November 4, 2022
Meeting of the Faculty Council
Friday, November 4, 2022
3:00 p.m.
1001 Kerr Hall (Eshelman School of Pharmacy) **Please note: the location is different than last month**
Agenda
3:00 p.m. Chair’s welcome and remarks
Chair of the Faculty Mimi Chapman
3:10 p.m. Chancellor’s remarks
Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz
3:25 p.m. Provost’s remarks and Q&A
Provost Christopher Clemens
3:40 p.m. UNC Hospital RESPTC site designation
Introduction by Professor Mike Cohen
Presentation by Professors William Fischer and David Wohl
Joining for Q&A: Professors Joseph Eron and David Weber
4:00 p.m. Resolution 2022-06. On amending the Faculty Code as it pertains to the Chair and Secretary of the Faculty [PDF]
Submitted by the Committee on University Government
Find the committee’s report about the proposed Code changes (presented at the Oct 7 meeting) at this link [PDF]
4:15 p.m. Presentation on Graduate Student Stipends
President Theodore Nollert, Graduate and Professional School Government
4:25 p.m. Resolution 2022-07. On Support for Graduate Student Stipend Increases [PDF]
Submitted by Chair of the Faculty Mimi Chapman
4:35 p.m. Master of Applied Professional Studies (MAPS) program
Dr. Laura Kuizin, Director of MAPS, The Graduate School
4:55 p.m. Committee Report (by title)
Annual report of the Faculty Hearings Committee [PDF]
Prof. Charlotte Boettiger (Psychology and Neuroscience), committee chair
5:00 p.m. Adjournment
Video of Proceedings
Watch the full video [Streaming]
Journal of Proceedings of the Faculty Council
The Faculty Council of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill convened on November 4, 2022 at 3:00 p.m. in Kerr Hall, Room 1001 and via Zoom. Other faculty and members of the public were able to observe the meeting on a livestream.
The following 68 Faculty Council members attended: Alderman, Alexander, Ansong, Balasubramanian, Berkoff, Binz, Brownley, Campbell, Chapman (Chair of the Faculty), Clement, Colford, Cook, De Fays, Dillman Carpentier, Drummond, Estroff, Frederick, Freeman, Gates-Foster, Gold, Hackney, Haggis, Halpern, Hannig, Jackson, Krause, La Serna, Lensing, Lin, Lopez, Mayer-Davis, McEntee, McLaughlin, McNeilly, Mehrotra, Menard, Mendez, Metcalfe, Meyer, Mohanty, Moore (Secretary of the Faculty), Moracco, Neal, Oliveira, Penton, Pettifor, Plenge, Reissner, Renner, Reyes, Roberts, Sathy, Schlobohm, Sena-Soberano, J. Smith, K. Smith, Thornburg, Triumph, Vernon-Feagans, Vines, Wahl, Watson, Weiler, Wiltshire, Winget, Wolfe, Young and Zomorodi.
The following 15 members received excused absences: Becker, Boyd, Burch, DeHart-Davis, Divaris, Entwisle, Goralski, Hodges, Lain, Ma, Muller, Rose, Turi, Yaghoobi and Zeeman.
The following 7 members were absent without excuse: Aikat, Cai, Charles, Donahue, Johnson, Nichols and Thorp.
Others in attendance: Christopher Clemens (Provost), Samantha Golden (Graduate Observer), Theodore Nollert (Graduate and Professional Student Government President) and Margaux Sherwen (Undergraduate Observer).
Call to Order
The Chair of the Faculty called the meeting to order at 3:00 p.m.
Chair of the Faculty remarks
Chair of the Faculty Mimi Chapman welcomed everyone to the November meeting of the Faculty Council and gave remarks.
There have been several inquiries about the process for selecting the next chair of the faculty. This process is defined in the Faculty Code of University Government. The Advisory Committee is tasked with choosing candidates to stand for nomination for the chair of the faculty position. Members of the campus community were encouraged to submit their nominations for the next chair, the Advisory Committee is currently reviewing the nominations. The announcement of the candidates will occur next year, and the election will be held in late March, with the chosen candidate announced at the April Faculty Council meeting.
On October 31, the Office of University Counsel represented UNC-Chapel Hill in the U.S. Supreme Court case, Students for Fair Admissions v. the University of North Carolina. The battle to maintain the ability to consider race as one factor among many in admissions has been ongoing for eight years. This is a mechanism to reduce the kind of inclusive environment that we aspire to on our campus. Students learn better and are more innovative and better prepared for citizenship when they live and study with a wide range of people. Chair Chapman recognized the Office of University Council, Ryan Park from the Attorney General’s Office and the Office of Undergraduate Admissions for their work on the case. Faculty Council then applauded everyone involved in the case.
