Recap of University Senate's Sept. 10 meeting

Here is a recap of the University Senate's meeting of Sept. 10. Presentations and minutes from the meeting will be posted on the Senate website closer to the next Senate meeting on Oct. 15.

Remarks from the Senate chair

Natalie Carroll, Senate chair, welcomed members to the first meeting of the academic year. She shared an overview of the University Senate Bylaws which dictate the functions of its committees and noted that the Senate website has a new look after a recent update. Carroll also discussed a resolution sent to the Senate by the Purdue University Global Faculty Senate. In the resolution, Purdue Global's Faculty Senate emphasized its commitment to collaborating with the Purdue University Senate, with the goal of encouraging faculty to maintain their own professional development, providing general education in a student-centered approach, and ensuring the integrity and respect of peers and the community. The full resolution can be found here (downloadable Microsoft Word document).

President Daniels’ remarks

President Mitch Daniels revealed Purdue’s latest census figures. Daniels reported that total enrollment of 43,411 at Purdue’s West Lafayette campus set a new record, with a growth of 1,838 students over last year, and includes 32,672 undergraduates. Although the fall enrollment number was projected last spring at 7,800 students, an additional 557 students arrived on the West Lafayette campus this fall. The incoming class of 8,357 freshmen is the largest ever, and with graduation rates increasing, this year’s entering class is projected to translate into record total graduates a few years from now.

Resolution on environmental and economic sustainability

The Senate approved a resolution regarding economic and environmental sustainability at Purdue that was produced by the University Resources Policy Committee. Jonathan Neal, chair of the University Resources Policy Committee and associate professor of entomology, presented the resolution on behalf of the committee. Neal said the proposal’s intention is to improve sustainability throughout the master planning of the University as a whole. The following items were proposed in the resolution:

* Purdue developing a strategic plan that sets sustainability goals placing the University in the top quartile of Big Ten institutions and commits to achieving those goals.

* Purdue adopting a transparent reporting framework to measure performance against those goals.

* Purdue making sustainability goals an integral part of master planning.

* Purdue making investments in sustainable outcomes that can be expected to show a positive financial return over a 10-year time period.

* The provost and the chief financial officer making yearly reports to the Senate on the academic, physical and financial aspects of the sustainability plan.

Updates from the Senate's Kaplan Entity Special Committee

Deborah Nichols and Stephen Beaudoin, co-chairs of the Senate’s Kaplan Entity Special Committee, provided an update on the committee's work over the summer, which included monthly committee meetings and ad hoc meetings to address specific topics. Topics discussed included:

* Resolving "channel conflicts," or duplication, of Purdue University and Purdue Global programs. Nichols said some channel conflicts have been resolved but others are still being addressed. Conflicts will be resolved through college/unit-level cooperation, implementation of a new website to steer candidates to appropriate programs and geo-fencing to channel students to appropriate programs based on ZIP code or region. An oversight committee including the president, provost, chancellor and others will be created to provide guidance.

* Marketing and branding. Multiple discussions have focused on the need for transparent, side-by-side marketing of Purdue and Purdue Global programs. There have also been discussions about the need to review Purdue Global marketing practices to ensure that prospective students are treated appropriately and not routed to telemarketers or subject to high pressure enrollment tactics.

* Intellectual property. Beaudoin explained that "master courses," created by a committee of Purdue Global faculty, instructional designers, course designers, are owned by Purdue Global. Purdue Global faculty own their scholarly work, including publications, research results, and individual content that a faculty member adds into a master course as part of teaching the course.

* Purdue Global non-disclosure agreement. Beaudoin said that the committee met with Purdue Global Chancellor Betty Vandenbosch in August to discuss the non-disclosure agreement. At the meeting, Vandenbosch explained that the agreement would be eliminated and replaced with faculty handbook policies governing the protection of proprietary information belonging to Purdue Global and its partners. Documentation of what Purdue University and Purdue University Global have identified as proprietary information has been requested from the administration, so that a side by side comparison may be made.

* Arbitration for Purdue Global students. For side-by-side comparison, the committee has requested a list of Purdue and Purdue Global processes related to student complaints.

Beaudoin also told the Senate about the Higher Learning Commission review taking place Sept. 10-11. 

Annual report from Athletic Affairs Committee

Jon Story, professor of nutrition physiology, provided the annual report from the Athletic Affairs Committee. The report provided an overview of enrollment data for athletes for the 2017-18 academic year, as well as academic performance. Story also reported GPA averages for each athletic team and highlighted some of the major academic awards that were received by athletes. 

Update from Purdue Student Government

Aaron Banks, Purdue Student Government President, shared some of the goals PSG has for the academic year, including initiatives that include inclusivity, sustainability, entrepreneurship, governmental relations and mental health.

Update from the Butler Center for Leadership Excellence

Mangala Subramaniam, director of the Butler Center, explained the mission and the focus of the center, which centers on developing leadership capacity for individuals, especially women. Subramaniam discussed the center's past programming and reported on some of the upcoming conferences and events the center has planned for 2018-19, including Women’s Exchange Network meetings, roundtable discussions about topics such as bias and inclusion and hiring and retaining, and a planned conference for associates for spring 2019.