UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA                  DAVIS            ACADEMIC SENATE

                                                                                                VOLUME XXXIII, No. 3

 

MINUTES (Revised August 31, 2004)

REGULAR MEETING OF THE REPRESENTATIVE ASSEMBLY

OF THE DAVIS DIVISION OF THE ACADEMIC SENATE

 

Tuesday, May 4, 2004

3:00 - 5:00 p.m.

Memorial Union, MU II

 

  1.             Minutes of the February 18, 2004 meeting
  2.             Announcements by the President - None
  3.             Announcements by the Vice Presidents - None
  4.             Announcements by the Chief Campus Officer - None
  5.             Announcements by Deans, Directors, or other Executive Officers - None
  6.             Special Orders
    1. Remarks by the Chair of the Staff Assembly, Zack O’Donnell
    2. Remarks by the Chair of the Davis Division of the Academic Senate

      7.  Reports of special committees

      8.  Reports of standing committees

                  A.  Report of the Public Service Committee - announcement of the                                      recipient(s) of the Distinguished Public Service Award

                  B.   Report of the Undergraduate Council regarding working with Committee

                        on Courses of Instruction to amend Regulation 538.

      9.   Petition of Students

     10.  Unfinished business

                  A.  Discussion of students in academic difficulty or probation - will be                                  postponed until June 3, 2004 meeting

     11.  University and faculty welfare - None

     12.  New business

                  A.  Resolution for Committee on Academic Personnel

 

 

Kyaw Tha Paw U, Secretary

Representative Assembly of the

Davis Division of the Academic Senate

 

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            The meeting was called to order by Bruce R. Madewell, Chair, Davis Division of the Academic Senate at 3:10 p.m.

 

1.         The minutes of the February 18 meeting were noted and placed into record.

2.         Announcements by the President - None

3.         Announcements by the Vice Presidents - None

4.         Announcements by the Chief Campus Officer - None

5.         Announcements by Deans, Directors, or other Executive Officers - None

6.         Special Orders

 

            A.  Remarks by the Chair of the Staff Assembly, Zack O’ Donnell

 

Mr. O’Donnell thanked the Assembly for the opportunity to re-introduce Staff Assembly to the Academic Senate.  He then highlighted some of the Staff Assembly issues this year noting that the purpose of the Staff Assembly is to promote the welfare, interests, and diversity of staff at UC Davis.  The Staff Assembly has strived to develop a serious dialogue with campus administration on issues affecting staff.  Some of these issues are the organizational structure, employee work life, and the unintentionally divided cultures of the campus.  The Staff Assembly also continues to work with the Academic Senate on parking fee increases and issues, housing issues, and campus work-life issues.  Staff Assembly is also working with the Department of Real Estate on the staff housing issue in West Davis as well as working with faculty and staff to provide affordable access to campus recreation facilities.  Staff Assembly assists the campus in promoting staff welfare with our Staff Scholarship Program, Citations for Excellence Program, and all the other TGFS activities we coordinate in the Spring.

 

Staff Assembly goals are becoming more and more difficult to achieve.  Michael Buck will be the new Chair of the Staff Assembly for the 2004-2005 year.  The Staff Assembly has been assisting the Academic Senate in addressing issues affecting faculty and staff.  The most recent example is campus parking but there are many other areas from which we can develop a working partnership-other examples include the promotion of campus diversity, civility, and mutual respect in the workplace, excellence in supervision and management, and the implementation of campus budget cutting programs.  I am hoping that we can take this concept a step further and work together to address the numerous issues that unprecedented growth and changes will bring to this campus.  Together, we can focus on the concerns of the campus and express our ideas and hopefully accomplish more than we could have individually.

 

I leave you today with an offer of coordination and partnership in those areas in which we share mutual interest.  After all, we all work for UC Davis and we all believe in the mission of excellence in research, teaching, and public service.

 

Chair Madewell thanked Zack O’Donnell for his comments.

 

B.  Remarks by the Chair of the Davis Division of the Academic Senate

“I would like to call your attention again to the activities of the Universitywide Academic Senate.  The web site link is http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/senate/reports/welcome.html.  In the Spotlight” includes the White Papers from the Academic Council Subcommittee on the National Laboratories, proposed Amendments to the Academic Senate Bylaws, and the most recent issue of Senate Source.  You might also be interested in perusing the “Issues Under Review” and the 2003-2004 “Reports and Recommendations.”  Of interest are Academic Council’s responses or recommendations relating to the private equity investments in the 403(b) and proposed 457(b) plans; UCs Green Building Design and Clean Energy Standards Policies and Procedures; alignment of campus calendars; UC Health Sciences Faculty Retirement Proposals; Educational Fee Waivers; the Report of the Task Force on Graduate and Professional Schools Admissions; the Instructional Activities Reports; Proposed Policies on Sexual Harassment and Procedures for Responding to Reports of Sexual Harassment; Proposed New Policy on Conflicts of Interest Caused by Consensual Relationships; Proposed Revisions to SBL 335B to Conform to Whistleblower Policies; recommendations regarding Sensitive but Unclassified Technical Information (SUTI), and others.”

 

He then confirmed to the Assembly that a quorum had been certified.  (An attendance roster is on file with the records of the meeting in the Academic Senate Office.)

