Graduate Faculty Council Meeting Minutes: January 26, 2000


United Nations Room, Student Union
3:00 P.M.

  1. The meeting was called to order at 3:10 P.M. Vice Provost Robert V. Smith presided.
  2. R. Smith introduced newly elected and reelected members of the Council.
  3. It was moved, seconded, and passed without dissent on a voice vote to approve as distributed the minutes of the meeting of December 8, 1999.
  4. There was an election to fill two seats on the GFC Executive Committee. Nominated from the floor were: Gregory Anderson, Peggy Chinn, David Herzberger, and Carl Maresh. James Knox also was nominated, but he declined.
    • It was moved, seconded, and passed without dissent on a voice vote to close nominations. Voting was by paper ballot. Gregory Anderson and David Herzberger were elected to three-year terms.
  5. A proposal, referred by the Executive Committee, to reapportion the constituencies of the Council was considered. J. Henkel noted that it is within the authority of the Council to approve the proposed changes.
    • The key elements of the proposal are to:
      • Redefine the constituency requirements so that every department has at least one representative with the provision that multiple Fields of Study housed within a single department can be combined to define a constituency in the range of 20 voting graduate faculty members. This change would correct the representation deficiency for Geography, Linguistics, Natural Resources, and Statistics.
      • Realign the following Fields of Study: (a) pair Biomedical Engineering with Electrical Engineering rather than Mechanical Engineering, and (b) move Educational Studies to the Curriculum and Instruction constituency. [The proposal called for moving Educational Studies to the constituency representing the Fields offered by the Department of Educational Leadership, but, as a result of discussion, this was changed by consensus to the Curriculum and Instruction constituency because the Field of Educational Studies is housed in the latter Department.]
      • Redefine the qualification limits for multiple representation from >30 to >36 voting graduate faculty. Leave the criterion for a third representative at 60.
      • And, in accordance with the above, reapportion the following constituencies as follows: change Business Administration from 3 to 2 representatives, change Dental Science from 2 to 1 representative, change Economics (with Geography as its own constituency) to sole representation of 1 rather than shared representation of 2, change Mathematics (with Statistics as its own constituency) to sole representation of 1 rather than shared representation of 2, and change Psychology and Biobehavioral Science (with Linguistics as its own constituency) from 3 representatives to 2.
    • There was discussion. Questions were raised about weighted voting depending upon the relative size of constituencies and about permitting more than 3 representatives for very large constituencies.
    • Following discussion, it was moved (D. Currier), seconded (J. Marsden), and passed without dissent on a voice vote to approve the proposal as presented (as outlined in the four bullets above including the move of Educational Studies to the Curriculum and Instruction constituency, as agreed).
  6. R. Smith spoke about the following:
    • the Storrs campus budget
    • the Student Business Practices Task Force
    • the PeopleSoft initiative
    • extended hours of Graduate School office operation
    • the Division of International Services and Programs
    • the renovation of the second floor of the Whetten Graduate Center
    • the new Graduate School Main Desk.

    • G. Anderson suggested that Council members submit ideas and recommendations concerning the Storrs campus
      budget for discussion and consideration.
  7. Ronald Taylor, Chair of the Chancellor Search Committee, updated the Council on the search process.
  8. Adjournment was at 4:34 P.M.

Respectfully submitted,

Thomas B. Peters
Secretary

Present:

  • Abikoff, W.
  • Achenie, L.
  • Anderson, G.
  • Andrle, R.
  • Baldwin, A.
  • Blank, T.
  • Brown, R.
  • Calabrese, A. (alt)
  • Cormier, V.
  • Crow, L.
  • Currier, L.
  • Epstein, P.
  • Gould, P. (alt)
  • Hamilton, M.
  • Hasson, S.
  • Herzberger, D.
  • Javidi, B.
  • Katz, D.
  • Kim, D.
  • Knox, J.
  • Kuo, L.
  • Leonard, J.
  • Marsden, J.
  • Maresh, C.
  • Miller, D.
  • Murphy, B. (alt)
  • Polifroni, E.C. (alt)
  • Ratneshwar, S.
  • Rodriguez, N.
  • Sacks, S.
  • Schultz, E.
  • Segal, J.
  • Silbart, L.
  • Troyer, J.
  • Warner, G.

Graduate School:

  • Henkel, J.
  • Peters, T.
  • Smith, R.

Speaker: Ronald Taylor, Chair - Chancellor Search Committee

Regrets:

  • Haller, K.
  • Maxwell, G.
  • Strausbaugh, L.