BFA Assembly

BFA March 7, 2024 Assembly Meeting

Anonymous — Tue, 12 Mar 2024 23:14:45 +0000

BFA March 7, 2024 Assembly Meeting Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 03/12/2024 - 17:14

The Boulder Faculty Assembly held the annual meeting of the Boulder Faculty Senate on Thursday, March 7, 2024. This meeting occurs once a year during any spring Assembly meeting and is open to the full Boulder Faculty Senate. BFA Vice Chair and CU Faculty Council Chair Alastair Norcross presided. Members heard various updates from campus on the following items:

I. Buff Undergraduate Success (BUS) Update – Katherine Eggert, Senior Vice Provost for Academic Planning and Assessment along with Joe Thomas, Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs provided members with updates to this project which includes a revised charge as of February 2024. It specifies a focus on "cross-functional and cross-campus collaboration that results in policy and process improvement for all undergraduate students and particularly for underrepresented students from historically marginalized groups from their first day on campus through the fourth semester." The group will work in concert with the Provost's and COO's priority projects to ensure there is not a duplication of efforts or multiple directions on the same project. The group has also added some new members including Jess Doty, Chief Wellness Officer, Amy Hutton, Chief Enrollment Officers, and Daryl Maeda, Dean and Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education. Eggert noted some improvements in CU Boulder's 6-year graduation rates up by 4% but still lagging AAU peers. A full list of current projects can be found on the March 7 Assembly BUS Update Slides. Eggert also noted ways faculty can help in this effort which included:

Please use course alerts!
Use Canvas to keep students apprised of grades and performance
Keep abreast of forthcoming Canvas course guidance and templates for faculty
Be aware of "high impact" courses that can stall students in academic careers. Examples include those courses that:
- are taken by a large percentage of first-year students
- have DFW rates of greater than 15%
- have equity gaps of greater than 10%
- Specific departments will be contacted
Check out Center for Teaching & Learning (CTL) offerings

II. IT Decision Framework Model – Vice Chancellor of Information Technology and Chief Information Officer Marin Stanek introduced a new IT decision framework model (also known as an IT governance model). The model will provide a more effective decision-making process, increased transparency, and to align IT strategies with overall institution academic and research goals. Currently CU Boulder uses a highly decentralized process that increases duplicative efforts and increases costs. CU lags behind most R1 peers in not having this type of model in place. Page eight (8) of the IT Decision Framework BFA 03.07.24 slides gives an overview of the framework. Faculty representation in the process comes in several areas including BFA representation on the Student & Academic Technology Committee by Janet Casagrand, the chair of the BFA Academic Technologies & Services (ATSC) committee. Additionally, Elizabeth Romero Fuerte, Asst. Vice Provost and AVC for Academic Technology and Student Success sits on both the ATSC and on the BFA Executive Committee. Faculty participating on departmental IT committees will also be called on for input and feedback.

III. APS 5060 Faculty Appointments – Alastair Norcross, BFA Vice Chair & CU Faculty Council Chair

Changes to this system administrative policy statement went into effect on July 1, 2023 and included making Teaching Professor titles an official option for campuses. Boulder currently uses these titles instead of Instructor, however final changes need to be made in HCM (HR management software) by system HR which is expected to happen sometime late spring or summer. Due to updates in this policy, CU Faculty Council is updating the CU Faculty Senate Constitution. Faculty are asked to be aware of the following:

Although the appendix of APS5060 outlines faculty titles, membership in the CU Faculty Senate* is defined by the Faculty Senate Constitution.
Faculty Council has completed revisions for the constitution, however approval of the revised document requires a 2/3 majority approval by all University of Colorado faculty senate members.
Faculty who are eligible to vote will receive the emailed ballot prior to April 1.
Faculty are asked to ensure your colleagues are aware of this process and encourage them to vote.

Additionally Norcross updated members on a current situation related to Lecturers hired at CU Boulder related to APS 5060 which defines Lecturers as temporary employees with less than a 50% appointment (which is generally one course). Instead most Lecturers on campus are hired to teach more than one course and have appointments of greater than 50%. System has asked Boulder to resolve this issue by fall. Provost Moore formed a task force to work on solutions and guidelines for this issue. Members include Katherine Eggert, Robyn Fergus, Shelly Miller, and Ann Schmiesing. Miller asked reps to contact her at bfa@colorado.edu if they (or a colleague) has ideas/experience in this kind of problem-solving.

IV. BFA Campus Updates

Climate Action Plan (CAP) feedback review – the comment/feedback period closed on March 5th.
Western District Energy Plant – The BFA has convened a shared governance team along with staff from Infrastructure and Sustainability to review the decision to upgrade this plant on main campus and determine if there is a better solution or additional recommendations to be made.
Chancellor Candidate Visits – Per two e-memos (March 1 and March 6) the CU Boulder Chancellor Search Committee has asked campus members to save the date for open forum(s) with candidate(s) the week of March 18. Miller has asked representatives to encourage their colleagues to attend to ensure there is faculty feedback on the candidate(s). At this time it has not been determined if there will be more than one, but if there are those sessions will be on different days next week at the times listed below. There should also be a virtual option for the faculty session(s). Final date details are expected soon.
- Faculty – 8:00 a.m., UMC Ballroom
- Staff – 9:15 a.m., UMC Ballroom
- Students – 5:00 p.m., Location on campus, TBD

V. Faculty Affairs Committee (FAC) Resources for Open Access Changes – Steve Vanderheiden, BFA Faculty Affairs Committee Chair and committee member Melissa Cantrell, Ctr for Research Data/Digital Scholarship reviewed a resource document the FAC has created for faculty regarding recent changes in Open Access (OA) guidelines. Please share widely with your colleagues.