 

7.         Reports of special committees - None

8.         Reports of standing committees

            A.  Report of the Public Service Committee - Professor Jeffrey Weidner, Chair, presented the report by announcing the recipients of the 2003-2004 Distinguished Scholarly Public Service Award Recipients.  He noted that the selection is very difficult because there are so many wonderful candidates to choose from.  The Committee did, however, narrow it down to three truly outstanding scholars:

 

Suad Joseph, Professor of Anthropology and Women’s Studies.  A member of the UCD faculty since 1976, Professor Suad Joseph specializes in issues of family, gender, religious, and ethnic conflict.  In her letter of nomination, Professor Carol Smith, Chair of the Department of Anthropology, cites Professor Joseph’s “lifetime of service dedicated to increasing understanding, exchange, and scholarly cooperation between the US and the Middle East.”  She is the founder of the Association for Middle East Women’s Studies; founder and chair of the joint American University in Beirut - American University in Cairo - Lebanese American University - University of California Collaborative Initiative; founder and chair of the Arab Families Working Group, which is committed to linking researchers and policy makers to assist Arab families and youth in issues of war, violence, and migration; and she is the General Editor of the Encyclopedia of Women and Islamic Cultures.  She has been lauded as “…an indefatigable institution builder and enabler of other people’s work, as well as her own...”

 

Howard Schutz, Professor Emeritus of Food Science and Technology.  As a member of the UCD faculty for over 30 years, Professor Emeritus Schutz specialized in consumer and food science, particularly in the areas of sensory evaluation and consumer behavior.  His expertise in these areas was used in the creation of national programs in consumer education by the Norwegian Food Research Institute, the Danish Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, by institutions in the United Kingdom, and by the Agency for International Development in Columbia.  Professor Schutz served on an expert panel of the US Life Science Research Office of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB).  His regional and local activities include service for the Sacramento Regional Planning Commission, and as an advisor to the City of Davis Consumer Affairs Bureau as well as in the development of the Senior Learning Unlimited Program.

 

Wing Thye Woo, Professor of Economics.  During his nineteen-year career as a member of the faculty at UCD, Professor Wing Woo has used his expertise in macroeconomic development and transition economics to make an outstanding public contribution to economic development in many parts of the world.  He has served as a formal and informal advisor to the governments of China, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Mongolia, Taiwan, Ukraine, and Viet Nam.  He served as a Special Advisor on Asian Economies to the US Treasury and continues to contribute papers and testimony to the Joint Economic Committee of the US Congress.  He served as an advisor to the Asian Development Bank, the Global Development Network, the World Economic Forum, and the Institute for South East Asian Studies.  He recently served as a Special Advisor for East Asian Economies in the Millennium Goals Project of the United Nations, whose goals include the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, the reduction of child mortality, and world wide environmental stability.

 

            B. Report of the Undergraduate Council - Professor Joe Kiskis introduced a proposal.  The Undergraduate Council worked with the Committee on Courses of Instruction to amend Regulation 538.  The proposal is for final examinations to be given during Dead Day for online courses as an alternative to the last hour of the last day of exams.  Vote: unanimous approval

 

            C. Report of the Committee on Elections, Rules, and Jurisdiction - Professor Kevin Hoover proposed a change to Davis Division Bylaw 121.B.  The committee would like to modify numbers 1 & 3.  What does ‘consultation’ mean and is it consistent with other colleges and universities?  The committee proposes omitting the word consultation since the word is very unclear.  This would be a housekeeping amendment, because the principle comes from the Standing Orders of the Regents.

 

After discussion, two motions were passed.

 

Motion: amendments

Action: RA does not support the justification

Vote: motion approved

 

Motion: friendly amendment

Action: RA tkes "no position" in passing the amendments

Vote: motion approved

 

            D.  Report of the Graduate Council - Trish Berger proposed an amendment to Davis Division Bylaw 80.B regarding the Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award.  The amendment would assign responsibility for the Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award to Graduate Council. 

Vote: unanimous approval; motion carries

 

9.         Petition of Students - None

10.       Unfinished business

            A.  Discussion of students in academic difficulty - will be postponed until June 3, 2004 meeting

 

11.       New business

            A.  Resolution for Committee on Academic Personnel.  Professor Quirino Paris introduced a new business item concerning intramural letters that go into personnel packets.  Motion: CAP shall accept a letter from a chair of an Academic Senate Committee describing the service of an individual faculty member.  CAP shall communicate to the Vice-Provost for Academic Personnel the desire of the Davis Division of the Academic Senate that the Academic Personnel Manual be amended to permit such letters to be included in the personnel packet that accompanies each personnel action.  Professor Judith Stern spoke in favor of this motion.

 

The question was raised as to who would communicate this information to the Vice Provost.  A resolution was proposed by Professor Quirino Paris.

 

Friendly Amendment: Academic Senate Chair and the Committee on Academic Personnel will both communicate to the Vice Provost for Academic Personnel

Vote: 4 abstentions, motion approved

 

Professor Philip Yager informed the Representative Assembly that electronic dossiers instead of paper files will be coming up in the future.  The Executive Council will discuss the electronic dossiers at its next meeting.

 

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 4:36 pm.

 

Kyaw Tha Paw U, Secretary

Representative Assembly of the

Davis Division of the Academic Senate