Faculty Senate Meeting

September 26, 2001

Attendees: Kurt Anderson, Bud Baeslack, Linnda Caporael (President), Stephen Derby, Don Drew, Gary Gabriele, Prabhat Hajela, Linda Layne, Jon Newell, Ralph Noble, Randy Norsworthy, Bud Peterson (Provost), Mark Rea, Susan Sanderson, Trina Sego, Mary Anne Waltz, Bruce Watson

Original Minutes from 9/26/2001

Agenda

Approval of Minutes from 9/12/01 Meeting

Faculty Senate Sponsored Forum on America's Governing Values and Principles - Linnda

Caporael

Motion by Linda Layne

Motion by Don Drew

Clinical Faculty Participation in Faculty Senate, Including Hartford Faculty - Prabhat

Hajela

Motion by Jon Newell

Current Status of Rensselaer Performance Plan - Ralph Noble
Diversity Committee Handout

Adjournment

Approval of Minutes from 9/12/01 Meeting

A quorum was acknowledged and the meeting was called to order at 2:00pm. The minutes of the 9/12/01 meeting were unanimously accepted, with one correction. Linda Layne would like the minutes of the 9/12 meeting to reflect that the Institute considers a policy for spousal hiring.

Faculty Senate Sponsored Forum on America's Governing Values and Principles

President Caporael presented a draft copy of a proposal for the Faculty Senate to sponsor a forum on America's governing values and principles in response to the September 11, 2001 tragic events. A lengthy discussion resulted as to the goals and structure of the forum, and what it is meant to accomplish.

Motion by Linda Layne

A motion was made by Linda Layne that the Faculty Senate accepts volunteers, who will draft a statement in regard to recent events, send it around among the Senate electronically, and issue it before the next meeting. The motion was seconded by Randy Norsworthy, and unanimously approved. Ralph Noble, Linda Layne and Prabhat Hajela volunteered to draft the statement.

Motion by Don Drew

Don Drew made a motion to appoint a committee to plan and coordinate a set of activities responding to the events of 9/11/01, and to report back to the Faculty Senate in two weeks. Susan Sanderson seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.

Suggested members of this committee were Atsushi Akera, STS, Linnda Caporael, Linda Layne, Djaber Sebkhaoui (the Muslim Chaplain) and Susan Sanderson. Prabhat offered his availability in an advisory capacity. The Provost offered to entertain a proposal to assist in this effort.

Clinical Faculty Participation in Faculty Senate, Including Hartford Faculty - Prabhat Hajela

Prabhat Hajela made a presentation on clinical faculty at Rensselaer. Discussion followed concerning definitions of clinical and research faculty and why clinical faculty on the Troy campus was not represented on the Faculty Senate.

Motion by Jon Newell

Jon Newell made a motion to place Amendment question, 2B from last year, "to enfranchise the Troy Clinical Faculty to the same extent as the Hartford Clinical Faculty at the present time" on the next ballot for faculty voting. Steve Derby seconded the motion. Ten senate members approved the motion; one abstained.

Current Status of Rensselaer Performance Plan - Ralph Noble

President Caporael asked to address the last item on the agenda, the current status of the Rensselaer Performance Plan from Ralph Noble. Discussion ensued regarding the expectations from the Provost, Deans and the committee. It was agreed that a clearer and more widely understood role for the Planning and Resources Committee was needed.

Adjournment

President Caporael adjourned the meeting at 4:00pm.