Behrend Faculty Council Meeting Minutes
September 23, 2024
- Meeting Introduction and Approval of Minutes
- The meeting was called to order by Jason Bennett at 8:00 AM.
- Approval of the minutes from last meeting was motioned (Surzhko-Harned) and seconded (Beaty).
- Leadership Team Update – Ralph Ford
- Progress
- Ralph provided an update virtually.
- Despite challenges, the year is off to a great start.
- Classes are full, and the institution is serving students well.
- Acknowledgment of the efforts made by everyone to manage the challenges.
- Future State Design Initiative
- The Vice President's Office has started the Future State Design initiative.
- A committee of faculty, staff, and external people has been formed.
- Subcommittees for Future State Design
- Each member of the committee is chairing some subcommittees.
- Work on specific areas of the Future State Design initiative.
- Campus Structure and Identity
- Enrollments, research, outreach, and community connections are strong.
- Subcommittees are being chaired to address various aspects, including Identity, Who We Are.
- Progress
- Peer Models and External Partners – Greg Filbeck
- Peer models and identity are being examined.
- External partners are being engaged for future state design.
- Regional Meeting
- A regional meeting will be hosted by the Vice President's office in October.
- Input will be gathered from community members, including advisory boards.
- Strategic Planning
- Ralph took over strategic planning after Ken Miller left.
- The strategic plan needs updating to remove the COVID-era feel.
- Goals related to curricular excellence and student success are being worked on.
- Western Campuses Strategy
- Next visits are to Greater Allegheny and Fayette on October 1, 2024.
- Many students transfer from DuBois through the 2+2 program.
- Efforts are being made to build alliances and change the perception of the 2+2 program.
- Collaboration with 2+2 Schools
- Focus on pitching the portfolio and collaborating with schools.
- Informing students about programs available at other campuses.
- Collaboration with Smaller Campuses
- Pitching the portfolio to smaller campuses.
- Collaborating on programs not available on smaller campuses.
- Inviting students from smaller campuses to career fairs and professional development activities.
- Professional Development Activities
- Engineering faculty collaborating on research opportunities.
- Business team organizing trips to financial planning firms in Pittsburgh.
- Transportation for Career Fair
- No current shuttle service for students without vehicle access.
- Consider implementing a shuttle service for students attending the career fair.
- Personal Touch for Pre-Majors
- Tim in engineering personally invited pre-majors to lunch and career fair.
- Emphasis on personal connection and concierge service for students from smaller campuses.
- Ensure a warm and welcoming environment for visiting students.
- Humanities and Public Health Programming
- High demand for public health programming from smaller campuses.
- A lot of requests are coming in for humanities and public health programming. Efforts are being made to tie into cultural programming and other resources.
- Expand public health programming to meet demand from smaller campuses. Promote available resources and find ways to open up more resources.
- Admissions and Faculty Outreach
- Increased attention from schools in admissions.
- Faculty are becoming more comfortable reaching out directly to counterparts or admissions.
- Campus Visits and Collaborations
- Visits to various campuses including New Kensington, Greater Allegheny, and Fayette. Each campus has unique facilities.
- Organize carpools for faculty and directors to visit these campuses.
- Faculty Senate Updates – Matt Swinarski
- Board of trustees discussed stadium funding.
- Concerns raised about funding athletics vs. students and education.
- Commonwealth Campuses
- Discussion of the budget model.
- Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom Presentation
- VSIP Bid on Budget Model
- The Commonwealth campuses discussed the VSIP bid on the budget model.
- Academic Program and Portfolio Review (ADPR)
- The Provost discussed the ADPR.
- Hanover has been selected as the consulting firm for the program.
- Various teams are in place for the ADPR process.
- Faculty Meetings and Senate Voting
- Jason and Matt discussed setting up faculty meetings between the agenda and Senate meetings to ensure the Behrend Senate has a voice in upcoming votes.
- Board of trustees discussed stadium funding.
- Faculty Showcase, Sabbaticals, Funding, Reviews – Alicyn Rhoades
- Faculty Showcase and Sabbatical Applications
- Faculty Showcase is scheduled for October 30th.
- Posters for the Faculty Showcase have been printed and need to be distributed.
- A separate webinar and small postcards for student engagement in the Faculty Showcase are prepared.
- Sabbatical applications have been submitted and are under review by the research committee.
- Review specific scoring details.
- Academic Semester Research Funding for Undergraduates
- Trying to resolve the research budget. Plan to make an announcement on 2024-09-23, opening a window through early October for funding in November that will go through April.
- Students cannot be paid for research that is taken for credit.
- NTL Professional Development/Sabbatical Money Applications
- Guidelines are being reviewed.
- Encouraged to write applications inclusively.
- Review process is not ironed out yet.
- University-Level Review Process
- The review process for requests is still being worked out.
- Requests are being directed to Kathy Bieschke's office.
- Faculty Showcase and Sabbatical Applications
- Industrial Research Funding – Amy Bridger
- Progress
- Andrew Reed and Tracy Langkilde visited a few weeks ago to discuss funding for research and the Center for Manufacturing Competitiveness. In 2011, industrial research market share was 0.08% at Penn State; it has now increased to 3.4%.
- Provide a chart to Andrew Reed showing the increase in industrial research market share.
- Career Fair
- The career fair is scheduled for September 26, 2024, from 11 AM to 3 PM. Currently, there is a shortage of volunteers, with only two-thirds of the usual staff and faculty available.
- Need more volunteers to help move companies in and interact with them during the fair.
- Encourage students to attend the career fair and offer extra credit for participation. Identify students' dream companies and reach out to those companies to participate in future fairs.
