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SENATE
From the Senate Office
The
following statement is published in accordance
with the Senate Rules. Among other purposes,
the publication of SEC actions is intended to
stimulate discussion among the constituencies
and their representatives. Please communicate
your comments to Senate Chair Mitchell Marcus,
or Kristine Kelly, Box 12 College Hall/6303,
(215) 898-6943 or kellyke@pobox.upenn.edu.
Actions
Taken by the Senate Executive Committee
Wednesday,
March 19, 2003
1. Chair's
Report. Faculty Senate Chair Mitch Marcus informed
SEC that a new University committee jointed formed
by the President, Provost and three Faculty Senate
chairs has now been charged to review limited aspects
of the University Patent Policy. He noted that the
Committee consisted entirely of Penn faculty, who
have been encouraged to call on University administrators,
i.e. General Counsel, Center for Technology Transfer,
to lend their expertise during the course of its work.
The Committee will focus on the following four areas:
(1) Intellectual Property Rights (IPR); (2) Disclosure
of Inventions; (3) Management of Licensing; and (4)
IPR and Faculty Consulting.
Professor
Marcus, in advance of the Provost's presentation to
SEC on the new Vice Provost for Strategic Initiatives
position (see below), handed out the announcement
in Almanac regarding this position. He announced
that at the request of the Senate Chairs, the administration
invoked the University Committee on Consultation,
composed of the three Senate chairs, and the chairpersons
of the Undergraduate Assembly and the Graduate and
Professional Student Assembly, to confirm the procedure
for selection of the new Vice Provost. Professor Marcus
announced that he was one of those interviewing initial
candidates for the new position, and that he expected
that a number of faculty members would be among those
meeting finalists for this position.
Professor
Marcus next announced that the Senate Chairs were
informed that Interim Associate Provost Walter Wales
would be staying on in this position for another year.
The Executive Committee expressed serious concern
about the length of this interim appointment, given
the importance of this position to the faculty. While
SEC strongly supports the choice of Walter Wales as
Interim Associate Provost, they would like to see
a search underway as soon as possible, with maximum
faculty input. A resolution was passed unanimously
asking the chairs to discuss this with the President
and Provost at their next meeting.
Professor
Marcus then distributed a form that Penn recently
received from the U.S. Department of Justice which
must now be signed by every member of a research lab
that uses one of a number of select biological agents.
Signing the form authorizes the Department of Justice "to
obtain any information relevant to assessing the suitability
of [Penn Laboratory Personnel] to access, possess,
use, receive or transfer select biological agents
and toxins from any relevant source.... This information
may include, but is not limited to, biographical,
financial, law enforcement and intelligence information." Currently,
there are a limited number of Penn research labs to
which this law applies. Professor Marcus noted that
he found the entire form disturbing but wanted to
particularly highlight the ability of the U.S. Department
of Justice, at their discretion, to release and/or
disclose records or information to organizations or
individuals, both public and private, to elicit information
or cooperation from the recipient for use in this
assessment.
2.
Past Chair's Report on Academic Planning and Budget
and Capital Council. Past Chair David Hackney
noted that while the deliberations of Academic Planning
and Budget and Capital Council are confidential, SEC
is indeed learning, through various presentations,
issues that are being discussed in both committees.
3.
Gender Equity/Faculty Development Discussion. SEC
began to discuss next steps in reaction to last year's
Gender Equity report. The Senate Chairs informed the
Committee that over the past few months they had met
with various members of the University community,
including: Phoebe Leboy, co-chair (with the late Barbara
Lowery) of last year's Gender Equity Committee; Lois
Evans, chair of AWFA, the Association of Women Faculty
and Administrators; and Stephanie Abbuhl, director
of FOCUS on Health and Leadership for Women of the
School of Medicine, among others. They also contacted
Wendy White, Vice President and General Counsel, to
discuss what legal limits exist in addressing the
issues of gender imbalance.
Among
issues of wide concern to woman faculty members reported
by the Chairs were the need for a more "family
friendly" atmosphere across the University (e.g.
eliminating early/late meetings), and the lack of
faculty mentoring in many of Penn's schools. In the
discussion that followed, it was agreed that SEC should
take action leading to the creation of a new standing
committee, to be called the Committee on Faculty Development
Committee to investigate mechanisms to promote faculty
diversity and to take on coordination of mentoring
for all junior faculty and associate professors (not
just women) across the University. This mentoring
project would be coordinated and monitored through
the Faculty Senate office.
SEC
voted to immediately create an ad hoc committee to
quickly develop the charge and role of this new standing
committee. Once approved by SEC, this charge will
be submitted for approval to the Faculty Senate as
a whole, amending the Rules of the Faculty Senate.
4.
Patriot Act Resolution Discussion. Due to the
length of the previous agenda item, the Patriot Act
discussion was postponed.
5.
Provost Robert Barchi -- New Vice Provost for Strategic
Initiatives Position. Provost Barchi joined the
meeting to discuss and follow up on the announcement
of the new Vice Provost position, shifting the Center
for Technology Transfer entirely into the office of
the Provost and creating within that office a new
Office of Corporate and Industrial Relations. He emphasized
the importance, he thought, of making this a Vice
Provost position, rather than a Vice President, in
order to emphasize the relationship between technology
transition and the faculty. The Faculty Senate Chair
noted that he had been contacted by several faculty
members expressing discomfort with the new position,
but SEC members present commented that they were pleased
to see the creation of this position as many of them
have been frustrated by the lack of central, streamlined
faculty mechanism for technology transition and corporate
contacts at Penn. SEC members strongly agreed that
the title of Vice Provost was indeed appropriate.
6.
Other New Business. It was unanimously agreed
that SEC would shift its meetings for the 2003-2004
academic year to 2:30-5:00 p.m. in support of those
with children in child-care, and would poll its membership
about the possibility of shifting SEC's April and
May meetings to this earlier time.
Almanac, Vol. 49, No. 26, March 25, 2003
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