Executive Committee Minutes

03/01/2017 03:30 PM - Peabody Board Room, Administration Building
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The University Council Executive Committee met on March 1, 2017 in the Peabody Boardroom in the Administration Building. A quorum being present, Chair Janet Frick called the meeting to order at 3:30 p.m. Standing committee chairs in attendance to present action items were Alison Alexander of the University Curriculum Committee, Jean Williams-Woodward of the Educational Affairs Committee, and Susan Mattern of the Faculty Affairs Committee. Guests to the meeting included Ron Balthazar, Sarah Covert, Nick Fuhrman, Andreas Handel, Fiona Liken, Kathy Pharr, Craig Piercy, Annette Poulsen, Lee Shearer, Rahul Shrivastav, Emilie Smith, Kimberlee Spencer, William Vencill, Sara Wood, and Harrison Young.

Dr. Frick opened the meeting by referencing a discussion from the February Executive Committee meeting regarding University Council making a statement on the recently announced federal travel ban. Dr. Frick stated that the Student Government Association issued a statement and that she and Staff Council Chair Michael Lewis submitted an op-ed to the Red and Black on the issue.

  1. The minutes of the February 1, 2017 meeting were approved as distributed. Following approval of the minutes, Dr. Frick recommended that, given the length of the agenda items from the University Curriculum Committee be grouped together with like items to limit the number of votes called. Accordingly, items B.1.a., B.1.b., and B.1.c. were grouped together for a single vote, items B.1.d., B.1.e., and B.1.f. were grouped together for a single vote, B.1.g. and B.1.h. were voted on individually, and B.1.i. and B.1.j. were grouped together for a single vote.
  2. Action Items:
    1. Proposals from the University Curriculum Committee:
      1. Proposal to change the name of the following major in the Terry College of Business: From: Master of Internet Technology (M.I.T.) To: Master of Business and Technology (M.B.T.). A vote was called and the proposal was approved to be placed on the March 22, 2017 University Council agenda.
      2. Proposal to change the name of the following interdisciplinary certificate from the School of Public and International Affairs and Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication: From: Applied Politics and Public Affairs Communications Certificate To: Public Affairs Professional Certificate. A vote was called and the proposal was approved to be placed on the March 22, 2017 University Council agenda.
      3. Proposal for a new major in Child Life (M.S.). A vote was called and the proposal was approved to be placed on the March 22, 2017 University Council agenda.
      4. Proposal for a new major in Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communication (Ph.D.). A vote was called and the proposal was approved to be placed on the March 22, 2017 University Council agenda.
      5. Proposal for a new Graduate Certificate in Infectious Disease Epidemiology. A vote was called and the proposal was approved to be placed on the March 22, 2017 University Council agenda.
      6. Proposal for a new Interdisciplinary Graduate Certificate in Sustainability. A vote was called and the proposal was approved to be placed on the March 22, 2017 University Council agenda.
      7. Proposal to terminate the Undergraduate Certificate in Agrosecurity. A vote was called and the proposal was approved to be placed on the March 22, 2017 University Council agenda.
      8. Proposal to revise Academic Affairs Policy Statement No. 5, Undergraduate, Professional and Graduate Areas of Emphasis. A vote was called and the proposal was approved to be placed on the March 22, 2017 University Council agenda.
      9. Proposal to offer the existing major in Comparative Biomedical Sciences (M.S.) with a Non-Thesis Option. A vote was called and the proposal was approved to be placed on the March 22, 2017 University Council agenda.
      10. Proposal to offer the existing major in Economics (M.A.) with a Non-Thesis Option. A vote was called and the proposal was approved to be placed on the March 22, 2017 University Council agenda.
    2. Proposal from the Educational Affairs Committee:
      1. Proposal for the 2018-2019 Academic Calendar. Dr. Williams-Woodward explained to members that due to various constraints, including the inability to move Spring 2018 commencement, EAC was unable to modify the start date for Spring 2018. The calendar presented to the Executive Committee thus only covered Fall 2018, Spring 2019, and Summer 2019. An extensive discussion on the calendar then occurred among members of the Executive Committee that included such topics as the Board of Regents academic calendar policy, the final exam policies of UGA, Georgia Tech, and Georgia State, the length of these schools' academic calendars, UGA exam practices, impact on faculty conferences and student internships, interpretation of constraints, trade offs such as Thanksgiving break, block scheduling possibilities, and SACS consideration. Dr. William Vencill, Associate Vice President for Instruction, was recognized and displayed two graphs that compared UGA’s semester length with its peer and aspirants, revealing that UGA’s semester length was in line with a number of these institutions. Dr. Williams-Woodward as well as others who have worked on the calendar process for the Educational Affairs Committee reiterated that EAC had invested significant time vetting the issues and possibilities through both the full committee and a calendar subcommittee to provide for earlier start dates and a shorter calendar. But given the current constraints, the proposed calendar was the best calendar EAC could put forward to the University Council. It was mentioned that the proposed EAC calendar should receive a vote first and that any discussion on proposed calendars coming directly from the Executive Committee should occur during new business. With discussion concluding, a vote was called. A division of the vote revealed 9 members voting in favor of sending the calendar proposal to the University Council and 13 voting to send the proposal back to the Educational Affairs Committee. Because two-thirds of the Executive Committee did not vote to send the item back to EAC, the proposal will be placed on the March 22, 2017 University Council agenda.
