Faculty Council Minutes - Sep. 27, 2022
College of Arts and Letters
2022-2023 Faculty Council
Meeting Minutes
September 27, 2022, Webex
- Call to Order
Motion to begin; Second; Motion Approved; Meeting begins. - Roll Call
Present: Baltus, Beatty, Benton, Black, Branson, Caceres, Carpenter, Cook, Damschroder, Dudley, Emonds, Feldmeier, Foss, Gamble, Geiger, Grazzini, Heberle, Hey, Jin, Kistner, Lawrence (for Alam), McBane, McNamara, Mezo, Miner, Monteleone, Montpetit, Nemeth, Peralta, Sakowski, Schlemper, Semaan, Smith, Stauch, Stover, Taylor, Thompson-Casado, Whittaker, Yaklin (39)
Absent: Alamina, Allred, Christman, Crookston, Ferris, Sapci (6) Guests: Gregory, Keith, Lingan, Montes (4) - Approval of Agenda and Minutes
Meeting agenda submitted for approval; Motion to approve; Second; Vote: Agenda Approved.
Minutes from September 13, 2022, meetings submitted for approval; Motion to approve; Second; Vote: Minutes Approved. - Dean’s Report: Mel Gregory
The University depends on shared governance, and faculty need strong representation. Council members are elected to represent their constituents in their departments and programs; regular communication and sharing of Council business with them is important, as is collecting feedback on key issues and focusing on mission rather than “shiny objects.” Problems with deep implications are curriculum related, including core duplication (other Colleges may try to make up lack of student credit hours by creating core classes), curricular “cannibalization,” and pre-professional school changes to curriculum (e.g., 2022 impact on NSM of COBI Math requirement change). CAL is the foundational college designed to offer core curricular courses. Faculty Senate is where something is going to get stopped, or not. Council members and faculty are the constituents of Faculty Senate representatives, so be sure to reach out to them.
Cal Faculty Senate Representatives
Ammon Allred, 3 years
Sheri Benton, 3 years
Kim McBride, 3 years
Jami Taylor, 3 years
Dan Compora, 2 years
Linda Rouillard, 2 years
Deborah Coulter-Harris (replacing Ally Day), 1 year
Anthony Edington, 1 year
Michael Kistner, 1 year
Patrick Lawrence, 1 year
Suzanne Smith, 1 year
Jerry Van Hoy, 1 year
Kim McBride is also the Core Curriculum Rep.
Enrollment funnel: Prospects > Inquiries > Applicants > Admits > Enrolled. Faculty can play a powerful part in the target area of Admits to Enrollees.
UToledo Executive Director of Admissions left in August; applicants were not experienced enough so the new plan is to hire an experienced interim director who can effectively pick up yield.
Please contact Dean Gregory if you are interested in serving on the CAL Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee.
Budget Advisory Committee members are John Eidemiller (Communication), Karon Price (Communication), John Sarnecki (Philosophy & Religious Studies), Sujata Shetty (Geography & Planning), Steve Sakowski (Theatre), and Sara Yaklin (English).
- Executive Committee Report: Stephen Sakowski
The committee met and discussed Agenda for today, upcoming elections, and upcoming new business - Faculty Senate Report: Suzanne Smith
Faculty Senate met on September 20. The Executive Committee has authorized the creation of two ad hoc committees; one on budgets and one on student recruitment and retention.
The revised Constitution was passed by faculty and will be presented to the Board of Trustees at their September Board meeting.
Interim Provost Dickson’s office has been preparing a report on low-enrolled courses and programs as required by the Ohio Department of Education. The report will first be reviewed by the Board of Trustees at their September meeting before it is sent to the state. The report also includes duplicate programs that are offered at other institutions. Options to resolve these courses include closing them, merging them with other courses and programs, or taking no action. The Office reviewed 1285 courses; 125 were deemed low-enrolled and 40 of those have been designated for closure or merger. Several already had no enrolled students. Eighty-five were designated no-action. Provost Dickson said the duplicate sections will be “tightened” and there will be no faculty layoffs due to program closures. Information about specific programs and courses will be provided after the Board of Trustees meeting.
The Provost’s office has been reviewing Huron data with Colleges. The Board of Trustees wants clear direction by December from each College about which programs will grow and structural changes that will take place.
The Student Life Cycle Committee will identify who, and where, UToledo should recruit. Provost Dickson’s office will focus on online program opportunities, and marketing and promotion.
This year’s ARPA evaluations will be categorized as satisfactory or unsatisfactory with no merit score, as there is no money for merit.
Dave Meredith, Vice President for Enrollment Management, gave a report on recruitment and enrollment. Initiatives include getting faculty involved in enrollment efforts and improving application flow to admissions. Timely responses to potential students seem to be a big problem. Enrollment is up in adult, international, online, readmit, and CCP students, but down in DHS. Our transfer yield should be higher, based on previous years. UToledo gets 4.1% of the market share of public high school students who go on to public universities in Columbus, Cincinnati, and Cleveland. We do get 41% of Lucas County share.
Note: Faculty Senate Minutes are available on their website. - Graduate Council Report: Jami Taylor
President Postel visited Executive Committee. He said UToledo is considering not renewing the current graduate health insurance plan. Nothing has yet been decided about UToledo moving to R1 status. The President thinks we need to have more marketing of graduate programs, and more online graduate programs. Pipeline creation is “locked down” so programs without an existing pipeline program will not be able to get one in the near future – this is across the state. - Curriculum Committee Report: Renee Heberle
Some proposals are in and the committee is getting organized. - Elections Committee Report: Pam Stover
Two elections are forthcoming: Aliaksandr Amialchuk (Economics) is the nominee for at-large Social Sciences (1 year term) and there are two candidates for CCAP Arts Representative (2-year term), Michael Boyd and Mysoon Rizk. - Constitution and Bylaws Committee Report: Jami Taylor
None. - Old Business
Deborah Coulter-Harris is serving as the 1-year replacement for Ally Day on Faculty Senate. - New Business
CAL Elaborations for Faculty Evaluation of Tenure and Promotion were approved by Council and the Dean’s office in 2018 but were never approved by the Provost’s office. The new Provost has asked us to revote before they proceed.
New business cannot be voted upon in the same meeting without unanimous approval by Council. Motion; second. Discussion on who votes. Lecturers should abstain, as the document refers specifically to tenure/tenure-track policy. Discussion: the CBA states approval of college-specific elaborations requires positive recommendation from the bargaining unit, suggesting that the entire T/TT faculty would need to vote, not just Council. Article IIV Section I of the CAL Constitution states that “The Arts & Letters Council shall serve as the legislative branch of the College.” Decision made to consult with La Fleur Small, Vice Provost for Academic Administration and Faculty Affairs, and to share the document with all CAL faculty and inform them of the upcoming vote. Motion; second; approved to table vote on Elaborations until next meeting.
A request was brought to Executive Committee to change CAL Faculty Council meeting time from 4:00-5:30 PM to 4:00-5:20 PM to better fit within the University teaching timeslots and not impact more than one timeslot. The Constitution and Bylaws do not mandate a timeframe; going forward, meetings will adjourn by 5:20 PM. - Announcements
None. - Adjournment
Motion to Adjourn; Second; Motion Approved; Meeting Adjourned
Meeting Notes Prepared: 10/4/2022 - Subject to change