November 2, 2021

ACADEMIC SENATE MEETING

MINUTES

Tuesday, November 2, 2021

ZOOM MEETING

2:00 – 4:30 p.m.

Attendance:

Absences:

Guests:

OPEN FLOOR PERIOD:  2:00 - 2:05 p.m.

The Open Floor Period provides an informal opportunity for campus community members to raise questions or make comments directed to Senate officers or to university administrators.  Please arrive promptly at 2:00 p.m.

Call to Order: 2:05 p.m.

1. Approval of the Agenda for November 2, 2021

• Approved as submitted @ 2:05 PM

1. Approval of the Minutes for October 19, 2021

• Approved as submitted @ 2:06 PM

1. Announcements from the Floor
   • Vice Chair Wilson ceded time to AVP Nicole Lange: announced the makeup commencement for 2020 and 2021, surveys have been sent to students, two events will take place on Jan. 8, one in the morning and one in the afternoon
   • Sen. Goldman: congratulations to one of our Alumni, Dr. Esteban Gonzalez Burchard, who received the UCSF Faculty research award, the highest honor given to clinical faculty
2. Reports
   1. Chair Report
      • Chair Albiniak reminded us of the final two plenary meetings this semester. Welcomed and thanked attendees that are giving presentations today.
      • Shared recorded Session of CSU GI2025: Advancing Equity Together, SF State’s Preliminary Progress Update, and the GI 2025 Advisory Committee report. Pathways and goals will focus on 6 areas: Decreasing DFW rates, Enhanced advising, Data Transparency, Course Availability, Basic Needs, and Re-Enrollment Campaign.
      • Announced January 9 Retreat, the theme will be “Resounding Resilience: Faculty and Staff Support Student Success” and thanked planning committee
        • Vice Chair Wilson: one area of focus will be high-impact practices, calls for proposals are forthcoming

1. President Report
   • Provost Summit announced this will be her final academic year as provost and will take up a faculty role in LCA.
   • Pres. Mahoney reflected on and commended Provost Summit’s strong work in educational equity, student success, and the need to set up a stable financial future. These initiatives will continue. Next steps will be to form a search committee with the goal to be formed by beginning of December. Thanked Provost Summit.
   • Many comments of gratitude to Provost Summit were shared.
2. Standing Committees

1. Strategic Issues committee

• Sen. Goldman: continued discussion of financial transparency in indirect costs, HEERF funds and donations; update on reserves, will be sitting at more historic numbers after replenishment; RSO policy is being circulated among Chairs, Directors, and Deans for feedback

1. Student Affairs committee
   • Sen. Ramirez: continued discussion on academic integrity policy, will come in a future plenary

1. Academic Policies committee
   • Sen. Stowers: one item will be presented in plenary today, the AY calendar, the summer calendar will need substantial revisions; EPC met and will be bringing the Online Program Template, future work includes credit-hour policy, online education policy, and grad curriculum policy

1. Curriculum Review committee
   • Sen. Drennan: as EPC, bringing the template for online program proposals to plenary

1. Faculty Affairs committee
   • Sen. Rubin: bringing the resolution for flexibility for tenure-track faculty in the RTP process during pandemic to plenary today, a working group was formed to provide strategies to implement the recommendations of the Workload Equity Task Force Report and drafts will be forthcoming

INFORMATION ITEMS

1. Recommendation from Educational Policies Committee: Online Program Template

• Sen. Drennan moved the item to the floor at 2:36 PM and spoke to the item
• Chair Albiniak: can programs that wish to qualify as an online program use this template now?
  • Sen Drennan: Yes, the template has guidelines and outlines the process for drafting and approval.
• Sen. Stowers: requested clarification of our understanding of USDoE definition of online programs
  • Sen. Way: As long as courses meet half of the time in-person, they can count as in-person in the curriculum. If your major wants to offer more than 50% of major courses online, that will count as an online degree program.

OLD BUSINESS

1. Recommendation from the Academic Policies Committee: 2022-2023 Academic Calendar
   • Sen. Stowers moved item to the floor @ 2:42 PM and spoke to the item
   • Sen. Wilson: recognized the difficulty in creating a calendar. How does this calendar fit our ideal and what sacrifices needed to be made?
     • Sen. Stowers: some classes will not meet the 45 hour requirement, but are very close and will allow for faculty to make-up the hours
     • Sen. Way ceded time to Assoc. Dean Jane DeWitt: brought attention to an error of 74 hours should be 74 days, accepted as a friendly amendment
     • Sen. Bloom: requested reiteration on why grades due Dec. 28.
       • Sen. Stowers: aligns with the spring calendar to have grades due one week after finals. Additionally, does not further extend the semester into the new year which can have implications for lecturers and their employment.
   • VOTE
     • Item approved: 47/0/2 (Y/N/A) @ 2:48 PM

