Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes

September 25, 2001

SC 117

3:00 - 4:25 p.m.

Attendance: Christa Albrecht-Crane, Kathryn Andrist, Luis Arzola, Leeann Asay, Lyn Baadsgaard, Damon Bahr, John Balden, Brian Barthel, Brian Birch, Cris Boggess, Mark Bracken, Lona Broadhead, Denza Bruss, Karin Davidson, Bryan Eldredge, Diana Fallis, Phil Gordon, Eldon Greenhalgh, Gamini Gunawardena, Ron Hammond, Diane Hartman, George Hickman, Cameron John, Masoud Kazemzadeh, Tony LaTurner, Eric Linfield, Robert Loveridge, Rick McDonald, Anita Musto, Gary Noll, Tom Paskett, Connie Reynolds, Hugh Rode, Mike Shively, Lucille Stoddard, Joe Strange, Carole Sullivan, Doris Trujillo, Jon Turner, Stacy Waddoups

Absent: Genan Anderson, Paul Bean, Janet Bennion, Mark Bunds, Eddie Cadet, Curtis Fillmore, Lowell Glenn, Terry Hill, Dennis Lisonbee, Deb Marrott, Steve McKay, Renee VanBuren, Darren Wibberg

Excused: President Romesburg

Guests: James Toone, Jon Turner

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

Presentation of September 18, 2001 Senate minutes: Mark Bracken asked that he be marked present for that meeting. He was unable to sign the roll.

Report from President Romesburg and Dr. Stoddard: Ron excused President Romesburg who was showing a regent around campus. Dr. Stoddard said there will be a Dean's meeting on Friday, and she needs all the faculty to look at the matrix program proposals and make sure that they are correct. The matrix can be obtained from each school's Dean.

Information Items:

Robert's Rules - Ron passed out more copies of Robert's Rules for new senators.

Introduction to new ad hoc committee for evaluating senate standing committees - Mike Shively said this committee will review all the committees to see what is currently being done and what may need to be done. He has asked that there be one person from each school to serve on the committee which will meet once a month. He thinks it will take about 3 - 4 months to complete this assessment. There were two volunteers to serve on the committee: Mark Bracken from Sciences and Eric Linfield from Trades.

Goals & Plans for 2001 - 2002 - Ron announced that the senate should be passing significant policy regarding tenure by January or February. Phil from APAC will be keeping the senate informed of upcoming policy.

Post Tenure Review - Ron asked the senators for feedback on the policy. He mentioned that Weber State has no triggering method whereas Utah State automatically reviews tenured faculty every three years. He asked the senators to please take this policy to their departments for review so that it can be discussed in the next senate meeting.

Presentation of decentralization in the tenure policy - K.D. Taylor reviewed a flow chart with the senators showing the tenure request process. There are three layers to this process: 1) the department, 2) the school, and 3) the college. The process begins with the faculty candidate requesting tenure in his or her department. The tenure request goes to the department chair, then the School Tenure Committee, and then the dean of the school. Next in the college layer, the Vice President of Academic Affairs evaluates the request and gives it to the President, who makes his recommendation to the Board of Trustees. If tenure is denied, there is an appeal process with the candidate going to the Faculty Senate for assistance. K.D. pointed out that faculty are tenured to their department, not the school. Eldon asked who determines who will serve on the school tenure committee. K.D. said that is up to the Dean to decide.

Action Items:

Increase the maximum number of senators allowed - Ron reviewed how many senators have currently been allocated from each school; HASS - 14, SCI - 12, BUS - 9, TTI - 8, LEC - 4, CSE - 2 , plus one from MMCT. The total number of senators is 50. Joe suggested that we revisit the numbers to account for all the new hires. Dr. Stoddard said the faculty count isn't accurate and that there needs to be a breakdown. Robert asked if there should be an increase in the number of senators. Phil reminded the senators that 50 was an arbitrary number that the senate came up with when deciding the issue of apportionment. Tom Paskett made a motion that the numbers be revisited and that the senate look at them before allocating new senators. John made an amendment that the number be binding and that the Executive Committee make the final decision. Joe Strange seconded the motion. There was a call for the question of making 50 the binding number. Nine senators voted yes, 21 voted no. The amendment didn't pass. Tom made a motion to revisit the allocation just to look at it. The motion passed. Eldon told the senators that the constitution said they could look at re-allocation whenever a new school was formed.

Allocation of senators from School of Computer Science and Engineering - George was asked to wait until the next meeting according to the above motion before senators be allocated to his school.

Use of faculty evaluation information researched by Faculty Evaluation Committee - Damon Bahr gave the senators a handout with the following motions outlined: Motion 1 - An interpretation system of student rating instrument data (summative evaluation) be created that takes the following into account: class standing of the students (freshman, sophomore, etc), the reason the students chose the class (required vs. elective), the role of the class in the students' educational career (major vs. non-major), discipline of the class content (humanities, sciences, business, etc.). Motion 2 - A system-separate from tenure, rank, teacher of the year, and merit-for rewarding bona fide performance improvement efforts by faculty be created. Motion 3 - This improvement reward system shall be funded by the merit bonus monies. Motion 4 - All faculty evaluation entities/systems on campus base their evaluation procedures on three fundamental faculty roles: teaching, scholarship, and service. Motion 5 - All faculty evaluation entities/systems on campus apportion their evaluation procedures according to the following ranges: teaching 40 - 60%, scholarship 20-35%, service 10-25%. Motion 6 - Faculty roles shall be subdivided into components and defined. Motion 7 - Specific procedures for the gathering of assessment data and using that data for evaluating the quality of faculty performance reflect certain guidelines.

George suggested on Motion 1 that a 5^th category be added to reflect classes that are taught in labs. A vote was taken on Motion 1, and the motion passed as originally presented by Damon. The rest of the motions will be voted on in the next senate meeting.

Committee Chair reports:

Academic Policy Advisory Committee - Phil Gordon told the senate that he met with Nancy Bartlett in Human Resources regarding the Faculty Spouse Hiring policy, and he presented his committee's suggested changes. She indicated to him that when she presents the policy his changes will not be added to the policy, but they will be forwarded. Dr. Stoddard said it will be formatted both ways so the changes will be seen in context.

Curriculum Committee - Joe Strange let the senate know that the new computer program for curriculum will be tested in several different departments to see what bugs need to be worked out. He asked that the senators let their departments know that students will be coming around to complete the testing.

ASUVSC - James Toone said he will keep the senate updated on events. On October 3^rd there will be a presentation by the Center for the Study of Ethics. Ralph Barney, a retired professor from BYU, and Jay Black, a professor from the University of South Florida, will be discussing a book they co-authored, "Media & Ethics: Principles for Moral Decisions.

Motion to adjourn: A motion was made to adjourn at 4:25 p.m. The motion passed.