EAST CAROLINA UNIVERSITY FACULTY SENATE

ACADEMIC, APPELLATE, AND SENATE COMMITTEE

ANNUAL REPORT

 

2008-2009 Academic Year

 

COMMITTEE:  Academic Awards

 

1.       Membership (include ex-officio members).

Name- Elected Members

Academic Unit

Term

Jessica Christie

Art and Design

2009

Rebecca Powers (Chair and Secretary)

Sociology

2009

Chris Jantzen (Vice Chair)

Mathematics

2010

Slobodanka Dimova

English

2010

Heng Hong

Medicine

2011

Carolyn Willis

Academic Library Services

2011

Sue Steinweg

Education

2011

 

 

 

Name – Ex-officio Members

Academic Unit

 

Paul Gemperline

Rep of VC for Research & Grad Stud.

2009

Dorothy Muller

Rep of Chancellor

2009

 

 

 

John Crammer

Rep. of Chair of Faculty Senate

2009

David Long

Rep of Faculty Senate

2009

Demetria Smith

Rep of Student Gov Association

2009

 

 2.      Meeting Dates (include members present and members who contributed to committee action, but were not at the meeting*).

 

9/4/08  Jessica Christie, Slobodanka Dimova, Patricia Dragon, Paul Gemperline, Heng Hong, Chris Jantzen, Dorothy Muller, Rebecca Powers, Sue Steinweg, Carolyn Willis

10/2/08  Jessica Christie, John Crammer, Slobodanka Dimova, *Paul Gemperline, *Heng Hong, Chris Jantzen, Dorothy Muller, Rebecca Powers, Demetria Smith, Sue Steinweg, Carolyn Willis

11/06/08  Meeting cancelled because subcommittees are meeting

12/04/08  Meeting cancelled because subcommittees are meeting

1/00/09    Meeting cancelled because subcommittees are meeting

2/05/09    Meeting cancelled because subcommittees are meeting

3/05/09    John Crammer, Slobodanka Dimova, Chris Jantzen, Heng Hong, Dorothy Muller, Rebecca Powers, Sue Steinweg, Carolyn Willis

4/02/09    Meeting postponed

4/30/09    Chris Jantzen, Dorothy Muller, Rebecca Powers, Sue Steinweg, Carolyn Willis Invited Guests:  Jan Tovey (Chair of Faculty Senate), Deirdre Mageean (VC of Research and Graduated Studies)


3.   2008/2009 Subcommittees established during the year (include progress and/or completion of work).

 

All subcommittees completed their review of nominees’ portfolios and made award selections on time. Details of subcommittees’ membership and tasks are reported below.

 

Lifetime and Five Year University Research/Creative Activity Awards Subcommittee (consists of only members of the AAC).

            MEMBERS: Jessica Christie, Paul Gemperline, Heng Hong, Chris Jantzen,   Rebecca Powers (Chair), Sue Steinweg

            TASK: Reviewed 7 nominees for the Five Year Award and 3 nominees for the Lifetime Award.  Selected winners for the awards. Sent subcommittee recommendations to the VC of Research and Graduate Studies for final decision.

ECU Alumni Association for Outstanding Teaching including the Robert L. Jones Award Subcommittee

MEMBERS:  Jessica Christie, Paul Clifford (Rep. for Continuing Studies), John Crammer, Slobodanka Dimova, Heng Hong, John Howard (Rep. for the Provost), Chris Jantzen (Chair), Dorothy Muller, Xiaoming Zeng (Rep. for VC Health Sciences),

TASK: Reviewed 18 nominees, selected 8 finalists and 3 winners.

 

Max Ray Joyner Award for Faculty Service Through Continuing Education Subcommittee

      MEMBERS:  Paul Gemperline, Dorothy Muller, Clayton Sessoms (Representative of Division of Continuing Studies), Claudio Sibata (Rep. of VC for Health Sciences), Sue Steinweg (Chair of Subcommittee and Rep. for the Provost), Carolyn Willis

TASK: 13 nominations, 4 declined, reviewed 11 nominees, selected 7 finalists,         and 1 winner.

 

Board of Governors Distinguished Professor for Teaching Committee

MEMBERS: Slobodanka Dimova, Judith Hunt (Rep. for Provost), Dorothy Muller, David Musick (Rep. for VC of Health Sciences), Carolyn Willis (Chair), Christine Zoller (Rep. for Chair of Faculty Senate), no SGA rep. 

TASK: 14 Nominees, 3 declined, reviewed 11 nominees and made recommendations for winners to the Chancellor.   

 

Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching Committee

MEMBERS: Michael Brown (Rep. for Chair Faculty Senate), John Crammer, Rebecca Powers (Chair), Sharon Sarvey (Rep. for VC Health Sciences), Louis Warren (Rep. of the Provost), no SGA rep.

              TASK: Reviewed 7 nominees and made 2 recommendations to the Chancellor
4.  Accomplishments during the year, especially as addressed through

committee goals.  Please include recommendations made to any University agency other than the Faculty Senate that will be noted under #5.

 

            We were again gratified by the quality of the applications, and delighted to be in a    position to recognize and reward excellence in the endeavors of our faculty           colleagues.  Most of our work gets done in subcommittees, and the chair is    thankful for the responsible service on the part of the members, with particular            reference to the subcommittee chairs.

