Dean Kathleen Skerrett called the meeting to order at 4:02 p.m. in the Brown-Alley Room of Weinstein Hall. Reed West moved approval of the minutes of the Arts and Sciences faculty meeting from January 22, 2014. Gene Anderson seconded the motion and the faculty voted to approve. Jan French moved approval of Academic Council Actions from January 21, February 4 and February 18. Vincent Wang seconded the motion and the faculty voted to approve.
River City Project
Dr. Amy Treonis, Faculty Coordinator for the River City Project, encouraged faculty to apply for the River City Sustainability Faculty Fellowship program for 2014-15. Faculty (full-time, continuing) from all Schools and disciplines may apply to attend a two-day workshop (May 6-7, 2014). At the workshop, field trips, guest speakers, and group activities will introduce the core concepts of sustainability and provide faculty with pedagogical resources to effectively link these ideas to a course they teach. Participants will receive $1000 upon submission of a revised syllabus for a course to be taught in 2014-15.
Contingent Faculty Reform Initiative (CFRI)
Dean Skerrett stated that the Dean’s office has focused for two years on various elements of its Contingent Faculty Faculty Reform (CFRI) Initiative. We are in a position to move forward this year. She then turned the meeting over to Associate Dean Vincent Wang to provide an overview, accompanied by PowerPoint slides, on the CFRI. Wang emphasized that the Dean’s Office has used current AAUP guidelines on the use of non tenure-track faculty in developing the CFRI. Wang also provided information on the definitions of various faculty positions from the UR Faculty Handbook. This current initiative only addresses adjunct, visiting or part-time faculty. Detailed information of A&S reliance on contingent faculty, including the numbers/percentages of faculty and their responsibility for instruction were presented. Wang shared that the Dean's office sought input from the chairs on adjunct faculty and that chairs expressed concerns on compensation and teaching load. It is important to note that the Dean's office proposal focuses mainly on compensation. Other strategies include reducing "chronic" term appointments and instead creating tenure track positions where warranted, significantly improving the pay for adjunct faculty, offering benefits to term faculty who teach 4-3 loads, and encouraging departments to reconfigure their curricula based on continuing faculty resources. In order to increase pay for adjunct faculty, it is also necessary to reduce the dependence for adjunct instructors on a continuing basis. If there are continuing curricular needs, departments should plan for full-time tenure-track faculty to meet them, where possible. Full-time term faculty will be defined as an instructor who teaches at least seven courses during the academic year. The pay rate for an adjunct faculty position will be raised to $5,000 per course for faculty with terminal degrees and $4,000 for those without faculty degrees. This reflects a 25% raise. Wang then offered an overview of guidelines and procedures to implement these practices.
Jan French expressed appreciation for the work on the CFRI. She asked for clarification on classes that enroll fewer than 10 students. Dean Skerrett noted that if a discretionary course has consistently low enrollments, the Dean’s office will talk with a department chair about the continued use of an adjunct instructor. The dean also expects that tenure-stream faculty will teach in all levels of the curriculum. The Dean emphasized that sharing information and having conversations will assist with making better decisions about faculty assignments and staffing needs.
Tom Bonfiglio asked how the teaching loads for tenure track and adjunct faculty compare with peer institutions. Vincent Wang replied that he does not have detailed information, but that the 3-2 load is comparable for tenure stream faculty. The comparable adjunct load is not the best, but not the worst.
Dean Skerrett stated that this achieved important goals: bringing our practice in line with AAUP recommendations, making term appointments with 4-3 teaching load eligible for benefits, reducing reliance on adjunct instructors to cover general education or introductory courses, increasing the pay of adjunct instructors by 25%, and motivating departments to plan curricula and faculty staffing needs together. The Dean's goal is to reduce reliance on chronic term appointments and adjunct instructors in favour of tenure-stream positions. In the past three years, A & S has eliminated 4 chronic contingent appointments to replace them with tenure-track positions in the same field.
Program Based Budgeting (PBB)
The Dean then moved into a report on the Program Based Budgeting process to build FY15. She described the PBB process, including budget requests, the operating budget, documentation for Dean's Advisory Council members, DAC council meetings, and DAC recommendations to the Dean. The Dean makes final decisions and prepares her request to Planning and Priorities. Dean Skerrett then reported on various continuing budget and non-continuing budget requests, faculty and staff position requests, student employment requests. She set out the calendar for debriefing these outcomes to the faculty after the Board has established the FY15 budget.
The Dean remarked that she finds the DAC model and the program based budgeting process very helpful. DAC has become a strong faculty leadership community that works well as a group. This has lead to the development of the DAC by-laws to codify how the Council continues working. Faculty Senate Draft
Jan French shared that the Faculty Senate Draft has been distributed to all faculty. A special Arts and Sciences faculty meeting will be held on Tuesday, February 25 at 4 p.m. in the International Commons Room to discuss the proposal. Jennifer Erkulwater described the history and process that UFC has taken in the last year to study faculty governance and propose the Senate model. Dean Skerrett noted that this draft reflects a lot of faculty work and reflection, and encouraged A & S faculty to attend.
