FC Minutes September 17, 2004

Minutes of Meeting

September 17, 2004

The meeting was called to order by the Chair, Jerry Calton, at 3:05 p.m.

Members Present: Jerry Calton, Lehua Waipa AhNee, Philippe Binder, Kelly Burke, Iota Cabral, Kaleo Dudoit, Robert Fox, Lincoln Gotshalk, Andrew Grabar, Larry Heintz, Michael Marshall, Bruce Mathews, Ipo Melendez, Jim Mellon, Jene Michaud, Helen Rogers, Danielle Takeshita, Pila Wilson (for Haunani Bernardino)

Ex Officio: Audrey Furukawa, Margaret Haig, Chris Lu

Others: Lai Sha deloSantos, Steve Hora, Jerry Johnson, Niniau Kawaihae, Marcia Sakai, Craig Severance

1. Minutes of the meeting of May 14, 2004

Approved by acclimation.

2. Chair of the Assessment Support Committee

At the May 14, 2004 Congress meeting, Kelly Burke was voted chair of the Assessment Support Committee for 2004-05.   However, he did not get a course off-load and is not   able to assume the responsibility.   The CEC (Congress Executive Committee) proposed to re-nominate Kelly as co-chair and have Nina Buchanan serve as the other co-chair.   Kelly would act as the Congress liaison to the Committee.   Nina has agreed to continue to work with the Committee this Fall semester and get more involved next semester (as she would get a two-course off-load in the Spring).   Robert Fox pointed out that the Congress charter or by-laws do not provide for having a committee chair who is not a current member of Congress.   The resolution was for Kelly to remain as chair, which he agreed to, but to continue to have “unofficial”assistance and leadership from Nina.

New College of Hawaiian Language (CHL) Member

As the newly elected chair of the CHL Faculty Senate, Iota Cabral was recognized as a voting member of Congress.   He agreed to represent CHL on the Congress Academic Policy Committee.

•  Student Representative

Ginger Takeshita, UHHSA President, was recognized as the voting student representative for Congress.   (Other student members are Lehua Waipa AhNee, Kaleo Dudoit, Ipo Melendez, and Danielle Takeshita.)

•  New Members of Congress Committees

The CEC has adopted a new procedure of consulting with the Senate Chairs of all academic units in recruiting members of Congress committees.   New appointments for 2004-2005 include:

  1. Academic Policy Committee:   Andrew Grabar (Humanities), Mark Haines (CAFNRM), Iota Cabral (CHL)
  2. Assessment Support Committee:   Kelly Burke (COBE), Linda Golian-Lui (Library), Jeanie Flood (Natural Sciences)
  3. General Education Committee:   Hank Hennessey (COBE)

Motion:   Approve new members of Congress committees.

Vote: Unanimous approval

VCAA Chris Lu Memo

Congress took note of the memo dated September 1, 2004, from VCAA Chris Lu (“Issues to be addressed by the UH Hilo Congress, academic year 2004-2005”).

•  Status Reports of Congress Committees

Assessment Support: Jerry Calton explained that we would like to have a more permanent, institutionalized approach to assessment, such as in a full-time position.   The current thinking that is being discussed is to appoint a faculty member to a three-year appointment to more fully develop the assessment process and embed evaluation/assessment processes more thoroughly into campus practices.

General Education: April Komenaka (Chair) was not able to attend the meeting but submitted a written report.   The report listed the committee tasks for 2004-2005, which include system articulation, reviewing/revising GE, and a common UH Hilo GE core.

**Academic Policy: ** Jene Michaud (Chair) reported that the tasks of the committee for 2004-2005 include reviewing the hiring and tenure/promotion manual, designing a template for a UH Hilo Academic Plan, working with the Institutional Research Office to review the performance indicators of the Strategic Plan, and work with the college senates and administration to simplify the governance structure and to clarify lines of communication and authority so as to streamline policy-making.

Budget: No report.

Student Success and Retention: Craig Severance reported for Tom Pinhey (Chair) who was not able to attend the meeting.   Last year the Committee decided to research retention-related questions. Lynne Stamoulis organized focus groups of students to gather data that would be used to develop questions for a survey.   The survey was conducted in Spring 2004; about 370 students completed it. A summary of the survey results can be found on the Institutional Research Office website. This year the Committee will begin meeting on September 28 and will meet bi-monthly. Jerry Calton encouraged the Committee to send its recommendations to Congress.

Appointments to Graduate Council

The VCAA suggested a list of faculty members to serve on the Graduate Council for 2004-2005, a body that is advisory to the VCAA.   In a memo dated August 31, 2004 (“Graduate Council”), the VCAA requested that Congress endorse the appointments and elect one member to serve as the liaison between the Council and Congress.

Larry Heintz said that there appeared to be a conflict between what the Congress is currently proposing (endorsing the faculty members who have been proposed by the VCAA) and the resolution made by Congress last year.   He referred to the resolution which states, in part, that “…the UH Hilo Faculty Congress asserts its role in the identification and appointment of members of the UH Hilo Graduate Council.   Faculty appointments to the UH Hilo Graduate Council are made by the UH Hilo Faculty Congress.”   Steve Hora said that the relationship between Congress, the VCAA and the Director of Graduate Programs is unclear.   Chris Lu said that he has met with Dan Brown and together they developed the list of proposed members, and in the spirit of cooperation with Congress, sent the list to Congress for endorsement.   Jerry Calton said that Dan Brown met with the CEC several times as well.