VI. BFA Announcements – Vicki Grove, BFA Secretary reminded members on two current BFA business items:

The 2024 Excellence Award winners have been announced and to save the date for the ceremony on Thursday, April 18 in the UMC from 4:30-7pm.
BFA At-Large Representative Elections are still underway and all eligible campus faculty are able to vote. Representatives are asked to remind their colleagues to vote prior to the election end date on Friday, March 15.

Please also see the CU Boulder Today article on the March Assembly meeting as well.

*At the University of Colorado, the “faculty senate” refers to all faculty who are eligible to vote and take part in shared faculty governance processes. The CU Faculty Council is the elected system-wide faculty governance body, and the Boulder Faculty Assembly is the campus faculty governance body. At most other institutions the “faculty senate” refers to the elected university faculty governance body. See the Boulder Faculty Senate page for more information.

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BFA February 1, 2024 General Assembly Meeting

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Feb 2024 18:02:42 +0000

BFA February 1, 2024 General Assembly Meeting Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 02/02/2024 - 11:02

The BFA held it's first Assembly meeting for spring semester on Thursday, February 1, 2024. BFA Chair Shelly Miller began the meeting by reading the CU Boulder Land Acknowledgment statement and recommending members connect with the Center for Native American & Indigenous Studies.

The first item on the agenda came from CUSG Tri-Exec Chase Cromwell regarding a recent piece in the Boulder Daily Camera and student efforts to get the CU Board of Regents to change the system policy allowing for concealed weapons on campus. The Board of Regents February meeting will be held in Boulder at SEEC. Cromwell also shared a link to data from National Higher Education Concealed Carry Status showing how CU ranks compared to peer institutions across the country on this issue. A recent story in the Denver Post gives a rundown of pending legislation at the state level that will likely impact what changes CU might make. Miller and Cromwell recommended faculty share this information with constituents and encourage them to reach out to their congressional leaders as well as to colleagues at other Colorado institutions.

Members discussed and approved BFA-R-1-112823 Credit for Prior Learning resolution that was introduced in December by the BFA Academic Affairs Committee chair - Garrett Bredeson, Sr. Vice Provost for Academic Planning & Assessment - Katherine Eggert, and Asst. Vice Provost & University Registrar - Kristi Wold-McCormick. Discussion included upcoming plans from the Registrar and Bursars offices regarding business processes for course challenges, as well as the distinct processes and needs individual departments/units will have for course challenge requests.

BFA Chair Shelly Miller gave members an update on the CU Boulder Chancellor Search committee on which she serves. Committee members are reviewing a large number of applicants and begin meetings on those this week. Additionally, Miller noted that the campus Climate Action Plan was scheduled to rollout and be open for public comment. She encouraged representatives to alert their constituents and asked faculty to review the plan and comment between February 5 to March 5.

CU President Todd Saliman joined Assembly members and spoke with them regarding several areas that the BFA Executive Committee asked about. The questions included:

How are you raising awareness of the value of a 4-year degree and breaking down barriers to higher education?
How are you and your office working with state legislators and Governor Polis to increase CU funding and work towards the elimination of TABOR?
Where will we find resources for climate action on our campus and how is system supporting the goal to drastically reduce our carbon footprint?

Regarding the first question, Saliman noted that state institutions are working together on a marketing campaign about preparing for college and attending in-state colleges and universities. The campaign is called "It's closer than you think" and is aimed at encouraging Colorado high school students to look in-state and to help families realize the cost is often more affordable than out of state. Additionally related to the second question, Saliman noted that due to a lack of funding and financial aid funding CU was working with state leaders to access surplus funding in TABOR for possible AP/IB credit funding for in state students to help with this. He also noted that the Governor's budget fell short this year, and higher ed presidents are advocating for increased funding. He also suggested members review a recent Funding in Higher Education report showing how state support had declined by 27%. Regarding climate action resources, Saliman noted that resources for these measures will come from each campus, such as the campus Climate Action Plan and follow through from groups like the Campus Sustainability Executive Council. Additionally, he will be creating a system group that will draw on what Boulder is doing and try to see what we can learn from each other and elevate the issue system-wide.

The final two items on the Assembly agenda included the annual report by the Faculty Athletics Representative, Joe Jupille. Jupille went over this NCAA-mandated position and the duties. He will be stepping down next year and encouraged representatives to consider running. The role has several key "buckets" he works in: Academic integrity and success; institutional control/compliance (with NCAA, Conference, and CU rules); student athlete well-being and campus-athletics relations. The position description is being updated now and Jupille expects a call for applications on campus to begin during 2024 so that the incoming faculty can shadow him during spring 2025. Please contact him directly for any questions: joseph.jupille@colorado.edu. BFA Intercollegiate Athletics (IAC) committee chair Don Oest also announced the third event in the committee's campus athletics series featuring Kris Livingston and a conversation on student athlete success and wellness on Feb. 14 from 3-4pm at the Center for Teaching & Learning in CASE.

