George Mason University
Approved Minutes of the Faculty Senate
November 1, 2000
Senators Present: K. Avruch, E. Blaisten-Barojas, D. Boileau,
B. Brown, L. Brown, J. Censer, R. Coffinberger, R. Conti, M. DeNys, R. Diecchio,
R. Ehrlich, E. Elstun, P. Feerick, T. Friesz, D. Gantz, H. Gortner, G. Hanweck,
M. Holt, R. C. Jones, D. Kuebrich, J. Moore, L. Rigsby, L. Rickard, L. Rockwood,
S. Ruth, J. Scimecca, L. Seligmann, A. Sofer, C. Sutton, P. Wilkie, S. Zoltek,
S. Sanchez, P. Stearns.
Senators Absent: K. Alligood, W. M. Black, L. Bowen, P. Buchanan,
R. Carty, S. Cheldelin, S. deMonsabert, T. Domzal, J. Flinn, M. Ford, K. Gaffney,
M. Grady, L. Griffiths, M. Gunn, K. Haynes, A. Kolker, M. Krauss, L. Lederman,
C. Mattusch, A. Merten, R. Nadeau, E. Price, R. Rubenstein, J. Sanford, P. So,
P. Story, D. Struppa, C. Thomas, J. Zenelis
Guests Present: Hiroko Iguchi, Mary Frances Kordick, Mary Lee
Vance, Nancy Dickerson, Joseph Kanyan, Maurice Scherrens, Susan Jones, Fran
Herrity
I. Call to Order
Chair, Don Boileau called the meeting to order at 3:05 pm
II. Approval of Minutes
The minutes of the October 4, 2000 Faculty Senate Meeting were approved with
the following corrections:
Correction on Senators Present: Dr. Peter Stearns should have been on this list
of senators.
Reports under Organization and Operations Committee: Section C should read all
committees should meet and elect a chair.
A. Sofer’s report on the Board of Visitors should read Interim Directors,
Institute of the Arts, Rick Davis spoke on behalf of the Dance Department’s
request.
The Senate of VA report should read: E. Elstun reported on a proposal to amend
the Code of Virginia to have one or more peer-elected faculty serve on boards
of visitors. The proposal has been given to Morgan Griffith, Majority Leader
in the House of Delegates, for placement on the General Assembly’s agenda.
III. Announcements
Don Gantz reported on the President’s Council meeting, which he attended
on Oct. 17, 2000.
1. Helen Ackerman, VP University Relations, gave a presentation on the current
structure of the Media Relations Office. She spoke on the issues related to
getting out public relations information concerning GMU.
2. GMU is now working on a development plan for potential developers to have
cooperative use of 75 acres on the West campus.
3. Peter Stearns presented his draft of the Distributed Campus Plan for the
University. A draft will be available for your perusal at the Senate Office.
4. D. Gantz reported faculty raises are proposed by SCHEV to be at 3% for the
next two years. Maurice Scherrens office is working on a strategy to justify
an increase by SCHEV in their raise rate for GMU faculty salaries.
Jack Censer announced an upcoming Finley Lecture Series, which will be held
November 16, 2000. This lecture series is on Women’s Rights with free
admission at 3:30 pm – The Case of the Broken Baseball Bat: Women, Citizenship,
and Violence with Linda Kerber, Ph.D. as speaker in the Johnson Center Cinema.
She is a professor at the University of Iowa. At 8:00 Patricia Schroeder will
speak on Challenges in America’s Future: Women’s Rights in the Harris
Theater. She is a former congresswoman; president and CEO of the Assoc. of American
publishers.
Don Boileau announced a lecture on Globalization and International Education
featuring Thomas L. Friedman, Pulitzer-Prize winning correspondent for the New
York Times on Tuesday, November l4, 2000 at 7:30 pm in the Concert Hall.
Dr. Merten; president, will speak to the Faculty Senate, Staff Senate, and Student
Senate on November l5 at 3:00 in the Johnson Center Assembly Room B.
IV. Unfinished Business
None.
V. New Business
Maurice Scherrens informed the Senate of the Institutional Performance Agreement
submitted on October 6, 2000 to the Governor. This IPA serves as a budget request
from the University. Five universities were requested to submit IPA’s:
Virginia
Commonwealth University, University of Virginia, Virginia State and Norfolk
State University. Additions/Suggestions should be forwarded to Don Boileau or
Peter Stearns.
Maurice Scherrens announced the Capital Improvement is proposed as follows:
Academic 4, Academic 5, Arlington 2, Prince William 3, refurbishing of Thompson
Hall, the Library and Robinson A, totaling 100 million dollars.
