Minutes for September 20, 2010
The Faculty Senate of Eastern Kentucky University met on Monday, September 20, 2010, in the South Ballroom of the Keen Johnson Building. Senator Taylor called the first meeting of the academic year to order at approximately 3:30 p.m.
The following members of the Senate were absent:
| A. Back | L. Bosley* | M. Gerken* |
| G. Gorbett* | M. Hesse* | K. Johnson* |
| S. Merlin | R. Mott | C. Palmer*^ |
| D. Roush*^ | D. Smith*^ |
*Indicates prior notification of absence to the Faculty Senate Secretary
^ ALT Mary Whitaker attended for C. Palmer
^ ALT Karen Petronio attended for D. Roush
^ ALT Laurel Morton attended for D. Smith
Visitors to the Senate: Carrie Cooper, Libraries; Michael Martin, Education; Cheryl Mitchell, Associate Degree Nursing; Brett Morris, Veterans Affairs; Jerry Pogatshnik, Graduate School; Sherry Robinson, Provost Office
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
The May 3, 2010 regular and organizational minutes were approved as written.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Senator Taylor thanked President Whitlock for providing the refreshments for the Senate meetings this year.
Parliamentarian Miller reminded the senators of the following parliamentary procedures:
Faculty Senate Special Rules of Order
- Stand to be recognized and when recognized, state name
- A senator may speak two times to a motion until all who wish to speak have spoken and then the chair may call on that senator a third time if a filibuster is not underway. If an amendment is made to the motion, that senator may speak two more times to the amendment, but not the main motion.
- When a senator has the floor please address the chair. Do not directly address any other senator or visitor or call upon anyone else to speak; that is the prerogative of the chair.
- Items submitted for inclusion on the Senate agenda should reach the chair or a member of the Executive Committee two weeks before a scheduled meeting of the Senate. A substantive matter not so submitted but presented on the floor of the Senate shall be placed on the agenda for action at the next Senate meeting. The chair will determine if an item is substantive.
Roberts Rules of Order
- With rare exception, motions that come before the Senate require a second. Discussion does not begin until a second is given. In making a motion during the meeting if not previously sent to the Executive Committee, have it written out in advance. This makes it possible to state the motion and then send it up to the chair for precise re-statement before the vote.
- Sometimes one motion may contain several issues. Move to divide the motion and, if approved, then the items will be voted on separately.
- Sometimes there is lengthy discussion which leads to either unresolved issues or matters that need to be taken back to the departments for their consideration. The appropriate action is to move to postpone the motion to a definite time, usually the next meeting. Do not move to table the motion unless the action is meant to kill it.
- If a senator thinks the chair or another member of the Senate is not following proper procedure or is in violation of a rule, call for a point of order. The chair will ask what the point of order is and will then rule with or without consulting the parliamentarian. If the senator raising the objection is still unsatisfied, the Senate will vote on it.
REPORT FROM THE PRESIDENT: Senator Whitlock
The academic year is off to a smooth start. The initial feedback on the "Use It Or Lose It" policy has been positive. Undergraduate enrollment is up approximately 2% and the number of veterans enrolled has increased from 400 last year to approximately 650 this year.
State revenue figures were up for each of the first two months of the fiscal year which seems hopeful as stimulus monies will run out at the end of the year. As the economy is still unstable, Senator Whitlock stressed the need for the university to become more entrepreneurial.
Two of the main topics of conversation at the recent Governor's Trusteeship Conference were cost containment and productivity.
The Council on Postsecondary Education recently approved a new State Diversity Plan.
A new university strategic plan draft has been prepared after seeking wide input from the University community through surveys, focus groups, and information forums. Last spring and again this fall input was solicited regarding the draft mission, vision, values statements, and the draft goals and strategic directions. This feedback is currently being analyzed and revisions will be made if needed. A summary of the comments will be available on the SPC website. The SPC is also in the process of identifying Key Performance Indicators. A review draft of the plan including the KPI's should be distributed to the university community in the early part of the spring semester.
Individual units and departments across campus are beginning to work on the 2011-2015 plans. A subgroup of the SPC has been formed to provide guidance as the units and departments work through this process. The subgroup includes Provost Vice, VP Moberly, Lynnette Noblitt, Jo Ann Walt and E.J. Keeley.
The FPC met earlier today and discussed the joint work the SPC and FPC has done and will continue to do this year. It was also noted that joint deliberations should begin earlier than last year.
As was recommended by the Senate, Domestic Partner Benefits are being implemented.
Senator Whitlock just recently returned from a trip to Daegu Haany University in Korea where he was invited to participate in their 30th anniversary celebration.
In early October, Senator Whitlock will journey to Rikkyo University in Japan.