Larry Heintz also commented that the proposed membership consists of faculty members representing current or proposed graduate programs.   He expressed concern about a lack of balance among the disciplines of the proposed representatives and about the composition of a Council that can't help but be an advocate for graduate programs.

Motion: The UH Hilo Congress identifies the eight faculty members and appoints them as faculty representatives to the UH Hilo Graduate Council.   (The eight members include Nina Buchanan, Steve Hora, Jim Juvik, Don Price, Mike Shintaku, Kalena Silva, Enbao Wang, and Steve Worchel.)

Vote: 5 Favored, 3 Opposed. Motion passed.

•  Congress Representative to Graduate Council

Jerry Calton called for nominations for a Congress member to be the liaison between Congress and the Graduate Council. This would be an at-large voting member of the Council who would represent the UH Hilo faculty as a whole. Larry Heintz was nominated and accepted the nomination.

Motion: Approve Larry Heintz as Congress representative to the Graduate Council.

Vote: Unanimous in favor.

Appointments to Research Council

The VCAA suggested a list of faculty members to serve on the Research Council for 2004-2005.   In a memo dated August 31, 2004 (“Research Council”), the VCAA requested that Congress endorse the appointments.

Motion:   Endorse members as recommended by the VCAA. (The members include Ron Amundson, Hank Hennessey, Sonia Juvik, Jim Mellon, Don Price, Bill Sakai, Michael West, and Pila Wilson.)

Vote: 12 Yes, 0 No

Update on the College of Pharmacy (with emphasis on status of assessment of its potential resource impact on undergraduate programs)

Steve Hora reported that when the proposal to establish a College of Pharmacy at UH Hilo went to the Board of Regents (BOR) in March 2004, the budget included two lines of support for science programs (totaling $108,000 in Chemistry and Biology) before students enter the pharmacy degree program.   Lecture and lab space is also designated (in the Pharmacy building plan).   The “B” budget for the Pharmacy program could be used to support undergraduate students in the sciences. Chris Lu reported that the next biennium budget includes about $800,000 a year (with 16 positions) to address enrollment increases. By bringing the Pharmacy degree program proposal to the BOR now, it would allow UH Hilo to start raising funds for the program. The two biggest hurdles are the building and the operating budget for the program. 

CEC Resolution to Clarify Faculty Governance Processes

The resolution proposed by the CEC is as follows: “An ad hoc committee shall be formed to develop rules and procedures for routing and deciding on proposed changes in academic policy that affect more than one academic unit.   This committee shall be made up of chairs of the faculty senates of degree-granting academic units, as well as the chair and vice-chair of the Congress and the chair of the Congress Academic Policy Committee.”

Steve Hora commented that the issue is bigger than routing; he suggested that the committee should develop specific criteria or guidelines for when various organizations act on academic policies.   Robert Fox said that the proposed resolution is one way of addressing this, but another way is for Congress to define what will achieve success.

Motion:   Approve the resolution with the following modification: The rules and procedures that the Committee develops will be considered in effect after they have been approved by the Congress and constituent senates. The CEC accepted this as a friendly amendment.

Vote: 12 Yes, 0 No

•  CEC Resolution on Feedback from Faculty on Doctoral Programs

Acting UH President David McClain has requested feedback from faculty representative bodies on all campuses concerning the appropriateness of the UH Hilo proposal to offer selected doctoral programs. He needs this feedback since the BOR must make an exception to the assigned institutional role of UH Hilo as offering baccalaureate and masters level programs if it is to approve the proposed College of Pharmacy and College of Hawaiian Languages doctoral programs.   The CEC proposes the following resolution: “The Congress Academic Policy Committee will take on the tasks of soliciting faculty input and transmitting its findings to Acting President McClain before the next BOR meeting of October 21-22, 2004.”

Robert Fox said that the BOR has legitimate concerns about resource allocation and duplication of effort, but that the question of whether it is appropriate for UH Hilo to offer doctoral programs is a faculty matter.   Pila Wilson said that in the long-range planning for UH Hilo, the term “graduate programs” was used rather than just masters degree programs.   Chris Lu said that in the past, BOR policy dictated that only UH Manoa could offer graduate programs, but that has been changed. Currently, the policy says that UH Manoa is the only campus that can offer doctoral degree programs. The question of whether it is appropriate for UH Hilo to offer doctoral programs has come up from the system (not from the BOR). Lu said that the community colleges will support us, but that some system people and some at UH Manoa are reluctant to support us.

Motion: Ask the CEC to prepare a resolution reflecting some sense that UH Hilo can offer whatever degrees best suits its students.

Motion retracted.

Motion: The Congress Academic Policy Committee will take on the tasks of soliciting faculty input and transmitting its findings to Acting President McClain before the next BOR meeting of October 21-22, 2004.

Vote:   10 Yes, 0 No

Meeting adjourned at 4:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Jim Mellon
UH Hilo Congress Secretary