November 9, 2020

TAMU Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes

November 9, 2020

3:00pm

Via Zoom

http://facultysenate.tamu.edu

CALL TO ORDER

Speaker John N. Stallone called the sixth meeting of the 38^th Session to order at 3:00pm. Due to ongoing social distancing practices resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, the meeting was conducted via Zoom. Speaker Stallone began by reminding Senators of the Zoom features to be used during the meeting, then several newly-elected Senators were sworn in.

GUEST SPEAKER

Speaker Stallone welcomed guest speaker Dr. David Carlson, Dean of the University Libraries. Dean Carlson began by identifying the role that Texas A&M played in the creation of the Texas Library Coalition for United Action (TLCUA).

TLCUA was created so that academic and research libraries in Texas might together negotiate for decreased costs, improved access, and faculty ownership of educational materials.
It is in negotiations with Elsevier with the following priorities:
1. A new contract by December 31, 2020;
2. Greater ownership by faculty of publications in Elsevier journals;
3. A more open and sustainable scholarly publishing system;
4. A mutually beneficial partnership of strength and mutual contribution;
5. Meaningful reduction in costs.
While the goal is a new contract with Elsevier, it is possible that this might not happen by December 31, 2020, in which case plans are in place for continuing necessary access to content. The Coalition is committed to continuing discussions and an eventual agreement.

Dean Carlson then took questions from the following Senators: Senator Peter McIntyre, College of Science; Senator Raymundo Arroyave, College of Engineering; Senator Matthew Taylor, College of Agriculture & Life Sciences; Senator Tracy Hammond, College of Engineering; and Senator Adam Kolasinski.

Greater detail on the TCLUA is found in Attachment A – FS.38.167. The full video recording of the meeting can be accessed on the Faculty Senate website: https://facultysenate.tamu.edu/Faculty-Senate-Meeting-Recordings.

Speaker Stallone thanked Dean Carlson for speaking to the Faculty Senate.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Dr. Jocelyn Widmer, Assistant Provost for Academic Innovation, and Dr. Juan Garza, Assistant Vice President for Academic Services & Director of Provost Information Technology Office – Attachment B – FS.38.168 (for information only)
Dr. Widmer provided her monthly update on the progress of Canvas (LMS) via a video, and the meeting time was devoted to questions only. The following Senators posed questions or offered comments: Senator Catharina Laporte, College of Liberal Arts.

Speaker Stallone provided updated information about the future Open Forums with President Young and Provost Fierke. He encouraged interested faculty to look for the dates on the Faculty Senate website’s home page, and that the recordings can also be found on the website.

SPEAKER COMMENTS

Speaker Stallone began with a virtual presentation to former Speaker Andrew Klein of the traditional framed Resolution in honor of his year of service, which was read at the May 2020 meeting where the gavel was passed. This was followed by the presentation of gifts, including a personalized and framed 12^th Man jersey and a custom tie commemorating his Antarctic research, and concluded with a thank you for his service.

The following informational items were shared by Speaker Stallone:

After extensive discussion among the Provost and her team, the Executive Committee (EC), and student leaders, it was agreed that the Q-drop deadline would be extended to November 30^thfor Fall 2020 only, so that students could maximize their chances to improve upon their course performance before final grades are posted.
The change in Q-Drop deadline confounded the rules regarding student evaluations of courses, which would normally be performed after the Q-Drop deadline; however, given the unusual COVID-related circumstances of the fall semester, the EC recommended that this rule be suspended this semester in order to complete the course evaluations in a timely manner.

Speaker Stallone closed his comments by recognizing the difficulty of the semester, and extending his gratitude to all faculty for their commitment to achieving success in their teaching and research this semester.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

The motion passed to approve the October 12, 2020 minutes as distributed. Attachment C – Passed – FS.38.169

CONSENT AGENDA

The motion was made to approve the November 9, 2020 Consent Agenda as presented. Two Senators requested the following courses be pulled from the Consent Agenda for further discussion:

Senator Hank Walker, College of Engineering: ISTM 680: Human-Computer Interaction
Senator James Erickson, College of Science: WFSC 335: Natural History of the Invertebrates

Both were removed from the Consent Agenda, which was then approved with those two items removed.
(Full Consent Agenda with FS #’s can be found under Adjournment below.)

