December 8, 2009

Medical Faculty Senate Steering Committee

Meeting Minutes

December 8, 2009

Attendees:  Jill Barren, M.D., M.B.E., Greg Bashaw, Ph.D., Lisa Bellini, M.D., R. Michael Buckley, M.D., Emma Furth, M.D., Howard Goldfine, Ph.D., Peter Kanetsky, Ph.D., Michael Levine, M.D., Mitchell Lewis, D.Phil., Jonni Moore, Ph.D., Victoria Mulhern, Anne Reilly, M.D., Eileen Shore, Ph.D.,  Susan Weiss, Ph.D.

Guests:  Dr. Harvey Rubin (Chair, University Senate) & Dr. Reed Pyeritz (Chair, Senate Committee on Faculty and the Academic Mission)

Dr. Furth began the meeting by introducing Dr. Rubin, Chair of the University Senate.  

Dr. Rubin provided an overall description of the University Senate and his role as the Chair. The University Senate holds an executive meeting every month.  The tri-Chairs (the current chair, the chair-elect and the past chair) meet with the Provost and the President every other week.  The University Senate is divided into several different committees and the School of Medicine is well represented on all committees. 

Some of the committees mentioned by Dr. Rubin included the Committee on Faculty and Administration which has been charged to look at the masters’ programs and have formed a subcommittee on research.  A committee has been created to consider the patent policies.  The Committee on Students and Educational Policy has formed a new subcommittee to determine how faculty can assist the admissions committee to recruit and retain outstanding students and review the overall admission process. 

Dr. Rubin reported that the next Senate Executive Meeting was December 16th and issues of faculty trajectory were going to be discussed.

He also reported that information is also collected for a report, “Economic Status of the Faculty” and for the School of Medicine the faculty represented in the report are the basic science faculty.

Dr. Pyeritz described the responsibilities of the Senate Committee on Faculty and the Academic Mission (SCOF).   SCOF oversees and advises the Executive Committee on matters relating to the University's policies and procedures concerning the academic mission, including the structure of the academic staff, the tenure system, faculty appointments and promotions, faculty research, and faculty governance.   One specific charge for the Committee for 2009-2010 is to continue to advance the committee’s study of teaching being done non-standing faculty. Some schools in the University have requested increasing the number of lecturers and other related positions to teach certain courses. Another charge is to examine the extent and the reasons for the declining number of assistant professors in the standing faculty. 

Dr. Pyeritz mentioned that he is also mediator of the University Council.

The next meeting is scheduled for January 12, 2010.

Respectfully submitted,

Eileen Shore, Ph.D.