And lastly BFA Secretary Vicki Grove announced that nominations are open for nine BFA At-Large Representative seat vacancies. Please see the BFA elections page for more information. All eligible faculty received an e-memo on February 1 regarding the seats and how to self-nominate.

Additionally, Assembly members may wish to review the CUBT story on the meeting. Meeting minutes will be sent to Assembly members by February 29, 2024. Contact the BFA office for any questions: bfa@colorado.edu

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December 7, 2023 BFA Assembly Meeting

Anonymous — Fri, 08 Dec 2023 21:47:54 +0000

December 7, 2023 BFA Assembly Meeting Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 12/08/2023 - 14:47

The BFA closed out fall semester with a final meeting on Thursday, December 7, 2023. Provost Russell Moore updated faculty on priority projects that Chancellor DiStefano had assigned Academic Affairs and Strategic Resources and COO to oversee. Academic Affairs priorities include:

reviewing the alternative college option (ACO) and Program for Exploratory Studies (PES) - current data is showing that these academically prepared undergraduate students who did not get into the college/school of their choice don't persist at CU Boulder.
improving academic support for students - ensuring that all first year students have access to equal programming. This includes:
- the best practices from Residential Academic Programs(RAPs) and Living & Learning Communities (LLCs) and
- wrap-around programming for students including things such as: tutoring, advising, and academic enrichment programs.

Additionally, the Provost spoke about how recent changes to two CU System Administrative Policy statements related to teaching faculty will impact campus this year. APS 5060 Faculty Appointments and APS 5053 Multi-year Contracts for Instructional, Research, and Clinical (IRC) faculty were reviewed by the BFA and Faculty Council EPUS committee over the last year, and were recently approved. APS 5060 will end use of the "instructor" title on the Boulder campus, and instead utilize a teaching faculty series (Teaching Professor; Assoc. Teaching Professor; and Asst. Teaching Professor). The necessary job code changes must be added and implemented at a System HR level. APS 5053 allows campus to offer 5-year contracts for teaching and clinical faculty. Deans will now have the option of awarding 5-year contracts at the time of reappointment or promotion. Faculty are asked to email the Office of Faculty Affairs for questions: facultyaffairs@colorado.edu.

Provost Moore thanked the BFA Administrator Appraisal Committee along with the BFA Executive Committee for working with him on his recent appraisal. Related to improved communication, Moore is now meeting each semester with the BFA ExCom and noted that a new communication from his office called "The Provost's Posts" will have updates from his office each semester. Questions from representatives included a call from the BFA CSEC asking Academic Affairs to take actions related to the climate crisis. Moore noted that one area being discussed is how faculty might develop curriculum for first year students in LLC's and RAPS about the Climate Action Plan (CAPS) and how it undergirds campus sustainability initiatives. Other discussion included encouraging academic units to utilize teaching faculty hires which allow for career path opportunities instead of multiple lecturer hires; the use of High Impact Practices (HIPS) related to the new budget model; and lastly how some deferred maintenance for classroom improvements needs to be systematically brought up to date.

Katherine Eggert, Sr. Vice Provost for Academic Planning and Assessment and Kristi Wold-McCormick, Campus Registrar spoke to representatives about a draft academic policy on Credit for Prior Learning. The Colorado Department of Higher Education(CDHE) has recently updated their policy on prior learning assessment. Combined with these changes, campus units have new curricular offerings that can work with industry and would like to offer related credit in those areas and lastly campus needs a way to check for competencies from non-traditional learning experiences. There are three categories of higher learning that will be considered (see presentation slides) including credit from: standardized exams; course challenge; and learning experiences outside of higher education. The policy spells out how departments and units will handle processes related to all three areas. The BFA Academic Affairs committee reviewed the draft policy with Eggert and Wold-McCormick and overall felt that the policy responds to the new state requirements and campus needs but still allows for department level autonomy. The BFA resolution is required per the policy on policies, and the AAC submits BFA-R-1-112823 Credit for Prior Learning to Assembly for consideration. Representatives will have until the end of January to review and share the draft policy with constituents and provide feedback. The resolution will be voted on at the February 1, 2024 Assembly meeting, and the policy will then be reviewed by Deans Council prior to going to the Provost for approval.

BFA Chair Shelly Miller discussed the BFA representative poll data on the Academic Calendar reform options that had been presented to members this fall. Miller sent a summary of the poll results to Chancellor DiStefano, Provost Moore, and COO O'Rourke earlier that day, which was forwarded to Assembly members. The data showed overall support for most elements of the two proposals, with the exception of two areas (mid-semester reading day & reduction from 72-70 instructional hours). Those two areas were more problematic for faculty and Miller recommended that Academic Affairs work with units offering lab classes to ensure a smooth transition since they will likely need to create alternate scheduling mechanisms compared to what has been offered in the past. Katherine Eggert noted that her understanding was that the Chancellor would be making a decision on this before the end of the semester. Please see the BFA Academic Calendar story for links to the poll results and FAQs on the two models. Miller also updated members on the two groups she represents faculty on: the Boulder Chancellor Search Committee process, and the Campus Sustainability Executive Council. Additionally, there is a Sustainability communications & engagement committee which has three BFA-nominated faculty members: Shideh Dashti, CVEN; Rebecca Dickson, PWR; and Irina Overeem, GEOS.

