Senate Council

Minutes

University of Pittsburgh
Senate Council Meeting
Minutes of December 2, 2002

1. President Cassing called the meeting to order at 3:01 PM.
2. The minutes of the Senate Council meeting on November 11, 2002, were approved as written.
3. President Cassing asked for new items of business. There were none.

4. Remarks of the Chancellor, Mark A. Nordenberg:
- Chancellor Nordenberg reported that both U.S. Senators, Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum, were on campus this morning to learn more about the Real Time Outbreak and Disease Surveillance System (RODS). It is a system designed to position health officials to detect signs of widespread medical problems including those that might be caused by a bioterriorist attack. The ROD system is an important product of the Bio Medical Security Institute (BMSI), a joint venture between Pitt and CMU. This morning, we announced that the RODS software would be available free of charge to public health organization throughout the country. Pitt Professor Michael Wagner and CMU Professor Andrew Moore are the co-directors of BMSI. Loren Roth has also been very successful in leading a joint University of Pittsburgh/UMPC bio terrorism response initiative.
- Later this week we will host the annual Staff Recognition Awards ceremony and the Heinz Chapel Choir will begin its series of concerts of holiday music.
- The Chancellor is devoting time to chairing the Leadership in Governance Committee of the Mayor’s Commission on the Pittsburgh Public Schools.
- The Special Committee appointed by the Mayor to study Pittsburgh’s revenue challenges released its report. The Chancellor has expressed his sympathy with the Mayor’s circumstances as he faces diminished resources, but has also expressed his opposition for dealing with the problem by taxing organizations that have been traditionally tax-exempt. We need to keep in mind the fact that the University already plays a major role in terms of generating the City’s tax base. This past year, we withheld more than $7.2 million in wage taxes, we paid more than $1 million in parking taxes, and we paid more than $800,000 in real estate taxes. The University also shoulders a very significant load in terms of many services that are traditionally provided by hometowns. We compete in a national market and we are already disadvantaged because our levels of State aid are not as high as those enjoyed by many of our peer public universities. The Mayor’s proposed tax would only disadvantage us further.
- On a more positive note, at the annual meeting of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development last month, the development of Oakland was cited as one of the priorities for the region.
- We formally opened the new Petersen Events Center on November 23 with the men’s basketball game against Duquesne. We also opened the new McCarl Center for Nontraditional Student Success, on the fourth floor of the Cathedral of Learning. It was funded through a $650,000 gift from Jim and Carol McCarl to the College of General Studies. This is the largest gift ever received by CGS.
- Rich Colwell took the Chancellor on a tour of the new Freshman Engineering Computing Lab in the Gardner Steel Conference Center. It was quite impressive in terms of the technology and the thoughtful way in which it has been organized to support the teaching mission.
- The Chancellor participated in the first annual symposium of the Safar Center for Resuscitation Research. Dr. Peter Safar is known as the father of CPR and he played a critical role in the establishment of critcal care units. He is one of the world’s leading researchers in the area of suspended animation.
- Two members of the faculty were elected to the American Association for the Advancement of Science. They are Jose-Marie Griffiths, who holds the Doreen Boyce Chair in Information Science, and Peter Wipf, Professor in the Department of Chemistry.

5. Report of the President of the Senate, James H. Cassing:
- Jim Holland, Chair of the ad hoc Planning and Budgeting System Evaluation Committee, gave a preliminary report to Faculty Assembly members this past Tuesday. The final report should be available early next year. Jim and the Committee are to be congratulated for a comprehensive and well-done job.
- The Chancellor has responded to the resolution that was passed by Faculty Assembly in September concerning the Special Committee on Domestic Partner Health Insurance Benefits. The report was given at Faculty Assembly.
- As President of the Senate, he signed off on the recommended changes for the Commercialization of Inventions and the Patent Rights and Technology Transfer Policies.

6. Report of the Student Members of Senate Council:
Student Government Board
Kevin Washo reported that fourteen new committee chairs were selected to work in
the office to arrange for everything from academic affairs to technology to environmental issues. They are also working on a new web site which should be up
and running by February. SGB will be providing refreshments in various buildings
throughout the final exam period to help students get through this stressful time. They
are looking forward to working with the administration to try to raise the student
activities fee to make sure that the student groups that are involved on campus have sufficient funds to survive.
GPSA
Livia Langton, President of GPSA, introduced Beth Holmes, the new co-rep for
the Schools of the Health Sciences. Ms. Langton announced that GPSA is going to
restructure and add two new committees. One will be chaired by the student
representing the Schools of the Professions and one will be chaired by the student
representing the Schools of the Health Sciences. There are 14 different schools that
have graduate students and the restructuring will allow better communication with the
students. The reports that come to GPSA from the two new committees should be more effective. Tomorrow will be the first meeting of the Survey Committee. Last year’s survey was on retention. It will be administered on-line. Students will be able to access it through the Pitt home page, answer the questions, and submit the results to GPSA. This will give them a better idea of what the students’ issues and concerns are.

Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Jamie Tarpley reported that the FAS/GSO helped the FAS Dean’s Office to aggressively promote the Book Center Scholarships this year, resulting in a much broader applicant pool than had been the case in the past. They are looking into some glitches that a few graduate students have experienced while using the Placement Center and will give a report at a later time. They are also reviewing applications for the travel grants that are allotted each semester and those will be decided on and awarded very soon.

7. Report of the President of the Staff Association Council, Ms. Barbara J. Mowery:
Ms. Mowery thanked the Chancellor and the Associate Vice Chancellor Ron Frisch
for hosting the Staff Recognition Award on Wednesday and noted how staff appreciate the recognition as well. Decisions have been made about which students
will receive their Book Fund Awards; an announcement is forthcoming. Five children
of staff will receive $200 book fund awards from SAC. A crafts fair will be held tomorrow in the William Pitt Union as a fundraiser. The Committee on Safety and
Security is working on putting a link on the SAC Web site so people can report concerns about safety on campus. This Committee is doing research about areas of immediate pedestrian safety concerns on the Oakland campus. They are doing benchmarking to compare what other universities are doing with safety and security issues and how they approach their problems and develop policies.

8. Reports by and Announcements of Standing Committees of the Senate:
Educational Policies Committee
Professor Evelyn O. Talbott, Chair of the Educational Policies Committee, reported on
the Committee’s survey of part-time faculty. Last term a part-time faculty survey was
mailed and a reasonable number of faculty responded. The Committee prepared a
report and made some recommendations. A copy of the report was sent to the Provost,
who responded with a letter to the Committee outlining some action items that would be taken. The Provost gave his approval to have a copy of his letter, along with a copy of the Committee’s recommendations, sent to all part-time faculty. It’s important that our part-time faculty know that many of these issues are taken seriously. The Committee wishes to thank the Provost for addressing the issues. (A copy of the Provost’s letter and the Committee’s final report are on file in the Senate Office should anyone wish to have copies.)
Questions and Comments
Provost Maher commented that the Committee did a very good job and that it was a
helpful set of recommendations. He was glad to know about the issues as the part-timers see it.

9. Items of New Business – there were none.

10. Announcements:
The next Senate Council Meeting is scheduled for Monday, February 3.

11. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 3:39 PM.

Respectfully submitted by Fran Czak, Director, University Senate
Reviewed by Josephine E. Olson, Secretary