Minutes for March 5, 2007

The Faculty Senate of Eastern Kentucky University met on Monday, March 5, 2007 in the South Room of the Keen Johnson Building. Senator Eakin called the sixth meeting of the academic year to order at approximately 3:30 p.m.

The following members of the Senate were absent:

^*Indicates prior notification of absence to the Faculty Senate Secretary
^ALT Wally Borowski attended for M. Dieckmann
^ALT Clemma Alcorn attended for B. Foley
^ALT Brooke Bentley attended for E. Hunter
^ALT Christine Taylor attended for J. Lowry
^ALT Dana Howell attended for S. Shasby
^ALT Mary Whitaker attended for L. Wray

Visitors to the Senate were: Gary Barksdale, Human Resources, Bob Biggins, CDE; Trish Birchfield, Baccalaureate & Graduate Nursing; Jim Conneely, Student Affairs; David Fifer, SGA; David Gale, Health Sciences; Phillip Gump, SACS; Sarah Hall, Baccalaureate & Graduate Nursing; Jan Hecht, Health Promotion & Admin.; Sandy Hunter, Emergency Medical Care; Jerry Johnson, CDE; Larry Kelley, Baccalaureate & Graduate Nursing; Kim Naugle, CDE; Jerry Pogatshnik, Graduate Education & Research; Barry Poynter, Financial Affairs; Jaleh Rezaie, SACS; Mike Sheliga, Technology; Aaron Thompson, University Programs; and Marc Whitt, Public Relations & Marketing

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
The February 5, 2007 minutes were approved as written.

REPORT FROM THE PRESIDENT: Senator Glasser

Senator Glasser congratulated the EKU Colonels for winning the OVC championship and for reaching the NCAA playoffs for the second time in three years. A campus-wide celebration is scheduled for Sunday when the NCAA team announcements will be made. Additional information will be available soon.

Senator Glasser shared the following updates in her written report to the Senate.

The next six weeks will be spent in final preparation for the SACS on-site visit April 10-12. The QEP was reviewed by the University Community through January 18 and the final copy was mailed to the SACS on-site team on February 27. Additionally, EKU submitted this week the Focused Reports for the Compliance Certification and all other related materials. In March, individuals who will be directly involved in the site visits will attend an Orientation. However, the team can request to talk to anyone on campus so everyone is encouraged to become familiar with the QEP. During March, the university community is invited to discuss the impact of the QEP. Discussion questions will be circulated through a variety of venues.

The Strategic Planning Committee recently concluded final assessment of the 2003-2006 strategic planning cycle. A final progress report was submitted to the President and Provost and is accessible at the Office of Institutional Effectiveness website. This report includes a summary of institutional progress based on the key performance indicators included in the plan.

As reported in February, EKU has launched a bold, new financial aid program that widens the safety net to reach those students and families least able to finance a college education. On March 5, EKU faculty will receive additional information on this new BEACON Program and CPE's "Brain Gain" report. The CPE's report shows that Eastern Kentucky University has the highest percentage of postsecondary graduates who remain in Kentucky of any public institution and that EKU is offering academic programs that serve the Commonwealth's needs.

Recent recruiting highlights include the following:

• As of February 26, 2007, 5,065 applications for admission have been received and 3,032 new first-year students have been admitted for Fall 07.
• Spotlight on Saturday, February 24th hosted 475 participants. The next Spotlight is scheduled for Saturday, March 24th.
• The first round of Spring Prospective Student Receptions in six different areas in Kentucky and Ohio is complete, and four more are scheduled for this term.
• As part of the broadening national student recruitment effort, EKU recruited students at National College Fairs in Atlanta and Detroit.

The Council on Postsecondary Education, in conjunction with input from the public institutions, will be formulating, over the next several months, the funding model requesting state appropriations for the next biennium. In addition, the CPE will make recommendations for capital projects.

The schedule is nearly complete for this year's Alumni Weekend. The Alumni Banquet and Induction Ceremonies will be held on the evening of Saturday, April 28th. For additional information, contact the Office of Alumni Affairs at 622-1261.

Planning is well underway for Homecoming 2007 scheduled for October 19th and 20th. If departments or student organizations want like to participate in any special Homecoming activities, please contact Jackie Collier at 622-1261.

