Attending: Judy Erlen, Katie Greeno, Troy Boone, Neepa Majumdar, David Crossman, Patty Beeson, Amy Knapp, Andy Blair, Charlene Trovato, Tom Waters

Visitors: Lisa Brush (AAUP chapter president), Nick Laudato (CIDDE).

Minutes of October meeting approved.

Meeting time and place changed for next term. We will meet at 12:30 on the fourth Tuesday of the month. The January meeting will be held at 3501 Forbes, the February, March and April meetings will be held in Cathedral 826.

Discussion of proposed policies for part-time faculty. We had follow-up discussion on changes to the university's policies on part time faculty that are being proposed by the local AAUP chapter, of which Lisa Brush is president. Dr. Brush substantially revised the proposal based on comments from the last SEPC meeting. There continued to be lively discussion about a number of areas. Key points are bulleted below.

The goal of the proposal is to put in writing the terms and conditions of part time faculty work. The proposal now focuses on due process regarding dismissals and adequate notification of non-renewal of contracts.

Length of service language removed from current draft of proposal, as have recommendations for transfer to tenure stream.

The AAUP executive council is supportive of the proposal, and the national organization does not have a stake in specific language for individual universities to adopt; rather, they are working to provide a standard of best practices for universities.

Current university policies pertain only to full time non-tenure stream faculty, and thus policies regarding PT non-tenure stream faculty are likely to require changes to university by-laws.

Input from the Senate's Tenure and Academic Freedom committee has also been sought.

Contracts with part-time faculty could be written to overcome the policies ­ contracts could state that there may be short notice of non-reappointment, and that teaching a course a number of times will not result in an expectation that the course will be offered to that instructor again.

Hiring practices could be added to the policy recommendations.

Policies may pertain more to some units, and to some teaching levels (e.g., undergraduate) than others.

A survey of part time faculty is in order before making policy changes affecting that group.

We could request that the Senate form an Ad Hoc committee to examine this (see note below for follow-up information on this).

Follow-up note: A Senate ad hoc committee to examine gender equity at the university is being formed, and issues relating to part time faculty were brought up as one of a number of topics for this committee to examine. Alternatively, a sub-committee of the SEPC could be formed so that this proposed policy could be fully examined.

Further discussion of use and misuse of technology in the classroom: Information from CIDDE. The SEPC's recent discussions of use and misuse of technology in the classroom has focused on three areas: 1) cheating and plagiarism, 2) classroom incivility, and 3) generational differences, especially in the understanding and use of new technologies, but also in outlook and orientation to work and school.

Nick Laudato attended the meeting and updated the committee on CIDDE's work regarding plagiarism. The most important resource is "Turnitin", a web site that provides automatic checking of student papers. Students turn their papers into Turnitin, which automatically checks them. It is regarded as highly effective. Pitt was an early adopter of this system, but it has not yet been widely used by faculty.

Other resources of note include:

CIDDE's secure testing center (endorsed as useful by faculty present who had experience with it)

"Synchronize" from Smart Board, enables group work and polling, requires that students use computers provided (not their own).

Resources available to faculty in some units include:

"What's interesting in teaching" (WITS)

Communication across the curriculum (CXC)

Follow-up note: CIDDE has proposed two workshops addressing the concerns raised in this meeting ­ proposed descriptions are enclosed.

POSSIBLE WORKSHOP TITLES:

Promoting Civility in the Classroom

Dealing with Incivility in the College Classroom

In recent years, faculty have seen an increase in latecomers, sleepers, cell phone addicts, and downright disruptive students. The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that some courses are being hijacked by "classroom terrorists." These disruptive learners are a small portion of the student body, but require a great deal of time and resources to manage. This 90-minute workshop will first examine the extent of behavioral and disciplinary problems in the classroom, then provide strategies to prevent and manage disruptive students.

Cheating and Plagiarism

Plagiarism and cheating have always been concerns for educators, but the technology of cell phones, computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and other devices make it easier than ever for students to submit work they have not authored. Well over 100 Internet websites offer students free papers, fee-based papers, or authoring services for customized papers. This workshop focuses on strategies and technologies to assist faculty in preventing and detecting plagiarism. Participants will gain knowledge and resources for dealing with academic dishonesty.