As the semester ends

There are a couple of quick items of which you should be aware.  The semester nonsense of changing (or shortening) is not for anyone's benefit except the states.  If you think students are going to take a bunch of two week classes over winter break you've been hitting the eggnog a little early.  The state wants everybody together so we will all look alike walk alike, well you get the idea.  It will make no difference to students whether we teach 16 or 15 weeks.  You want meaningful change?  I have an idea let's go to quarters, oh wait we've been there and before that we were on semesters.  Don't administrators have enough to do without make work projects like this?


The other point is the great unveiling of the new master plan.  Oh boy.  It will be interesting to see if any attention was paid to all those "thank you for your input" public meetings.  Some will find coal in their stockings; others will perhaps find something more valuable.  Come one come all it's December 7th.  (Incredible timing.)

Standstill?

Sorry for the lengthy absence but I had rotator cuff surgery and they filed down a bone spur while they were at it.  Word on the street claims the University is at a standstill in terms of approving new or replacement hires.  On the one hand this saves money; while on the other hand it doesn't do much to help our students.  If the University wishes to continue its upward "surge" in enrollment, then students taking courses in their major field of study are going to require more than part-time instructors.  The more part-timers you have the more difficult it becomes to control the curriculum and the overall pattern of instruction.  This is not meant as a slam on all part-time instructors but students need full-time faculty for mentoring and career advising.

A Couple of Thoughts

Just when one thought the world might be getting a little brighter two things happen that remind you of your place versus that of the chosen few.  First, our President has been given a large bonus.  To place the $90,000 bonus in perspective, it is larger than most of our salaries.  I have no idea what kind of a job the President has done.  I have no idea what she was or was not told when she took this "fixer upper".  What I do know is that we are running a deficit and that the appearance of this bonus makes it look like it's back to business as usual.


At the other end of the financial spectrum there is the Phoenicia.  Word on the street is that they will be forced out by December.  It seems 22 years of faithful service is not good enough.  Aramark wants their kitchen.  So, there you have it:  a big bonus for one year's service and a kick in the but for 22 years.

The Administratively Centered University?

The bureaucratic juggernaut that ate the world.  See:

https://danieljmitchell.wordpress.com/2016/08/03/the-supposed-crisis-of-student-debt-is-actually-the-predictable-consequence-of-government-subsidies/

What Now??

Okay, so we've all had fun at Larry's expense.(see below)  The question is what now????  Where does the university and more importantly for my local interests the College of Arts and Letters go?  We seem to almost be back where we started organizationally, which is not good.  By my count we have more administrators than when we were separate entities.  This saves money?  We're paying the football coach more than the last guy; we're paying his assistants more.  This saves money.  I have now taught here for twenty nine years and for practically every one of them I have been told in August (September when we were on quarters) how exciting the year will be; and, oh yes we have no money.  We are going to search for a Dean for Arts and Letters.  I would like to be the Dean and will do it for less than whomever you bring in.  Barring that I want on the search committee.  My governing motto:  The First Amendment to the United States Constitution.  After that everything is open.  Design courses, experiment, start centers, have fun and by all means argue logically and sensibly.  That is after all what we claim to teach.  Should be an exciting year and oh yea we have no money.

Old Friends

http://www.ohio.com/news/local/ua-board-of-trustees-severs-ties-with-executive-responsible-for-increasing-enrollment-failed-polytechnic-rebranding-1.695350

Art Leaders Call for Mass Meeting

A Visionary Leader?

The manifesto, however, remains inarticulate, unknown.

Perhaps the below will help in way of an example, a very small excerpt from Vladimir Ilyich Lenin's "What is to be Done? Burning Questions of our Movement."