The Dean thanked the faculty for their attendance and the meeting adjourned at 5:08 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Lucretia McCulley
River City Project
Dr. Amy Treonis, Faculty Coordinator for the River City Project, encouraged faculty to apply for the River City Sustainability Faculty Fellowship program for 2014-15. Faculty (full-time, continuing) from all Schools and disciplines may apply to attend a two-day workshop (May 6-7, 2014). At the workshop, field trips, guest speakers, and group activities will introduce the core concepts of sustainability and provide faculty with pedagogical resources to effectively link these ideas to a course they teach. Participants will receive $1000 upon submission of a revised syllabus for a course to be taught in 2014-15.
Contingent Faculty Reform Initiative (CFRI)
Dean Skerrett stated that the Dean’s office has focused for two years on various elements of its Contingent Faculty Faculty Reform (CFRI) Initiative. We are in a position to move forward this year. She then turned the meeting over to Associate Dean Vincent Wang to provide an overview, accompanied by PowerPoint slides, on the CFRI. Wang emphasized that the Dean’s Office has used current AAUP guidelines on the use of non tenure-track faculty in developing the CFRI. Wang also provided information on the definitions of various faculty positions from the UR Faculty Handbook. This current initiative only addresses adjunct, visiting or part-time faculty. Detailed information of A&S reliance on contingent faculty, including the numbers/percentages of faculty and their responsibility for instruction were presented. Wang shared that the Dean's office sought input from the chairs on adjunct faculty and that chairs expressed concerns on compensation and teaching load. It is important to note that the Dean's office proposal focuses mainly on compensation. Other strategies include reducing "chronic" term appointments and instead creating tenure track positions where warranted, significantly improving the pay for adjunct faculty, offering benefits to term faculty who teach 4-3 loads, and encouraging departments to reconfigure their curricula based on continuing faculty resources. In order to increase pay for adjunct faculty, it is also necessary to reduce the dependence for adjunct instructors on a continuing basis. If there are continuing curricular needs, departments should plan for full-time tenure-track faculty to meet them, where possible. Full-time term faculty will be defined as an instructor who teaches at least seven courses during the academic year. The pay rate for an adjunct faculty position will be raised to $5,000 per course for faculty with terminal degrees and $4,000 for those without faculty degrees. This reflects a 25% raise. Wang then offered an overview of guidelines and procedures to implement these practices.
Jan French expressed appreciation for the work on the CFRI. She asked for clarification on classes that enroll fewer than 10 students. Dean Skerrett noted that if a discretionary course has consistently low enrollments, the Dean’s office will talk with a department chair about the continued use of an adjunct instructor. The dean also expects that tenure-stream faculty will teach in all levels of the curriculum. The Dean emphasized that sharing information and having conversations will assist with making better decisions about faculty assignments and staffing needs.
Tom Bonfiglio asked how the teaching loads for tenure track and adjunct faculty compare with peer institutions. Vincent Wang replied that he does not have detailed information, but that the 3-2 load is comparable for tenure stream faculty. The comparable adjunct load is not the best, but not the worst.
Dean Skerrett stated that this achieved important goals: bringing our practice in line with AAUP recommendations, making term appointments with 4-3 teaching load eligible for benefits, reducing reliance on adjunct instructors to cover general education or introductory courses, increasing the pay of adjunct instructors by 25%, and motivating departments to plan curricula and faculty staffing needs together. The Dean's goal is to reduce reliance on chronic term appointments and adjunct instructors in favour of tenure-stream positions. In the past three years, A & S has eliminated 4 chronic contingent appointments to replace them with tenure-track positions in the same field.
Program Based Budgeting (PBB)
The Dean then moved into a report on the Program Based Budgeting process to build FY15. She described the PBB process, including budget requests, the operating budget, documentation for Dean's Advisory Council members, DAC council meetings, and DAC recommendations to the Dean. The Dean makes final decisions and prepares her request to Planning and Priorities. Dean Skerrett then reported on various continuing budget and non-continuing budget requests, faculty and staff position requests, student employment requests. She set out the calendar for debriefing these outcomes to the faculty after the Board has established the FY15 budget.
The Dean remarked that she finds the DAC model and the program based budgeting process very helpful. DAC has become a strong faculty leadership community that works well as a group. This has lead to the development of the DAC by-laws to codify how the Council continues working. Faculty Senate Draft
Jan French shared that the Faculty Senate Draft has been distributed to all faculty. A special Arts and Sciences faculty meeting will be held on Tuesday, February 25 at 4 p.m. in the International Commons Room to discuss the proposal. Jennifer Erkulwater described the history and process that UFC has taken in the last year to study faculty governance and propose the Senate model. Dean Skerrett noted that this draft reflects a lot of faculty work and reflection, and encouraged A & S faculty to attend.
The Dean thanked the faculty for their attendance and the meeting adjourned at 5:08 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Lucretia McCulley
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