Report on the Faculty Senate by the Chair of the All-University Faculty Robert W. Faaborg:
I'll try to be brief because this meeting should be devoted to celebrating the awards of our colleagues for excellence in teaching, research and service. A full statement of my report will appear in the minutes of today's meeting.
I wish to thank all of those who have helped the Senate this year but the list would be far too long to name everyone. First, I want to thank the chairs of the standing committees for outstanding work. These are Rita Taylor, Rick Karp, David Lee Smith, Emel Yakali, Virginia Parr and Sue Trakas. I'd also like to single out Les Vuylsteke for supererogatory work in serving as ad hoc faculty representative to student government.
As you know most of the work of the Senate is done in committees and this year as well as last year, one committee stood out in terms of both the importance of its work and the oppressive hours involved - our General Education Coordinating Committee. This Committee has met for literally hundreds of hours. I'm told it also has achieved another award. The Committee meets in the Board Room just outside Pres. Steger's office and he assures me that it is the loudest committee in the history of the university.
Seriously, all of us owe a debt of gratitude to its members. The membership of the General Education Coordinating Committee consists of Professors F. James Boerio, Evelyn Brod , Glenn Markle, Anthony Perzigian, Amy Pettigrew, Stephanie Schlage, David Lee Smith and Ann Twinam who served as committee chair.
The Senate Planning Committee is working with the administration to develop plans for a new center for teaching and learning that we're very excited about. Our hope is that you'll see the first reports on the center early next year.
Also still in the planning stages is a draft report on equity pay for part-time faculty that will be presented to the Senate at its next meeting, June 7.
Many resolutions came out of our committee structure as well as from individual Senators. These include a resolution from the Budget and Priorities Committee that further budget cuts this year not be taken out of academic units. The Senate passed a motion originating in the Human Relations Committee recommending that the university adopt the Domestic Partner Benefits Proposal to the University of Cincinnati developed by the UC Domestic Partner Benefits Task Force. This proposal develops the recommendation of the Senate last year that UC provide such benefits and extends the recommended coverage to include unmarried heterosexual couples.
The Senate IT Committee proposed several resolutions that passed the Senate including the formation of a copyright committee emphasizing intellectual property issues and a recommendation that all faculty at UC develop class web sites through the use of Blackboard.
The Senate also passed several resolutions that developed out of the Academic Affairs Committee including a recommendation to all faculty concerning the content of their syllabi and recommendations that faculty representation from the Senate be involved in the development and planning of any new degree programs.
The Senate also passed a resolution asking President Steger to reconsider the plans to build a presidential residence on the controversial properties in Clifton and to delay construction during the current budget crisis.
The Faculty Senate would like to thank President Steger again for dropping the plan to eliminate parking privileges for emeriti faculty.
In addition to its regular governance duties, this year the Faculty Senate also sponsored two forums designed to improve teaching and learning at the university. The first last October featured keynote speaker Angela Leskes, Vice President of the Association of American Colleges and Universities, as well as presentations by UC faculty concerning their use of social responsibility projects in their classes. The second session took place just before this meeting. It featured Prof. Thomas Angelo, an international expert on classroom assessment, and also involved presentations by UC faculty this time on their use of assessment techniques to enhance learning.
Finally, as Chair of the Faculty I'd like to express my pride in the findings of the recently completed Student Satisfaction Survey. The first summary conclusion of that report reads: "Classes, faculty and instructional support received the highest ratings by students." Moreover, the report indicates that while we have many problematic areas that need to be improved, in general, students at UC are very satisfied with what we regard as our central mission - teaching and learning.
But I must end with a final worry, a worry I believe is shared by many faculty members on all campuses. It appears to be the case that when there are funds needed for major construction projects whether it's the recent addition of a larger swimming pool and a larger cafe to Main Street, or funding the staggering cost overruns connected with temporary Main Street or the unanticipated deficits at Kingsgate, the university seems to be able to find alternative and often creative ways to finance these projects. But similar deficits or state cutbacks that affect academic units usually lead to budget cuts in these areas. Granted, some academic programs have benefited from funds allocated for new initiatives. But, again, these are funded in part by reallocations from other academic areas with the result that many academic programs and units have seen literally years of budget cuts.
The worry is that we may be seriously damaging both the quality and the revenue-generating capacity of many of our central academic colleges and programs. In the end it is the faculty whether through generating funds from tuition, research grants, patient care, patents, cell lines, software or creative works that is the fundamental source of revenues for the university. Thank you.
University Faculty Awards
The George Barbour Award for Promoting Good Student-Faculty Relations:
Recipient: Professor Shellie Cash-Muller, Associate Professor of Dance, College-Conservatory of Music
Presenter: Dean Douglas Lowry, CCM
The Dolly Cohen Award for Excellence in Teaching: Two awards were given:
Recipient: Professor Michael A. Lieberman, Professor of Molecular Genetics, Biochemistry and Microbiology, College of Medicine
Presenter: Dean John J. Hutton, College of Medicine
Recipient: Professor David Minda, Professor of Mathematical Sciences, McMicken College of Arts and Sciences
Presenter: Ms. Robin Endelman, Graduate Student, Department of Mathematical Sciences.
The Rieveschl Award for Distinguished Scientific Research
Recipient: Professor Edna S. Kaneshiro, Professor of Biological Sciences, McMicken College of Arts and Sciences
Presenter: Professor Guy Camron, Professor of Biological Sciences, McMicken College of Arts and Sciences
The Rieveschl Award for Creative and/or Scholarly Work
Recipient: Professor Wolfgang Mayer, Professor of Economics, McMicken College of Arts and Sciences
Presenter: Professor Sourushe Zandvakili, Professor of Economics, McMicken College of Arts and Sciences
Distinguished Public Service Award:
Recipient: Professor Michael C. Miller, Professor of Biological Sciences, McMicken College of Arts and Sciences
Presenter: Professor George Uetz, Biological Sciences, McMicken College of Arts and Sciences
