Minutes for March 14, 2011

The Faculty Senate of Eastern Kentucky University met on Monday, March 14, 2011, in the South Ballroom of the Keen Johnson Building. Senator Taylor called the sixth meeting of the academic year to order at approximately 3:30 p.m.

The following members of the Senate were absent:

F. Awang*	A. Back	Z. Eser*
S. Harrel	D. Hayes	J. Hensley
M. Hesse	B. Mahaney	D. May*
R. Mott*	L. Nelson*	C. Park*
A. Poffenberger*^	D. Roush*^	C. Smith
J. Wade*	L. Wray*^

^*Indicates prior notification of absence to the Faculty Senate Secretary
^{^} ALT Socorro Zaragoza attended for A. Poffenberger
^{^} SUB Linda Boseman attended for D. Roush
^{^} ALT Mary Whitaker attended for L. Wray

Visitors to the Senate: Steven Fulkerson, IT; Jason Fuller, Chemistry; Susan Godbey, Chemistry; Philip Gump, IT; Tyler Huffman, Geography/Geology; Mona Isaacs, IT; Jerry Pogatshnik, Graduate Education & Research; Jaleh Rezaie, Graduate Education & Research; Sherry Robinson, Provost Office; Lori Wilson, Chemistry

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:

The February 7 minutes were approved as written.

REPORT FROM THE PRESIDENT: Senator Whitlock

The Legislature is meeting in special session. Their main priority is to address the financial issues with Medicaid. This may pose a significant threat to higher education if across-the-board cuts are used as all or part of the solution to the Medicaid problems.

In the amended statute on advanced practice doctorates, each institution has been authorized to offer up to three programs without acquiring additional approval from the General Assembly. In addition, the statute does provide for going beyond the three programs but only if all of the university presidents are in unanimous support. Currently EKU has two approved programs in place, so only one more program can be approved at this time.

EKU's strategic plan is nearing completion. It’s the time of year that the FPC and the SPC are starting to meet in joint sessions. As shared by JoAnn Ewalt at the last Board meeting, the top priority emerging from the work of these two groups is faculty/staff salaries. The amount available for adjustments will be directly impacted by the final resolution on the budget in Frankfort.

Last week, the American Committee for KEEP (Kiyosato Educational Experiment Project) met in Berea on Thursday and Friday. Two members of that group from Rikkyo University toured EKU's campus and were greatly impressed with the facilities, in particular the library.

While the earthquake and tsunami have been terrible and continue to exact a toll in Japan, EKU’s friends in the sister region and at Yamanashi University are safe. The biggest impact on those areas in Japan so far has been the rolling blackouts.

Senators Whitlock and Vice participated this morning in a very informative meeting of the work being done by the Education Extension Agents in EKU's service region. These part time individuals are doing much to show the face of EKU throughout the region.

On February 28 Senator Whitlock and several folks from the campus visited the headquarters of the U.S. Military's Southern Command in Miami. There are a lot of opportunities for internships for EKU students and for relationships with several departments, primarily those in the Health Sciences, Justice & Safety, and Business & Technology, as well as CRAFT.

Senator Whitlock will be presenting at an AASCU (American Association of State Colleges and Universities) conference next week in Washington, D.C. on stewardship of place.

Later this month, alumni visits are scheduled for San Francisco, San Diego, and Los Angeles. Several members of the Board of Regents will be attending the meeting in Los Angeles, as it is roughly coincident with the Association of Governing Boards meeting.

NEW BUSINESS:

Enterprise Desktop Management. AVP Mona Isaacs shared a Prezi presentation on Enterprise Desktop Management. Enterprise Desktop Management is a proactive support model with preventative measures to protect individual and institutional data from all forms of malicious intrusion. IT plans to install the Enterprise Desktop Management system on university computers as a way to combat malware on campus. This means that individual administrator privileges for each machine will no longer be available. The expected benefits for moving to the new system include: 1) more staff resources for academic technology support; 2) reduced downtime and lost productivity due to malware infestations and 3) increased security of desktops/laptops by preventing Trojan horses, bots, and key logger types of malware.

Also in attendance to answer questions were Margaret Lane, Jean Marlow, Philip Gump, and Steve Fulkerson.

Senator Johnson suggested that rather than removing administrator rights completely, IT should consider granting faculty the right to access administrator rights as needed.

Mona Isaacs suggested that the Senate create an ad hoc committee to work closely with IT during this process so that faculty concerns can be addressed. Senator Taylor stated that this would be addressed at the next Executive Committee meeting.

Senator Johnson requested that the final outcome between the two groups should be brought back to the Senate for further discussion before implementation.

