Minutes for February 2, 2004

The Faculty Senate of Eastern Kentucky University met on Monday, February 2, 2004 in the South Room of the Keen Johnson Building. Senator Johnson called the sixth 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
^ J. Lindquist attended for F. Sharp

Visitors to the Senate were: Paul Blanchard, Government Relations; Jim Conneely, Student Affairs; Norb Elbert, Management & Marketing Admin. Comm.; Allen Engle, Management & Marketing Admin. Comm.; Renee Everett, Communications; Ken Johnston, Finances; EJ Keeley, Institutional Research; Cassondra Kirby, The Eastern Progress; Bart Meyer, University Advancement; Kristina O'Brien, SGA; John Shafer, Athletics; Aaron Thompson, Enrollment Management; Virginia Underwood, Equal Opportunities; Elizabeth Wachtel, Academic Affairs; John Wade, Arts & Sciences; and Marc Whitt, Public Relations & Marketing

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:

The January 12, 2004 minutes were approved as written.

REPORT FROM THE PRESIDENT: Senator Glasser

Senator Glasser reported that Eastern's share of the higher education cut will be $4,483,500 or approximately a 6.4% reduction in state appropriations to be implemented prior to June 30th of this fiscal year. The good news is that this reduction will be achieved without employee layoffs or any cuts in academic programs.

The Strategic Planning Council and the Budget Council are jointly working on budget recommendations for the next biennium.

There is now a plan in place to update the University's electrical system. Bonds will be sold in June to help finance the renovation project. Senator Glasser expressed her appreciation to the campus community for their support during the recent electrical outages; and she commended Marc Whitt and Ron Yoder for their expediency in making updates available to the campus community through the web and the EKU hot line.

Senator Glasser shared several noteworthy faculty activities:

1. Seven graduate students will be presenting research projects and theses at the Kentucky Speech Language and Hearing Association State Conference in two weeks.
2. The Department of English and Theater has established a faculty mentoring program for publication of research. This semester Hal Blythe, Charlie Sweet and Barbara Szubinska have jointly written an article which was published. They have two more articles forthcoming. Also, Dr. Blythe and Dr. Sweet are writing their third book in the series, "It Works For Me."
3. Introduction to Geographical Information Systems (GIS) is being offered again this spring as an online course. This is the only online GIs course offered in Kentucky and one of only a handful offered online in the nation.
4. Staci Wilson at Model Laboratory School has achieved the National Board Certification.
5. At Model Laboratory School, sixth grade students are participating in the filming of a KET program along with Dr. Marianne McAdams. The program addresses the integration of dance into the core content.
6. Continuing Education and Outreach is piloting a new concern response management system which will help us become more proactive in dealing with the concerns of nontraditional and off-campus students at Eastern.
7. Dr. Janna Vice was recently appointed to the Kentucky State Board of Education.
8. Dr. Judy Short from the Department of Baccalaureate and Graduate Nursing has been chosen as the Foundation Professor for 2004-2006. Dr. Short will be formally acknowledged and recognized at the spring commencement ceremony.

Senator Glasser introduced Bart Meyer, the new Vice President for University Advancement and Edward J. Keeley, the new Director of Institutional Research.

On Thursday, Senator Glasser, Dr. Paul Blanchard and Kristina O'Brien, SGA President, will be attending the Higher Education Day rally in Frankfort. SGA has arranged transportation for faculty and students to attend the rally. Ms. O'Brien has been selected to be the student speaker on behalf of all Kentucky students.

The football banquet was held Saturday night in Keen Johnson. Joan Hopkins, Coordinator of the SAAS Center, announced that during this past semester over 50% of the football players had a 3.0 grade point average or above. The credit for that goes, in large part, to John Shafer, Athletic Director, who continues to emphasize the importance of academics to student athletes.

President Glasser thanked the campus community for their outflow of support regarding her upcoming visit to Illinois State University. She emphasized, however, that she remains fully committed to EKU and will continue to work tirelessly for the betterment of the University.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Senator Johnson stated that he hopes President Glasser will choose to stay at EKU. The opportunities for shared governance during her tenure and her overall accessibility to faculty has been unprecedented.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT: Senator Johnson

Senator Johnson reported that the Executive Committee met on January 26, 2004. Senator Dunston was in attendance to share the Rights and Responsibilities Committee's work on a shared governance document.

The Executive Committee discussed a report from the Ad Hoc Committee on Promotion and Tenure. The Provost and Senator Johnson are currently working to narrow the report down to a policy proposition that will be brought before the Senate in the near future.

Senator Johnson announced that Senator A. Jones will be replacing him for the remainder of the semester on the Strategic Planning Committee.

PROVOST REPORT: Senator Cook

Senator Cook reminded everyone that the Dean of Arts and Sciences search and the Dean of Graduate Education and Research search are progressing. He encouraged everyone to participate in the open lunches and forums and relay feedback to the search committees.

REPORT FROM STUDENT GOVERNMENT: Kristina O'Brien

Ms. O'Brien reminded everyone about the rally against state budget cuts in higher education that will be held on Thursday, February 5 in Frankfort. Transportation will be provided for those who would like to attend. The bus will depart from the Daniel Boone statue at 9:30 a.m. Lunch will be provided. The return to campus will be approximately 5:00 p.m.

First Weekend will be Thursday, Friday and Saturday of this week. Everyone is invited to the free midnight breakfast at 10:00 p.m. on Thursday evening.

February 10th at 5:00 p.m. there will be a student forum on academic integrity in the Food Court in the Powell Building.

February 28th is the annual President's Ball. Student Government sponsors the event.

The technology fee allocations applications are now available. Applications must include a letter of faculty support and a letter of student support. Deadline for applications is March 5.

