Highlight of ECS/UAS Meetings of February 9, and Preview of UAS Meeting of February 16, 2024 |
In an effort to improve communication between ECS/UAS and faculty colleagues, the Executive Committee of the Senate (ECS) at its August 16, 2023, retreat reaffirmed a recommendation from August 12, 2021, that each week, a general message be sent out to all faculty. This message will highlight the immediate past ECS/UAS meeting and give a preview of the upcoming ECS/UAS meeting. In particular, the highlight will summarize the key agenda items and provide context on the key votes; the pros and cons will be summarized and the key arguments for each highlighted. Herein are the highlights of the ECS/UAS meetings of February 9, and a preview of the UAS meeting of February 16, 2024. Meetings of the ECS are restricted to members of the ECS, their alternates, and others whom the ECS may invite, pursuant to SG 1.01.7.2. Meetings of the UAS are open pursuant to SG 1.01.6.2.
Highlights of ECS/UAS Meetings of February 9, 2024
Chair’s Report
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- All faculty are reminded to participate in the COACHE Faculty Job Satisfaction Survey, which has been launched. GVSU has joined The Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) for the next several years. The findings from COACHE will be available this summer, and in Fall 2024, GVSU faculty will be engaged to review the findings and to start to make changes.
- Upcoming events for Democracy 101 are February 28, and March 27.
- The theme for the 2024 UAS Newsletter will be The Role of Shared Governance in Co-Creating Laker Readiness. All faculty who would like to contribute an article should contact Chair Ngassa and plan to submit their articles by the deadline of April 1.
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- I appreciate the concern and passion of the senators around the work presented on “Educating Adult Learners at Scale”. I would like to add a few clarifications. As pointed out in Lakers Ready, Board of Trustees (BOT) will not be voting on this. There is no specific action required by the BOT regarding this initiative. President Mantella will provide an update and information about the work to our Board of Trustees while we work collectively to ensure quality while we serve our leaners. This is not a new program. Adult Education will be expanding our offering and capacity (locations, modalities) of existing programs that have already been approved through shared governance. Any additional programs will be explored in collaboration with the colleges. While the administrative model has been defined, there is still ample room for input as this evolves. This is why this was brought to UAS. The adult education unit will not be in Academic Affairs, it is elevated to the president level to assure proper cross institutional support to this important initiative. Kara Van Dam will maintain deep connections with Academic Affairs.
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Student Senate President's Report
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- Student Senate is beginning its Spring elections process. Petitions to get on the ballot may now be circulated, so if there are any students you believe would be good fits, please encourage them to run! I have decided to run for re-election as Student Senate President, which is exciting, so I hope to continue working with faculty governance next year.
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- The Inclusion and Equity Framework was shared. Urban Curry Consulting has partnered with GVSU on the updating of the framework. Feedback was gathered from faculty and staff over the summer, and there is an active student engagement cohort participating in the updating process. There are plans to create a glossary and Toolkit to help with clarity. There is an Equity and Inclusion Institute at GVSU that has provided internally-facing and externally-facing workshops.
- It was noted that the Equity and Inclusion Committee (EIC) report is not a comprehensive list of all initiatives to support and retain BIPOC faculty. A motion was supported to place the retention of BIPOC faculty on the agenda for the ECS summer retreat.
- The Teach-In committee has expanded from 4 people to 12 people, and this has been beneficial for broader viewpoints and decision-making. The committee has already been working on the event for next fall and will put out call for proposals by March 1st and then another call in the fall. Dates for the next Teach-In are 13th and 14th of November 2024.
- ECS voted to put on the UAS agenda the “Discussion of the UAS Response to the White Paper on Educating Adult Learners at Scale.”
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- We were only able to get through one agenda item, the “Discussion of the UAS Response to the White Paper on Educating Adult Learners at Scale.” At the end of the discussion, UAS passed the following motion: “The University Academic Senate fully accepts the White Paper response, having the response available to all faculty, send the response to the Senior Leadership Team, and to the Board of Trustees.” The motion was approved unanimously. As requested by the motion to share the response with faculty, you can have access to Chair Ngassa’s memo to the President and the BOT that includes the response to the white paper by going here.
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For more details on the above items, please go here.
Preview of UAS Special Meeting of February 16, 2024
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- Continued Discussion on Admission Standards and Conditions
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Please, feel free to reach out to your ECS or UAS representative from your College/University Libraries to provide input on any ECS agenda item that you may like to weigh in on.
Thank you for your continuous interest in faculty governance.
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