University Governance
UNIVERSITY SENATE
September 10, 2009 – 3:30 p.m. – Room #203, Law School
Approved 10/08/09
PRESENT: Faculty – David Brackett, Jonathan Clark, James Daugherty, Ben Eggleston, Ada Emmett Mark Ezell, Allen Ford, Peter Grund, Doug Huffman, Matthew Jacobson, Chuck Marsh, Joyce McCray-Pearson, Brent Metz, Blake Peterson, Jean Philips, Barbara Phipps, Suzanne Rice, Dan Spencer, John Staniunas, Jeff Staudinger, Milena Stanislavova, Lisa Timmons, Kelli Thomas, Rodolfo Torres, Donna Tucker, Sara Wilson, Jie Zhang. Staff – Betty Childers, Mary Ann Baker, Chris Wallace, Phil Wilke, Paul Farran, Students – Jessica Brooks, Marek Brzozowski, Andrea Peterson, JJ Siler, Michael Smith, Hunter Hess, Aaron Dollinger. Ex-officio – Danny Anderson, Bernadette Gray-Little, Mason Heilman, Jeannette Johnson.
EXCUSED: Faculty – Beju Benjamin, Melissa Birch, Matthew Burke, Nancy Kinnersley Man Kong, Alice Lieberman, Steven Maynard-Moody, Sara Morris, Bozenna Pasik-Duncan, Jean Phillips, Tony Walton. Staff – Dennis Constance; Aaron Quisenberry. Students – Elise Higgins, Jim Stoutenborough, Kellee Kirkpatrick
ABSENT: Sandra Gray, Gitti Salami, Ross Ringer, Matt Rissien
(Please contact Molly Mulloy if you were indeed present)
President John Stratton called the meeting to order at 3:30 p.m.
A CONVERSATION WITH CHANCELLOR BERNADETTE GRAY-LITTLE
Members applauded as John Stratton introduced and welcomed new Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little to the meeting.
The Chancellor asked members to join her in a moment of silence in honor of former Vice Provost Jim Roberts, whom she said provided great leadership to the KU research community. She thanked everyone for the warm welcome she and her husband have received in Lawrence during the past few weeks and noted that she has enjoyed learning about KU and the state.
Gray-Little described three priorities on which she is initially focusing: 1) raising KU’s graduation and retention rates, 2) enhancing scholarly and research profile of KU, and 3) ensuring we have the funds needed to accomplish these goals. She has been meeting with the deans to hear more about the achievements, opportunities, and aspirations for each school, and said she is a strong believer in shared governance. The Chancellor expressed support for the Governor’s recent call for higher admissions standards for KU, saying that we owe it to our students to better prepare them to earn their degrees. Following her remarks, the Chancellor answered questions from Senate members and invited all to attend the reception at The Outlook at 4:30 p.m. today.
MINUTES for April 30, 2009 were approved.
STANDING REPORTS
University Senate President`
John Stratton reported that he and Lisa Wolf-Wendel were very busy this summer recruiting committee chairs and members for governance committees. He provided background information on the formation of two task forces appointed by SenEx this summer: (1) the Task Force on the Conflict of Interest Policy, and (2) the Task Force on Domestic Partnership Benefits. Both groups will be bringing reports to the Senate later this year for discussion.
Faculty Senate President
Lisa Wolf-Wendel reported on two task forces created by FacEx this summer: 1) the Task Force on Academic Professional staff, and 2) the Task Force on Open Access Implementation, both of which will bring recommendations to the Faculty Senate for approval. She noted that KU has experienced a 10.5% budget cut thus far and it’s possible that there will be additional reductions in the coming year. She and John Stratton are serving on the Provost’s Furlough Planning Committee to develop guidelines for possible budget revisions in the future. The Chancellor has appointed a search committee for the Provost position, on which Wolf-Wendel is a member. She will attend the first meeting of the Board of Regents next week. Wolf-Wendel emphasized that SenEx and FacEx want to be responsible to any concerns or issues of interest to University Senate members and urged members to contact her or John Stratton in that regard.
STUDENT BODY PRESIDENT
Mason Heilman reported that Student Senate held its first meeting yesterday and approved appointments to boards and governance committees. He asked to be contacted if students do not attend the meetings of committees to which they’ve been appointed. Student Senate’s request to add a 13th voting member to the University Senate will be on the October University Senate agenda for approval. The Student Rights Committee is reviewing the new housing policy that allows staff to enter dormitory rooms if a policy violation is suspected. He announced the Student Senate’s new Legislative Director is Michael Smith.
UNCLASSIFIED SENATE
Jeannette Johnson reported that her Senate held its first meeting yesterday and is working on amendments to their rules and regulations.
UNIVERSITY SUPPORT STAFF (“USS”)
No report at this time.
CHARGES TO UNIVERSITY SENATE COMMITTEES
Paul Farran, Andrea Peterson moved that the charges to the nine University Senate committees be approved. Passed without dissent.
ELECTION OF VICE PRESIDENT FOR UNIVERSITY SENATE
Students Ian McGonigle and Andrea Peterson were nominated; Peterson was elected.
No further business.
The meeting adjourned at 4:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Molly Mulloy