Wednesday, September 13, 2017

2017-18 Faculty Senate XXI Minutes Summary for Aug. 28, 2017

Meeting called to order at 3:15 p.m. on August 28, 2017                

I. Roll – The following senators were absent: Baldwin, Burger, Gardner, Gass, Simos, Tenczar, Wake, and Whistler. Akiyama, Karaivanova, and Herold were excused. Woodward served as proxy for Edwards. Doug Bencks, Deb Kinghorn, Nathan Schwadron, and Nancy Targett were guests.

II. Remarks by and questions to the provost – Provost Nancy Target expressed her pleasure to begin her second year at UNH and thanked the members of the Senate for their service, asserting her firm belief in the principles of shared governance.

It has been a busy summer on campus, with the completion of the renovations of Hamilton Smith Hall. There will be a formal opening of the building on September 22. On that date, the new Chase Ocean Engineering building will also open. Ongoing projects include the roof of Holloway Commons, the Olsen Center for Advanced Manufacturing at the Technology Park, the elevator in the Paul Creative Arts Center. Renovations have also begun in Conant Hall and the Hood House. 

Nancy also noted that 5,500 students have visited UNH (both Durham and Manchester campuses) this summer from the K-12 sector. She said that the law program hosted the international WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization), here in the United States for the first time.

There were two issues that the provost wanted to bring up today. First, she spoke about the campus climate, noting that UNH is not alone in the nation in dealing with concerns about diversity and inclusion within the campus community. President Huddleston will be sending out his message of welcome to the community shortly, and will be announcing his presidential task force on campus climate. Jaime Nolan and the provost are co-chairing that group, with Faculty Senate representation on that group. They have been gathering information about what we are doing at UNH about diversity and inclusion, and seeking to discover where the gaps are that need to be addressed. Mostly the task force will be going out into the community to talk to people to pull together input from many voices rather than just a few.

The 2017 NSSE (National Student Survey on Engagement) survey compares our freshmen and seniors with our peer institutions nationally on a number of items such as higher order learning, reflective and integrative learning, and learning strategies. The survey reveals that our freshmen arrive at UNH slightly below their peers in all these areas, and that when they leave UNH, they are above their peers in all areas except for diversity/diverse discussions. She said that our students rate their experience here lower in areas on discussions with people of race, ethnicity, religious beliefs and economic backgrounds other than their own, as well in diverse perspectives in course discussions and assignments. She credits our wonderful faculty with guiding our students to be the best that they can be, and asked what we can do to impact our students’ understanding of all aspects of diversity during their time at UNH. She said that her goal is a grass-roots effort that will engage all members of the community during the next year. She said that in discussions with hundreds of students, staff, and faculty this summer, she has found that everyone wants to be part of the solution to the problems we are facing, and she is encouraged.

She said that over the summer, the enrollments in our social justice workshops skyrocketed, which indicates that people are thinking about this now. 

The second item of current importance to the provost is the search for the new university president. This president will lead us through these turbulent times.  The Board of Trustees and the presidential search committee will soon be announcing several dates for the search firm to come to campus and meet with all campus stakeholders to hear what people have to say about what they feel is important to focus on in this search. She urged faculty to come to these meetings and to encourage others to also come and let their voice be heard.

A senator asked if the faculty could have access to the NSSE engagement study. The provost said that the study is on her office’s website, but she will make that document available to the Senate admin who can share it with the Senate.  She suggested it might be helpful to have someone come to speak to the Senate about the results of the study.

The chair thanked the provost for her time.

III. Approval of the Senate minutes from May 8, 2017, Session XXI and Session XXII – It was moved and seconded to approve the minutes of the May 8, 2017 meeting of Senate Session XXI. Three corrections were offered in Item IV, and one in Item V. Thus adjusted, the minutes were approved unanimously with 7 abstentions. 

Next, it was moved and seconded to approve the minutes of the May 8, 2017 meeting of Senate Session XXII. The minutes were unanimously approved as presented, with 3 abstentions.

IV. Remarks by and questions to the chair – Senate chair Dan Innis said that with the hiring of a new university president and the concerns about campus climate on the topic of diversity and inclusion, it is hard to clearly identify the issues that the Senate will be dealing with this year. He suggested that his observation is that the Senate’s mission is simple: to develop and review policy regarding the academic mission of UNH. This simple mission encompasses a great deal. Several years ago, he worked with the university to re-establish a budget committee, and he noted that there were some who felt this effort was not related to the academic mission of the school. Dan asserted that budget issues directly impact academics in the areas of hiring and support of work. We need to keep our eyes and ears open for items that do impact the academic mission, even if they may not appear to.

Dan said that the Senate will be reviewing the recent Navitas report, the recent Discovery Committee report, and the Honors Programs. The standing committee chairs have received the lists of their committees’ initial charges. The chair asked the committees to work together to get any motions to the Senate floor in a timely fashion to avoid a log jam of discussions at the end of the year.

