Minutes of 19 February 2007
Circulated 20 February 2007
Re-Circulated 16 March 2007
Approved 19 March 2007
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
SENATE ASSEMBLY MEETING
19 FEBRUARY 2007
Present: Abdoo, Aller, Altschuler, Bastedo, Becker, Brock, Brown, Chang, Combi, Ensminger, Frier, Frost, George, Giordani, Graham-Bermann, Gull, Hesseltine, Hollar, Im, Ketefian, Kim, Koopman, Lachance, Lehman, Li, Lomax, Luera, MacAdam, Maddock, Mahalingam, Maybaum, Meerkov, Moore, Navvab, Peters, Potter, Powell, Sabel, Samson, Seabury, Smith (Chair), Stark, Thornton, Thouless, Wakefield
Alternates: Dowling (Engineering, for Schultz), Franzese (LSA, for Sellers), Mengozzi (Music, for Hahn), Robson (LSA-Social Science, for Volling), Tropman (Social Work, for Reisch), Zhang (Medicine, for Albers)
Requested Alternate, none available: Avi-Yonah (Law), Benamou (LSA-Humanities), Currie (SNRE), Garton (Medicine), Lange (LSA-Natural Science)
Absent: Adriens, Agrawal, Annich, Anspach, Boxer, Carson, Eagle, Fitzgerald, Fraser, Fricke, Green, Kosch, Ludlow, Neuman, Primus, Rahme, Riles, Roe, Rothman, Severance, Seyhun, Stoolman, Streetman
MATERIALS DISTRIBUTED
The meeting was convened by Chair Smith at 3:15 P.M. The draft agenda was approved.
CONSIDERATION OF MINUTES
The minutes of 22 January 2007 were corrected and approved.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
The Chair announced:
UM FACULTY UNDERGRADUATE FELLOWSHIPS
The Chair reviewed the history that led up to establishment of the UM Faculty Undergraduate Fellowships. He called attention to distributed item 3 and noted that an Action Item was being proposed to the Assembly by SACUA in order to establish a selection and oversight committee. After a friendly amendment was offered from the floor by Professor Thouless, the main motion was presented:
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ACTION OF SENATE ASSEMBLY 021907-1
Senate Assembly hereby creates the UM Faculty Undergraduate Fellowship Selection and Oversight Committee to 1) select Fellowship recipients and 2) oversee the solicitation of funds to support the Fellowship. The Committee consists of not fewer than three members chosen, as are all Senate Assembly standing committees, through nomination by SACUA and election by Senate Assembly. The Committee creates and distributes the application, reviews completed applications, selects applicants for interviews, conducts interviews and selects recipients of the Fellowship.
Professor Ketefian expressed concern about what appeared to be a mushrooming workload for the fledgling committee. She suggested that the duties of committee members would be onerous without significant staff support. Chair Smith pointed out that the Development Office would provide adequate staff support. Professor Meerkov pointed out that a list of eligible students would be prepared by the Financial Aid office. Ms. D'Allura, Director of Development for the Alumni Association, said that the list would likely contain the names of 20 to 50 students.
The Action was approved by unanimous vote.
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PRESENTATION BY VICE PRESIDENT OF DEVELOPMENT JERRY MAY
Chair Smith invited vice president May to address the Assembly at 3:40 P.M. His prepared remarks closely followed a PowerPoint presentation. He pointed out that telephone solicitations for donations were 20 times more effective than direct mailing.
Professor Brown asked how gifts given for faculty support breaks down by College. Vice President May replied that the largest number of gifts is given to the Medical School by grateful patients, but that LSA is in second place. Professor Thouless pointed out that university rankings are traditionally linked to research prominence, and that, in turn, is tied to the ability to attract top graduate students. He expressed concern that there was insufficient effort to raise money for graduate student fellowships. The vice president responded that LSA systematically focuses on graduate fellowships, and that perhaps $50M to $100M has been raised in the current campaign. He pointed out that it costs a lot more to have a meaningful graduate fellowship than for an undergraduate fellowship, which narrows the field of donors. He noted that many graduate fellowships come from former graduate students who put the fellowships in their estate plans.
