SOS Faculty Assembly

November 28, 2005


Biology:                  Voting: Bard, Chernoff, D. Crowell, P. Crowell, Randall, Watson

Chemistry:              Voting: Malik, Muhoberac, Schultz, Sen, Siegal; Non-Voting: Anliker

CIS:                         Voting: Dai, Fang,  Mukhopadhyay, Palakal, Raje, Tuceryan, JY Zheng, Zou

Geology:                 Voting: Barth, Li, Licht

Math                    Voting: Burkinshaw, Chin, Cowen, Geller, Kuznetsov, Misiurewicz, Mukhin, Ng, Rigdon, Rubchinsky, Tarasov, Watt, Zhu; Non-voting: Rangazas

Physics:                  Voting: Gavrin, Kleinhans, Rader, Vemuri, Wassall

Psychology:           Voting: Appleby, Devine, Fastenau, Fetterman, Goodlett, K. Johnson


 

Barth called the meeting to order at 12:08 p.m.

I.          Approval of Agenda

The agenda was approved.

II.         Approval of Minutes of the Spring Faculty Assembly

The minutes from April 27, 2005 were approved without revision and without dissent. 

III.       Bylaws Changes (Discussion and Vote)

            Fastenau verified that we had a quorum.  Of 122 voting faculty, 36.9% (45) were present, exceeding the 25% (31) required by the Bylaws.

 

             A.        Structure of Offices of the Faculty and Succession Policy

 

                        Barth summarized the proposed changes (attached and distributed by Fastenau to the faculty by electronic mail on 11/18/05).  There were concerns that the 3-year term (1 year in each role as Secretary/President-Elect, President, and Past-President) might be too long.  Barth explained that the 3-year term would provide continuity.  Fastenau added that a year in the role of Secretary/President-Elect would enable that person to get acquainted with the issues in the SOS and with the operation of the Steering Committee.  Fastenau added that under the current system a person would serve 4 years if they started as Secretary before being elected into the President role.  An alternative structure with staggered 2-year terms was mentioned, but there was no further discussion on that option.  Barth called for a vote on the original proposed 3-year-term revision; 25 of 45 (55.6%) voted in favor of the revision.

 

             B.        Revision of the Technology Committee section

 

                        Gavrin summarized the proposed changes (attached and distributed to the faculty by electronic mail on 11/18/05).  Committee membership was discussed, as well as voting status of the Dean’s staff.  Kleinhans proposed an amendment, adding the following sentence to the “Membership” paragraph:  “Nonvoting members may also include department and school-wide IT personnel.”  Further discussion led to inserting this sentence after the 2nd complete sentence in the proposed revision.  Randall also asked whether the chair should be elected within the committee.  Malik believed that the Technology Committee preferred to have the Dean’s designee chair the committee. 

 

                        Barth called for a vote on the amendment to amendment:  The vast majority voted in favor of adding the new sentence to the proposed revision (a formal count was deemed unnecessary).

 

                        Barth called for a vote on the amended amendment:  The vast majority voted in favor of the revised Bylaws amendment (a formal count was deemed unnecessary).

 

             C.        Addition of an Assessment Committee section

 

             Gavrin summarized the proposed changes (attached and distributed to the faculty by electronic mail on 11/18/05).  Ng proposed a friendly amendment to change the last sentence to read:  “respond to information requests from the IUPUI Program Review and Assessment Committee.”

 

                        Barth called for a vote on the amendment to amendment:  The vast majority voted in favor (a formal count was deemed unnecessary).

 

                        Barth called for a vote on the amended amendment:  The vast majority voted in favor (a formal count was deemed unnecessary).

 

IV.       Dean’s Report and Question-&-Answer Session with the Faculty

            Dean Cowen announced that Geology will be renamed “Department of Earth Sciences,” pending final approval.

 

            Many of Dean’s office staff moved to Waterway.  Construction in LD 222 is expected to begin in February.  Plans are available for review in Pam Crowell’s office.  Staff members who regularly meet with students will continue have offices in LD 222.

 

            The Medical Information Sciences Building at the North end of the Canal will house School of Medicine investigators who do not use wet labs for their research.  Dean Brater invited SOS to use a portion of the space; math and computer science faculty (and possibly other faculty who do not require wet labs) will have research space there, with the goal of faculty mingling and collaborating more with statistical and computer science investigators in medical school.  It was asked whether or not those faculty would still have their offices in LD/SL; the Dean anticipated that they would have offices in both locations.