We will be getting dates soon for the listening sessions with the presidential search firm, here in Durham, in Manchester, and in Concord. He and the COLA dean are representing faculty on the search committee. A senator from the School of Law said that their campus also has a faculty representative on the search committee. He said that the Board of Trustees will vote on the candidates, calling the process largely confidential as is the standard for these kinds of searches.

The chair said that in the ten years he has been at UNH, he has seen a positive trend in the general perception of the work of the Faculty Senate. He asserted that the Senate’s relationship with the administration is more effective, and praised the provost’s ability to listen to faculty concerns.  He said he intends to continue this good work, and thanked last year’s chair for his impact on the growth of the Senate.

A senator asked who is on the Campus Climate Committee. It was pointed out that there are actually two committees, one to oversee the campus climate survey, and then the other committee. Chris Shea serves on the Campus Climate Survey Committee, but it was unclear who might represent the Senate on the other committee.

V. New Business – Due to the scheduling of our Senate visitors today, the chair called for new business at this point. Scott Smith asked to present a motion on behalf of a group of faculty who have written this motion to address issues of diversity and inclusion which were particularly raised last spring.  The writers of the motion are in attendance as guests at today’s meeting. Deb Kinghorn and Nathan Schwadron represent this group of faculty. On their behalf, Scott presented the following motion, offering his endorsement of the concept, and asked the senators for their consideration of it.

Rationale

The subject of civil discourse, and mutual respect, has been discussed frequently in 2017, most often lamenting its noticeable absence. However, the meaning of mutual respect has not been clarified. A model provides simple, straightforward language and actions that would help to identify and create conditions in which mutual respect can flourish. To identify something is to note its importance; to define it is to provide a marker for its use. 

The Faculty Senate is not only a deliberative body, it is a normative body identifying important and central values and actions that guide the academic mission of the university. Consequently, we ask that the Faculty Senate consider the motion below.  While the Senate cannot dictate what the entire UNH community does in this regard, it sends a strong message to our community when the faculty unite behind the principles it says it upholds.

Motion

The Faculty Senate endorses a model of mutual respect in transactions between faculty, students, staff, administrators and other faculty.

Addendum

A Model of Mutual Respect

An environment of mutual trust and respect is necessary if an institution seeks to act with integrity. They are prerequisites for open communication and honest dialogue about the values, goals and expectations held by the institution and its members. Trust and respect require freedom of expression without fear of retribution, institutional or otherwise. Respect for the diversity of persons, ideas and choices differing from one's own strengthens and supports the culture of the university. Establishing and supporting a diverse community encourages discovery and creativity. Both respect for individuals and respect for institutional values involves balancing the claims of personal autonomy with the goals and mission of the institution. All members need to be alert to prevent the power structure of the classroom and the university as a whole from suppressing beliefs and practices. If trust should break down, we need to explore the reasons for the breakdown and identify ways for the community to rebuild trust among its members.

The principles of mutual respect are simple and straightforward to write, but are challenging to put into practice in a consistent manner.  The following are suggestions to aid in the necessary discourse and transactions that occur between faculty, students, staff, administrators and other faculty:

  • Think less of yourself, and more of others.
  • Listen more than talk.
  • Have an open heart and mind.
  • Put yourself in the shoes of others.
  • Make no assumptions about the person with whom you are engaging.
  • Develop curiosity for things, ideas, and people: expand your world.
  • View every person as an individual, not as a group or a label.
  • Ask questions, of yourself and of the person(s) with whom you are speaking.
  • Expand your experience by reading works and/or participating in forums (e.g., seminars, theater, arts, etc.) that offer multicultural perspectives
  • Help teach, develop and/or promote courses that study multicultural perspectives

The following questions are to help establish conditions for mutual respect:

Do I hear you?

  • Did I allow you to finish your thought?
  • Did I hear what you have to say?
  • Do I understand where you are coming from?

What is my frame of mind?

  • Are my actions motivated by fear or anger?
  • What am I communicating non-verbally?
  •  Am I putting you into a category and acting on the ascribed characteristics of that category?
  • Can I pause, breathe and think before reacting?

How can I help?

  • What is your frame of mind (If I were in your shoes, how would I feel)?
  • Will my actions reduce hostility?
  • Will my response escalate or deescalate the situation and humanize or dehumanize the person?
  • How are we relating to one another?
  • Am I in danger?
  • Are you in danger?

Dante Scala seconded the motion, and the chair asked Deb and Nathan to come forward to discuss the motion. Nathan spoke first, saying that the group which created this motion developed out of one of the diversity panels held earlier this year, and their desire to establish and promote an atmosphere of mutual respect in our community. Deb noted that our new faculty seem grateful that we are addressing diversity in a heartfelt way. She noted that the Student Senate is working on a similar document this fall as well. She asserted that this message from the Faculty Senate will send a strong message to the entire community, and noted that the display of disrespect takes many forms and can be multi-directional.