H. Gortner announced a 99% capacity at the library with resistance in Richmond
to add library space. This item is addressed under Distributed Campus in the
IPA.
Don Boileau will meet with the Dean and Directors on Nov. 2, at 8:30 am regarding
faculty reviews.
Academic Policies Committee – Esther Elstun
The proposed Articulation Agreement with Northern Virginia Community College
was addressed. The motion was read by E. Elstun and discussion
followed.
The Senate thanked Fran Herrity for her insight into NVCC curricula. NVCC has
accepted the three proposed changes brought before the Senate. It was moved
and seconded to accept the Academic Policies Committee recommendation of endorsement
of the proposed Articulation Agreement between George Mason University and Northern
Virginia Community College, with the following suggested changes:
Item B.l. that the first sentence read: “Students completing an AA or
AS at NVCC will be considered to have met all lower division University general
education requirements at Mason, subject to the exceptions specified in the
transfer guides.
Item B.1. that the third sentence read: “Students not fulfilling major-specific
lower division Mason requirements will need to fulfill these requirements.”
Item B. 13. that the first sentence read: “If a student completes an AA
or AS (except in General Studies) degree at NVCC and transfers to Mason, Mason
will honor the transfer guides and GMU catalog degree requirements in effect
for the two years prior to the student’s completion of the NVCC degree.”
The motion passed.
Facilities, Support Services and Library – Stan Zoltek
Present: Harold F. Gortner, Elizabeth M. Gunn, Jennifer Stone (staff), John
G. Zenelis, Stanley M. Zoltek (chair)
John Zenelis, University Librarian, gave an overview of on-going initiatives
at the University Libraries. A summary follows:
Budget - The Libraries have been granted a base budget increase
for library materials in order to cover cost increases due to inflation for
FY2001. The libraries received added funding for the Arlington Library (two
additional librarians and three classified employees in FY2000, and one classified
employee in FY2001).
University Copyright Office - The University Copyright Office
is now administratively part of the Libraries. The responsibilities of the Copyright
Office have been expanded beyond its former function of supporting the course-pack
service of Print Services to provide guidance and assistance to the University
community on copyright and fair useissues impacting: classroom teaching and
technology, online courses, distance education, university publications, University
web sites, library collections and services, electronic course reserves,
electronic database licensing, and digital theses and dissertations.
VIVA – VIVA was granted over $1M in additional support
this year. Much of the new funding will be directed toward expensive-to-support
disciplines such as sciences, technology, and biomedicine.
Users Satisfaction Survey - The Libraries’ conducted
a users satisfaction survey in Spring 2000. The overwhelming majority of respondents
were satisfied or very satisfiedwith library services. Noise in the Johnson
Center library was the most frequent
criticism. Survey questions relating to why patrons use the library and what
services they need, want, and expect will aid in developing future library services
and program.
Fee for Print - The University’s Fee for Print system
should be functional within one month. The installation of this system was delayed
because of difficulties receiving delivery of equipment from a vendor.
Electronic Books - In the coming weeks, electronic books from
Net Library will be available on the Libraries’ web site. Eventually 20,000
books in a wide variety of disciplines will be available to GMU users through
agreements with the Washington Research Library Consortium (WRLC) and the Southeastern
Library Network (SOLINET). It is anticipated that these books will be incorporated
into the Libraries’ on-line catalog in due time.
Virtual Reference - A virtual reference service pilot is being
planned. Librarians will use chat software to communicate with patrons. This
follows the trend of de-emphasizing the reference desk and finding alternate
means of communicating with patrons.
Renovations of Fenwick Library - Renovations to improve the
aesthetics of Fenwick Library as well as the building’s useful life will
begin next summer. This work will need to be completed during summer breaks
because areas cannot be easily shut down due to space constraints. Renovation
priorities are currently being established.
Inventory - An inventory of Fenwick Library was done for the
first time in many years. Approximately 20,000 problems items were found (out
of approximately 564,000 volumes). An inventory of materials held in the Johnson
Center Library is currently
underway.
Pre-1980 Journal Titles - In August 1999, approximately 2,100
pre-1980 journal titles (22,500 volumes) were sent to the Arlington Campus Library
because of Fenwick Library space constraints and unsafe floor-load conditions.
These journals are now available to the Fairfax and Prince William campuses
through intercampus delivery. A study of document delivery statistics demonstrate
that none of these journal titles are requested often enough to necessitate
moving them back to Fenwick Library.
Recruiting - Applications are currently being accepted for
two vacant librarian positions. The newly created position of Instruction Coordinator
will assist in moving library instruction to an information literacy model.
