Minutes for December 5, 2011
The Faculty Senate of Eastern Kentucky University met on Monday, December 5, 2011, in the South Ballroom of the Keen Johnson Building. Senator Noblitt called the fourth meeting of the academic year to order at approximately 3:30 p.m.
The following members of the Senate were absent:
| F. Awang* | M. Gerken* | G. Gorbett* |
| K. Keltner-Previs* | S. Merlin* | A. Shordike* |
| J. Vice* | D. Whitlock* |
*Indicates prior notification of absence to the Faculty Senate Secretary
Visitors to the Senate: Nichole Arbino, SGA; Madelyn Street, SGA
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
The November 7, 2011 minutes were approved as written.
REPORT FROM THE PRESIDENT: Senator Whitlock
Senator Whitlock shared the following in his written report to the Senate.
The December commencement speakers and honorary degree recipients will be Dr. T. Pearse Lyons, President of Alltech, Inc., and Dr. Eugene Hughes, retired president of Northern Arizona University and Wichita State University and former EKU interim president.
Governor Steve Beshear has issued a two percent current year budget reduction for statement government. Fortunately, all of education has again been exempted from the cut.
New television and print media will begin after January 1 for the kickoff of EKU’s new marketing campaign.
The Council on Academic Affairs has concurred with the Senate’s amendments to the General Education proposal, and Senator Whitlock plans to present the new program to the Board of Regents at the January meeting.
Senator Whitlock thanked all those who participated in the process of his evaluation.
NEW BUSINESS:
Senate Vice Chair. Senator Pressley was elected to serve as vice chair for the 2011-2012 academic year.
Executive Committee. Senator Day was elected to serve on the Executive Committee.
Proposal for Syllabus Index. Madelyn Street and Nichole Arbino gave a presentation on SGA's proposed syllabus index.
Senator Hensley moved, seconded by Senator Schmelzer, to recommend that the syllabus index be made available through EKUDirect to address security issues. Motion carried.
Additional concerns included: 1) lack of face-to-face contact between faculty and students; 2) lack of formal procedures for SGA's maintenance of the index; 3) and the impact on academic quality as a result of course shopping.
Senator Noblitt ruled the motion substantive and stated that the proposal would be presented for a vote of support at February's Senate meeting.
Report from Council on Academic Affairs - Senator Pogatshnik Reported for Senator Vice
Program Revisions
- Computer Science (B.S.)
Update the Catalog program description by adding the accrediting agency website - Psy.S. in School Psychology
Add PSY 842 to the curriculum. Replace PSY 857 with PSY 842 - Animal Studies (B.S.)
Add as a requirement for the major: A minimum grade of "C" in all courses counted toward the major - Public Relations (B.A.)
Revise major and supporting course requirements to include new courses PUB 385S, PUB 490S, and COM 325S - Certificate in Accounting
Add minimum hours and grade requirements - Minor in Insurance and Risk Management
Add specific course requirements - Endorsement in English as a Second Language
Change the requirements for the Endorsement to allow more flexibility for students. Indicate the program requirements more clearly - Specialist in Education
Create a redesigned principal preparation program within a specialist degree - Master of Science in Community Nutrition
a) Require a combined GRE score of 900 (verbal and quantitative sections) for entrance into the program. (The GRE concordance information to compare the score scale of 200-800 to the new score scale of 130-170 will be available in November 2011 after the completion of the statistical analyses required for transition to the new scale.) b) Discontinue the MAT score of 400 as an option for entrance into the program. c) Add NFA 705 – Maternal and Infant Nutrition as a required core course. d) Drop HEA 810 - Human Behavior Change as a required core course
Senator Pogatshnik moved approval of items 1-9, seconded by Senator Smith. Motion carried.
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 has agreed to sponsor a full-day retreat during which the committee can work on revisions to the policy and seek input from the campus. The retreat is currently scheduled for Thursday January 5, 2012, in the Martin Room.
The Provost has gathered a group of individuals from across campus (the “Implementation Team”) to design a series of initiatives to assist EKU in reaching the goals CPE has set. The group has formed a series of workgroups that will begin meeting in mid-December. These workgroups include:
- Develop and Implement an Advising Model
- Develop and Implement a Retention Plan
- Identify Brand & Market Position
- Integrate Academic Units into Retention
- Orientation Courses
- "Starting Off on the Right Foot" (creating an intentional first year)
The Presidential Evaluation Survey has closed and the Executive Committee is currently compiling a report to deliver to the Board of Regents on December 16, 2011. The response rate for the survey was 120 full-time faculty responses and 24 part-time faculty responses.
The revisions Senate made to the General Education Program were sent back to the General Education Committee the next day. The General Education Committee voted to incorporate the revisions without change. The revisions were also approved by the Council on Academic Affairs. The Board will review the proposal at the January meeting.