We urged the necessity of carrying the class struggle into the rural districts in connection with the fortieth anniversary of the emancipation of the peasantry (issue No. 3^[20] and spoke of the irreconcilability of the local government bodies and the autocracy in relation to Witte’s secret Memorandum (No. 4). In connection with the new law we attacked the feudal landlords and the government which serves them (No. 8^[21]) and we welcomed the illegal Zemstvo congress. We urged the Zemstvo to pass over from abject petitions (No. 8^[22]) to struggle. We encouraged the students, who had begun to understand the need for the political struggle, and to undertake this struggle (No. 3), while, at the same time, we lashed out at the “outrageous incomprehension” revealed by the adherents of the “purely student” movement, who called upon the students to abstain from participating in the street demonstrations (No. 3, in connection with the manifesto issued by the Executive Committee of the Moscow students on February 25). We exposed the “senseless dreams” and the “lying hypocrisy” of the cunning liberals of Rossiya^[26] (No. 5), while pointing to the violent fury with which the government-gaoler persecuted “peaceful writers, aged professors, scientists, and well-known liberal Zemstvo members” (No. 5, “Police Raid on Literature”). We exposed the real significance of the programme of “state protection for the welfare of the workers” and welcomed the “valuable admission” that “it is better, by granting reforms from above, to forestall the demand for such reforms from below than to wait for those demands to be put forward” (No. 6^[23]). We encouraged the protesting statisticians (No. 7) and censured the strike-breaking statisticians (No. 9). He who sees in these tactics an obscuring of the class-consciousness of the proletariat and a compromise with liberalism reveals his utter failure to understand the true significance of the programme of the Credo and carries out that programme de facto, however much he may repudiate it. For by such an approach he drags Social-Democracy towards the “economic struggle against the employers and the government” and yields to liberalism, abandons the task of actively intervening in every “liberal” issue and of determining his own, Social-Democratic, attitude towards this question.

  Get to it!

History is so . . .Strategic?

Preventive Measures at UT?

Steps should be taken immediately to prevent re-infestation.

Scarborough Resignation

Here's the story: http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2016/05/university_of_akron_president_8.html

Too bad the majority of UT faculty were too cowardly and self-interested (administrative ambitions, no doubt!) to vote "no confidence" in Scarborough's big spiritual brother, Lloyd Jacobs, a few years back. UT would have been saved much grief and loss in so very many dimensions.  Alas.

Congratulations to Akron Polytechnic on a good day.

Bloggie

Update From Chair of COCA Council

Cut and pasted below please find the most recent update on the merger process from COCA Council Chair Ray Marchionni:

Hi all!

Hope summer is going well for all!  Following is an update on where we are to date with the formation of the new college.

As you already know, the new college has been named the College of Arts and Letters and the arts school is named the School of Visual and Performing Arts.  These were the names that the majority of faculty chose.  The UT-BOT Academic Affairs Committee approved the new college name as well as the arts school name; these will be on the consent agenda for the full UT-BOT meeting in June.  We will hear more on specifics after July 1, when the new college administration becomes official.

We’ve had a change on the summer co-Council with the resignation of Jay Weik who has been replaced by Brian Patrick.  

Additionally, we have made our first assignment w/re to the creation of the new college’s Constitution.  The particulars of the assignment are in an email that Jerry and I will soon send to the co-Council and to those faculty members who volunteered to work on the new Constitution.  I will send you a copy of the email once it is sent to the co-Council and volunteers so that you have insight as to how we’ll proceed.  

Both Jay Weik and Daniel Tobias have resigned their positions on the CoCA Council and have been replaced by Edmund Lingan (theatre/film) and by a music faculty member to be named at a later date.  I would like to thank both of them for their service this past year.  I suspect that after the Constitution is discussed and voted upon by the new college faculty this fall we will then proceed to discuss the formation of the new college Council.

Ray

COCA Faculty Vote to Approve COMM Department Foreign Language Modification

The Picture That Says 1,000 Words in Whatever Language 

Foreign Language Modification in COMM

As an antidote to a great deal of hyperbolic gossip and fear-mongering, the actual language of the Department of Communication Foreign Language modification proposal is reproduced below.  As can be seen, this proposal does not attack Foreign Languages in any way, it merely modifies the requirement, providing three options, so as to give students and advisors flexibility in achieving educational goals.

"This change is a department modification.  The foreign language and foreign language elective requirement is eliminated. In their stead students have three options, conditional upon approval by their department adviser.  Students may (1) opt to fulfill the originally required foreign language and multicultural class requirement as set down in Attachment A, or, (2) opt to fulfill this requirement by substituting university multicultural and diversity courses as listed in the University of Toledo Catalog available at https://www.utoledo.edu/catalog/pdf/University_Core_2009_2010.pdf, or (3) take appropriate upper level electives as approved by their adviser. There is no change in total hours needed for graduation. "

President's Message on Merger

Dear CoCA and LLSS Faculty,

As you know, the College Councils have worked diligently on proposed structures for a merged college. On March 24^th, the two deans brought forward a proposal that has a “School of the Arts” embedded within a combined college.

