Academic Senate
Meeting of November 19, 2003

 

Minutes

 

 

Present: C. Ando, M. Apostolos, C. Betts, J. Brown, R. Cole, G. Davison, R. Garet, E. Garrett, J. Glueckert, N. Hanel, E. Hollins, B. Kosko (alternate for K. Shing), W. Mack, E. McCann, S. Montgomery, J. Moore, M. Nichol, R. Nishimoto,  J. Nyquist, G. Painter, P. Pattengale, M. Safonov, G. Schierle,  P. Shrivastava, D. Stram, P. Vorderer, J. Walsh, W. Weber, M. Weinstein, W. Wolf (alternate for D. Ann)

 

Absent: M. Afifi, P. Conti, C. Fogu, E. Forrester, E. Heikkila, D. Larsen, P. Levine, N. Lutkehaus, M. Omar, M. Renov, P. Starr, E. Zemke

 

Guests: L. Armstrong, M. Kwiatkowski, D. Mihram, H. Slucki, B. Zuckerman 


The meeting was called to order at 2:50 pm by President McCann

1.  Approval of October Senate Meeting Minutes

Item 2 of page one of the October meeting minutes should be corrected to state that President McCann was empowered to invite the alternate Nominating Committee member if one or more of the nominees chose not to participate.  Motion was made to approve the corrected minutes with 23 in favor, one opposed, and two abstained.

2.   Provost’s Comments

 

Provost Armstrong updated the Senate on the strategic planning process.  At the beginning of the academic year, seven subcommittees were appointed and are working on reports to be submitted to the Strategic Planning Committee.  These reports will be shared with faculty across the University for review and comment.  The provost then opened the floor for questions.

 

The Senate asked about the loss of parking facilities as new buildings are erected.  Provost Armstrong indicated that additional parking facilities are being planned east of Figueroa as well as east of the Harbor Freeway.  There are plans to tear down some buildings on campus (e.g., the Topping Center), and there are plans to build additional facilities on the Figueroa corridor.  The present facility planning time horizon is 4-5 years.  Presently the University is constrained by covenants on the University shopping area as well as city planning for the Figueroa corridor.

 

Building at the Health Sciences Center is active and on-going.  There are presently two major buildings under construction, and several others in the planning stages.  The University continues to be interested in building a research park on the north side of the campus, but is facing significant hurdles in city planning and coordination. 

 

It was noted by the Senate that there is a need for a facility to encourage faculty interaction and assembly.  Provost Armstrong asked for examples of such facilities, and it was noted that the Athenaeum at Cal Tech, the Harvard Faculty Center, as well as a facility at Princeton could fit this description.  The Provost noted that drawing faculty together is a significant problem with the University, but that it will be critical to determine the real social dynamic to determine a way to accomplish the goal of interaction.

 

Provost Armstrong discussed the difficulty of generating multidisciplinary activity.  At this time, one of the significant constraints is that units are presently extremely successful in their research grants, and there are no slack resources available to do much more.

 

The Senate asked about rumors that a private entity was in the process of developing a new resident hall in the Staples Center area.  Provost Armstrong confirmed that there were some initial discussion in this regard, but there would be significant constraints associated with such an arrangement.  Most important, the facility would be dedicated to graduate students, as the inclusion of undergraduates would significantly change the environment.

 

Provost Armstrong updated the Senate on the Marshall School of Business Dean search.  There will likely be visits for candidates in December and January.   The Provost was optimistic that a candidate will be identified within the school year. 

 

The Provost was asked to explain some of the leadership changes at the Keck School of Medicine.  Dr. Armstrong apologized for not having met with faculty at the School to explain some of the issues.  In the summer, it appeared that there were financial irregularities at the School that required an audit of the books.  While there was no evidence of personal gain, there was concern that allocation decisions had been made that obscured the financial status of the School.  Consequently, personnel decisions were made.  Dean Ryan is presently searching for a budget administrator and the Provost is working closely with the Dean to assure a reasonable assurance that the School’s financial status is transparent.

 

3.   Announcements

 

President McCann made announcements in several areas.

 

a)  The Nominating Committee has been constituted and will meet shortly to develop a slate of candidates.

 

b)   Senators were encouraged to visit the web address for the Faculty Handbook proposed changes (http://www.usc.edu/academe/acsen/documents/reports/AnnualReport0203_SummaryMemo91503.pdf).  This site is password protected, and Senators should contact Connie Roque for password)

 

c)   The Fall mini-retreat will be held in the basement of the United University Church on December 10 from 1 – 5 p.m.


d)   President McCann encouraged the Senate to forward topics for the December mini-retreat.  It was noted that votes will only be taken during the standard Senate meeting time (2:45-4:30).

 

Members of the Senate recommended that intellectual property be an important issue for the mini-retreat.  President McCann indicated that there will be a forum on intellectual property during the Spring mini-retreat.

4.   E-mail preservation and deletion policy


President McCann indicated that Dean Campbell had agreed that there was a need to convene a task force to address the email preservation and deletion policy more broadly.  It was noted that several issues have not been addressed that should be considered prior to the adoption of the email policy.

 

Professor Ando, the chair of the ad-hoc committee, was introduced.  He indicated that the meeting of October 30th revealed that there were significant problems of communication between UCS and General Counsel, and that the adoption of an email deletion policy in the absence of a policy for records retention made little sense.  It was asked by the Senate whether Dean Campbell had investigated the use of an encrypted key so that only the recipient would be able to access stored files.  This will be a topic for consideration by the task force.  

              
5.   Mellon Mentoring Program

 

Professors Zuckerman, Mihram, and Kwiatkowski were introduced to the Senate by President McCann.  These faculty have been involved in as principal investigators of the Mellon Undergraduate Mentoring Program.  This program is intended to encourage the development of mentoring approaches throughout the academic enterprise.  The goals of the program are to develop a coordinated framework for integrating mentoring approaches, to develop a protocol within the institution to recognize the mentoring at all levels, and to support new and innovative mentoring programs designed to improve navigating through a large decentralized research university.

 

At present, the investigators are determining the presence of existing programs within the University.  In addition, an inventory of resources available at departmental and unit levels is being assembled.  The next steps will be to focus on methods to increase the recognition of faculty mentors, and new models to build mentoring capacity.
                                                                                
6.    New Business

There being no new business, the meeting was adjourned at 4:25 pm.

 

 

Respectfully Submitted,

 

 

 

Mike Nichol, Ph.D.

Secretary General of the Academic Senate