October 20, 2005
Loyola
Marymount
University
Faculty Senate Minutes,
October 20, 2005
Hilton 302
3:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.
Present: Cynthia Becht, William F. Cain, S.J., Jeffrey Davis, Victoria Graf, Paul Harris, Chun I. Lee, Blake Mellor, Ed Mosteig, Elizabeth Murray, Suzanne O’Brien, K.J. Peters, Ralph Quiñones, Damon Rago, Nina Reich, James A. Roe, Rhonda Rosen, Susan Scheibler
Excused: Marta Baltodano, Charles E. Erven, Omar Es-Said, Jok M. Jok, Robert Singleton
President Graf called the meeting to order at 3:00 p.m. Rhonda Rosen read a Jewish prayer on peace and a moment of silence was observed.
I. Announcements by the President of the Faculty Senate
-It was moved and seconded to approve the minutes of the September 2005 meeting. The minutes were approved unanimously.
-Future Senate meetings will be moved to a larger, more congenial room than Hilton 302.
II. Assistant to the President of Intercultural Affairs -- Abbie Robinson-Armstrong
-Dr. Robinson-Armstrong discussed the following topics:
1. Academic Leadership Conference 2005. The conference was the professional development retreat held for those in leadership positions. Issues explored included the retention of faculty of color and women. Over 3000 higher education institutions across the U.S. have incorporated regular leadership conferences. Dr. Robinson-Armstrong reported on the evaluation data compiled from a participant survey. She suggested that future conferences might include a full day set aside for the Faculty Senate.
- Intercultural Affairs.
- Intercultural Advisory Committee. The committee has been reconstituted with the same representation from all schools and colleges. Students, including a member of the ASLMU and a graduate student, have been added. The committee is charged with looking broadly and deeply into intercultural issues.
- Diversity Scorecard. The diversity scorecard will be revamped as it is two years old. The revised instrument will be more detailed to include new areas such as the climate study data.
- Mission Driven Program to Diversify the Faculty. A survey evaluating the search process is being prepared to send to the Deans’ Council for approval. The results will reside on-line.
- Pedagogy Workshops. These have been institutionalized and are on-going.
- Campus Climate Study. The study will become a cyclical activity to assess attitudes and perceptions of LMU across the campus every five years.
- Linking the Intercultural Campus – Transformation of Courses in the Major. A grant package will be sent out to faculty inviting any who wish to do so to transform their courses to include diversity content. Each grant recipient will receive $4000.00. Dr. Robinson-Armstrong suggested that faculty team up in groups of three to transform an entire group of courses in the major. These groups would then receive $12,000 per group to accomplish their goals.
-Discussion:
Q: Where was the Academic Leadership Conference held?
A: It was a day and a half long conference held at the Renaissance Hotel near the airport. The programming consisted of talks given by invited speakers followed by audiences breaking into smaller groups to discuss the issues brought up. This configuration was well-liked by the attendees. There was a panel offered by the Faculty Senate.76% of the survey respondents felt the time frame was satisfactory. 77% said they would recommend attending the conference to others.
Q: 54% of the conference’s participants completed the survey. How does that affect the evaluation?
A: Overall we found that the survey results give us the impetus to try again. What people liked were being in a room with other people with whom they could share ideas, the inclusive approach with Student Affairs, and Rank&Tenure information shared by faculty. One speaker was evaluated much more favorably than the other. Some participants thought the conference did not focus on specific issues LMU has had to face recently, and some were disappointed that the conference ended without a specific plan to implement in the coming year.
Q: Who were the speakers?
A: Dr. Brenda Allen, Brown University and Dr. Robert Rhoads, UCLA. A majority of the survey respondents suggested Dr. Ernest Rose and Father Lawton as speakers at future leadership conferences.
Q: What sessions might be included in the future?
A: Suggestions included co-curricular development, constructing tenure portfolios, dual pressures of research and teaching, faculty advising, retention of junior faculty, and standards for tenure and promotion.
Q: Were these recommendations shared with Fr. Lawton?
A: They were shared with Vice President Rose, who is in the process of codifying them.
Q: Who were invited to the conference?
A: All department chairs, the associate and assistant deans, all deans, the Academic Vice President, Student Affairs management, and members of the Faculty Senate.
Q: Who sponsored the conference?
A: The AVP sponsored it as a response to issues that surfaced last year, in order to inform administrators of skills and strategies to deal with those kinds of issues.
Q: Is there something you would like the Senate to do in response to the information you’ve presented us?
A: I’d like the Senate to write a resolution supporting the institutionalization of the conference, and also to agree to take a major role in planning future conferences.
Q: When the Intercultural Advisory Committee was reconstituted, was there anyone from the Library included on it?
A: I don’t think so.
Q: An on-line search process may be troubling to applicants who do not wish to have their ethnic identity or gender linked to the application process.
A: Applicants send filled-out information cards to my office and we keep that information anonymous. If search committees are interested, we give back anonymous listings of the cards.