Under the new structure, Student Government consists of Student Activities Council, Residence Life Council and the Student Senate. Each body will be attending conferences during this month to enhance their leadership abilities.

The Student Senate this past year passed a resolution concerning the cyber café that is being proposed in the library. Some of SGA's concerns include the noise factor as well as the relocation of the student computers.

Ms. O'Brien thanked the Senate for creating the Ad Hoc Committee on Academic Integrity. She expressed her hopes that the Senate will consider creating Ad Hoc Committees to study the issues of advising and class attendance.

Ms. O'Brien reported that during spring break the new computer-generated, number system which will replace social security numbers will be implemented.

STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS

Budget Committee. Senator Siegel reported that the Budget Committee met on January 29 to continue discussion on changes in staffing of faculty and administrator positions at Eastern. Ken Johnston clarified a number of points about differences between restricted and nonrestricted lines. He also informed the Committee that he has instituted tracking processes in his office which should provide more useful data on position changes in the future.

The Budget Committee plans to invite the Director of Institutional Research to a future meeting.

The committee is finalizing plans for a late March Budget Forum which will be open to the entire campus. Panel members will include Lyle Cook and Ken Johnson. Additional information will be forthcoming.

Rules Committee. Senator M. Yoder reminded everyone that previously the Senate approved a list of titles that should receive faculty status for the purpose of the Faculty Regent election. If there are additional titles which should be included, please share those with the Rules Committee. An updated list will be presented at the March Senate meeting along with the revised election committee procedures for faculty.

Rights and Responsibilities Committee. Senator Dunston reported that the committee continues their involvement with the "Faculty Shared Governance Project." The instrument the committee plans to use is the "Evaluation of Shared Governance" provided by the AAUP. The committee continues to liaison with Senator McKenney, the President of the EKU Chapter of the AAUP.

The committee plans to work closely with Institutional Research to develop an online survey which will be distributed to all faculty. A time line will be established in the near future.

Elections Committee. Senator DeBolt reported that the deadline for Faculty Regent nominations has been extended until next Monday, February 9. The forums will be held on Monday February 23 and Tuesday February 24 from 3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. The nomination petition forms are available on the Faculty Senate home page along with the procedures.

An e-mail was recently distributed to those senators whose term expires at the end of the spring semester. The committee has asked that departments notify them by March with their new Senate representatives.

Welfare Committee. Senator G. Yoder reported that the Welfare Committee met briefly this month to outline the agenda for the remainder of the semester.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS:

Salary Inequities Adjustment Appeals Motion. At January's meeting an amendment was proposed to the original amended motion. Senator Siegel, seconded by Senator Sexton, moved to defer discussion to the February meeting.

Senator Carmean requested that her motion to amend the salary inequities adjustment appeals motion be withdrawn. The motion in its originally amended state was approved by the majority of the Senate.

NEW BUSINESS:

Council on Academic Affairs. Senator Cook presented the following items:

1. General Education Proposal (information item only)
2. New Policy on Declaring a Major (information item only)
3. Assets Protection & Security Program Revision
4. Speech Communication Program Revision

Senator Cook moved approval of item 3, seconded by Senator Smith. The motion was approved by the Senate.

Senator Cook moved approval of item 4, seconded by Senator Siegel. The motion was approved by the Senate.

Posthumous Degree for Lewis McKay Ballard. Senator Siegel moved approval, seconded by Senator Hubbard to award a posthumous degree for Lewis McKay Ballard. The motion was approved by the Senate.

Student Affairs Report. James Conneely, Vice President for Student Affairs, gave an informational report on the campus parking situation and the EKU bookstore.

There are a lot of challenges on campus with enforcement parking. Staffing is a definite challenge. There are only three personnel lines dedicated to parking enforcement on campus and sometimes these positions must be utilized in other areas such as traffic control, driving buses for university functions, etc. Another challenge is that parking and police services have always been a combined unit. It takes approximately 8 months from the time a police officer is hired before their services can be utilized.

The Police Chief has been asked to heavily enforce parking for the fire lanes and the designated handicapped areas because those areas are mandated by law. Other parking regulations reflect university policies; and, with limited staff available, those regulations may not be enforced as fully as needed.

We will be bringing in a parking and transportation consultant in the near future to do a comprehensive study in order to develop a long range plan to enhance the parking situation at EKU.

A parking garage is not an option at this time because of the cost factor. One parking garage spot would cost roughly $8,000 to $10,000 to build versus one surface parking spot at $1,200 to $1,500.

Another hindrance is that tickets are still being handwritten which requires a good deal of time. A computerized system for writing tickets is being considered.

Last year there were several problems with textbooks arriving in time for classes. There were a number of reasons for the delay. Some books were out of print and the bookstore didn't receive notification ; there were several publisher back orders; and there were several late textbook submissions.

The bookstore staff met with chairs to hear their concerns and faculty concerns regarding the challenges in getting books ordered. This fall one month after textbook orders were due 74% of the orders were in. This is a vast improvement over the past. In addition, this fall 80% of all books ordered were on the shelves prior to the start of classes. This spring, over 90% of all books ordered were on the shelves prior to the start of classes.

This spring, a hot line directly to the textbook manager was established for faculty with textbook issues during the first week in the semester. This seemed to be helpful and will be continued.

This coming spring, the bookstore will be open from noon until 6:00 p.m. one day a week at each extended campus site. The schedule is as follows: Tuesday - Manchester; Wednesday - Danville; and Thursday Corbin.

There will be a publishers fair held on February 10. Additional information will be forthcoming.

ADJOURNMENT:

Senator Cook moved to adjourn at approximately 5:05 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.