Faculty Senate Council

The Faculty Senate Council of Washington University is the elected governing body of the Faculty Senate (all university faculty members). Representatives serve three year terms. The nine divisional representatives are elected by their respective schools, and the five at-large representatives are elected by the whole faculty senate.

The Faculty Senate consists of all faculty members at the university. Meetings are held twice a year. The Faculty Senate Council is the governing body.

Meeting Minutes, October 18, 2007

Faculty Senate Council

Attending:
Representatives: Jeff Lowell, chair, Nancy Berg, William Bottom, Elizabeth Childs, Janet Rader, Leila Sadat, Andrew Sobel, Bradley Stoner
Ex officio: Mark Wrighton, Ed Macias, Gerhild Williams
Guests: Alan Glass, Ann Prenatt, Tom Laumann

The meeting was called to order at 4:32

  1. The minutes of the previous meeting were approved.
  2. Chancellor's report: The year is off to a good start. Approximately two hundred parents attended the Parents' Council held during the Parents' Weekend. The 1,340 first year students have settled in.

    Two major construction projects - the Social Sciences and Law Building and the Danforth University Center – are scheduled to be completed by next summer. Both have received major naming gifts, the former has not yet been announced, the latter from the Danforth Foundation. The lowest two levels of the new underground parking garage are now available. The residential hall on the north side should be completed by next fall, allowing the renewal of the south 40 to continue, whether by renovation or rebuilding.

    The official groundbreaking of what will be the largest building on the Medical School campus will be October 30. The building is a joint project with BJC. $30 million naming gift has been pledged, although not yet announced.

    The university is discussing bringing the SLU School of Public Health to Washington University. The faculty of SLU's SPH, and our Schools of Arts and Sciences, Law, Medicine and Social Work are all interested. The SLU SPH could quickly move to the top tier, and WUSTL could even more quickly add an accredited school and degree program. One possible structure is to have the SPH be a separate entity within the Brown Schools of Social Work and Public Health.

    The university has submitted a letter of intent to sponsor a charter school in St. Louis as per the recommendation of the majority of a small task force : Kent Syverud, chair, Pam Lokken, Vicki May, William Tate, Eddie Lawlor, Rob Wild. The school will actually be operated by the KIPP Foundation (Knowledge Is Power Program), but the arrangement will allow the university to participate in meaningful ways. KIPP plans to begin with a middle school fall 2009 (hiring the principal by fall 2008 for a year of training) and eventually open elementary schools and one high school for a total of five schools. The university is especially interested in KIPP finding a location in a neighborhood in which the university already has interests such as Forest Park Southeast, or near the north campus.

    Confidential: The chancellor will recommend the hiring of Henry S. Webber as the executive vice chancellor for administration to succeed John Klein. Dr. Webber, currently Vice President for Community and Government Affairs of the University of Chicago – and Senior Lecturer in the School of Social Service Administration was first recommended by Dean Eddie Lawlor, Dean of GWB School of Social Work.

  3. Mental Health Resources on Campus – Alan Glass, Director of the Habif Health and Wellness Center

    The Habif Center is multidisciplinary, offering comprehensive coverage of health issues. The staff includes 11 counselors, two full time psychiatrists, and a health promotion specialist whose position is fully dedicated to mental health.

    The university surveys the students biannually using the National College Health Assessment. This web-based survey is sent to a random sample of approximately four thousand students and yields a 35% response rate. Results selected for relevance are in the attached power point.

    The care team made up of representatives from Residential Life, the police department and the Habif Center meets every Monday to discuss any issues or persons of concern.

    A short on-line mental health training session has been developed for Reslife and other staff. The consensus was that it would be useful to make it available for faculty as well. It should be on-line by next month.

  4. Human Resources - Ann Prenatt & Tom Laumann
    1. Update on phased retirement: The proposal for phased retirement now includes clinician-track faculty. It is currently at the general counsel's office awaiting final review.
    2. Childcare: Ann Prenatt and Alan Kuebler have been working on the issue of childcare for the past eighteen months, exploring multiple options in consultation with the CDCA (Children's Day Care Association), including looking into purchasing slots at good quality childcare facilities close to the university (within a three mile radius of either campus). University City Children's Center has expanded from 112 to 172 slots; 50 % of the places are filled by the children of Washington University faculty, staff and graduate students. There have been discussions with the facility at St. Mary's in light of the facility's interest in expansion. They have also looked for potential sites close to campus to establish a day care that would be run by an experienced company. While there is no announcement to be made at the moment, they continue to dedicate time and effort to the continuing need for good quality childcare. The issue of early evening care was highlighted in questions.
    3. Modification of the nondiscrimination policy: In response to a request from the LGBTQIA community, T.R. Kidder chaired a task force to examine the current nondiscrimination statement and make recommendations. It was decided that the language be changed to include the categories of gender identity and gender expression. Modification of the policy requires approval by Faculty Senate Council and Faculty Senate. See attached.
    4. 2008 Health insurance premiums: Additions to the health care benefits continue the wellness theme begun last year. To meet the university's goal to provide affordable health care, there will now be a two-tier premium structure with the premium for those earning under $30,000 annually not increasing. The threshold will be reconsidered annually. See attached.
    5. Other: Over 1900 employees have signed up for the RMSA in this first year; investments total over $1.1 million. Because of the small number of retirees – especially retirees under age 65 who continue to enroll in the university's health insurance it is hard to keep the costs down. Community healthcare options are being explored.

6:10 Adjournment

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