Back to: Senate home page || Comments to Senate Secretary.
| Tuesday, 15 April 2003 |
2:30 p.m. |
Dobo 103 |
Absent: Byington (Fac Wel Cmte), Cami-Vela (FLL), Caropreso (Cur.St.), Denny (Soc Wrk), Dockal (ES), Durako (HPER), Dworkin (Psych), Errante (AdmisCmt), Evans (Soc), Feng (Math), Garris (Info Sys), Gill (SpecS), Harper (M&M), Hines (EarSci), Jones (Cur.S), McCall (Research), Mintzes (Bio), Myers (Psych), Perko (HPER), Rosen (InfoSys), Seaton (Chm), Shay (IT Cmte), Sizemore (Evaluation), Tenhuisen (Math), Tyndall (VCITSD), Weber (PubSvr), Webster (Bio), Wilcox (A&T)
March minutes were approved as posted.
Special Order of the Day (honorary degree nomination was voted on)
Individual Reports
1. Chancellor Leutze
- Prior to the Chancellor's remarks, President Noland showed a slide of faculty protesting the attempt, in 1990, to impose a non-academic chancellor on the university. He then said:
As we can see from this photography published in the Wilmington Star on May 31st, 1990, Jim Leutze had stirred UNCW's campus community up even before he became Chancellor. This was the finest hour of the UNCW faculty, as we arose to declare that we would not accept anyone as Chancellor who was not committed to faculty governance and a deep respect for academic values. Perhaps one of the best indicators of Jim Leutze's accomplished tenure here is the fact that the recently completed search to find his successor, even though closed, ran much more smoothly. The friendly relations we now enjoy between faculty and administration are in large measure a result of the way Chancellor Leutze approached his job. From the beginning he proposed his own initiatives, solicited and actually heard faculty views, and often simply got out of the way so the ideas already fermenting here could brew healthily.
We are now a genuine university, larger, more diverse, more cosmopolitan and global, reputable: an outstanding institution attractive to, among others, an impressive student body and an impressive faculty. So, it is with sincere appreciation that, speaking for the UNCW Faculty Senate and on behalf of the whole UNCW faculty, I offer you our thanks for a job laboringly, lovingly, and very well done. Thank you, Chancellor Leutze.
These remarks were followed by a standing ovation.
- Chancellor Leutze then spoke, beginning with the story of the convocation tradition: faculty first assumed that he had ordered it would occur, rather than suggested it; when they learned this was his wish, and depended on our consent, we voted in favor of it. He said that he thought his success here had been due in large part to the fact that he respected the faculty and believed in the values faculty espoused, and he said that he expected to remain in Wilmington, and hoped to teach and continue to promote the interests of UNCW. Then he offered these comments.
I would like to offer you, as my "final charge", the hope that the UNCW faculty will continue to work to serve the needs of the Southeastern North Carolina region. A thriving university is vital to progress in this area, particularly to progress in the rural counties. This is a region undergoing rapid change, immigration, and the risk of economic decline as manufacturing jobs in textiles and other industries are moving offshore, tobacco allotments no longer supplement incomes, and farming continues to be a hard way to make a living. We need to study the region and its needs, and help design ways to improve it. I hope you will commit yourselves to that endeavor.
2. Senate President Noland
- Reminded Senators to have their departments elect Senators for next fall, and that faculty should look for the Bob Fry email concerning autonomous committee preferences.
- At that point it was noted that Bob Fry would also be retiring this year, and he was given a round of applause.
- Said that there had been a good exchange with Chancellor-designate DePaolo on Monday, and she looked forward to more interaction with the faculty
- With the consent of the Senate, indicated that the Steering Committee would like to have volunteers who would then be appointed to be chairs of Senate committees, who would then be ready to lead them in the fall; if active Senate committees have elected chairs, they should let him know
- Thanked all Senators for participating and voting throughout the year
- Recognized Patty Turrisi, Director of the CTE and member of the Evaluation Committee, which is reviewing, among other things, the role of SPOTs in evaluation. She said that the committee was examining the role of peer evaluation, as one way to balance student evaluations of teaching, and were attempting to catalogue some "best practices" for departmental use. There will be a dinner and meeting on May 12 at 6 pm in the Madeleine Suite, to which all faculty are invited, to participate in the formulation of recommendations. Contact her at 7392 or 3034.
3. Richard Veit, Faculty Assembly report
- Noted that the last meeting of the Faculty Assembly will be next Friday; anyone with concerns should contact him. He did not run for a third term, and Jeff Passe of UNC-Charlotte will be the new chair of the Faculty Assembly.
- Added to the comments by President Noland, that he had learned, in his several years as chair of the Faculty Assembly, how good our campus faculty/administration relations are, compared to those on many other campuses in the system.
Faculty governance is a reality here, which we take for granted. But this is not true elsewhere, and for that, Jim Leutze is due much of the credit. He respects faculty, and the result is that there is high morale on this campus, a reservoir of good will which will greet the new Chancellor. Thank, you, Chancellor Leutze.
4. Lynne Snowden, Chair, Budget Committee
- Offered both a summary of the Budget Committee's efforts over the past year, and suggested it might serve some of the less active Senate committees as a "best practices" model for their efforts:
- Two goals: (1) reinvigorate the committee; (2) provide faculty imput to the budget and its process
- Met with key people in the budget process, Tim Jordan, Kay Ward
- Held monthly meetings and kept minutes (often not done in Senate committees)
- Each faculty member chose an area of special concern
- Held meetings with the Provost, will be on-site when the process occurs in the summer, and, at the invitation of the Provost Hosier, will attend the meetings with the Deans when monies are allocated
- In Q&A, mentioned that the "slick" (thin) Budget document is on reserve, and the "thick" (full) document is also available, through the Office of Business Affairs. Provost Hosier noted that faculty would probably need some guidance in working with the thick document, since it is so detailed.
Committee Reports
1. University Curriculum Committee motions that these programs be approved passed (3-8-27, 3-8-28):
a. Proposal for a Certificate in Geographic Information Science (see April agenda) was passed (3-8-27)
b. Proposal for a baccalaureate program in German Studies at UNCW (see April agenda) passed (3-8-28)
New Business
WHEREAS, the Board of Trustees of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington has a special responsibility to ensure that the history of the University shall serve as a prelude and inspiration to its future, and
WHEREAS, the Chancellor Search Committee appointed by the Board of Trustees on July 1, 2002 has met this responsibility by acting in the best interests of the University, thinking and acting constructively in consultation with a broad array of university and community constituents: NOW, THEREFORE:
BE IT RESOLVED by the Faculty Senate of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, that the Faculty commends the Chancellor Search Committee, individually and collectively, for its diligent work and conduct, and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Faculty Senate of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington especially recognizes and commends Larry J. Dagenhart, Chair of the Chancellor Search Committee, for his significant contribution as the Committee's representative to the University and the Faculty Senate.
Announcements
There were none.
The meeting adjourned at 3:45.
Secretary's note: I have posted information provided by Richard Veit on student tuition and fees and AAUP-reported faculty salary increases at UNC-system schools under "Outside Links" off the Senate index page. It seems UNCW salaries continue to remain lower than averages in comparable schools in the system, e.g. ASU, ECU, UNC-C, UNC-G, and that our increases were lower than at ASU, the school with salaries most comparable to ours.