The Arts and Sciences Council and Faculty of Arts and Sciences Meeting, October 24, 2017, 3:30-5:00

Meeting Minutes

Representatives present:ĚýChristine Brennan, SLHS; David Boonin, PHIL; Barbara Buttenfield, GEOG; Brian Cadena, ECON; Cathy Comstock, RAPS; Kim Dickey, AAH; David Ferris, HUMN; John Gilbert, CLAS; David Grant, MATH; Saskia Hintz, GSLL; Leslie Irvine, SOCY; Daniel Jones, HNRS; Keller Kimbrough, ALC; William Kleiber, APPM; Carl Koval, CHEM; Joanna Lambert, ANTH; Jill Litt, ENVS; Ramesh Mallipeddi, ENGL; Matt McQueen, IPHY; Stephen Mojzsis, GEOL; Yuko Munakata, PSYC; David Paradis, HIST; Lonni Pearce, PWR; Patricia Rankin, PHYS; Fernando Riosmena, GEOG; Kelly Sears, FILM; Ted Stark, THDN; David Stock, EBIO; Masano Yamashita, FRIT

Representatives not present:ĚýScott Adler, PSCI; Julio Baena, SPAN; James Cowell, LING; Erica Ellingson, APS; David Ferris, HUMN; Holly Gayley, RLST; Kwame Holmes, ETHN; Janet Jacobs, WGST; Julie Lundquist, ATOC; Ding Xue, MCDB;

Also in attendance: Katie Holdgreve-Resendez; Andrew Martin; Jim White

Stephen Mojzsis called the meeting to order at 3:32PM.

 Chair’s remarks, Stephen Mojzsis

Professor Mojzsis will be providing more robust agendas for the ASC meetings with links to supporting materials; very few, if any, paper copies will be provided at the meetings so bringing a laptop is encouraged.

Dean’s Remarks, Jim White

Dean White thanked the representatives for their service to the College. In response to a question about declining enrollment in the Humanities, Dean White said that A&S spends very little on advertising and recruiting; more can be done to get a better balance of students in the College.

First Year Admissions Programs, Ted Stark and Katie Holdgreve-Resendez

Mr. Stark introduced the topic by discussing Theater and Dance’s involvement with Focus Fridays, a program where students who had applied to CU could come on campus to meet with faculty from the areas they were interested in studying. The yield of matriculating students who came to those Focus Fridays was high. The program has been cancelled. Ms. Holdgreve-Resendez, the Associate Director of Admissions, was invited to talk about the Admissions Programs and the various programs Admissions supports for first year students.

Ms. Holdgreve-Resendez described the first year programs and tours at CU and how important faculty involvement is.

  • Faculty and staff are important in this process but students say, repeatedly, “I want to talk to the people who will be teaching me in the classroom.”
  • Student comments reflect how important meeting with faculty is to them
  • Focus Fridays had a good return on investment. The program started in 2015 with one program for each of the 3 divisions. Matriculation rates were tied to the amount of faculty involved. Holdgreve-Resendez reported that Admissions stopped getting backing from the Associate Deans and faculty and discontinued the program in 2017.
  • Student feedback consistently reflected the importance of faculty in new student programs.
  • Admissions wants to support underrepresented programs but it can’t be done without faculty involvement.
  • Admissions can provide support for faculty-driven programs like advertising and admissions information
  • Tours are 90 minutes long and cannot showcase every building and program.
  • A&S needs to come up with the program; Admissions will provide the audience and support.
  • Stark asked faculty to reach out to him if they want to get involved. Programs need representation from all departments.
  • Dean White has asked Clint Talbot to put together quality materials representing A&S departments as other colleges have.

Professor Mojzsis suggested a possible ASC recommendation would be for divisions to put together first year student programs; programs are also important involving departments and special interests (e.g. Engineers interested in Chemistry)

Academic Advising Center, Carl Koval

Carl Koval, chair of Chemistry and Biochemistry, spoke on the changes in Academic Advising Program.

CHEM previously had “in-house” advisors, PhD’s in Chemistry who also taught part time. The department was very satisfied with the level of advising given by these advisors. A year ago, the AAC went to a different model where academic advisors were no longer assigned to CHEM but centralized. Professor Koval’s understanding is that the centralized model stresses counseling over knowledge or a particular discipline.