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

The first item addressed was ISTM 680. Senator Hank Walker, College of Engineering, stated that the course content overlapped with CSCE 671 taught by the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, also cross-listed with the Department of Visualization in the College of Architecture. There had been no discussion about this course, and he requested that the ISTM department head enter into a conversation with the other two department heads to receive a letter of support. Senator Angie Hill Price, College of Engineering, suggested a motion be made for the course to be returned to the source for a letter of support, which was moved, seconded, and approved.

The second item addressed was WFSC 335. Senator James Erickson, College of Science, stated that the course has content similar to BIOL 335. Traditionally the content was distinct, but these revisions caused overlap. On behalf of the Biology department, he requested that the department of Wildlife & Fisheries Sciences send a letter identifying how the course will remain distinct with the proposed changes in order to receive support from Biology. Senator Erickson moved to receive a letter from WFSC, was seconded, and the motion was approved.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Core Curriculum Council Course Report – Attachment D – Passed – FS.38.159
The motion passed to approve the Core Curriculum Course Report as presented.
(Full CCC Report can be found under Adjournment below.)

OTHER COMMITTEE REPORTS

SEBAC Report – Attachment E – For Informational Review – FS.38.160
The Faculty Senate’s representative to System Employee Benefits Advisory Committee (SEBAC), Greg Heim, provided an update on the SEBAC meeting held in October 2020. See attachment E for further details.

Budget Information Committee Report – Attachment J – For Informational Review – FS.38.161
Added to the agenda on the day of the meeting and thus termed an “emergency item,” the Budget Information Committee Chair, Senator Adam Kolasinski, provided an update on information learned by the committee up to this point in the academic year. See attachment J for further details.

NEW BUSINESS

Proposed Minimum Syllabus Requirements (COVID Addendum removed) – Attachment F – Passed – FS.38.162
The motion to approve Attachment F was made, followed by a motion by Senator Adam Haney, TAMU Galveston, to table the Proposed Minimum Syllabus Requirements until Academic Affairs could report on having the documents available via links, which was seconded. Dr. Mike Stephenson, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs & Strategic Initiatives, was recognized. He emphasized that approving this content was unrelated to the creation of links for faculty, and that if the MSR was not approved, faculty would not receive the syllabus template (“shells”) in the LMS until mid-December, delaying many processes for faculty.
A reminder of parliamentary process was made that motions to table are not discussed, merely voted on so the motion to table the vote on the MSR was repeated, seconded, and failed to pass.
Attachment F was again moved for approval, it was seconded, and approved.

Proposed COVID-19 Temporary Addendum to the Minimum Syllabus Requirements for Spring 2021 – Attachment G – Passed – FS.38.163
The motion was made to approve the Proposed COVID-19 Temporary Addendum to the Minimum Syllabus Requirements for Spring 2021. There followed a discussion about faculty interest in receiving guidelines for when a student may choose to join a course online, as many students who were supposed to be attending class face-to-face were doing so online.
The motion passed to approve the Proposed COVID-19 Temporary Addendum to the Minimum Syllabus Requirements for Spring 2021 as presented.

Resolution in Support of Formation of the Texas Library Coalition for United Action – Attachment H – Passed – FS.38.164
The motion passed to approve the Resolution in Support of Formation of the Texas Library Coalition for United Action.

Proposed Revision to Bylaws – Description of the Undergraduate Admissions Advisory Committee – Attachment I – For Informational Review Only – FS.38.165
There were no questions, comments, or concerns on Attachment I.

Emergency Item: Recommendation of December 2020 Degree Candidates Passed – FS.38.166
TOTAL – 5,275
TAMU-Main – 4,985
TAMU-Galveston – 141
TAMU-HSC – 108
TAMU-Law – 35
TAMU-Qatar – 6

The Faculty Senate voted in favor of certifying the December 2020 degree candidates.

COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE

Speaker-Elect Dale Rice convened the Committee of the Whole.

Senator Matt Kane, TAMU Galveston, communicated that by earlier tabling WFSC 335, the just-approved program of which it is a part was out of compliance. Speaker-Elect Dale Rice expressed that it shouldn’t be a problem as long as the Senate is able to approve the course at the December meeting.

Senator Bruce Neville, on behalf of the Library caucus and Dean Carlson, expressed thanks for the Senate’s support of the TLUAC.

Senator Deb Banerjee, College of Engineering, made a request for the Provost and Dean of Faculties to use this semester’s student evaluations as advisory rather than for evaluation of the faculty. Dean of Faculties Blanca Lupiani stated that the faculty may choose whether or not to include the student evaluations this semester, as was done last semester.

Senator Matthew Taylor, raised a question on behalf of the College of Agriculture, regarding a statement made by Dr. Fierke at an Open Forum this semester regarding “DE’s.” This was counter to a later statement, and Dr. Taylor was seeking more information. Dr. Fierke shared that this semester all courses were offered online, and almost all in the spring would be offered online, so it was not possible to charge all students the Distance Education (DE) fees. Her office was working with COALS to deal with their budget deficit; one of the ways would be to increase their Differential Tuition (DT) but this is a longer-term solution. Part of the shorter-term strategy would be to allow the College to charge DE fees in the summer.

Senator Darlene McLaughlin, College of Medicine, conveyed her appreciation to all involved in reinstating in-person Silver Taps, and to Senators who reached out to her after the last meeting.

Senator Adam Haney, TAMU Galveston, requested clarification on the relationship between the MSR’s and the course shells in the LMS. Vice Provost Mike Stephenson answered that the faculty who want to work on building their spring courses would not have access to them until the MSR are approved and the templates can be built into the shells. This way each individual faculty member would not have to manually update the MSR; they will be already be in Canvas and e-Campus.

Senator Grace Townsend, TAMU Galveston, commented that some MSR challenges relate to the remote campuses like Galveston. The MSR document is targeted to the College Station campus, and remote campuses must replace information and links to make it relevant to their campus. This adds complexity to embedding the template in the LMS. Dr. Jocelyn Widmer shared that there have been some changes and there should be fewer issues in the spring.

Senator Andy Tag, College of Science, commented that faculty are required by law to post their syllabi on Howdy, and asked if there will now be links between Canvas and Howdy to avoid the need to cut and paste into a document. Dr. Widmer explained that there is not yet a way to do this, but down the road there will likely be a several step process to get this done. He also asked how the university arrived at the spring schedule decision to make the Texas Independence Day a holiday, which disrupts the lab schedule by being mid-week. Dr. Stephenson detailed the decision-making process, which included conversations with the leadership of the College of Science, who gave the go-ahead for the holiday. Senator Jay Ramadoss, chair of the Academic Affairs committee, added that student leaders were active in the decision, and that the driving force was avoiding a long spring break to prevent virus infection resulting from widespread travel. Dr. Fierke assured all that there would be no changes to the published spring schedule.

Senator Andy Banerjee, College of Engineering, asked if it would be possible to strip out the course evaluations by students who have Q-dropped the course, as their negative evaluations can skew the results. Dr. Stephenson reported that when students Q-drop, they fall off of the list of students to receive the evaluation and those who Q-drop after the evaluations will disappear retroactively.

Provost Fierke shared that there has been a doubling in the amount of COVID cases (as seen on the dashboard) and this surge has been traced to a number of Halloween parties. This increase in cases was driving plans to increase testing on campus in the coming week. They continue to keep close track to see if this surge levels off or if it is an ongoing trend, and wanted to ensure everyone that they are taking it very seriously. There is still no evidence of transmission in the classroom.

Speaker-Elect Rice returned the meeting to Speaker Stallone.

ADJOURNMENT

...