Minutes for December 3, 2012
The Faculty Senate of Eastern Kentucky University met on Monday, December 3, 2012, in the South Ballroom of the Keen Johnson Building. Senator Pressley called the fourth meeting of the academic year to order at approximately 3:30 p.m.
The following members of the Senate were absent:
| S. Barracca* | R. Cleveland | M. Farley |
| W. Hatcher* | L. Heath* | B. Karolich |
| K. Keltner-Previs* | S. Lippman* | R. Roush* |
| D. Whitlock* | W. Zhuang |
*Indicates prior notification of absence to the Faculty Senate Secretary
Visitors to the Senate: Bryan Makinen, EH&S/RM&I; Valerie Parks, PC&G; Barry Poynter, Financial Affairs; Sherry Robinson, Provost Office; Judy Spain, University Counsel; Garett Yoder, General Education; Sara Zeigler, University Programs
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
The November 12, 2012 minutes were approved as written.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS:
Motor Vehicle Use 9.4.1R /Travel Requirements 6.1.3R. Dr. Sara Zeigler shared the latest draft of regulation 9.4.1R which included many of the changes recommended at the last Senate meeting. The drafting team will meet again next week to consider additional changes to regulation 6.1.3R. Both regulations will come back to the Senate in the spring for further review.
Motion Opposing Regulations 9.4.1R and 6.1.3R. Senator Kopacz moved to defer discussion on the motion until the regulations are ready for Senate review, seconded by Senator O’Brien. Motion carried. (atts [1, 2] from 11-12-12 meeting)
NEW BUSINESS:
Cost of Customized Textbooks. Dr. Judy Spain, Dr. Sherry Robinson and Mr. Barry Poynter gave a short presentation on the true cost of customized textbooks and shared several cost-effective alternatives.
Report from Council on Academic Affairs - Senator Vice
Program Revisions
College of Arts & Sciences
- Minor in Theatre Arts
add THE 235 to the Minor - Minor in Theatre Arts/Teaching
Add THE 235 to the Minor - English B.A.
Add 3+2 Option to the program for Literature, Creative Writing, and Technical Writing emphasis - Political Science B.A.
Add 3+2 Option - Psychology B.S.
Revise program to reflect creation of PSY 309W
College of Education
- B.S. in Middle Grade Education
Change course option in social studies emphasis to allow GEO 100 as an option to GEO 220 - B.S. Elementary Education P-5 Teaching
Corrections in Program requirements to align with prior course revisions & general education changes. Move SED 104 to Supporting Coursework area to allow it to meet Element 6. Remove comments that are no longer applicable to the program. - Doctor of Education (EdD)
Revise/edit the EdD program within the 2012-2013 Graduate catalog to be consistent and accurate with current policy and program procedures. - Admission to Teacher Education, Admission to Student Teaching
1) Drop the residency requirement for admission to teacher education. 2) Drop the four diverse experiences requirement for admissions to student teaching. 3) Correct a misspelled word. 4) Correct a misprint in the catalog ("courses" should have read co-op). 5) MUS 384 as an option for Music Education majors to meet computer literacy.
University Programs
- Associate of General Studies
Reduce number of credit hours required to be completed at EKU from 24 to 15; 2) Correct a catalog error regarding number of hours to waive student success seminar requirement; 3)Add a requirement that students declare a concentration or college affiliation; 4) Add GSD 250 as a required course. - Bachelor of General Studies
Add GSD 450 as a required course.
Action Items
- General Education Program Revision to Elements 4A and 4B
- Comprehensive Baccalaureate Degree Requirements Revision - Adjust all 120 hour programs to require more than 30 residency hours. Adjust any programs of greater than 128 hours to the 25% standard effective with the 13/14 academic year. Identify and communicate as soon as possible with any program that will have an increased residency requirement for 13/14.
- Comprehensive Associate Degree Requirements Revision - Revise the minimum semester hours required at EKU from 16 to 15 hours. For any associate degree programs requiring greater than 60 hours, require the 25% standard as the minimum semester hour requirement at EKU.
- Academic Bankruptcy Policy Revision - Revise the bankruptcy policy to allow students to retain earned hours.
Information Item
- Dual Credit, EKU Now! - New Catalog language for 2013-14 Catalog
Senator Vice moved approval of items 1-11, seconded by Senator Summers. Motion carried.