Rights & Responsibilities/Rules Committee Motion. Senator Taylor reminded everyone that the promotion and tenure document will be reviewed in stages. The policy statement will be reviewed today, and then later the principles, followed by the specifics.

Senator J. Palmer moved to approve the amended promotion and tenure policy statement (listed below), seconded by Senator Potter. Motion carried.

We ask the Senate to approve the following policy statement for EKU’s faculty Promotion and Tenure Policy (4.6.4):

Eastern Kentucky University, as a matter of principle, complies with the American Association of University Professors and Association of American Colleges & Universities "1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure." The AAUP and AAC&U statement addresses policy and procedural expectations for a wide variety of institutions of higher education.

Report from Council on Academic Affairs - Senator Vice

Program Revisions to Required Hours to Graduate

1. Criminal Justice, B.S.
   Reduce major hours from 128 to 120.
2. Assets Protection and Security, B.S.
   Reduce major hours from 128 to 120 and create 3 options.
3. Mathematics, B.S.
   Remove 8 hours of free electives to have 120 total hours in the degree.
4. Statistics, B.S.

Program Revisions

5. Master of Public Health
   Page 80-81 of catalog - Remove Exit Requirements and refer to each option's department page for details (for EHS page 84 and CHE page 87)
6. Master of Public Health Environmental Health Science
   Page 84-85 of catalog - Add exit requirements to part III program requirements and change Part IV exit requirements.
7. Master of Public Health Community Health Education
   Page 87-88 of catalog - Add exit requirements to part III program requirements and Change Part IV exit requirements.
8. Master of Science in Physical Education
   Correct Catalog and allow more flexibility in choices for students to fulfill requirements.
9. Master of Science in Community Nutrition
   Clarify differences between option 1 and 2 and remove subscripts by listed courses.
10. Associate of General Studies Concentration in Homeland Security
    Create a new concentration in Homeland Security within the A.G.S. degree program.
11. Anthropology, B.A.
    Revise program curriculum listing due to changes in course offering.
12. Master of Arts in English
    Change the core course requirement of ENG 809 OR ENG 812 with ENG 801. Include language about the proposed course ENG 895: Mentored Scholarly Paper, and to clarify language about the comprehensive exams and master's thesis.
13. History B.A. (non-teaching)
    Reflect the previously approved revision of HIS 312 to HIS 312A and the addition of HIS 312B and HIS 312C.
14. Associate of General Studies Concentration in Applied Engineering and Technology
    Establish a Concentration in Applied Engineering & Technology for the Associate of General Studies degree program.
15. Public Relations, B.A.
    Revise the courses listed in the degree requirements for Public Relations majors, and incorporate two new alternative areas of emphasis: Management Public Relations and Creative Public Relations. Modify the Public Relations major by excluding Block VII (SBS) from general education and requiring selected courses from that block under "Supporting Course Requirements". To increase free electives by 3 hours for the Public Relations major. COM 200 is required for the major and will be listed as a supporting course. Eliminate the statement "Professional Skills Seminar" from College Requirement and add "s" to Requirement.
16. Master of Business Administration
    Create provisional MBA status for students not having completed all prerequisite MBA foundation courses.

Program Suspension

17. Canadian Studies Minor

Information Items:

18. Commencement Participation, Graduation Fee, Degree Conferral Date, Office of the Registrar - University Certificate Production
19. Proposal 3 + 2 (Graduate School)
20. Clarification for Tuition Waiver for Graduate Assistants (Graduate School)

Senator Vice moved approval of items 1-4, seconded by Senator Thieme. Motion carried.

Senator Vice moved approval of items 5-16, seconded by Senator Pressley. Motion carried.

Senator Vice moved approval of item 17, seconded by Alternate Zaragoza. Motion carried.

Items 18-20 were presented as information only and will be presented for action at the April meeting.

GENERAL & STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT: Senator Taylor

The Faculty Authored Texts Policy is currently being reviewed. Also being reviewed is a new policy on non-EKU credit. The proposal would allow up to 75% of academic credit earned for an EKU degree to be achieved through non-EKU work.

The Rules Committee and the Rights and Responsibilities Committee met jointly with the Promotion and Tenure policy drafting team. These committees have also met with other interested parties to discuss the Promotion & Tenure policy. All parties involved have agreed to an amended policy statement and amended principles and these changes will be coming before the Senate for input and vetting. Several suggestions have been made to improve the P&T process:

1. Senator J. Palmer suggested that a table of contents for the P&T policy would make it easier to search back and forth between principles and procedures.
2. Academic Special Assistant Dr. Sherry Robinson suggested that there should be a longer response time allowed for individuals when they receive initial feedback.
3. Senator Taylor suggested that each department provide one or two good examples of P&T submissions. These examples should be made available to serve as guidance for new faculty who are involved in the P&T process.
4. Senator Johnson suggested providing mentors for folks who are preparing to go through the promotion and tenure process.

