President's Report 12/1/23

December 01, 2023 / Lyndsay Rhodes

Board of Trustees and University Strategic Plan Update

The next Board of Trustees meeting is scheduled for Thursday December 7th at 8:30am. This is a virtual meeting with a limited agenda, primarily focused on discussion of the University Strategic Plan. The Strategic Planning Committee will present the newly drafted Strategic Plan to Faculty Senate today (December 1st, 2023), prior to presentation to the BOT at the December 7th meeting. I know many of you have been actively involved in the planning process and have provided input previously. I strongly encourage you to continue to provide your feedback regarding the final draft of the strategic plan to the Strategic Planning Committee as well as to me as a voting member of the Board ahead of the vote next week.

General Education Brainstorming Sessions

In response to a new state requirement to submit a list of General Education courses to the Board of Governors for approval each year, the General Education Council (GEC) is seeking to review, refresh, and realign our general education program. The Director of General Education, Dr. Joe Ross, and the GEC will be hosting a series of brainstorming sessions during finals week to gather faculty input. I would like to encourage all faculty, but particularly those who teach general education courses, to attend. Each session will focus on a few subject areas, but faculty of any discipline are welcome to attend any or all sessions. Discission topics will include a General Education Program statement of purpose, course descriptions and learning objectives, and alignment with competencies. Additional information can be found on the Lucas Center blog, in the agenda email that went out this week, and from your department chairs.

Additionally, in response to the draft regulation 8.005 General Education Core Course Options, the Sociology department chairs from across the state university system, initiated by Dr. A. Douglas Kincaid of FIU, have drafted a statement which has been sent to the Board of Governors.

Appointments Team Calls

You have likely received several emails from the Appointments Team in the last few days requesting nominations for ad hoc committees. While our Senate standing teams cover a lot of our shared governance work, there are important service opportunities that arise that fall outside of these teams. The current two calls are limited in duration but are critically important and require faculty representation. Please encourage your faculty to consider these opportunities, and if they are a good fit, respond to the call.

COACHE Update

The Priority Setting Taskforce has scheduled townhall meetings on Monday December 11th, 3-5pm and Wednesday December 13th, 10am-12pm to share the group’s recommendation and collect feedback from faculty. More information will be shared about these events in the coming days.

The COACHE Steering Committee is working to assemble the taskforce for the next phase of Strategy Setting. This team will focus on setting specific goals and identifying strategies to implement change in the 2 priority areas identified by the Priority Setting Taskforce. While we received some initial interest from faculty last spring, we are looking for additional faculty to be involved in this process, specifically outside of the College of Arts & Sciences. We are looking for individuals with experience in strategic planning and goal setting. If you are interested in serving on the Spring 2024 Strategy Setting taskforce, please complete the interest form by today (December 1, 2023).

Senate By-Laws Revision Reminder

Reminder that Standing Teams will be presenting suggested changes to the Senate by-laws in the Spring. Senators are encouraged to review the by-laws and suggest necessary changes to the relevant standing team and/or Senate leadership. Any suggested changes should be submitted prior to the first Senate meeting in Spring (January 26th, 2024) for review and incorporation into a single document for dissemination to the full Senate ahead of the first reading.

Presidential Inauguration

Reminder that our next Senate meeting will be January 26, 2024, as we cancelled our January 12th meeting due to the Presidential Inauguration. This will be our first formal inaugural event in 15 years, and I encourage you all to attend the inauguration and associated festivities to celebrate the installation of our 5th President, Dr. Aysegul Timur. You have received an email outlining the events and detailing how you can get involved this week.