It is important to note, the “School of the Arts” has been a consistent discussion point from CoCA representatives and something that I had indicated seemed reasonable since this would not be a College with a School “tacked on,” but rather a School integrated into the College. 

As with all of our Schools, there would be a Director who would be expected to teach and work actively to enhance existing local relationships, such as those with the Toledo Museum of Art, the Toledo Symphony and the Toledo School of the Arts. 

I envision that the new college will have a college council with proportional representation from all 14 departments. While there are curricular issues to resolve, those are the purview of the faculty and should be discussed collectively. However, there should not be an imposition of majority will, or curriculum, on any departments. Instead, academic integrity and pedagogy should prevail.

Finally, I encourage us to make progress and position our newly constituted college for increased future success. As such, I propose that we complete this transition and then we allow new Provost Hsu to initiate a national search in August 2017 for the next dean of this new college.

It is my hope that we can proceed with the merged college and begin the process of working through the details. To defer this to next year extends this period of uncertainty.

Thank you for your help and patience in this process.

Sincerely,

Sharon L. Gaber, Ph.D.

President

Merge!

Standing Ovation for President Gaber

College Reorganization Talks

Keeping Up With Old Friends

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2016/02/university_of_akron_faculty_senate_to_take_vote_of_no_confidence_in_president_scott_scarboroughs_administration.html

Update 6 Feb:  The vote went 50/2 for no confidence.  Interesting is that the Akron trustees are blaming the faculty and contract talks for rampant mal-administration.  Doesn't this sound like a familiar voice from the administrative past at UT?  "Misbehaving faculty," was one of the slogans of the Jacob's era.   

ENROLLMENT FIGURES

Part One

Part Two

College Merger Discussions (Amended)(and Re-amended)

Re-organization Model a la Jacobs, et al.

Alternate Re-Organization Model 

Organization Model

Bloggie hopes to facilitate open discussions about forthcoming college mergers.  It seems to Bloggie that already some are attempting to contain and herd these discussions in self serving directions. We need fewer not more bureaucrats.  But perhaps in this space we can have a free range discussion of what faculty (not just a select few) and students would like to see.

Bloggie, for one, would like to see a reunited college with a new dean, nationally searched-for, ideally, but in any case, not someone with a lot of old baggage, and not some one with a history of soul-selling; simplified requirements that would included freedom from burdensome language requirements for students (substituted for by research methods or other advanced analytic classes that may be more relevant to life in Toledo and environs); strong independent, adaptable departments capable of interdisciplinary efforts and degree programs; and also a strong Honors program!

What do you think?  

Amendment: Bloggie has added relevant materials below and will add additional relevant materials if they become available.  Bloggie apologizes for format changes caused by reproducing documents here.  These are Draft Documents.    An additional document was added below as of 31 Jan.

Document 1.

- January 2016

The faculty of the current College of Languages, Literature, and Social Sciences is keenly interested in and excited by the prospect of a new college, for which we suggest the name (to be determined).   

The intriguing challenge we have before us is the shaping of fourteen diverse departments and nine programs into a rich and unified entity, one that is deftly responsive to change, to student need, and to the exigencies of higher education in the 21^st century.  The arts, the humanities, the social and behavioral sciences, and interdisciplinary programs should be unified in their commitment to understanding and demonstrating how our disciplines, in their traditions and their innovations, help create the future. The new college has the potential to become a locus and a guide for the rest of the University in promoting the value of liberal education, appealing to students’ curiosity and desire for knowledge and creative expression, their wish to understand how ideas fit together across disciplines, their inclination to enrich their professional and practical ambitions with a sense of the great mosaic of human inquiry.   It is consistent with the University’s mission that that students find a place here to develop intellectual agility and moral understanding, to educate their creativity, their senses, and their emotions as well as their minds, to develop strategies for best navigating the flood of information and entertainment that technology delivers, to learn to balance action and contemplation, to practice the crucial lifelong skills of listening, employing qualitative and quantitative empirical analyses, weighing evidence, problem solving, and articulating complex thoughts, plans, and ideas. These are high-order skills that have practical value that will not erode as the 21^st century progresses.  They are essential in the development of new information and are applicable in every field of investigation as well as business and the professions. In creating a new college, faculty and administration can re-envision our mutual goals, and find innovative and active ways to deepen and enrich our students’ educational journey.   A new college must be the central space in which our students think in ways that may or may not be immediately utilitarian, but ultimately and for the long run lead to increased knowledge and problem solving abilities and thus prove indispensable in a globalized world.  

