Faculty Senate Monthly Packet October 2019

The October 2019 Monthly packet includes the October agenda and appendices and the Faculty Senate minutes and attachments from the meeting held June 3, 2019

A worldwide review of support mechanisms for car clubs

Car clubs have operated on a large scale only since 1987, when the first scheme began in Switzerland, although prior to that there were several smaller scale projects. Schemes then spread to Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. More recently, car clubs have been set up in the UK, Denmark, Italy, and Sweden, and in Canada and the USA. These clubs have developed (and are still developing) in a number of ways. Some schemes are community-level schemes with only one or two vehicles, while others are national organisations with many thousands of members. And some schemes are run by volunteers and are non-profit making, while others are commercial ventures run by international companies. Despite such diverse beginnings, it is clear that the vast majority of schemes face similar problems in becoming established. One major barrier has been the lack of involvement or support from local and national Government. Given the potential benefits of car clubs to deliver environmental and social improvements to communities, this is somewhat surprising. As experience of car clubs spreads, this situation has begun to change and there are signs that Government attitudes across the world are becoming more enthusiastic to the idea of encouraging car clubs. This paper draws on the results of a state-of-the-art review, based on several face to face and telephone interviews, email communications, internet sites and existing literature to identify cases where such a change in attitude has occurred, how various levels of Government have translated this into action, and what lessons could be learnt from each example

A qualitative study of 129 police lethal force incidents in 2016 examining participant behavior relating to mental illness that contributes to the use of lethal force.

This multi-case, exploratory research study examined videos and related news media articles of lethal police shootings and found commonalities and possible contributing factors. Videos and informational articles posted on news media websites in the public domain were used in a qualitative content analysis to identify common elements in police lethal force incidents. The results of this study revealed contributing behaviors by the participants related to mental illness that contribute to lethal force. The decision to use lethal force by a police officer is framed using four analytical themes

Microfinance as Business

We analyze microfinance institutions (MFIs) as businesses, asking how some succeed in covering costs, earning returns, attracting capital, and scaling up. We draw on existing literature and interviews with industry players and academics. Key microfinance business challenges include building volume, keeping loan repayment rates high, retaining customers, and minimizing scope for fraud. Since the 1970s, microfinance innovators have developed clever solutions to these problems. Some have built huge organizations that serve thousands or millions of clients and have demonstrated an impressive capacity for change—in countries, to boot, with weak infrastructure and human capital. The individual innovations have spread both through a Darwinian process of selection and through cultural diffu-sion. We examine three kinds of determinants of commercial success: product design, management, and environmental factors such as regulation. We conclude that much about how microfinance is de-livered can be understood as responses to business imperatives. Indeed, the discoveries of techniques for cost-effective microfinance delivery are the real genius of microfinance, rather than the "discovery" that the poor can repay that dominates its public image. But by Occam's razor (simpler explanations are more plausible), the power of commercial imperatives to explain so many product design choices weakens an alternative explanation for them, namely that they are made primarily to help clients. These doubts point up the need for more rigorous impact evaluations of microfinance.microfinance