Senator Whitlock was recently appointed to the Board of Directors of the American Committee for KEEP. KEEP is the Kiyosato Educational Experiment Project which was begun in the 1920's by Paul Rusch, a native Kentuckian from Louisville.
A renovation project will begin soon to update the landscaping in front of the Keen Johnson building. The project is being financed by the Donovan Trust Fund, which is a fund specifically established for campus beautification.
NEW BUSINESS:
Report on Encompass. Deans Carrie Cooper and Jerry Pogatshnik reported on Encompass, a new digital storage system that will house electronic submissions of theses, dissertations, and other research. For fall 2010, theses and dissertations may be submitted electronically and in hard copy format. However by Spring 2011, all submissions will be handled electronically.
Posthumous Degree for Robert Hundley-Doria. Senator Poffenberger moved approval, seconded by Senator Wade. Motion carried.
Protecting Human Subjects in Research Policy. Senator Vice moved approval, seconded by Senator Matthews. Motion carried.
Animal Care and Use Policy. Senator Vice moved approval, seconded by Senator Schmelzer. Motion carried.
Report from Council on Academic Affairs - Senator Vice
New Option
New Certificate
New Concentrations
- Anthropology Concentration within the Associate of General Studies program (A.G.S.)
- Sociology Concentration within the Associate of General Studies program (A.G.S.)
- Political Science Concentration within the Associate of General Studies Program (A.G.S.)
- History Concentration within the Associate of General Studies Program (A.G.S.)
- Mathematical Sciences Concentration with the Associate of General Studies Program (A.G.S.)
Program Suspension
Program Revisions
- Journalism B.A. add JOU 305W as an option for JOU 305
- Public Relations B.A. - Add JOU 305W as an option for JOU 305
- Journalism Minor -add JOU 305W as an option for JOU 305
- Sociology Minor in Deviance/Criminology revise program requirements
- Biology M.S. replace BIO 710 (dropped course) with BIO 810 from each program and option
- Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing To alter the existing catalog description of the MFA program's curriculum and exit requirements to reflect significant changes agreed upon by the current faculty members teaching in the program. These include: 1)Revised dates for the Summer and Winter Residencies; 2)A formal creative thesis (previously not required); 3)A written exit examination (previously not required).
- History Teaching B.A. reflect the dropped courses (HIS 415 and 450) and the course changes (HIS 290 and 450W)
- Master of Music in Theory/Composition revise required courses
- Master of Arts in Teaching revise General Information,course requirements, program requirements, Catalog language
- Student Teaching Section revise program requirements, add Field Experience required hours
- Correctional and Juvenile Justice Studies B.S. remove restrictions on free electives and remove Requirement students live within 60 miles of campus
- Correctional and Juvenile Justice Studies B.S. add CRJ and PLS elective options to major requirements
- Certificate in Intervention Strategies remove the specific restrictions on courses listed as Correction Electives.
- Certificate in Youth Services remove restrictions on electives
- Criminal Justice B.S. add COR elective option to Major Requirement; decrease COR core requirements by 3 credit hours; increase CRJ electives from 15 to 18
- Police Studies B.S.and A.A. add COR elective options to Major Requirements
Action Item:
The Council approved the following item in the May 20, 2010 CAA meeting:
- Associate Degree in General Studies (A.G.S.) Catalog revision add new language for Option Departmental Concentration and University requirement
Senator Vice moved approval of item #1, seconded by Senator Schneid. Motion carried.Information Item:
Senator Vice moved approval of item #2, seconded by Senator Walz. Motion carried.
Senator Vice moved approval of items #3-7, seconded by Senator Wade. Motion carried.
Senator Vice moved approval of item #8, seconded by Senator Schneid. Motion carried.
Senator Vice moved approval of items #9-24, seconded by Senator Noblitt. Motion carried.
Senator Vice moved approval of item #25, seconded by Senator Shordike.
Item #26, Revision to the Course Registration Policy, was presented as an informational item and will come to the Senate for action soon.
Senator Vice reported that 51 programs have reduced their requirements from 128 to 120 hours for graduation and approximately 50 programs still require 128 hours. In order to comply with House Bill 160, exceptions must be requested for any programs with more than 120 hours. Therefore, further review is needed to determine which programs can accommodate a reduction in hours.
GENERAL & STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT: Senator Taylor
Senator Taylor shared several charts containing statistics on higher education in Kentucky in order to begin a dialogue on critical and creative thinking.
Senator Taylor shared the following data:
- Eastern Kentucky University's fall enrollment is 16,515 which is a 2% increase from this date last year.