Chancellor’s remarks
Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz was unable to attend the meeting. He recorded a video [link] to update the Faculty Council on the pending U.S. Supreme Court case, Students for Fair Admissions v. the University of North Carolina, as well as campus events and initiatives. He also shared a video on the Tar Heel Bus Tour [link].
Provost’s remarks
Provost Christopher Clemens began his remarks by reiterating a principle that he articulated at his first meeting with Faculty Council—his belief that the university serves its students and state best when faculty are empowered to shape the direction of the university through a robust model of shared governance. He thanked Council members for their service in shared governance.
Over the past few years, many faculty has requested a more capable Learning Management System (LMS) than Sakai. In response to this demand, Vice Chancellor for IT Michael Barker and Director of ITS Educational Technologies Suzanne Caldwell executed a contract to acquire the Canvas LMS. They began pilot projects about a year ago with faculty who needed to use Canvas for its upgraded features and interoperability. The provost met with the Faculty Information Technology Advisory Committee (FITAC), chaired by Professor Dan Anderson (English and Comparative Literature), and they discussed the challenges for those students who now must interact with both Canvas and Sakai. It is possible for faculty to go into Sakai and migrate their courses into Canvas. ITS can provide migration support. He has asked FITAC to assist him in creating a schedule to help the campus migrate to Canvas. FITAC will bring its recommendations to the Faculty Council.
The Graduate and Professional Student Government gave a presentation on graduate stipends to the Board of Trustees (BOT). The presentation was well-received. BOT Chair David Boliek has been advocating for a generous increase in graduate stipends. Chancellor Guskiewicz and Provost Clemens have been working with Vice Chancellor for Finance and Operations Nathan Knuffman to implement the biggest one-time time increase in the graduate student minimum stipend in the history of this institution. It may not be possible to get all the way to the ultimate goal in a single action, but a significant step forward will be made.
The provost’s leadership team has been working to support students abroad and ensure their safety. At least 151 people were killed in a Halloween crowd surge in Seoul, South Korea on October 29. Among the dead were two U.S. college students studying abroad—University of Kentucky nursing student Anne Gieske and Kennesaw State University international business student Steven Blesi. Our hearts go out to those students and their loved ones. Vice Provost for Global Affairs Barbara Stephenson and Associate Vice Provost Heather Ward have been working behind the scenes to learn how to mitigate travel risks associated with study abroad. They have now managed to build partnerships for all the site-based study abroad programs with people who can help us maintain the duty of care for our students that study abroad requires. There are UNC-CH students in South Korea, and our partners there were able to report quickly that these students were safe. UNC-CH has 150 students on self-designed study abroad experiences. They work with faculty to make an itinerary and are not often located in places where the University has a permanent site. Vice Provost Stephenson and her team are working to provide a good duty of care to students who design their own programs.
Professor Jennifer Smith (Linguistics) asked if the increase in the graduate student minimum stipend will correlate with instructional budget increases so that the departments can pay their graduate students a higher rate.
Provost Clemens said the administration is working with finance to fund this increase. If that can be done, the money will go into the instructional budgets.
Professor Rich McLaughlin (Mathematics) asked if there is a plan to address graduate stipends that are held back, but below what the minimum might be.
Provost Clemens said the administration is working on this issue, but it will be in the purview of the College of Arts and Sciences. The administration tries to be equitable, but there is a natural inequity in pay between health affairs and academic affairs.
Professor Beth Moracco (Health Behavior) asked if professional schools would receive funding to help support the stipend increases.
Provost Clemens said that the intention is to fund the increase in a way that will assist all departments. He will follow up on this.
Professor Moracco noted that many faculty fund graduate students with their own research grants. She asked if the provost would provide funding to assist with the stipend increase in these cases.
Provost Clemens said this would be harder because it may depend on the funding source.
UNC Hospital RESPTC site designation
Professor Mike Cohen (Infectious Diseases) introduced information about the new RESPTC program on campus. UNC-CH and UNC Hospitals has been selected to be a Regional Emerging Special Pathogen Treatment Center (RESPTC) by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR). UNC-Chapel Hill was one of three sites selected to expand beyond 10 existing RESPTC sites across the US. ASPR awarded UNC-CH $3 million for the new center. Professors William Fischer (Medicine) and David Wohl (Infectious Diseases) will lead the center.
