Minutes for February 6, 2012
The Faculty Senate of Eastern Kentucky University met on Monday, February 6, 2012, in the South Ballroom of the Keen Johnson Building. Senator Noblitt called the fifth 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 | M. Farley |
| C. Frazer*^ | L. Heath | N. Jasinski* |
| K. Johnson* | S. Lippman* | M. Martin |
| S. Merlin* | D. Miller* | T. Nowak* |
| G. Potter* | G. Purdue | A. Thieme*^ |
* Indicates prior notification of absence to the Faculty Senate Secretary
^ Clemma Snider attended for C. Frazer
^ ALT John Taylor attended for A. Thieme
Visitors to the Senate: Gary Barksdale, Human Resources; Dana Bush, Family & Consumer Sciences; Jim Conneely, Student Affairs; Erica King, student; Diane Leggett, Family & Consumer Sciences; Rick McGee, Council on Academic Affairs; Christine Myers, Occupational Therapy; Debbie Newsom, Financial Affairs; Shirley O’Brien, Occupational Therapy; Sydney Petersen, student; Doris Pierce, Occupational Therapy; Sherry Robinson, Provost Office; Colleen Schneck, Occupational Therapy; Madelyn Street, Student Senate; Deborah Whitehouse, Occupational Therapy
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
The December 5, 2012 minutes were approved as written.
REPORT FROM THE PRESIDENT: Senator Whitlock
Senator Whitlock thanked the Senate for participating in his recent evaluation. Board of Regents Chairman Gary Abney shared with the University Community an excellent summation of the evaluation, identifying some areas that need increased attention. These include:
- Enrollment management. Part of EKU’s financial problems rest in the fact that there was a $3 million tuition short-fall this past fall. Student success—retention and graduation rates—will become increasingly important. There will be some announcements made soon about the Enrollment Management area.
- Increased attention to EKU’s service region. This has already begun with recent meetings at Somerset, Corbin, Danville, Lancaster, Hazard and Manchester. In conjunction with those meetings, there have also been visits to area high schools. Senator Whitlock has informed the Admissions Office that he will commit to more school visits and recruiting opportunities in the future.
- Less international travel. A number of international partnerships have been successfully formed, so there is less need to travel internationally. Senator Whitlock announced that if he travels to Japan in October, it will be entirely at his own expense.
- Focus on institutional vision. Senator Whitlock plans to focus more on the vision for this institution as a School of Opportunity writ large, which includes far more than the concept of relatively open admissions. EKU's mission of student success, regional stewardship, and the QEP is clearly about opportunity.
New television commercials are being aired now with the theme, "This is Eastern Kentucky University and you can get there from here."
Thursday Senator Whitlock will testify before the Education Subcommittee of the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee. This testimony will include a report on some of the excellent work being done on this campus—around interventions within elementary and secondary education, the revised general education program, and other items of legislative interest, including the relationship of EKU’s new strategic plan to the CPE’s strategic agenda. He will transition to the impact the Governor’s recommendation of a 6.4 percent state appropriation will have on this institution. This will be set in the context of some historic funding data. In a nutshell:
Going from a state appropriation of $72,221,000 down to $67,673,700 (change of $4,547,300) which is essentially the level of funding we had in 2003-04.
Tuition revenue (based on current enrollment) is expected to grow only by $2.0 million with the following assumptions:
- Undergraduate instate increase of 5%. (Purely a hypothetical figure, there have been no discussion of tuition rates at the state level. Before any decision is made on this campus there will be ample opportunity for students to be heard.)
- Elimination of targeted tuition for incoming freshman
- Continuing targeted tuition increase of 8%
- Undergraduate nonresident decrease of 14%
- Graduate instate increase of 5% (with some tweaks to specific programs)
- Online graduate decrease multiplier from 1.25 to 1.02
- Online programs stay at 1.30 multiplier
There will be some unavoidable cost increases, such as $1 million in employer contributions to state retirement systems. Consequently, it is being projected that there will be a $5 million hole to fill as next year's budget is built. Here are some of the things that will be addressed:
- Hiring freeze. This is already being implemented. It is unavoidable that there will be fewer employees next year than this. This process will be as compassionate as possible and will take advantage of attrition, internal searches, reassignments, shared positions, and other approaches. In order to protect the core mission and offer classes to maintain enrollment—which is essential—the bulk of these savings cannot occur from within the faculty ranks. There may be an increased reliance on part time and adjuncts in some areas.
