Faculty Senate Minutes
August 30, 2012
Call to Order: Chair Chatham called the meeting to order at 4:13 pm; Riggle Room; ADUC
Senators Absent: Beverly Klecker, Gilbert Remillard
Visitors: Clarenda Phillips (for the Provost), Aaron Gay, Tim Holbrook
Minutes: Senator Rathbun moved to approve the minutes of July 19, 2012 as submitted. Senator Bessette seconded the motion. Senator Rathbun moved to approve the minutes of August 16, 2012 as submitted. Senator Bessette seconded the motion. Motion carried.
Reports:
Chair’s Report:
• Met with the President regarding the major Senate retreat issues and priorities for the year
• PAc 29 Faculty workload approved by the Provost and President with stipulations; Senators were provided a copy of the PAc and stipulations; Senate voted to approve PAc 29 with the following stipulations:
Change all references to PAc 7 to PAc 35
Around Line 107 add: Such restrictions must be shared with the respective Dean and the Office of the Provost.
• Senator Fultz moved to accept the stipulations and approve PAc 29. Senator Gibbs seconded the motion. Motion passed.
• President signed PAc 35 and PAc 27; Senators received copies of both; All PAcs must be approved by the BOR; Chair Chatham asked Senators to please share the PAcs with your colleagues
Regent’s Report:
• The Board of Regents met on August 23, 2012 for the swearing in of four new or returning Regents.
• Regent Morrison shared that David Hop resigned from the Board for family reasons
• Paul Goodpaster – returning six year term
• Margo Hunt – SGA President
• Todd Thacker – Staff Regent
• Wayne Martin – Television executive; former chair
• Board will meet on September 20th after which the Kentucky Center for Traditional Music will be dedicated
General Education Council (GEC): The GEC met August 27th. Some of Senator Rathbun’s report follows:
• Approximately 1500 students in 58 sections of First Year Seminar (FYS) taught by 48 faculty
• Trying not to have online sessions of FYS
• Theme for FYS (Fact or Fiction) will remain the same
• Book for FYS will be changed, if senators or faculty have any suggestions, notify a GEC member
• GEC is now on “mymoreheadstate” portal
• SACS monitoring report is complete by Paula Serra; Appendix will be a public document
• Issues with Early College Courses relating to school year calendars in public school verses MSU’s academic year
• Continuing to work on Exchange courses
• Working out implementation policy for using one assessment tool for each SLO is being worked out and will become a reality
• Senator Rathbun stressed that GE faculty provide the assessment for the GE classes in order that SACS can be provided with assessment data that they require for accreditation
• Looking at the process for revising current assessment measures
• Taking proposals for NSC 1 and NSC 2 categories
• Senator Rathbun provided a statement from the GEC: “Members- each SLO should be assessed every semester in every course not just those SLOs that are required for reporting, Thank You Very Much”
• Computer competency will be on next agenda for GEC
Senator Berglee stated that there is a need for a senator or faculty member to serve as proxy for the Senate Executive Council representative on the General Education Council. This could be shared or rotated by any number of individuals. This request is prompted by the fact that there are currently four members of the Senate Executive Council that are also current members of the General Education Council. These responsibilities need to be shared by a greater number of faculty members. Let Senate Chair Doug Chatham know of your interest to serve on the GEC on a proxy basis.
Senate Committee Reports:
Academic Issues: Met August 23rd; Looking into grading policies for “U, E, W” and the UAR on repeating courses; two subgroups will look at data and analyze the University Studies Degree and the same for Instructional Technology policies
Evaluation: Working to pilot the survey completed last year with IDEA
Faculty Welfare and Concerns: Review and revising PAc 2 to match PAc 27; review and revise PAc 30 to make in line with the new Faculty Salary Model; look into transparency of the budget, travel funds, etc.; tuition waiver for graduate work for faculty members’ family
Senate Committee on Issues: Continuing to explore Ombudsperson/Faculty Advocate; budget construction and faculty participation on the budget; computer and technology issues
Regent Morrison asked about the Administration’s response to the Ombudsperson proposal. Senator Rathbun stated that the Provost stated that the staff would also have to be considered in a proposal of this type and the President concurred. Senator Rathbun suggested that the Senate and Staff Congress work together on this issue.
Governance:
Senator Royar, Governance Chair, presented a slate of recommendations for filling positions on various standing committees. He asked that the recommendations be voted on as a slate. The slate follows:
University Tenure Committee
David Olson S&T 2012-13 (completing term)
Sean O'Keefe At-Large 2012-2013 (proxy for Brent Rogers who will return to faculty to complete term 2013-2015)
Employee Benefits
Mark Blankenbuehler S&T 2012-2014
Undergraduate Curriculum Committee
Dan Grace EDU 2012-2013
Gary O'Dell At-Large HUM 2012-2014
Academic Appeals
April Miller EDU 2012-2013
Research and Creative Productions Committee
Tim Miller EDU 2012-2013
Glenn Ginn HUM 2012-2013
Janelle Hare S&T 2012-2013
Senate agreed to vote on as a slate and passed the slate of recommendations as presented.
Governance is also looking at standing committees that might be updated or eliminated; and how faculty can have input on technology. Governance is looking into proposing a Technology Standing Committee.
Graduate Curriculum Committee will now be called the University Graduate Committee. Titles of members have been revised to reflect changes that have been made. The Registrar was added back on the membership page after mistakenly being taken off at some point.
Announcements:
The Chair of Faculty Senate or designate serves on the Teacher Education Council (TEC) as a nonvoting ex-officio member. Chair Chatham asked anyone interested in sitting on the TEC to contact him.
Family picnic and football game tonight
Adjournment: 5:00 p.m.