 

            Dean Cowen provided an update on Linda Chezem’s appointment.  Chezem was being considered for an SOS appointment with Forensic and Investigative Sciences (without an appointment in an SOS department).  The SOS Unit Committee did not feel comfortable with a tenured/tenure-track appointment in SOS without an appointment in an SOS department.  There was also concern for appointment without a formal search.  Dean Cowen announced that Chezem will continue in her tenured appointment at PUWLand will have shared time at IUPUI SOS as her schedule permits.  Dean Cowen also plans to develop procedures for non-search appointments this year.  Ng asked about the composition of a committee for such appointments; Dean Cowen expected it to be an ad hoc committee.

 

            Dean Cowen encouraged faculty to share any concerns or criticisms with him at any time on any issue as early in the process as possible.

 

            Dean Cowen is aware that faculty are concerned about finances.  Most of our money comes from Tuition & Fees.  One-sixth comes from state appropriations.  F&A is only 4%, and miscellaneous of ~1%.  Based on this profile, Dean Cowen proposed that the best ways to increase the SOS budget is to teach more and to talk with legislature, but he does not expect the latter to be an easy sell.  In terms of expenditures, fixed expenses (e.g., salaries and administrative costs) add up to 90%.  Approximately 10% ($2.8 million) was available for allocation to departments for non-mandated expenses; that was distributed to departments in July.  We had several hires with significant start-up costs (almost $900k) and renovations ($200k), leaving $1.7 million for allocation to departments.  Additional cash resources are available from salary savings and carryover from last year, as well as an additional $250k per year that was awarded to the SOS.  The cash resources are only $2.3 million, leaving us approximately one-half million short of commitments in start-ups, renovations, and 2nd allocations requested by departments.  We expected to have surplus, but our actual tuition income was below expectation. 

 

            One possible reason for the deficit is a reduction in teaching.  Because we rely on service teaching, we are at the mercy of the vagaries of other programs (some of which experienced declines in enrollment this year).  We need to view each class that we teach as a recruitment opportunity (to sell students on other SOS courses and on an SOS major) and as a retention opportunity (help struggling SOS students succeed so that they can continue in their SOS majors).  Many students are taking lower-level courses elsewhere (e.g., at Ivy Tech); we counted on that, but we need to replace them with new, quality students.  IUPUI was cutting edge in developing courses for TV, but that is considered passé now.  We need to now consider expanding online instruction.

 

            The SOS is in better shape financially than most units on campus.  The university is now reorganizing the budget, but Dean Cowen is not aware of how that is progressing right now.  The SOS certainly depends on research dollars, but in this funding climate we cannot expect ICR to carry us.  Dean Cowen opened the floor for questions.

 

            Fetterman and Ng asked if the reserve cash was included in the numbers presented.  Dean Cowen reassured faculty that we still have $600k in reserve.  Ng noted that there is still a structural deficit looming, and Dean Cowen confirmed, adding that this will affect hiring for next year.  Malik asked if the $862k in start-up funds is the total 2-year commitment for new hires or if it is the expected expense for this year only (excluding the portion of the commitment for next year); Dean Cowen confirmed that this was this year’s portion only.  Misiurewicz and Ng asked if the carryover cash would be affected by shortfalls next semester; Dean Cowen confirmed that if the tuition income next semester is below expectation then the shortfall will increase.  There were no other questions about budget.

 

            Ng asked about IUPUI Commitment to Excellence (CTE) proposals.  Deans were informed that there were 14 proposals (5-page proposal stage).  Dean Cowen stated that we were able to support 12 and agreed to support all 12.  Gavrin is organizing these efforts.  The committee will decide soon which proposals will go to the full proposal stage, and these proposals will be due 12/15.  Gavrin invited faculty to contact him for more information on the proposals that came into the SOS.

 

V.        Web-Based Format for Administrative Reviews

            Fastenau explained that under the Bylaws passed by the SOS Faculty in Spring, chairs and deans will be evaluated by faculty every year.  To facilitate this process, the Steering Committee is considering electronic survey formats.  There are several software programs that are designed to maintain anonymity (e.g., sending out a survey link and unique, randomly generated password to each eligible respondent) and returning the results to a database in de-identified fashion.  Barth asked if faculty had any comments or concerns; none were expressed.