- It follows then, that on a proportional basis, reductions in staff will be greater than any faculty reductions.
- Operating expenses will be reduced, again with an eye toward protecting core mission elements.
- Strategic reallocations and reductions. The newly merged Strategic Planning and Finance Council is in a position to advise the president where these actions can be made.
- Outside of protecting the core mission of instruction, there can be no sacred cows.
A team from the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS) has been hired by the state to conduct a study for the Governor and the Council on Postsecondary Education to determine if there’s a need to make the University of Pikeville a public comprehensive university. At the risk of oversimplifying a complex topic, the study will first determine if there is an unmet need for educational opportunities in Southeastern Kentucky. Then, if the determination is that there is unmet need, to recommend alternatives to meet it.
UNFINISIHED BUSINESS:
Syllabus Index. Madelyn Street was in attendance to give a revised presentation on SGA's proposal for a syllabus index. The index will be available within EKU Direct and students must read the disclaimer at the top before they can click into the index. The disclaimer also encourages students to contact the instructors for additional information about the courses. The motion for Senate endorsement carried.
Committee on Committees motion. Senator Rousch, seconded by Senator Hensley, moved to approve the motion below. Motion carried.
Proposed Revision of Procedures for the Committee on Committees
Survey of Faculty for Positions on University Committees
In coordination with the University's Chief of Staff and Director of Institutional Research, the Committee on Committees should distribute a survey to all EKU faculty that allows faculty to nominate themselves for positions on university standing committees designated for the Faculty Senate self-nomination process for the following academic year. The Committee on Committees should distribute the survey by e-mail in February and have results by mid-March (a later date may be necessary depending on the demands of the university's survey mechanism). The Committee should share the survey results with the Chief of Staff, who will advise the Committee when vacancies for university committee open up. At that time, the Committee will consult the survey results to find willing and qualified candidates. Then the Committee will ask the Chief of Staff to present the names of selected candidates to the President of the University for his/her consideration for appointment. The Chief of Staff will keep the survey results for the next academic year and refer to it when university committee positions need to be filled. An updated list of committee membership can be found here: http://www.president.eku.edu/committees/
Unexpected Vacancies on University Committees and Policy Drafting Team
Throughout the year, it is possible that the Senate Chair or the Chief of Staff will ask the Committee for nominations of faculty to serve on university committees or on policy drafting teams. In such an event, the following steps should be followed until the Committee finds a willing and qualified candidate. First, ask the Chief of Staff to check the previous year's survey to see if anyone volunteered for this or a related committee and was unable to serve at that time. If there is such a candidate, contact him/her to determine if he/she is interested in this opening. If that process yields no one, then ask the Chief of Staff and the Senate Chair for recommendations. If that too yields no one, advertise the opening on EKU Today. For vacancies designated for representatives of specific colleges, the Committee ought to ask the dean of the college or the chair of the given committee for nominations. For certain committees, membership is identified in accordance with a specific policy provision.
NEW BUSINESS:
Resolution on Child Care. Diane Leggett, Family and Consumer Sciences, was in attendance to present the resolution for child care on campus. Senator Gerken moved, seconded by Senator Schmelzer, to support the resolution (see below). Motion carried. (Att1)
That the University provide to student, staff, faculty, and local community families an exemplary, high quality, nationally accredited, and FourSTARS-rated child development center with classrooms for children, age infant through kindergarten, of all developmental abilities, including those with diverse learning needs, as 1) a benefit to faculty, staff, and students, 2) a service to the local community, 3) a research site for faculty and students, 4) an observation/practice site for students across University academic programs, 5) a collaborator with existing early childhood programs on campus; and after construction (or renovation) of a site and within three years of opening, the center shall become largely self-sustaining based on tuition, grants, and donations with the balance (anticipated amount of $250,000) provided by the University as a faculty, staff, student benefit, as academic programs' support, and as Regional Stewardship.
