Faculty
Senate meeting: reports, Web page
The Faculty Senate met Dec. 4 and was called to order by Anne O. Kilpatrick,
DPA. The next meeting will be held at 7:45 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 8, in
room 107 of the Administration Library Building
Kilpatrick welcomed the senators and updated them on the following issues:
Hiring of the Legal Counsel
This process was initiated in March under the premises of an ad hoc
committee chaired by Anne Spencer and under the direction of the immediate
past senate chair, Adrian Reuben.
The following were the quality assurance items proposed by the committee
and approved by the Senate in its April meeting:
Item 1:
Within the first year of inception, should the senate determine that
cumulative and anticipated contributions be insufficient to serve the purpose
of employing legal counsel, then and in that event, the senate may
elect to disband the financial account and return all unused contributions
to donors on a pro rata basis.
After that time, should the senate determine that cumulative and anticipated
contributions be insufficient to serve the purpose of employing legal counsel,
then and in that event, the Senate may elect to disband the financial account
and donate all unused contributions to the unrestricted expendable fund
in the Health Sciences Foundation.
Item 2:
An appropriate checking account shall be established at a local financial
institution with signatory authority residing in the chair and two executive
committee members. Two authorized signatures will be required to authorize
each transaction. So far, $9,300 have been contributed by faculty. The
ad hoc committee has been interviewing several lawyers and has chosen two
eminent lawyers as legal counsel for Faculty Senate. They are Frank Drane
from Columbia and Martha Upshur from Charleston. Drane is well acquainted
with the faculty affairs of MUSC and is willing to provide us with his
services for a nominal fee of $200 per hour, with about estimated time
of two to three hours for reviewing a document.
Upshur appreciates the services rendered by the physicians and faculty
of MUSC and has volunteered her services for a year. It was decided that
both lawyers will be simultaneously consulted regarding the faculty handbook
revisions. To start with, the senate shall consult them about the approved
revisions that are being incorporated into the handbook. This is mainly
to get them acquainted with our policies and procedures and to give feedback
on sentence construction etc on the approved revisions. The senate chair
will periodically report to the senate on the proposed projects for the
legal counsel and get the senators’ input and approval. Kilpatrick urged
the new senators and those who have not donated before to donate generously
to the legal fund.
Council of South Carolina Senate Chairs
Kilpatrick and Mary P. Mauldin attended the meeting of Faculty Senate
Chairs from the educational institutes in South Carolina and came back
very impressed with the issues discussed at the meeting. The hot topic
was the future of state-supported educational institutions. Mauldin, besides
being the web master for the Faculty Senate, will be the web master for
the council.
President’s Council meetings
Kilpatrick has been regularly attending these meetings. The minutes
from these meetings are available on the Administration Section of the
MUSC web page. MUSC President Ray Greenberg, M.D., Ph.D., has sent a letter
to the South Carolina Budget and Control Board outlining the various measures
that MUSC has taken to balance the 4 percent reduction in budget allocation
such as freeze in hiring, approval of 95 percent spending of allocated
funds by individual colleges, and emphasized that furloughs cannot be implemented
at MUSC.
Mauldin, senate web master, has revamped the Faculty Senate Web page.
The new Web page will be launched in a couple of days. Subbi P. Mathur
suggests that she make a link to the American Association of University
Professors that offers timely articles and advice regarding university
affairs and to the South Carolina Senate Chairs Council.
Committee Reports
Faculty Affairs Committee
Mathur reported that due to her active involvement in the approaching
Faculty Senate Retreat, she did not convene the committee meeting this
month. Since the Faculty Senate Retreat will raise faculty-related issues
such as tenure, remuneration, contracts etc., it will be appropriate to
hold the committee meetings after the completion of the retreat. She urged
all the members of her committee to e-mail her with suggestions.
Academic Affairs Committee
Philippe Arnaud said he will convene the committee meetings from
next month onwards and identify the issues that the committee will work
on during the rest of the year.
University Affairs Committee
Since this committee does not yet have a chair, Kilpatrick urged
Mauldin and Connie Best to organize a meeting of this committee and elect
a chair by the next faculty senate meeting.