 

VI.       School of Science Committee Reports

            A.        Steering Committee

 

                        No Report

 

            B.         Educational Policy Committee

 

                        Gavrin reported for Fang (Chair).  Several new courses were proposed, which the Committee will consider and forward to the Remonstrance Committee for the University.  There was no information on the status of individual proposals.  Faculty can contact Fang for additional information.

 

            C.        Nominations and Awards Committee        

 

                        Rajeev Raje (Chair) reported that the Committee was asked to solicit nominations and select our (SoS) representative for Purdue's InterFaculty Council.  Jeff Watt was selected unanimously as that representative.

 

            D.        Graduate Affairs Committee

 

                        Pam Crowell, Dean’s Office Liaison to the committee, reported that they approved five new Computer & Information Science graduate certificates.  All five were approved at the campus level last week.

 

            E.         Research Committee

 

                        Pam Crowell, Dean’s Office Liaison to the committee, reported that PRF applications are due today.  That will be the major focus for this committee this semester.  The IUPUI SOS will get 1 PRF and 3 International Travel Grants, which are selected by our SOS committee, and Summer Faculty grants, which are selected by Purdue.

 

                        Crowell plans to hold a workshop in January on grant application strategy.  Crowell held a grantwriting workshop earlier this semester.  Also, the Thesis Formatting Workshops are continuing each semester for graduate students; these were successful (resulting in higher rates of compliance with formatting guidelines) and will be continued.

 

                        Three departments (Biology, Chemistry & Chemical Biology, and Computer & Information Science) recently submitted GAANN graduate fellowship grants.

 

            F.         Technology Committee                             

 

                        Andy Gavrin, Chair, referred faculty to his report (addendum to the agenda and minutes).  He then invited questions.  Kleinhans asked if the Technology Committee could convey to the University that faculty like laptops and want to expand the allocation of laptops.  Gavrin reported that UITS did purchase laptops at a bargain some time ago; they have sat in storage unused, and now are close to being antiquated.  There is concern about laptops due to the expense to purchase and maintain them, and they put stress on IT staff because laptops require more repairs and contract more viruses than desktops due to worldwide travel.  SOS staff continue to support faculty- and grant-purchased laptops, but they will not advocate for the university to replace desktops with laptops at this time.

 

            G.        Academic Appeals Committee

 

                        No Report

 

            H.        Unit Committee

 

                        David Malik, Chair, issued a written report in advance of the Faculty Assembly.  His report was distributed with the agenda in the meeting and appears as an addendum at the end of the minutes.

 

            I.          Library Committee

 

                        Marcos Betancourt, Chair, issued a written report in advance of the Faculty Assembly.  His report was distributed with the agenda in the meeting and appears as an addendum at the end of the minutes.

 

            J.          Teaching and Learning Committee

                        No Report

 

VII.      Announcements

            None.

VIII.     New Business  

            None.

Barth adjourned the meeting at 1:41 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Phil Fastenau, Secretary of the SOS Faculty, December 5, 2005

Revised to incorporate faculty corrections to distributed minutes, December 8, 2005

 

Approval pending.


SECTION IV. OFFICERS OF THE FACULTY

 

Subsection 1. The President of the Faculty

 

The President of the Faculty shall be a member of the Voting Faculty and shall be elected by the Voting Faculty at the last regularly scheduled meeting of the appropriate academic year. In the absence of a meeting at the scheduled time because of unforeseen circumstances, a mail ballot shall be conducted. The President's term of service shall be one year, to commence August 1 prior to the start of the Fall Semester upon completion of the term as Secretary. after the President's election. No President shall be eligible for a third consecutive complete term. The President shall:

 

a) communicate to the faculty all matters concerning the responsibilities, duties, and academic and professional welfare of the faculty that come before the School of Science and the university,

 

b) preside over Faculty Assemblies,

 

c) preside over meetings of the Steering Committee, and

 

d) upon invitation of the Dean represent the faculty on, or designate a representative from the Voting Faculty to, the School of Science Chairman's Council,

 

e) maintain contact with the School of Science representatives on the IUPUI Faculty Council and report as needed to the Steering Committee, and

 

f) appoint an interim secretary from among the Department representatives of the Steering Committee in the absence of the Secretary from a regularly scheduled meeting, to prepare and distribute minutes of that meeting,

 

d) perform other duties appropriate to that office and the desires of the faculty.

