Bozorth Hall Auditorium Attendance: Herb Appelson, David Applebaum, Bryan Appleby-Wineberg, Lorin Arnold, Greg Biren, Lori Block, Carl Calliari, Bruce Caswell, Jay Chaskes, Gini Doolittle, John Gallagher, Dorie Gilchrist, Erick Guerra, Harriet Hartman, Cindi Hasit, Donna Cook, Jim Haugh, Luke Holbrook, Judy Holmes, Martin Itzkowitz, Gabriela Hristescu, Lee Kress, Paul Laumakis, Terri Lehr, Phillip Lewis, Janet Lindman, Jeff Maxson, Stuart McGee, Sandy McHenry, Eric Milou, Pat Mosto, James Newell, Joe Orlins, Anne Phillips, Robi Polikar, Nick Schmelz, Chuck, Schultz, Karen Siefring, Kathleen Small, Edward Smith, Sonia Spencer, Marian Stieber, Winifred Still, Susan Taber, Skeff Thomas, Sandy Tweedie, Cindy Vitto, Paris Von Lockette, Stephanie Weidman, Barbara Williams, Tricia Yurak, Faye Zhu Not in Attendance: Joseph Bierman, Julie Chang, Joe Davey, Denise Lemaire, Mary Marino, Bela Mukhoti, Olusegun Ojewuyi, Julie Peterson, Robert Sterner, Hal Vogel, Abe Witonsky Note: If anyone was omitted from attendance list, it indicates that you did not sign in. Please notify the Senate office and the minutes will be corrected.

Call to Order: President Cindy Vitto called the meeting to order at 11:00 AM. Motion to approve agenda, seconded and carried. Motion to approve minutes of March 25th combined with April 1st, seconded and carried.

Open Period: Gini Doolittle and James Coaxum from Educational Leadership reported on research involving new faculty at Rowan. They studied two cohorts: faculty hired for the 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 academic years (a total of 68 faculty members). Their survey of new faculty had a 44% response rate. Some of the findings include: 60% of new faculty had a mentor, and 40% of those approached the mentor on their own; Rowan was the first choice for 73% of the sample. In terms of job satisfaction, 53% are satisfied with their workload; 63% are satisfied with cooperation among faculty; 70% are satisfied with the quality of Rowan's undergraduate students; 40% are interested in both teaching and research, with more emphasis placed upon teaching. Sources of stress include the following: pressure to publish (83%), teaching load (70%), physical health (90%). Major factors in selecting Rowan include geographic location (90%), support for teaching (87%), quality of the department (83%), opportunity for scholarship (80%). Only 13% had no other jobs available to them. Based on the research, recommendations to ease the acculturation process for new faculty include finding ways to share the ethos and history of Rowan, expanding mentoring programs, finding better ways to communicate and coordinate events across colleges, expanding awards designed to recognize faculty contributions. The survey instrument is available for those interested in seeing it, and a follow-up study of those coming up for tenure next year is planned.

Frances Johnson, Interim Director of the Faculty Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, introduced a proposal for what is tentatively being called Rowan Day, a day set aside to reflect upon and celebrate who we are, to establish better connections between senior and junior faculty, and to involve students as well in community-building activities. Because almost 70% of our current faculty have been hired within the last six years, we need to find ways to help new faculty understand Rowan history and cultural values. In order to make this a success, we need a truly shared effort. Although the Senate indicated consensus on the value of having a task force explore this concept, the concern was expressed that we beware of celebrating without critiquing as well, and that we not allow Rowan Day to become merely self-congratulatory.

President Farish began with an update on the budget situation. Although he will say more about the budget at the April 29 University Assembled, he did appear yesterday at a hearing of the NJ Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee. This committee indicated that they understood the need for the state to invest in higher education.

The President also announced that we would soon be seeing a newly formatted Rowan Report, including updates from the various units to minimize piecemeal e-mail messages and to keep us all better informed. A suggestion was made that Joe Cardona consider setting up an interactive board to allow for responses to the updates.

Finally, the President indicated that we will soon select a new food service vendor. The contract will include renovations, most of which will take place about a year from now. In response to a question, President Farish assured the Senate that the Campus Aesthetics and Environmental Concerns Committee will have a voice in those renovations.

When asked about the status of the west campus, President Farish indicated that the new Technology Center will break ground this year and will be funded separately from the University budget. Rowan plans to return to court to attempt again to claim the land in dispute with the Walmart developer. In addition, most of the houses along Route 322 (leading to The Landmark-American Tap & Grill) will be torn down and replaced by green space. We are waiting for final engineering drawings on the Education Building; construction will probably begin in early fall.

