Humanities and Sciences Faculty Meeting
November 14, 2008
Called Jointly by H&S Faculty Senate and Dean Leslie Lewis
Present:
President – Vivian Conger, Vice President - Tom Pfaff, Michael Rogers, Jennifer Jolly,
Julia Cozzarelli, Danette Johnson, Ann Byrne, John Barr, Sharon Stansfield, Sergio Pedro, Mark Hall,
Luke Keller, Cory Brown, Alicia Swords, Kim Baker, Ali Erkan, Cynthia Henderson, Bill Kolberg,
Andrew Crouse, Matthew Price, Judith Barker, Katharyn Howd Machan, Pearl Ponce, Karin Breuer,
Jason Freitag, Marella Feltrin-Morris, Louise Donohue, Patricia Spencer, Linda Hanrahan, Steve
Hilbert, Jennifer Germann, Lauren O’Connell, Jack Rossen, Tatiana Patrone, Brendan Murday,
Michael Troth, Bruce Thompson, Gary Wells, Jeff Holmes, Terry Michel, Michael Haaf, Zenon
Wasyliw, Bruce Henderson, Michael Richardson, James Pfrehm, Darius Conger, Michael Smith,
Wendy Hyman, Matt Klemm, Susanne Morgan, David Garcia, Hugh Egan, Jonathan Ablard,
Cathrene Connery
Call to Order
In an attempt to get started on time, Vivian Conger called the meeting to order at 4:02 p.m. Vivian
advised that an attendance sheet was being passed around and requested that everyone present
sign it. She expressed hope that everyone had received and viewed an electronic copy of the
agenda that was sent out and then introduced Dean Lewis.
Dean’s Discussion
Dean Lewis, in agreement with the Faculty Senate, began by discussing the joint desire to arrange
meetings with the full faculty on a regular basis. She then moved on to speak of the state of H&S.
Dean Lewis stated that she would give specific information on economic realities. She stated that
there were potential possibilities for the future for H & S and said that she would welcome any
wish list ideas.
The dean said she was very optimistic about the future and encouraged faculty to attend round
table discussions and the upcoming Listening Sessions with President Rochon. She discussed the
Strategic Visioning Process and stated how it would be different from past. Dean Lewis explained
that this strategic visioning process is about creating a Strategic Planning and Priorities Document.
She spoke of the work that she and the H&S Chairs are doing on planning tenure and non-tenure
eligibility line needs for the school. The chairs are submitting information about their department
faculty needs to the dean and the chairs are discussing these needs as part of their planning
process.
She encouraged everyone to identify our strengths that we need to build on and she stated that
she is willing to listen. She would like to hear the way we speak of our identity and stated that her
personal thought was that H & S should stand for the Heart and Soul of the college. She has asked
the Chairs to submit needs wish lists. She is specifically looking for “talking points” that she can
bring with her while on development trips.
Dean Lewis then began to discuss the economic realities in detail. She talked about the college
not reaching the enrollment goal and the effect that had and will have on our current and future
budgets. She stated that a budget reduction of 4% was set aside from this year’s budget, which
came out of a surplus that H & S had from places such as salary savings when replacing retiring and
tenured faculty/staff. She requested all departments to stick to their budget and not to exceed it.
She stated that the 2009-2010 budget will probably include the same 4% cut. This future 4% cut is
across all of academic affairs. How that plays out for H&S is under discussion.
Dean Lewis also stated that projections had been made for three years out at the worst case
scenario and that she was very optimistic. She said that we are not “hunkering down,” but rather
looking at how we can move forward. H&S need for space is still on the radar screen.
She stated that while there is a continual restructuring of the Dean’s office, she does plan to fill
the Associate Dean’s position. She thanked those who responded to the need for assistance filling
the spring term 2009 associate dean tasks. An email that went out to several faculty members in
regards to the position will only reflect the Spring 2009 term as a temporary position. Dean Lewis
expressed a need for a systematic school-wide approach to Policies and Procedures (or not if that
is what the faculty decide upon). She discussed the fact that several departments have made
personnel policy changes that have triggered standard review procedures. During these reviews it
became clear that there needs to be a recommendation from the appropriate school wide review
body. Dean Lewis sent a memo to the Faculty Senate asking the senate to identify what
procedures it will use to handle such reviews.
New Business
Vivian Conger quoted the purpose of the Faculty Senate.
The purpose of the Faculty Senate is to determine and represent the
concerns of the Faculty of the School of Humanities and Sciences and to
make recommendations on its behalf on school policies and procedures
concerning, but not limited to, curriculum, programs, grading, faculty
appointments and credentials for same, evaluation of faculty, tenure,
and promotion. The school will make no changes in these policies
without a recommendation from the Faculty Senate. The Faculty Senate
will report its recommendations to the Faculty of the School of
Humanities and Sciences and to the dean for action.