Senator Vice moved approval of item 12, seconded by Senator Frazer. Motion carried with a vote of 40 to 13.
Senator Vice moved approval of item 13, seconded by Senator Corley. Motion carried.
Senator Vice moved approval of item 14, seconded by Senator Spock. Motion carried.
Senator Vice moved approval of item 15, seconded by Senator Frazer. The motion was withdrawn and referred back to the CAA work group for further review.
Item 16 was presented for information only.
Senator Vice noted that a new Admissions Criteria proposal will be presented for information at the next Executive Committee meeting and, based on their recommendation, may be presented to the Senate in February.
GENERAL & STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT: Senator Pressley
The Faculty Senate Executive Committee met on Monday, November 26th to set the agenda for the December Faculty Senate.
Dr. Robinson introduced an updated version of the policy on the Evaluation of Non-Tenured Tenure Track Faculty, which included some of the recommendations that the Executive Committee provided last time.
The Executive Committee requested that the drafting team reconvene and consider adding the Provost back into the decision making process. In addition, appeals should go to the Provost but be handled by the FEAC (Faculty Evaluation and Appeals Committee). This is similar to the appeals process that was recently approved in the new Promotion and Tenure Policy. The policy will come back to the Executive Committee for further review in January or February.
Dr. Robinson reported that the drafting team for the Termination of Faculty policy will meet for the first time in the spring semester. The policy will probably not be ready for review until next fall.
Dr. Vice, with the full support of the Executive Committee, agreed to speak with Valerie Parks and Virginia Underwood about changing the non-academic process for regulations to mirror the academic process. By doing so, the process would be less confusing for everyone.
Senator Pressley reported that the Presidential Search and Screening Committee (PSSC) will meet on Monday, December 17th. The website (http://presidentialsearch.eku.edu) is being updated on an on-going basis, so be sure to check there for the latest news.
Representatives from Academic Search will be at the next PSSC meeting to share their analysis of the campus visits and to begin working on the announcement of the position. Members of the Executive Committee expressed an interest in hearing the analysis of the campus visits from Academic Search, and Senator Frisbie agreed to check with the PSSC chair on the possibility of having that part of the meeting open.
The Faculty Taskforce for Student Retention (FTFSR) met on Thursday, November 15, 2012 to hear a presentation on EKU’s Colonel Camp from Loni Crowe. Colonel Camp began in 2007 and has increased in popularity each year. According to the Colonel Camp staff, when compared to other new students starting their enrollment at the same time, participants have been found to have higher GPAs (both by term and cumulative), are retained at higher rates for every semester of enrollment, and have higher 4-year graduation rates. Colonel Camp is a voluntary effort and has a $150 cost for each freshman.
The FTFSR also met on Monday, November 27th with Tim Culver from Noel Levitz to review and discuss EKU’s retention data. This meeting allowed the members to view the data from Noel Levitz and ask questions on how it can be useful to faculty. One outcome of the meeting was an agreement among the members present to advocate for a new advising model for EKU faculty. The current advising model does not include training for faculty, nor does it include a way for faculty to understand and use the data that already exists on the students that are advised.
The FTFSR will meet next on Thursday, December to follow-up on the discussion with Noel Levitz.
REPORT FROM FACULTY REGENT: Senator Frisbie
The Presidential Search and Screening Committee will meet on Monday, December 17. Most of the meeting will be open to the public.
PROVOST REPORT: Senator Vice
Below are highlights for several CPE Initiatives:
- Rural Access Work Group – CPE is holding meetings to address the need to reach approximately 600,000 adults in Kentucky who have a high school diploma but do not have a higher education credential. Participants include university representatives, KCTCS, Chamber of Commerce, two members of the General Assembly, and other partners to increase the percent of citizens in Kentucky who hold college degrees. The focus is on rural pockets with limited access to a postsecondary institution. The impetus for this Group has been NCHEMS’ report regarding the UPike proposal.
- CPE’s midterm review of CPE’s 2011-15 Strategic Agenda—CPE staff will be asking the Council’s approval of new metrics and language tweaks at their February 2013 meeting. The following changes are being considered to CPE’s performance metrics for the last two reporting years of the current plan:
1) New teacher excellence – replacing the current metric with the similar metric published by EPSB (top 25% on any Praxis II exam). CPE is engaging the Education Deans on this topic.
