Loading
Print This Issue
Subscribe:
E-Almanac

Senate 2008-2009
PDF
May 12, 2009, Volume 55, No. 33

Back to Index

Report of the Faculty Senate Committee on Faculty and the Administration (SCOA)

The General Charge of the Committee on Faculty and the Administration:

SCOA oversees and advises the Executive Committee on matters relating to the faculty’s interface with the University’s administration, including policies and procedures relating to the University’s structure, and the conditions of faculty employment.

Specific Charges to SCOA for 2008-2009:

At the initial meeting of SCOA for the 2008-2009 academic year, Professor Sherrill Adams, Chair of the Faculty Senate Executive Committee, presented the committee with its official charges:

1. Discuss the oversight of, and faculty involvement in, the Master’s Programs at the University. 

2. Continue to work with the administration to review data across schools (to the best of our ability), to review practices across schools related to sabbatical and other leaves, and to review and make recommendations for any needed policy changes related to sabbatical requirements and use in order to ensure equitability across schools.

3. Keep a close watch on any cases in which the power of temporary exclusion is exercised under the new provision in order to assess its adequacy.  SCOA has recommended that the new policy be reviewed in three years time, and thus any cases arising under this provision over the course of the next two years will be subject to scrutiny. 

4. Review and discuss this committee’s general charge, as provided in the Senate Rules, and identify what you believe to be the most pressing issues facing the Faculty and Administration over the next few years. In light of your discussions, recommend to the Senate Executive Committee two or three high-priority charges for the Committee on Administration to undertake in academic year 2009-2010. In explaining these charges, outline any appropriate actions you suppose the Senate might conceivably take after its review. 

 1. Discuss the oversight of, and faculty involvement in, the Master’s Programs at the University. 

The Master’s Programs at the University belong to each school, and do not fall under the supervision of the Provost’s Office. These programs are financial opportunities for individual schools that independently develop and oversee the programs. Both doctoral and undergraduate students can take courses within the Master’s Programs, which is a concern of the Associate Provost for Education. After deliberation, this committee thought that the Senate Committee on Students and the Educational Policy (SCSEP) would be an appropriate committee to review this issue, or perhaps that SCOA and SCSEP should form a joint subcommittee to address the issues of quality and oversite of the Master’s Programs at Penn.  Our recommendation for the upcoming year is to develop a joint approach to this issue.

2. Examine the standard sabbatical policy and its usage, especially by research faculty, in the schools doing health-related research.

Last year, SCOA began to address variations in the use of the sabbatical policy across schools. We found that qualified faculty in the health sciences schools and the school of engineering were underutilizing their earned sabbaticals. Additionally, the committee became aware of new concerns regarding the usage of the sabbatical policy: faculty are asked to use sabbatical time without the appropriate reduction in teaching or research activities.  The committee is aware of the “compressed leave” instituted for the school of medicine, which may be used by faculty at other schools on an ad hoc basis.  Based on concerns brought to the attention of the committee, committee members decided to conduct an informal survey of faculty who have recently taken sabbatical.  A questionnaire was developed, and a (partial) list of faculty recently on sabbatical was generated. SCOA members have begun to contact faculty, and we will meet early this month to review the pilot survey, which we will amend as necessary. If data indicate that faculty are retaining teaching and research demands during sabbaticals, the Provost’s Office will monitor these infractions. Additionally, the committee feels that the sabbatical policy should be reviewed, as changing demands in the 21st century might require flexibility in the policy to ensure that faculty sabbaticals are used as they are intended.  Finally, we recommend that during the upcoming year, SCOA should continue to gather data on sabbatical use by faculty members across schools.

3. Faculty Handbook Review

SCOA was asked to review sections of the Faculty Handbook that pertained to policies addressing faculty and administration issues. Members of the committee reviewed all sections provided, and made recommendations for changes. It is noted that the volume of research oversight contained in the handbook has become onerous and impractical for its intended purpose.

4. Temporary Exclusion Provision

The committee did not receive any reports that the temporary exclusion provision, drafted last year, was used this year.

5. Review and discuss this Committee’s general charge, as provided in the Senate Rules, and identify what you believe to be the most pressing issues facing the Faculty and Administration over the next few years. In light of your discussions, recommend to the Senate Executive Committee two or three high-priority charges for the Committee on Administration to undertake in academic year 2009-2010. In explaining these charges, outline any appropriate actions you suppose the Senate might conceivably take after its review.

SCOA did not formally identify any items to be reviewed by its successor committee. However, the committee feels that additional work related to the sabbatical policy is needed in order to ensure equitability across schools. In addition, SCOA members recommended that an ad hoc committee be established with members of SCOA and SCSEP to evaluate oversite of the Master’s Programs at the University. 

2008-09 Committee Members

Cindy Christian, School of Medicine, Chair

Julie Fairman, School of Nursing

Bernard Shapiro, School of Veterinary Medicine

Rogers Smith, School of Arts and Sciences

Henry Teune, School of Arts and Sciences

Sherri Adams, School of Dental Medicine, ex officio

Harvey Rubin, School of Medicine, ex officio

Almanac - May 12, 2009, Volume 55, No. 33