Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes

1/9/01
SC 117
3:00 - 4:10 p.m.

Attendance: Ron Hammond, Grant Richards, President Romesburg, Dr. Stoddard, Luis Arzola, Damon Bahr, John Balden, Paul Bean, Brian Birch, David Brandt, Denza Bruss, Max Christofferson, Karin Davidson, Kathie Debenham, Bryan Eldredge, Lowell Glenn, Eldon Greenhalgh, Phil Gordon, George Hickman, Larry Holt, Jill Jasperson, Masoud Kazemzadeh, Dennis Lisonbee, David Manning, Doug Miller, Tom Perkins, Mike Shively, Joe Strange, K.D. Taylor, Lynn Turnquist, Renee Van Buren, Forrest Williams.

Absent: Laurie Wood, Stacy Waddoups, Merril Oyler, Gary Noll, Eddy Cadet, Malcolm Crawford, Cameron John

Excused: Sandy Vogel, Lori Richards

Guests: Ernie Carey, Deborah Marrott

Call to order: Ron Hammond called the meeting to order at 3:05 p.m.

Presentation of Minutes from 12/12/00 Meeting:

Minutes were presented and no changes made.

After the minutes were presented Ron asked the Senators to look at their laminated yellow copy of Roberts Rules. He reminded them when someone moves to adjourn the meeting it has to be acted on and cannot be dismissed. He suggested that if somebody wants to move to adjourn they should ask if there's anything that needs to be discussed before the meeting is adjourned.

Report from President Romesburg & Dr. Stoddard:

The President reported that the Legislative session will begin next Monday. The Governor has recommended a 6% compensation increase. President Romesburg mentioned that the 4% tuition increase won't be enough to cover the 6% compensation increase and said that the tuition will need to be increased to around 5.5%.

Dr. Stoddard mentioned that there will be discussion in departments and schools about how much internet work they want to do & what faculty commitment to this is.

Information item:

Replacement for Teacher of the Year Committee Chair--

Deb Marrott said a computer crash wiped out 75% of the data of student evaluation reports. Since department chairs base their decisions of whom to nominate for Teacher of the Year from those evaluations, the crash has caused a delay. She brought to the Faculty Senate's attention that the Executive Committee approved two changes that are now in effect: 1) Department Chairs can nominate a 30% FTE equivalent adjunct faculty as well as contract faculty, and 2) contract faculty have to be in their 3^rd full time year, not have completed their 3^rd year to be nominated. She also talked about a replacement for the position of chair for this committee. She proposed that the Senate consider having a senator as chair of this committee. She wants to decentralize the Teacher of the Year process to give more power and flexibility to individual schools to nominate teachers. She wants to have some new guidelines that schools will have to follow and sees the senate as instrumental in approving those guidelines, which is why it is important to have a chair that is also a senator. She couldn't give any application deadlines because of the computer crash, but as soon as she has that information she will let the senate know.

Committee Chair Reports:

Budget Committee--

John Balden reported that the legislative committee should have the budget out next Wednesday or Friday. He said that there isn't any new information to report on benefits.

Academic Policy Committee--

Jill Jasperson will be reporting in both the information items and actions items.

Faculty Development--

Forrest Williams said that they have received more student comments on faculty evaluations and he felt that was an improvement. He was concerned that a new machine is needed to read the forms more quickly. They're continuing to award travel and special development funds and have used almost 3/4 of their budget this year and hope to not run out of money.

Curriculum Committee--

Joe Strange reported that there is a total of 54 new programs offered. The committee's Spring 2001 agenda is: 1) to facilitate approval for new programs, degrees, and courses ( mathematics, education, and nursing); 2) to revise procedures (establish curriculum committees for each school, coordinate training and support for school committees, restructure curriculum committee, faculty senate chair, curriculum staff, associate VP for AA, school curriculum committee chairs); 3) to phase in new procedures.

