2017-2018 UFC Approved Minutes

UFC-Special Meeting Minutes-August 17th, 2017

UFC-Organizational Meeting Minutes-August 17th, 2017

UFC Meeting Minutes-September 27th, 2017

UFC Meeting Minutes-October 25th, 2017

UFC meeting Minutes-November 29th, 2017

UFC Meeting Minutes-January 31st, 2018

UFC_Meeting_Minutes-February 28th, 2018

UFC Meeting Minutes-April 4th, 2018

(Approved Fall 18) Minutes UFC_April_23_Final

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Motions Approved by UFC, 2017-2018

August 17, 2017 meeting:

  1. Resolution offering solidarity with the students, faculty, and staff at the University of Virginia and with the citizens of Charlottesville in strongly condemning the bigotry, hatred, violence, and intimidation exhibited by supporters of the “Unite the Right” event.

October 25, 2017 meeting:

  1. The Department of Modern Languages & Literatures recommends that back (or retroactive) credit in the amount of three credits be awarded if a student, upon taking a UMW language placement exam, then takes the same language at the level in which (s)he placed, and successfully completes that level (course) with a B- or higher.
  2. New Course Designation: Community Engagement (CE) Learning Designation and CE Course Proposals. For details on the proposed new CE designation, please see the General Education Committee Meeting Minutes.
  3. New policy: If a course that meets a General Education requirement has not been taught for three academic years, a department will be notified that the course will be removed from the general education list. Unless the department provides a compelling reason why the course should not be removed, and shows evidence that the department intends to teach the course in the next semester (and then does so), it will be removed from the list of General Education courses. Courses that are removed can be submitted to the General Education committee for reconsideration at a later date.
  4. New policy: If a course that meets a General Education requirement has a prerequisite course in that same general education category (and only once course is needed to satisfy a particular General Education requirement or part of a requirement), a department will be notified that the course is being removed from the general education list. If a prerequisite changes, that second course can be submitted to the General Education committee for reconsideration at a later date.

November 29, 2017 meeting:

  1. Policy on Recording Classes and Distribution of Course Materials: This policy prohibits the recording of class materials (lectures, discussions, class activities) without the express permission of the instructor or without the proper permission from the Office of Disability Resources (ODR). Instructors who do not wish to have their lectures/discussions recorded should clearly state their policy on the course syllabus. The UFAC and Provost reminds faculty that instructors cannot deny a student the ability to record classes if the student has the proper permission for ODR. The full policy is available on the UFC Website.
  2. Four Resolutions regarding Treatment of Adjuncts:

    Resolution 1: Equitable treatment of adjuncts in hiring for full-time positions

    The University Faculty Council hereby requests the Provost’s Office and the Office of Human Resources to educate search committees about equitable treatment for adjuncts who apply for full-time faculty positions.

    Both age discrimination and employment bias can cause search committees to reject qualified adjunct applicants. Although there is no documented evidence that UMW has a problem in this area, because it is a national trend, we would like to be pro-active in educating faculty and search committees. We thus request that The Provost’s Office and Human Resources direct all search committee chairs to familiarize their committee members with the following statement during training:

    Equitable treatment of adjuncts in hiring for full-time positions

    Age discrimination in hiring is illegal. Adjunct faculty members, like other candidates, must not be discriminated against on the basis of age.

    A second form of discrimination that can impact adjunct applicants is employment bias. Like age bias, employment bias can be explicit or implicit. It involves negative beliefs about adjuncts as a group, such as the belief that candidates working as adjuncts are probably less qualified than recent graduates or full-time faculty. Employment bias can create unfair discrimination against adjunct applicants even in fields where jobs are rare and many degree-earners must take adjunct work. It can lead to rejections based on bias rather than on qualifications.

    The following article provides helpful information about age discrimination and employment bias: Flaherty, Colleen. “No Country for Old Adjuncts.” Inside Higher Ed,September 24, 2014.

    Resolution 2: Adjunct Faculty Raises

    Whenever across-the- board raises are given to full-time faculty, strong consideration should also be given to raising the adjunct pay scale.

    Resolution 3: Adjunct Inclusion

    In order to include adjuncts as fully as possible in the life of the University and to demonstrate to students that adjuncts are fully qualified instructors, the UFC calls on Chairs and Deans to make sure that long-term adjuncts are included in posted office address lists, web lists of faculty, faculty photo displays, and publication displays. It also calls on the University to include long-term adjunct faculty in Meet the Faculty, faculty experts, Faculty Notes, and Bookstore displays of faculty work.

    The UFC passed a motion to approve Resolution 3 with the assumption that it will be amended to state that all adjuncts (regardless of length of service) be included when possible.

    Resolution 4: Service Recognition for Adjuncts

    Adjuncts should be recognized for years of service, based on number of semesters taught, in the same ways full-time faculty are.