Professor Giordani remarked that the campaigns seem to be unit based, with not many university-wide initiatives. The vice president replied that there were, in fact, several university-wide efforts in the current campaign. He cited scholarships, faculty support, the Life Sciences Initiative, the Ford School, and the Museum of Art.
May's prepared presentation concluded at 4:22 P.M. He then introduced two undergraduate students who gave testimonials about the benefits they received from undergraduate fellowships and their undergraduate experience in general.
Chair Smith resumed the podium at 4:27 P.M. Professor Ketefian asked how fundraising would proceed for UM Faculty Undergraduate Fellowships. Vice President May replied that the effort would include distribution of pledge cards, publications, and a website. Professor Meerkov added that Fellowship committee members would make contacts, too. Professor Ketefian suggested that the unit development officers could be asked to help, too. Vice President May thanked her for the suggestion.
UNIT SHARED GOVERNANCE
Chair Smith gave the floor to Professor Meerkov and asked him to address the Assembly on the agenda topic. Professor Meerkov reviewed the history of events whereby a member of the College of Engineering who was elected to the Executive Committee by overwhelming majority was passed over for appointment to the committee. Subsequently, the Senate Assembly voted twice in overwhelming majority to recommend that units abolish such practices. The Assembly also recommended that Executive Committees become more involved in matters of budget and administrative appointments.
Professor Abdoo pointed out that the School of Nursing usually sends four names forward in rank order, and that recently the vote tallies have been made public. Professor Meerkov complimented Nursing as being a model of transparency in faculty governance. Professor Maddock remarked that opposition in LSA seemed to center on the added workload for executive committee members. She said that she thought the voting practices proposal would have passed if the issues had been separated. She noted that issues of transparency are different from responsibilities. Another member of the Assembly from LSA said that he agreed with Maddock's assessment. Professor Meerkov remarked that the previous dean of Engineering had refused to permit faculty participation in budget matters even when the Executive Committee members sought such participation as their right under existing Regents' Bylaws. Professor Abdoo replied that there may indeed be different management styles by different deans, and that faculty need to point out whenever deans are not following the Regents' Bylaws. Professor MacAdam said that she sensed that there was widespread suspicion stemming from the lack of transparency, and that it would be an easy win to focus on that point first.
Professor Meerkov summarized the collective wisdom that had been expressed: (1) split the resolution into two parts, one focused on elections and the other focused on duties. The Assembly advises that efforts be made to ensure transparency in elections. He returned the floor to the Assembly chair at 4:50 P.M.
NEW/OLD BUSINESS
There was no additional business.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:55 P.M.
Respectfully submitted
John T. Lehman
Senate Secretary
University of Michigan Bylaws of the Board of Regents, Sec. 5.02:
Governing Bodies in Schools and Colleges
In each school, college, or degree granting division of the University, including those at the University of Michigan-Dearborn and at the University of Michigan-Flint, the governing faculty shall be in charge of the affairs of the school, college, or division, except as delegated to the executive committee, if any, and except that in the School of Graduate Studies the governing board shall be the executive board, and in the Medical School shall be the executive faculty.
First Circulated 6 April 2006
Re-Circulated 16 March 2007
Approved 19 March 2007
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SENATE
THE REGULAR MEETING OF 20 MARCH 2006
MATERIALS DISTRIBUTED
Faculty chair Giordani convened the meeting at 4:55 P.M. and declared lack of quorum.
The meeting was adjourned.
Respectfully,
John T. Lehman
Senate Secretary
Minutes of the Senate meeting of 16 October 2006
Circulated 16 March 2007
Approved 19 March 2007
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SENATE
THE REGULAR MEETING OF 16 OCTOBER 2006
Faculty Chair Smith convened the meeting at 4:00 P.M. and introduced the speakers and honored guests for the Senate's Davis-Markert-Nickerson Academic Freedom Lecture. The lecture was presented by Bill Keller, Executive Editor, The New York Times. The title was "Editors in Chains: Secrets, Security, and the Press."
Respectfully,
John T. Lehman
Senate Secretary
Bylaws of the Board of Regents, Sec. 4.01: The University Senate (in part): The senate is authorized to consider any subject pertaining to the interests of the University, and to make recommendations to the Board of Regents in regard thereto. Decisions of the University Senate with respect to matters within its jurisdiction shall constitute the binding action of the University faculties.