Present: Roark Atkinson (HGS), Naseem Choudhury (President), Katie Cohen (Library), Donna Flynn (Councilor-at-Large under 11), Scott Frees (TAS), Kim Lorber (Secretary), Mihaela Serban (SSHS),  Ashwani Vasishth (Councilor-at-Large over 11)

Voted to begin meeting.

8/5/20 Minutes: Approved with one abstention (not present)

FA Voting: Qualtrics survey links for voting items will be sent after the meeting.

FA Minute Approval: Naseem will send out a Qualtrics Survey for approvals in the Webex email links.

FA By-laws: Mia will lead the councilors in reviewing the by-laws.

Parliamentarian: Mia Serban will be serving in this role.

Roberts Rules: Are being used and were just updated.

Unit Representation: The FAEC councilors voted unanimously to reopen the Councilor at Large Over 11 search for someone who will not bring their units more than a total of 2 voting FAEC voters.

Administrators: Naseem and Scott have networked with the President and Provost as well as others to attend the FAEC meetings regularly. Following is the guest schedule:

    1st Wednesday of the month: FA meeting day, President & Provost

    2nd Wednesday of the month: Committee Chairs

    3rd Wednesday of the month: AFT President Martha Ecker, Tim Judd (AFT Adjunct Rep), and Virginia Galdieri

    4th  Wednesday of the month: Vice President Chris Romano.

Start Time: By unanimous vote, FAEC will meet from 10am-noon extending the time from 10:30am.

FA Moderators: we will try to get questions in advance of all meetings. Panelists will be those who speak: Naseem (President), Scott (VP and alternate host), the FAEC moderator and the speaker. Councilors will let units know questions must be posed to the reps directly or using the Webex Question and Answer function. To this end, FAEC will prepare a Q&A resource so faculty can brush up with this utility.

FA President Attending President’s Cabinet Meetings:  The FA by-laws state that FA President shall attend the President’s Cabinet Meetings.  President Mercer has interpreted this as representation on President’s Advisory Council not Cabinet. We will need to discuss this further. The Graduate Council has invited the FA president. Naseem will research which other groups FA should be involved with.

Meeting with President Mercer: Scott and Naseem met with the president. Finances seem more stable than earlier summer news suggested. The president sees no need for exigency.

EOF/CRW Director Hire: Clarification is needed for this combined EOF and CRW positions will function. Can a faculty member be included on the search committee?

Honors Program: Rebecca Root is leading this without additional release time, stipends, or assistance. The Provost has promised additional staffing to help with the responsibilities that would have been associate director, Chris Brittain’s responsibilities.

Presidential Search Committee: Naseem contacted Susan Valerio (BoT) and all seems to be going well. Others can still apply.

Unknowns: How will these be handled/funded/scheduled: FDF, sabbaticals, career development, promotions? Past promotion applications from last year need to be scanned before the committee can meet. The AFT and administration have to work out the calendars for this academic year. Martha Ecker is addressing these.

SAT optional: This was a Cabinet decision and will continue beyond this year. Questions should be directed to Chris Romano.

Pre-req Initiatives: TAS has voted before any semester, students should be identified who have been removed because they are missing or failed a pre-requisite course. If an advisor is unable to resolve the issue within 7 days, the student will automatically be removed. Naseem and Scott will speak about this with Fernanda Papalia (Registrar) and Susan Gaulden (Provost).

Update Program Pages: There is an effort to develop a plan to start working with the Provost to make more engaging and effective program pages to increase enrollment.

Fieldwork Indemnification Clause: The College will not sign off on some of these. This means students are no longer welcome at agencies at which they were scheduled to intern. Field work new field work placements are being sought with urgency by the Psychology convening group, the Social Work Field Department, and others. Naseem has sent the question to the Provost.

Voted to end meeting.