A senator said that she likes the idea of this motion, adding that part of our mission is to educate and cultivate community. She asked how such a motion might be enforced. Deb replied that it’s not really a policy that can be enforced, but that it is up to us to take it up in our own way in our own classrooms. Nathan noted that it is hard to specify attitudes and behaviors in such a document, and that the motion expresses an ideal that we may never fully realize, but that we will come closer through the discussions that will come out of this.

A senator suggested changing the language of some of the statements in the addendum, noting that some of the wording may strike the wrong chord for some. Another senator agreed, noting that the tone of this document seems to be speaking to the majority, rather than to all members of the community. Such a perspective ignores the unequal footing of various members of the community.  A third senator praised the potential of the motion to improve campus climate by changing behavior, but suggested that a major marketing effort is needed for this to catch on. A member of the Agenda Committee recommended sending the motion to a committee, where the motion could be rewritten for clarity’s sake. Deb suggested that the Agenda Committee take on that task, and that it should be taken up right away in order to have the most impact.

A senator from the Communication Department said she has colleagues who teach dialogue, and team work, who she would love to ask to take a look at this motion. Deb suggested that the senator send those names to herself as well as to the Senate chair and the Senate admin.

A senator asked if the university has an action plan in case of a campus-wide emergency. Dan said that the university is working on just such a plan. He said he will bring this up at the dean’s council, noting that this motion may complement any such plan.

Nathan urged the group to move quickly on this, rather than allowing it to get bogged down in committee.

In further discussion, it was recommended to send this motion to the Senate Student Affairs Cmmittee, but with Labor Day weekend interrupting normal committee meetings, that proved impractical. It was moved and seconded to send the motion to the Agenda Committee. The chair said that he will share the draft motion with the provost to see where the university is headed generally on this subject so as not to duplicate efforts.

A member of the Agenda Committee said that she likes this motion, noting that beyond the diversity issues raised last spring, more concerning to her is the general lack of respect across many groups. She said that even if our courses don’t address diversity directly we can teach principles of respect in every class.

The motion to send the proposed motion on mutual respect to the Agenda Committee for further review was put to a voice vote and passed with one vote opposed.

VI. Discussion with Terri Winters, Director, Academic Technology – The chair introduced the director of Academic Technology, Terri Winters, who has come to discuss the implementation of myElements program that is replacing Digital Measures for faculty activity reporting (FAR). This shift will take place this fall. The faculty activity reporting system is a database where faculty can enter all of their professional activities, research, scholarship, and service in order to produce the end of the year reports which are shared with department and program chairs, and with the college deans.  Up until now, UNH has been using Digital Measures as its FAR.

She said that myElements is a research information system that automatically collects information related to research and scholarship using open data sources and licensed library databases.  She noted that other UNH systems will feed personnel, grants, and teaching information into myElements. The new program allows the harvesting of faculty publication data, the consistent effective completion of activity reporting, increases the ease and effectiveness of gathering, aggregating, and sharing scholarly data, which all work together to improve UNH’s standing as a research institution.  Terri said that her office’s goal is that by December 15, 2017, 90% of UNH faculty will have successfully logged into Elements and claimed their publications.

Terri said that all of the data has been migrated from Digital Measures to myElements, although there were certain items that may not have fully migrated (i.e., partially completed forms). An Oracle data base has been created to hold that data, which can be accessed by Academic Technology (AT) so that if faculty find that certain information from Digital Measures is missing from their myElements account, they can submit a request for AT to access and retrieve that information.

She said that faculty activity reporting will be a college/school-specific assessment module within myElements, where requirements from each college or school can be gathered, with a flexible configuration for each college to set their own data collection forms, rules, and review workflow.  All faculty entry screens can include college specific help tips to assist with consistent collection of data. The assessment area allows for uploading and attaching documents created outside the system, and the final report can be exported to Word or pdf documents for printing.

The data collected for assessments (i.e., the number of students supervised) is available for other reporting and data aggregation at the department, college, or system level.  The vendor is providing AT with contacts from peer institutions.

There is a governance board guiding decisions regarding myElements implementation, and the Senatechair represents the faculty on that board.

Terri said that faculty can access training in myElements through 2-hour, weekly drop-in consultation and peer sharing sessions for each college. AT has set a goal to provide scalable, responsive, high-quality support for faculty to access myElements. Each college will have specific transition targets developed by AT, with the first wave in September to mid-October for COLA, Paul College, UNH Manchester and UNH Law and the Library. The second wave will be for CEPS, COLSA, and CHHS, running from mid-October through December.  These waves indicated targeted training and support activities by each college. Terri said that there will be open forums during the fall about the transition, with college-specific emails sharing wave information to help schedule training and “office hours.” By September 18, AT will begin working with faculty to access myElements and claim publications.