Assembly members then considered three previous resolutions introduced at November Assembly, and a new resolution introduced to representatives earlier in the week. See details below:

BFA-R-2-120423 Commitment to Campus Community, Acad. Freedom, Free speech w/Regard to Palestine & Israel - Due to the timely nature of this resolution, the Faculty Affairs Committee asked representatives to suspend the Bylaws in order to allow members to vote that afternoon. Members approved voting on the item, and the measure passed with 32 votes in favor; 6 opposed; and 9 abstentions.
BFA-R-1-100923 Resolution in Support of Urgent Climate Change Action - Approved 42; 2 opposed; 2 abstentions
BFA-M-2-100923 Bylaws Executive Committee Assembly Membership Voting Rights - Approved 41 in favor; 0 opposed; 6 abstentions
BFA-M-3-103023 Committee Chair Selection Standing Rules - Approved 41 in favor; 0 opposed; 6 abstentions

The next Assembly meeting is on February 1, 2024.

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BFA Assembly Meeting - November 2, 2023

Anonymous — Tue, 07 Nov 2023 18:40:36 +0000

BFA Assembly Meeting - November 2, 2023 Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 11/07/2023 - 11:40

The Boulder Faculty Assembly held a regular meeting on Thursday, November 2, 2023 via Zoom. Don Oest, chair of the Intercollegiate Athletics Committee (IAC) introduced Kris Livingston, Executive Sr. Associate Athletic Director of Student Success at the Herbst Academic Center which provides academic support services for student athletes. The center provides a number of services and resources for student athletes including items with direct faculty involvement such as: Summer Bridge Program, Class Absence letters, and academic travel support. Additionally Livingston noted that there are some key areas the center needs faculty engagement including: recruiting, completing "faculty feedback requests" & early alert emails*, as well as considering exam proctoring by Herbst staff. She also announced that as of last spring, CU student athletes had the highest cumalative (3.18) and term (3.14) GPA's in campus history. Please see the presentation slides and contact Kris directly: kris.livingston@colorado.edu or bfa@colorado.edu for more information.

Sr. Vice Provost for Academic Planning and Assessment, Katherine Eggert then followed up on a business item from the October Assembly meeting on Academic Calendar Reform. In October Eggert and Kristi Wold-McCormick, Campus Registrar presented to the BFA Executive Committee, the BFA Academic Affairs committee, and Assembly representatives on a first calendar reform proposal designed to increase student success and to resolve issues with the current calendar. After reviewing feedback from campus faculty, BFA representatives and committee members, Eggert's team revised a second option (also called the "early start" option) to address concerns presented with the first option. Representatives were asked to review the two options with their departments/units and respond to a survey about the two options. (please see post meeting notes below on this item)

In other BFA business, representatives heard about three notices of motion including:

BFA-R-1-100923 Resolution in Support of Urgent Climate Change Action sponsored by the BFA Climate Science & Education committee. Committee Co-Chair Carol Cogswell emphasized that the resolution is only a baseline starting point to be followed with future resolutions containing specific climate action solutions for campus. Representatives are asked to share this with colleagues and send feedback and questions to committee co-chairs at bfa@colorado.edu.
And two motions sponsored by the BFA Bylaws committee:
- BFA-M-2-100923 Bylaws ExCom Assembly Membership
- BFA-M-3-13023 Committee Chair Selection Standing Rules

BFA representatives are asked to review all items with their constituents and send questions and feedback to bfa@colorado.edu, which will then be forwarded to the committees. The items are under consideration for thirty days and will be voted on at the December 7, 2023 Assembly meeting.

BFA Vice Chair and CU Faculty Council Chair Alastair Norcross gave members an update on faculty title changes per two system administrative policy statements - APS 5060 Faculty Titles and APS 5053 Multi-year Contracts for Instructional, Research, and Clinical Faculty. Each campus is currently reviewing how the modified statements will be implemented and rolled out. CU Boulder's Office of Faculty Affairs has been working with campus deans and human resources to review processes. Boulder will be using the Teaching-Track title series for all faculty who specialize in teaching: Asst. Teaching Professor; Assoc. Teaching Professor; and Teaching Professor. CU System Employee Services will be rolling out the new job codes related to this series over the winter. Once those are finished, Boulder will determine the final implementation process.

Andrea Feldman, BFA Diversity Committee chair reviewed survey results gathered from the Faculty Salary Procedures Working Group on how units are incorporating diversity, equity, and inclusion work into faculty merit reviews. Feldman reminded representatives that as their units work to review their merit review processes that examples from other campus units are available on the BFA DEI in Merit Evaluation webpage.

BFA Chair Shelly Miller updated members on her meeting with CU President Todd Saliman regarding processes and search committee composition for the new CU Boulder Chancellor search. Miller submitted a list of thirty-three faculty nominations as submitted to the BFA Executive Committee, and asked Saliman to reserve eight seats for faculty on the search committee with a mix from colleges/schools/institutes as well as both tenure/tenure-track and teaching/clinical faculty. She also noted that other institutions - such as Stanford, Michigan, and Purdue - have a range of six to nine faculty on their search committees. President Saliman will also be speaking with faculty at the February 1, 2024 BFA Assembly meeting.