NEW BUSINESS

1. Recommendation from Faculty Affairs Committee: Revision and update of Temporary Modification of Academic Senate Policy #S20-241 Policy Resolution on Retention. Tenure and Promotion—first reading.
   • Sen. Rubin moved the item to the floor @ 3:53 PM and spoke to the item
   • Main changes: extends the policy through SP22, pause tenure clock for assistant professors for 1 year, faculty can opt out of SETEs through SP22, faculty can exclude individual course SETEs instead of full semesters
     • Sen. Thomas: as chair of dept., sees difficulty in assessing new lecturers without SETEs, concerns for RTP committees in assessing professors that have few SETEs, want chairs to have access to SETEs
       • Sen. Rubin: a separate policy will address lecturers, committee discussed this policy at length and discussed other ways to evaluate faculty (syllabi, etc.)
     • Sen. Clemens: spoke in favor of the item, recognizing SETEs scores as not the most accurate measure and understanding how COVID has affected our faculty disproportionately as well as our students
     • Sen. Shapiro:  resolution prepared in good faith practice
     • Sen. Summit: following action of the senate last year, all faculty files include a letter from the Provost asking for consideration of pandemic difficulty in evaluating faculty during this time. Does this letter provide sufficient context for review of SETEs? Can you share some of finer details of the committee’s discussion on this item?
       • Sen. Rubin: the committee discussed that the letter is a recommendation and something more solid was desired. The committee recognized the difficulty of recommending such a policy; discussions of flexibility for faculty choosing different options, but ultimately, the committee decided a simpler resolution was more feasible.
     • Sen Stein: spoke in favor of the item, resolution is aligned with the administration’s messages recognizing the challenges faculty have faced and the great work they have done.
     • Sen. Collins: appreciate all points of discussion, could the resolution be expanded on lines 95-97 to include open-ended comments from students?
     • Sen. Drennan: faculty have taken on many additional roles in addition to teaching during the pandemic, of helping support students mental wellness, etc. Due to bias in SETEs, they may be of little use in evaluation at this time
     • Sen. Thomas: sympathize with the difficulty many have experienced during the pandemic, have confidence in the RTP committees to be reasonable in reviews
     • Sen. Bloom: in a sociolinguistic analysis, the jargon of our SETEs is difficult for students to understand. SETEs are consistently biased against women of color, peer review can be a better process for professional development.
     • Sen. Clemens: peer evaluation can be a really good solution and peer evaluators can speak to students. Faculty can also take their own surveys and share them with chairs. Important to keep in mind that departments interpret reviews differently.
   • Item returned to committee @ 4:29 PM

PRESENTATIONS

1. Karen Boyce, Director of Health, Promotion, and Wellness, “National College Health Assessment Report Back,” time certain: 2:45-3:00pm
   • Karen Boyce (HPW), Priyam Das (HPW), Gretchen George (FINA), Jessica Wolin (Public Health) presented on findings of the NCHA survey data for SF State students. Strong focus on mental wellness.
     • Sen. Harvey: what are some ways we can continue to promote wellness?
       • Karen Boyce: student health is a campus-wide responsibility
       • Jessica Wolin: recognize the mental health struggles of our students and encourage faculty professional development in supporting mental health
     • Sen. Way: is there a sense of the magnitude of the academic effects of mental distress?
       • Jessica Wolin: Although the data has not been disagreggated to that level, saw small GPA difference among students whose responses indicate mental health struggles having an affect on their academics and those who did not.

1. Gretchen LeBuhn, Chair of University Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity Council, “Updates from U-RSCA Council,” time certain 3:00-3:15pm
   • Gretchen LeBuhn presented updates on the work of URSCA and asked for feedback on how the council can support the work of faculty and students.
     • Sen. Yee-Melichar: in terms of intersegmental collaboration and student enrollment issues, can we work with community colleges and local high schools to have faculty present their work to these groups?
     • Sen. Goldman: appreciate the huge efforts of the committee, recognize SF State’s research role in development of future leaders, addressing complex problems like climate change, and making the world better.

1. Lori Beth Way, Dean of Undergraduate Education and Academic Planning, Kim Altura, Associate Dean, Division of Undergraduate Education, and Senator Nancy C. Gerber, “Update on Advising,” time approximate 3:30-3:45 pm
   • Lori Beth Way, Kim Altura, and Nancy Gerber presented on developments advising on campus and how it supports our student graduation success initiative. Updates on the structure of advising, new technology, and intiatives to support students finding and engaging in personalized advising.
     • Sen. Yee-Melichar: were you able to involve our alumni?
       • Sen. Way: involved some feedback from alumni from the Teagle Initiative. Can include more in future developments.
     • Sen. Stowers: when we admit students in PACE, we call them personally. Students report being very impressed by the personal touch and recommend this practice to departments as they are able.
2. Adjourment
   • Adjourned at 4:29 PM

POST-PLENARY FLOOR PERIOD: until 5:00pm

The Post-Plenary Floor Period provides an informal opportunity for senators and guests to meet, exchange information, or follow up on items or questions emerging from the meeting.