September 30, 2002, LD 010, 2:00 - 3:45 pm
Members Present:
Biology: Ruth Allen, Dring Crowell, Doug Lees, Richard Pflanzer, Steve Randall, John Watson, Bonnie Blazer-Yost, Robert Yost
Chemistry: Keith Anliker, Susan Holladay, Barry Muhoberac, Frank Schultz, Stephanie Sen
Computer Science: Andy Harris
Geology: Gabe Filippelli, Kathy Licht, Gary Rosenberg
Mathematics: Paul Bleher, Judy Carlson, Chris Cleveland, Alexander Its, Bob Kleyle, Jon Luke, Michal Misiurewicz, Richard Patterson, Sharon Rangazas, Robert Rigdon, J. Sarkar, Zhongmin Shen, Eva Wailes
Physics: Ricardo Decca, Marvin Kemple, Fritz Kleinhans, B. D. Nageswara Rao, Steve Wassall
Psychology: Lisa Ehrmann, Phil Fastenau, Kathy Johnson, John McGrew
Dean's Office: Joe Kuczkowski, David Stocum, Kathryn Wilson
1. Ruth Allen called the Assembly to order at 2:00 pm, and introduced members of the Chancellor's Search Committee (Anne Belcher, Bart Ng, Bill Schneider) to the faculty. B. Schneider provided an overview of the search process and circulated information about the position (and desired characteristics). (Information may be retrieved at: http://www.iupui.edu/chancellorsearch.htm ) The majority (18) of the committee is faculty, but it is a large committee (30 members). President Brand has requested that the search be held confidentially in order to protect the anonymity of applicants (and ensure that a good pool of applicants is available to choose from). Interviews will be held off campus, and a search firm has been hired to conduct the search. All members of the committee will meet with applicants (and the committee will likely be broken into two groups of 15 to accommodate this process). Meetings should be held in early November, with the final recommendations delivered to the Chancellor by December 15, 2002. Members of the search committee urged faculty to submit names of nominees, and to contact the search committee with questions and/or suggestions. The members of the search committee then proceeded to field questions and comments from members of the School of Science faculty.
Concerns were expressed regarding the closed/confidential nature of the process, the candidates' lack of visits to campus and interactions with faculty, and the relatively short amount of time available for the committee to meet with candidates. Ng clarified that the specific format of the interviews has not yet been determined. Other suggestions offered included, 1) that candidates be at the level of Provost or higher, 2) that the candidate be willing to raise the "non-medical" components of the university to the level of the medical components, 3) that each name submitted to Brand be acceptable to this campus, and 4) that the candidate remain at IUPUI for between 5 and 10 years.
Members of the faculty assembly were again urged to email the committee regarding nominations, as well as suggestions and/or concerns about the search process.
2. The need for a School of Science Policy on Lecturers and Senior Lecturers was then presented. R. Allen introduced the policy setting procedure stipulated in the IU Academic Handbook and stressed the need to modify the School of Science Bylaws to more clearly stipulate the role of Lecturers in a) participation in Faculty Assembly meetings, b) participating in Administrative Reviews, c) participating on School committees (e.g., Nominations and Awards), and d) voting on issues raised at School level committees and Assemblies. R. Allen explained that the Steering Committee will be charged with drafting policy, which will be voted on by mail ballet in Spring, 2003. This forum provides faculty with the opportunity to have input on the policy.
Much discussion ensued concerning the advantages and disadvantages of Lecturer participation in Faculty meetings, with a general consensus that the membership of the Faculty Assembly be inclusive of Lecturers in the School of Science at IUPUI. D. Stocum urged the importance of treating Lecturers as "equally important citizens" of the school, and many faculty supported the notion of Lecturers voting on committee issues pertaining to teaching and learning. Several Lecturers in attendance maintained that voting was less important to them than participation on committees; J. Carlson indicated that she considered committee membership an important vehicle for enabling her opinions (as a Math Lecturer) to be heard. B. Blazer-Yost pointed out the IU Handbook defines Lecturers as Faculty, and that we should be consistent with this document.
The issue of whether voting rights could be made contingent on the type of issue being voted on was discussed, with the example provided of the School of Liberal Arts (where Lecturers vote on issues pertaining to teaching). R. Allen asked who would decide which issues could be voted on by Lecturers. M. Misiurewicz suggested that only faculty be permitted to vote. More discussion ensued, with some members of the faculty emphasizing that Lecturers who perform research on the scholarship of teaching are even better suited than most faculty to vote on issues pertaining to teaching.
R. Allen closed the Assembly by reiterating that consensus appeared to have been reached in terms of Lecturers' rights to participate in assembly and relevant committee meetings, as well as in Administrative Reviews. However, the faculty were split on the issue of voting rights. Should voting rights be granted they would likely need to be specified as linked to issues pertaining to teaching, and perhaps limited to Senior Lecturers. The Steering Committee will continue to work on developing policy on this issue, and members of the Faculty were urged to communicate their beliefs and suggestions to their departmental Steering Committee representatives.
The meeting was adjourned at 3:45 pm.
Respectfully Submitted,
Kathy Johnson, SOS Secretary
10/3/02