The newly redesigned alumni magazine, Eastern, will be unveiled later this month. For additional information, please contact Marc Whitt in the Office of Public Relations and Marketing at 622-8615.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS:

Report from Council on Academic Affairs

Registrar Heidi Terry was in attendance to answer questions; and she shared an informative powerpoint presentation, survey results and additional supporting documents (att1, att2, att3, att4, att5) to better explain the rationale for the new policy.

For clarification purposes, Senator Schlomann reminded that at the February meeting she moved to split the proposal into two motions. The first motion was to approve the procedural process, and the second motion dealt with whether or not students could graduate with an "I" on their record.

Senator Rainey moved to postpone further discussion to the April meeting, seconded by Senator Johnson.

Senator May moved to charge the Rights and Responsibilities Committee with developing amendments to the proposal and have them report their recommendations at the April meeting, seconded by Senator Johnson. The majority were in favor of sending the proposal to the Rights and Responsibilities Committee and the motion carried.

The motion to postpone further discussion until April also carried.

Senator Robles asked that anyone with feedback on the issue should email her as soon as possible. In addition, those interested in attending the committee's meeting, should notify her.

Adopt Senate Resolution Regarding Faculty Workload. Senator Piercey moved, seconded by Senator Sambrook, to add the following statement to the beginning of the proposed Faculty Workload resolution "The faculty at Eastern Kentucky University strongly encourage".

The majority of the Senate were in favor of the amendment, and the motion carried.

The majority of the Senate were in favor of the amended resolution (see below), and the motion carried.

NEW BUSINESS:

Report from Council on Academic Affairs - Senator Piercey

1. Summer Enrollment Levels (informational item)
2. Educational Leadership department name change to Educational Leadership & Policy (informational item)
3. Special Education restructuring of department
4. Graduate School Proposals (time limit for master's degree, academic bankruptcy, & suspension of candidacy)
5. Literacy Consultant Endorsement - New Program Option
6. Educational Leadership & Policy Studies (EdD) - New Program [supporting documents: att1, att2, att3, att4]
7. Dual Credit Policy
8. Loss Prevention & Safety (MS) - Change program title to: Safety, Security & Emergency Management
9. Homeland Security Certificate - New Certificate

Items 1-3 were introduced as informational items only.

Senator Piercey moved approval of items 4-9, seconded by Senator Sambrook. The majority were in favor and the motion carried.

Arlington Board Draft Letter. Senator May moved approval of the Arlington Board letter, seconded by Senator Fenton. The majority were in favor and the motion carried.

GENERAL & STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS

Senator Piercey provided the following updates in his written report to the Senate.

Senator Piercey reminded everyone that the framework for distribution of the one-time merit funds to faculty is still being reviewed. So far he has met with the Chairs Association, the Senate Welfare Committee, the Faculty Senate and held two open forums to allow for faculty feedback. Any faculty who still wish to make comments or suggestions may contact him through email.

The Promotion and Tenure process for 2006-2007 has been completed. There were 31 tenure applications, of which 30 were approved and one was denied; and there were 47 promotion applications of which 42 were approved and 5 were denied.

The Council on Academic Affairs has approved three proposals from the Graduate School and Graduate Council: 1) to suspend the process of graduate candidacy; 2) to implement an Academic Bankruptcy policy for graduate students; and 3) to extend the seven-year time limit for graduate programs that exceed 40 semester hours of required coursework.

The Graduate School and ITDS have begun a full implementation of the CARES report for all graduate programs. Until now, only a limited number of graduate programs have been included in the CARES system. Fall 2007 is the projected completion date.

The Graduate School has established a working group to look at ways to streamline the process for graduation. The first meeting of the workgroup will be held on March 28. There will also be training sessions conducted on the new policies and procedures for processing graduate assistantships. Interested faculty and staff should contact Ms. Nikki Kowalski at ext: 2-1744 for additional information.

Plans for new faculty orientation are underway for the fall. Thus far, ten new faculty have been hired for fall 2007. There are currently 35 positions pending.

The General Education Committee meets on March 6th to consider a proposal for Thinking and Communicating Across the Curriculum, one of the QEP funded proposals. This proposal will require one writing intensive general education course for students who begin baccalaureate studies in Fall 2007 or later contingent upon approval of the QEP by SACS in April.