    3. Proposal from the Faculty Affairs Committee:
      1. Proposal for revisions to the Guidelines for Appointment, Promotion, and Tenure. A lengthy discussion on the proposal transpired among committee members. One of the issues involved the wording found in item 12.B. of the cover letter that states eligible faculty "vote on whether they believe the candidate has met the requirements for promotion/tenure and is likely to succeed in the review the following fall semester." There was concern over this wording from several members who found the wording confusing. A friendly amendment was agreed to revise this wording to state that eligible faculty "vote on whether they believe the candidate warrants further consideration for promotion and/or tenure." There was also concern about the wording on page 27-28 of the proposal that states, "If a candidate for professor is not successfully promoted, the candidate will not be eligible for review after a negative preliminary vote until three years have transpired since the last negative review." To clarify this statement's intent, a friendly amendment was accepted to revise the wording to state, "If a candidate for professor proceeds to full review and is not successfully promoted, the candidate will not be eligible for full review after a negative preliminary vote until three years have transpired since the last negative review." Discussion on the wording on page 30 proposing updating the number of potential external evaluators from "up to six" to "up to four" was held as well. A friendly amendment was accepted to change this verbiage back to "up to six." With discussion concluding, a vote was called and the proposal was approved as amended to be placed on the March 22, 2017 University Council agenda.
  3. There was no old business to come before the committee.
  4. New Business:
    1. Dr. Frick reminded Council members that the Statutes and Bylaws proposal passed at the February 1 Executive Committee meeting would appear on the March 22 University Council meeting agenda due to the cancellation of the February 15 Council meeting.
    2. Dr. Frick also announced that at the April 12 Executive Committee meeting new members to the Program Review and Assessment Committee (PRAC) would be confirmed and the next chair-elect of the Executive Committee would be selected as well. The Office of the Registrar will be in contact with those members who are eligible to serve as chair-elect next year to see if they are willing to appear on the chair-elect ballot.
    3. During new business, a motion was made that the Executive Committee request that the Educational Affairs Committee draft a shorter calendar so that an alternative academic calendar could be considered at the March 22 meeting. Discussion occurred as to what method the alternative calendar should be brought forward to University Council. According to the bylaws (Part I, Section I. B.7.b. ), the Executive Committee may place items on the Council agenda. A question was then raised concerning if the Executive Committee should perform such an action and if this constituted changing the work EAC already did on the calendar by putting up a conflicting calendar. The political ramifications of putting up a shorter calendar, such as would that calendar be vetoed should Council pass it, were discussed as well. Conversely, the point was made that it is in the authority of the Executive Committee to place an alternative calendar on the agenda and that it would not be a conflicting calendar but rather a competing one. As well, it was stated that it would be advantageous to go ahead and release the calendar ahead of the March Council meeting so that members know an alternative is available. A friendly amendment to the motion was then made to use Georgia State's 2018-2019 academic calendar as a template for the alternative calendar, modifying that calendar's dates (for example adding fall break and going one day longer in the fall than Georgia State) for UGA. Discussion concluding, a vote was called and a division of the vote showed that the motion passed with 14 voting in favor of creating the shorter calendar and 3 voting against. The calendar will be placed on the March 22, 2017 University Council agenda as an action item (Note: This proposal was pulled from the March 22, 2017 University Council agenda at the request of the Executive Committee per an electronic vote held among committee members on March 22).
    4. Chair-elect Scott Pegan stated that he would have his notes from the University System of Georgia Faculty Council meeting he attended in October distributed to the Executive Committee. He requested that feedback be sent to him regarding a tabled motion from that meeting concerning a request for the Faculty Council to draft a letter to Governor Deal in support of undocumented students being allowed to pay in-state tuition and attend non-research USG institutions. Dr. Pegan stated that the next meeting of the Faculty Council would be within the next two weeks and for feedback to be provided to him by that time.

There being no further new business, the meeting adjourned at 5:42 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Rosemary Segreti, Interim Registrar
Secretary to University Council


Executive Committee Members Present
Robert Bringolf
Jeff Dorfman
Stephan Durham
Melissa Freeman
Janet Frick
Houston Gaines
Silvia Giraudo
Jeong-Yeob Han
Henry Munneke
Kerry Oliver
Andy Owsiak
Scott Pegan
Rosemary Segreti
Michael Snell
Beth Tobin
Beth Tolley

Executive Committee Members Represented by Proxy
Melinda Camus (Alvin Camus)
Rose Chepyator-Thomson (Becca Leopkey)
Luke Naeher (Travis Glenn)
Amy Rosemond (Craig Osenberg)
David Shipley (Elizabeth Weeks Leonard)
Pamela Whitten (Russell Mumper)
Lance Wilder (Susan Mattern)
Patricia Yager (Rachel Gabara)