Academic Senate
Minutes

October 17, 2001

Present: M. Apostolos, M. Baron, E. Cooper, W. Dutton, R. Garet, .J. Gates, R. Guralnick, N. Hanel, E. Heikkila, C. Jacob, P. Levine, M. Lauridsen, W. Mack, J. Manegold, D. Mayer, E. McCann, J. Moore, S. Murphy, V. Nguyen, P. Nosco, J. Nyquist, P. Pattengale, M. Renov, M. Safonov, G. Siegel, P. Shrivastava (alternate for D. Larsen), M. Stoner, D. Stram, N. Troy, W. Weber, M. Weinstein, W. Wolf, 

Absent: T. Biblarz, F. Clark, R. Clark, W. Handley, C. Jacob, M. Jorgensen, B. Knight, D. Larsen, M. Omar, J. Peters, B. Sarter, G. Schierle, D. Sloane, J. Toscan, R. Zemke, F. Zufryden

Guests: M. Diamond, R. Labaree, B. Kosko, M. Levine

Senate called to order at 2:48 p.m. by President Peter Nosco.
Meeting adjourned at 4:23 p.m.

Agenda item #1 Approval of September 19, 2001 Senate Minutes 
Minutes approved as written without objection. 

Agenda item #2 Announcements by President of the Faculty, Peter Nosco
a. Results of the Election for Academic Vice President. The new Academic Vice President and successor as President is Professor Philippa Levine, Department of History in the College. President Nosco announced that Levine has kindly agreed to carry forward the work on Gender Equity which Professor Hilary Schor began over the summer.

b. Distinguished and University Professors. President Nosco pointed out that Provost Lloyd Armstrong's memorandum soliciting nominations for the positions of Distinguished Professor and University Professor was included in the packet of information handed to each Senator. He further mentioned that the deadline for nominations is November 1 and called to the Senate's attention that women or members of under-represented minority groups should not be overlooked.

c. Agenda for Faculty Assembly (Oct. 31). President Nosco drew attention to the agenda and stated that he hoped that Senators will make every effort to attend. He further encouraged Senators to invite colleagues to attend as well.

d. Update on John Elliott Memorial Service. The President announced that the Senate was joining with the Economics Department in sponsoring a memorial service to honor the late John Elliott. During the Senate portion of the service, there will be brief remembrances by Distinguished Professor Walter Wolf, (Pharmacy) Professor Jack Beierle (Dentistry), University Professor Solomon Golomb, and Professor Henry Slucki (Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences). President Nosco expressed his thanks to Professor Wolf for all he has done since July to see to it that John Elliott is appropriately honored for his untiring service to this University and its faculty. 

e. Senate Speaker Series. President Nosco pointed out a flyer announcing the first event of the new academic year in the Senate Speaker Series. Professor Bart Kosko will speak on the subject of "Fuzzy Logic and Language." 

President Nosco also noted that the Senate will co-sponsor, along with the Center for Feminist Research, a talk on March 6 by former colleague and Vice Provost Sylvia Manning.

f. Executive Board Members to Serve on Nominating Committee. The four members of the Nominating Committee from the Executive Board will include ex officio President Peter Nosco, Vice President Philippa Levine as well as Professors Jerry Gates (Family Medicine, Keck School) and Ed McCann (Philosophy in the College). 

g. Updates on Senate Resolutions. President Nosco asked Vice Provost Marty Levine to provide an update on the progress of outstanding Senate Resolutions on Tenure Clock, Personal Conflict of Interest, and Dismissal Language. Vice Provost Levine mentioned that all of the resolutions are still being reviewed by the President and Provost Armstrong. He indicated neither President Sample nor Provost Armstrong have made up their minds about the proposed change in the Tenure Clock.

Agenda item #3. Election of Senators to the Nominating Committee
President Nosco opened the election process by stating that one of most important regular events on the Senate's annual calendar was the election of the Nominating Committee, since it is the Nominating Committee that proposes a slate of officers for the Executive Board for the next academic year. He indicated that five Senators had confirmed their willingness to serve on the Nominating Committee, if elected. They were: Professors Margo Apostolos (Theater), Eric Heikkila (Policy Planning and Development), Ron Garet (Law), Wendy Mack (Preventive Medicine), and Mark Weinstein (Finance and Business Economics). 