A University is constantly created and recreated. President Gaber’s invitation to the faculty to participate in this particular recreation should be seized as a healing of unnecessary fracturing and as a hope for the future. The Arts, the Humanities, and the Social Sciences must recognize each other as allies and collaborators: what promotes the visibility, vibrancy, and value of one promotes the visibility, vibrancy, and value of all. We can mutually reimagine and strengthen ties between departments and programs, our relationships to the community, and our associations with other colleges, departments and programs at UT. We can, and will, also pursue donor and alumni relationships across disciplines.   

Curriculum:   

We propose an interim year (Fall 2016, Spring 2017) in which divergent college curricular requirements for students remain in place (those of CoCA and LLSS), to allow the appropriate faculty-governing units of the new college time to decide upon college-wide requirements, to be instituted in Fall 2017.   

Student Services and Recruitment:

Tri-College Student Services, which currently serves students in the colleges of CA, LS and SM, has improved upon its academic advising coverage in recent months with the addition of department-specific advisers in larger fields (Biology, Communication, Psychology), increasing both access and flexibility for students.  One of the areas still in need of attention is new student recruitment (DHS, Transfer, Non-Traditional students etc.).  Currently, professional advisers take on some recruitment responsibilities as a percentage of their job duties.  Advising and student recruitment are both critical components to enrollment and retention efforts, and both demand full-time attention.  A full-time recruiter trained in our disciplines and eloquent in presentations to prospective students on and off-campus would be a critical addition in services to ensure both visibility and growth of a new college. 

Faculty Governance:

The two most significant entities for faculty governance in the new college will be the College Council and the College Committee on Academic Personnel (CCAP).

The College Council will be the primary body of faculty governance in the new college. It will have the responsibility for overseeing the college curriculum and for approving any proposed changes to department and program curriculums. The Council advises the dean on a range of issues and receives regular reports from the dean. The Council is also responsible for making or approving faculty appointments to a range of committees, including the college technology committee, and it conducts elections for faculty representation on CCAP.

The College Council should consist of: 1) Eight at-large representatives drawn from and elected by the tenure and tenure track faculty in the College; four lecturer faculty drawn from and elected by the lecturer faculty in the College; three student representatives appointed by Student Government; and two tenure or tenure track faculty representatives from each department in the College. Departments may also send one addition representative for every ten tenure and tenure track faculty members over ten.

In the spring of every academic year, the Council elects a Chair, Vice-Chair and Secretary from its membership. Traditionally the Chair serves for one year and the Vice-Chair moves to the Chair position. An Executive Committee sets meeting agendas and performs a range of other duties. The Executive Committee composed of the three officers, the past Chair, and two other council members (approved by the entire council). The Executive Committee should attempt to maintain some balance of membership among the Arts, the Humanities and the Social Sciences, but such representation is not a rule.

CCAP in the new college will be composed of six tenured faculty members elected by the tenure and tenure track faculty in the College. CCAP evaluates faculty members at the three, four and five year pre- tenure reviews, tenure, promotion and their five year professional assessments as outlined in the collective bargaining agreement. CCAP membership will include two members each from the Arts, the Humanities and the Social Sciences. Each member serves a two-year term, and the terms for members in each of the subdivisions should be staggered.

The membership of CCAP in the first year of the College should consist of one member each from the Arts, the Humanities and the Social Sciences who have served on the previous year's CCAPs (in LLSS or CoCA). This will ensure some consistency in the reviews from the previous year. The remaining three members should be newly elected in the spring term.

 

Configuration of Schools:

Schools are an affiliation of departments or programs that provides a framework for supporting creative, boundary-crossing inquiry among students and faculty. Schools facilitate collaboration among existing programs and provide guidance and support as new programs are envisioned and established. Schools may have a director appointed by the college dean from the faculty of the participating departments and programs. The director facilitates the collaborative endeavors of the participating departments and programs. Schools may have an operating budget as allocated by the college dean. Because schools are comprised of faculty with tenure homes in the participating programs and departments, schools are not eligible for representation on the college council. Schools may propose and develop new courses, majors and graduate programs but are not exempt from college curriculum requirements.

