Faculty Senate To Meet in April

With a burgeoning workload ahead, the Faculty Senate will meet twice this month: next Monday and on April 14.

At the April 7 meeting, which starts at 3:30 p.m. in 272 Bascom, the Faculty Senate will vote to establish Equity and Diversity Committees, consider a resolution from the University Committee supporting campus diversity efforts and review several committee reports.

If approved by the senate, the Equity and Diversity Committee legislation would require establishment of these committees in specified schools, colleges and other units. Committee membership would include faculty, academic and classified staff and students. The committees already exist in some schools and colleges.

The committees would support the university’s commitment to creating a diverse and equitable environment on campus, according to the proposal from the Advisory Committee for the Equity and Diversity Resource Center.

The resolution on diversity from the University Committee calls for the Faculty Senate to reaffirm its 25-year commitment to helping cultivate a diverse campus community. The resolution also directs faculty, staff, students and administrators “to continue vigorously to create a campus environment that rejects discrimination and that embraces openness and diversity” as the university approaches the campus’ sesquicentennial celebration in 1998-99 and the 21st century.

In other business, the senate will hear first readings of reports and recommendations from the Ad Hoc Committee on the Use of Student Course Evaluations and the Ad Hoc Committee on Retired Faculty and Staff.

The student course evaluations report affirms that student evaluations are important tools to help evaluate teaching and learning, and for students to make decisions about courses.

But the report points out that student course evaluations by themselves are best suited for students making course choices. It suggests that additional evaluation tools – such as peer reviews and post-graduation evaluation of courses – be utilized to help instructors improve their teaching and by faculty and administrators when making merit and promotion decisions.

It also includes several recommendations, including not using a universal form for all departments and courses; using a common five-point scale for scoring; and encouraging faculty and other instructors to use their own “formative” mid-semester evaluations to improve their courses.

The senate also will review annual reports from several committees, including Academic Affairs of Minority/Disadvantaged Students for 1996-97; Athletic Board for 1995-96; Archives for 1996-97; Lectures for 1995-96; and Faculty Rights and Responsibilities for 1995-96.

The senate meeting will begin with the presentation of the 1996-97 Hilldale Awards, presented to faculty from each of the four faculty divisions for distinguished contributions to teaching, research and extension outreach while a member of the UW–Madison faculty. This year’s winners are Robert I. DeMars (Genetics), Biological Sciences; Susan Stanford Friedman (English/Women’s Studies), Humanities; George D. Zografi (Pharmacy), Physical Sciences; and M. Crawford Young (Political Science), Social Studies.

The agenda for the April 14 Faculty Senate meeting has not yet been finalized, but unfinished business from Monday’s meeting will be included. That meeting will be held in 3650 Humanities starting at 3:30 p.m.