Dean Sara Zeigler and Committee Chair Dr. Garrett Yoder have begun to design a series of procedures and guidelines for approval of courses into the new General Education Elements. Dean Zeigler emphasizes that these procedures are still under development and obviously contingent upon the Board of Regents voting to implement the revised program.
In the wake of the Penn State scandal, the Administrative Council spent some time discussing Title IX and faculty crime-reporting requirements. The University Equal Opportunity Office has already begun to review university policies and procedures in anticipation of additional regulations for college campuses.
The Executive Committee reviewed the Policy on Faculty Authored Texts. While there had been significant improvement since the last version of the report, committee members made several other additional suggestions. The revised policy should be presented to the Senate in February.
REPORT FROM FACULTY REGENT: Senator Frisbie
The Board will hold a special meeting on Friday, December 16. The main agenda item is the administrative review of the president.
The next regular quarterly meeting of the Board will be on January 17.
REPORT FROM COSFL: Senator Summers
COSFL met on Monday, November 21 in Frankfort.
The AAUP Statewide Conference in November was well attended. One of the guest speakers was Dr. John Taylor. Another statewide AAUP meeting has been planned for later this spring after the CPE and the Department of Education approve the budget for the next biennium. The two main topics for discussion will be the differences between promotion and tenure requirements across the Commonwealth and the issue of merit versus cost of living raises.
The following was shared during the institutional reports.
- UK – Post tenure review is a contentious issue
- Morehead – Near record enrollment with over 11,000 students
- Murray State – High attrition rate of faculty
- KSU – Default rate of 30% on students with Perkins loans (only 15% is permissible).
The next COSFL meeting is scheduled for February 10. The main topic of discussion will be the new 2012-2014 biennial budget.
PROVOST REPORT: Senator Pogatshnik Reported for Senator Vice
This month the Provost and Dr. E. J. Keeley have been meeting with the deans and department chairs of each college. These meetings have served as an opportunity for meaningful discussions regarding key issues for student success at EKU. The topics of discussion include:- Assurance of Learning vs. Assessment
- Student Success Data and our new website
- State Scorecard Comparisons
- Draft of New Program Review
While assessment, which is data-driven, is a key component of student success, assurance of learning is goal-oriented and focuses on using data to make improvements. EKU’s new Strategic Plan stipulates critical thinking, creative thinking, and communication skills as required student learning outcomes for every program.
As part of this quest for continuous improvement, data mining has become a strategic goal for Academic Affairs. As a result, Institutional Research has provided a website where student success data for each department is reported for Fall 2008, 2009, and 2010. Available at https://irserver.eku.edu/Reports/StudentSuccess/, these reports are to help departments assess their programs’ performance in key areas (e.g., number of majors, enrollment trends, retention and graduation rates, etc...).
The college meetings are also reviewing the comparison of EKU's Scorecard with
other Kentucky institutions with a focus on helping Eastern meet state performance targets. The summary scorecard was provided to the Senate at last month's meeting and is available online at:
http://www.academicaffairs.eku.edu/academicaffairsnews/student_success_scorecard_summary.pdf
Finally, these meetings have focused on EKU's New Program Review process. The first cycle of Program Review will begin Spring 2013.
Please join the Provost for lunch on Wednesday, December 7, from 12-1pm in the Powell Cafeteria, outside the Faculty Dining Room. Sign in with the cashier at either door.
STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Elections Committee. Senator Day announced that Micah Farley, English & Theatre, has been elected to serve as the part-time faculty representative for the next two years.
New Senator Orientation Committee. Senator Pressley reported that an orientation packet has been shared with Senator Farley.
Rights & Responsibilities Committee. Senator Palmer announced that the Provost's Office has agreed to sponsor a retreat on January 5 to further review the P&T policy and to seek input from the campus community. In preparation for the retreat, the latest P&T draft and supporting materials will be distributed to all senators later this week. Additional information on the retreat will be shared soon.
Rules Committee. Senator Hensley introduced a motion to change the procedures for the Committee on Committees. The motion will be presented for action at the February Senate meeting.
Ad Hoc Committee on Computing. Senator Smith reported that IT now has laptops available with the current proposed security desktop management systems installed.
The RFP for laptops has been submitted. When the equipment arrives on campus, it will be available for a 30-day evaluation period. More information will be shared on this later.
The committee has been asked to consider two additional items at the next meeting.
- Are the laptops only available to tenure and non-tenure track faculty or will lecturers be included?
- When will the laptops be available?
Ad Hoc Committee on Graduate Assistants Employment. Senator Pogatshnik announced that the committee will meet next Monday.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Senator Johnson announced that the $1 parking lot on Crabbe Street has been changed to university parking. The lot is still owned by the city, but EKU is leasing it. More details will be shared as information becomes available.
Senator Pressley announced that the University Diversity Committee will be setting up kiosks for the next couple of weeks around the Powell Building and other areas on campus to survey students on the campus climate. Students who participate will have a chance to win free prizes.
ADJOURNMENT:
Senator Pogatshnik moved to adjourn at approximately 4:40 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.