- A Chronicle of Higher Education Survey of chief financial officers reveals that 62% believe the worst is yet to come. (10/25/09)
- In 2008-2009, the for-profit sector of higher education enrolled less than 10% of all college students but received approximately 23% of the federal student aid dollars. (Approximately $24-billion dollars)
- Western Kentucky University in June approved a $382 million budget that covered its fixed-cost increases, funded 16 new full-time faculty positions and an Aug. 1 salary increase of 2% for faculty and staff in addition to the 1.5% boost to base salaries that went into effect July 1.
- Western Kentucky University part-time members received a 10% increase in stipends.
- The U.S. Senate Education Committee investigated "For-Profit Schools."
Financial stewardship in higher education too often stops at balancing the budget. Annual budgets are important but are not clearly indicating trends and are not allowing meaningful comparisons. It is also important to know student enrollment by program, cost per student, and alumni participation in annual funding. Student enrollment numbers should be timely so trends can be analyzed and adjustments made as needed.
EKU needs to know what it is getting for its investments. Each year there should be a breakdown of net revenue by program. Establishing an accounting system to handle this net revenue model may be costly, but it would provide EKU with the kind of data needed to conduct meaningful strategic financial planning.
In a publication from the American Council of Trustees Institute for Effective Governance, "Cutting Costs: A Trustees Guide to Tough Economic Times" the following key questions are suggested:
- How does spending on student instruction compare with spending on administration? How has it changed over time in other words, which sector is growing more rapidly?
- Specifically, what is the expenditure per full time student (FTE) for "institutional support" (expenses not related to instruction) as reported to the federal government, and what percentage of total expenses does it represent? How does it compare with spending by the school's peer institutions?
- Insist that sub-categories of institutional support be clearly detailed: executive level management, legal expenses, lobbying and public relations, travel, etc.
- Compare institutional support expenditure with direct expenditure per full-time student for instruction‹the cost of teaching. Given the complexities of different student programs, it will also be useful to see the expense per student credit hour for instruction.
- How have faculty and administrative salaries moved over time, relative to inflation?
- How has the number of faculty changed relative to enrollment?
- How has the number of administrators changed relative to enrollment?
- What does each and every academic program cost? How many students does each program serve relative to its cost?
There needs to be accurate and timely enrollment data, financial information, and marketing reports about the various programs. This information would help to identify where most of the costs are located, which could then be analyzed to determine the value. Then meaningful, critical and creative thinking could begin which would benefit EKU and the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
Senator Taylor asked Fred Ruppel and/or Brett Morris to speak briefly on the revision to the course registration policy which Senator Vice referenced in the CAA report. Senator Ruppel shared a number of reasons why veterans should be considered for early registration:
- It is difficult for veterans to receive their benefits on time
- Veterans are not reimbursed for free electives beyond those required in the major
- Veterans generally come to campus with the majority of gen ed requirements already completed and immediately go into core courses
- Many veterans on active duty face deployments and will continue their studies through online courses which fill up quicker
- Many veterans have medical appointments which are hard to get and hard to reschedule and the appointments often continue week after week and month after month.
REPORT FROM FACULTY REGENT: Senator Frisbie
The Board met on June 7th for a regular quarterly meeting.
The Board acted upon a number of academic proposals that came to it via the Senate and CAA. Included in these actions was the approval of a new doctoral program in Nursing Practice (DNP). In addition, the Board approved 51 other program proposals which included new majors, new minors, new certificate programs, many program revisions and one program suspension. The Board also approved the Progressive Admission Plan, which will steadily raise the criteria for full and clear admission between this fall and the summer/fall of 2014.
A substantial portion of the Board meeting was devoted to financial concerns of the University. As you know by now, the tuition increases were set at 5% for undergraduate tuition, 4% for graduate tuition, and a change in online course charges to a per credit basis at 130% of the in-state per credit charge. At the June meeting, the Board approved the budget proposal for EKU and for Model Laboratory School.
Several features of the budget deserve highlighting. The budget anticipates a further reduction of up to 1.5% (slightly more than $1M) in the base budget appropriations from the state during the year. While this may not happen, by building the budget with a projected reduction in place it will provide a cushion to absorb a hit, if needed.
Within the budget, the following redistributions of funds were made:
- The budget increased the allocation for insurance benefits by $1.1M in recognition of rising medical costs
- Because the employee scholarship benefit has been heavily used, the budget also added $200,000 to that budget line.
- With the increases in tuition, financial aid liabilities also rose. Thus, the budget included a $1.1M increase in the line for tuition-tied financial aid.
- Several redistributions within the budget resulted from strategic initiatives that emerged from the joint work of the Financial Planning and Strategic Planning Councils. These include adding $120,000 for faculty development, allocating $100,000 to create a base operating budget for growing online instruction efforts, adding $25,000 to the EKU Now program budget, increasing by $100,000 the budget of Enrollment Management for recruiting initiatives, and increasing funding for the Honors Program by $50,000.
