Minutes for December 4, 2000

The Faculty Senate of Eastern Kentucky University met on Monday, December 4, 2000 in the South Room of the Keen Johnson Building. Senator Taylor called the fourth meeting of the academic year to order at 3:30 p.m.

The following members of the Senate were absent:

^*denotes prior notification of absence to the Faculty Senate Secretary

Visitors to the Senate were: Joy Anderson, Patti Costello, Oliver Feltus, Steve Breeden, Joe Molinaro, Karen Spears, Gil Smith, Frank Shaw, Gary Kuhnhenn, Bonnie Plummer, Rita Davis, Jim Haynes, and Ed Davis

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES:

The May 1 minutes were approved without corrections.

The November 6, 2000 minutes were approved with the following change: on Page 3, it should be: "report from the COSFL representative."

REPORT FROM THE PRESIDENT: Senator Kustra

Dr. Kustra introduced Ken Johnston, the new Vice President for Financial Affairs who comes to Eastern from Auburn University at Montgomery. The President indicated that Mr. Johnston will also be assuming the job of the preparation of the budget, so he will be working closely with the Faculty Senate Budget Committee through the earlier weeks of next year.

The Council on Postsecondary Education has indicated that sometime next year they will meet with each university to provide an opportunity to replace five benchmark institutions. Eastern will try to align its benchmarks with that of Western Kentucky University, as that is the university most similar to Eastern. By changing some of the benchmarks, Eastern should expect to receive a more appropriate budget allocation than was granted during this current biennium.

Discussions will soon begin on the budget for the second year of this biennium with the Faculty Senate Budget Committee and other campus constituencies until the final budget recommendation is made in April. As you may recall, in the second year of this biennium, there is a 3.7% increase in base funding. Last year it was only 2.7%. So that extra 1% will make a big difference, and will provide a little more flexibility. Secondly, Eastern now has the $850,000 received for recruitment and retention.

While the retention goal for last year was met, the recruitment goal was not met. Recruitment and retention efforts are absolutely the primary focus of the university. Recruitment is a much more competitive environment than it once was, and there is no question that students are deciding to go elsewhere for reasons such as the quality of residential facilities and the kind of campus life available, and whether or not they feel warm and welcome. Eastern currently has a very impressive array of campus partners who have joined together to completely re-think and re-tool the approach to recruitment. Also, Eastern's admissions process can now be accessed online. To date there have been approximately 200 students admitted through the online process.

REPORT FROM THE CHAIR: Senator Taylor

The Student Government Association and the Faculty Senate have a joint Ad Hoc Committee on fraternization. Faculty representation on that committee includes Dr. Connie Callahan, Dr. Bankole Thompson, and Dr. Susan Willis.

The faculty representation on the Ad Hoc Promotion and Tenure Committee will include: Dr. David Greenlee, Dr. Renee Taylor, Dr. Sheila Virgin and Ferrell Wellman and Dr. James Wells.

The members of the Ad Hoc Committee on Lecturers and Part Time Lecturers will be: Dr. Jan Downing, Dr. Renee Everett has agreed to chair that, Ron Hopkins, Judith Lindquist, and Homer Tracy.

The University Ad Hoc Committee on General Education met with the Executive Committee on November 20. This committee asked Senator Taylor to remind the faculty that this committee would like feedback from departments, college curriculum committees, and the faculty on its current draft on general education. The deadline for feedback is by spring break.

The Executive Committee would like to request the Faculty Rights and Responsibilities Committee to investigate or gather information on the establishing of an ombudsman for the faculty.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS:

Shared Faculty Positions Proposal. Karen Spears introduced the Shared Faculty Positions Proposal and provided a brief history of the committee's work on the process. Senator Johnson made a motion to approve the proposal. The motion was approved by the Faculty Senate.

NEW BUSINESS:

Council on Academic Affairs. Senator Marsden moved to approve the new minor in Appalachian Studies. The minor was approved by the Faculty Senate.

Senator Marsden moved to approve the following three proposals submitted by the Department of Art. The proposals were approved by the Faculty Senate.

1. Suspend A.A. Degree program in Interior Design Assistant
2. Suspend the B.A. Art/teaching degree program
3. Revise the B.A. Art degree

Senator Marsden moved to approve the three proposed changes listed below in the Department of English. The three proposed changes were approved by the Faculty Senate.