Academic Advisors were asked to accept full time appointments in spring of 2017 or leave the University. Professor Koval posed the following questions: Is this a time to look at this situation? Are other departments concerned? To what extent has the centralized model been implemented? Is there no turning back? How many people advising in the college are no longer here? How many years of advising experience has been lost? Why are first year students only allowed to speak to first year counselors, not the department?

The representatives would like to invite Cindy Justice and Kyle McJunkin to speak about the program; they are both new and the group would be interested to know if they like the new AAC model and how the finances have been affected.

Professor Mojzsis recommended inviting Ms. Justice and Professor McJunkin to an ASC meeting. Dean White would like to see the ASC take this subject on. There was general agreement in the group to move forward on examining the success of the new advising model.

Regents Law 5. RL 5, sec. 5, Stephen Mojzsis

is being studied by the administration as part of a normal and regular review process. The structure and efficacy of faculty governance is enshrined in section 5. The BFA has been asked to review the recommendations which are contained in .

Professor Mojzsis asked the representatives to consider changes in

  • The section on academic freedom and the faculty members right to compose syllabi
  • Curriculum review-with the new core curriculum, 100’s of courses need to be reviewed so it can no longer be handled by the ASC Curriculum Committee. How do we know if academic freedoms are being preserved is we can’t monitor changes?
  • Tenure home change proposal; that tenure home will reside in the university rather than the department
  • Contract extensions for non-tenure track faculty
  • Faculty grievances

Recommendation: Owing to the importance of Regents Law 5 to the structure and efficacy of faculty governance at the University of Colorado in general and the College of Arts & Sciences in particular, that we carefully follow this process in consultation with our colleagues at BFA.

New Dean Search

Dean White was appointed without consultation with the faculty which caused concern over the summer. Professor Mojzsis asked the representatives to weigh in on starting a search for a permanent dean.

The argument against starting a search is that the college may be massively restructured so applications may be fewer. Professor Mojzsis feels there are may be many unforeseen changes in the college’s future and that shouldn’t hold the search for a permanent dean.

Many representatives noted the awkward position the interim dean has been put in and stressed that wanting to start the search for a permanent dean was a matter of faculty governance, not a lack of support for Dean White.

Recommendation:ĚýThat the Provost search for a new (non-Interim) Dean and that this should be conducted as soon as possible. This should be done within the purview of normal faculty governance, tradition and Laws of the Regents, and that the parameters of the search be clearly defined (internal, or external) with a definite timeline.

Professor Mojzsis will let the representatives know when he has made an appointment with the Provost concerning the compilation of a search committee for a permanent dean.

Excellence in Research and Teaching with Tenure and Promotion Incentives, Andrew Martin

See Addendum A, attached

Professor Martin collected data on Excellence in Teaching while chair of the ASC Personnel Committee. The designation of Excellence in Teaching is very rare, only awarded a handful of times in past 10 years.

The culture of what Excellence in Teaching is differs in departments so the college is not effectively communicating the college standards.

Professor Martin wants to see the college value their colleagues. If a faculty member gets votes of Excellence in Research and Teaching in a pivotal point in their career, Professor Martin wants to start the conversation to considered rewarding these professors.

Dean White would like Excellence in Teaching to have a fair, known, standard that is rewarded.

Excellence in research and teaching could be recognized or rewarded in different ways. It was suggested this designation could also be taken into consideration at merit review time.

Professor Mojzsis will work with Professor Martin to collect more information to present to the ASC.

Open discussion of the Chancellor’s “Be Boulder” announcement

The “Be Boulder Pact”, will commence in fall 2018. This will “(e)liminate all course and program fees charged to students (except for Residential Academic Program fees)”.

Recommendation:ĚýThat specifics be provided on how exactly we will fund this policy change.

Dean White told the representatives that the CFO has set aside 8.4 million dollars that has come from an increase in enrollment revenue to reimburse departments for the loss of program fees. Instead of asking parents, the departments will get a set amount from the campus. This is a difficult budgeting issue the college is working on. A committee is being formed, with A&S well represented, to work out details. Contact Amy Lavins if you are interested in joining the committee.

General dissatisfaction was expressed with administration making this change and leaving the details of working it out to the colleges.

Professor Mojzsis asked the representatives to look at the remaining agenda items that were neglected for time restraints.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:02PM.

Minutes submitted by Janice Jeffryes