Senator Jones reported that the Academic Quality Committee met with Tina Davis and Sherry Robinson to discuss the syllabus posting issue. The committee plans to recommend that departments should voluntarily post syllabi. A motion on this issue is expected for the April Senate meeting. The motion to request a change to the mid-term and drop date is also expected for the April Senate meeting.

Senator Taylor has met with Student Government Association senators. The students are against changing the mid-term reporting date and the withdraw date. Student Government Senators also asked about the faculty signature requirement on the withdrawal form. Senator Taylor suggested that faculty Senators should remind their colleagues that this signature requirement was to provide face time with the instructor so the instructor and student could determine the best academic option for the student. The faculty signature requirement was never intended as a way to force a student to stay in the course.

Senator Noblitt reported that the General Education Committee created a sub committee to: 1) review gen ed programs throughout the state; 2) review EKU’s current program; and 3) look at the goals of general education throughout the state.

The Annual Employee Recognition Luncheon is scheduled for March 17th, 11:30am-1pm in the Keen Johnson Ballroom.

REPORT FROM FACULTY REGENT:  Senator Frisbie

The next Board meeting will be on Monday, April 18.

As President Whitlock alluded to, there will be a number of Board members going to Los Angeles on the first weekend in April to attend the Association of Governing Bodies.

REPORT FROM COSFL:  Senator McKenney

The next COSFL meeting will be on Monday, April 11 at 1:30pm at the offices of the Council on Postsecondary Education in Frankfort. Dr. Bob King, CPE President, and Dr. Aaron Thompson will be guest speakers at the meeting.

Senator McKenney reminded everyone that all faculty are invited to attend COSFL meetings.

The resolution in support of the Kentucky Virtual Library and their ability to provide access to electronic databases for K-12 libraries in the state has been finalized and is being reviewed.

PROVOST REPORT: Senator Vice

In response to EKU’s new Strategic Plan, colleges and departments are beginning to develop individual plans for 2011-2015. The new plans are to include the academic unit’s goals and objectives and identify the student learning outcomes. The Office of Institutional Effectiveness (OIE) has worked to simplify the annual reporting process, and the staff will provide support for any unit needing assistance in "closing the loop" from the planning phase to the assurance-of-learning phase.

The OIE offers consultation, surveys/tools, and templates to assist in this process. With effective planning, embedded assessments, mapped curricula, and resource support from the QEP, EKU can effectively show that it is a learning-centered campus.

The following upcoming events highlight the focus being placed on scholarship this semester. In addition, the TLC has sponsored a Book and Breakfast professional learning community, discussing Ernest L. Boyer's Scholarship Reconsidered.

• The New World of Scholarly Publishing
  Lee Van Orsdel, Dean of University Libraries at Grand Valley State University
  Friday, March 18, 10-11:30 a.m. Library Discovery Classroom 204D, Main Library
• ENCOMPASS: Discovering EKU's New Digital Repository
  Linda Sizemore, Government Document/Law Librarian
  Monday, March 28, 11:15 a.m., Faculty Lounge, Keen Johnson
• The BRAIN RULES of Scholarship
  Dr. John Medina, Professor of Bioengineering at University of Washington, School of Medicine
  Tuesday, March 29, 12:30-1:30, Faculty Lounge, Keen Johnson
• Successful Strategies for Publishing Your Scholarship
  Society of Foundation Professors, Faculty contributors to
  It Works for Me: Becoming a Publishing Scholar/Researcher
  Wednesday, March 30, 11:15 a.m., Faculty Lounge, Keen Johnson
• Blending Service into Scholarship and Research
  Dr. Judy Spain, University Counsel
  Thursday, March 31, 11 a.m., Faculty Lounge, Keen Johnson
• Writing for Publication
  Dr. Ken Henson, Professor at the Citadel School of Education
  Friday, April 1, 8:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m., Faculty Lounge, Keen Johnson
• University Scholars Assembly
  Friday, April 8, 9 a.m., Walnut Hall, Keen Johnson
• Phi Kappa Phi Initiation
  Friday, April 8, 1:30 p.m., Walnut Hall, Keen Johnson
• Undergraduate Presentation, (UP) Showcase
  Friday, April 15, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m., First Floor, Keen Johnson
  Contact Rose.Perrine@eku.edu for an abstract submission form
  Abstracts due by March 18, 2011
• Honors Program Theses Conference
  Wednesday - Saturday, April 13 – 16, Kennamer and Jaggers Rooms, Powell
• Honors Program Banquet
  Friday, April 15, 7 p.m., Keen Johnson Ballroom, Featuring author Ed McClanahan
• Freshman Honors Society Alpha Lambda Delta Initiation
  Wednesday, April 20, 4:30 p.m., Walnut Hall, Keen Johnson

A committee, chaired by Dean Charles Hickox, has been formed to conduct an internal search for the Dean of University Programs. The advertisement for the position will be posted soon, with a goal to identify the new dean by the end of April. The search will be an inclusive process, and the position will start July 1.