Governance Committee
Francine R. Margolius reported on the latest developments on inserting
the approved corrections in the faculty hand book. Reuben has been helping
her with this task. She has created a document entitled: Recommended Process,
Procedures and Timelines Periodic Updating of Faculty Handbook. This document,
presented as a separate link in the Faculty Senate meetings minutes section,
was unanimously approved by the Faculty Senate.
Gender Equity Committee Report
Deborah Carson who chaired this ad hoc committee and her committee
have collected large amounts of data on women faculty issues during the
past year, is stepping down. Kilpatrick asked the senators for suggestions
to replace her. Susan Tate, Best, Kit Simpson and DeAnna Cheek are on this
committee.
Faculty Contracts Committee Report
Rich Hernandez reported that his committee has been meeting every Wednesday
and is rounding up some specific proposals for a common faculty contract
for all colleges. He mentioned that he will discuss the final proposal
during our Faculty Senate Retreat, since the theme of the Faculty Senate
Retreat, namely, Faculty tenure, fits in with the contracts.
Other Business
Faculty Senate Retreat Dec. 12, “Tenure: Quo Vadis?”
Mathur presented her plans for the Faculty Senate Retreat. She has
invited the president, provost and deans of all MUSC colleges to talk to
us about faculty tenure and their views on its outlook. This will form
the first half of the retreat. The second half will be devoted to a closed
session of senators tackling the various issues of tenure.
She outlined the learning objectives to be:
-
Criteria for Faculty Tenure at MUSC: Administrative Point of view;
-
Criteria for Faculty tenure at MUSC (Faculty point of view);
-
Mutations of tenure in different colleges and departments;
-
Does tenure mean guaranteed remuneration?
-
Faculty Contract issues;
-
Women Faculty and tenure; and,
-
Post-tenure review.
Except for about six senators, all others will attend. For those that cannot
attend the retreat, she promised to post the Proceedings of the Faculty
Senate Retreat on the Faculty Senate Web site. She urged all senators
to contact her by email with suggestions.
Arts and Digital Imaging Department Review Report
Carlos Salinas chaired this ad hoc committee consisting of Mathur,
Margolius, C. Vera (Neurosurgery), Judith C. Wisniewski (Library Sciences),
Jim Menzel (Enrollment Services).
This committee met with the technical staff from Arts Services and Digital
Imaging's Tim Roylance, Rhett Chaplin, Pat Clute and Carl Brown as well
as John Runyan from the Finance Department to gather information and to
find alternatives to closing the department.
The following recommendations were made: (a) The Art Services and Digital
Imaging Department provides services that cut across the entire university
and provides professional quality services to the academic, clinical and
research communities. As such it should be recognized and supported as
such. (b) Remove this department from Finance and Administration and place
it in the academic support system. (c) Subsidize at least 25 percent of
the unit’s operational funding. The management of Art Services and Digital
Imaging should take the steps necessary to cut other costs and enhance
revenues to fully cover the withdrawal of shared services funds ($125,000).
(d) Conduct a comprehensive risk management review of the risks associated
with the passage of research subject and patient information into the private
sector that would result from closing this unit. Motion was passed to distribute
this information to the senators and deliberate further at the next Faculty
Senate meeting.
Parking Committee
Anne Kilpatrick asked for two volunteers from the senate floor to serve
on Parking Committee. Janice Hundley and Stephen Malley volunteered to
serve on this important committee.
MUSC Hazard Awareness and Management
Best outlined the measures that MUSC will take in the rare event of
a chemical or biohazard to the campus. Al Nesmith is the chair for this
committee.
Senators present
Basic Sciences: Philippe Arnaud (council member), Janice Lage,
Joan Olson, and Sally Self
Clinical Sciences: Timothy Carter, DeAnna Cheek, Gary Gilkerson,
Subbi Mathur (secretary), Terry O’Brien, Narendra L. Banik, Connie Best,
Benjamin E. Saunders, Dean Schuyler, and Thomas Steele
Dental Medicine: Peter Kobes, Luis Leite (council member), Stephen
Malley and Carlos Salinas
Health Professions: Richard Hernandez, Janice Hundley, and Anne
Kilpatrick (chair)
Library Science & Informatics: Jennie Ariail, Mary P. Mauldin
(council member and web master), Nancy McKeehan and Joann Sullivan
Nursing: Ramita Bonadonna, Tara Hulsey, and Francine Margolius
(vice chair)
Pharmacy: John Bosso and Kit Simpson (council member)
|