November 16, 2006
Loyola Marymount University
Faculty Senate Minutes
November 16, 2006
Collins Center
3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Present: Cynthia Becht, Charles Erven, Sonny Espinoza, Omar Es-Said, Vicki Graf, Paul Harris, Yvette Lapayese, Chun Lee, Blake Mellor, Mel Mendelson, Ed Mosteig, Liz Murray, Jennifer Offenberg, K. J. Peters, Ralph Quiñones Damon Rago, James Roe, Jonathan Rothchild and Rhonda Rosen
Excused: Najwa Al-Qattan, Jeffrey Davis, Rudy Fleck, Gary Kuleck, Nina Reich, Sue Scheibler and Seth Thompson
President Graf called the meeting to order at 3:00 p.m. She began the meeting with a prayer by Archbishop Oscar A. Romero to commemorate the 6 Jesuits and their housekeeper and her daughter who were assassinated in El Salvador 17 years ago on 11/16/1989.
I. Anne Prisco – Vice President for Enrollment Management
-Anne Prisco, V.P. for Enrollment Management, introduced herself to the Senate. V.P. Prisco comes to LMU from New York where she was Vice Provost for Academic Affairs at Hunter College. Since her arrival in September, V.P. Prisco has been working on formulating her goals for LMU related to enrollment planning. She shared current enrollment data with the Senate and responded to questions from the Senators. One specific area of concern is the graduation rate. She is developing committees of faculty, students, and administrators that will focus on retention and enrollment management. The Senate also discussed financial aid and LMU’s discount rate of 15%, which V.P. Prisco rates as very low.
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President Graf thanked V.P. Prisco for her presentation and indicated that the conversation would continue on these important topics.
II. Faculty Retention Subcommittee Update – Yvette Lapayese and Ed Mosteig
- Children’s Center. The Children’s Center has been identified as a significant issue for faculty and staff who are having difficulties with the high cost and lack of openings. The sub-committee interviewed Chris Chapple, Director of LMU Extension, who helped develop the Children’s Center. The Children’s Center was built in modular fashion to accommodate future growth. Local residents were invited to apply to the Children’s Center because it initially was thought there would not be enough faculty to fill the spaces. There has been discussion about asking CAO Rose to hire a consultant to help resolve child care issues.
- Housing for junior faculty. It is not clear what LMU can or can’t do to assist with this problem.
- Faculty of Color. Individual faculty have expressed a wish to have weekly luncheons for faculty of color.
The Faculty Senate discussed the issues presented by the sub-committee. President Graf reported that a meeting regarding the Children’s Center issues was held on November 15. With respect to the housing discussion, it was suggested that the university ought to have a mortgage company on campus. Possible avenues of discourse with Administration were discussed. President Graf suggested inviting CAO Rose to the November 30 or December 14 meeting to request a status update for these issues.
IV. Rank and Tenure Subcommittee. External Evaluation – Jeff Siker
- Jeff Siker presented to the Faculty Senate the revised version of the External Review Process. The revised portion reads as follows:
“In order to assist the evaluation of a faculty member’s achievement in
Scholarship, it is appropriate to solicit opinions from the scholarly community
directly involved in the faculty member’s specific discipline(s). To this end,
the faculty member will submit in writing to her/his Chairperson or equivalent
administrator the names of FIVE to SEVEN evaluators outside the University
who are at an academic rank at or above the rank to which the candidate is
applying and who could be called upon to provide a fair assessment of the
faculty member’s disseminated work. In addition, the Department …… “
It was moved and seconded that the Senate accept the External Review Policy document with the stipulation that “FIVE to SEVEN” names be changed to “FOUR to SIX.”
After some concerns were expressed about the external review process, it was moved and seconded that the discussion be tabled to the next meeting. The motion passed unanimously.
V. Faculty Senate Constitution – James Roe
In the interest of time, the discussion of the Constitution was postponed.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m.
Submitted by: Cynthia Becht
Prepared by: Rosa Calderon