Minutes for October 1, 2012
The Faculty Senate of Eastern Kentucky University met on Monday, October 1, 2012, in the South Ballroom of the Keen Johnson Building. Senator Pressley called the second meeting of the academic year to order at approximately 3:30 p.m.
The following members of the Senate were absent:
| A. Brumfield* | M. Farley | C. Frazer*^ |
| L. Heath | E. McClees* | R. Sharp*^ |
| D. Smith | C. Sommer* | D. Whitlock* |
| W. Zhuang* |
*Indicates prior notification of absence to the Faculty Senate Secretary
^ ALT Clemma Snider attended for C. Frazer
^ ALT Michael Bradley attended for R. Sharp
Visitors to the Senate: Nichole Arbino, SGA; Tina Davis, Registrar; Mark Jozefowitz, Public Safety; Bryan Makenen, EHS; Rick McGee, Registrar; Nancy McKenney, Library; Valerie Parks, PCG; Barry Poynter, OFA; Madelyn Street, SGA; Virginia Underwood, PCG; John Wade, Arts & Sciences; Mark Welker, Public Safety; Jennifer White, Registrar; Matt Winslow, Psychology; Sara Zeigler, University Programs
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
The September 10, 2012 minutes were approved as written.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS:
Information Technology Committee Election (1 vacancy). Senator Pogatshnik self nominated. Senator Day moved to close nominations and accept by acclimation, seconded by Senator Palmer. Motion carried.
NEW BUSINESS:
Motor Vehicle Use Regulation 9.4.1R. Sara Zeigler, as a representative of the drafting team, was in attendance to introduce the Motor Vehicle Use Regulation and to answer questions.
The comment period for this regulation ended on the 28th, but it will be extended for an additional two weeks until Wednesday, November 14. To submit comments, log into the policies website at www.policies.eku.edu.
Travel Requirements & Procedures Regulation 6.1.3R. Barry Poynter and Mark Welker were in attendance to present the Travel Requirements and Procedures Regulation and to answer questions.
The comment period for this regulation has been extended for an additional two weeks until Wednesday, November 14. To submit comments, log into the policies website at www.policies.eku.edu.
Senator Pressley urged the senators to share information on both regulations with their colleagues and to encourage them to provide feedback if there are issues or concerns.
Faculty Authored Text Policy Amendment. Senator Pressley announced that the following change was made to the final paragraph of the policy statement when it was reviewed by the Provost Council:
Final Paragraph of Policy Statement
Contracts/agreements for publishing textbooks or educational materials are personal agreements between publishers and faculty author(s). Any tax consequences from royalty income are the responsibility of the recipient. Royalties generated by faculty author(s) cannot be paid, directed, or donated directly to a department/unit or to the University by the faculty author(s) or by the publisher. Faculty author(s) may choose to make a donation to the EKU Foundation for the amount of the royalties. In such a case, the author is responsible for reporting royalty income to the IRS and may be able to deduct the donation based on the individual’s own personal tax situation.
Committee Charges for 2012-2013. Senator Pressley shared the list of committee charges which will be reviewed this year.
Report from Council on Academic Affairs - Senator Vice
Program Revisions
- Associate Degree Nursing
Change required hours to a minimum of 60-72 and drop PSY 200; add SOC 131. - MSN-ARPHN (Advanced Rural Public Health Nursing)
Revise the Advanced Rural Public Health Nursing option of the MSN program: Change the name to Public Health Nursing Administration and Education. Drop NSC 836; Decrease NSC 862 from 4 hours to 3 hours credit; Add NSC 837; Drop NSC 844 an approved elective and add NSC 856 and 858 as requirement for Admin area of concentration. Minor formatting changes. - Post-Master of Science in Nursing
Public Health Nursing certificate: Change name of the certificate, drop NSC 836, add NSC 837, change course names. Nursing Education Departmental Certificate: Change name of courses. Nursing Administration Departmental Certificate: Expand the Departmental Nursing Certificates to include an Administration Certificate. Delete admission deadline.
Information Item
- Practice for Repeating Courses
CAA Motion: Strike the restriction on repeated courses from other institutions replacing grades earned first at EKU. Motion carried.
Senator Vice moved approval of items 1-3, seconded by Senator Summers. Motion carried.
Item 4 was presented for information only.
GENERAL & STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT: Senator Pressley
The Faculty Senate Executive Committee met on Monday, September 24th to set the agenda for the October Faculty Senate meeting and to plan future actions for the upcoming academic year.
Dr. Sherry Robinson shared a copy of the requirements needed to complete the SACS fifth year interim report. This is a mini report comprised of only 17 narratives. Most of the information for the narratives will be fairly easy to pull together. EKU’s report is due by March 2013.