 

Should the President be temporarily or permanently unable to perform the duties of that office, the Secretary of the Faculty will assume the position of the President.  the Past-President will assume the position of the President. Should the Past-President be unable to do so, the Secretary of the Faculty will assume the position of the President.  Should the Secretary of the Faculty be unable to do so, the Steering Committee will elect one of its Department representatives to assume the position of the President in the interim, for the remainder of the term, or until such time as a mail ballot is conducted to elect a new President from among the Voting Faculty, whichever is shorter.

 


Subsection 2. The Secretary of the Faculty

 

The Secretary of the Faculty shall be the Secretary of the Steering Committee and President-Elect of the Faculty, and shall be elected by selected by that committee from among the Voting Faculty at the last regularly scheduled meeting of the appropriate academic year or at the earliest opportunity in the first year of adoption of these bylaws. In the absence of a meeting at the scheduled time because of unforeseen circumstances, a mail ballot shall be conducted. The Secretary of the Faculty's term of service shall be one year, to commence August 1 prior to the start of the Fall Semester after the Secretary of the Faculty's selection, and upon completion of this term the Secretary of the Faculty shall assume the position of President of the Faculty or upon selection in the first year of adoption of these bylaws. No Secretary of the Faculty shall be eligible for a third consecutive complete term. The Secretary of the Faculty shall:

 

a) maintain a roster of the faculty of the School of Science, including name, rank, tenure and voting status,

 

b) have prepared and distributed the agenda of all Faculty Assemblies as prescribed in these Bylaws,

 

c) have prepared, distributed, and verified ballots (including mail ballots) for all elections conducted by the School of Science Voting Faculty,

 

d) have prepared and distributed minutes of all Faculty Assemblies within ten days after each assembly,

 

e) maintain permanent records of all legislation passed by the Voting Faculty, of all resolutions adopted, of all matters under current consideration, and of all actions taken by the Dean's Administration to implement legislation passed by the Voting Faculty,

 

f) each year have compiled and distributed to the faculty a list of the members of the standing and ad hoc committees of the faculty,

 

g) have maintained a collection of the minutes of the standing and ad hoc committees of the faculty, and have caused them to be deposited in the appropriate archives,

 

h) in the absence of the President and Past-President, preside over Faculty Assemblies and the Steering Committee, and perform other duties appropriate to that office and the desires of the faculty,

 

i) be a non-voting, ex-officio member of the Steering Committee,

 

j) maintain a record copy of these Bylaws and The Purdue University School of Science in Indianapolis Criteria and Documentation Guidelines for Promotion, Tenure, and Reappointment, and transmit copies of approved amendments and revisions to the Bylaws to the Dean of Faculties of the University and the President of the IUPUI Faculty Council for information, and

 

k) maintain the official copies of the operating procedures of the standing committees.

 

Should the Secretary of the Faculty assume the position of President of the Faculty as stated in Subsection 1 or be temporarily or permanently unable to perform the duties of the Office of Secretary, the Steering Committee will elect one of its Department representatives to assume the position in the interim, for the remainder of the term, or until such time as a mail ballot is conducted to elect a new Secretary of the Faculty from among the Voting Faculty, whichever is shorter.

 

Subsection 3. The Past-President

 

The Past-President shall be a member of the Steering Committee.  The Past-President’s term of service shall be one year, to commence August 1 upon completion of the term as President.  The Past-President shall:

 

a) be a non-voting, ex-officio member of the Steering Committee,

 

b) upon invitation of the Dean represent the faculty on the School of Science Chairman's Council,

 

c) maintain contact with the School of Science representatives on the IUPUI Faculty Council and report as needed to the Steering Committee,

 

d) serve as an interim Secretary of the Steering Committee in the absence of the Secretary from a regularly scheduled meeting, to prepare and distribute minutes of that meeting, and

 

e) in the absence of the President, preside over Faculty Assemblies and the Steering Committee, and perform other duties appropriate to that office and the desires of the faculty.

