University Times

Faculty Assembly this week recommended that Pitt continue to eliminate paper in its internal business dealings.

Alexandros Labrinidis, co-chair of the University Senate computer usage committee, introduced the motion, which reads in part: “We recommend that the University redesign current processes with the goal of completely eliminating paper forms, through the use of information technology.”

The move would improve efficiency, reduce costs and have a positive environmental impact, Labrinidis said.

He said the recommendation was intended to apply particularly to internal forms for which duplicate and triplicate copies are kept in various office locations.

He added that the key to the initiative is to synchronize databases, so that files can be shared and updated once the information is available electronically, rather than printed and mailed or carried to another office that requires copies. While the technology is available, the implementation would require some investment in hardware and software, costs that his committee is investigating.

Labrinidis acknowledged there would be numerous exceptions due to legal and other requirements, such as certain vendor purchase orders which, by state law, are required to be made available for external review.

In other business:

• Assembly members expressed concern over the recent announcement by the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences dean’s office that graduate program admissions in the classics, German and religious studies departments have been suspended.

Members said that the criteria for the decision to suspend admissions are not clear. A second concern is whether the faculty in those departments had any recourse if the established policies for faculty involvement in shared governance are not followed.

Senate President Michael Pinsky responded that he had raised those concerns with the provost. “I’ve been given assurances by the provost that due process will be followed and everyone will be talked to. My understanding is that faculty input is being sought now in those departments, and that no final decision has been made,” Pinsky said.

Regarding the criteria for deciding to suspend admissions in those graduate programs, Pinsky noted that the criteria are under the purview of the Dietrich school’s administration.

As for recourse if shared governance policies are not followed, Pinsky said that concerns should be raised with the Senate’s executive committee privately or brought to Faculty Assembly.

“In this case, the chairs of those three departments came to me almost immediately” and, consequently, he took their concerns to the provost, he said. “But if any faculty member has an issue that has anything to do with the academic life at the University, they can bring it up to Faculty Assembly.”

• Kathleen Kelly, co-chair of the Senate educational policies committee, reported on two initiatives her committee is tackling.

One issue is that the Pitt transcript does not specify all courses.

She said, “If a student has AP (Advanced Placement) credits transferred from high school that Pitt accepted, they get listed as a cluster. So the transcripts might say: ‘John Smith, 20 AP credits’ and that’s all it says. This might create issues for students who are applying to graduate school, when it’s not real clear on the transcript what these credits are for.”

She said Registrar’s staff are working with Computing Services and Systems Development on a proposal, including a cost evaluation, for the Provost’s office to approve. “They believe the implementation could occur as early as this fall,” Kelly said.

The second issue, she said, is whether students should have access to some of the information, such as grade distribution, contained in Office of Measurement and Evaluation of Teaching evaluations. “Not so much the details of the [teaching evaluation] texts, but the numbers” associated with a course, Kelly said. “Some other schools make them to some degree available,” she noted.

The committee also discovered there is inconsistency across the University: Some areas allow student access, while others don’t.

• Senate elections committee chair John Baker reported that voter participation for election of Assembly members this year was 13 percent, compared to last year’s rate of 20 percent, a drop-off he attributed in part to the fact that some units did not have open positions this year.

Faculty voting participation for Senate officers was 11 percent, the same percentage as last year.

• Betsy Porter, long-time director of the Office of Admissions and Financial Aid who is retiring June 30, reported on the past, present and future of her office. A profile of Porter and a review of her report will be covered in the May 17 University Times.

—Peter Hart