Post-Meeting Follow-Up on the Academic Calendar Reform poll - at the end of the meeting, the BFA Officers determined that the poll should be revised to include a third option of "prefer no calendar change" in order to be receptive to comments and chat feedback about the poll. After further discussion, it was decided that the poll should be revised entirely and the deadline extended to mid-November to allow representatives more time to consult with the faculty in their units, as well as with their college/school faculty governance bodies. The new poll will be sent to BFA representatives on Wednesday, November 8th and will close at 11:59 pm on Friday, November 17th.

*Early Alert Emails for student athletes - Teamworks emails sent to faculty on October 24th have been going to the new Quarantine folders. Faculty are asked to double check for those and/or to reach out to Livingston for questions.

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BFA May 4, 2023 Assembly Meeting

Anonymous — Mon, 08 May 2023 18:42:25 +0000

BFA May 4, 2023 Assembly Meeting Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 05/08/2023 - 12:42

The BFA held it's final meeting of the year in the Chancellor's Hall/Auditorium in the CASE Building on Thursday, May 4, 2023. The meeting began with the annual recognition of the Faculty 50 Years of Service awards sponsored by the Office of Faculty Affairs and the Boulder Faculty Assembly. Provost Moore congratulated each faculty member presented them with commemorative gifts honoring the occasion. This year's honorees were:

Wayne Boss, Professor - Organization Leadership & Information Analytics
Marvin Caruthers, Distinguished Professor - Biochemistry
Steven Maier, Distinguished Professor – Psychology & Neuroscience

Provost Moore then addressed Assembly members and reviewed highlights from Academic Affairs during AY22-23. Moore highlighted several items including the receipt of the Faculty Salary Procedures Working Group report and collaboration with the BFA on the approval and implementation of the Common Curriculum. Discussion included concerns regarding promoting long-time lecturers to teaching faculty positions, reduced faculty pay rates when teaching Maymester & Augmester, and concerns regarding the equity impacts related to the new Budget Model. Moore said that the first two items were college/school level decisions, but also said that pending changes to APS 5060 Faculty Appointments could make it easier for units to promote lecturers. Regarding the campus supplemental funds, Moore stressed that units should be focused on better utilization of core funding and current reserves within colleges/schools.

BFA Chair Tiffany Beechy then transferred the gavel to BFA Vice Chair Alastair Norcross to lead the annual meeting of the faculty senate.* Norcross thanked Beechy for her service as BFA Chair. Members then heard from two campus groups with updates on projects:

Buff Undergraduate Success Update - Sr. Vice Provost Katherine Eggert and Joe Thomas, AVC Student Affairs updated members on this campus project designed to increase student graduation and retention rates. While campus hit a 33-year high for first year retention rates, overall graduation rates of 70% are still well below AAU public average of 82.5%. Eggert and Thomas reviewed a variety of efforts underway to improve both areas. Some highlights included the grade replacement opt-in numbers increasing in particular with Pell grant, First Gen, and under-represented students who were also able to improve average class grade from a D to B-. Also of impact has been the Basic Needs department that has been able to provide food, housing assistance, and other support. Member feedback included concerns around messaging to students around overcommittment and student scheduling, working to shift the mentality around failing courses with grade replacement, and issues around the availability and use of the campus Testing Center. Handouts included: BUS Update Presentation Slides and a SP23 BUS Update Handout

Campus Libraries Catalog and Search Changes - Dean Robert McDonald, Assistant Dean Jamie Wittenberg, and Libraries Faculty Council Chair & Access/Discovery Librarian Nicole Trujillo gave an overview about updated search or discovery tools including a new interface called Folio for the library catalog that will be put in place this summer. Campus libraries will also now have shared catalog with CU Law library. The Prospector service will be paused while campus transitions to Folio. CU joins many AU peers who are already using Folio and allows for greater collaboration and open access. Faculty were encouraged to send feedback and questions to bfa@colorado.edu.

The final portion of the meeting focused on two BFA measures that were up for a vote:

BFA-R-1-040323 – CU Boulder Faculty Senate Constitution - Members approved the resolution which endorses the draft constitution and refers the item to the Boulder Faculty Senate for formal consideration in fall 2023.
- CU Boulder Faculty Senate Constitution - Final Draft
BFA-R-2-040323 – Resolution Re: Campus Curriculum Policy & Procedures - After discussion members approved amendments to the resolution which included a reference to Regent Law Article V noting that the faculty have the principal responsibility for decisions regarding curriculum** and a final Be it Further Resolved section to further define the committee role and procedures. The below draft will now be reviewed by the Deans Council for input and recommendations before being sent to the Provost for final review.
- Campus Curriculum Policy & Procedures -Draft

The meeting concluded with BFA Secretary Vicki Grove announcing Shelly Miller as the new BFA Chair with a two-year term beginning July 1, 2023 and ending June 30, 2025.

*All BFA Assembly meetings are open to campus faculty members, however the annual Faculty Senate meeting is the official meeting of the BFA and the Boulder Faculty Senate.

**Article 5.A.1. B Faculty Governance - Principle of Shared Governance - Tenured and tenure-track faculty with appropriate participation by instructional, research, and clinical faculty have the principal responsibility for decisions concerning pedagogy, curriculum, research, scholarly or creative work, academic ethics, and recommendations on the selection and evaluation of faculty. The development of general academic policies shall be a collaborative effort between the faculty and administration.

