Jill Jasperson explained that her committee received a one-page draft of Policy E-6.2. Her committee discussed the draft document and proposed some changes. She handed all Senators a copy of the proposed changes. The committee felt the need to differentiate between appeals and grievances. The major change is in section XVI. That section discusses grievance procedures. The committee felt those issues discussed should actually go under the appeals procedures in section XV.

Lisa Lambert stated that academic dishonesty appeals needs to be addressed. She was concerned about where the appeal went after the dean. Should it go to the Campus Appeals Board or to the Academic Standard Committee? Grant has discussed this issue with Ryan Thomas. They felt that if the appeal were to stop with the Academic Standards Committee then there should be some student representation on that committee.

Any comments or suggestions to this policy must be submitted on or before November 3, 1998. Senators felt that the difference between an appeal and a grievance needed to be looked into further. Grant stated that Senate also needs to respond to the one issue that was presented before the Senate.

ACTION: Keith Snedegar made a motion to have a wider range of review for the appeals and grievances procedures. Chris Jones seconded the motion. The motion passed with a majority, with two opposing votes.

Lisa Lambert was a member of the Dean's Council Ad Hoc commitee (chaired by Dean Dee Martin). Lisa reported that the issue was raised because there are one or more faculty from the Trades area who have achieved the highest level of education, training and experience in their trade. There are no advanced degrees available for these faculty in their field. Currently, these highly skilled trades faculty cannot be assigned any academic rank. The proposal is to change the Academic Rank policy to permit a Dean to assign the assistant professor rank to faculty who fit this exception.

ACTION: Chris Jones motioned to table this issue for discussion until the next Senate meeting. Senators need to read the policy.

Deborah Merrott announced that the department chairs would be receiving information regarding Teacher of the Year nominations by December 1^st. Teacher of the Year is an award given by Dr. Stoddard's office and Faculty Senate. Deborah would like to know why faculty have not participated in the past. Last year $5,000.00 of Teacher of the Year monies went unspent. She senses that there are some complaints or misconceptions regarding this award and she would appreciate hearing about them. Deborah will send Ernie a copy of the timeline and procedures for him to post on the web.

Grant explained that this Bill will be placed on the web. The Bill states that faculty be allowed to attend other institutions tuition-free on a space available basis. Grant would like any input regarding this Bill. Senators should come to the next meeting prepared for discussion.

Grant explained that Regents are currently appointed by the Governor. The proposal is to implement the election of Regents. This proposal will be posted on the web. Senators should come to the next meeting prepared for discussion.

Grant announced that the Fire Science four-year program was passed through the Board of Regents. The program is designed for chief-level officers and will be implemented in fall of 1999.

Jeff Cold gave each Senator a copy of the AFT/Utah General Election Endorsements. He stated that AFT has carefully surveyed and interviewed the candidates. They were asked about higher education issues. Based on their responses, AFT created their endorsement list. Jeff would like Senators to be involved in the political process. This was not a party-line endorsement, but rather indicated who supports higher education.

Grant announced that the General Faculty meeting scheduled this semester has been moved to January. There will be two meetings in the spring, one in January and the other after the legislature meets. During the January meeting each Faculty Senate Committee will give a report.

Robert Loveridge explained that the Utah Accountability Task Force has decided that we need to conduct a pilot study utilizing the College Assessment of Academic Proficiency (CAAP). They would like some kind of evidence that demonstrates we have some impact on students after they have been here a couple of years. The Regents would like to find some kind of test that is taken nationally after students have completed their general education courses.

The test would be administered to all students and then analyzed to determine the value added. The Regents want to know if the student's performance changed from the time they entered the institution to when they left the institution.

As part of the pilot study we will select a certain percentage of incoming students each year for the next three years to participate in this study, which will be in addition to the Compass test. We will also work with ACT to establish tables that will allow us to relate scores on the ACT and compass exams to the CAAP exam. There will be three to five forms of the CAAP exam. They will all be administered during a class period, taken with paper and pencil.

There has been some discussion among the Task Force members regarding withholding funding on certain things until the scores are analyzed. Robert added that they are also discussing awarding additional funding if the scores from the exam are good.

Tenure Committee

Kirk Rasmussen announced that his committee is about ready to work on the tenure files for this year.

Budget Committee

Ron Hammond announced that his committee has received responses to the survey from three out of four faculty. He thanked everyone for participating.

Faculty Development Committee

Forrest Williams announced that the formative evaluation results will be returned in a couple of days. Forrest and Lisa Lambert have also been meeting with some of the new faculty to see how they are doing and to offer any assistance.

The Faculty Development Committee continues to get requests for travel funds. There are not many requests for instructional development funds.

Chris Jones mentioned to Forrest that he had met with his department and they discussed posting student evaluations on the Internet. His department was not supportive of the idea. Forrest asked Senators to forward any concerns or comments to Stephanie Larsen. Stephanie explained that she has met with Ryan Thomas, Tom Hover and Bob Rasmussen. She will be informing Faculty Senate as she receives more information.

Faculty Merit Committee

Duane Miller announced that their committee has finally got an empty basket.