Organizational Chart:

		Dean of the College
	Associate Dean for the Arts			Associate Dean for the Humanities		Associate Dean for the Behavioral and Social Sciences

 

Department of Art

Department of Communications

Department of Economics

Department of English

Department of Foreign Languages

Department of Geography and Planning

Department of History

School of Interdisciplinary Studies

Department of Music

Department of Philosophy

Department of Political Science & Public Administration

Department of Psychology

Department of Sociology and Anthropology

Department of Theatre and Film

Department of Women’s and Gender Studies

Student Services:  Recruitment Persistence and Completion (Retention) Advising Career Services

DDo



DDoIt is assumed that the Dean will assign responsibilities to the Associate Deans

	Administrative Staff:  Secretaries, Business Manager, etc.

 

Document #2.

Arts Proposal-Restructuring NOVEMBER 17, 2015

COCA COUNCIL – ARTS REPRESENTATIVES ARTS DEPARTMENT CHAIRS
This document is submitted in the spirit of cooperation by the above mentioned on behalf of the students, faculty and staff that are the Arts at the University.

1. College of Visual and Performing Arts
At the November 5th meeting of the CoCA College Council, the faculty of the Department of Communication expressed interest in removing itself from the arts departments under the future configuration of LLSS and CoCA. Respecting the Department of Communication wishes, the arts are presenting their restructuring plans independent of the Department of Communication.
Our first choice would be to return to the initial arts organizational structure that resulted from the division of Art and Sciences in 2010, to be a College of Visual and Performing Arts.
By returning to the College of Visual and Performing Arts we can maintain status with other colleges. Returning to our former, uniquely identified status we can avoid a college restructuring that challenges faculty trust and morale, and which may be confusing in regards to donors, and our internal and external identity.
2. School of Visual and Performing Arts (SVPA)
With the restructuring of CoCA into a larger, newly defined, umbrella entity with the College of Languages, Literature and Social Sciences, the Arts request the designation of School. The School of Visual and Performing Arts will be defined as an academic unit that administers instruction, research, and service in common, albeit diverse disciplinary fields. The faculty of the school shall include all those members of the University faculty who have been appointed to the constituent departments. The departments are defined as the Department of Art, the Department of Music, and the Department of Theatre and Film.
The school shall have the fullest measure of autonomy consistent with its function and responsibility within the college, subject to the provisions of the CBA and the University of Toledo policies. A Director shall function as the principal administrative officer and shall be responsible to the Dean of the appropriate College for the activities of the school.
Director of the School of Visual and Performing Arts - Duties and Responsibilities

1. Budgetary management of the School of Visual and Performing Arts. Serve as the fiscal officer of the school, with the responsibility for preparing the budget in consultation with the division/program unit or department Chairs; allocate resources to the division/program units or departments; monitor the administration of operating and personnel budgets; and supervise the use of resources, including facilities, equipment, and supplies;
   
2. Work with department chairs and faculty SVPA Advisory Board for the efficient operation of the school;
   
3. Appoint whatever administrative personnel appear to be requisite to the effective functioning of the school office; and assign the respective functions of all personnel working in the school;
   
4. Management of the work of the SVPA secretarial staff, IT assigned personnel, PR Specialist, Outreach and Retention Specialist, and other support staff, including annual staff personnel evaluations;
   
5. Develop and build on donor relationships together with the department chairs, the Dean and the Office of Institutional Advancement;
   

2

6. Continue development of partnerships with external agencies and organizations consistent with the SVPA’s mission. (Toledo Area Cultural Leaders, Ohio Arts Council, Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo Symphony Orchestra, Toledo Opera, WGTE, Glacity Theatre Collective, etc.);
   
7. Provide academic leadership for the instructional, research, service, and administrative personnel of the school. Serve in an advisory capacity to the Dean in the recruitment, selection, employment, in-service training, tenure promotion, non-reappointment, and dismissal of academic personnel, performing duties that are in keeping with the CBA;
   
8. Coordinate with Plant Operations and the Facility Manager of the work on the SVPA building and grounds maintenance;
   
9. Implement and update, in consultation with the SVPA Council, a long-term plan for the SVPA;
   
10. Secure internal and external support of the SVPA mission and programs;
    
11. Develop and work with an extended Advisory Committee, consisting of University of Toledo faculty members and community representatives;
    
12. Continue development of interdisciplinary partnerships with faculty across the University to facilitate undergraduate and graduate activities, while increasing the recognition of the SVPA;
    
13. Perform or delegate and monitor the development of the curricula and programs of instruction, sharing this responsibility with committees of the school and with divisions/program units or departments;
    