 

Should the Past-President be temporarily or permanently unable to perform the duties of that office, the Steering Committee will elect one of its Department representatives to assume the position in the interim, for the remainder of the term.

 

 

Subsection 4. The Staff Aide

 

The Dean is requested to appoint a member of the Dean's office staff to assist the President and the Secretary of the Faculty in the execution of their duties and responsibilities to the faculty.


 

 

 

SECTION VII. ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEES

Subsection 3. Standing Administrative Committees

b) The Technology Committee

 

Committee membersMembership.  Voting members of the committee shall consist of the Dean, or the Dean’s Designee, two undergraduate students, and one representative from each Department in the School of Science.  Department representatives may be selected from members of the VOTING FACULTY or the NONVOTING Faculty. At the request of the Dean, this committee shall:

A second Dean’s designee may also be a nonvoting member of the committee.  The committee shall be chaired by the Dean or Dean’s first designee.

 

Duties and Responsibilities.  This committee shall:

 

1. be a forum for the discussion of the use of technology in teaching, research, and service,

 

2. advise the administration on school-wide policies regarding the use of technology in teaching, research, and service,

 

3. advise the administration on the trends and uses of technology in teaching, research, and service,

 

4. establish and review annually a technology plan for the School of Science, and

 

5. advise the administration on the expenditure of funds allocated to the School of Science for teaching, research, and service.

 


 

 

 

SECTION VI. COMMITTEES OF THE FACULTY

Subsection 2. Standing Academic Committees

f)  The Assessment Committee

1.  Membership.  The Committee will consist of one faculty representative from each department who will have voting privileges on the Committee.  One Associate Dean will serve as a non-voting liaison to the Committee from the Dean’s Office. The Committee will also select one of its voting members as a representative to the IUPUI Program Review and Assessment Committee.

2.  Duties and Responsibilities.  This committee shall:

i.                    facilitate the assessment of student learning at School and department levels,

 

ii.                  provide the Associate Dean for Academic Programs with an annual report from each department, which the Associate Dean will collate into the annual School of Science assessment report to be submitted to the IUPUI Program Review and Assessment Committee, and

 

iii.                provide the IUPUI Program Review and Assessment Committee with whatever information it requests.

 


TO:                  School of Science Faculty

 

FROM:            Marcos Betancourt, Chair

                        SOS Library Committee

 

DATE:             November 28, 2005

 

SUBJECT:       Library Committee Fall Report

 

 

 

Sep 22

Held (virtual) meeting to select Library Committee chair (M. Betancourt).

 

Oct 12

Held meeting to organize Library Committee and discuss monographs and journal fund issues.

 

Oct 30

Selected a new formula to compute budget for monographs that includes a factor depending on the number of lecturers. The budget was submitted to Randi Stocker on November 3.

 

Biol                    8,935.03

Chem                 6,099.60

Comp                6,789.20

Geol                  4,837.88

Math                  9,208.75

Phys                  5,314.76

Psyc                  8,814.78

 

 


TO:                  School of Science Faculty

 

FROM:            David Malik, Chair

                        SOS Unit Committee

 

DATE:             November 28, 2005

 

SUBJECT:       Unit Committee Fall Report

 

 

The first meeting of the Unit Committee was scheduled a bit later than had been hoped, so the timeline for completion of its work was less than had been desired. Nevertheless, the Committee was able to evaluate all the dossiers and meet campus timelines. Next year, the first meeting will be scheduled earlier than this year and dates set that ensure at least two weeks for dossier review. This may necessitate an earlier deadline for dossiers.

This year was the first cycle using the recently approved SOS Promotion and Tenure Guidelines. For the most part, there were no major issues or conflicts, although suggestions were voiced for further clarification in the future. A more detailed memorandum will be sent to the Chairs soon.

Departments are reminded that departmental representatives are elected for two-year terms while Dean’s appointments are one-year terms. For cases likely under consideration for next fall, Departments are encouraged to identify external reviewers in the spring semester for solicitation of letters in early summer to ensure the required number of letters are received. Departments are reminded that the format and content of the letters is specified in the appendix of the Guidelines. The requirement of adherence to this format has been long-standing and has not changed with the new guidelines.