Academic Quality Committee Replacement. Senator Corley was nominated and accepted by acclamation to serve on the committee.
Faculty Authored Texts. Senator Barracca moved, seconded by Senator Pressley to approve the faculty authored texts policy. Senator Noblitt ruled the motion substantive and asked that further comments be forwarded to Dr. Sherry Robinson. The motion will be presented for action at the March Senate meeting.
Report from Council on Academic Affairs - Senator Vice
New Programs
- Doctorate in Occupational Therapy
- Applied Creative Thinking Minor
- Minor in Web Publishing
- Minor in International Business
Program Revisions
- Middle Grade Education (5-9)
LIB 501 changed to LIB 401 and the course revision needs to be reflected in the program description - MAEd Library Science
Decrease the number of credit hours from 46 to 37 - Library Science Rank I
Decrease the number of credit hours from 34 to 31 - Master of Arts in Teaching, Interdisciplinary Early Childhood Education Option
Change one course of the program requirements to match the MAT in Middle Grades and Secondary Education - Recreation and Park Administration B.S.
Drop the current first aid and CPR certifications at time of graduation for all options. Change CHS 105 to EMC 105 due to prefix change - Minor in Industrial Technology
Change the name of the minor to Applied Engineering Management; Drop AEM 238; Reduce the number of credits required to obtain the AEM minor from 21 to 18 credits; Drop the QMB 200 option from the list of prerequisites for AEM 202 - Minor in Construction Management
Add purpose statement - Minor in Quality Assurance Technology
one three- credit alternative, STA 585 (Experimental Design) to AEM 530 (Design of Experiments) - Anthropology B.A.
Revise program curriculum listing due to changes in courses offered - Economics B.A.
Include residency requirement statement in the Catalog - MFA in Creative Writing
Name the MFA in Creative Writing "Bluegrass Writers Studio" - Associate Degree Nursing
Revise admission and clinical requirements in the program - Graphic Communications Management B.S.
Add GCM 318 and GCM 455 to the degree and drop MGT 330 and NET 303. Some course prefixes are being changed. Eliminate the statement “Professional Skills Seminar” from College Requirements - Technology A.A.S.
Change course prefixes from TEC to GCM - Minor in Digital Imaging Design B.A.
Add two new courses, update course prefixes and add a description - Public Relations B.A.
Add PUB 415S Public Relations in the Performing Arts to the Supporting Course Requirements for the Public Relations major - Computer Information Systems B.B.A.
Delete CIS 370 from Major Requirements and add a NET course to Network Management option - Insurance B.B.A.
Change the program title from Insurance to: Risk Management and Insurance - Insurance B.S.
Change the program title from Insurance to: Risk Management and Insurance - Biology M.S.
For each program and option: replace BIO 890 program with BIO 800 (new course), replace BIO 710 with BIO 810 (course number change from last year) as an option for a required course. Revise the exit requirements by changing the three written comprehensive examinations to an oral examination - Biology B.S.
Incorporate new courses (BIO 111, 112, and 495) into curriculum; update degree requirements to reflect changes in course numbers; reduce degree requirements to 120 hours; add additional information for Options within the major - Minor in Biology
Incorporate new courses (BIO 111 and 112) into curriculum; and update degree requirements to reflect changes in course numbers (BIO 318 and 319) - Applied Computing M.S.
Revise the Software Engineering, Industrial Computing, and Bioinformatics options. Move the statement regarding 800-level courses and CS courses so it is clearer that this applies to the program and not the electives. Remove the option for students to take an oral comprehensive exam - English B.A.
Revise the Undergraduate Catalog text to reflect the addition of ENG 335W to the curriculum of the Department of English & Theatre - Middle Grades 5-9 Teaching B.S.