14. Supervise any graduate programs within the school. The designated graduate coordinator shall administer the graduate program;
    
15. Teach at least one course or graduate seminar per academic year. This may be arranged in consultation with the chair of the director’s home department;
    
16. Adhere to University hiring, personnel evaluation and other Human Resources procedures; support the University’s and the College’s strategic goals; and observe appropriate chains of communication when requesting support or expressing other needs associated with the SVPA and its staff;
    
17. Prepare and submit to the Dean an annual report on the SVPA’s activities.
    

The Director would be a faculty in one of the schools’ departments. This would be an administrative, non-AAUP appointment. Contractual agreements will be handled by the President, the Provost, and the Dean.
Associate Dean in the Newly Formed College Entity
The SVPA requires an associate dean from the School to serve in the college office so that representation in the dean’s office is balanced and fair.
In order to function in the highest possible manner and with a recognized level of University support, the following conditions are considered essential:
• CoCA Dean’s - Operating Budget $80,800
Transfer the current college dean’s operating budget to the SVPA. The SVPA Director would be responsible for the expenditures and allotments to departments, programming, PR efforts and communications. (No additional operating funds were added when the

3

Department of Communication joined the arts in 2013, therefore the CoCA dean’s budget transfers to the SVPA in full.)
• Arts Tech Fees – Retain dedicated arts tech fees, which provide 2-3 lab rotations per year and allow us to allocate dollars beyond the rotations to state-of-the-art equipment for the departmental media programs. The amount of funding we control as the School of Visual and Performing Arts far exceeds the limited allocations we received as departments in A&S.
Tech Fee funding level to be determined by the SVPA; IT Tech Support – Bradley Volk to remain the same;
• Arts Departments’ Carry-forward funds - retain for the SVPA;
• LLSS upper-division course fee - No assessment of the fee for SVPA students. SVPA students currently pay large lab fees for their studio and lab courses. The addition of this fee would be detrimental to the students;
• Curricular autonomy - Retain oversight within the SVPA. Current college-level requirements remain as established by CVPA and then CoCA;
• Space Allocation - Maintain responsibility for the School’s dedicated spaces;
• Administrative staff - Retain an administrative assistant for the Director of the SVPA,
the PR Specialist and the Outreach and Retention Specialist.
In order to function in the highest possible manner and with a recognized level of University support, we make following additional requests:
• Faculty Lines – While we would like to retain control over faculty lines, we recognize and respect that this is a dean’s prerogative and request that in addition to the chairs, the Director also be consulted regarding faculty lines;
• 

Art and Music Education – We request moving the Art and Music Education majors from JHCOE to SVPA. Faculty are and have been in the art and music departments, approximately 80% of the course work is in the art and music disciplines. Licensure and education service classes would remain with the JHCOE.

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Document 3.

16 October 2015

Dr. Sharon L. Gaber

President

University of Toledo

2801 Bancroft. Toledo, OH 43606

Dear President Gaber:

I write to you on behalf of the faculty of the Department of Communication regarding the forthcoming reorganization of colleges. Communication faculty have discussed a set of preferences that we respectfully offer to you:

·       We strongly support your reorganization initiative.

·       Our consensus and first choice, if possible, is to separate from COCA (College of Communication and Arts) and the various Art and Music Departments in favor of an independent Department of Communication under the auspices of a larger organizational umbrella, the exact name of which would be less important than its efficient functionality.

·       Our larger goal is in time to form a highly marketable and visible School of Communication, still under the auspices of the more organizationally efficient umbrella discussed above. We believe that in this way our new curriculum and faculty initiatives will best be deployed. 

·       We would hope via this School of Communication to best bring our considerable resources (with nearly 400 current majors) to bear in such as way to complement teaching, research and service needs of 21^st Century.   

·       Allow the Communication Department to remain headquartered in Sullivan Hall, with broadcast facilities in Rocket Hall, to minimize costly disruption of the sort incurred less than two years ago when we were removed from Arts and Sciences. Communication faculty and staff already occupy approximately 70-80 percent of Sullivan Hall. If this is not convenient, we would prefer as much as possible to occupy the same space as a Department.

·       Another possibility, not our first choice, would be to align Communication as a separate and independent Department within the Business School. Some might consider this a natural fit, although the exact nature of such a relationship is more problematic than our above stated preference and would need to be extensively worked out. Pragmatic, informal alignments, though, are much easier to achieve and have already been suggested and are under discussion.  

