Faculty Affairs Policy Committee (FAPC) - 27 April 2012

Attendance

Present:  Beauty Bragg, Scott Butler, Carol Christy, Carrie Cook, Karynne Kleine, Matthew Liao-Troth, Leslie Moore, and Mike Rose.

Regrets: William Miller, Holley Roberts, and Jeff Turner.

Absent:  David Connolly and Tom Ormond.

Guests:   Edward Whatley.

Activity and Agreements

1. Call to Order: Ed Whatley, facilitator appointed by the Executive Committee of the University Senate, called the meeting to order at 2:30 p.m.
2. Election of Committee Chair: A motion to elect Leslie Moore Committee Chair was made, seconded, and approved. The gavel was passed to Committee Chair Moore.
3. Election of Officers: A motion to elect Mike Rose Committee Vice Chair and Matthew Liao-Troth Secretary was made, seconded, and approved. Minutes and attendance were initiated by Secretary Liao-Troth.
4. Operating procedures: A review of the committee’s 2011-2012 operating procedures commenced, and a reading of the 2011-2012 Committee Reflections and Recommendations (attached). The committee will adopt 2012-2013 operating procedures at next meeting.
5. Discussion of future agenda items: The committee reviewed the actions of the 2011-2012 committee. Continuing committee members expressed their thoughts on the agenda for 2012-2013. It was noted that the Senate Retreat (7-8 August) will not be the next meeting of the committee, but rather the meeting will occur on 24 August.
6. Adjourn: A motion to adjourn the meeting was made, seconded and approved. The meeting was adjourned at 3:25 p.m.

Appendix

From the minutes of 6 April 2012

1.  
   
   1. Committee Reflections: A member suggested that there was a committee challenge to elicit candor in committee deliberation. There was further discussion about possible suggestions to the 2012-2013 FAPC to elicit candor, including laying ground rules for discussion and clarification of roles of committee members. Clarifying this role is perhaps most challenging in the context of the Chief Academic Officer designee. Opinions expressed included acknowledgment of (1) the difficulty broaching the conversation about clarification of this role, (2) the variety of roles this individual could play such as consultant, fixer, listener, authority, etc. (3) the difficulty of balancing the power differential external to the committee within the administrative structure and the status as a voting member within the committee. Members further discussed both the function of voting as an opportunity to voice opinion, and the importance of candid discussion for understanding of the background of the issues as well as committee member perspectives. An additional reflection recommendation was that FAPC continue to focus on and be deliberate in selecting “important” faculty issues and recognize the sensitivity of these faculty issues and not get caught up in administrative or minutia items.

1.  
   
   1. Committee Recommendations: The committee agreed that the advice to the membership of the 2012-2013 FAPC should include the recommendations received from the 2010-2011 FAPC with the following two additions: to make an effort to ensure that work group membership is divided more equitably among members, and to encourage that members seek constituency input to inform committee deliberation on issues considered by FAPC. The committee agreed that the 2011-2012 FAPC issues for which deliberation should be continued by the 2012-2013 FAPC are the following: faculty evaluation, pre-tenure review, and post-tenure review. A motion was made, seconded, and approved to consider 12-month pay for academic year faculty closed.