Faculty Council Minutes
2022-2023 Faculty Council Meeting Minutes
May 2, 2023, Webex
- Call to Order
Motion to begin; Second; Motion Approved; Meeting begins. - Roll Call
Present: Alam, Alamina, Allred, Amialchuk, Baltus, Benton, Black, Caceres, Carpenter, Christman, Compora (for Geiger), Cook, Damschroder, Dudley, Feldmeier, Ferris, Foss, Gamble, Grazzini, Heberle, Hey, Jin, Kistner, McBane, McNamara, Mezo, Miner, Monteleone, Montpetit, Nemeth, Peralta, Sakowski, Sapci, Schlemper, Semaan, Smith, Stauch, Stover, Taylor, Thompson-Casado, Whittaker, Yaklin (42)
Absent: Beatty, Branson, Crookston, Emonds (4)
Guests: Al-Hariri, Brakel, Cohoe, Gregory, Hottell, Keith, Lingan, Mossblad, Nelson, Orloff, Rouillard (11) - Approval of Agenda and Minutes
Meeting agenda submitted for approval; Motion to approve; Second; Vote: Agenda Approved.
Minutes from April 18, 2023, meeting submitted for approval; Motion to approve; Second; Vote: Minutes Approved. - Dean’s Report: Melissa Gregory
As of today, 186 confirmed DHS students in CAL, a 4% increase. Most CAL DHS students have enrolled in May in the past 2 years, so we should meet our target of 206 students.
For 2024, CAL was given a target budget reduction of $2.75 million, which is 10% of CAL’s overall budget. The Dean’s office is in constant communication with chairs, the CAL budget committee, and the Provost’s office. Personnel are 96% of CAL’s budget. Our biggest contributions are faculty resignations and retirements. Most CAL chairs will be brought down to the 9-month model. A model where CAL chairs operate as 12-month chairs but manage multiple units with an associate chair will be considered.
The College of Arts & Letters Honors and Award Celebration is Friday, May 5. Graduate Commencement is also May 5, and the undergraduate ceremony is Saturday, May 6. - Executive Committee Report: Melissa Baltus
The committee met Friday to set the agenda for today, received reports for today’s committee reports, and discussed the updated roster and new department representatives. - Faculty Senate Report: Suzanne Smith
The last meeting of the 2022-2023 Faculty Senate was April 25. Appointees to the Provost Search Committee are almost final and the committee will begin convening this summer. Provost Dixon discussed the budget reduction numbers received last week from the finance office. Deans are struggling to manage these cuts and reallocate resources. She said she is working on structural changes in the Provost’s office. The search for Associate Vice President for Student Success has been suspended.
The Recruitment and Retention Committee is concerned that many decisions and recommendations are not heard or considered by the administration, or they are deferred to another office. The Provost said that UToledo is a “remarkably loosely coupled institution” which does not serve us well.
HHS 2100, Living Well, removed its application for inclusion in the core curriculum and was approved as an elective.
The Student Affairs Committee reported that many international students admitted to UT end up transferring to other universities that offer more scholarship money. Enrollment has doubled for fall 2023 but retaining will be an issue. The recruitment team is actively recruiting students abroad in programs such as biology, chemistry, and engineering, and is expecting 300 new international students this fall. President Postel would like 700.
The Recruitment and Retention Committee presented their final report. UToledo is severely underperforming relative to peer institutions. Causes were identified as communication challenges between the recruitment office and academic units, uncompetitive sales pitches and on-campus events, inadequate/slow response by MARCOM, and insufficient communication with students in the enrollment funnel. They said that the current narrative about enrollment decline should be abandoned and a focus on making our strategies more competitive needs to happen. Recommendations include increasing staffing for recruitment and retention efforts, colleges need dedicated recruiters and enhanced marketing to adult and transfer students, and we need to increase engagement and communication with high school students and improve our campus visit programs. Finally, each college should be provided with retention specialists to work with department and faculty.
Note: Full Faculty Senate Minutes are available on their website. - Graduate Council Report: Jami Taylor
Patrick Lawrence is the new chair of Graduate Council. - Elections Committee Report: Pam Stover
No report. - Constitution and Bylaws Committee Report: Jami Taylor
No report. - Curriculum Committee Report: Renee Heberle
Program modifications approved:
JAPN: Japanese, Minor
Course modifications approved:
FILM 2230: Creative Approaches to Cinema - Old Business
No old business. - New Business
A question was posed to the Executive Committee regarding the search process for the CAL Dean. The response from Angela Paprocki, Chief of Staff for Academic Operations, said that they are asking faculty, staff, and students from CAL to participate on the search committee, but it is not yet fully formed. Comments from the floor include the concern that neither CAL Faculty Council nor the Executive Committee were informed of or involved before the job ad was posted – a lack of shared governance and transparency exists. A resolution with CAL Council concerns was drafted to send to the Provost’s office and will be voted on in New Business in the next meeting. - Announcements
No announcements. - Adjournment
Motion to Adjourn; Second; Motion Approved; Meeting Adjourned