Call to Order
In attendance: Megan Mac Gregor, Steven Putzel, Getinet Gawo, Willie Ofosu, Christyne Berzsenyi, Marshall R. Davis, Tim Sichler, Bob Faux, Lynda Goldstein, Dimitrios Bolkas, Salvatore Marsico, Renee Rosier, Ann Brennan, Erin Brennan, Wei-Fan Chen, Frouke de Quillettes, Anson D. Carter, Frank Derby
Via Zoom: Violet Mager
Minutes
Minutes from November 8, 2018 approved. First motion made by Wei-Fan. Second motion made by Frouke de Quillettes. All in favor.
Announcements
Renee Rosier recommended taking the Penn State Health Care Benefits Survey if not already done so. Survey closes Friday, 2/8/19 at 5:00 PM.
Nominations for elections are urgently needed. Results due April 30, 2019. Positions open are:
Ombudsperson
Ombudsperson alternate
Two fixed term faculty promotion elects
Chairperson
Chairperson elect
Two executive committee members at large
UCFC
Alternate senators
Sal Marsico said the faculty member is not required to give up the position while on sabbatical, you can choose to maintain position.
Dr. Willie Ofosu will be on sabbatical fall semester 2019
Dr. Wei-Fan Chen will be on sabbatical spring semester 2020. Wei-Fan mentioned contacting the senate office for suggestions.
Renee asks everyone to please volunteer. Need to accomplish by April 30, 2019.
Renee spoke about Earth Day at Kistler Elementary School. A Penn State presence is wanted. It entails having a planned event at a stations where groups of children come and ask questions. It will be held on May 10, 2019.
Communications of Campus Administrators and University Officers
Chancellor/CAO – Dr. Jones: The chancellor thanked all faculty members for their service across the campus. I was also looking forward to meet each faculty at their FAR meeting.
Associate CAO – Dr. Goldstein: The search for the position of full-time faculty is underway. Three candidates will be interviewed on campus for the position of Biology faculty, the search for Accounting and Business is underway.
Reports
University Faculty Senators – Report attached
University College Faculty Council – Report attached. Christyne Berzsenyi discussed major points from the report attached. These include workload issues, service award, P and T annual raises and hiring a new tenure track faculty to run a new program.
Committee Reports
Student Affairs Committee: There was nothing to report.
Scholarly Activities: Report attached. Anson Carter asked faculty to attend the lecture series.
Library: Report attached. The committee was asked to revise duties assigned to Library committee that is described in the bylaw. The motivation for revision is to include of COS (Celebration of Scholarship) in one of the duties of the Library Committee. The committee was asked to come up with the language change that includes COS as duties.
Academic Affairs: There was nothing to report.
Faculty Affairs Committee: There was nothing to report.
New business
It was discussed that constitutional/bylaw change is required to Promotion/Tenure committee. The Faculty Affairs Committee was tasked to look in to the language and changes.
Old business
None.
Comments for the good of the order
None.
Adjournment
First motion made to adjourn by Marshall Davis. Second motion made by Willie Ofosu. Meeting adjourned at 1:15 PM
PSU-WB University Faculty Senate Report
Date: January 31, 2019
From: University Faculty Senators Willie Ofosu and Wei-Fan Chen
To: W-B Campus Faculty Senate
Re: University Faculty Senate Meeting of December 4, 2018
President’s Comments: President Barron revisited Penn State’s mission as a Land Grant University by saying, “one of our great strengths and why we’re very different than other institutions is that we have one University, literally one University, with 20 undergraduate campuses, one mission that is there– and that’s important– one administration, academic leadership, business, finance, student affairs, research enterprise, physical plant, one application process, one admission process, one governing board, and a great deal of focus on having uniform academic standards.”
He then continued, mentioning the importance of Commonwealth Campuses with statistics:
Fifty percent of all first-year students, 60 percent of all PA students start at a Commonwealth Campus. Nearly 4,000 students transition annually.
Seventy-five percent of Pennsylvania residents live within 15 miles of campus. Ninety-five percent of Pennsylvania residents live within 30 miles of a campus.
Eighty-two percent of the Commonwealth Campuses are PA residents, 50 percent of UP students are PA residents, and 13 percent started at a campus.
Thirty-seven percent of Commonwealth Campuses are first generation.
Twenty-four percent of Commonwealth Campus students are from underrepresented groups.
