Faculty Senate Minutes
April 2, 2009 Call to Order: Call to order: 4:15 pm; ADUC; by Lesia Lennex Senators Absent: Ritta Abell, Donna Baker, Zexia Barnes, Royal Berglee, Cyndi Gibbs, Latonya Hesterberg, Euijin Kim, Gary Lafleur, Jennifer Little, Barbara Lyons, Bruno Morro, Layne Neeper, Emma Perkins, Gilbert Remillard, Rodney Stanley, Cathy Thomas, Yuqiu You Visitors: Eric Jerde, Interim Chair Physical Science, Jessica Hall and Andrew Arnold, SGA Minutes: Senator Fultz moved to approve the minutes of February 19, 2009. Senator Probst seconded the motion. Motion passed. Minutes: Senator Chatham moved to approve the minutes of March 5, 2009. Senator Katz seconded the motion. Motion passed. Committee Review: Academic Policies: No Report
Communications: No Report
Evaluation: No Report
Fiscal Affairs: Will have a resolution
Governance: Problems with some faculty committee interest surveys that were submitted by faculty but not received by Governance
Professional Policies: No Report
Reports:
Chair’s Report:
Charles Patrick provided copies of - 1. Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) FAQ’s and Talking Points and 2. Quality Enhancement Plan Faculty Survey, for the Senators to disseminate to the faculty in their departments. Dr. Patrick reviewed the QEP FAQ’s and Talking Points with the Senators. QEP is SACS approach to universities concentrating on student learning. QEP is a requirement for SACS and for the University’s accreditation. Dr. Patrick asked the Senators to ask the faculty in their departments to complete the Quality Enhancement Plan Faculty Survey and for the Senators to bring the completed surveys back to the Senate meeting on April 16, 2009.
Regent’s Report:
Board of Regents met on March 12, 2009. · The Regents were given the audit report
· Heard a report by the Provost regarding the audit report
· President clarified the approval process for the audit report
· Approved tenure and promotion
· Approved revision to PAc-1 and PAc-6
· Approved sale of general receipts revenue bonds which will allow the renovation of Alumni Tower and construction of the student recreation center
· Reports indicated spring enrollment is down
· Heard a report of proposed student tuition and fees
· Tuition forum for SGA on April 8 in Riggle Room at 5:00 pm
· BOR work session is May 21, 2009
· BOR quarterly meeting will be June 11, 2009 – the President’s evaluation will be discussed
· At a previous meeting a member asked Regent Morrison about the cost of the President’s evaluation – The cost is approximately $20,000 which will be paid by the MSU Foundation
Provost’s Report:
· Harold Porras, Chief Diversity Officer began work on April 1, 2009. The position was created by combining two half time positions
· Working on General Education, Academic Audit and SACS
· Deans are meeting with faculty regarding audit
· Provost will meet with each Dean next week to review organizational changes in their college in order to provide information to President Andrews
· Reviewing policies and UAR’s
A member asked when the audit changes will be in effect because it will affect the organization of the Senate. The Provost stated that the target date is July 1, 2009, but there is a great deal of work to be completed. The organization of the Senate should remain the same at present. Modifications will be made to Senate membership as implementation of the audit report takes place.
A member asked if any of the stimulus money could be used for a one time retention bonus for faculty. The Provost stated that the federal guidelines for stimulus money were received today and she has not had an opportunity to review them.
A member asked the Provost to address Spring break for 2010. Spring break will not impact faculty, but will impact 12-month employees and staff. The Cabinet sent a plan to the Benefits Committee for their review. The University will remain open during spring break 2010. Three of the five days removed from the holiday schedule will be used as floating holidays to be taken at special times during the year, for example Christmas.
Charles Patrick explained that Faculty 180 is an online database that will be used for faculty workload. On Monday, April 6 faculty will receive an email indicating that they may begin to input data. Faculty will have three weeks to complete this task. The database is divided into two parts. The first part is a profile containing information such as title, education, work background, location etc. Workload is the second part which contains multiple parts. One of these parts is the teaching workload which will contain a list of faculty’s current classes. The credit hours will be listed and you must enter workload hours based on how your department calculates workload. The database must be completed by April 24, 2009. Units across campus who need information will be able to retrieve it from the database rather than asking faculty to continually provide it. Access to uploaded information in Faculty 180 will be available only to the Department Chair, Dean, possibly an Administrative Assistant to the Dean, and Charles Patrick. Also, Scott Wymer and L. K Williams are system administrators because they developed the system.
A member suggested holding stimulus money to use next year, if the budget is further reduced, rather than giving a onetime bonus now. The Provost stated that the Cabinet is talking about ways to increase the University reserve and how best to use the stimulus money. All the guidelines for use of stimulus money are not yet clear.
Senate Actions:
Fiscal Affairs: Senator Klecker read and moved to accept a Resolution on Child Care. Ali Ahmadi seconded the motion. Motion passed.
Announcements: There will be a Special Called Senate Meeting on Thursday, April 23, 2009, to discuss General Education Documents on Courses and Assessment. The meeting will be held in BRECK 302.
Adjournment: 5:50 pm