Again, we strongly support you and look forward to growth and success at University of Toledo.

Sincerely,

Professors Brian Anse Patrick and David E. Tucker

Department of Communication

Elected Departmental Representatives to the COCA Council

Document #4.

From: Van Hoy, Jerry
Sent: Wednesday, January 06, 2016 12:37 PM
To: # LLSS - MC - Staff - PSA; # LLSS - MC - Staff - CWA; # LLSS - MC - Faculty - Visiting Faculty; # LLSS - MC - Faculty - Lecturers; # LLSS - MC - Faculty - Full-time/Tenure Track
Cc: Barlowe, Jamie; Schneider, Barbara; Mckether, Willie; Hintz, Adam R.
Subject: Request for comments on the college reorganization proposal

Dear LLSS colleagues,

Attached to this message is the current draft proposal for a new college created by the combination of the colleges of Communication and the Arts (CoCA) and Languages, Literature and Social Sciences (LLSS). This proposal was written by the LLSS Council Committee on College Reorganization and has been revised based on faculty comments sent to the committee as well as feedback received at LLSS Council meetings.

We are soliciting your comments and suggestions for the reorganization proposal. We want to be sure that all staff and faculty have an opportunity to help shape--and improve--the proposal.

When you read the new college proposal please keep the following in mind.

1. The departments of Art, Music and Theatre and Film have proposed a School of Visual and Performing Arts (SVPA) that would be part of a new college created by merging CoCA and LLSS. Their proposal is attached to this message.

2. While the SVPA proposal focuses only on creating a school, the LLSS Council Committee on College Reorganization proposal attempts to envision the structure of the larger college.

3. We expect that a final proposal will be developed together with CoCA's Council. Thus, our proposal expresses the committee's views about the new college as a starting point for these joint discussions.

Please send your comments and suggestions to Jerry Van Hoy (jerry.vanhoy@utoledo.edu) by January 15, 2016. Thank you for helping us produce the best proposal possible.

Best regards,

--Jerry
LLSS Council Chair, 2015-16 

Jerry Van Hoy, PhD
The University of Toledo
Associate Professor, Sociology, (http://www.utoledo.edu/llss/sa/)
Director, Master of Liberal Studies Program (http://www.utoledo.edu/llss/mls/)
Co-Director, Program in Law & Social Thought (http://www.utoledo.edu/llss/lst/)
Director, Politics, Law & Society Living Learning Community
419-530-2807 (SA); 419-530-7257 (MLS);419-530-7268 (LST)

From: Patrick, Brian
Sent: Friday, January 08, 2016 9:53 AM
To: Van Hoy, Jerry
Cc: Wilkinson, Jeffrey; Bollman, Lisa Marie; Tucker, David E.
Subject: Comments on LLSS Reorg Committee document

Jerry:

Happy New Year!

 couple of points and concerns from senior faculty in the Department of Communication (Note, there no "s" at the end of "Communication" :) 

We have made curricular changes concerning the foreign language requirement, reducing it.  And we might want to reduce it still more because we perceive the requirement as (1) needlessly onerous to our students, who tend not to master these languages anyway, and (2) a disincentive to enrollment, in effect driving students away to other colleges/units.   We suspect it may be the same in social sciences.    In any case members of the department don't want to live under the tyranny of the foreign language department, despite how much we may praise and extol the benefits of foreign language training.   The assurance in the reorganization document that this will be settled later in the new college council is not all that assuring. Personally I suggest a set of alternatives for degree requirements that would include a communication or social science degree with foreign language, and one without language, with the foreign language substituted with more higher level 3000-4000 level analytical type or seminar classes, or social statistics or math (not remedial!) or logic.  Other possibilities exist of course.   But we wish to preserve our curricular changes in the new college.  We also have many students admitted on the basis of a reduced foreign language requirement and must honor this contract, so to speak. There is as a matter of stability.  

Also I attach our message to the president, voted on by the communication department, and which has been largely unacknowledged in the process of formal reorganization discussions.  As you see, our eventual goal is to form a school, but without ancillary bureaucracy.  

I am also concerned about budget.  We would like to see some sort of responsibility-based budgeting wherein COMM and other departments reap/keep what they sow to some fair extent. COMM faculty have for long perceived the department as a cash cow for larger organizational units. 

I would very much like to attend future meetings of the LSSS reorganization committee as a delegate of the COMM department. 