Update Emphasis Requirements in Mathematics to reflect a Mathematics Department course change. MAT 205 Problem Solving with Logic has been replaced with MAE 305Problem Solving and Technology (3) - Communication Disorders
1) remove admission to Professional Education from the bachelor's degree program, 2) change program admission criteria, 3) change supporting course requirements - Deaf and Hard of Hearing P-12 (with Elementary Education P-5 and Middle Grade Education 5-9) Teaching B.S.
Drop SED 380. Add SED 580. The Elementary Education and Middle Grade Education options are being listed together under Deaf and Hard of Hearing Education (P-12) in the new General Education format for the Catalog - Special Education Non-Teaching B.S.
Drop SED 380, and add SED 580 in the program - Minor in Special Education Non-Teaching
Remove SED 338 from the electives in the Special Education minor - Elementary Education P-5 Teaching B.S.
Drop SED 401 from the Elementary Education program add the new course SED 402
Information Items
- Program Approval Process
- Application to the Graduate School, Revisions
Item 1: Changes to Entrance Examination Requirements for Admission; Item 2: Curriculum Guidelines for 3+2 Programs - Changes to Current EKU AP & CLEP Equivalencies
- Management, Marketing and Administrative Communication Departmental Name Change
- Memorandum of Agreement between Eastern Kentucky University and U.S. Army ROTC
Senator Vice moved approval of item 1, seconded by Senator Shordike. Motion carried.
Senator Vice moved approval of items 2-4, seconded by Senator Matthews. Motion carried.
Senator Vice moved approval of items 5-34, seconded by Senator Biggin. Motion carried.
Items 35-39 were presented for information only.
GENERAL & STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT: Senator Noblitt
The Faculty Rights and Responsibilities Committee continues to make progress on revising the Promotion and Tenure Policy. To expedite this process, the Provost's Office held a full-day retreat on January 5, during which the committee worked on revisions to the policy and received input from the campus community. The Committee plans to host further open forums to review the policy and receive campus input on February 21 at 1 p.m. and February 22 at 11 a.m.
The "Implementation Team" continues to meet and is designing a series of initiatives to help EKU reach the goals CPE has set for EKU. The group has formed a series of workgroups that include:
- Develop and Implement an Advising Model
- Develop and Implement a Retention Plan
- Identify Our Brand & Market Position
- Integrate Academic Units into Retention
- Orientation Courses
- "Starting Off on the Right Foot" (creating an intentional first year)
The Orientation Courses group has proposed increased standardization of the orientation courses for declared majors. A workgroup has proposed that the orientation course be divided into two sections, with the first section covering topics identified to help freshmen be successful in college and the second section focusing on the major. Instructors for the first section of the course would receive special training prior to teaching the class. The redesigning of orientation classes will be the first of several initiatives designed to serve freshmen entering next year.
In light of recent budget concerns, the group has also focused on financial issues related to their workgroups. The Brand & Market Position workgroup has been working closely with Admissions to maximize student enrollment next year. There is also a greater focus on attracting high-achieving freshmen. The workgroups assigned to review advising and retention have also focused on using resources efficiently and identifying initiatives that require very few, if any, additional financial resources.
The Board of Regents approved the General Education. The General Education Committee is now working quickly to implement the new program. Courses in Blocks I-V of the current General Education Curriculum will be transitioned as courses in Elements I-V without further application. Faculty are encouraged to consider submitting Courses in Blocks VII and VIII into the appropriate Element. Foreign languages have already been approved to move into Element VI, Diversity of Perspectives. Workgroups for Elements IV and V recently met to develop guidelines for determining which courses will meet the requirements of Element IVa, Life Sciences; Element IVb, Physical Sciences; and Element Va, Historical Perspectives. The workgroups will also meet in the summer to develop student learning outcomes to assess these Elements.
There are several policies that are coming through the pipeline. The drafting team for Policy 4.6.5, Evaluation of Non-Tenured Tenure-Track Faculty, continues to revise the current policy. The drafting team is focusing upon standardizing the procedures that departments use in the annual review process. Drafting teams are currently forming for the University Intellectual Property Policy and the Midterm Grades Policy. A Tobacco-Free Campus Policy is also currently being considered.