There were no nominations from the floor. Ballots were distributed to the voting members of the Senate. Elected to the Nominating Committee were: Margo Apostolos, Eric Heikkila, Ron Garet, and Wendy Mack.

Agenda item #4. Comments by Vice Provost Levine and Vice President and Executive Vice Provost Diamond
Appointments, tenure, and promotion. Vice Provost Levine mentioned that this is the time of year that faculty appointments need to be received by the Provost office. If the appointments are not received by the deadline delays may occur, since the Tenure and Appointment Committee will be busy with tenure appointments in the Spring. Further, he stressed that new faculty appointments should improve the overall position of a department or unit in that the aim is to obtain top faculty who have skills beyond those of the existing faculty. In addition, he mentioned that departments should look at candidates that are "differently trained" and should employ strategies beyond the traditional methods to find the very best faculty.

Following Vice Provost Levine's comments, the general discussion focused on the difficulty of getting faculty appointments documents out of the departments and schools to the Provost office by the Fall deadline. Several of those present requested a change in the promotion deadline. Vice Provost Levine indicated that the deadline was not hard and fast. If the promotion or appointments documents reached the Provost office after the deadline they still would be received; however, there was no guarantee that the Committee would have time to consider them before they had to address tenure appointments. In addition, he mentioned that tenure appointment is one of the most important things that the Provost does each year. 

The issue of affirmative action was brought up by one Senator who stated that little progress was being made in his department. He wondered if the Provost's office should draw attention to departments who are making progress to obtain a diverse faculty. Vice Provost Levine stated that indeed much progress has been and is being made. Recruiting a diverse high quality faculty cannot be done from the top down, it has to done from the bottom up. 

University procedures in cases of emergency. An inquiry was made regarding the procedures to take in cases of emergencies such as the events of September 11. Who can cancel classes, how does information get to faculty and students, and so on? Vice President Diamond stated that the University does have written procedures but these have not been distributed widely. It was mentioned that KUSC is one official source of information. Only President Sample can cancel classes and he decided not to do so on September 11, but this decision was not widely distributed to the faculty and students. Further, it was mentioned that Chief of Security Ward will soon be sending a letter to the faculty outlining the University's written emergency guidelines.

Challenges facing the University as a result of the events of September 11. Vice President Diamond indicated that the events of September 11 may have an impact on enrollment next Fall (negative: decline of undergraduate and graduate international students and east coast students; positive: top California students that would have enrolled in East coast schools can be recruited to come to USC). Further, he mentioned that while federal grants may decline in some areas, they will probably increase in defense related fields and USC is in an excellent position to respond to this shift.

Discussion reflected concerns about the possible decline in recruiting excellent international undergraduates and problems in obtaining visas for high quality international graduate students. Several members expressed the hope that the President and the Administration were addressing these issues. Vice President Diamond indicated that the University has been working behind the scenes regarding the visa issues. 

Quality of current student services. Vice President Diamond stressed that now that USC has joined the ranks of highly competitive schools, the services provided to the student body need to reflect this status. Currently this is not the case, and he indicated that the Administration is considering directing more resources to improving student services. The following discussion reflected agreement with Vice President Diamond and stressed that the University also needs to put resources toward services provided to the faculty.

Faculty input to the Administration and the Trustees regarding the budget services. During the general discussion it was pointed out that former vehicles where faculty provided input to the Administration regarding budgeting and other administrative matter no longer exist. Both the Budget Advisory and the Business Affairs Advisory committees no longer exist. Vice President Diamond acknowledged this "disconnect." 

Handouts at the Meeting

1. Draft of September 19, 2001 minutes
2. Academic Senate roster
3. Voting members of the Academic Senate
4. Procedures for electing Nominating Committee members
5. Memorandum from Provost Armstrong regarding nominations of Distinguished and University Professors
6. Faculty Assembly agenda
7. Information on John Elliott memorial service
8. Information on Academic Senate Speaker Series

Respectfully Submitted,

Jerry D. Gates, Ph.D.
Secretary General of the Academic Senate