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SENATE From the Senate Chair
January 29, 2008, Volume 54, No. 19

The following is published in accordance with the Faculty 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 Sue White, executive assistant to the Senate Office, either by telephone at
(215) 898-6943, or by e-mail at senate@pobox.upenn.edu.

Faculty Senate Executive Committee Actions

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Chair’s Report. Faculty Senate Chair Larry Gladney noted the appointment of Eric Furda as the new Dean of Admissions at the University of Pennsylvania and he reported that the Tri-Chairs were part of the interview process. Dr. Gladney reported on the activities of the Senate committees: the Senate Committee on the Economic Status of the Faculty is close to a final draft on the 2006-2007 annual report, and the Senate Committee on Faculty Development, Diversity, and Equity have been discussing mentoring best practices with mentoring facilitators from all 12 schools. Dr. Gladney noted that SEC will be discussing faculty disclosure at the February or March meeting. Dr. Gladney encouraged the faculty to attend University Council and participate in the Open Forum scheduled for March 26.

Sustaining Penn’s Research Enterprise. Vice Provost for Research Steve Fluharty presented an overview of the research enterprise discussing: Federal funding trends, Penn’s research fund trends, Internal funding mechanisms, Responsible Conduct for Research, the Profiler, and final conclusions. Penn continues to be competitive in spite of a very tough climate of decreased NIH funding; however, Dr. Fluharty stressed the importance of Penn diversifying their portfolio. Dr. Fluharty discussed positive changes and new leadership in the Center for Technology Transfer. Internal funding mechanisms such as the Bridge Funding Partnership Program and the Interdisciplinary Research Program were discussed as programs to help faculty investigators. Dr. Fluharty noted changes in Responsible Conduct for Research including the new Profiler tool, in a pilot phase that can identify training needs, customize and assign appropriate training courses.

Update on Faculty Information Systems. Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs Vincent Price updated the Executive Committee on the status of the Faculty Information System (FIS) including the importance of the system, the limitations, and the current phase in the development of automating faculty information. Dr. Price discussed the Online Faculty Position Posting and Application System, a centralized system for posting faculty positions and accepting faculty applications online. Dr. Price noted that his office is developing a web-based exit survey that should prove to be useful over a period of time. These combined analytical tools once fully developed will provide necessary analytical information that can be useful to each school, department, and University administrators and extremely helpful for initiating and updating faculty appointments.

Ballot for Senate Committee on Committees. SEC voted to select the 2008 Senate Committee on Committees members.

Almanac - January 29, 2008, Volume 54, No. 19