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BFA March 2 General Assembly Meeting

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Mar 2023 17:52:48 +0000

BFA March 2 General Assembly Meeting Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 03/02/2023 - 10:52

On Thursday, March 2, 2023 the BFA Assembly held it's monthly meeting at 4pm via Zoom. Members heard from campus partners on the following areas:

Health & Wellness Services - this unit has recently made some changes in structure as well as to offerings for campus faculty & staff. Interim Associate Vice Chancellor, Jess Doty reviwed some of these changes and spoke with representatives about the unique needs faculty face in their roles. Doty spoke about resources they are offering to support faculty wellness as well as resources for faculty for student referrals.
Faculty Salary Procedures Working Group - Report Review - Committee Co-chairs, Daria Kotys-Schwartz and Steve Vanderheiden presented their draft report that offers a set of guiding principles and related recommendations for faculty salary procedure optimizations. FSPWG invites all CU Boulder faculty to review the report and provide feedback by noon, Monday, March 20. They are also hosting open forums on two dates:
- Wednesday, March 8 from 12-1
- Thursday, March 16 from 2-3
  - Assembly presentation slides
  - Draft Report

BFA Chair Tiffany Beechy updated members on two business items that would be coming before representatives in the next month for review at April Assembly. The first was regarding plans for a Campus Curriculum Policy and associated campus Curriculum Committee to meet meet longstanding campus needs, the realities of the new campus budget model, Academic Futures, and the Common Curriculum. Beechy will be sending more details giving the backstory and details of the current policy draft next week. A motion to approve will be introduced at the April General Assembly, allowing for the customary month-long official comment and revision period, with the vote to approve to be held in May.

Additionally, Beechy announced that the Executive Committee was submitting a notice of motion on concealed carry based on the CUSG 97 LCR 08 Concealed Carry legislation from fall (which BFA members voted to endorse) but that will provide additional faculty perspective on the need for such a move in order to ensure the health and wellbeing for students, faculty, and staff on all campuses. BFA-R-1-030123 Ban Concealed Carry on CU Campuses will be revised and provided with supporting documentation during March and sent to representatives to share with their constituents prior to a vote in April. If the resolution is adopted, it will be presented at the upcoming Regent University Affairs Committee meeting April 15th, along with the resolution from the students.

Assembly members were also provided information on two upcoming BFA co-sponsored events and asked faculty to save the date:

CU Boulder Spring '23 AI Colloquium Series - featuring faculty conversations around the rise in interest in AI both within and outside academia. Campus faculty are invited to attend individual sessions or all three as it fits their schedules. Sessions will be held in the CTL lecture room E390 in CASE. Sessions will also be available to stream remotely via Zoom but no chat will be available.
Until We Are Free - A film screening and conversation with Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi about the global struggle for women’s right and the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement in Iran – Fri. April 7 at 5pm in the Chancellors Hall & Auditorium. The event is co-sponsored by Academic Affairs, Faculty Affairs, and the BFA. More details on registration will be forthcoming.

Lastly, representatives were reminded that nominations are open for vacant At-Large Assembly representatives. These seats are open to and voted on by all eligible campus faculty. Both self-nominations and nominations are welcome. For more information, please see the BFA Elections webpage or contact BFA Secretary Vicki Grove at bfa@colorado.edu.

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BFA February 2, 2023 General Assembly Meeting

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 22:05:19 +0000

BFA February 2, 2023 General Assembly Meeting Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 02/02/2023 - 15:05

The Boulder Faculty Assembly held it's first meeting of spring semester on Thursday, February 2, 2023 via Zoom. The following items were on the agenda:

Katherine Eggert, SVP of Academic Planning and Assement gave members an update on the propsal for a campus common curriculum from fall and on next steps. These will include mapping of common curiculum learning outcomes onto existing curricula and First-Year Experience programs. A campus curriculum committee will be formed in the fall to evaluate the mapping and work with colleges, schools and Student Affairs to identify gaps. Common Curriculum presentation slides; Common Curriculum Proposal Acceptance

Rolf Norgaard, chair of the BFA Teaching Faculty Affairs committee (TFAC) announced that the BFA is launching a survey on governance, voting rights, and inclusion for teaching and clinical faculty on campus. The survey will be sent to eligible teaching and clinical faculty for two weeks with a summary of results being presented at an upcoming Assembly meeting. Please send questions to bfa@colorado.edu.

Melissa Cantrell, Data & Scholarly Communications Librarian updated Assembly members regarding recently announced federal guidelines from the OSTP (Nelson) Memo and the possible impacts for public access to all publicly funded research and data. The BFA is hosting joint listening sessions with CU Libraries and RIO for campus faculty and researchers aimed at providing more information and getting feedback on how campus can support them. These sessions are open to campus.

AI Developments and Academia - BFA Chair Tiffany Beechy and Janet Casagrand, chair of the Academic Technologies & Services Committee (ATSC) led a preliminary discussion related to recent, high-profile developments in AI. While there was concern regarding academic integrity, faculty are also very curious about the ramifications of powerful software, for every area of human endeavor. The faculty discussed near-term objectives such as shoring up the Honor Code but also discussed plans for a series of interdisciplinary symposia on the impacts of AI in faculty's respective fields. The Center for Teaching & Learning will coordinate with both the BFA and OIT to create these sessions.

