The University of Delaware Faculty Senate held its first meeting of the 2023 spring semester, via Zoom, on Monday, Feb. 6, during which it discussed changes to the Faculty Handbook, a new mental health app available to UD students and name changes to degrees and programs, among other items.

Provost Laura Carlson shared that she is establishing open hours for one-on-one meetings with the campus community, which will be held once a month on Fridays, beginning Feb. 24, from 10 a.m. to noon in the Trabant University Center. A signup link with the dates and times will be posted on the provost website.

“This is an opportunity if you have something that you want to chat with me about to come by, say hi, and have a conversation. It is an opportunity to get to know you and campus better,” Carlson said.

Carlson said that she has started to read promotion and tenure cases and expressed gratitude for how thorough the cases are, particularly in regard to the COVID impact statement and how candidates described their experiences.

“I want to thank everybody in the departments, colleges and Senate committees for their work,” she said. “I think this is among the most important work that we do.”

Carlson also shared that the University will begin the application process for the Carnegie Foundation reclassification for community engagement, which recognizes U.S. colleges and universities for institutionalizing community engagement. UD was awarded the designation in 2017, and the application for reclassification is due in April 2025. Matt Robinson, professor of sport management and deputy director of the Community Engagement Initiative, is chairing a steering committee to prepare the application.

“It's a great opportunity for us, through the application process, to report the incredible community engagement efforts of the University and its members,” Carlson said. “The classification is elective and voluntary and involves data collection and documentation. I think it’s incredibly important and resonates with our mission in terms of impact as a university.”

George Irvine, associate vice provost for the Division of Professional and Continuing Studies and Online Initiatives, gave an update on the digital badging program. Digital badging is for noncredit programs that demonstrate the acquisition of skills outside of traditional degree programs, such as Professional and Continuing Studies students, workshops, professional development, and faculty and staff training. In the Professional and Continuing Studies pilot program last fall, 49 students who completed noncredit certificates were awarded digital badges. Of those, 43 recipients engaged with the badge and 22 were shared on LinkedIn.

“[A digital badge] serves as both a recognition of knowledge gains and digital proof of such gain,” Irvine said. “Rather than issuing a paper-based certificate of completion, we can now issue a digital badge, which does both of those things. Employers like it, students like it, and we like it because we can also see how they're sharing it on social media.”

Irvine also gave an update on the University's goal of growing enrollments, courses and offerings in special sessions, including Winter Session and Summer Sessions. Winter Session 2023 saw a 9.7% growth compared to Winter 2022, Irvine said. Initiatives taken, including offering high-demand classes, will be applied to Summer 2023 and Winter 2024.

“We're very excited by the growth, and we're just getting started,” Irvine said. “And I wanted to thank everyone for everyone's efforts. It did show up in the statistics and in helping our students get ahead or catch up.”

The Consent Agenda portion of the meeting included a single vote to approve 45 undergraduate and graduate proposals.

Items approved on the Regular Agenda included the disestablishment of the MA in early childhood development and programming, MBA/MA in Economics, MBA in entrepreneurship and innovation, and MA in Languages, Literatures, Cultures and Pedagogy - German Studies Concentration. The Faculty Senate also approved a name change of the current degrees and minors of Geological Sciences to Earth Sciences.

The only resolution that generated discussion was a proposal to modify a section of the Faculty Handbook related to online teaching in emergency situations, stating that online course sections should not be used to replace faculty, and that faculty should not be required to teach online courses unless an urgent threat arises that requires that a majority of UD courses temporarily be taught fully online. The resolution passed unanimously.

During the meeting, Matthew Kinservik, vice provost for faculty affairs, gave a presentation on the Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) faculty satisfaction survey, details of which can be found online.

Rae Chresfield, assistant vice president in the Division of Student Life, Student Wellbeing, gave a presentation on TimelyCare, a virtual health and wellbeing platform now available to UD students.

Further information about the Faculty Senate, including meeting minutes and agendas, can be found on its website.