In attendance: Eileen Ansell, Patricia Beeson, Judith Erlen, David

Crossman, Catherine Greeno, Kathleen Kelly, Neepa Majumdar, Ivanka Nikolova,

Susan Sereika, Anthony Silvestre, Walt Alan Stoy, Evelyn Talbott, Charlene

Trovato

Absent: Catherine Bender, Chao-Lin Chiu, Joan Cutone, Irene Frieze, Nancy

Grove, Justin Hsieh, Cahris Jones, Amy Knapp, Jackie Merranko

1. Announcements:

a. New Pro-tem Members: Catherine Greeno from the School of Social Work

has joined the Senate Educational Policies Committee (SEPC) as a pro-tem

member.

b. Senate Elections: Three faculty members will be retiring from SEPC

this year: C. Chiu, S. Sereika, and W. Stoy. A. Silvestre, S. Sereika and

C. Greeno expressed interest in running for SEPC in the next Senate

elections this spring.

2. Approval of the Minutes of October 18, 2005 and November 15, 2005:

The minutes for the October and November meetings were approved as written.

D. Crossman will post the approved minutes on the SEPC web site.

3. Liaison Reports

a. Faculty Assembly/Senate Council: S. Sereika reported that

information from the CIDDE presentations on methods of teaching evaluations

and services available at CIDDE to support teaching will be presented at

faculty Assembly later this spring term. Drs. Diane Davis or Joanne Nicoll

will likely present to Faculty Assembly.

b. Advisory Committee on Instructional Excellence: J. Erlen reported

that Innovation in Education proposals have been received and are currently

under review. J. Erlen commented that these proposals should be innovative

and did not necessarily have to include the use of electronic instructional

methods.

c. University Planning and Budget Committee: S. Sereika reported that

the UPBC has met and has discussed issues related to the University budget.

Given the confidential nature of these discussions, limited information can

be presented at SEPC.

4. Implementation of SEPC recommendations on Part-time Faculty:

Discussion ensued over what constituted a ôpart-time facultyö at the

University of Pittsburgh. S. Sereika will contact Vice Provost Andrew Blair

for clarification at the university level. Having part-time faculty as part

of the faculty for a unit seems to vary from unit to unit and seems to

largely be a resource issue. Some units have a combination of adjunct

faculty and part-time faculty in addition to full-time faculty. Other units

have only adjunct faculty in addition to full-time faculty. Most adjunct and

part-time faculty support the unitÆs teaching mission, with true part-time

faculty teaching full courses, while adjunct faculty frequently guest

lecturing in courses.

5. Evaluation of Teaching at the University of Pittsburgh: The Office

of Measurement and Evaluation (OMET) can now support course and instructor

evaluation for courses taught through distance education.

6. Adjournment: The SEPC meeting adjourned at 12:45pm; the next SEPC

meeting is scheduled for February 21st, from 11:45 to 12:45 PM in 369

Victoria Building.

Respectfully submitted,

Susan M. Sereika, PhD