January 14th FPC Minutes

Thomassenia Adams (College Administration), Tom Dana (College Administration)

Approval of Agenda

Shelley Warm(moved), Dale Campbell (second). Agenda was unanimously approved.

Approval Minutes

Linda Eldridge (moved), Edil Torres-Rivera(second). Minutes were unanimously approved

Dean’s Report

Dean Good is in Tallahassee today, attending a board meeting for the Fund for Minority Teachers. Tom Dana gave the Dean’s Report.

President Machen has been re-appointed as President for the University.

Within the University the College of Education demonstrated consistent increase in funding expenditures. Dr. Dana shared a chart of sponsored research awards and the College of Education, unlike many other colleges, shows a consistently positive slope between 2004 and 2012. Last year, the external awards were about $15 million. Dr. Adams confirmed that the COE is already beyond where we were at the same time last year. One of the current challenges centers on the way overhead is assessed, given the various award structures and agency limits on IDC.

The COE is also doing well in the area of fundraising and development, partially as a result of an increased number of high profile projects initiated by faculty.

PhD. programs are going through a revision process in each department as part of the doctoral improvement plans – this is intended to be an annual process. Dr. Dana recommended faculty involvement to ensure that the information about and revisions made for the seven doctoral programs that we have in the COE are accurate. One step to take this semester is to ensure that faculty members are in direct communication with each doctoral student; the importance of frequent communication with PhD candidates has been raised campus-wide.

The College is currently coordinating efforts in preparation for SACS re-accreditation. A request for original transcripts of terminal degrees for faculty will be made in the near future.

In terms of the budget, the COE is doing well, including being able to offer a strong Summer schedule. One concern for Summer is the undersubscription of courses. This happened last year and an effort needs to be made to ensure that courses have better enrollments this summer. Additionally, due to the way RCM configures fees and revenues, we want to make sure that faculty teach both graduate and undergraduate courses.

To support the Strategic Plan, Dr. Dana is putting together some sessions related to entrepreneurial activities. He showed examples from EduVentures, which he will share with the Budgetary Affairs Committee.

Three faculty searches are underway. It is important that faculty and doctoral students attend the candidates’ presentations whenever possible.

Some construction will be occurring soon. G502 will receive an update to allow the IT group to move and create space for the CEEDAR project. It is anticipated that the disruption will be minimal.

The College has submitted college-wide survey data for regular rankings report. Most factors are not under our control but admissions to doctoral programs is one factor that we do have control over, i.e., the average GRE verbal and quantitative scores. It was noted that these scores were down slightly from last year. US News now ranks online master’s degrees in education and we have submitted information for this as well. There currently are three online master’s degrees: the Special Education Teach Well program, the Educational Technology program, and the Teacher Leadership for School Improvement program. Next year, the Educational Leadership program will also go online.

University Senate Report

No new business. James McLeskey reported on the Senate’s December meeting via email. See below the content of this email.

Faculty Senate Update (A brief summary of the December 13, 2012 meeting)

Faculty Senate Chair Cheri Brodeur reported that the Presidential Search Committee plans remain the same, candidates will be on campus for interviews from January 10-12, and faculty forums (1.5 hours for each candidate) will be held on Saturday, January 12. She also announced that that the Florida Opportunity Scholars Program (scholarships for first generation college students) is being renamed the Bernie and Chris Machen Florida Opportunity Scholars program. An anonymous donor has provided $10M to support this program, contingent on matching funds. Al Warrington from the UF Board of Trustees spoke about this match, and noted that the alumni association, trustees, gator boosters and other groups are seeking funds to support the match. It is anticipated that the final level of funding with be $30 million. Cheri Brodeur encouraged faculty to participate in providing support for this match. She will follow up on this initiative with faculty.

Action item:

Bernard Mair, Associate Provost for Undergraduate Affairs, presented a proposal to schedule homecoming in 2013 on Friday, November 8. Veterans Day will be on the following Monday, resulting in a four day cancellation of classes. Some opposition arose to this motion, related to student concerns that a four-day weekend would result in reduced attendance at Gator Growl. Motion carried.

Information Items:

· Bernard Mair provided an update on the general education statute—HB7135. This legislative mandate requires 15 credits of statewide general education courses for all students in state IHEs. A proposal for courses that would meet this requirement has been drafted and is available at http://www.fldoe.org/articulation/hb7135gep.asp (scroll to the bottom of this web page, and see Resources/Publications for this document, titled “Draft October 25 2012 Meeting Notes and Faculty Committee Recommendations”). The Faculty Senate will develop a process for faculty to provide input regarding this proposal before it is submitted to Board of Governors for approval.

· Linda Cottler, Chair, Mission Statement Task Force, provided an update on the UF Mission Statement. A draft of the mission statement has been completed and is attached. A process for faculty to provide input regarding the draft mission statement will soon be made available on the Faculty Senate web site.