The BFA voted on and approved four pending motions that were introduced at the December Assembly meeting for consideration:

Lastly, BFA Secretary Vicki Grove reminded representatives that BFA Assembly At-Large Representative election procesess would begin in February and that all faculty senate members are eligible to serve. A call for nominations can be expected later this month. Additionally, there are two open seats for Boulder faculty on the system Faculty Senate Grievance Committee (formerly P&T). These seats are for open to eligible faculty in non-A&S units. Please contact Jennifer Hendricks, chair of the BFA Grievance Advisory Committee at bfa@colorado.edu for more information.

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BFA December Assembly Meeting Overview with Address by Provost Moore

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Dec 2022 21:53:30 +0000

BFA December Assembly Meeting Overview with Address by Provost Moore Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 12/06/2022 - 14:53

The BFA held it's final meeting of fall semester on December 1, 2022 via Zoom. Provost Russell Moore addressed members at the top of the meeting and reviewed specific topics of interest to the faculty including:

Update regarding restricted proprietary and classified research funding – this type of research specific controls and facilities, which would need to be created off-campus. Creating a Classified Research Ready Roadmap report is currently in process and is expected in spring semester.
Supporting campus Iranian and Iranian American faculty, staff, and students – currently meeting with leadership and the campus Iranian community to improve services and support CU Boulder can offer.
Faculty Mental Health – campus faculty and staff can now access the telehealth service: Academic Life Care (ALC). Additionally campus is working on a training series for faculty to recognize student signs of distress and available campus resources.
Native American Campus Liaison – Sr. Vice Chancellor for DEI, Sonia DeLuca Fernandez is creating a hiring plan for this position that will be an external facing position to liaise with national Native American nations.
Equal Pay Equal Work Act (EPEWA) updates –
- Faculty Salary Procedures Working Group (FSPWG) report due in early spring
- HR will have structural salary compression adjustments for staff before the end of the year.
- Instructor Promotion Pay increases – Deans were asked to discuss unified approach to pay increases. ARMAC is gathering this information from public institutions and will have recommendations spring semester. Members also discussed a recent proposal to allow for teaching faculty to choose a 12-month vs. 9-month appointment.
- CFO Hagerty and CBO Fergus charged with creation of strategic compensation plan for campus.
Online Sports Betting – review of the 2020 campus agreement with PointsBet as featured in a recent NYT article. Member discussion included a suggestion to have campus academic units create guides/pointers for students to use regarding the use of online sports betting. (please also see the BFA resolution recommending that campus create a campus policy on sports wagering on CU Boulder NCAA team submitted by the Intercollegiate Athletics committee and approved by representatives last year)

In BFA committee updates and news:

The BFA Administrator Appraisal Committee (AAPC) has been newly reconstituted and Fernando Rosario-Ortiz, Civil, Architechtural, and Environmental Engineering was elected as committee chair. The committee will be conducting an appraisal of Provost Moore during spring semester, and has updated the committee charge to reflect the new processes. Rosario-Ortiz introduced a motion regarding these changes: BFA-M-3-11.14.22 AAPC Committee Charge Revision for review by representatives. Feedback or questions on the motion should be sent to him at bfa@colorado.edu. The motion will be voted on at the BFA February 2023 meeting.
The BFA Bylaws Committee introduced two motions requesting changes to the BFA Bylaws and Standing Rules regarding membership and eligibility for BFA Officers and At-Large Representatives. Additionally, the BFA Executive Committee is recommending similar changes to CU Faculty Council Bylaws and Faculty Constitution regarding membership and elgibility for Faculty Council Officers. These items will all be voted on at the February Assembly meeting. BFA representatives are encouraged to share these items with their constituents and send any questions or suggestions to Alastair Norcross at bfa@colorado.edu.
Representatives unanimously approved a motion introduced at November Assembly to revise the AST committee name and charge to Academic Technologies & Services Committee.

Members also heard updates on the 2023 FRPA (due Feburary 1, 2023 for work done during AY21-22) by Andrea Feldman, chair of the BFA Diversity Committee. See "What's New on the FRPA this year" for complete details. Additionally, BFA Chair Tiffany Beechy let representatives know that she has been attending faculty department meetings this fall to discuss options for including DEI work in unit annual merit review evaluation processes. Interested units should feel free to email her at bfa@colorado.edu to schedule a session for spring semester. Please also see the BFA DEI in Faculty Merit Evaluations webpage for DEI narrative examples and related BFA resolutions.

Lastly, members from the BUS-LIT Buff Undergraduate Success Team gave Assembly members an update on their work including projects completed in 2022 and projects to be completed by fall 2023. See presentation slides for more details.

Dates for BFA General Assembly meetings during spring semester are listed below. All meetings will be held via Zoom, except for the May 4 meeting which will be held in-person at the Chancellor's Hall in the CASE Building.

Spring 2023

Feb. 2
Mar. 2
Apr. 6
May 4

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A Common Curriculum Proposal - Approval Process - Fall 2022

Anonymous — Mon, 07 Nov 2022 17:36:57 +0000

A Common Curriculum Proposal - Approval Process - Fall 2022 Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 11/07/2022 - 10:36

The Common Curriculum Planning committee submitted their final proposal to Provost Moore on October 7, 2022 for review. Campus faculty in each college and school* as well as BFA Representatives will vote by November 18, 2022 to approve the proposal.

