MINUTES

Faculty Senate Meeting

October 26, 1999

3:00 - 5:00 p.m.

SC117

ATTENDANCE

Absent: Larry Holt, Max Christofferson, Chester Heath, Lori Richards, Denza Bruss, Gary Noll, Nate Oldham, Gary Griffin

Excused: President Romesburg, Luis Arzola, Tom Perkins, David Manning, Kaurie Wood

Guest: Ernie Carey, Nancy Plagge, Paula Tibbets

CALL TO ORDER
Grant Richards called the meeting to order at 3:03 p.m.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES
The minutes from the October 12^th Faculty Senate meeting will be approved next week due to problems getting posted on the Senate web site. Michaela Brinkerhoff will be sending them as an e-mail attachment before the next meeting.

ACADEMIC STANDARDS REVISION
Nancy Plagge and Paula Tibbets presented changes they hope to have made to the Academic Standards Policy. The changes should make it easier for students to be aware of their academic responsibilities as well as insure their academic success. A handout was distributed to show the newly revised policy as well as one to show what is covered in the workshops for struggling students.

Elaine Byrd questioned the possibility of making exceptions for students who have had a history of good grades. The policy appears unforgiving to students who only have one occurrence of academic trouble.

Chris Jones expressed the need to present the Faculty Senate with both old and new version of the policy when being reviewed. It is difficult to judge a policy without being able to compare them.. Karl Worthington stated concern of presenting the proposed policy without declaring it as a draft. John Balden wanted the wording in the proposed policy to be changed slightly. He would like to take the word �exhausted� out and exchange it with words to indicate possibility for readmittance.

Janet Bennion motioned to have everyone review the old and proposed policies with their departments before the next meeting. Michaela will be responsible for having putting the old version on the Faculty Senate web site for review. The voting was unanimous.

INFO ITEMS
Grant Richards passed out information indicating the number of UVSC students attending from specific areas of Utah County.

Grant then presented a copy of the new UVSC Mission Statement which was recently voted on by the Board of Trustees. The new clauses make reference to the high level of ethics we offer at UVSC. Dr. Lucille Stoddard offered explanation on how these changes were made. She insured Senate members changes can still be made; their voice and input will be heard.

Doug Miller questioned Dr. Stoddard about the ethics theme and what kind of input the faculty had to the ethics requirements. Dr. Stoddard discussed ethics as more than just a class required by students. Ethics is becoming a national issue. She also stressed how interdisciplinary it is.

Grant Richards feels it is necessary to question the content of the changes made to the mission statement as well as the process by which these changes were made. In reference to having changes made without going through proper channels, Grant said this should not happen again.

Ron Hammond took a few minutes to express his concern about Faculty Senate being ignored in the process of appealing the new language in the mission statement. Dr. Stoddard said President Romesburg was fully intending to bring the mission statement back to the senate for review.

Janet Bennion suggested we consider the wording of the new additions to the mission statement. She felt the final words should be more encompassing.

Ron Hammond said there were issues of academic freedom and conflict of interest. He then questioned whether ethics courses went through the curriculum committee. Dr. Stoddard assured him it did. To be an approved core course, any such core has to go through the proper curriculum process. Doug Miller asked wether the ethics course was approved as a legitimate core course.

REGENTS REPORT
Grant Richards distributed copies of the executive summary master plan. He said this information should answer questions from the last Senate meeting. We can submit our response to the regents for the master plan. Karl Worthington said performance indicators are being required of all institutions including two institutional specific indicators, and a separate movement of accountability which community colleges have agreed to. These indicators will help us to see how we are doing as well as how we can improve.

Dr. Stoddard announced our Criminal Justice Degree was approved, and our Aviation Degree should be approved next. Diamond Aircraft has donated 1.3 million dollars in planes etc. to our college.

Karl then summarized the discussion on tuition increases. After much debate, a 3% increase was passed.

Grant Richards handed out information on budget requests. Grant referred to it as a wish list not likely to happen.

Ron Hammond briefly mentioned the Outcomes Assessment Conference he attended. He said our teacher evaluations are incredibly inaccurate and our scales are flawed according to what he learned.

TEACHER EVALUATIONS
Damon Bahr is correlating with various entities on campus for improved performance and consistency. If one of these entities makes changes in the evaluation process, they need to make sure it does not effect one of the other correlated entities. This will require collaborative effort and communication from each of these groups.

POLITICAL ACTION
Grant Richards passed out a web site address to help senators find their local representatives. Each Senator is to find their representative and help others in their department do the same. Letters, phone calls, and visits are strongly encouraged. We need to make a lot more noise to get what we need. The UEA is making a lot of noise and they are being heard.

Janet Bennion had information on fall enrollment. She obtained data which indicated the number of students who reside in various zip code areas. This information can be included in our letters to the legislators. Once again, Janet emphasized the need to personalize the letters to our representatives.

SERVICE PROJECT
Renee Van Buren gave us an update on the wetlands project. After one last approval, volunteers will be allowed to start clearing the Russian Olive trees.

POLICIES
Signage: Jill Jasperson presented overheads on the Signage policy. (formerly tabled) These suggestions will be forwarded to the ad hoc committee for consideration. Chris Jones added the need for web addresses and cell phone numbers to be put on business cards. Consideration must also be made for new buildings and structures which do not fall under this policy.

Elaine Byrd motioned to have these suggestions passed on to the ad hoc committee for review. The motion was seconded by Kathie Debenham. The voting was unanimous.

Sabbatical Leave: Questions concerning the possibility of getting 100% pay on sabbatical leave still exist. Dr. Lucille Stoddard once again stressed the incredible flexibility the newer policy allows.

Ron Hammond motioned to have the Academic Policy Committee look over this policy and have it rewritten for better clarification. Bryant Farnsworth seconded the motion. The voting was unanimous.

Classroom Management: Tom Hover thought it a good idea to link �Student Rights and Responsibilities� to the classroom management policy. Two possible locations for this addition were mentioned. It was questioned if the �Student Rights and Responsibilities� pamphlet was even considered policy and if it was right to link it to an official policy. These questions will be looked at and considered before the next Faculty Senate meeting.

COMMITTEE REPORTS
Keith Snedegar reported on merit issues. None of the schools meet the return deadline to submit criteria for awarding merit. This was to be discussed and voted upon by October 4, 1999. Schools are encouraged to get this information decided upon quickly. Grant said we need to make sure everyone knows what is required of them and hopefully each school will have their criteria submitted by November 18^th.

Paul Bean motion to adjourn and Eldon Greenhalgh seconded the motion. The meeting adjourned at 5:00 p.m. Voting was unanimous.