The University Senate
of Michigan Technological University
Minutes of
Meeting 514
7 December 2011
Synopsis:
The Senate
·
Report by Sabbatical Leave Committee
by Dr. Susan Bagley
·
Presentation on Progress of the IT
Consolidation by Dr. Walt Milligan
·
Proposal 9-12 passed
·
Proposal 10-12 passed
1. Call to order and roll call. President Rudy Luck called the University Senate Meeting 514
to order at 5:30 pm on Wednesday, December 7, 2011. The Senate Secretary Marty
Thompson called roll. Absent were representatives of Biomedical Engineering, Mathematical
Sciences, Auxiliaries and Cultural Enrichment, Student Affairs, Graduate
Faculty Council and Staff Council.
2. Recognition of visitors. Guests included Max Seel (Provost Office), Stacey Kukkonen
(Daily Mining Gazette), Anita Quinn (Human Resources), Walt Milligan (IT),
Susan Bagley (Biological Sciences), Shawn Sullivan (ITSS), Hasan
Sapci (School of Technology), Guy Hembroff (School of
Technology), Jessica Benda (Student Affairs), John Jaszczak
(Physics) and Ravi Pandey (Physics).
3. Approval of agenda. Luck
asked if there were any changes; there being none Luck declared the agenda
stood approved.
4. Approval of minutes from Meetings 513. Luck
asked if there were any changes; there being none Luck declared the minutes
stood approved.
5. Annual
Report from the Sabbatical Leave Committee by Dr. Susan Bagley
Bagley discussed committee activity
for the academic year 2010-2011. She presented the number of sabbatical
requests by college and provided trends over the last five years. Bagley added
that half of the sabbatical requests are for two semesters as opposed to one
semester. She concluded by noting the percentage of faculty who travel abroad for
sabbatical and the number of reports filed after sabbatical completion. Bulleit noted the reports are online, but those not
submitting reports are not mentioned. Bagley said the reports are no longer
online. Luck asked if there was a reason the reports were not online. Seel said privacy issues were the primary reason as the
reports are not required to be on public display. Mullins asked what was the percentage of eligible faculty taking sabbatical at
Tech as compared to other universities. Bagley said it was not clear but
estimated that number at about 3.5% back in the 90’s to the current 12%. Seel said 1/7th of tenured faculty is about 14%,
so Tech is pretty close (Tech’s number is 12%). Bagley said the numbers vary
between colleges. Luck asked why that was. Bagley said she does not know. Luck
thanked Bagley.
6. Presentation:
“Progress of the IT Consolidation” by Dr. Walt Milligan
Luck introduced Milligan, CIO, who
discussed key topics, including the new organizational structure, changes to
Blackboard and current IT projects. He provided an overview of the
consolidation of user support services and estimated IT is getting about 100
work requests per day or 40,000 per year. Milligan listed several positive
outcomes from the consolidation, as well as several ongoing challenges. He
stated that we would be moving from Zimbra to gmail. Luck asked if the domain name would still be
mtu.edu. Milligan affirmed this and expected the change to be implemented
before the end of the spring semester. Mullins asked how many institutions still
use zimbra. Milligan said not many. Onder asked if different email clients will work with gmail. Milligan affirmed that they would. Gierke asked
about integration of the program. Milligan said google
can successfully integrate programs. He mentioned the new learning management
system (Canvas) that was the most popular among those testing different systems
and has the favor of faculty and students over Blackboard v.9.1. Milligan
expects Canvas to be ready at the start of spring, but will be the only system
in place as of summer 2012. Barkdoll asked if we can access past gradebooks. Milligan said that information will be lost but
they are researching an alternate format to make that data available. Barkdoll
asked if information in the dropbox will still be available.
Milligan said no and provided a list of available datafile
types. Barkdoll noted that such information is useful for assessment. Milligan
said the $15 million expenditure on IT is 7.5% of all campus expenditures,
which is between 7-12% nationally. Mullins said that cost must be 7.5% of
general fund expenditures and not total campus expenditures. Milligan said it
was total expenditures, including research. He added that he will not know
total costs or revenue until the end of the year, but he feels that central IT
is offering more service for less cost. Milligan concluded by summarizing that
things are going well. Onder asked why a single ISO
password is required for multiple logins as it poses a security risk. Milligan said
he has not thought much about that issue, but will look into it. Onder asked if google mail has
confidentiality issues. Milligan said Tech owns the data which is located in the
USA. Regarding computer labs, Onder said student labs
are needed and peak demand should be considered when making decisions about
available resources. Milligan agreed and affirmed that to be a central
consideration. Barkdoll said students often use labs for personal use. Bulleit commented that communication of network-wide IT problems
is an issue that could limit the number of tickets. Milligan said he does not
want to spam people with emails. Irwin asked about the services provided, which
include research computing and general computing needs. Milligan said IT
services include high performance computing. Irwin said these people also require
help for specialized research computing. Milligan said IT services are there to
help faculty do their job.
7. Provost
Seel announced the development of a physical therapy (PT)
program in collaboration with Central Michigan University. His primary
objective was to keep the senate informed about recent progress and provided multiple
lines of rationale for developing this new program.
8. Report from the Senate President
Luck, thanked Thompson, Senate
Secretary for his service as he leaves for sabbatical. He announced the BOC
breakfast this coming Friday. Luck noted the administration approved the
charter for Biomedical Engineering and Proposals 6-12 through 8-12. Luck read the
response from Senator Huuki in response to the Sense
of the Senate letter. Luck concluded by wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and
thanked everyone for their service.
9. Report from Senate Standing Committees
Barkdoll, Research Committee, requested
everyone fill out an online survey regarding research productivity. He added
the NIH has released their COI rules and Dave Reed is using this to develop a
corresponding policy Tech researchers can follow.
Onder, Elections Committee, asked for nominations for Senate
Secretary to replace the esteemed Thompson. The nomination for Barkdoll was put
forth. Luck asked if there were any additional nominees; there being none he
called for a voice vote; Barkdoll was elected with unanimous support.
10. Old Business
Proposal 9-12:
“Bachelor of Arts in Physics”
Luck introduced Jaszczak
who proceeded to describe proposal content and rational. He discussed the
impact on student numbers, changes in student demographics and impact on secondary
education certification. Jaszczak provided a timeline
for the development of the proposals. Caneba asked if
there was a pathway for engineers to pursue the secondary education
certification. Jaszczak said the concentrations help
students meet certification which comes from the state via a separate process. Baltensperger said any discipline can offer courses but they
will need to align the courses with state requirements for certification. He
added that a path can be made for any discipline but due to small numbers it is
preferable to address such cases individually. Luck thanked Jaszczak.
He noted that the Curricular Policy Committee (CPC) has supported this proposal
and asked it move forward. Mullins said the financial info has been completed
and the Finance Committee (FC) is satisfied. Luck asked if there were any
additional comments on the proposal; there being none he called for a vote; the
proposal passed by majority on a
voice vote.
Proposal 10-12:
“Bachelor of Arts in Physics with a Concentration in Secondary Education”
Luck asked CPC and FC if each supports
the proposal. Members of both committees affirmed support. Stockero
said her constituents support this proposal. Luck asked if there were any
additional comments on the proposal; there being none he called for a vote; the
proposal passed by majority on a
voice vote.
11. New Business
No new business.
12. Adjournment. Onder moved to
adjourn; Scarlett seconded the
motion. President Luck adjourned the meeting at 6:42pm
Respectfully submitted
by Marty Thompson
Secretary of the University Senate