Terri emphasized that on September 30, the university’s license for Digital Measure expires. She also noted that updates and information on the transition to myElements can be found at https://unh.edu/myelements  Academic Technology is responsible for the maintenance and support of myElements for information and updates.

A senator asked how much time it takes for the average faculty member to set up their myElements account. Terri said it is under any hour, assuming that there is no need to use advanced searching to find publications. She said that faculty can access myElements using their UNH credentials, and then can identify and claim their publications. She recommends spot-checking their Digital Measures data to make sure that everything has migrated over. The only new information that will need to be entered would be service and professional activities for the current year, which should be entered next March.

Terri also said that the system uses ORCID, which is a researchers’ unique ID number. Once registered, it will help to filter publications by individuals with similar names in order to help faculty identify their own works.

A senator asked about the variety of purposes for which the administration might use the information in myElements, and if it would be a platform for promotion and tenure reviews. Terri said that she cannot speak for the deans, but that the program is multi-purpose. Another senator asked about the word “assessment” in the modules, and it was noted that the assessment is for compiling data, not for assessing faculty.  The chair said that he would ask about myElements use for promotion and tenure review.

 

The Graduate Student Senate President asked if this program is available for graduate students. Terri said that it is not at this time, but that there has been some interest in that function. She said that faculty can include information in myElements about the graduate students that they are mentoring, and noted that Student Success Collaborative is an option, which could be expanded from use solely for undergraduate students.

The chair thanked Terri for her time.

VII. Presentation by Doug Bencks, University Architect and Director of Campus Planning – The chair introduced Doug Bencks, university architect and the director of Campus Planning, who came to give an outline of upcoming projects

There are three projects in line for the next year on campus.  Hood House will be undergoing a modest renovation. In January, the building will house CAPS (Career & Professional Success), Academic Advising, First Year Program, Connect, and Student Veterans’ Services.

Conant Hall has been serving as swing space during the renovations of Hamilton Smith, and now will have its own modest update, after which the building will serve as home to CIEGE (Center for International Education and Global Engagement), the Discovery Program, the Hamel Center for Undergraduate Research Fellowship, the Honors Program, and CEITL (Center for Excellence and Innovation in Teaching and Learning).

The third project will be a new water treatment plant, which should be completed in January 2019. 

Doug said that his office works on the annual requests for space needs and campus improvements to get a comprehensive view of all needs across all colleges and financial units, which are then sent to SAARC (Space Allocation, Adaption, & Renewal Committee). This committee is an advisory committee to the president which looks at renovation and improvement project requests, and facilitates the prioritization of those requests.

 

A senator asked if there were any plans to change or limit parking on campus. Doug replied that the Transportation Policy Committee (TPC) deals with all aspects of transportation, including parking. The Senate has a representative on that committee. The TPC tracks parking quantities across campus every year. He said that the only viable way to create additional parking on the Durham campus is to build a parking structure, and there simply are not funds for such a project. He noted that the current parking fees don’t even cover the costs of maintaining the existing parking areas, and that a donor or some kind of grant would need to be identified in order to take on a project of that magnitude.

Another senator asked about the progress on the proposed biomass facility on the other side of the railroad tracks. Doug replied that Campus Planning is beginning to undertake the design of that project, and construction might begin as early as next fall.  The current system serves all of the campus, extending to the west side of campus, for heating and cooling. A more efficient and sustainable approach would be to terminate those heating lines on the west side of campus, setting up natural gas or biomass systems instead on that side of campus.

A senator asked about buildings on campus which continue to be inaccessible to some students, such as Huddleston Hall.  Doug replied that Campus Planning is aware of the problems in that building as well as in Nesmith, and said that they are looking for funding to alleviate those problems.

The chair thanked Doug for his time.

VIII. Introduction of Student representatives to the Senate – Dan introduced the Graduate Student Senate President, Jovana Milosavljevic-Ardeljan, who will serve as the GSS representative to the Faculty Senate this year.  She said that the major issues that the GSS will be looking at this year are the increase of graduate student fees, providing study space for graduate students, and the facilitation of the transfer of graduate student email addresses to more personalized addresses that students can use as they begin their job searches.

Next, Student Body President Carley Rotenberg was introduced. Also attending today from the undergraduate Student Senate were Audrey Getman and Tyler Anderson, who will represent the Student Senate this year at Faculty Senate meetings. Carley said that the Student Senate session starts in two weeks. The Student Senate will be addressing the resolutions that were passed last year. Also, surveys are going out now to gather ideas about issues that are important to students.

The chair thanked the students for attending.

IX. Adjournment – Upon a motion and second to adjourn, the meeting was adjourned at 4:56 p.m.