Tenure Board Committee--

K.D. Taylor read the names of those who have been approved for tenure effective July 1, 2001: Dennis Allison, Max Christofferson, William Cobb, Jeff Cold, Ben Davis, Lawrence Gray, Terry Hill, Doug Miller, Keith Mulbery, Susan Parkinson, Lynn Turnquist, Sandy Vogel, Stacy Waddoups and Forrest Williams. She reported that the files that were turned in were complete and the best the tenure committee had seen in some time. They will be having a training meeting for new faculty on the tenure track on Tuesday, January 16^th in room SC 213 C at 3:00 p.m and again on Wednesday, January 17^th at 3:00 p.m. in BU 240 at 3:00 p.m. Cameron John will be replacing William Cobb on the Tenure Committee. The tenure committee will be working to update tenure policy to reflect the needs of each school. Until new policy is implemented, the old policy will be in effect.

Personnel & Election Committee--

Laurie Wood was absent. Ron mentioned that there are several people who have expressed interest in running for President-Elect of the Senate. He will have Laurie speak to that at the next senate meeting.

Faculty Merit--

Doug Miller spoke about decentralizing bonuses. This year, however, it will be business as usual. Applications will be distributed shortly.

Academic Standards--

Paul Bean talked about class rolls and whether they should be changed or deleted. After discussion in their committee, it was decided that rolls still need to be passed out so the faculty can look them over and see if they have enrolled students in class.

Ad Hoc Committees--

Constitutional Revision--Ernie Carey is going to talk about this as an Action Item.

Faculty Evaluation Committee--Damon Bahr reported that they are also decentralizing. Forrest's committee is working with them to give them ideas about instructor improvement. They are looking at the summative evaluation data and peer review.

Information Items:

Replacement of Political Action Committee Chair--

Grant let the senate know that Larry Holt has been asked to chair the committee and has accepted the responsibility. Larry reported that he is looking forward to leading the committee.

Policy F-5.1--

Paul Bean spoke about classroom management. He reported that he was unable to locate a policy that outlined what to do in the situation when a student is causing disruption in class. He asked for help from faculty who have dealt with this problem in the past and what worked for them in resolving the situation. President Romesburg and Dr. Stoddard emphatically stated that teachers have a responsibility to provide a learning environment for the students and do not have to put up with a disruptive student. If the student won't leave when they are asked to, the teacher should call campus security who will then remove the student.

Scholarship Policy--

Jill reported that her committee hadn't looked at this policy yet, but they are scheduled to look at it next Tuesday in their committee meeting.

Strategic Planning Issues--

Eldon Greenhalgh brought up the word "values" in the mission statement and worried about the appropriateness of the word in the statement. Whose values are they referring to? Ron is going to talk to Mark Spencer personally about this issue.

Constitutional Revision, Representation Issue, Ad Hoc Committee--

Grant announced that there will be two information meetings held on Wednesday, January 17^th from 3:00 - 4:30 p.m. in SC 117 and on Thursday, January 18^th from 3:30 - 5:00 p.m. in SC 117 for all full-time faculty to hear the two proposals on representation. Ballots will be given to senators to pass out to their department faculty. K.D. asked when the size of the senate will be increased. Ron replied that it won't take place until May 1, 2001.

Action Items:

Constitutional Revision, Continuity & Substance, Ad Hoc Committee--

Ernie Carey went over the proposed changes. Tom Perkins moved that they be accepted and Larry Holt seconded the motion. The voting was unanimous and the motion passed.

Hiring Policy-

Jill Jasperson went over the policy and said it has been "test driven," so to speak, and works well. Her committee felt that the policy should be divided into two parts: 1) the written policy, and 2) the tables and procedures. Jill moved that the policy be approved with the changes she suggested. Forrest Williams seconded the motion and the voting was unanimous in favor of the proposed changes.

A motion was then made that Policy C-4.3 be moved to an action item. Jill presented the policy for acceptance and Paul Bean moved that it be accepted as presented. Kathie Debenham seconded the motion and the voting was unanimous. The motion passed.

Upcoming Events:

Grant announced the Faculty & Staff Appreciation Night that will be held on Friday, February 9^th.

Adjournment of Meeting:

Joe Strange moved that the meeting be adjourned and Paul Bean seconded the motion. The meeting was adjourned at 4:15 p.m.