President Barron emphasized that we should be incredibly proud of this system Penn State has developed. It is key to fulfilling the Land Grant Mission of Penn State University in terms of access and affordability. Also it is key to fulfilling the moral and business imperatives of having a diverse University. Attached is the site to access the complete presentation:
http://senate.psu.edu/senators/agendas-records/december-4-2018-record/
Provost’s Comments: Provost Jones reported the University’s approved Operating Budget for the current 2018-2019 fiscal year. Penn State’s total institutional operating budget is about $6.5 billion dollars for the fiscal year that began July 1, 2018. That represents a 12.2 percent increase over the total in 2017-2018. For more details, please go to: https://budget.psu.edu/openbudget/default.aspx
Report prepared by Wei-Fan Chen and Willie Ofosu, University Faculty Senators
To: Dr. Renee Rosier, Chair of the Faculty Senate, Wilkes-Barre Campus
From: Drs. Christyne Berzsenyi and Lynda Goldstein,
University College Faculty Councilors for Wilkes-Barre Campus
Date: January 23, 2019
Subject: December 3, 2018 UCFC Meeting Report
On December 3, 2018 at 9am, the University College Faculty Council met via Zoom Conference with Rick Brazier and discussed the following points:
Strategic Proposal for general education faculty/core major faculty. Gather university wide data to show what’s happening in terms of being strategic and financially strategic for justifying tenure line. At some campuses, teaching faculty are hired for a trial 3-year basis, and, then, the “need” for tenure line is or is not established.
Instructional designers, funding, accessibility--The Dreamery, a PSU technology pedagogy source. Not all campuses have an IDS. TLT and Blend LT help with hybridizing your class. How to use technology to make your course more engaging? Schreyer’s has the Online Teaching Certificate. The pedagogy of moving traditional courses one has taught for decades to a Web course or hybrid delivery is not a simple technology fix. Rather, the transition requires a holistic understanding of how the technology can facilitate the teaching and learning of the course material to remote students in an engaging way.
The topic of student loans having a bias against online courses is being addressed, as can be seen here with Margie and Bob’s communications already.
Workload and P and T and annual raises. Extra teaching such as independent studies or team teaching are being discussed in terms of whether it’s teaching or service, or if team teaching, how they are compensated. How does a lab for a science course count—equal to a teaching contact hour or? Workload guidelines are being reviewed. Questions about service acknowledgement for the time and work into workload assessment? Rick: “to have a committee attached helps for P and T committees to consider within our framework of guidelines. Should we have some UC guidelines that are college specific? Essentially, this is about evaluating faculty work and value for the work we do as part of P and T. Recognition of the work even in the absence of compensation? In the form of?
Inequities among faculty in performing duties such as mentoring students who are in their major, which is a greater workload than those faculty who teach in general education but not within a campus major, especially those teaching/advising students in a new major.
Can we as a faculty council actually make a difference in the development of guidelines that impact faculty workload—not just talking, which is a start. What are the steps this council can take to make a difference? (Julie, the chair) Where do we even start from the list discussed already. From a governance perspective, does the UC actually intervene or enforce guidelines or are they just a campus decision? The UC steps in with extreme cases or when guidelines are irrelevant and need to be re-conceived. (Joe Downing). Ultimately, Guidelines are suggested but are not Policy.
Rick states that it’s a bad idea to have a new faculty member go through the promotion and tenure process, lead a new program, and lead a shared program, advise, mentor, etc. i.e. Project and Supply Chain Management Program Search
Equitable pay for new gen ed courses that requires working with another person and assigning credit for teaching or developing the course? Sometimes, it needs both experts but then be only given 1.5 credits????? The labor is intense for the first run, especially when attending and preparing for each class. Given full credit? At Fayette campus, the administration gives full credit the first time and split the credit—with their faculty senate advising full credit forever from the Faculty Affairs Committee motion. Call for other Faculty Senates need to go through the same kind of advisory statement. Collectively perhaps? Though campus budgets are a hindrance.
The UCFC Awards for Research, Teaching, Service. Get a committee to organize the awards. Forensic business? The request for proposals will go out January 23, 2019 with the nomination forms due by January 31, 2019. However, all supporting documentation is due March 3, 2019.
Shared campus majors: Eastern Alliance of campuses delivering the Business program completely online; majors shared by two or more campuses. Query about the workload for these courses—often web, Polycom, or traveling to campuses with high caps or violations of the caps for enrollment.
Scholarly Activities Committee – PSUWB 2018-2019 Report 02/07/19
Scholarly Activities Funding Allocation
The deadline for submissions has passed. The committee will review proposals at their next meeting MON FEB 11.
Scholarly Lecture Series
The following faculty members have scheduled lectures for the spring semester.