Professor Wohl gave an overview of the program. About ten years ago, an outbreak of Ebola virus in West Africa affected 30,000 individuals in a part of Africa that had not seen Ebola before. The outbreak led to transmission of Ebola to healthcare workers in Dallas, Texas. This was a wakeup call that high consequence pathogens can spill over both geographically and in the scale with which they affect the population. ASPR recognized that the U.S. was not well prepared for managing people who had this kind of infection and that tasking local hospitals with that responsibility was not feasible. This awareness led to the creation of RESPTC sites in the U.S. to handle known and unknown infections. Given the COVID-19 pandemic and the emergence of monkeypox (now called mpox), ASPR decided to expand the number of RESPTC sites to 13.
The University put in a competitive bid and made a strong case to be considered a RESPTC. UNC Hospitals is geographically well-situated to be such as a center and was also well-prepared to level up, as one of eight North Carolina healthcare facilities designated as an assessment hospital to identify, isolate, and care for a patient infected with an emerging pathogen for up to 96 hours before transfer to a RESPTC site. The ASPR grant will provide the equipment, training and staff to manage these patients. The grant will also be used to prepare clinics and hospitals throughout the Southeast. UNC-CH will partner with Emory University, the other RESPTC in the Southeast.
Professor David Weber (Infectious Diseases) said UNC Hospitals is well-equipped to take care of patients with emerging pathogens without putting health care providers or anyone in the community at risk. Around 1,400 COVID-19 patients were treated at UNC-Hospitals; these patients contracted the virus in the community. There were only two cases of transmission where they couldn’t determine whether the patient contracted COVID-19 in the community or the hospital. There has also been no transmission of monkeypox in UNC Hospitals.
Professor Arlene Seña-Soberano (Infectious Diseases) asked what the University and the community should be prepared for as the RESPTC is established.
Professor Weber said the grant will be used to educate health care workers in the Southeast on how to recognize and safely handle patients with emerging pathogens, which will increase everyone’s safety.
Professor Wohl said the State Department of Health and Human Service assisted with the ASPR grant as they have been preparing for worst case scenarios for ten years. UNC Hospitals will partner with Duke Health, Atrium Health and other health care systems. To be considered a RESPTC site, UNC Hospitals had to receive letters of support from every health and human services department in each of the eight states in the Southeast within two weeks. Simulations and drills will prepare staff on how to respond when patients with emerging pathogens arrive.
Professor Kate Menard (OBGYN) asked about the communication they had with health care providers about the new site.
Professor Wohl said a group of health care providers will be directly responsible for caring and transporting the patients; they will receive training and extra compensation for this role. RESPTC is working closely with emergency medical service providers because they might also be first responders. There must be more general preparedness so providers can protect themselves as outbreaks occur. Professor Weber added that a high consequence committee has met for two years now and has a lot of experience with managing outbreaks.
Professor Jan Hannig (Statistics and Operations Research) asked if data from the RESPTC site would be available to the public.
Professor Wohl said they will be transparent and communicative about the work of RESPTC. He and Professor Cohen emphasized that communicating effectively with the public about outbreaks is an important aspect of their work.
Resolution 2022-06. On amending the Faculty Code as it pertains to the Chair and Secretary of the Faculty
Professor Joy Renner (Radiologic Science) made a motion to adopt Resolution 2022-06, On amending the Faculty Code as it pertains to the Chair and Secretary of the Faculty [PDF]. The motion was seconded by Professor Rumay Alexander (Nursing).
Secretary of the Faculty Jill Moore opened the floor for discussion.
Professor Hannig asked how this change to The Code addresses resignations from the chair of the faculty position.
Professor Renner said there is already a mechanism in The Code for handing vacancies and it is not affected by this resolution. The Advisory Committee is tasked with filling any such vacancy.
Secretary Moore stated that the question before the body was whether to approve Resolution 2022-06 and opened the vote. The resolution was adopted by a vote of 59 in favor, 1 opposed and 1 abstention. Secretary Moore reminded the Council that amendments to The Code require two votes. Having passed the Faculty Council, the resolution will be submitted electronically to the full voting faculty for a final vote.
Presentation on Graduate Student Stipends
Graduate and Professional School Government (GPSG) President Theodore Nollert (English and Comparative Literature) gave a presentation on graduate student pay [PDF]. GPSG pay targets include a $25,000 doctoral minimum, a $16,000 master’s minimum, and an annual raise process.
Professor Hannig asked if the $25,000 minimum is a 9-month or a 12-month equivalent.
President Nollert said the $25,000 minimum is based on the University’s 9-month cost of attendance.
Professor Harry Watson (History) asked for more information on the differential between a master’s stipend and a doctoral stipend.