**Update November 7, 2022**

Following the BFA October 20, 2022 presentation by Katherine Eggert, Sr. Vice Provost of Academic Planning and Assessment and Daryl Joji Maeda, Dean and Vice Provost Undergraduate Education, the "whereas" section of the resolution was modified based on member feedback to:

Be it resolved that the Boulder Faculty Assembly endorses the substance of the proposed common curriculum, particularly its statement regarding the purpose and distinctive nature of a CU Boulder education. Be it further resolved that implementation of the common curriculum shall be led by faculty at all stages, with the ultimate establishment of a permanent campuswide curriculum committee chaired by faculty and with a majority-faculty composition. The BFA further encourages departments and programs to proactively update their learning outcomes and curricular statements in light of the common curriculum and its guiding ethos of “Sustainable Futures: Self, Society, World.”

The final resolution was voted on at the November 3, 2022 BFA Assembly meeting and was approved with 43 votes in favor; 3 abstentions; and 6 opposed. Please see related resources and a links below:

*CU Law will not be voting since the measure is for schools that teach undergraduate students

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BFA Assembly Votes to Support CUSG "Concealed Carry Ban" at October Meeting

Anonymous — Fri, 07 Oct 2022 15:35:32 +0000

BFA Assembly Votes to Support CUSG "Concealed Carry Ban" at October Meeting Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 10/07/2022 - 09:35

At the October 6, 2022 BFA General Assembly meeting, members voted to support the CUSG resolution 97 LCR 08 asking the Board of Regents to ban "concealed carry" rights on CU campuses. The measure was introduced at the September meeting for review and at last night's meeting members voted 46 in favor, 1 opposed, and 1 abstention to approve BFA support. CUSG will formally introduce the resolution to the Regents this month.

The meeting began with a conversation with C.U. President Todd Saliman who spoke with members regarding several areas including faculty salary and pay issues and inflation, state funding and outreach issues that impact C.U.'s budget, and the importance of belonging for all campus members. There was also discussion related to the cost of the C.U. football coach contract buyout, athletics revenue impacts from a possible conference change and the large outstanding debt held by C.U. Boulder athletics.

There were also presentations by Katherine Eggert, Sr. Vice Provost and A.V.C. of Academic Planning and Assessment along with Daryl Maeda, Dean and Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education regarding the proposed Common Curriculum. The final proposal by the Common Curriculum committee was submitted to Provost Moore on Thursday, and will be on the committee's webpage soon. Along with faculty approval from each college and school (except Law), BFA representatives will also vote on the proposal per Regent Law requirements of faculty approval of curriculum. The BFA will be hosting a special session on Thursday, October 20 from 4-5 pm via Zoom to delve deeper into the proposal and it's impacts for implementation. The session will be open to all campus faculty. More information will be posted on the BFA website and sent to BFA representatives. BFA Chair Tiffany Beechy introduced BFA-R-3-100222 A Resolution Concerning a Campus Common Curriculum. The resolution will be under review for thirty days and is scheduled for a vote at the BFA November 3rd General Assembly meeting.

Janet Casagrand, Chair of Administrative Services & Technology Committee (ASTC) along with Orrie Gartner, A.V.C and Deputy CIO updated members on several tech issues that impact faculty including:

Delays of 1-2 days for test scoring turnaround at the Student Testing Center due to staff shortages. Members were encouraged to leave test materials with managers only.
OIT transition from Cisco voice to Voice Over Internet (VOIP) services on Microsoft Teams. The ASTC has worked with Orrie to create an FAQ section for faculty.
Google Storage Limitations - the BFA has held several sessions on this issue last spring. OIT has a link to help campus members review their personal data useage and see the largest files. For those using mjore than 5GB of storage, OIT is asking faculty to delete any unnecessary items in advance of upcoming data migrations to OneDrive. The Google imposed deadline is December 31, 2022.

Rolf Norgaard, Chair of the Instructor Track Faculty Affairs Committee (ITFAC) introduced to pieces of legislation to members. The first motion will formally change the committee name to Teaching Faculty Affairs Committee (TFAC) along with some small updates in membership and language. Additionally, the committee is introducing a resolution to require campus units to pay a salary increment to base upon promotion to teaching faculty. Members are asked to share both items with their constituents and are under review for thirty days. Any feedback, questions, etc. can be emailed to bfa@colorado.edu or rolf.norgaard@colorado.edu.

The meeting was extended by ten minutes in order for a final presentation by Lori Call, AVC Government and Community Outreach, and Derek Silva, AVC Business Strategy on the upcoming referendum for CU Boulder South. The presentation was on the project history only since CU is not allowed to lobby around the measure. Call and Silva encouraged membes to review information provided on the upcoming referendum for full details.

The BFA General Assembly's next meeting is on Thursday, November 3, 2022 from 4-5:30 via Zoom. A meeting summary is sent to members the Tuesday following Assembly, and Meeting Minutes are sent the last Friday of the month. For any questions on BFA business or for BFA Chair Tiffany Beechy, please email: bfa@colorado.edu

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