Faculty Senate Minutes
September 6, 2012
Call to Order: Chair Chatham called the meeting to order at 4:13 pm; Riggle Room; ADUC
Senators Absent: Matt Chapman, Barbara Lyons, Gilbert Remillard; Bill Mann and Masahito Sugihara served as proxies for Brian Mason and Lori Baruth
Visitors: Provost Hughes, Aaron Gay
Minutes: Postponed until next meeting.
Reports:
Chair’s Report:
• Chair Chatham thanked Joyce Stubbs for volunteering to serve on the TEC
• Open Chair segment will be continuing; three minutes to speak and 7 minutes for discussion, which is extendable at the Chair’s discretion; If anyone would like to speak during the Open Chair please contact the Chair at least 3 days before the Senate meeting
• PAcs are being prepared for the BOR meeting in September
Provost’s Report:
The Provost addressed several topics provided to her by Chair Chatham:
• Sabbatical availability and funding - funding will not be known until the new budget is built in December however, the process of receiving sabbatical requests this fall will continue
• Note to the Deans regarding criteria in PAc 17 (Sabbatical Leave of Absence) - was a clarification of number 3 in the “CRITERIA FOR CONSIDERATION:” in the PAc
• Creating a group to develop an FEP Appeal Process - Provost Hughes asked Chair Chatham to provide her with the names of the Senate representatives for that group and she will appoint an at-large faculty member, a Dean, a representative from the Provost’s office and Gerald DeMoss to chair and convene that committee.
• An email from the Provost asking that all requests for University data from the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment be routed through the Provost and Jill Ratliff to insure that all requests are handled quickly and correctly
The Provost answered questions from the Senators regarding the above items.
Faculty Welfare and Concerns will work with the Provost to review and revise PAc 17 – Sabbatical Leave of Absence.
Regent Morrison asked about a “Koch Brothers Exposed” documentary in which a section of the documentary claims that the Koch Brothers give money to universities with “strings attached,” which impacted hiring’s, tenure standards, etc. In the list of colleges and universities that have taken money from this foundation is Morehead State University. The Provost was not aware of this documentary and will ask Jim Shaw how monies are received by the University from outside sources.
Regent’s Report:
• Regent Morrison discussed his concerns with regard to the recommendations made by the President’s Faculty Compensation Ad Hoc Committee listed on page 3 of their Report to the President.
“Ad Hoc Committee Recommendations:
A performance-driven, market-based model should be implemented under the following guidelines:
1. Immediate implementation of plan should include bringing any tenured and tenure-track faculty below range minimum to the specified control point.
2. Concurrently, plan implementation should be completed to bring all tenured and tenure-track faculty to their proper in-range adjustment based for their time in rank based on performance neutrality. In no case would any faculty member’s salary be reduced.
3. The model should include Instructors and action taken in compensation should address this group.
4. As the model is implemented, additional funds should be set aside to recognize superior performers in the following manner:
• Deans in collaboration with Chairs should define the top 20% of tenured and tenure-track faculty for each college using existing performance data encompassing the previous five years.
• Funds provided for this purpose will be awarded to the top 20% as a one-time, non -recurring salary increase. Determination of performance will be through an evaluation process based on the new Faculty Evaluation Plans (FEP) currently being developed.
• $2,000 is suggested as amount to be awarded. Twenty percent of 387 equal 77 faculty which translates into an estimated additional investment of $154,000 plus approximately 22% fringe benefit cost.
• These funds will be in addition to the implementation of parts one and two of the implementation model.
• The formula for rewarding Instructors who perform at the superior level has yet to be determined.”
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“ Specific amounts are estimates and would need to be verified by Teresa Lindgren”
There was considerable discussion by the Senators regarding the recommendations.
The Provost responded to the concerns and stated that she and the deans have been working on this on the “basis that there is a cost of living pool that is not dependent on evaluation, etc., and a merit pool that is separate from the other, which applies to performance”. She will seek clarification on this issue and report back to the Senate.
There was discussion regarding CIP codes and where they could be found. A Senator requested that faculty in non-degree granting programs that are University wide and can have many different classifications, be allowed to have discussion with their chairs and deans to determine where they should be appropriately placed in CIP codes.
New Business:
Governance: A Senator needs to be elected for the Planning Committee. Senator Fultz has volunteered to serve on the Planning Committee. Senator Royar asked if the Senate would approve Senator Fultz without an election. The Senate agreed. Senator Fultz will serve on the Planning Committee.
Announcements:
Still looking for a Senator to be a proxy member of GEC
Chair Chatham asked anyone interested in serving on the FEP Appeal Procedure Committee to let him know.
Adjournment: 5:25 p.m.