Dr. Sherry Robinson reported that the Faculty Authored Text Policy was recently passed by the Provost Council with one change--the removal of language that talked about options faculty had regarding how royalties should be handled. Dr. Robinson stated that royalties might be further addressed by developing a new policy.
Senator Vice announced that the Vice Presidents are talking about creating a procedure for medical withdrawals. Currently those students have to go through the same appeals process that everyone else goes through. If established, the medical withdrawal requests would need to be reviewed by Rochelle Seals in Student Accounting Services, Tina Davis in the Registrar’s Office, and Claire Good, Student Affairs.
The University Diversity Planning Council met on Wednesday, September 12th. Sandra Moore, Associate Provost for Diversity, explained that the council would begin to conduct diversity seminars with academic units this semester. Diversity seminars were conducted with staff in nonacademic units during the 2011-2012 academic year. The Fall Diversity Convocation for Students is tentatively scheduled for November 13th at 9:00 pm.
The faculty taskforce last met on Thursday, September 20, 2012. Here are some key questions asked by taskforce members:
- Why do students drop courses and do we have data on that?
- Can we see data from each semester on the drop/add fees from the FSPC?
- How have these fees impacted student retention?
- How do high-risk students make it through EKU and graduate?
- Can the College Student Inventory (CSI) data be given to all faculty advisors via DegreeWorks so that faculty can better understand each student’s background?
The faculty taskforce also discussed reading and writing across the curriculum, and discussed ways to share this responsibility within various disciplines. Another topic discussed was the need for more money and other resources to give faculty more opportunities for professional development.
The Board of Regents passed the proposed policies on Promotion & Tenure Policy (4.6.4), and the Use of Self-Authored Textbooks and Educational Materials Policy (4.7.1) on Friday, September 28th.
REPORT FROM FACULTY REGENT: Senator Frisbie
The Board met on Friday for a regular quarterly meeting.
Two new Board members were introduced. One was Ms. Janie Miller who has served in the past as the Secretary for Health and Family Services of Kentucky. The other new member was Madelyn Street, President of the Student Government Association.
The books have been officially closed on fiscal year 2011-2012 and the good news is the year was finished with about a $3.8M surplus
The Board received last year’s official audit report from Crowe Horwath, and they gave EKU an unqualified opinion which means that expenditures and reporting is being handled in a transparent and accurate manner.
The Board heard from James L. Fisher, the consultant hired to look at efficiency and effectiveness at the university. He anticipates providing the Board with a report of about 75-100 recommendations by the end of the year.
In terms of the presidential search, four proposals have been received from nationally known search consulting firms. A special meeting of the Board is scheduled for October 12th to interview all four firms.
The chair of the Board has been authorized to appoint a presidential search committee. It is anticipated that individuals appointed will represent several major stakeholders in the university community. The chair also plans to seek input from the University community during the search process through forums and/or focus groups.
The next quarterly meeting of the Board will be in January. That date has not been determined yet.
REPORT FROM COSFL: Senator Summers
The AAUP “get acquainted” meeting is scheduled for Wednesday from 3:30pm to 5pm in the Faculty Lounge in the Keen Johnson Building.
PROVOST REPORT: Senator Vice
The First Annual Assurance of Learning Day was very successful. Departments reported positive results from a day focused on student learning outcomes. A number of departments suggested scheduling one day each semester rather than one day a year. The Assessment Work group will provide an executive summary and offer recommendations based on faculty feedback.
The Chief Academic Officers’ Retreat with the Council on Postsecondary Education was held on September 27-28. Listed below are some of the highlights from the retreat.
- Adult Learner Initiative – (aka Commonwealth College) Unfunded mandate to reach Kentucky’s 500,000 adult learners who have earned some college credit. Many questions exist as to how the universities will be impacted; but a common model for evaluating prior learning will be a priority.
- Developmental Education – The work by Complete College America is changing the approach to how universities structure developmental education. The 16-week, 3-semester-sequence courses will not be the future model. According to Sue Cain, “Developmental Education is no longer considered access, but rather a barrier to student success.”
- Provost Emeritus Larry Abele from Florida State University presented on FSU’s success in increasing retention and graduation rates. The 10-year transformation included many best practices that EKU currently has underway (e.g., living/learning communities, freshmen taking classes together in cohort groups, success coaches, and early identification of students at risk). The Implementation Team and Faculty Task Force will focus this year on additional steps needed in order to reach student success goals.