1. Change the name from the Department of English to the Department of English and Theatre
2. Suspend the B.A. In Speech and Theatre Arts
3. Change the name of the B.A. In Theatre Arts to a B.A. In Theatre

Senator Marsden moved to approve the six proposed curriculum changes in the Department of Geography and Planning which are listed below. These items were approved by the Faculty Senate.

1. Change the name of the department from the Department of Geography and Planning to the Department of Geography
2. Revision of the B.A. in Geography
3. Change the title and curriculum of the minor in Natural Resource Analysis to Natural Resource Geography.
4. Change the curriculum and title of the minor in Planning to Community and Regional Planning.
5. Suspend the minor in Travel and Tourism
6. Create a new minor entitled: Minor in Geotechniques

Senator Marsden moved approval to suspend the B.B.A. Economics degree Program in the College of Business and Technology. This was passed by the Faculty Senate.

Senator Marsden moved to approve a new certificate program in Accounting in the Department of Accounting, Finance and Information Systems. This motion was passed by the Faculty Senate.

Senator Marsden moved to approve the adoption of the three curricular items in the Communication Department listed below. The motion was approved by the Faculty Senate.

1. Revise the B.A. Degree Program in Speech Communication:
2. Suspend the Health Communication option in the Speech Communication degree
3. Create a new minor in Dispute Resolution

Senator Marsden moved to approve the five curriculum items proposed by the Department of Technology which are listed below. The items were approved by the Faculty Senate.

1. Suspend the Architectural Drafting Technology Minor
2. Change the B.S. Area Major in Manufacturing Technology
3. Change the minor in Manufacturing Technology
4. Change the Major in Vocational-Industrial and Technical Education (Teaching) (A.S.)
5. Revise the Vocational-Industrial and Technical Education (Teaching) (B.S.) Area

Senator Marsden moved to approve the revision in the Community Nutrition M.S. Degree. The motion was passed by the Faculty Senate.

Senator Marsden moved to approve the creation of a new program in the College of Education: Master of Arts in Teaching: Secondary and P-12 Education Option. This motion was passed by the Faculty Senate.

Ad Hoc Committee on Salary Inequities. Senator Marsden made a motion to create a joint ad hoc committee between the Provost Council and the Faculty Senate to work on a university salary inequities policy, seconded by Senator Collins. Senator Taylor agreed to appoint five faculty members to serve on the joint committee. This motion was passed by the Faculty Senate.

STANDING COMMITTEES:

Committee on Budget. Senator Rink reported for the committee. The committee has met several times to study the budget summary as well as to talk about issues on the budget, particularly the budget shortfall. The committee has met with President Kustra and other members of administration, and a proposal was made in early December to look at ways to which to compensate for the shortfall.

Committee on Rules. Senator Yoder gave a progress report for the committee. The committee met and discussed the following topics:

1. The Committee on Rules was requested by the Executive Committee to review the faculty handbook for discrepancies. Many discrepancies were found.
2. The Committee was charged with the task of drafting a statement about the role of the faculty senate in the reorganization of the university. Last year's draft has been revised and will be discussed again at the January committee meeting.
3. In the research by the committee, a statement was found in a previous set of Faculty Senate minutes that in order to fulfill the function of maintaining communication between the faculty at large and the administration, the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate needs to be informed of the disposition of all motions originating from the Faculty Senate. This item will be discussed further at the committee's January meeting.
4. The committee is in the process of drafting a statement about the role of the faculty senate and/or the rules committee in any revisions of the faculty handbook.
5. The committee was asked to consider a longer term for part time representatives. This will be discussed further at the January meeting.

Senator Yoder made a motion to establish an ad hoc committee to examine the new faculty handbook for inaccuracies and inconsistencies, seconded by Senator Dilka. Senator Taylor suggested having one representative from each college serve on the committee along with a representative from the Committee on Rules. Senator Yoder agreed with this suggestion. This motion was passed by the Faculty Senate.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Retirement Transition Proposal. Senator Marsden commented that a proposal should be coming to the Faculty Senate in the near future on a new retirement transition proposal.

Sponsoring an Open Forum. Senator Freed made a motion to hold an open forum brown bag luncheon with the Provost sometime in early January, seconded by Senator Thompson. This motion was approved by the Faculty Senate.

ADJOURNMENT:

Senator Marsden moved to adjourn the meeting at approximately 5:30 p.m.

click here for printable version of minutes

You will need to have the Adobe Acrobat Reader plug-in installed on your computer in order to view and print a hard copy of the minutes.