Motion to amend the agenda in order to get all committee reports heard, seconded and carried. Committee Reports: University Budget and Planning , The committee met last week with President Farish. The four subcommittee chairs gave brief reports, and the committee handed to the President its final recommendations. Those ranked recommendations have been made available to the University community and feedback is encouraged. The committee anticipates meeting at least one more time and then again in mid-May will meet with the President. The state budget situation will not be clear until late June or early July. The next version of the five-year plan is now available for review and comment. An e-mail message to that effect went out today.

Academic Policies & Procedures: no report Campus Aesthetics and Environmental Concerns  had its final meeting last week. Career Development  no report Committee on Committees  committee request forms are due next week Curriculum  no report Intercollegiate Athletics  no report Learning Outcomes Assessment  committee will have a half-day retreat in Campbell Library on May 12 to focus more on details preparatory to next year's work Professional Ethics and Welfare  committee is looking at revising the ethics policy for faculty. Human Resources recently sent out two forms. Everyone needs to sign the paper stating that they have read the ethics policy; about 25% of the faculty have returned that form at this point. Cindi Hasit will contact Kathryn Gover to see if the form can be sent out via e-mail, printed out, signed, and returned. The conflict of interest form needs to be completed by anyone who holds a professional license in the state of New Jersey. Promotion committee has completed its work and already has 22 recommendations for next year's committee. Recruitment, Admissions & Retention  no report Research and Technology  no report Sabbatical Leave - The status of Sabbatical Leaves is still uncertain. The Provost sent letters to all those on the list requesting Sabbatical Leave inquiring as to whether they are willing to defer their leave. Student Relations  committee will have one more meeting Tenure and Recontracting  no report Senate President's Report:

Dorie Gilchrist reported that online registration for summer school has been reinstated. Touch-tone registration is not working currently, but when service has been restored an official message will go out to notify the campus that touch-tone and online registration for summer school will continue until May 20. Cindy Vitto reported that Senate officers met with Drew Calandrella yesterday. He informed us that Rowan is investigating the possibility of phasing out phone handsets in student residences and instead providing students with cell phones, beginning with freshmen. A Cingular business plan would make about 1100 minutes of air time available monthly for students, with text messaging as well; students' families, faculty, and staff could also sign up individually for this plan. Several concerns were voiced about the proposed cell phone plan, including (1) several other universities have had problems with text-message cheating during exams; (2) we are encouraging commercialism in our students and at the same time taking away their right of choice in the matter; (3) we need a broader consultation with faculty and staff, and the involvement of appropriate Senate committee(s), before closing a cell phone agreement. Vitto also reported that Calandrella explained that registration for Spring 2004 would change, not in the overall number of days devoted to registration but in the apportionment of those days. Based on our records of student use of the registration system, priority days would be cut down in order to allow an increase in the number of days when all students can access the system to refine their schedules. This will be a pilot program.

The next Shared Governance meeting will be held on May 5th. Vitto turned the floor over to Sandy Tweedie, chair of Academic Policies and Procedures, for a discussion of the Pass / No Credit option. When the Senate Executive Committee discussed this issue recently, we decided that we needed a broader consultation. Sandy has also asked Institutional Research for statistics on how many students take advantage of the Pass / No Credit option but has not yet received that information. The following comments were made: -When the original proposal for Pass / No Credit went into effect, it was with the proviso that the option would be periodically reviewed. That has not happened. We should consider whether to retain Pass / No Credit, especially in light of the fact that we know faculty abuse of this option sometimes occurs. -The Pass / No Credit option must be available for study abroad and basic skills courses. -We need a mechanism by which to add or remove courses to the current list of Pass / No Credit courses in the published schedule. -Should we allow students to take 10% of their general education courses on a Pass / No Credit basis? -Students in the doctoral program currently take all their courses on a Pass / No Credit basis, but the paperwork to change that is currently in the hands of the Curriculum Committee. -When students change majors, the Pass / No Credit option can create problems because different majors have different rules. Students may even be held back from graduating on schedule. -It was generally agreed the matter needs to go back to the department level so that we can obtain the information and feedback we need.

Motion to adjourn at 12:30 PM, seconded and carried. Next regularly scheduled meeting on May 14, 2003, 9:00 AM, Room 221 of the Student Center.