Last comment on the name of the new college  I have no strong preference, but I wonder about the use of the term "Liberal Arts" as some have suggested.  My guess is that a major portion of the population has no idea what this term means, and think it something to do with "arts" in in the sense of drawing or pastels.  I suggest some brainstorming on this, although personally I could live with a nominal College of Liberal Arts, even if it had not math and sciences.  We would just have some explaining to do our public profile. 

BAP  

Document #5

Welcome back everyone. I am sure that you are wondering what s happening with the merger discussion between CoCA and LLSS. Here is a rundown of the information at this time.

From: Jerry Van Hoy:

At our last Council meeting it was decided that our proposal should be sent to all LLSS faculty and staff for comment before we give to you and begin meeting together. I expect that the current version will be sent to LLSS faculty and staff this week with a deadline for comments by the end of the first week of classes. At that point we should be ready to share it with our colleagues in CoCA (and the Provost and President) and begin work towards a coauthored proposal.

From Dean Barlowe:

During finals week, LLSS faculty council, the dean’s office, and representatives from Tri-College Student Services reviewed the proposal written by the reorganization committee appointed by the executive committee of the Council.  

Revisions were suggested, and some have been completed.

As I understand it, the proposal will be reviewed again next week, broader distribution of the revised document to LLSS faculty and staff will occur, and a meeting will be set up with CoCA to discuss the two proposals. 

From myself to John Barrett on January 4, 2016:

On November 30, Ray Marchionni, Chair of CoCA Council sent the proposal from the arts and the Department of Communication request as well to Dr. Gaber, and I then forwarded it to you and Jamie. I sent Ray an email today to see if he has received anything from anyone in LLSS. Still waiting on his reply. I briefly spoke with Jamie before the holidays and she indicated that they were working on a document. I believe the plan is for a meeting between the two entities to be held after everyone returns from the semester break.

Will keep yo updated.

Debra A. Davis, Dean

College of Communication and the Arts

University of Toledo

Sullivan Hall Suite 1200

2801 West Bancroft

Toledo, Ohio 43606

Van Hoy, Jerry

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To:

 Wilkinson, Jeffrey‎; Patrick, Brian 

Cc:

 Bollman, Lisa Marie‎; Tucker, David E. 

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Monday, January 25, 2016 4:00 PM

Hi Brian,

Happy New Year to you too! I am sorry for taking so long to get back to you. The beginning of the semester has been more hectic than usual.

The LLSS Reorg Committee is just finishing final revisions to our proposal. The next step is for some of us in LLSS to meet with you and the other faculty in CoCA to work out a reasonable merger plan. Today I sent a message to Ray Marchionni suggesting that the LLSS Council EC meet with the CoCA Council to begin this work. I expect that Communication will be fully participating in this process.

I understand that having to wait until there is a new college and a new college council to settle any foreign language issues is unsettling. It is equally unsettling for the Department of Foreign Languages as it is for you. However, we do not see any way to avoid this and maintain faculty governance over curriculum. The new college council will be the only council that has the authority to debate and vote on any changes to the new college's curriculum.

Students will complete the requirements they had when they entered UT based on their catalog year. Any changes to college requirements (CoCA's or LLSS's) will only affect new students. It could be a year or two before any new requirements are put in place as many faculty in LLSS would like to try to create a liberal arts curriculum for the new college that would spread the requirements across more departments. We can certainly write into the final proposal that all current CoCA requirements (for CoCA students) and all current LLSS requirements (for LLSS students) will remain in place until a new college curriculum is implemented.

The LLSS proposal says little about the new college--or department--budgets. In part this is because we are told that the budget is the purview of the administration. Nonetheless, the final proposal can certainly make recommendations about proper funding of departments.

Finally, the LLSS Reorg Committee is not recommending a name for the new college in the current version of our proposal. I don't know who gets to pick the college name, but if it is faculty and staff we can solicit ideas from CoCA and LLSS.

I hope we will all be meeting together soon.

Best,

--Jerry
LLSS Council Chair, 2015-16

Jerry Van Hoy, PhD
The University of Toledo
Associate Professor, Sociology, (http://www.utoledo.edu/llss/sa/)
Director, Master of Liberal Studies Program (http://www.utoledo.edu/llss/mls/)
Co-Director, Program in Law & Social Thought (http://www.utoledo.edu/llss/lst/)
Director, Politics, Law & Society Living Learning Community
419-530-2807 (SA); 419-530-7257 (MLS);419-530-7268 (LST)