Vivian stressed that the Faculty Senate wants to hear from faculty. She also highlighted that
historically the Faculty Senate and the Dean’s office have not paid attention to the Faculty Senate
constitution. She mentioned that Faculty Senate has developed a strong working relationship with
Dean Lewis. She stated that Leslie Lewis has approached the Faculty Senate for advice on several
issues regarding policies and procedures. She also stated that this all H&S faculty meeting is just
the start of having H&S Faculty, Faculty Senate, and the Dean, talking more frequently.
Vivian also stated that there are two vacant seats in Faculty Senate – one from Humanities and
one from the Social Sciences - both which will serve a three year term. She encouraged faculty to
respond to a new call that would go out and then had all the senators stand up. She stated that it
is a great time to join Faculty Senate. It will be work, but it is an exciting time. She then introduced
Tom Pfaff, Vice President of the Faculty Senate.
Tom Pfaff discussed the problem that currently there are two H&S bodies that deal with Policies
and Procedures, the Faculty Senate and the Committee on Academic Policies and Procedures
(CAPP). The Faculty Senate feels that only one committee is needed and asked the attendees
their opinion on whether or not to put out a vote to dissolve CAPP. He mentioned the rationale
that was sent out electronically today about dissolving CAPP. Tom highlighted the rationale for
dissolving CAPP:
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We only need one policies and procedures body.
Per the Faculty Senate by-laws the Faculty Senate can form a CAPP like body when needed.
If there are two similar governance bodies then the Dean can decide which body to work
with, which seems problematic from a governance view point.
The history of CAPP is intermittent and inconsistent. As far as we can tell CAPP has only
convened twice in the past five years.
The Faculty Senate is a more representative body then CAPP, with regular meetings, and
accessible meeting minutes on the Ithaca College website
The Ithaca College policy manual identifies Faculty Senate as the governance body for the
School of Humanities and Sciences (Section 1.6.6: School Councils)
There were several questions/comments from attendees in which the following points were
raised:
1. Would Faculty Senate have sufficient time to work on policies and procedures?
2. Why was CAPP formed?
3. The Faculty Senate should be a voice outside of CAPP.
4. Clarification needed on who is doing what and if a more transparent structure could be
created
5. How will new subcommittees of Faculty Senate be formed? Standing committees
benefit from having institutional memory.
6. Can Faculty Senate “absorb” CAPP in Faculty Senate as a standing subcommittee?
7. Nomination forms don’t explain the role of the position one is volunteering for.
8. We need to be nimble about how we respond to policies and procedures
9. Can we suggest other committees that we’d like dissolved?
10. This is a pragmatic meeting, but also very symbolic (in a positive way).
11. This meeting is a really good idea; let’s have it regularly.
These questions and comments were surrounded by active discussion on the part of the faculty
and the faculty senators. The general discussion clarified that CAPP was established in 1990 by a
faculty vote and the faculty senate was established in the late 1990’s also by a faculty vote. The
general recollection is that faculty senate was created to be a co-governance body while CAPP
worked on specific policy and procedures actions. Tom Pfaff clarified that historically H&S has not
had a lot of policy and procedure issues addressed by CAPP or Faculty Senate so the workload can
be managed by faculty senate. If the workload is large, then faculty senate can form an ad-hoc or
standing subcommittee to handle specific policy and procedures issues.
Vivian pointed out the fact that the meeting was a good idea and how she would like to keep
having them.
There were several questions/comments from attendees about points raised by Dean Lewis with
Dean Lewis’s response:
1. Is the College reaction to the economy and enrollment situation alarmist?
It all depends on enrollment. We are looking at alternate revenue in the form of
transfer students and graduate students.
2. When should we voice the perspectives about H&S?
Participate in the listening sessions.
3. Will the faculty receive a salary increment this year?
Too early to tell; the decisions will probably come later (after the enrollment
situation is clearer).
4. Is the down turn in enrollment just happening to us?
It is happening to many, but for us it was a perfect storm.
5. How does Ithaca College’s budget respond to tuition versus our endowment?
It is actually a good time to be tuition dependent if we can hit our enrollment
numbers.
6. What is the distribution of short falls in enrollment?
Leslie will check with institutional research to get hard numbers, but H&S is not as
bad as others.
7. How are we recruiting? What role can H&S play to help?
This conversation is happening.
8. How does H&S get involved in the revamp of the Tours?
H&S is working on a total H&S marketing plan. The tour guides are going to be
trained and paid, which should improve the tours.
9. Will we get to a 3-3 teaching load?
We are still looking at it.
The meeting adjourned at 5:00 p.m.