[Faculty] Summary of Faculty Senate Meeting - 9.9.24

Mon Sep 16 10:22:03 MST 2024

Dear CALES Colleagues
Please find notes from the 9.9.24 Faculty Senate meeting below.

SUMMARY OF FAC SENATE MEETING - 9.9.24

  1.
Open Session. Senator Lucy Ziurys, UASC President, Melanie Madden, Senator Joellen Russell, Peter Strittmatter. Time limit is 2 minutes. Maximum number of speakers is four. No comments or votes will be taken. (8 minutes)

Topics spoken on:

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achievements of professional staff at UA - Madden
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concerns re: centralization - Ziurys
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the UA supercomputer - Russell
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concerns re: administrative bloat and non-academics making decisions - Strittmatter

  1.
Statement from the Chair (10 minutes)

Chair Hudson described her priorities for the year, and the plans to work with administration - e.g., undergrad research, gen ed committee, etc. - to address big issues. She raised questions about centralization of IT and Business and the role of the COO, and reiterated that Fac Sen leadership would be closely following changes. One specific issue Chair Hudson wants to work on this year is our campus climate.  She intends to set up opportunities for more voices to be heard and stated that we reject all forms of hate and specifically reject anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.

  1.
Report from the Provost – Interim Provost Ron Marx (10 minutes)

Provost Marx announced the timeline for the new Provost is when President Garimella arrives on Oct 1, and to have the new Provost announced and in place this academic year. The Provost has committed to attending all Fac Senate meetings. He also asked the HeadsUp Leadership and Deans groups to please present complaints about centralization (and Fac Senate) in a systematic, organized way. There is an Interim Vice Provost for Student Affairs (Amanda Krause) to rethink this position and search for a permanent person. Chrissy Lieberman has stepped into the role of Interim Dean of Students. According to Provost Marx, we anticipate a "fractious fall". Free expression will be honored here at UA. Provost Marx concluded by answering questions from the audience, including about UAGC (which is still marching toward integration) although he stated that most of the issues people are wondering about will need to wait until President Garimella is here.

  1.
Information Item: Preview of possible future agenda (to be voted on at a future meeting) – Interim Chair of the Undergraduate Council TBA (5 minutes)
Review of the Undergraduate Minor in Insights Into Healthy Aging<https://facultygovernance.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/2024-08/Proposal_UG%20Minor%20Insights%20Healthy%20Aging_rev08-20.pdf>

Deferred.

  1.
New Business

A. Student Affairs Policy Committee (SAPC) Update – SAPC Co-chairs Kristin Little and Tim Ottusch. (10 minutes)

Tim Ottusch co-presented on behalf of SAPC. Tim et al are working on consolidating info on resources for students, so that it is easy to find / understand / share, including about how to address Basic Needs. Slide deck and links will be shared with all faculty who are highly encouraged to share with their students. Kristin Little co-presented and discussed the Student Stress Cycle and Bear Down Run Down, as well as additional resources that many people likely haven't heard about and would be very useful to share with students.

B. Information about Faculty and Staff Workload Group<https://facultygovernance.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/2024-09/Zeiders_slides_240909.pdf> – Secretary of the Faculty, Katie Zeiders (10 minutes)

Secretary Zeiders reported on the UA Faculty / Staff Workload Study Committee established by the COO / CFO John Arnold - 8 of 9 committee members are finance officers, and 1 database developer. The committee spent the summer collecting data on how each College / unit tracks workload and manages workload. Secretary Zeiders shared some data points - since last FY, faculty have decreased 3.2%, students have increased by 3.4%; we have a high faculty to student ratio relative to our ABOR-designated peers.

Secretary Zeiders also briefly reported on a survey of the faculty - a majority of respondents were career-track faculty. The data were QUAL in nature. Respondents were prompted to report on concerns related to changes taking place at UA.

C. Credit for University Service<https://facultygovernance.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/2024-09/FacultyWorkload_SenateReport9.9.24_final.pdf> – Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs, Andrea Romero, Vice Chair of the Faculty, Mona Hymel (10 minutes)

Andrea Romero presented on faculty workload from the viewpoint of the Vice Provost's Office and distinguished between types of service. She reported on a Faculty Workload Study conducted in 2021. We should examine FTE and not headcount to answer our questions. In 2021, multi-year career track faculty were teaching the highest numbers of student credit hours. The VP for Faculty Affairs has created trainings to help ensure equity in workloads. In 2022, Vice Provost Romero's office released a tool to help people track workload equity. There are different workload distributions by faculty tracks and colleges. The office of the Provost is working with Associate Deans to develop guidelines for workload equity - there is no way to create this at the level of the university since there is so much variation and so it's more appropriate to do this at the College or unit level. Please review slides to see how much variation there is.  Vice Provost Romero answered questions, including clarifying that she has not been involved in the workload study / committee commissioned by COO/CFO John Arnold.

D. Faculty Rights and Resources<https://facultygovernance.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/2024-08/GuideFRR.pdf> – Chair of APPC, Keith Maggert (5 minutes)

Chair Maggert shared a guide to faculty rights and resources for new and established faculty. This guide is available at the Faculty Shared Governance Website.

E. General Education Committee Update<https://facultygovernance.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/2024-09/Remarks-to-Senate-9.9.24.pdf> – Committee Chair, Mark Stegeman (10 minutes)

UWGEC Chair Stegeman reported no further progress toward a report to the faculty and staff about the state of general ed. The committee has not voted to make any recommendations. Stay tuned for more information.

  1.
Report from the Senior Vice President/Chief Operating Officer – John Arnold (15-minute presentation, 15 minutes for questions)

Garth Perry, Chief Budget Officer, oriented Senate Members to the University Budget resources (including the All Funds process) and encouraged campus to look at the Budget Book that was just released to campus last Wednesday via email.  https://budget.arizona.edu/budget-reports.

John Arnold, COO/CFO, briefly reported on a marketing & branding study that was conducted over the summer to explore potential reputational damage because of the financial issues we've been facing.

  1.
Written reports from the President<https://facultygovernance.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/2024-09/President-Faculty-Senate-Report-9-9.pdf>, Provost<https://facultygovernance.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/2024-09/Provost-s-Report-09.09.24.pdf>, Faculty Officers, APPC<https://facultygovernance.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/2024-08/GuideFRR.pdf>, RPC, SAPC, DEI, Constitution and Bylaws Committee, SGRC, Graduate Council, Undergraduate Council, SPBAC, ASUA, GPSC, UArizona Staff Council, Gen Ed Office with UWGEC, C11 (2 minutes)

Please consult the Faculty Senate website for these reports.

Thank you for your continued engagement in shared governance. If you have thoughts/ideas/comments on any of this, we welcome them (via email or our Qualtrics survey <https://uarizona.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9RbcDDtNB6mha1E> https://uarizona.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9RbcDDtNB6mha1E)
Best,
Melanie Hingle, Bobby Torres, & Duarte Diaz

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