University Governance

 

UNIVERSITY SENATE
May 1, 2008
Green Hall (Law School), Room 106, 3:30 p.m.

JOINT MEETING OF THE OUTGOING (FY-08) AND INCOMING (FY-09) SENATE

Approved 09/11/08
PRESENT: Faculty FY08– Bill Crowe, Marianne Berry, David Brackett, Matt Buechner, Marta Caminero-Santangelo, Jonathan C.D. Clark, Geraldo deSousa, Ben Eggleston, Mark Ezell, Hume Feldman, Iris Fischer, Lisa Friis, Robert Harrington, Joe Harrington, Doug Huffman, Nancy Kinnersley, Liz Kowalchuk, Chuck Marsh, Jean Peterson, Gitti Salami, Joan Sereno, Margaret Severson, John Staniunas, John Stratton, Rodolfo Torres, Stacy S. White. New Faculty FY09 – Melissa Birch, Matthew Burke, James Daugherty, Ada Emmett, Alice Lieberman, Steve Maynard-Moody, Joyce McCray-Pearson, Brent Metz, Bozenna Pasik-Duncan, Kelli Thomas, Donna Tucker, Anthony Walton Staff – Mary Ann Baker, Jason O’Connor, Jeannette Johnson, Paul Farran. New Staff FY09 – Betty Childers, Cayla Witty. Students – Emily Williams  New Students FY-09 - May Davis, Elise Higgins, Jason Oruch, J J Siler, Bill Walberg Ex-Officio – Dennis Constance, Danny Kaiser Ex-officio – Richard Lariviere

EXCUSED:  Faculty - JoAnn Browning, Susanne Clement, Susan Craig, Robert Corser, Mohamed El-Hodiri, Stacy Leeds, Karen Multon, Jean Phillips, Prakash Shenoy, Albert Sheu, John Stobaugh,  Staff – Doug Carter, Renee Wiggins. New Faculty FY09 –Man Kong, Barbara Phipps, Howard Rytting, Lisa Wolf-Wendel. Students –  Jack Connor, Stacy Elmer, Eric Foss, Mason Heilman, Alyson Rodee, Tom Cox, Laura Arther, Sara Mednansky, Ryan Rowan.  New Students FY09 – Ben Cohen, Libby Johnson, Tonia Salas.   Hannah Love, Student Body President

(Please let Molly Mulloy (mmulloy@ku.edu) know if you were indeed present)

            President Bill Crowe called the meeting to order at 3:30 p.m.

MINUTES for April 24, 2008 were approved.

STANDING REPORTS
University Senate President (William J. Crowe)
            In addition to the written report distributed earlier, Bill Crowe reported that the two amendments to the University Senate Rules adopted by the Senate last week regarding scholarly misconduct and course withdrawal have been distributed to the University community, with May 16 as the deadline for petitions to review Senate’s action. SenEx will appoint members to the new task Force on Employee Benefits at its final meeting next Tuesday. 
            Crowe expressed gratitude to all members of the University Senate, its committees, SenEx, and the Governance Office staff for contributing so productively over the year to the many aspects of the work of this body. He reiterated his statement of special thanks, distributed in his written report, about the work of Faculty Senate President Rick Levy and thanked him for his extraordinary skill, patience, and passion to sustain the tradition of shared governance at KU. 

Faculty Senate President
            Rick Levy noted that it has been a very good year in which Senate members took on a number of difficult issues and discussed them with respect.  Ongoing work continuing into next year will include the three task forces on 1) Learner Outcomes, 2) Employee Benefits, and 3) the Faculty Handbook.  Levy thanked faculty Senate members, its committees, and all the chairs, members of FacEx and SenEx, and particularly University Senate president Bill Crowe.
Levy noted that the Senates are involved these days in developing policies that may have legal implications.  He recommended that some time in the future it might be advisable for Governance to have access to a member of the faculty who is an attorney to serve as counselor and reviewer of drafts of policy, rules and regulations.

Student Body President  No report.

Unclassified Senate President
            Danny Kaiser reported that his group is in the process of collecting final reports and transitioning to new leadership, with Paul Farran as the incoming president and Jeannette Johnson as president-elect.

University Support Staff President
                        Dennis Constance expressed appreciation to the Senate and its leadership this year.

OLD BUSINESS
            Geraldo deSousa read a brief statement expressing gratitude to Bill Crowe and Rick Levy for their hard work and dedication to the work of Governance, which was endorsed without objection.  He also expressed strong thanks to Molly Mulloy and Kathy Reed, the Governance Office staff, which statement also was marked by applause.  

            Rick Levy and Bill Crowe thanked Molly Mulloy and Kathy Reed of University Governance for their many contributions this year and presented them with a gift certificate.

A Conversation with Provost Richard Lariviere on “Initiative 2015: KU Strategic Planning.”
Provost Lariviere described KU’s accelerated strategic planning exercise this spring, which began when three task forces convened on January 29, 2008. The three bodies looked at specific questions in the areas of teaching and leadership, innovation, and working for Kansas, reported recommendations on 4/11/08, met with the Provost and Chancellor shortly after that, and will issue a final report on 5/9/08. The Provost said the recommendations will include broad institutional goals, after which the departments and schools will be asked about how best to implement them. In response to a question, the Provost said that if visionaries have captured the priorities that the community thinks are important, then deployment of new projects and new hires will be directed by that vision.
Provost Lariviere reported on legislative action in regard to the Regents’ and the Governor’s budget requests. He noted that KU’s debate, football, and basketball teams will be guests of the Kansas legislature tomorrow.
He answered questions from the audience and thanked Senate members for their guidance and input this year.

NEW BUSINESS
            Danny Kaiser stated that he has seen highly accomplished individuals serve as leader of the University Senate, but Bill Crowe’s leadership and ability to handle difficult issues this year was superb. On behalf of the University Senate, Kaiser presented an engraved gavel to Crowe as members applauded.

            Ben Eggleston rose to acknowledge on behalf of the body Rick Levy’s outstanding leadership as president of the Faculty Senate, as chair of the task force on promotion and tenure, as KU’s representative to the Council of Faculty Senate Presidents, and as an advisor to several governance committees and task forces. He presented an engraved gavel to Levy as members warmly applauded.
               
No further business.

Respectfully submitted,
Molly Mulloy

______________________________________________________________________

Organizational Meeting of the FY-09 University Senate
May 1, 2008 - 4:40 p.m. – Green Hall (Law School)

Incoming University Senate President Mary Berry called the meeting to order.  She noted that Bill Crowe provided great mentoring to her and leadership of the Senate this year and will be a very hard act to follow.

 

Election of President-Elect (a faculty member) for University Senate
            Liz Kowalchuk and Marta Caminero-Santangelo were nominated. Caminero-Santangelo declined; Kowalchuk was elected by acclamation.

 

election of Vice President (a student member) for University Senate
            Stacy Elmer and Bill Walberg were nominated; Elmer was elected by a paper ballot vote.

 

            Mary Berry thanked the outgoing members of University Senate and said she looks forward to working next year with Student Body President Adam McGonigle, Unclassified Senate president Paul Farran, and University Support Staff president Dennis Constance.

No further business.

Respectfully submitted,
Molly Mulloy