The redefined position of Multimedia and Liaison Librarian for Interdisciplinary
Programs will serve as the liaison librarian to a cluster of interdisciplinary
programs and take the leadership role within the University Libraries regarding
multimedia issues. The University Libraries is interviewing applicants for the
position of Director of Development. This position will handle fundraising for
the Libraries as well as for selected IT initiatives.
Faculty Matters Committee – Joe Scimecca
Report of the Faculty Senate Ad hoc Committee on Summer School Compensation
Prior to disbanding, the Faculty Senate Ad Hoc Committee on Summer
School Compensation (consisting of Larry Bowen, Rick Coffinberger and Joe Scimecca)
reviewed data on the Summer Session of 2000 to confirm that the March 2, 2000
Memorandum of Agreement signed by Provost Peter Stearns and Faculty
Senate President Don Boileau was successfully implemented. We are pleased to
report that the Ad Hoc committee believes that during the Summer Session
of 2000 the University’s Administration did comply with the conditions
of summer teaching compensation as put forth in the Faculty Handbook.
We base this judgment on the following:
1. Only 25 courses taught by full-time faculty were not compensated at the rate
of 10% per course as stipulated in the Faculty Handbook. Of these 25,
22 were taught by administrative faculty, were team taught, or represented such
special arrangements as variable credit courses, independent studies, and internships.
The remaining 3 courses were taught at a reduced rate with the approval of the
faculty member, who chose to teach the course at a reduction rather than have
the course cancelled for low enrollment. Since 98 full-time faculty were not
paid at 10% for teaching in the Summer Session of 1999, substantial progress
was achieved toward the goal of insuring that all full-time instructional faculty
teaching during the Summer Session paid the 10% per course rate specified in
the Faculty Handbook.
2. Fifty-four percent of the courses offered in the Summer Session of 2000 were
staffed by full-time faculty. While this represented an increase in the absolute
number of full-time faculty teaching summer school as compared to Summer 1999
(an aggregate increase of 4 full-time faculty), this increase must be kept in
perspective. Although this represented an increase in full-time faculty teaching
Summer School compared to summer, 1999, summer 1999 was the highest ratio in
five years. Thus the 54% to 46% ratio in summer 2000 was less than in the summers
of 1998, 1997, 1996, and 1995. Furthermore, all of these ratios were substantially
lower than the 70% to 30% target ratio for the University as a whole (not LAUs)
that was endorsed in 1995 as being a fair and equitable target to insure the
financial solvency of the Summer Session.
3. The summer school continued to generate a large surplus to supplement the
University’s annual budget. The precise size of the surplus is difficult
to calculate because the Commonwealth mandated a 20% tuition reduction in return
for a subsidy in-
state undergraduate students at the rate of $205 per course. While this subsidy
has resulted in a decrease in “reported” Summer Session revenues,
this decrease is misleading because the Commonwealth makes up for the tuition
shortfall by enhancing the University’s operating budget.
4. Although summer school enrollment in 2000 was down 1.8% compared to the enrollment
generated during the Summer Session of 1999, this enrollment decrease represented
a general downward trend for the University as a whole in graduate student enrollment,
with SOM and GSE being the hardest hit. It is our understanding that these two
schools are taking steps to increase student enrollments in Summer 2001. Further,
when contract courses are added to the Summer Session 2000 enrollment, then
the target enrollments established by the University’s administration
were more easily met and actually exceeded.
5. Compliance with the “Memorandum of Understanding” and the Faculty
Handbook provided an unanticipated reward in that Summer School 2000 was
apparently easier to administer than it had been in the recent past. Thus administrative
costs in terms of time expended decreased. For these reasons, the Ad Hoc
Committee believes that it has fulfilled its charge and should be disbanded.
However, the Committee recommends that the Faculty Senate Executive Committee
assume the role of “watchdog” for the Summer Session and deal promptly
and proactively with summer session issues should they arise in the future.
Respectfully submitted for the Faculty Senate Ad Hoc Committee on Summer
School compensation by Joe Scimecca.
J. Scimecca requested any questions senate members would like included in
the Administrative Survey please forward them to him. J. Scimecca requested
the Ad hoc Committee on Summer School compensation be disbanded. It
was moved and seconded to disband with thanks, the Ad hoc
Committee on Summer School Compensation, and transfer the duty to the Faculty
Matters Committee. The motion passed with one abstention.
R. Coffinberger asked whether full time faculty have preference over part time
faculty in summer school teaching in the "Memorandum of Understanding."
The response of the Chair was positive. Also, are there any exceptions to this
rule? The only exception being is if the person is not qualified.
The meeting adjourned at 4:25 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Lorraine Brown
Secretary, Faculty Senate