- Corporate Outreach Events
- The first session of the lunch hour series was held successfully. The series is scheduled for the first Thursday of every month from 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM. The event includes a 15-minute speaker session followed by networking.
- Identify and schedule speakers for upcoming sessions.
- Progress
- Committee Updates by Chairs
- Faculty Affairs
- The committee has not met yet. Still short one member from H&SS.
- Follow up on the election results to complete the team.
- Research Committee
- The committee met last week to review the sabbaticals process. The sabbaticals were due on Friday.
- Alicyn was not available to meet during the last week.
- Scholarship and Awards
- Kim Lynch is passing over control to Lisa.
- Follow up with Lisa to confirm the transition.
- Student Life
- Reviewed survey data collected in May. Plan to divide data by months and go over student feedback.
- Invite people at Behrend to listen and exchange ideas.
- Undergraduate Studies
- Meeting next week to focus on retention and student engagement.
- Following up on a couple of things from last year.
- Faculty and Student Support
- Reviewed charges and had questions on some of them.
- Discussed incorporating IUP issues into the new constitution.
- Discussed the role of faculty in promoting international experiences.
- Evaluating the effectiveness of promoting disability services in a fifth-year seminar.
- Uncertainty about whether the IEDC should be a separate committee from the Chancellor's DEI.
- Lack of clarity on the focus of international experiences.
- Uncertainty about the best committee to handle the promotion of disability services.
- Next Steps
- [ ] Get a copy of the constitution to know what is already included.
- [ ] Discuss if the IEDC should remain a separate committee.
- [ ] Think about the focus of international experiences.
- [ ] Discuss at the webinar if promoting disability services should be handled by a different committee.
- Inclusion and Belonging Efforts
- The committee is reaching out to see if new efforts would help with inclusion and belonging.
- Constitution Committee
- Initial meeting held.
- Second meeting scheduled for 09-25-24.
- Focus on simplifying the structure to make the faculty senate function more effectively.
- Reducing the number of senators and committees.
- Constitution Committee is looking at ways to make the structure nimbler and more responsive.
- Challenge in getting the revised Constitution passed given the current structure of voting.
- IEDC Committee
- Discussion on transitioning work to other committees focusing on specific operating areas of the college.
- Academic Computing
- Discussion on whether Academic Computing is redundant. Survey conducted last year showing the need for more discussion on computing and resources. Academic computing has been included in committee work but has had periods of inactivity.
- Take the discussion to the committee for further thoughts. Form an ad hoc committee to address current needs in academic computing.
- Committee Structure
- Proposal to collapse certain committees and form task forces for specific actions.
- Standing charges for committees to review current state and form working groups for actions.
- Committee Structure and Task Forces
- Discussion on the need for a community structure involving representatives from each school.
- Current structure includes 10 committees, some of which are underutilized.
- Proposal to reduce the number of committees to six.
- Task forces can include faculty, staff, and administrators, unlike standing committees which are faculty-only.
- Task forces are nimbler and project-based, potentially multi-year.
- Standing committees often have members who feel their work leads to no actionable outcomes.
- Lack of clarity on accountability and representation in the new structure.
- Next Steps
- [ ] Revise the constitution to clearly define accountability and representation.
- [ ] Gather faculty input before finalizing the new structure.
- Faculty Senate Committee
- Discussion on whether the Faculty Senate Committee or administration should set the vision. Establish a task force to define the vision and charge of the Faculty Senate Committee.
- Task Force Formation
- Task forces can be formed by one of the committees, which is responsible for populating them. Identify which committee will be responsible for forming and populating task forces.
- Faculty Representation and Input
- Faculty input will be sought before finalizing decisions. Guaranteed representation from faculty across different schools has been valuable.
- Concerns about taking direction from faculty affairs that may not prioritize computing.
- Review committee involvement and ensure transparency before voting.
- Committee Overlaps and Focus Areas
- Progress: IEPC and Chancellor's DEI committees have overlapping and distinct focus areas.
- Issues and Risks: Combining committees may lead to loss of focus on specific issues.
- Next Steps: Discuss with the Constitution Committee and Academic Computing to find a solution.
- Faculty Affairs
- Program Reviews
- Progress
- Program reviews are ongoing with both long form and executive summaries.
- Business program reviews are complete in both forms.
- Engineering program reviews are complete in long form, awaiting executive summaries.
- HS&S program reviews are on track for both forms and will continue for another year and a half.
- Science program reviews are in progress, with the first two expected soon.
- Discussion on whether to have a committee formally review program reviews.
- Feedback from stakeholders, including students, advisory boards, employers, and alumni, is being incorporated into program reviews.
- Business programs are available and HNSS programs are on track.
- Engineering programs are awaiting upload confirmation from Tim.
- Science programs have two working drafts that need to be finalized.
- Next Steps
- [ ] Provide access to program reviews for those interested.
- [ ] Decide if the faculty council or a specific committee should review the two-page executive summaries of program reviews.
- [ ] Finalize and upload the engineering program reviews.
- [ ] Finalize the two working drafts for science programs.
- Feedback and Input
- Feedback is being sought from various stakeholders to improve program reviews.
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Allow council members to review program folders and provide input. Determine if program reviews should go through Curricular Affairs or the entire Faculty Senate.
- Access to Program Reviews
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Discussion on who should have access to program reviews and for what purpose.
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Provide access to program reviews to Curricular Affairs and Graduate Affairs. Council members can review program reviews within their own schools.
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- Review Process
- Some schools have mature review processes, while others are in the early stages. Audit programs to determine viability and necessary improvements.
- Progress
- Meeting Conclusion
- The meeting was adjourned by general consent with no objections.