Highlights of the May 13, 2002, meeting of the College Park Senate
Senate elections: Joel Cohen of CMPS was voted chair-elect; 2003-2004. Kent Cartwright is now the current chair 2002-2003.
Ellie Weingaertner gave her outgoing report as past chair. She was given special recognition and presented a gift certificate for clothing (!)
Special elections were conducted for Senate Exec, Committee on Committees, Athletic Council, University System Faculty and, of course, the most important committee: Campus Parking Advisory Committee. (The votes for these will counted post-meeting and announced at a later date.)
Real Business:
Recommendation to adopt the policy on FT and PT non-tenure track instructional faculty passed unanimously. The proposal was concise, with clear coverage of areas concerning the provision of instructional faculty with the neccessary support for execution of their duties (e.g., ordering books, duplication of class syllabi, provision of teaching supplies, and appropriate meeting spaces).
Proposal to add areas of concentration in biology and in chemistry to the existing Master of Life Sciences Program, passed unanimously.
Proposal to establish a new graduate program in bioengineering met with a long and lively discussion. Issues raised (most notably by Dr. Vincent Brannigan of Fire Protection Engineering) included a perceived lack of faculty guidance/leadership and departmental structure and, in addition, that the proposal does not address ethical issues in bioengineering. Dr. Nariman Farvardin, Dean of College of Engineering, stated that the program would indeed have a structure (including a central office with a director, etc.) but that this was not a department---hence no tenure track---much like numerous other interdisciplinary programs at UMCP. (Applied Math was raised later by Dr. Peter Wolf as one such example.) Dr. Farvardin also commented that the necessary language regarding ethical issues in bioengineering can, and should, be added. After a bit more discussion, a vote was taken and the motion passed with minor dissent (2 were opposed).
Bonnie Dorr & Don Perlis
Senators, Department of Computer Science