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Faculty Senate 02.26.2019

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Present: Mahmoud Abdalla, William Arrocha, Avner Cohen (Vice President), Andrea Hofmann-Miller (via Zoom), Pushpa Iyer, Sabino Morera, Katherine Punteney, Thor Sawin (President)

Staff: Stacie Riley

Next Steps in our Correspondence: Thor states he would like to send out two communications this week; one to the Institute Council and another to the Assembly.

The document to the Institute Council would include:  

  1. Outstanding concerns about Workforce Planning and the ISP process that have yet to be addressed.
  2. Language Policy. Include a link to the LS Department’s memo, which will be sent separately to the Council. Highlight the language policy framework:
    • Timetables.
    • Concerns.
    • Lack of clarity.
    • Implementations.
  3. Recommendations for Morale and Community.

Senate should also get more clarification from the Institute Council on two ISP points:

  1. 10 months vs. 12 months of pay. For example, you have earned 10 months of pay by mid-May when your work is complete, so are faculty who take the ISP being paid on an accelerated timetable for their last year.
  2. If a faculty member takes the ISP, but gets a job earlier, do they forfeit ISP or do they get to take it?

The document sent to the Assembly will include:

  1. Update from meeting with President Patton.
    • She heard us/is listening.
    • Communication improvements. President Patton and the Faculty Senate have agreed to have better communication.
    • Morale.
  2. Update on meeting with General Counsel Hannah Ross.
    • Reconfirms Middlebury’s willingness to respect existing contracts.
  3. Update on the newest communication sent by the Senate to the Institute Council.
  4. Language Policy framework. Include link to the LS Department’s memo to the Institute Council.
  5. Link to the February 21st town hall.
  6. Reminder to visit https://sites.middlebury.edu/miis-info for important updates from the Institute Leadership Group and Faculty Senate.
  7. Reminders about reimbursement trainings.

Faculty Morale on Campus:Thor believes that one of the best ways to improve morale on campus is to be positive and forward thinking – giving a reason to be excited to stay. If the Senate does not address this issue, the fallout from Workforce Planning might land even more badly than needed – morale is still important for the ongoing health of the Institute. Possible ways to address this were discussed.

Handbook Revisions: Thor will send the new language on faculty evaluation and faculty development that was voted in at the December Assembly to Hannah Ross so she can update the Handbook. Katherine will send the language to Stacie Riley and Cathy Vincent to update Faculty180.

Senate needs to draft a document for evaluating administrators. The handbook states that faculty should evaluate their administrators and many faculty are eager to do so. We will do this in March, as the due date for evaluation is April 30th.