Six members of the EKU Board and a number of EKU administrators and leaders participated in the annual Governor's Conference on Postsecondary Trusteeship on September 12-13. The conference targeted twin themes: increasing student success and becoming more efficient and effective with limited financial resources.
The Board will next convene for a regular quarterly meeting on September 24.
REPORT FROM COSFL: Senator McKenney
COSFL met on September 13th in conjunction with the Governor's Conference on Postsecondary Education Trusteeship.
The November 4-5 meeting will be held on Eastern's campus.
Recent actions of the CPE include:
- The Adoption of Core Academic Standards on February 10, 2010
- Budget Proposal for Higher Education for FY11-FY12
- CPE President Bob King's Annual Evaluation - contract extended through June 30, 2015
- Strategic Plan for the CPE Four sub-work groups were formed to recommend objectives, strategies, and metrics in these areas: 1) College readiness; 2) Student success; 3) Efficiency and innovation; and 4) Research and economic development
- 2011-2015 Statewide Diversity Policy and Framework for Institution Diversity Plan Each state university and KCTCS will develop individually tailored diversity policies. The campus diversity plans must address these four areas: (1) student body diversity reflecting that of the Commonwealth or the institution's service area, (2) achievement gaps, (3) workforce diversity, and (4) campus climate. Institutions must submit plans to the CPE no later than March 15, 2011.
Last year's COSFL officers were re-elected for the coming academic year:
- Peggy Pittman Munke (Murray), President
- Mixon Ware (EKU), Vice President
- Nancy McKenney (EKU), Secretary
- Molly Kerby (WKU), Treasurer
PROVOST REPORT: Senator Vice
At the Governor's Trusteeship Conference, the goals were provided for the Lumina Foundation and the Southern Region Education Board (SREB).Lumina Goal: College-attainment rate of 60% by 2025. The United States is currently 8th in the world in percent of citizens who hold college degrees.CPE's Strategic Plan is focusing on 1) College Readiness; 2) Student Success; 3) Efficiency and Innovation; and 4) Research and Economic Development.
SREB States' Goal: Increase significantly the number of students who complete postsecondary career certificates and associate and bachelor's degrees, so that 60 percent of each state's adults ages 25-64 will have one of these credentials by 20205.
CPE is close to approving a statewide Diversity Policy that will require each institution to develop a Diversity Plan. Sandra Moore will lead the EKU initiative, working with the Strategic Planning Council and a broad-based group appointed by President Whitlock.
Criteria are being developed for a new approach to CPE's program evaluation and review.
Thanks to faculty response and participation, the new "Use It or Lose It"policy was overall successful based on reports of faculty and chairs.
Although EARS (Early Alert Retention System) in the future will be the third week of the semester, faculty will be asked this semester to report students' non attendance during the sixth week. The new Hobson's system (CRM retention software) will allow (a) a consolidated and easier reporting system for faculty and (b) a more automated follow-up system with students.
Although EKU met a number of the enrollment goals for Fall 2010, retention and graduation goals fell slightly short. Official data will be available October 15.
Orientation Teachers and Advisers are encouraged to ensure all freshmen have a four-year plan in Degree Works.
Advising was the main topic of discussion at the Annual Deans'/Chairs' Workshop this summer. The outcome was a consensus that the advising system needs an overhaul so it becomes more than a scheduling session for students to get RAC numbers.
The summer Assessment Retreat resulted in a new workgroup focusing on a comprehensive model for assessment for the purpose of reducing duplication while increasing meaningful feedback to faculty and programs. E. J. Keeley, Rose Perrine, Stacey Street, Kate Williams, and Garrett Yoder comprise the workgroup.
Faculty Senators are invited to lunch on Wednesday after each Faculty Senate meeting to continue discussion from the Senate or open new topics to discuss. This month's luncheon will be on Wednesday, September 22, 11:45 a.m. 1:00 p.m. in the Faculty Dining Room, Powell Building. Please sign in with either cashier.
STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS:Elections Committee. Senator Nelson will serve as chair of the committee this year.
New Senator Orientation. Senator Rainey announced that the meeting for new senators is scheduled for this Wednesday at 3:30pm in the Teaching and Learning Center. Information packets will be provided for those unable to attend.
Rights & Responsibilities Committee. Senators McKenney and J. Palmer have agreed to serve as co-chairs. The committee members are reviewing the proposed revision to the Promotion and Tenure policy.
Rules Committee. Senator McKenney will serve as chair of the committee this year.
Faculty Welfare Committee. Senator Eser will serve as chair of the committee this year.ADJOURNMENT:
Senator Vice moved to adjourn at approximately 5:30 p.m.
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