1. Approval of
Academic Council meeting minutes from March 15, 2016
Dr. Sam Abrash
moved approval of the minutes of March 15, 2016. Dr. Paul Achter seconded. With
no further discussion, the minutes were approved by voice vote.
2. New Course
Proposals
PSYC 300 was
brought to the floor as a new course proposal. Dr. Geoff Goddu motioned to
approve. Dr. Elena Calvillo seconded. With no further discussion, PSYC 300 was
approved by voice vote.
3. Revised
Course Proposals
PHIL 353 was
brought to the floor as a revised course proposal. Dr. Sam Abrash motioned to
approve. Dr. Nicole Sackley seconded. With no further discussion, the revised
course proposal was approved by voice vote.
4. Revisions to
Major/Minor
A proposal for a
course requirement change in the Psychology major was brought to the floor. Dr.
Sydney Watts motioned to approve. Dr. Sam Abrash seconded. With no further
discussion, the proposal for a course requirement change in the Psychology
major was approved by voice vote.
5. Department of
Labor Regulations for Overtime
Pam Ash, Human
Resources Consultant and Strategist, and Carl Sorenson, Associate Vice President
of Human Resource, joined Academic Council to discuss the Fair Labor Standards
Act. Pam Ash presented the policy on non-exempt employee overtime and flex time.
She stressed that a private institution, such as University of Richmond, cannot
permit “comp time” (which is deferred time off in exchange for overtime hours).
Both Pam Ash and Carl Sorensen stressed the importance of managers and
employees fairly and accurately recording employees’ hours worked, according to
the guidelines set out in the Fair Labor Standards Act.
The dean said
that the FLSA guidelines would be covered again in department chair training in
late April.
6. Strategic
Planning Process
Dr. Jan French,
President of the Faculty Senate and Steering Committee Co-Chair, updated
Academic Council on the Strategic Planning Process. All of the documents are
attached to the agenda in full. They are also available on the Strategic
Planning Committee’s website. Dr. French spoke at length about the drafting
process that has gone into the mission statements, the values statements, the
vision statement, and the themes, which will, in the future, become the basis
for working groups. Regarding the draft of the mission statement, questions
such as: “Does this revised statement effectively capture the University’s core
mission? If not, what suggestions do you have for improvement?” were
considered. Regarding the draft of the values statements, questions such as: “Does
this statement of values effectively articulate the University’s most important
values? Are there ways this statement of values could be made more rhetorically
powerful?” were considered.
Dr. Sam Abrash
pointed out that the Mission Statement does not state a mission.
Regarding the
draft of the values statements, Dr. Nicole Sackley commented that the word
“Excellence” sounded vacuous. Dr. Paul Achter agreed.
Dr. Sheila
Carapico suggested that academic freedom should be a value of the University.
Dr. Dan Palazzolo suggested “freedom of expression and freedom of thought.”
In response to
Dr. Nicole Sackley and Dr. Paul Achter’s suggestions, Dr. Bill Ross offered that
the word excellence should be used, though perhaps not as a value.
After further
discussion, Dr. Jan French invited members of Academic Council to visit the
website for the Strategic Planning Process—https://strategicplan.richmond.edu/—and
enter their comments. She said that she would summarize her notes from the
meeting to give to the Strategic Planning Committee.
The dean thanked
members of Academic Council for their contributions to the discussion of
mission and values. She reminded them of the provost’s initiative to support
small group discussions of the mission, values, vision, and themes.
The meeting
adjourned at 11:50.
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