  3. Motion: BOV Hiring to Tenure and Rank: The UFAC proposed handbook changes addressing the hiring of a new faculty member/administrator to tenure (view here: http://ufc.umw.edu/files/2011/09/Change-to-Fac-Hbk-7.6.2-to-UFAC.pdf.) The new language formalizes a process that is currently in practice.

January 31, 2018 meeting:

    1. UFC moved to eliminate the UFC actions from March 24th, 2015: that the Deans of the three colleges be required to publish the list of publication on a password protected website 1.) the names of all conferences attended by faculty members when travel was funded by UMW and 2.) the journal name and amount of any payments for submission or publication fees funded by UMW. The motion is approved and the original list will be taken down.

February 28, 2018 meeting:

  1. SCHEV Assessment: Oral Communication and Digital Literacy should be selected as the two additional self-selected areas of assessment for SCHEV.Task Force Recommendations:Motion 1: General education assessment data for the following general education designations ALPA, EL, HES, and NS will be collected for a period of three (3) years to ensure more reliable and valid data.
    ALPA Recommendations:Motion 2: The target for ALPA should be set to 80% of students “meeting expectations significantly” or “exceeding expectations” (assessment categories 4 and 5 of 5).Motion 3: Modify SLO1 from “Incorporates or responds to the theories/perspectives/values of others.” to “Incorporates or responds to the theories/perspectives/values of those engaged in the creative process.”
    Motion 4: Modify SLO3 from “Reflects on the value of the creative process.” to “Reflects on the value of creative works in society.”Recommendations for HES:Motion 5: The target for HES should be set to 80% of students “meeting expectations significantly” or “exceeding expectations” (assessment categories 4 and 5 of 5).
    Motion 6: Modify SLO1 from “Students will be able to explain human and social experiences and activities from multiple perspectives.” to “Students will be able to explain human and social experiences and activities from multiple cultural and/or theoretical perspectives.”Motion 7: Modify SLO2 from “Students will be able to draw appropriate conclusions based on evidence.” to “Students will be able to draw appropriate conclusions based on evidence, texts, or other materials.”Motion 8: Modify SLO3 from “Students will be able to apply knowledge and skills learned to a novel situation.” to “Students will be able to apply knowledge and skills related to human behavior, ideas, and social structures to better understand actual social life.”Recommendations for NS:Motion 9: The target for NS should be set to 75% of students at the level of “excellent” (assessment category 4 of 4).
    Motion 10: Modify SLO4 from “Students will be able to identify current issues in which scientific progress may challenge traditional social ideas or present moral or ethical dilemmas” to “Students will gain an understanding for how the natural sciences are used to address societal issues.”Recommendations for EL:Motion 11: Modify and separate the current SLO3, “Students will be able to clarify and refine their understanding of their strengths and weaknesses in content of relevant disciplines and in skills such as time management, organization, professionalism, and so forth,” into two new SLOs:New SLO3: “Students will be able to clarify and refine an understanding of strengths and weaknesses in the content of the relevant disciplines.”New SLO4: “Students will be able to clarify and refine an understanding of strengths and weaknesses in skills such as time management, organization, professionalism, and so forth.”Motion 12: Remove the current SLO4: “Students will be able to recognize their knowledge and lack of knowledge.”

    Motion 13: Modify SLO5 from “Students will be able to connect their undergraduate experiences and their post-graduation lives” to “Students will be able to relate their experiential learning to their post-graduation plans.”

    Motion 14: EL courses will be assessed with a survey of students participating in the course. The survey administered by office of institutional analysis will consist of 7 questions to measure the five new SLOs, which will have a different set of responses, on a scale of 1-5 (Strongly Agree through Strongly Disagree). For those SLOs with more than one relevant multiple choice questions, the average of those two questions will comprise the score for that SLO.

    The UFC passes this motion with the expectation that Motion 14 will be amended to include a statement indicating that the Office of Institutional Analysis and Effectiveness will assess the survey.

April 4, 2018  meeting:

  1. Motion 15: Students in EL courses should reflect on several questions about their experience before completing the survey. SAGE 000 EL and all 499 courses completed for EL credit must complete a written self-reflection.
    Professors in other courses may elect to incorporate these reflection questions directly into the experiential learning course as a written assignment – e.g., a set of journal exercises, internship reflection assignment, final reflection paper, or whatever works for the professor and student. Full Motion can be found here.
  2. Language Outcomes Assessment Plan
  3. MOTION: The University Academic Affairs Committee should be charged to develop a response to Virginia HB454, with support from the OpenUMW group as needed.

April 23, 2018 meeting:

  1. Motion: The UFC moves to temporarily add two tenured members of the faculty to the General Education Committee to assist with the re-evaluation of the General Education requirements. Their terms will end with the completion of the review and will not exceed two years.  Their service on the committee is limited to the review of general education requirements. The University Faculty Organizational Committee should appoint these two members and they should be representative of diverse disciplines.
  2. Motion: The UFC moves to grant an exception to Article 2.5.1 of the Faculty Handbook to allow Nicole Crowder to be appointed a second consecutive term on the General Education Committee and to serve as chair.