Behrend Faculty Council Meeting Minutes

Tuesday, March 1, 2022
8:00 a.m. via Zoom

  1. Call to Order – Edward Evans, Faculty Council & Senate Chair @ 8:01 a.m.
  2. Approval of minutes, with changes, from prior Faculty Council Meeting on February 22, 2022.
    1. Linda Hajec and Matt Ciszek.
  3. Welcome and comments from the Chair, Ed Evans
    1. The last Behrend Faculty Senate meeting ran over; we will allow two hours for the next meeting and can end early if we don’t need the full two hours.
    2. All the large rooms are booked. We will schedule 114 Reed in person (it holds 40) and also run it on Zoom.
      1. C: Hybrid is best for these meetings; you’ll have more attending on Zoom.
      2. C: We need to monitor the chat and how to select the questions/comments between in-person and online. Matt Ciszek volunteered to monitor the chat.
      3. C: Faculty Affairs had this same discussion about monitoring the chat and suggest you alternate the in-person Q/C with the online Q/C so not all the Zoom comments are shuffled to the end.
      4. C: Put the chat up on the computer screens so we all can see the comments.
    3. Workload and BCF10 (the Behrend policy for promotion of fixed-term and standing non-tenure line faculty): BCF10 is being edited, Pam is working through the comments.
      1. C: Kudos to Sara Luttfring for her work on the survey.
      2. C: In terms of marketing, we need to go to our people and let them know what is on the agenda and give them the opportunity to submit comments beforehand.
      3. Q: Is BCF10 ready for discussion at the next Faculty Senate meeting?
        A: Pam Silver would like time to discuss it with Ralph Ford and the Faculty Affairs committee first.
  4. Report from the Chancellor, Ralph Ford
    1. The masking mandate is still in effect, there is no news but there is a leadership meeting at noon today. The Center County campus fluctuates between a red zone and yellow zone, so there may be some unified answer. Local schools are dropping the mask mandates as there are new CDC guidelines.
      1. C: Psychologically speaking, once the masks come off, it will be very difficult to get people to put them back on when we need them.
      2. Q: Do we have specific metrics for what would trigger a return to mask mandates?
        A: The University does.
      3. C: Hate mail is generated because people are weary of wearing masks when they are no longer needed.
    2. Dr. Neeli Bendapudi will be visiting Behrend on March 29, no time is set yet. This will be a three-hour visit with open meetings and a campus tour.
    3. Penn State Board of Trustees summer meeting will be held at Behrend in 2023.
    4. The Federal House opening will be in April, with the actual date still to be determined.
    5. For any interested in aid for Ukraine, Lena Surzhko-Harned is working with Bill Gonda on messaging. We have both Ukrainian and Russian populations on campus.
  5. Report from the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, Pam Silver
    1. I’m working on BCF10.
    2. Qi is working on help for the instructors; if you need anything please let her know.
      1. Q: Is there still testing for the unvaccinated students?
        A: Yes, but very few are non-compliant.
      2. C: There are not that many positive cases and not many students in quarantine or isolation.
  6. Report from the representative to University Senate, Matt Swinarski
    1. The February meeting was all Committee meeting reports. Matt can send a list of what they are working on along with the contact person for each to Lisa Nelson to send out.
    2. Faculty Affairs is also working on workload. Jim Fairbanks is on that committee and might have something to contribute to our Faculty Senate meeting.
    3. The Education Committee is doing a lot of work on changing the policy to offer a synchronous class during closures. Also looking at altering the add/drop deadline to be mid-week so students have a chance to meet with their advisers before the deadline.
    4. March 15 is the next meeting, so there is still time to contact your senators and get your questions or comments sent in.
  7. Closing remarks from the Chair, Ed Evans
    1. Committee reports – nothing new to add
      1. C: Thank you to Pam and Ralph for their leadership and accountability in the past few meetings. I've heard fantastic feedback.
  8. Motion to adjourn @ 8:39 a.m.
    1. Ralph Ford and Carrie Payne