Academic Senate Minutes - January 4, 2002

UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON
DAYTON, OHIO

MINUTES OF THE ACADEMIC SENATE

 January 4, 2002 - KU 310, 3:00 p.m.

Presiding:  Dr. Fred Pestello

Senators Present:  Armstrong, Bartley, Biers, Charbel, Cherrington, Conniff, Dandaneau, Dunne, Gerla, Good, Gorton, Grothouse, Hall, Hallinan, Hartley, Ilg, Montgomery, Morman, Mullins, Pedrotti, Phelps, Roe, Saliba, Sargent, Watras, Youngkin, Yungblut

Guests:  Rogatto, Ryan

1. Opening Prayer:  The meeting opened with a prayer “For Special Days” read by F. Pestello.

2. Roll Call:  Twenty-seven of thirty-nine Senators were present.

3. Approval of Minutes:  The minutes of December, 2001 were approved.

4. Introduction of Senators:  All senators introduced themselves and stated what school they represented.

5. Election of Executive Committee of the Senate (ECAS)

    Remaining on the ECAS from the previous year were:

            Steve Dandaneau (Social Sciences)
            Jim Dunne (Business)
            Harry Gerla (Law)
            Scott Hall (Education)
            Fred Pestello (Provost)

Newly elected to the ECAS were:

             Brian Conniff (Humanities)
            Kevin Hallinan (Engineering)
            Leno Pedrotti (Natural Sciences)

     Re-elected to the ECAS is Sean Bartley (Student) and Paul Morman (Dean).

     Heidi Good (Library) and Vandana Sharma (graduate student) are the only senators from their schools and are automatically placed on the ECAS.

6.  Election of President of the Senate :  Brian Conniff was elected President of the Senate.

7. Election of the Vice-President of the Senate:  James Dunne was re-elected as Vice- President of the Senate

8. Election of Secretary of the Senate:  Heidi Good was elected Secretary of the Senate.

9. Discussion of Presidential Search:  A discussion was opened about the Presidential Search.  P. Morman, a member of the Presidential Search Committee, updated with Senators reporting that the consultant is establishing a pool of new candidates, revisiting those who did not apply, and talking with those who pulled their names from the list.  The Senators were invited to submit names of eligible candidates who they might know to L. Rismiller.  With this search, the Presidential Search Committee hopes that the expectations of the campus community can be met.

      An open forum for the entire faculty, staff, and students will be held soon.  This forum would cover two major areas: 

bulletAn advanced discussion about the criteria or job description for the President -  What does the President actually do; how realistic is the job now and what is expected of the new President in the future; should the job responsibilities be shifted to include more fund raising and community involvement; can we get a candidate with administrative background versus an academic background; what is a reasonable set of expectations for the new President?
bulletProcedural Aspects – Make it clear to everyone on campus how the process will proceed.  All people’s concerns will be heard so the designated groups representing the various factions on campus understand what is expected from them and the candidate.

The Senators asked what the Presidential Search Committee members need from the faculty.  Listed are the major issues to help focus the upcoming Open Forum meeting.

bulletSpecify, weigh and prioritize criteria expected for the selection of the candidate.
bulletClarify the presentation of the candidate on the “final day”. (The provision of the final candidate coming to campus on the final day instead of inviting candidates to open forums was put into place to protect the confidentiality of the candidate.)
bulletWhat does the criteria/job description of the President mean? These guidelines should be made clearer; make credentials and publications available.
bulletWill representative groups be able to share and discuss each other’s evaluations?  Clarify how these groups will interview the candidates.
bulletIdentify and discuss the critical issues on campus?
bulletSeparate the student forums.

A copy of the President’s job description and criteria, the timeline, and alternatives to the criteria that have been formulated by some faculty would be distributed prior to the open forum.

10. Break into Committees:  Each committee met at the conclusion of the Senate meeting to discuss remaining agenda items, elect a chair and arrange meeting schedules.

11. The meeting was adjourned at 4:25 p.m.

Respectfully submitted:  J. Rogatto