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Faculty Senate Minutes

University of North Carolina at Wilmington

President Lynne Snowden called the meeting to order at 2:30 p.m.

Roll Call

Absent were:  Adams (Nursing), Applefield (Curricular Studies), Baker (Budget), Dodd (Biology), Earney (Acct.), Hall (Finan. Aid), Hayes (School of Ed.), Jones, B. (Chemistry), Olsen (Comm. Studies), Parish (Bookstore), Rack (Music), Rockness (Bus. School), Sandell (Soc. Work), Scheuring (Nursing), Sigler (Finance), Sizemore (Evaluation), Walker (Admissions)

Approval of Minutes

The minutes were approved.

Individual Reports:

Chancellor Leutze:

• Reviewed the difficult financial situation facing the university and the state. 
  • Noted there are substantial needs for the university system in the areas of capital construction, faculty salaries, technology, and financial aid. For UNCW, these needs are tied directly to our projected growth to 12,500 students in the coming years.
  • The sources for meeting these needs include legislative appropriations, tuition, bond issues, fees, and gifts. 
  • There has been a decline of approximately 1% per year for the last decade in the amount of funds provided for the university system by legislative appropriation. It now stands at 43% of the total.
  • The legislature adjourned without determining the future of the bond issue, which would have addressed the capital construction needs for the university system.
  • The hurricane flooding has caused extreme hardship in the eastern part of the state, which will impact on the amount of funds available for higher education.
• In addition to legislative appropriation and the bond issue, which will probably go to the public for a vote, there are two other ways in which the university system, and UNCW in particular, might help to meet these financial needs.
  • In the area of technology needs, the Chancellor may ask for an increase of $120 per year in the technology fee.
  • In the area of faculty salaries and benefits, UNC-CH has decided to raise tuition a total of $1500 over the next five year period. If NC State and other UNC system campuses move to increase tuition, UNCW may be forced to also, in order to remain competitive. The Chancellor feels strongly that if tuition were raised, it would be essential to also increase funding for financial aid students.
• It is important for the university system, and UNCW in particular, to communicate its concern for NC flood victims, and to demonstrate the ways in which we serve the public. This may include adjusting the reward structure of the university, to offer more recognition to faculty who have served the community in this way. 
• It was noted in discussion that the purpose of having university system proposals on funding is to avoid conflicts among the separate institutions. The UNC-CH decision is counterproductive to that end. 
• It was suggested to the Chancellor that funding at the departmental level has declined in recent years. The Chancellor responded by directing the Provost to make a review of the financial situation of the departments, and report back to him on it. 

President of the Senate Snowden:

• Thanked the new chairs of Senate committees for attending a productive orientation meeting, and noted that the Senate Steering Committee is considering a change in the by-laws to allow chairs of Senate committees to vote. 
• Reported that Motion 97-4-17 has been approved by the UNCW Board of Trustees and forwarded to the UNC Board of Trustees for approval.
• Noted to committee chairs that there are several outstanding motions which have not been returned to the Senate for action.
• Announced the existence of a university system wide task force which is in the process of formulating recommendations on intellectual property matters. Any member of the university may address concerns to members of the task force. If interested in their names, contact President Snowden.
• Called for a UNCW-wide "cultural-intellectual event" to inaugurate the new millenium. 

Ken Gurganus, Delegate to the UNC Faculty Senate :

• Will report the following concerns to the UNC Faculty Senate:
  • Lack of clarity regarding the current understanding of the GA, Board of Governors, legislature and individual campuses about the funding of research assistantships and the general issue of how to support graduate education throughout the system.
  • Concerns about the budget relating to the impact of the hurricane damages, the impact of the Klein facilities study which notes the general lack of adequate building maintenance, and the issue of equipment maintenance.
  • Concerns at some institutions about declining ratios of full-time to part-time, and of tenure\-track vs. non tenure-track faculty.
  • Concerns about the relation between new technology and traditional educational values.

Ken Spackman, Director of SACS self-study:

• Noted that we are not seeking reaccreditation (we did not lose it), but reaffirmation of accreditation
• A steering committee has been formed, and faculty will soon receive a letter on the self-study and a preference survey re: which committee they wish to serve on. 
• Self-study timetable:
  • F1999: initial preparations
  • S2000: further organization
  • F2000-S2001: most of the study to be completed
  • F2001: final report due
  • S2002: external visititation and review; reaffirmation of accreditation
• Noted that the process of self-study is valuable. For example, the basic institutional format in terms of departmental mission statements, goals and objectives, policies and programs to implement them, and measurement procedures to assess their success, which grew out of the last self-study process, is now a institution-wide format.
• While much of the work of the last self-study will not be repeated, there are important new areas:
  • Distance education, and the whole role of the WWW in relation to educational programing.
  • Demonstration that we utilize evaluation procedures to assess and change policies and programs, or goals, objectives and understanding of our mission where appropriate.

Committee Reports:

• The following motion by the University Curriculum Committee was unanimously approved (Motion 00-3-4):

  1. To make the following changes in Basic Studies:

      a. To designate PSY 210, "Science and Pseudoscience," 3 credit hrs, as a Basic Studies course in Interdisciplinary Studies.

      b. To remove PAR 216, "Business Ethics," 3 credit hrs, and PAR 217, "Military Ethics," 3 credit hrs, as Basic Studies courses in Philosophy.

      c. To delete the following sentence in the catalogue under "Philosophy" in the Basic Studies Humanities requirement: "*Basic Studies credit from P&R 215, 216, and 217 may not exceed three semester hours."

      d. To designate ITN 201, "Intermediate Italian," 3 credit hrs, as a Basic Studies course in Language.

      e. To designate ART 205, "History of Photography," 3 credit hrs, as a Basic Studies course in Fine Arts. 

      f. To renumber Basic Studies courses MUS 101 to MUS 111, and MUSL 101 as MUSL 111.

  2. To make the following prefix changes:

      a. To create a new prefix, ARH for Art History courses, including changing the prefix of ART 201, 202, and 205 to ARH 201, 202, and 205, and keeping them as Basic Studies courses. 

      b. To create a new prefix, AFA, for courses in the African American Studies minor.

  3. To make the following changes in courses meeting the oral competency requirement:

      a. To designate the existing course PED 348, "Practicum in Athletic Training," 3 credit hrs, as meeting the oral competency requirement for students in the Athletic Training program in HPER.

      b. To designate existing courses SOC 496 and SOC 498 as meeting the oral competency requirement for students in the Applied Sociology track within the SOC major.

Old Business: none

New Business: none

Announcements: 

• November 11, 10 am-3 pm, the UNCW Business School, in cooperation with Bob King and General Motors, has a program on campus.
• The Randall Library book sale is on Monday and Tuesday of next week, Nov 15-16.
• There will be regional and local growth colloquium on campus, sponsored by the Political Science department and the Program in Public Education, on Wednesday, November 17, in the Warwick Center ballroom.
• On November 18, 5-7 pm., SGA is sponsoring a One Mile Radius Forum, in the Hawksnest.