STUDENT GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION: David Fifer

Mr. Fifer distributed a complimentary deck of "54 things to do at EKU" playing cards to each of the senators. Hundreds of the cards have already made their way to different events on campus. 3000 decks have been set aside to distribute to first-year students in late summer.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the "Colonel Path" is scheduled for March 21 at 1 p.m. The "Colonel Path" is the pedestrian footpath that will link campus to the downtown business district.

SGA has received 23 submissions from students to design the logo for the new campus shuttle buses. SGA and the Parking and Transportation Committee will select the top three designs, and President Glasser has been asked to select the winning design.

The Student Activities Council is responsible for scheduling extracurricular programming and has a budget of approximately $200,000. Mr. Fifer is currently working with the leadership of that branch to develop a formal assessment process.

Student Government continues to be concerned about freedom of expression on campus. SGA recently protested and made some suggestions to the administration about ways they can relax some of their restrictions on postings and banners on campus.

STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Rules Committee. Senator McKenney reported that the committee met on February 21st and will meet again this Wednesday. The committee is researching ways to track the progress of Senate motions once they're approved by the main body.

Election Committee. Senator Randles reported that there were six Faculty Regent candidates and 360 faculty voted in the election. There will be a run-off election between Dr. Malcolm Frisbee and Dr. David Sefton from March 26 to April 2. Special thanks to Bethany Miller for her assistance with the online voting process.

The Election Committee is also working on the election for a new part time faculty representative. The online part time faculty election will be held toward the last of the month.

Committee on Committee. Senator Dieckmann reported that the committee met on January 25. The committee's goal is to have the online form for self evaluations to University committees available by February 19.

Welfare Committee. Senator Collins reported that the Welfare Committee has been meeting with the Provost to discuss the role the Senate might play in shared governance, which is one of the committee's charges.

The committee is also still crunching data, had one meeting with the Chief of Staff, and is still searching for additional data on trend analysis of administration versus faculty.

ANNOUNCEMENT:

Wally Skiba, Benefits & Compensation Manager in Human Resources, reported that 125 EKU employees' personal information was comprised when some of Anthem's encrypted files were stolen. Those individuals affected should have received a letter from Anthem outlining the situation. In addition, Anthem has agreed to provide one year free credit-report monitoring for those affected. Comments or questions can be emailed to Gary Barksdale.

FOR THE GOOD OF THE ORDER:

The topic of discussion was "Preliminary Framework for Distributing One-Time Merit Funds To Faculty."

Senator Carter asked if there would be merit pay in the foreseeable future which would be added to the base salary? Senator Piercey answered that when funding is available, it will be added to base salaries; however, at the present time that option is not available.

Senator Johnson asked if this is a one-time bonus, how will it work for people who receive it? Senator Piercey answered that it becomes a part of the standard computation, would count toward retirement, and taxes would be withheld.

Senator May asked what about the 65/35 percentage rule that's been talked about, and what is the actual time frame being considered? Senator Piercey answered that the 65/35 percentage rule is an example of one model being considered for distribution, and the the performance assessment would be based on last year's performance.

Senator Waters indicated that her faculty are concerned about a "new merit policy" being introduced at this late date. Faculty feel this is very divisive and pits faculty against one another.

Senator Houston suggested that the main problem seems to be the time issue. Any changes discussed should be focused on merit pay distribution for the future, not for current distribution. Again, it needs to be clearly understood what time frame is actually being considered.

Senator May stressed that he understands the goal behind merit and realizes that it is not an across the-board distribution, but in his department, their policy states that a pay raise must be above 5% accumulatively before merit can be considered. If the 65%/35% rule is used, then his department would be in violation of the faculty handbook. Senator May suggested that for this year departments should be allowed to use their own policies, and that the Provost should inform the deans and chairs who are in violation, that their policies have to be revised for next year.

Senator Shordike remarked that this seems to be the exact same thing that was looked at last year. There were different numbers, but it was still the highest performers who were going to get the big bulk of the money, which was also a one-time award. What is the difference between what happened last year and what is being proposed this year?

Senator Piercey promised to explore that issue, since he wasn't here last year and can't address that at this time. However, he reiterated that a new policy or policy change has not been proposed.

Senator Rainey said that people she talked to in her department were concerned about the 65% factor. It is hard to measure merit in the University setting and doing something as divisive as the 65%/35% carries the seed of sowing ill will in the department.

Senator Eakin called for a motion to continue the meeting beyond 5:30. Hearing none, discussion ceased.