 

            A goal we continued from last year was to be attentive to communication with            the nominees regarding receipt of portfolios and status of their candidacy.  We          were able to achieve this goal only through the superb efforts of Lori Lee and             Dorothy Muller, who between them contacted all the nominees to acknowledge   receipt of their portfolios, contacted finalists to request CDs/DVDs, contacted all             non-finalists, and ultimately the non-winners, to let them know they were not     selected and arrange for the return of their materials.  Thanks to Lori and Dorothy             for keeping the communication flowing.

 

            We achieved the goal of selecting Research and Creative Activity Award winners     in a timely manner that facilitated notifying winners one month before their             scheduled research presentations (Research Week March 2009).  We were             able to meet this goal through the efforts of the subcommittee members and the

            Office of the Vice-Chancellor for Research and Graduate Studies.

 

5.       Reports to the Faculty Senate (include dates and resolution numbers). None

 

6.       Business carried over to next year (list in priority order). 

·        Secure reserved parking places for West Campus AAC committee members to facilitate their attendance at AAC meetings held in Rawl Annex. Lori Lee has suggestions for accomplishing this task.

 

·        Finish paperwork needed for changing text for the Lifetime Research and Creative Activity Award (LRCAA).  The committee voted in support of the Vice Chancellor’s recommendation that the LRCAA be changed from two possible awards to “up to one possible” per academic year.  The initial paperwork for this change is completed. At the first Fall 2009 AAC meeting, this paperwork will need to carried through the Faculty Senate

channels for   approval and then update the award text before sending out the call for LRCAA nominations. 

           

·        Per AAC Charge 4.A. and the UNC Tomorrow Report, committee needs to investigate contributing to the creation of criteria for a             “Scholarship of Engagement” award.  Suggestion was given to discuss this award issue with Dr. Beth Velde and Dr. Sharon Ballard.

           


6.       Business carried over to next year (CONTINUED) 

               The following items pertain to the video submission for teaching awards:

o       Discuss requirement of a video submission for teaching awards that results in all online DE teaching being ineligible for these awards.

o       Edit “call for nominations” text to request a particular type of DVD.

This year having a range of types of DVDs and CDs was troublesome.

o       Move up the date that finalists need to submit their videos.  This

      year the submission deadline was too close to decision deadline.

o       Discuss ways to facilitate nominees creating the required videos. Encourage nominees to begin working on their video as soon as they are nominated. The Center for Faculty Excellence has ideas for making the video taping process easier for nominees.

o       Establish the procedure of having videos/DVDs of finalists uploaded electronically for viewing by members of the AAC.  But first investigate legal requirements for gaining permission to post videos electronically from the nominee and students that are included in the filming. 

 

·        Continue efforts to formalize and centralize all documentation relating to awards, subcommittee information, and nominee correspondence. The committee members greatly appreciate the record keeping and document organizational work performed by Dorothy Muller and Lori Lee.  

 

·        BOG Excellence in Teaching Award: When the nominations of finalists are sent to the Chancellor, include a request that as soon as the final award decision is made the chair of AAC and the Director for the Center of Faculty Excellence should be notified to allow them to offer face-to-face congratulations to the winner. Currently, the winner only gets a letter in the mail and the committee thinks that the award deserves more personal protocol.

 

·        Per the AAC Charge 4.C. -  carry out review and update as needed.

 

·        Ask the Faculty Senate Committee on Committee to review AAC Charge and add the expectation that AAC members attend and help with giving of awards during the Teaching Awards Ceremony held on the first Reading Day of the Spring Semester.  Currently, Dorothy Muller (Center for Faculty Excellence) informally requests and reminds AAC members about the event and the committee thinks this activity should be formally included as a AAC member duty.   

 

7.       Evaluation of the committee (include anything that hindered or assisted the      committee's work during the year).

A.     Charge:  The charge is clear but needs amended per suggestion above.

B.     Personnel:  The members of the committee are knowledgeable and eager to work.  The members feel strongly that a student representative from SGA would be an asset to the committee and are disappointed in the lack of student participation.    

C.    Attendance:   All members contributed generously of their time to accomplish their subcommittees’ tasks.  Attendance at full committee meetings, however, sometimes struggled to meet quorum. Members are strongly urged to make arrangements to attend all committee meetings or send an alternate.  If a member is away for part or all of the academic year they need to contact the AAC Chair and Lori Lee and also attempt to find a replacement for their seat on the committee.

D.    Responsibilities:  Members of the research awards subcommittee continue to express concerns about how to evaluate the "impact" on their respective fields of candidates nominated for Research and Creative Activity Awards, particularly when the candidates come from a variety of disciplines. The group suggested that nominees’ “impact in their field” be stressed as a key component of their letters of recommendation. Further, it is recommended that all future Research and Creative Activity Award subcommittees continue to be formed based upon the diversity of characteristics and expertise of AAC committee members because this facilitates reducing any potential bias.  

E.     Activities: As always, we appreciated the impeccable assistance of Lori Lee as we pursued our activities for the year.

 

8. Suggestion(s) to the Chair of the Faculty and/or Faculty Senate for improving the effectiveness of the committee.  None

           
9. Does the Committee’s organizational meeting next year need to be earlier than the date set this year?   No.

         

 

Signed: 

 

Chairperson:  Rebecca Powers  ____________________________

Vice Chair: Chris Jantzen  _______________________________

Secretary:  Rebecca Powers  _______________________________