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Faculty Senate Meeting

November 29, 2006

Chair's Report

In addition to the remarks we will hear from the President, there are two featured topics for today's Faculty Senate meeting. Both are clearly important to all of us on the faculty and to the evolving strength of the University community as a whole:

One is the topic of Diversity and the other is a report on the Library system.

Before we hear from the President and our invited speakers, I want to make a few announcements about issues that are before the Executive Council for consideration at the moment. The Council is a group of 14 Senators - elected to their positions by the full Senate. We meet periodically between Senate meetings to discuss issues. The Executive Council is also responsible for setting the agenda for our full Senate meetings.

Some announcements:

Dissertation Year fellowship applications are due February 2, and the call for proposals has been circulated. This Senate program is run by a subcommittee of the Academic Affairs Committee, and this year, Deborah Roach from Biology has agreed to chair the selection process with a number of other Senators serving as well.

Health care issue - with regard to our behavioral health provider, we have heard some concerns about the change that was sent to all of us in the Open Enrolment announcement. Susan Carkeek is the University's new Chief Human Resources Officer, and she and I have been in communication about the need for an update from her office on where this process stands at the moment. We will be circulating some notes in this regard via email in the next week or so.

Parking - we have been hearing many concerns about parking. In general, people seem to understand that "growing" the University in a way that infills and utilizes available unbuilt space as close as possible to the central Grounds is a very good thing - it promotes a more pedestrian-oriented experience for our students, faculty and staff. At the same time, there are the inevitable tensions of displacing convenient parking spots, moving them to more peripheral locations. The Executive Council will be meeting with several members of the administration in two weeks to learn more about the big picture (that is the Master Plan as it relates to parking and transportation) and some of the more nuanced issues involving accessibility, safety for after hours teaching or clinical work, and other matters. There are also some very specific concerns about the displacement of faculty and staff for special events and the impact this is having on our teaching and service missions. I will report to you on these issues at our January meeting.

The Quality Enhancement Plan is under development by Gene Block and others in the Office of the Provost as an important part of the SACS accreditation process. It focuses on student/faculty interaction. President Casteen suggested a way to fold together the yearly all-University retreat (students, faculty, administration) and the QEP review and discussion. Faculty and Faculty Senate Representatives will be part of that process, and it sounded to me like an excellent way to provide a wide-range of input and feedback. It is scheduled for January 26, and the planning group will be looking for senators and other faculty who are particularly interested in participating. This is a very important opportunity for us to join with students and to discuss their concerns and our concerns about strengthening interaction and engagement, and it clearly has larger implications beyond simply satisfying one element of regional accreditation - in fact touching on our educational enterprise is some fundamental ways.

The Calendar - You have all presumably seen the decision on our new academic calendar coming out of the Calendar Committee quite recently. They studied the issues, collected an extensive survey of student and faculty opinions and have come out with adjustments to the calendar that we have had in place for the past two years. Wynne Stewart from the Provost's Office assists Gene Block as chair of the committee and she can answer questions at the end of the meeting if you have any. By and large, the calendar reflects most faculty preferences, driven by concerns about teaching effectiveness (with respect to the Thanksgiving break for example) and demands on research and conference travel for many faculty in the latter part of the summer. On behalf of faculty as a whole, let me express our appreciation to Wynne Stewart, Gene Block, Bill Kehoe - our faculty senate representative, and the committee for their hard work on this issue over the past two years.

My last announcement for the moment:

Please note that President and Mrs. Casteen are graciously hosting a reception for Faculty Senators again at Carr's Hill following this meeting. It will be a buffet dinner followed by a basketball game - watching the women's basketball game that is! With that let me welcome President Casteen.

Introductions:

Gertrude Fraser - Vice Provost for Faculty Advancement

Bill Harvey - Vice President and Chief Officer for Diversity and Equity

This session evolved out of a meeting I had with Gertrude, Bill and Darlene Scott-Scurry, Director of Equal Opportunity Programs. We thought it would be important and timely for senators to hear about current issues and efforts related to diversity at the University-wide level, knowing that Gertrude has been working on these topics for some time and that Bill Harvey has added momentum since his arrival roughly a year ago. More than just listening to a presentation however, we also wanted to afford an opportunity for you to ask questions and provide feedback to them and for one another. Clearly the work underpinning our continuing efforts to build excellence and diversity at this institution requires individual effort and a collective sense of purpose. So Gertrude will start with a powerpoint presentation, Bill will follow with some comments, and then they will open up for discussion.

Dianne Parr Walker, Associate University Librarian on behalf of Karin Wittenborg, University Librarian - Issues and the state of the Library.

Reporting on issues near and dear to our hearts and minds - the Library and information systems.

Looking forward

Presentations on Growth, Athletics, and other topics coming up in January and the Spring meetings of the Senate. Our March meeting will involve committee work, discussing their progress and provide them with feedback from the full body of elected senators.

January presentation - there will be a Chair-Elect report from Ricardo Padron. Ricardo and the Executive Council have been talking about a possible theme for next year and how this might help us to shape our discussions in one or more of the Senate meetings during this spring. You will hear directly from him, but the issue that is gaining a good deal of traction is interdisciplinarity - or a critical examination of fragmentation and its consequences at the University.

Kenneth Schwartz, FAIA

Professor of Architecture

Faculty Senate Chair 2006-2007

University of Virginia