April 4, 2007

Jonathan Loesberg called the meeting to order at 2:15 p.m.

Present: Professors Loesberg, Weaver, Ahrens, Becher, Belson, Cochran, Flug, Girard, Jacoby, Kim, Klein, Langbein, Richardson, Sampson, Sha, Silvia, Willoughby, Wisman, Yates, Weaver, Dean Mardirosian, and Provost Broder.

Welcome and Introduction, Jonathan Loesberg

Professor Loesberg welcomed everyone to the meeting. The minutes for the March and April meetings will be approved at the May meeting. A Faculty Senate Vice Chair for the upcoming academic year will be elected at the May meeting. Professor Loesberg would like current members to nominate themselves or someone else from the new members during the month of April. Also at the May meeting, members will be elected to serve on the Honors Board and General Education Board.

Report of the Provost, Ivy Broder

Undergraduate Admissions

The application process is essentially completed. The admit rate is lower than last year, and the quality of students will be at least as strong.

There have been a lot of recruitment activities around the country that have been extremely well attended. There were events in Boston, New York City, Princeton, Pittsburgh, and Atlanta. The students and their parents showed great interest in learning about academics at the university. More recruitment activities will take place in other cities.

Freshman Day is April 13th, with strong registration so far. April 16th and April 19th will be “A Day in the Life” programs.

On April 29th the Faculty Recognition Dinner will take place in the Law School. Several faculty will be honored, including Pam Nadell as Scholar/Teacher of the Year and Tony Ahrens for his service to the university. Retiring faculty and faculty who have served twenty-five years, including the chair of the Senate, will also be recognized.

Library Search

There are now three candidates.

Student Recognitions

This year two students have received the prestigious Truman Awards. Also, 37 students have received Presidential Management Fellowships, eight are receiving Fulbright Awards and four are receiving Kilham Awards.

Faculty Load

Many individual academic units have in place regulations on variable load, while some units are currently revising regulations.

Dr. Broder distributed a handout based on the “workload reports,” which are based upon data from the deans’ offices. It is a three-year comparison (AY04-05 toAY06-07) broken down by tenure and tenure-track faculty. What this summary shows is that the average course load that tenure-track and tenured faculty are teaching is approaching four for this current academic year. Additionally, the percentage of faculty teaching less than or equal to four courses at this point is about two-thirds of the faculty. Dr. Broder mentioned that the Board of Trustees has approved 15 additional tenure and tenure-track positions over the next two years, which will relieve some of the pressure from the teaching loads. Omitted from the summary are the full-time temporary faculty who are all supposed to be teaching six courses. Adjuncts are also omitted; they teach no more than three courses over the course of the year.

Open Discussion

Several professors asked questions about the variable teaching load.

Professor Loesberg asked what percentage of the courses do full-time tenure and tenure-track faculty teach. Dr. Broder said that it is about half, excluding temporary faculty.

Professor Willoughby asked what percentage of full-time tenure and tenure-track faculty teach less than five courses for non-research reasons. Dr. Broder said that an estimate is about 10%.

Professor Cochran asked what was the reason for the drop from 321 to 295 in total tenure and tenure-track faculty. Dr. Broder responded by saying there are a few reasons: a large number of faculty are on medical leave; it is not possible to conduct searches for candidates quickly in a given year; and the summary handout excludes librarians, law school, and faculty on leave. Dr. Broder added that AU is very generous with its support of sabbaticals.

Professor Jacoby asked how many faculty are on full-year versus half-year sabbaticals. Dr. Broder mentioned that in any given year there are about 20 faculty members on sabbaticals, and most of those are on half-year ones.

Professor Loesberg asked how do new faculty get allocated? Dr. Broder said that generally the allocation of teaching faculty goes by credit hours. Each college is allocated the number of faculty based on how many courses need to be taught.

Professor Willoughby mentioned that he feels that faculty at American University teach more courses than at other universities. Dr. Broder replied that yes, faculty at AU may teach more courses than other doctoral institutions. We have a curriculum to deliver. Recently, class size has been dropping in part because there are more specialized courses being taught in small sections, which has an impact on the course releases if we want to keep the adjunct rate where it is.

Report on Academic Integrity Code Regulations

Larry Ward, associate dean of the Kogod School of Business and member of the Academic Integrity Code (AIC) Working Group, spoke to the Faculty Senate about the regulations and a proposal to revise the code, which has been endorsed by the Senate’s committees on Curriculum and Academic Programs and Student Learning and Academic Engagement, as well as by the Undergraduate Student Government. Mr. Ward outlined the main reasons for revising the code. Although there is a fundamental belief that the code is philosophically and structurally sound, there is a need to make it clearer and more transparent. Additionally, the group wanted to identify and develop new tools, resources, and methods for promoting academic integrity on campus. Some key considerations are that section one outlines a statement on the value upon which an academic community depends; section two provides greater clarity among AIC violations and academic misconduct; and section three includes revisions that govern administrative processes.

Professor Willoughby motioned to accept this proposal. The proposal was accepted by a vote of 19 to 0.

For Good of the Order

Announcements

Professor Loesberg announced that on April 20th, the Faculty senate will be hosting the spring Emeriti Luncheon and all Senators are invited.

There will be upcoming meetings with the faculty and the Library Search Committee.

Dr. Broder’s Annual Speech to the Faculty will be on Wednesday, April 25th.

The meeting adjourned at 4:45.