Academic Affairs Committee Meeting February 8, 2024

Present from the board

Lee Vreeland, Ed.D., Chair
Brently K. Archer
Daniel M. Gade, Ph.D.
Terri M. McKnight, CPA
Kelli Purdy Meadows, CPA, CCIFP
C. Larry Pope

Absent from the board

Christy T. Morton

Present from the University

Quentin Kidd, University Provost/Chief Academic Officer and Lead Staff for Committee
Sarah Chace, Associate Professor of Leadership and American Studies and Faculty Senate Representative
Alice Veksler, Associate Professor of Communication, Chair, Communication & Director of Health, Medical, & Wellness Studies/Director of Health Communication Research Lab
Jana Adamitis, Dean, College of Arts and Humanities and Associate Professor of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures
Robert Colvin, Vice President for Strategic Initiatives
Rachel Holland, Chair, Performing Arts and Professor of Performing Arts
Sarah Herzog, Chief Financial Officer and Associate Vice President
Justin Davenport, Chief Information Officer
Benjamin (Shane) Leasure, Deputy Chief Information Officer
Anton Riedl, Associate Professor of Physics, Computer Science and Engineering
Jennifer Major, Office Manager for Physics, Computer Science and Engineering
Nannette Washington, Executive Administrative Assistant to the Provost

The regular meeting of the BOV Academic Affairs Committee of Christopher Newport University was called to order at 3:48 PM on February 8, 2024 by Lee Vreeland, Committee Chair.

A vote was held to approve the previous meeting minutes. Chairwoman Vreeland called for a motion, which was made by Terri M. McKnight and seconded by Kelly Purdy Meadows. The minutes were unanimously approved.

Chairwoman Vreeland introduced the newest member of the Board of Visitors, Daniel M. Gade, and welcomed him to our committee.

Chairwoman Vreeland turned the meeting over to Quentin Kidd who introduced our faculty guest.

1. Faculty Showcase – Dr. Alice Veksler
  1. Dr. Alice Veksler – Associate Professor and Chair of Communication and Director of Health, Medical & Wellness Studies/Director of Health Communication Research Lab. She gave us a view into her research, which she is very passionate about.
  2. Her research focuses on Health and Medical Communication with the mainly focusing on stress and burn out among healthcare professionals.
  3. She talked about a term called self-silencing where nurses and other healthcare professionals feel they are not free to discuss what is happening to them, which increases the problem.
  4. Her research is geared to help nurses and other professionals feel freer to discuss what is happening to them. She interviews nurses to get pertinent feedback to aid in their research.
  5. Dr. Veksler has applied for a grant to assist with engaging her students, who are equally passionate about the project, in her research by being able to interview nurses and other healthcare professionals.
2. Provost Updates
  1. Congratulations again to Dr. Johnny Finn and Tarek Abdel-Fattah for being named 2024 Outstanding Faculty Award winners. This is the second year in a row that CNU has had two winners… only 12 winners are named statewide each year – speaks to the kind of work our faculty are doing as teachers-scholars.
  2. Academic reorganization proposals are coming – For over a year faculty in various departments and committees across campus have been deliberating questions related to how we are organized and whether we need to make changes to that organization. At the next board meeting, we will be bringing to you a set of proposals to rename some units (at least one department, perhaps a college) as well as proposals for the establishment of two dependent schools (School of the Arts and School of Engineering and Computing). These proposals are the result of a lot of deliberation by the faculty and will better position the University going forward.
3. Appointments to Instructional Faculty Report
  1. Provost Kidd discussed the breakdown of the report and how we have only hired 5 faculty at this point.
  2. He said that this shows how we are trying to trim the faculty numbers and cut costs.
4. Resolution #2 – Plan of Compensation
  1. Provost Kidd discussed the report, the minimums and maximums and how they are used to hire new faculty or for conversions, promotions.
  2. After much discussion, Chairwoman Vreeland called for a motion to forward this resolution to the full board. The motion was moved by Daniel M. Gade and seconded by C. Larry Pope. The motion to forward the Plan of Compensation to the full board was passed unanimously.
5. Closed Session
  1. A motion was made by Chairwoman Vreeland to discuss (A)(1) – Personnel Items. It was moved by C. Larry Pope and seconded by Daniel M. Gade. The motion to move to closed session passed unanimously.
  2. All observers were asked to leave.
6. Return to Open Session
  1. Chairwoman Vreeland asked Ms. Washington for a roll call certifying that only public matters were discussed that were identified in the motion by which the executive or closed meeting was called. All committee members certified to the above by roll call: Dr. Vreeland, Mr. Archer, Dr. Gade, Ms. McKnight, Ms. Purdy Meadows, Mr. Pope.
  2. Resolution #4, Tenured Appointments of Instructional Faculty – Chairwoman Vreeland called for a motion to move this resolution forward to the full board. It was moved by Terri M. McKnight and seconded by C. Larry Pope. The motion to forward Resolution #4 to the full board was passed unanimously.
  3. Resolution #5, Promotions of Instructional Faculty – Chairwoman Vreeland called for a motion to move this resolution forward to the full board. It was moved by C. Larry Pope and seconded by Daniel M. Gade. The motion to forward Resolution #5 to the full board was passed unanimously.
  4. Resolution #6, Faculty Sabbatical Leaves for 2024-25 – Chairwoman Vreeland called for a motion to move this resolution forward to the full board. It was moved by C. Larry Pope and seconded by Brently K. Archer. The motion to forward Resolution #6 to the full board was passed unanimously.

The next Board of Visitors meeting will be held at 3:45 PM on April 18-19, 2024 in the Freeman Center, Meeting Room 202, unless otherwise announced.

With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:03 PM by Chairwoman Lee Vreeland.