Faculty Senate Minutes
December 1, 2011
Call to Order: Chair Sharp called the meeting to order at 4:10 pm; Riggle Room; ADUC
Senators Absent: Jason Applegate, Michael Dobranski, Stephanie Johnson, Gary LaFleur, Gilbert Remillard, Rodney Stanley, Joyce Stubbs
Visitors: Mat Wright, for Christine McMichael; Cody Tingle, Student
Minutes: Senator Wymer moved to correct the Provost’s Report “Q What is the status of moving back to chairs in the College of Business?” to “Is the model for no chairs used in the College of Business going to be moved and expanded?” Amendment passes. Senator Abell moved to approve the minutes of November 17, 2011 as amended. Senator Bessette seconded the motion. Motion carried.
Committee Reports:
Academic Issues: Will meet Thursday, December 8th in Combs 210
Evaluation: Deadline for returning survey sent to all departments regarding student evaluation has been extended to December 16th; asked Senators to forward to all faculty and encourage their participation
Faculty Welfare and Concerns: PAc 7; will meet Thursday, December 8th
Governance: Will meet Thursday, December 8th
Senate Committee on Issues: Will meet Thursday, December 8th
Reports:
Chair’s Report:
· Chair Sharp emailed the CPE Initiative “Stronger by Degrees” and the MSU Enrollment Plan
· Chair Sharp forwarded an attachment for an opportunity for faculty to write an “E” Designation course syllabi and instructions; If you have questions, contact Louise Cooper
· Chair Sharp and Chair-elect Chatham attended the Coalition of Senate and Faculty Leadership (COSFL) meeting on November 21, 2011; She provided a report on activities and discussion at this meeting
· EC met with the Provost November 30th and discussed: Status of APNA reports; Faculty Salary Model Work Group; Prospect of a mid-year based salary increase; Future initiatives that may or may not be in the works
· Chair Sharp met with the Provost later in the day. They discussed the “E grade” and “U grade” work group; EC had suggested the work group should be made up of 2 Senators, 2 Staff Congress members; 1 person from Registrar’s office; one person from Financial Aid and one person from Accounts Receivable. The Provost concurred and indicated that Dayna Seelig would chair the work group.
· Complete second reading of PAc 7; Chair Sharp asked the Senators to remember that the PAc is a broad based document that affects every faculty member at the University.
Senator Morrison asked when the issue that was in progress at the end of discussion at the last meeting regarding PAc7 should be brought up today. Chair Sharp indicated that would be when FWC brings the PAc back to the floor.
Provost’s Report:
· All comments have been received on the APNA reports from the review team; Provost is working on them for distribution hopefully before Christmas break;
· Provost was asked during the meeting with the EC about the Communications Program. She said they are moving along on their redefinition of major, they are looking at programs in Convergent Media and Strategic Communications. A recommendation for them probably would be to continue on with curriculum development and be ready to implement program in fall of 2013. The Provost indicated that APNA is an ongoing process.
· Graduation is December 17th; looking at plan for inclement weather alternative
· The Provost asked the Deans to begin to talk with their faculty about the FEPs
· Provost Hughes and Chair Sharp will co-chair the President’s Faculty Compensation Ad-Hoc Committee. Phil Gniot and Teresa Lindgren will provide staff support. Other members will be: Kim Clevenger, John Ernst, Beverly Klecker, Stephen Lange, Roger McNeil, Ron Morrison, Allen Risk, Greg Wing, L. K. Williams, and Ann Rathbun. The committee will meet December 14th at 8:00 a.m. The charge at this time is to review the model and provide feedback concerning additional information that may be needed or questions that have not yet been addressed in the model and how to communicate when complete.
· Provost will be attending the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools meeting. MSU should receive their full accreditation from SACS at this meeting. MSU is developing a reputation for doing a lot of good work which is a combination of a visionary President and “most of all, reflection of work and quality of faculty on this campus.”
· Provost has no plans for new initiatives other than refining what we have done.
Senator Cesaro asked if the Memorandum of Agreement between the Department of Defense and the University will be agreed upon by the deadline of January 1, 2012. The Provost stated that MOAs are tracked by her office and assured the Senator that the MOA will be followed.
Senator Ahmadi asked what direction the University is going to take regarding online classes. The Provost asked each Dean to review their curriculum and the balance of online versus face-to face versus hybrid classes, etc., to determine if they have an appropriate balance of course delivery methods for their students. As this is completed, the Provost will establish a representative group from each college to look at what the Institution should do as a whole.
