Executive Committee
Committee Chair: Bill White
Sub-Committee on Committees, Procedures, and Constitutional Revisions
Sub-Committee Chair: Nick Mohammed
Legislative and Forensic Deliberativeness. Assess functionality of standing rules and parliamentary practice in executive and plenary Senate meetings and make recommendations as needed to create a climate that foregrounds careful and thorough-going deliberation. PRODUCT: Constitutional revisions and/or addenda to Senate standing rules as appropriate.
Election Procedures. Establish Senate policies for procedures for using Qualtrics to run elections and other votes in order to ensure the integrity and fairness of the ballot. Make recommendations for Division-level best practices as well. PRODUCT: Elections manual for Senate officer and representative elections that could also be adopted in whole or in part by the divisions.
Academic Affairs
Committee Chair: Sarah Shear
- Sub-Committee on Admissions, Records, Scheduling, and Student Aid
- Sub-Committee on Intercollegiate Athletics
- Sub-Committee on Teaching
Teaching & Learning Center. Consider how to optimally implement a faculty-led “teaching & learning center” at Penn State Altoona that is responsive to faculty needs and makes effective use of available knowledge and resources. PRODUCT: Advisory report to the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.
Teaching Self-Assessment Tools. Evaluate best practices for voluntary self-assessment of teaching and provide guidance on their use as supplemental material for annual review and promotion & tenure teaching assessments. PRODUCT: Advisory report to the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.
Caps on Sustained Overloads. Assess the impact on academic quality when a faculty member teaches sustained overloads, totaling to a combined load of 20 or more credits per semester over two or more semesters, and make a policy recommendation. PRODUCT: Advisory report to the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.
Athletics Communication. Initiate contact with Director of Athletics and the Senior Women’s Administrator for Athletics as ex officio members of the Sub-Committee on Intercollegiate Athletics to discuss Senate support for athletics. PRODUCT: A plan for sustained faculty consultation and input regarding athletics on campus.
Campus Climate and Diversity
Committee Chair: Anne Cramer
- Sub-Committee on Budgets, College Planning, and University Development
- Sub-Committee on Equity and Diversity
- Sub-Committee on Student Life
Adjunct Faculty Accommodation. Propose action to be initiated and led by standing faculty to increase resources such as office space available to adjunct faculty, e.g., voluntary office-sharing. PRODUCT: One or more faculty-led initiatives.
Strategic Planning Communication. Provide input on and feedback to the conduct of College-level strategic planning cycle processes, and document for future cycles. PRODUCT: Informal consultation with Assistant Dean for Policy and Planning; informational report to Chancellor and Dean.
Equity and Diversity On-Campus Network. Continue conversations and make further contact with on-campus organizations such as MOSAIC, the internationalization committee, and the TLC as well as the relevant student organizations to develop approaches to supporting continued awareness and growth of diversity initiatives on campus, and generate strategies to promote greater awareness among faculty of equity and diversity events as co-curricular activities in support of the College mission. PRODUCT: A communications and coordination plan that can be adopted as Senate standing rules.
Curricular Affairs
Committee Chair: Beth Seymour
Curricular Policy and Principles Review. Review and document college-level curricular review, consultation, and feedback procedures to ensure adequate deliberation and preservation of institutional memory. PRODUCT: Senate standing rules and/or memoranda of understanding with Office of Academic Affairs as appropriate.
Online/Hybrid Course Policies. Put curricular procedures in place regarding the curricular integrity of online and hybrid courses at Penn State Altoona (not just for new courses, but especially also for change of the mode of delivery of traditional courses – the latter is completely local and not part of the University wide curricular process). This is already an ongoing activity steered by the Division Heads and Joe Scott. PRODUCT: Senate standing rules and/or policy recommendation to Associate Dean for Academic Affairs as appropriate.
Faculty Affairs
Committee Chair: Mark Johnson
- Sub-Committee on Information Technology
- Sub-Committee on Research
Classroom Functionality. Assess functionality of current classroom technology from the perspective of instructors using them; make recommendations for more versatile and robust configurations of physical and information technology in Altoona classrooms after consultation with relevant staff offices. PRODUCT: Advisory report to the Chancellor and Dean.
SRTE Update. Examine unit-level questions asked on the Student Ratings of Teaching Effectiveness and update to reflect changes in classroom technology and other circumstances as needed. PRODUCT: Policy recommendation to Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.
IT Policy and Procedures Communication. Develop and implement a mechanism for coordination and consultation between the IT sub-committee and the Office of Information Technology with respect to new policies and policy changes, including the dissemination of information about policy initiatives from University Park as well as local administrative efforts. PRODUCT: Memorandum of understanding with OIT and/or new Senate standing rules as needed.
Computers for Part-Time Faculty. Work with Penn State Altoona OIT to make laptops or other computer resources available to adjunct faculty. PRODUCT: Policy recommendation to Chancellor and Dean or memorandum of understanding with OIT, as appropriate.
New Associate Dean for Research. Help familiarize the new Associate Dean for Research with the needs of faculty with respect to research support, and help build the ADR’s knowledge of the variety of Penn State Altoona faculty’s research efforts. PRODUCT: Informal consultation; new charges for the Research Sub-Committee as warranted.
Travel Funds Roll-Over. Work with new Associate Dean for Research and the Bursar’s Office to establish procedures for rolling over limited travel funds over the summer from one fiscal year to the next, ONLY for those faculty who travel over the fiscal year deadlines, to allow them to complete their travel and file a comprehensive expense report after their return with the different portions of their travel allocated in the old/new fiscal year budgets. That would relieve such faculty from the current requirement of filing reports in the midst of their travel, possibly with incomplete receipts and not having access to proper office equipment and staff support from overseas. PRODUCT: Memorandum of understanding with the Bursar’s Office and Office of Academic Affairs.
Faculty Mentoring Policy. Review and provide input to mentoring policy draft from Office of Academic Affairs. PRODUCT: Marked-up policy draft with feedback and suggestions.
Sabbatical Proposal Reviews. Review and make recommendations as requested by the Office of Academic Affairs regarding faculty sabbatical proposals. PRODUCT: Recommendations memo to Office of Academic Affairs.