- Degree Pathways – CPE is taking the initiative to coordinate the universities’ 2+2 agreements with KCTCS. They are preparing a common template for 2+2 degrees to be posted on KnowHow2Transfer.
- CPE’s 2nd Annual Student Success Seminar will be held in April with keynote speaker Vincent Tinto, a sociologist and nationally recognized theorist on student success. His most recent book, Completing College – Rethinking Institutional Action. The second day will focus on how Kentucky institutions are enhancing student success.
Upcoming Dates
- October 11-12 – Sloan Conference – Focus: Online learning
- October 17-18 – Education Advisory Board, Provosts’ Roundtable, Washington, DC – Focus: Advising, Program Review, and the Promise and Perils of Innovation
Come join the Provost for lunch on Wednesday from 12-1pm outside the Faculty Dining Room in the upstairs cafeteria.
STUDENT GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION: Madelyn Street
Madelyn Street, President, and Nichole Arbino, Executive Vice President, gave an update on the syllabus index project. IT has written special code which will pull syllabi posted in Digital Measures into EKUDirect, and the information will be password protected, as requested by the Senate. It is anticipated that a check box will be available in Digital Measures which will allow faculty to opt out if they do not wish to participate.
Other SGA initiatives include:
- Developing a university-wide attendance policy to provide consistency across the board for students
- Implementing e-ranks which is a student involvement program developed with Student Life and Housing. When students attend e-rank events, their cards will be swiped with a card scanner, and they will be awarded points for attending the events. At the end of the year students will be entered to win prizes based on the number of points received.
Academic Quality Committee. Senator Marshall announced that the co-chairs this year will Senators Marshall and Corley. The next meeting is scheduled for October 8th to discuss the charges.
Budget Committee. Senator Thieme announced that the committee will meet next Monday to review charges.
Informational Technology Committee. Senator Kilgore reported that the committee has met and has talked with Mona Isaacs. There may be a new communications program coming through this semester. The committee plans to meet briefly immediately after the Senate convenes today.
Rights & Responsibilities Committee. Senator Maloley was elected to chair committee.
Senator Palmer distributed the charges:
- Assist in the development of a plan for introducing the new Promotion and Tenure Policy
- Review and discuss upcoming policy reviews including post tenure review, evaluation of academic administrators, and termination of faculty
Dr. Sherry Robinson reported that the new policy goes to Board of Regents on Friday. If it is passed, it will take effect August, 2013. In the meantime, policies have to be put into place in order to facilitate its implementation. A couple issues will need particular attention:
- Collegiality: If departments include collegiality as part of their evaluation process, it must be defined and it must be consistent with university policy. Department policy must be approved through the proper channels, through the Dean and the Provost to be ready for implementation in August, 2013.
- Procedural changes to the appeals process: Faculty will need to understand differences in appeal under the new system. Departments have the opportunity to reconsider, but there will be no appeal until the end of the process. A Faculty Evaluation Appeals Committee will have to be established (elected from each College). That election will occur early in spring semester to prepare for initiation of new policy.
Senator Velotta volunteered to serve on the Post-tenure Review drafting team.
Senator Whalen volunteered to serve on the Termination of Faculty drafting team.
Other issues the R&R committee may choose to review:
- Evaluation of Academic Administrators
- Promotion & Tenure Policy as it applies to Model Lab School faculty. Model Lab faculty have voted in favor of having their own policy. Currently, faculty are hired as instructors; when they get tenure, they automatically are promoted to assistant professor. They are not eligible for promotion to associate or full professor.
- Promotion & Tenure Policy as it applies to Library faculty. They have voted to remain under the Promotion & Tenure policy, but they cannot get tenure.
Dr. Robinson provided two policies for R&R to review: 1) working draft of policy for lectureships and 2) evaluation of full-time faculty not eligible for tenure.
Ad Hoc Committee on Legislative Forum. Senator Day reported that the forum is scheduled for Monday, November 26 from 3pm to 5pm. The tentative venue is the black box theater in the Center for the Arts. The College of Education will sponsor a reception after the forum.
Confirmed Speakers include Bob King, Council on Postsecondary Education President and Terry Holiday, Education Commissioner.
Jim Clark (EKU Government Relations) has invited key legislators from Madison County, The House and Senate Education Committees and the Higher Education Appropriations Committee.
Dr. Whitlock will provide an opening welcome.
Faculty Senate Chair Shelia Pressley will introduce the forum on behalf of the Faculty Senate and make a brief statement about the format for the afternoon.
Joe Gersehtenson (EKU Government Department) will serve as moderator.
ADJOURNMENT:
Senator Vice moved to adjourn at approximately 5:15 p.m.
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