· Michael Good, Dean, College of Medicine, provided information regarding the proposed construction of the George T. Harrell Medical Education Building. The building is designed to support significant changes in the curriculum for medical students. These changes include an interdisciplinary focus for all content, and an emphasis on collaborative decision-making. This is the first substantial revision of the curriculum since the 1980s. Michael Good’s PPT presentation is available at http://fora.aa.ufl.edu/FacultySenate/Pages/Faculty-Senate/AgendasMinutes2012-2013.

· Sherry Benton, Director of the UF Counseling and Wellness Center, presented on the State of the Center–Where are we? What are our challenges? Where do we plan to go? A copy of her presentation is available at http://fora.aa.ufl.edu/FacultySenate/Pages/Faculty-Senate/AgendasMinutes2012-2013. Demand for services has increased since the Center moved to Radio Rd. More graduate students are now seeking support from the Center. The Center is also beginning to use more on-line counseling/support services to increase efficiency, as well as to support distance learners.

Announcements

There will be an Annual Town Hall Budgetary meeting. The Budgetary Affairs Committee will work with Dean Good to set a date for that meeting and to help decide what is most appropriate and useful information to share with faculty.

Action Items

There were no action items.

Discussion Items

Annual Review Procedures for Deans’ Evaluations.

The policy to review the Dean, Assistant, and Associate Deans was updated to align policy and practice and to have one document for all Deans. Main changes involved including all Deans in the policy; the identification of an Annual Review Committee using an existing FPC committee or by creating an ad hoc committee; a clarification that voting will occur electronically; and clarification of how quantitative and qualitative data from the review will be shared. The new policy stresses that the purpose of the review is to provide information to the Deans and to the faculty; it is not intended as a formal evaluation of the Dean nor is information shared with the Provost.

Motion to approve

Campbell (motion); Danling Fu (second)

Motion carried unanimously.

Election Committee

The Election Committee is being constituted. This committee puts together the election slate for FPC, Tenure and Promotion Committee, as well as the Senate representatives. FPC approved to have an electronic vote once all the names of the Election Committee have been submitted by the three Schools.

Strategic Planning Report

Jodi Gentri has submitted her report based on last November’s faculty meeting (see the FPC website). The question for FPC is how the strategic plan can become a living document that guides the work of faculty. In summary, the report points to multiple action items that involve information gathering, e.g., what kinds of interdisciplinary collaboration are already taking place and how does it benefit our college, how do we define entrepreneurial activities, and what is already happening in the college in this area.

During the discussion, it became evident that we need more clarity regarding the various roles of different college committees. It is important to bring together the policy (FPC) and executive (Deans’ Office, School Directors) sides of the strategic planning process in order to successfully and effectively implement the strategic plan. Different possible configurations and connections with existing committees (Long Range Planning Committee, Deans Advisory Council, FPC) were explored. It was decided that the best course of action would be for a small group of FPC members to talk with the Deans about possible structures to support the implementation of the COE strategic plan. Ester de Jong, James McLeskey, Dorene Ross, David Therriault were selected to represent FPC.

Committee Reports

Ad Hoc Committee on Academic Affairs

Reporter: James McLeskey

Committee met on January 10. Continuing agenda items: Doctoral Performance Improvement Plans, a recommendation for FPC regarding this committee (currently ad hoc) for next year, recruitment, and doctoral fellowships.

Agenda Committee

Reporter: Holly Lane

The Agenda Committee created the FPC agenda for the January 14^th meeting.

Budgetary Affairs Committee

Reporter: Dale Campbell

Next meeting will take place Thursday, January 17.

Curriculum Committee

Reporter: Ester de Jong

No meeting. Four technology certificates, three math courses, and three reading/language arts course have been approved and sent on to the University Curriculum Committee.

Diversity Committee

Reporter: Edil Torres-Rivera

Next meeting will take place on January 24th. Pilar Mendoza has been analyzing the data from the qualitative section of a previous student survey. It is expected that the committee will have some policy recommendations for FPC to consider.

Faculty Affairs Committee

No report.

Lectures, Seminars, & Awards Committee

Reporter: Danling Fu

No meeting.

Long Range Planning Committee

Reporter: Shelley Warm

No meeting.

Research Advisory Committee

Reporter: Joe Gagnon

Next meeting will take place on January 29^th. The committee will continue with its work to align the CRIF criteria to the strategic plan.

Technology and Distance Education Committee

Reporter: Linda Eldridge

The committee is finalizing its report from technology needs assessment conducted last Fall. Report will be presented to FPC in February.

Adjournment

Motion to Adjourn

Edil Torres-Rivera (moved); David Therriault (Second)

Motion carried unanimously.

Meeting adjourned at 3:30pm

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