REPORT FROM FACULTY REGENT: Senator Frisbie
The Board met in a special meeting on December 16 for the purpose of working on the fourth year review of President Whitlock. President Whitlock had prepared a self-evaluation that he submitted to the outside firm, Pappas Consulting Group, who was helping with the evaluation, which was also shared with the Board. In addition, faculty, staff, and students had been invited to complete online surveys about President Whitlock’s performance. Alceste Pappas had also conducted phone interviews with board members, political leaders (mayor of Richmond, members of the legislature), the chair of the CPE, the president of the EKU Alumni Association, and the chair of the EKU Foundation Board. On the 16th, the Board talked by phone with Dr. Pappas for a bit more than an hour to hear her preliminary report and to ask questions to clarify her findings and recommendations. Senate Chair Noblitt also provided a detailed report of the Senate Executive Committee’s analysis of the faculty survey data.
The review process generated some areas for the Board and president to consider as we move forward. There is a fairly broad consensus that the president needs to help the EKU community clarify its vision for EKU. Also, enrollment management is recognized across groups as an area that requires focused leadership and energy in order to increase effectiveness at attracting good students, retaining them, and facilitating their progress to graduation in a timely fashion. A third area highlighted by the review process was the need to strengthen the cohesiveness and effectiveness of the university’s senior leadership in serving the needs of the university.
The Board asked President Whitlock to prepare a plan of action to present to us at the upcoming quarterly meeting in January.
At the January 17 meeting, the Board re-elected Gary Abney chair, and elected Barry Poynter (AVP of Financial Affairs) treasurer to the Board. Mr. Poynter will assume the treasurer duties for the Board at the end of March.
In a continuation of the 4th year presidential review, the Board accepted the final report submitted by the Pappas Consulting Group and also heard from President Whitlock the plan of action that the Board had asked him to prepare. The Board was pleased with the president’s plan of action.
The Board heard a number of informational reports. These included a report by Provost Vice, VP Conneely, and E.J. Keeley, Executive Director of Institutional Effectiveness and Research, concerning an action plan for enrollment management. The action plan includes initiatives that have grown out of the efforts of the Provost’s Implementation Team, and are aimed at helping EKU reach CPE targets for retention and graduation. There were also several reports shared about university advancement. The chair of the Foundation Board reported that EKU’s endowments were down by about 2.1% for the year. He reported that the investments had a strong 4th quarter and performed fairly well relative to the rest of the market. VP Joey Foster (University Advancement) reported that EKU’s fund raising was up by 38% for the year, with a growth of 1% in number of donors. Odette Shultz, from FMB Advertising gave a preview of the new recruiting campaign for the university with the theme, “You Can Get There from Here”. There were also reports on campus construction, the Madison County Airport, the Center for the Arts, the Center for Renewable and Alternative Fuel Technology (CRAFT), and the doctoral program in Educational Leadership.
The Board heard a financial update from VP Newsom. There is a projected shortfall of $3 million in the tuition line on the revenue side of the 2011-12 budget. That is partially offset by some other line, but there will likely be an operating deficit of $2.3 million this year. While there is a healthy fund balance, that fund balance will decrease this year from close to $9 million to the $6 million range. Looking ahead to 2012-13, the budget will probably be built using flat enrollment projections and incorporating reduced funding from the state – probably a reduction of $2 to $4 million.
In action items, the Board engaged the firm of Crowe Horwath to perform our external audit. This will be our third year using their services. The Board also authorized the sale of a couple of bonds that would be used to refinance bonds that are already in place. This will allow EKU's financial staff to pursue refinancing if this will be to the university's financial advantage, but does not require a refinance if interest rates are not favorable. The Board approved personnel actions including new and continuing employment involving outside funding, retirements and resignations, and two applications for RTP. There were also a variety of curriculum related items approved. These included approval of the legal studies minor, the MA program in mathematics, 22 program revisions, and revisions to the general education program, as amended and approved by the Faculty Senate.