The Committee would like to ensure that the process of mailing out the Promotion and Tenure Guidelines to faculty occurs regularly early each Fall Semester.

The Unit Committee elected David Malik to serve as the SOS representative to the Campus Promotion and Tenure Committee.

 


Technology Committee Annual Report

Presented 11/28/05 for calendar year 2005

A. Gavrin, Chair

 

 

Purpose:      To make recommendations to the Dean for the use of student technology fee money, and to discuss and recommend technology strategies for the School of Science

 

5 meetings (2/18/05, 4/1/05, 4/15/05, 9/23/05, 10/21/05)

 

A detailed budget is attached. In round numbers,

 

Item

Amount (to nearest $1000)

STF allocation

                                   400,000

UITS Refund from 2004

                                     29,000

Carryover from 2004

                                       3,000

Total income

                                   432,000

 

                                               

Personnel

                                     54,000

CSCI Unix lab

                                     42,000

Maintenance

                                     10,000

Software Licenses

                                     21,000

SL070 Cluster

                                   102,000

Departmental maintenance funds

                                     86,000

Total fixed costs

                                   315,000

 

                                               

Remaining discretionary funds

                                   117,000

 

 

15 Departmental projects (incl WIS)

                                   104,000

 

 

Carryover to 2006

                                     12,000

(note roundoff error)

 


Major Activities

 

Takeover of Operation of SL070 (one open lab, one reservable lab, 2 testing labs). Expenses are primarily lifecycle replacement of equipment, consultants/proctors, a graduate student manager, and supplies.

 

Reports from UITS Details available from your departmental reps.

Adaptive technology

Einstruction personal response system (“clickers”)

 

Policy recommendations

Dean should not support faculty participation in the UITS “Laptop Deal”

Graduate students should not be charged technology fees.

Bylaws should be amended as recommended and voted on earlier today.

 

Action for 2006

STF proposals due 2/2/06

 


School of Science Student Tech Fee Budget - 2005-2006

4/19/05

Student Tech Fee Allocation 

 

 

 

$400,000

UITS refund

 

 

 

$29,172

Carry-over

 

 

 

$2,909

Total Spendable Allocation

 

 

 

$432,081

 

 

 

Cost

 

Funded

1. Department Budgets (20% of Allocation)

$80,581

 

$86,416.20

 

Per Department =

$12,345

 

 

 

2. Tech support person Salary and Benefits

54013

 

54,013.00

3.  Computer Science Unix Lab

 

$42,000

 

42,000.00

4. General Maintenance School Items

 

$10,000

 

10,000.00

5.  Software

 

$21,076

 

21,076.00

 

     SAS

$1,600

 

 

 

 

     Maple

$4,200

 

 

 

 

     Matlab

$2,703

 

 

 

 

     Sigma Plot

$2,000

 

 

 

 

     Minitab

$1,550

 

 

 

 

     Geo Sketchpad

$500

 

 

 

 

     S+

$523

 

 

 

 

Chemdraw

$8,000

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6.  SL 070 Computer cluster and testing center

$101,746

 

101,746.00

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total Preapproved Items

 

$315,251

 

 

Amount remaining for allocation

 

$116,830

 

 

Department Proposals

 

$104,491

 

 

Amount remaining

 

$12,339

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Proposed Projects

 

 

 

 

 

Geology A

Digital Imagery

approved

 

$8,041

 

Geology B

Infrastructure Update

approved

 

$4,837

 

Chemistry A

Testing Conversion

approved

 

$1,600

 

Chemistry B

CRC Hardware Upgrade

approved

 

$5,456

 

Chemistry C

Modeling Software

approved

 

$5,400

 

Chemistry and FIS

Liquid Chromatograph

approved

 

$16,501

 

Biology

Biopac Units

approved

 

$22,950

 

Psychology A

Web Development

approved

 

$4,950

 

Psychology B

Grading Server

approved

 

$5,500

 

Psychology C

CS Intern

approved

 

$2,000

 

Physics

Backyard Astronomy Eqpt.

approved

 

$1,466

 

Computer Science A

Virtual Network Lab

approved

 

$6,750

 

Computer Science B

Streaming Media

approved

 

$2,750

 

Biology

Projector installations

approved

 

$13,931

 

Women in Science House

Common Area Computers

approved

 

$2,359