2) Changing the three graduation gap metrics from the gap itself to the graduation rate of the target group.
3) Changing the credit to degree metric from the SREB definition (credits attempted) to the Complete College America definition (credits completed).
EKU’s institutional scorecard can be found at (http://cpe.ky.gov/planning/). - CPE discussions regarding a performance-funding model and tuition setting for 2013-2014 are ongoing.
Below are upcoming events for Academic Affairs:
- December 8-11— SACS annual meeting.
- January – Deans received Faculty Task Force’s recommendations favorably and are in the process of responding. In January, the Deans will dialogue with selected instructors of 100- and 200-level courses who are recognized for their effectiveness in teaching freshmen. The Faculty Task Force will now turn its attention to retaining Transfer Students.
- February 11 – Dr. Larry Abele, Provost Emeritus at Florida State, will lead the Implementation Team in a workshop, outlining successful measures FSU took to increase student retention— particularly minorities.
- March 6 – (tentative) An Academic Summit, including deans, associate/assistant deans, and chairs, will be held to review EKU’s academic progress and preparation for Fall 2013.
The Provost will be in Frankfort on Wednesday, so the December luncheon with the Senators is cancelled.
STUDENT GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION: Madelyn Street
Ms. Street thanked everyone who participated in the syllabus index.
SGA worked with the Provost Office and the Dean of the Library to create a 24-hour study space for students after fall break. If funding is available, SGA would like to continue to offer this service next semester.
The Residence Life Council is working with the Housing office and laundry services to include laundry fees in the housing costs. This is current practice at a number of other institutions.
The fall concert with Yellowcard was well received by students. The Student Activities Council is in the process of scheduling the spring concert. That information should be available soon.
As in past semesters, SGA is in the process of planning a free midnight breakfast in Powell for students on Thursday, December 6. There will be lots of games and prizes.
STRATEGIC PLANNING/FINANCIAL PLANNING COUNCIL: Senator Pressley
The joint Financial Planning/Strategic Planning Council met on Tuesday, November 27th and the agenda included a budget schedule discussion, a benefits update, enrollment and retention projections, and carry forwards. The discussion on the budget schedule will continue at the next meeting on December 12th. This meeting will be attended by President Whitlock, and will center on reallocations. The financial status of EKU will require the budget to be cut by at least $2 million dollars. This is the amount that needs to be cut even if tuition is increased by 3%. The final decision from CPE on tuition parameters will soon be available. With the exception of a few categories such as Class Fees and Faculty Development Funds, all carryover funds have been swept into pools for each area (i.e. Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, etc.). (atts 1, 2)
STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Academic Quality Committee. As a follow up to the earlier textbook discussion, Senator Marshall shared a list of questions faculty should ask when considering customized textbooks.
The committee met on November 26 and is scheduled to meet again on December 10.
Budget Committee. Senator Thieme reported that the committee is currently gathering data on faculty equity issues. More information will be shared later.
Elections & University Nominations Committee. Senators Johnson and Roush will serve as co-chairs for the committee for this academic year.
Senator Pressley stated that the committee will be working on the Faculty Regent election and the part-time faculty election in the spring semester. The criteria and procedures for the Faculty Regent Election and the Faculty Regent Nomination Petition were shared in the Senate materials.
Informational Technology Committee. Senator Kilgore asked that the senators email him with any IT questions or concerns.
Rights & Responsibilities Committee. Senator Maloley reported that the survey to gather feedback on lecturer positions is complete and the committee is in the process of compiling the data.
Rules Committee. Senator Adams reported that Senator Barracca will be the chair for this committee.
Welfare Committee. Senator Nowak announced that a tax deductible, 5/29 savings plan is available for faculty and staff, and she encouraged the senators to share that information with their colleagues.
Ad Hoc Committee on Legislative Forum. Senator Day reported that the Legislative Forum was held on Monday, November 26 from 3-5pm in the Black Box Theater in the basement of the Performing Arts Center with Joseph Gershtenson serving as moderator. The forum was well received, and the Senate may want to consider making this an annual event.
ADJOURNMENT:
Senator Vice moved to adjourn at approximately 5:15 p.m.
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