Dr Allyson Walker, FEB 13
Dr Violet Mager, APR 25
All faculty are encouraged to participate in the lecture series.
Kanopy Film Series
The committee has been approached by the Library to discuss a potential on-campus film series involving faculty participation. The anticipated start date would be in the fall of 2019.
Discussions are in preliminary stages.
Respectfully submitted,
Anson D Carter
Chair – Scholarly Activities Committee
Report of Library Committee
February 6, 2019
Page 1 of 2
MEMBERS:
Brennan, Ann
Brennan, Erin (Chair)
Gawo, Getinet
Naylor, Melisa
Sichler, Timothy
Tekdal Yilmaz, Esra
The Library Committee will meet for the first time this semester in February.
To date, the following library goals have been accomplished:
1. The Committee met with Megan MacGregor in an effort to (1) establish collaborative
communication with library staff in order to identify library needs/concerns and identify
resources; and (2) identify potential for resources through the Penn State Sustainability
Committee. This meeting resulted in identification of topics to be considered by the Library
Committee. Some of these topics have been fully addressed and others will be considered this
semester, as indicated below.
2. The Committee communicated with all faculty and staff (by email) to advise that the library has a significant budget for purchasing and is receptive to requests for books, videos, games, and other resources. This communication specifically informed faculty/staff that they should feel free to contact the library staff with any requests for resources. This action achieved a goal set at the November Library Committee Meeting in furtherance of Goals 3 & 4 of the Strategic Plan. (Goal 3 – Foster outreach and Goal 4 – Develop a culture of innovative operations and
sustainability).
3. The Committee communicated with all faculty and staff (by email) to advise that the library has Chrome Books available for loan. This communication specifically informed faculty/staff that
the Chrome Books are available for weekly loan to all faculty/staff/student. This action achieved
a goal set at the November Library Committee Meeting in furtherance of Goals 3 & 4 of the
Strategic Plan. (Goal 3 – Foster outreach and Goal 4 – Develop a culture of innovative
operations and sustainability).
Consistent with the considerations of the Library Committee as presented, discussed, and concluded in
its November 2018 meeting, the following matters will be further considered in the Spring 2019
Semester:
1. FACULTY PROJECTS: The library staff is a willing and ready resource that can work with faculty
to help fine-tune assignments/projects/research. Despite this willingness, the library staff needs
guidance from faculty as to content. There is a gap between the content expertise of faculty
and the research expertise of the library staff.
PROPOSAL: Creation of an infomercial featuring Megan and highlighting/explaining the role of
the librarian. This will not only provide a user-friendly summary of the purpose of a librarian in
today’s academic setting but will highlight infomercial/creative videos as resources that the
library staff can help faculty use in their classes.
ACTION: The committee will work with Megan through the Spring semester to create and
disseminate an infomercial. (correlating with Goal 2 – Deliver programs of academic excellence,
Report of Library Committee
February 6, 2019
Page 2 of 2
Goal 3 – Foster outreach, and Goal 4 – Develop a culture of innovative operations and
sustainability and Movement 2 – Generate creative thinking)
2. BULLFROG FILMS: We have access to 700+ titles that can be accessed and shown for free.
Canopy has somewhat duplicative potential. The following possibilities were discussed and will
be considered further (correlating with Goal 2 – Deliver programs of academic excellence, Goal 3
– Foster outreach, and Goal 4 – Develop a culture of innovative operations and sustainability and
Movement 2 – Generate creative thinking and Movement 3 – Increase Public Relations):
a. FACULTY LED DISCUSSION FOLLOWING A FILM SHOWING. Proposed audience: Students,
staff, faculty, and community members. Proposed location: on campus.
b. COMMUNITY MOVIE EVENT. This event would incorporate the community and
combine the library projection resources and film catalog. The possibility of an
outdoor event was discussed. The movie selection would be for a general
audience.
3. SUSTAINABLE SHOWCASE SERIES. These events are currently live-streaming on Fridays from
12:00 – 1:30. The following possibilities for our campus were discussed and will be considered
further (correlating with Goal 2 – Deliver programs of academic excellence, Goal 3 – Foster
outreach, and Goal 4 – Develop a culture of innovative operations and sustainability and
Movement 2 – Generate creative thinking and Movement 3 – Increase Public Relations):
a. HOSTING A FRIDAY EVENT FEATURING A LIVE-STREAMED SUSTAINABLE SHOWCASE FEATURE
b. CREATING A SUSTAINABLE SHOWCASE FEATURE TO BE SHARED WITH OTHER CAMPUSES