Q: Are applicants required to send the cards in?
A: No.
III. Review of the Faculty Handbook -- Matt Dillon
- Handbook updates. By November 7th a new packet of revisions will be handed to the Senate so that there’s opportunity to look it over before voting on it at the next Senate meeting. Updates will include job descriptions for academic officers, a list of committees with references to websites, and the pre-tenure sabbatical policy. A history of the university will be written by Mike Engh, S.J. The maternity/paternity policy has not yet been completed by Human Resources. An updated organizational chart is in limbo due to name changes (eg. University Librarian is now Dean of Libraries) and the absence of the Faculty Senate in the chart.
- Subcommittees. A sub-committee should be created to revise other areas of the Handbook such as the R&T and external review policies. As issues arise, portions of the Handbook should be delegated. A .pdf form of the Handbook should be established as it is now a Word document. Hard copies would be made available to any who request it.
-Discussion:
Q: Will the Handbook include a recommendation to have a standing committee review it every year?
A: Good idea. It’s important to keep the Handbook in pace with the University. It’s one of the Senate’s most important tasks.
Q: Is there any history regarding challenges that have been posed regarding the Handbook, legal or otherwise? Having that kind of information would help us to strengthen it.
A: I am not aware of any history of challenges but it would be valuable to have one, perhaps acquired through the AVP, Human Resources, or the Grievance Committee.
IV. Mentoring for Mission -- Jane Brucker
- Mentoring for Mission grew out of the President’s Committee for Mission and Identity. Its purpose is to provide an accessible mentoring program which will not interfere with departments’ individual programs and which will be rooted in the University’s mission.
-- A web based networking program is being designed for new and recent faculty. Sixty faculty members have signed up to participate as mentors for specific topics. The website is scheduled to be up in the Spring Semester. Abbie Robinson-Armstrong will be hosting a party to launch the networking website in March.
-- The program designed for mentors includes workshops already in place.
V. Senator Reports
- The Senate discussed the following topics:
1. Shared Governance. This year the Senate will examine the issue of shared governance and the role of the Faculty Senate at LMU. Defining the Senate’s role is a timely issue as the University as a whole prepares itself for change and growth. As an introduction to the topic,. photocopies of articles featured in the Fall 2005 issue of Conversations on Jesuit Higher Eductaiont were handed out and queried the Senators on best ways to proceed with the conversation. It was stressed that the Senate wishes to act as one of the many voices involved in developing the shape of the University.
2. Turnitin.com. Turnitin.com is a web-based tool designed to help faculty locate plagiarized passages in student papers. It searches by matching submitted papers to works residing in its own database. Every paper submitted is subsequently incorporated into the database. The University is considering acquiring a site license for the campus. One Senator cautioned that use of turnitin.com has implications in regards to academic freedom and copyright issues. It was suggested the Senate touch base with faculty to gauge the general feeling about this.
3. Collins’ Center. Instead of supporting a pilot project involving the Collins’ Center, it has been proposed that the Senate investigate the possibility of the University establishing a true faculty center or pub on campus. A motion was made and seconded to form a sub-committee to continue the process of investigation. The motion passed unanimously.
VI. LMU Public Safety Emergency Operations Center – Ray Hilyar
The Faculty Senators were given a tour of the Public Safety Emergency Operations Center in West Hall conducted by Ray Hilyar. The following information on the University’s emergency facilities and procedures was discussed:
- Each building on campus has a building captain and emergency response teams (ERTs) made up of faculty and staff. ERTs are trained in light search and rescue, CPR, and exact evacuation routes. Evacuation drills are performed while classes are in session in order to fully test evacuation procedures. There are 18 members of the Search and Rescue Team who have been trained at Firemen’s bootcamp and who are always on call. The command center has 16 emergency medical technicians. Various communication procedures during an emergency have been established. There is an emergency information page on the Public Safety website. Several off-site locations have been designated as communication sites if necessary. Food services are designed to shut down immediately in a disaster. There is enough food and water stored on campus to sustain 5000 people for 5 days.
- Discussion
Q: Do you have any concerns of a reoccurrence of recent safety problems on campus?
A: No.
Q: How many Public Safety officers are on duty at any time?
A: There are always five and sometimes up to ten on duty. Public Safety never makes the exact number of deployment known.
Q: Do we have community services for students?
A: Public Safety has a service for escorting staff and students to cars.
Q: Are most officers in Public Safety outsourced?
A: Yes, the ones in brown uniforms are contracted. We have a ratio of about 30% LMU employed and 70% contracted.
Q: Is there a way to identify who the ERTs in a building are? Is there a building list?
A: No, but that’s a good idea.
Q: Is there something you’d like the faculty to do to help?
A: We’re only as strong as you are. We need faculty, staff and students to report anything suspicious. Faculty who wish to become trained ERTs should contact Pat Coffelt.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m.
Submitted by: Cynthia Becht
Prepared by: Mary Stroud