as incentive funds to
meet the performance goals written by VP Linda Johnsrud. During the
biennium budget process, each campus will only be allowed to submit three
Program Change Requests, and priority will go to those dealing with
“student success.” The performance goals can be found at:
http://www.hawaii.edu/offices/app/aa/performancegoals2007-2012.pdf
c.
General Education Committee Chair
Regina Titunik discussed the complex implementation plans for the new
General Education proposal. Phil Castille suggested that the departments
themselves should be doing most of the work of implementing the new General
Education requirements, and then submitting syllabi for approval by the Gen Ed
committee. Regina disagreed, pointing out that departments are already being
asked to do too much, and that the Gen Ed committee needs to assisting them to
implement the change during the first year.
d.
Assessment Committee
Acting Chair Sevki Erdogan pointed out that the new General Education plan
has an assessment component, but that further discussion needs to take place
to coordinate program assessment.
d.
Academic Policy Committee
Chair Michael Bitter said that the committee hopes to have more
unit/departmental/disciplinary involvement in the tenure and promotion process in
the form of departmental guidelines for TPRCs so that such review committees
maintain continuity from year to year.
The APC is also exploring having the union contract changed (as it relates
to TPRC make-ups) to reflect UHH’s size.
The APC has also been discussing salary compression as it relates to
faculty morale. In particular, Dr. Bitter pointed out that UHH’s preferred method
of awarding salary adjustments—wasting the time of the hiring committee at a
peer institution where one has no intention of working so that one may then argue
for a “retention” adjustment at UHH—is an act that in itself can erode a UHH
faculty member’s commitment to our institution, and thus further damage morale.
He then said that President McClain has said that “Salary compression is not an
issue on any campus.”
Barbara Leonard asked Congress members to circulate the APCs proposed
motion on salary adjustments to our constituents so that we may vote on it at the
next meeting.
e.
Report from Graduate Council Liason
Barbara Leonard asked Laison Keri Inglis to prepare a year-end summary
for the next Congress meeting.
4. New Business:
a.
Letter to WASC:
http://www.uhh.hawaii.edu/uhh/congress/documents/WASCletter.doc
Jim Juvik indicated that CAS department chairs want the Mānoa model for
chairs: an eleven-month contract, and adequate compensation for the
considerable administrative work they do to ensure student success.
b.
Discuss teaching evaluations: consider eCAFE? http://www.cafe.hawaii.edu
Brandon Hennessy strongly objected to abandoning the newly
implemented teaching evaluations.
Motion: Michael Bitter moved to adjourn. Motion passed unanimously.
5:01: Meeting adjourned.
Respectfully submitted, 4/10/08
Mark Panek
UHH Faculty Congress Secretary