A new 5,000-square-foot space in Somerset will enable the University to offer the paralegal degree program as well as the RN to BSN (Registered Nurse to Bachelor of Science in Nursing) program, among other courses that contribute toward degree completion. All the classrooms are equipped for interactive TV (ITV) or traditional classes. Students can take ITV classes originating from the EKU Richmond campus or anywhere in the world. The grand opening will be Wednesday, March 16 at 10 a.m.

The lunch with Senators on Wednesday is canceled this week because of the Somerset Grand Opening.

STUDENT GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION: Caleb Armbrust

Mr. Armbrust shared the following updates:

• The annual Rally for Higher Education in Frankfort was successful.
• A busload of students went to Nashville for the basketball tournament.
• The annual concert will be on May 1.
• The President's Ball is scheduled for March 24 from 8pm to midnight in the Keen Johnson building.
• Student Senate just completed a student survey on registration and ways to improve that process. Results are expected soon.
• Student Senate considered a resolution on the drop fee. Discussions have been deferred to allow for additional research.
• The Residence Life Council has made a successful bid to host a conference at EKU next year.
• The Residence Life Council is in the process of collecting school supplies for needy schools in the area.

FINANCIAL PLANNING COUNCIL: Senator Taylor

Dean Pogatshnik presented a proposal at the last FPC meeting for graduate tuition, and the Council as a whole supported the proposal.

STRATEGIC PLANNING COUNCIL:  Senator Noblitt

The comment period forthe KPIs is almost over.

STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Committee on Committees. Senator Butler announced that the annual survey for self-nominations for university committee vacancies will be distributed electronically today.

Elections Committee/Rules Committee. Senator McKenney reported on the status of the joint committee charge listed below.

1. Examine and determine the qualifications necessary to be able to serve as a faculty regent for Eastern Kentucky University.
2. Examine and determine the qualifications necessary to be able to vote in the election of faculty regent for Eastern Kentucky University.

In view of the evidence gathered, members of the Senate Rules Committee and the Senate Elections Committee believe that full-time administrators with faculty rank would not be eligible either to run for faculty regent, nor would they be eligible to vote in the faculty regent election. Therefore the committees recommend that it may be advisable to put forward a motion adding a statement to EKU's Faculty Handbook similar to the U.K. Human Resources Policy note (listed below), so that this question will not arise in the future.

The University of Kentucky's Human Resources Policy and procedure Number 4.0: Employee Status provided the following helpful information:

Note: Faculty employees with administrative assignments at or above department chair are not eligible to participate in the election of faculty representatives, or serve as the elected faculty representative, to faculty governance bodies above the college level (for example, but not limited to, Board of Trustees, University Senate, Graduate Council, Undergraduate Council, and Health Care Colleges Council). Chairs and directors may run for election and serve in the University Senate as an elected representative of their constituent faculty, if their administrative service as chair or director concludes before the term of their service as a University Senator commences.

Senator Taylor stated that the motion should be presented at the March 28th Executive Committee meeting.

Rights and Responsibilities Committee. Senator J. Palmer reported that the Committee has met jointly with the Rules Committee, Faculty Senate President, and the P&T Drafting Team several times in the past two months. Collaborative efforts have resulted in: 1) a revised policy statement, which is being reviewed by the Senate today and 2) a revised policy principles document that will be reviewed at the next Executive Committee meeting. The specific procedures for P&T are currently under review.

Faculty Welfare Committee. Senator Johnson met with the University Benefits Committee before spring break. While figures are not yet available, the cost for health insurance is expected to increase next year. Recent issues with Express Scripts were also discussed.

The Behavioral Medicine part of EKU's health care has been bought out by another company. The current company will provide coverage through April 1stand then Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield will pick up the coverage. Senator Johnson plans to meet with Wally Skiba and other members of the Benefits Committee to discuss this issue further.

ADJOURNMENT:

Senator Vice moved to adjourn at approximately 5:30 p.m.

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