A Senator asked about the variation of travel funds for faculty in different departments. The Provost said the departments and colleges set their budgets. The Provost is not aware of any University guidelines for distribution of travel funds. The Provost’s office is currently reviewing the distribution of travel funds by various departments.
Senator Abell indicated that the Department of Communication values Senator Berglee’s briefings of the Senate meetings and asked for clarification of the Provost’s comments regarding the Department of Communication. The Provost clarified that her understanding was that development needed to be done in fall 2012 so that it could begin the curriculum process to be implemented in 2013.
Regent’s Report:
· Regents will meet Thursday, December 8th
· Regent Morrison addressed the faculty compensation plan that is based on a formula using several factors including CUPA data. Regent Morrison asked that Senators provide him with any specific problems with CUPA data in their departments. The Provost suggested that the Ad-Hoc salary study group bring this issue to the table for review to determine how faculty can view information for their department. A Senator indicated that he had been denied access to CUPA data when completing the report for the curriculum audit. The Provost would also like to know why the data was not made available for the audit.
Scheduling Committee:
· Senator Hypes thanked the members for their feedback on the preliminary repost. The technical issues that were encountered are being worked on.
Senate Actions:
Faculty Welfare and Concerns: Senator Rathbun indicated that the blue highlights are friendly amendments to PAc 7 - Faculty Evaluation Plan (FEP) that were accepted by FWC. The yellow highlighting as it read on the projectors in the Riggle Room are the newest amendments that were accepted on the floor during the last meeting. These amendments were inadvertently left off of the electronic copy that was sent to the Senators by Chair Sharp. Per Senator Wymer’s friendly amendment from last meeting, Senator Rathbun changed the name of the University Faculty Credentials Database and changed Line 55 and 56 to grammatically to reflect that.
Senator Davison made a friendly amendment to lines 51 thru 54. The two sentences contradict each other. After discussion, FWC accepted the friendly amendment “The annual report of activity must include a report generated by the University’s approved academic credentialing system, but may also include reports of activity that cannot be accommodated by that system.” Chair Sharp suggested that “-ing” be removed from credentialing and the word “system” removed. The sentence would read “The annual report of activity must include a report generated by the University’s “approved academic credentials database”, but may also include… Discussion continued. Chair Sharp indicated that she did not feel that the administration would accept “system” instead of “database”. Discussion continued. Senator Hypes suggested “The annual report of activity must come from the University Faculty Credentials Database and may also include a report of activities not accommodated by the University Faculty Credentials Database. Discussion continued regarding system versus database. Senator Royar asked if these semantics could be handled in a different way. Senator Nabb called the question on the PAc with the friendly amendments. Senator Berglee seconded the motion. Chair Sharp asked for a vote on ending debate on the PAc 7. The vote to end debate failed.
Point of Order - Senator Morrison asked about the discussion that was ongoing at the end of the last meeting. She had indicated early in today’s meeting that she had, as instructed, language ready to submit at today’s meeting. Senator Davison stated that there was still content information that was being discussed.
Senator Rathbun will take the friendly amendment to the Reconciliation Committee.
Senator Rathbun asked if there were other Senators who would like to make friendly amendments at this time. Senator Morrison made a friendly amendment to change the wording in line 88 following the sentence ending with “…documented in writing.” Add “When the FEP is modified, a tenured associate professor shall, for a limited period, have the option of (1) applying for promotion to (full) professor under the new FEP, or (2) being evaluated under the previous FEP; once the new FEP has been in effect for three years, a tenured associate professor must apply for promotion under the new FEP. The next sentence would then read: “For annual performance reviews for merit salary increases, the most…” Discussion continued. Senator Rathbun stated that the FWC committee was not willing to accept this friendly amendment. Parliamentarian indicated that an amendment does not have to be friendly. Senator Davison moved to accept Senator Morrison’s amendment. Senator Lennex seconded the motion. Discussion of the motion continued. Senator Davison called the question to end debate on this amendment. Motion passed. Chair Sharp asked for a vote on the amendment. The amendment passed. Senator Hypes called the question on PAc7. Senator Berglee seconded the motion. Motion passed. Chair Sharp asked for a vote on PAc7 as revised today. The Senate passed PAc7 as revised today.
Senator Rathbun stated that PAc 27 will be presented for a first reading at the next meeting, which will be January 19, 2012. The Reconciliation Committee will meet on December 15th regarding PAc 29.
Adjournment: 6:00 p.m.