President Nollert said a terminal master’s minimum stipend is currently $13,000. GPSG recommends increasing it to $16,000. A student who is admitted to a Ph.D. program without a master’s would receive the $25,000 minimum. There is difference in the minimum for admission to terminal master’s versus admission to a Ph.D. program.
Professor Jessica Wolfe (English and Comparative Literature) asked if GPSG has considered other models of funding to increase graduate student pay. When she attended a graduate program at Stanford University, graduate students received $3,000-$5,000 in summer money. Also, many private institutions only charge a very nominal tuition fee for advanced Ph.D. students.
Provost Clemens is creating a taskforce focused on graduate student stipends. After they work on the increasing the minimum stipend, their next task is to provide summer funding, which is a harder task because it requires a departmental approach. Ph.D. students who are ABD (All But Dissertation) only need to pay tuition for the semester in which they defend their dissertation.
Professor Sridhar Balasubramanian (Business) asked how the minimum master’s stipend will affect M.B.A students in the Kenan Flagler Business School since they pay tuition.
President Nollert said some programs admit terminal master students who are funded because they teach or do other work at the University. The master’s student stipend only applies to those programs.
Professor Menard asked specifically which programs will be affected by the minimum stipend.
President Nollert said this will mostly apply in the College of Arts and Sciences. Around 4,000 students receive stipends out of the 11,000 graduate and professional students on campus. There are three pay categories: Research Assistant (RA), Teaching Assistant (TA) and Graduate Assistant (GA). The RA and TA categories have a minimum stipend. The GA category applies to any graduate student who has a job but is paid on either an hourly or a stipend rate that is excluded from the minimum requirement.
Dean of the Graduate School Beth Mayer-Davis said the Graduate School does not set the minimum stipend, it is a function of the campus budget.
Provost Clemens said historically the provost has set the minimum. The goal is for the minimum to be funded to a certain number and not an unfunded mandate.
Professor Allison Schlobohm (Business) asked President Nollert to say more about the context for the request. What are graduate students saying about their stipends?
President Nollert said many students find it hard to pay rent with their current stipend and can face unexpected financial hardships that cause them to consider leaving graduate school. The stipend increase would help increase diversity of all types and assist with recruitment. Individuals decline to attend graduate programs at UNC-CH because of the current stipend amount.
Professor Jennifer Smith said out-of-state students must stay in North Carolina over the summer or they cannot quality for tuition remission and departments cannot afford tuition remission for these students. Summer funding must be considered.
Resolution 2022-07. On Support for Graduate Student Stipend Increases
Chair of the Faculty Mimi Chapman moved to adopt Resolution 2022-07, On Support for Graduate Student Stipend Increases [PDF]. The motion was seconded by Professor Johnathan Weiler (Global Studies).
Resolution 2022-07 passed by unanimous consent.
Master of Applied Professional Studies (MAPS) program
Dr. Laura Kuizin, Director of MAPS, gave a presentation on the program [PDF].
Professor Moracco asked about the tuition structure of the program.
Dr. Kuizin is working with a variety of student populations. Student athletes have funding from the Student Athletic program, veterans have funding through the GI Bill and UNC employees have funding through the tuition waiver program. Students outside of these groups will either fall into the in-state tuition or the out-of-state tuition categories. She is hoping to find additional funding to support students who do not fall under categories that currently have tuition support.
Professor Watson asked if the program will be assessed for job prospects and placements of graduates.
Dr. Kuizin said assessment is a key part of the program. Since the program has not launched, she is collecting data on who is showing interest in program. Data will be collected on students who complete the program and their job prospects, and on students who do not complete the program.
Dean Mayer-Davis said The Graduate School is giving a lot of thought to understanding North Carolina workforce needs and being more strategic about graduate education offerings. The MAPS program will be supported by that larger infrastructure to ensure that students will graduate, be successful and have systems in place to help them with networking so they can succeed in landing jobs.
Provost Clemens said the University does not access graduate programs for lifetime wage earnings or job placement. The System is collecting this data in their return-on-investment study. The System plans to share information on the earning potential of all graduates soon.
Professor Balasubramanian stated that this is a program that really needs to be assessed by how it works in the marketplace. He asked if research has been conducted on how employers would perceive the MAPS program.
Dr. Kuizin said there have been conversations with employers in the community and reaching out to external partners is an ongoing process. The skills sought for future employees include leadership, management, and business communication. These elements were foundational in designing the program. These skills will be applied through the capstone project.
Committee Report by title
The annual report of the Faculty Hearings Committee [PDF] was accepted by title.
Adjournment
Its business having concluded, the Faculty Council adjourned at 5:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Kadejah Murray
University Program Associate
Jill Moore
Secretary of the Faculty