The EKU Board will next convene for a regular quarterly meeting in April.
REPORT FROM COSFL: Senator Summers
COSFL's next meeting will be at the CPE building in Frankfort on Wednesday, February 22 from 1-4pm. Bob King, Lee Nimocks, and Aaron Thompson will give an update on higher education issues in the state and the directions in which the CPE plans to move forward.
PROVOST REPORT: Senator Vice
On January 17, CPE implemented a new two-step approval process for launching new academic programs.EKU's pre-proposal for the Occupational Therapy Doctorate (OTD) was the first new program to be submitted via this process. Thus far, all provosts’ votes have been positive—even complimentary. EKU’s standard curriculum process will proceed as usual while CPE is reviewing the pre-proposal.
To be more strategic in student-success efforts, the Implementation Team continues to meet every Monday morning to review how to improve communication flow, procedures, and processes. To date, the following nine work groups have been formed to:
- Develop and implement a Retention Plan
- Develop and Implement an Advising Model
- Promote Our Brand & Market Position in collaboration with FMB (our marketing partner)
- Integrate Academic Units into Retention Efforts
- Maximize the University Requirement – Orientation Course
- Get Students Started On the Right Foot
- Review the Admissions Process
- Implement Recruitment Strategies
- Review Admissions and Related Fees
- Ten linked sections of ENG 101 and GSD 101 for Fall 2012 with the instructors collaborating
- Partial standardization of the first-year course for students with declared majors (Student Success Seminar)
- New Design of Development Math (090, 095)
- Restructuring of Admissions – Application processing has been moved to IT to ensure a quick response to students applying to EKU
- New customized approaches to recruiting targeting student groups (e.g., academic excellence)
- Provost and Deans' invitation to the campus to submit ideas for enhancing student recruitment, retention, and advising.
- On-going analysis of organizational effectiveness of student services.
The QEP will celebrate five years of Quality Enhancement at EKU by showcasing strategies and projects EKU areas have implemented that support student learning and meet the QEP mission of graduating students who are "informed, critical and creative thinkers who communicate effectively." The showcase will be on February 7, 2012, from 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. at the Crabbe Library.
Join the Provost for lunch on Wednesday, February 8, at 12:00 – 1:00, in the Cafeteria, outside the Faculty Dining Room. Sign in with the cashier on either side of the building.
STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Ad Hoc Committee on Computing. Senator Smith reported that the majority of the ad-hoc committee members are in favor of the formation of a standing IT committee for the Senate.
IT will provide laptops with a set of approved "advertised programs" needed by all computer users where automatic updates will occur for those installed applications
All faculty PC laptops will be distributed as secured PCs where administrator rights are not granted to the local user account to reduce exposure to malware. Administrative rights will be available for software installation using a secure configuration, Powerbroker Desktop (offered by BeyondTrust).
The Spring 2012 faculty rollout will be for full time tenure and tenure-track faculty. New laptop requests for full time visiting professors and lecturers has been given tentative approval (dependent on budget approval). Adjunct and part-time faculty will be given currently used laptops (after they are traded-in and refurbished).
There are two proposed sessions for laptop orientation/rollout: late March – early April as well as late May – early June. The entire University will need to be scheduled for rollout. During the late March – early April session, IT will visit departments by University Building to perform laptop orientation/trade-in. If done in late May – early June, there will be scheduled visits in the Combs.
Current docking stations will not be compatible with new laptops. Current docking stations in offices will be traded in for new docking stations.
All docking stations will be removed from classrooms. Four connections will be available in classrooms to manually connect to PCs (a. VGA connection to projector; b. Ethernet cable (not needed if using wireless); c. power; d. audio). Apple users currently have to make manual connections.
Ad Hoc Committee on Graduate Assistants Employment. Senator Pogatshnik reported that the committee has worked on the guidelines and a compromise has been reached. Students will be allowed to work additional hours if they successfully complete 18 hours with a 3.5 GPA or higher.
ADJOURNMENT:
Senator Vice moved to adjourn at approximately 5:30 p.m.
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