VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITY SENATE
& FACULTY CONGRESS
COMMITTEE ON FACULTY
ACADEMIC YEAR 2012-2013
Minutes from Friday October 5, 2012, 3:00-4:40 PM, Bartley Faculty Board Room
Present: Lillian (Boots) Cassel, Sohail Chaudhry, Linda Copel, Eric Karson (Secretary), Christopher
Kilby, Julie Klein (Chair), Sarvesh Kulkarni, Barbara Ott, Donna Shai, Thomas (Tom) Way, Craig
Wheeland (AVPAA), Seth Whidden (ex officio).
Christopher Kilby volunteered to take minutes in lieu of Eric Karson (Secretary) who was delayed by
another meeting.
This first meeting of the Committee on Faculty (CoF) for the 2012-13 academic year was largely
organizational, closely following the agenda distributed in advance. Chair Julie Klein reviewed CoF
organization and priorities, highlighting the following.
 Awards subcommittee co-chairs serve overlapping two year terms to provide continuity.
Outgoing Co-Chair Thomas Way will work with incoming Co-Chair Mark Sullivan.
 Julie will coordinate with APC and USC to arrange a budget presentation from VP Ken Valosky.
 CoF will explore coordination with APC on other issues such as the R&T review.
 CoF will improve communication with faculty via timely distribution of minutes. Members will
develop email distribution lists for the faculty they represent (e.g., by soliciting lists from
department chairs) and then send draft minutes directly to faculty.
 CoF will meet with President Peter Donohue and new AVPAA Al Ortega later this term.
CoF will move forward on existing business. This includes:
 Organizing two faculty fora in early November to discuss whether the right to vote in department
chair selection should be extended to full-time non-tenure track and continuing non-tenure track
faculty. A summary of key issues (based on review of CoF minutes to be done by Eric Karson,
possibly supplemented by those faculty most directly involved) will be included in the public
announcement of these events.
 Some faculty members are interested in resurrecting the spousal benefit of reduced costs master’s
level courses. CoF will seek relevant data before addressing this issue.
 Julie Klein requested CoF members with experience on the University R&T Committee (Linda
Copel, Lillian Cassel, and Sohail Chaudhry) to form a CoF R&T subcommittee to work in
conjunction with APC on issues including the role of deans and modifications requested by the
VPAA.
 CoF plans to review any changes to promote consistency between the university “paid speakers
contract” and the Faculty Handbook events policy.
Lillian Cassel Sohail Chaudhry Linda Copel Eric Karson Joseph Dellapenna Christopher Kilby Julie Klein (Chair) Sarvesh
Kulkarni Edward Kresch Barbara Ott Donna Shai Mark Sullivan Thomas Way Seth Whidden (ex officio) Kail Ellis (ex
officio)
As a point of information, Craig Wheeland stated that the VPAA has declined to adopt the spring 2012
CoF proposal for periodic assessments of associate deans but will offer an alternative (details in email to
follow).
Proposed new issues for CoF include:
 Sarvesh Kulkarni proposed that CoF review data on the use of adjunct faculty.
 Sohail Chaudhry raised concerns about impersonal Bursar’s Office communications threatening
to use a collection agency to extract payment from faculty and staff with overdue fines. In
connection with this, it was suggested that CoF consider issues of parking and promotion of
bicycle use.
 Seth Whidden suggested inviting the new director of HR to make a presentation to CoF.
 Julie Klein suggested CoF explore faculty interest in an interdisciplinary center and/or other
initiatives to improve support for research and teaching
 CoF members expressed interest in reviewing three recent studies (Climate, Sibson [benefits],
CATS).
The next CoF meeting will include:
 Updates from Craig Wheeland;
 Further work on the aforementioned faculty fora;
 An invitation to AVPAA Al Ortega.
Respectfully submitted by Christopher Kilby, October 5, 2012.
Lillian Cassel Sohail Chaudhry Linda Copel Eric Karson Joseph Dellapenna Christopher Kilby Julie Klein (Chair) Sarvesh
Kulkarni Edward Kresch Barbara Ott Donna Shai Mark Sullivan Thomas Way Seth Whidden (ex officio) Kail Ellis (ex
officio)