UC Chair N. Rothfels reported: 1) He thought the CARE group presentation at Senate last week went very well; 2) The deadline for applications for the interim Provost position is tomorrow, so there will be a very fast turnaround time for this appointment (Nigel is a co-chair of the committee that will make recommendations to the Chancellor); 3) FAA VC R. Van Harpen has declined a request from AAUP to do salary review for faculty in the CGS. She hopes to do a comprehensive salary review in the future and will do so in consultation with the governance groups; and 4) Nigel will continue discussions regarding campus thesis/dissertation submission requirements over the summer. Apparently, many campuses that allow students to opt out of submitting their work to for-profit entities (i.e., Proquest), still do require them to digitally deposit it with the local library.
The UC met with current ASC Chair N. Oswald and incoming ASC Chair M. Priem, who provided the following updates: 1) This will be Nicole’s last meeting with the UC as she will be on leave from now through the summer—Mike will serve as acting Chair and meet with the UC over the summer; 2) The TTC process continues to generate discussion, and they are still working on the appeals process and related logistics; 3) ASC will be participating in an academic staff workload study group, which is expected to parallel the process currently underway for faculty; and 4) Nicole met with the Chancellor to express ASC views/expectations for the new Provost.
The committee addressed several matters of new business: 1) Concerns about notifications when a student death occurs, as well as how related campus messaging is handled were discussed; and 2) Clarification was provided in response to a question from a department Executive Committee about Distinguished Professors. Distinguished Professor is not a rank, but an honorific, so any actions related to it are not personnel actions.
Finally, member J. Snethen reported that the PAC passed a combined incomplete policy, enacted non-gender specific language changes to the Emeritus/a policy, and codified a concurrent degree policy. These will come to the Senate at the May meeting as automatic consent items.