The meeting
was called to order by the Chair at 7:45 AM in Room 125 Gazes. A
quorum was present.
Minutes of the
October 5, 2004, meeting were approved. The approved minutes are
posted on the Senate?s Web site.
I. OLD BUSINESS
Response to issues raised in national and local debates
A response to issues raised in national and local debates was written
by an ad hoc committee of the Senate. The Senate voted to move the
statement forward to MUSC’s Legal Counsel and Office of Public
Relations. Based on suggestions from the Legal Counsel to MUSC, the
Executive Committee revised the statement and Dr. Kathy Chessman, Chair,
presented the revised statement to the Senate. After discussion regarding
the consistency between this statement and the Senate’s statement
regarding diversity in the Faculty Handbook, the Senate approved the
revised version. The statement will now send the statement to Dr. Raymond
Greenber, Dr. John Raymond and the Chair of the Board of Trustees as
information. The statement will be sent to newspapers for publication
including The Catalyst, The Post and Courier, and other newspapers
throughout the state. The statement will also be sent to Senator Jim
DeMint and Ms. Inez Tenenbaum. A suggestion was made to forward this
statement to the Committee of Chairs (a statewide group composed of
the chairs of colleges’ and universities’ Faculty Senates)
as well to individual college and university Faculty Senates.
II. NEW BUSINESS
Executive Committee Meeting
The first meeting of the new Executive Committee was held October
29, 2004. The Executive Committee members are Kathy Chessman, Chair,
Rick Albenesius, Vice Chair, Mary Mauldin, Secretary, Libby Dismuke – CHP,
Paul Gold - COM – Clinical Sciences, Lucille London- COM – Basic
Sciences, Kelly Ragucci – Pharmacy, Peggy Schachte – Library/General
Faculty, and Harmeet Walia, Dental Medicine.
Dr. Chessman reported that the Executive Committee will begin work
on a budget for the year to include costs for honorariums, as needed
and refreshments for monthly and quarterly meetings..
Members of the Executive Committee will serve as chairs of the Senate’s
Committees:
Governance Committee – Co-chairs, Lucille London and Kelly
Ragucci. This committee’s charge includes review and revisions
to the Faculty Handbook, guide the annual election, and conduct officer
elections.
Institutional Advancement – Chair, Libby Dismuke. This committee
will address faculty development inclusion in the MUSC Strategic Plan.
Faculty and Institutional Relationships Committee – Chair,
Marilyn King. The charge of this committee is to study:
- the evaluation process for deans/chairs
- the use of PACE throughout the university
Communications Committee – Chair, Harmeet Walia. This committee
will plan quarterly faculty meetings and increase communication from
the Senators to the faculty.
Faculty Senate Strategic Planning – Chair, Rick Albenesius.
This ad hoc committee will develop 3-5 year goals for the Senate and
next year’s strategic priorities.
All Senators will participate as a member of one of these committees.
Faculty Development Opportunities:
Update on Senate sponsored Research Workshop
Dr. Libby Dismuke, College of Health Professions, said plans are underway
for development of this workshop. Dr. David Bradford, Director of the
Center for Health Economics and Policy Studies in the College of Health
Professions
will provide staff to help organize and collaborate with Senate. Dr.
Dismuke asked that a Senate ad hoc committee be formed to help organize
the workshop. This workshop is tentatively scheduled for Fall 2005.
Tenure Workshop
Based on comments from a number of Senators, tenure workshops are
of interest to faculty. Previous workshops on tenure have included
speakers and opportunities for non-tenured faculty to present their
portfolios to tenured faculty for review. The possibility of providing
a tenure workshop in Spring 2005 will be reviewed.
Orientation for New Faculty
An ad hoc committee was
formed to study the issue of orientation for new faculty. Headed by
Peggy Schachte, this group will work with the administration to support
the development of an orientation designed to provide critical information
for new faculty related to teaching, research, promotion, tenure, etc.
Change in Day of Senate Meetings
The Faculty Senate currently meets the first Tuesday of each month.
This day frequently follows a holiday. As a result, the Senate voted
to move the meetings to the second Tuesday in the month, beginning
January 2005.
