Minutes for December 7, 2015

The Faculty Senate of Eastern Kentucky University met on Monday, December 7, 2015 in the South Ballroom in the Keen Johnson Building. Senator O'Brien called the fourth meeting of the academic year to order at approximately 3:30 p.m.

The following members were absent:

M. Benson*	R. Brubaker*^	I. El-Amouri
C. Elliott*	D. Embury*^	E. Fredrickson
K. Gray-Denson	T. Hartch	B. Houston*
G. Hunter*^	S. Hunter*	L. Kay*
S. Mohallatee	E. Morett	D. Ricketts*^
D. Robinson*^	C. Sommer	H. Taylor*
J. Varela-Ibarra	J. Vice*

^* Indicates prior notification of absence to the Faculty Senate Secretary
^{^} SUB Jerry Palmer attended for R. Brubaker
^{^} SUB Michelle Gremp attended for D. Embury
^{^} ALT Rick Mott attended for G. Hunter
^{^} ALT Melissa Powell attended for D. Ricketts
^{^} SUB Chad Bennett attended for D. Robinson

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Senator O’Brien announced that most of the administrative leadership, including the Senate Chair, is at the SACS conference in Houston, Texas.

Senator O’Brien thanked Sharon Edwards for her service as parliamentarian to the Senate.  The Executive Committee is currently searching for a new parliamentarian for the spring semester.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:

The November 2, 2015 minutes were approved as written.

REPORT FROM THE PRESIDENT: Senator Benson

Senator Benson shared the following in his written report to the Senate.

My apologies for not being with you to report in person, but we are hosting the Leadership Kentucky group on campus today.

Some of the recent campus highlights include the following:

• Monday, November 9 was the premiere of “The Essential Eastern” a documentary film produced and directed by our own Chad Cogdill that told the story about a dream that refused to die: the vision of a vibrant “School of Opportunity” here in Richmond, Kentucky. If you missed the premiere, be watching for the documentary on KET sometime in the Spring.
• The establishment of a new Trailblazer Scholarship which will help future first-generation students achieve their educational dreams.
• Just before Thanksgiving break, a letter of intent was awarded for the development of new student housing, the University’s first public-private partnership. The winning proposal includes more than 1,100 beds on the site of Martin Hall and the current Brockton Block on Kit Carson Drive. Both new halls, totaling $75 million in new construction, should be completed in time for occupancy in Fall 2017.
• Hundreds of students from EKU and other college and university campuses received a GLIMPSE into their potential recently at a three-day event on our campus. GLIMPSE stands for Gathering, Listening, Igniting, Mending, Persevering, Surviving and Empowering, and the conference helped the participants expand their horizons and develop leadership skills that they can employ on their respective campuses to help others.
• EKU ranked third or higher nationally among four-year schools in the Military Times “Best for Vets’ survey. We finished third in the U.S. this year.
• A new online Master of Arts in Teaching program will be offered beginning Spring 2016. Students can select a degree concentration leading to teacher certification in Elementary, Middle Grades and Secondary Education, as well as Interdisciplinary Early Childhood Education.
• One of our nationally prominent programs, Mock Trial, reached a high-water mark recently when one of our teams fashioned a perfect 8-0 mark and captured first place in the Great Lakes Invitational.
• Recent staff hires include:
  • Dr. Tom Martin is the new Executive Director for the Center for Economic Development, Entrepreneurship and Technology (CEDET).
  • Dr. Ryan Wilson was recently named our Director of Regional Programming.
  • Hal Boyd is the new special assistant in the President’s office. 

GUEST SPEAKERS:

Report from EKU FAR.  Dr. Sheila Pressley gave an update on academics in athletics. 

She reminded faculty that the NCAA does not help interpret university policies.  It is the responsibility of the faculty to correctly interpret university policies. She stressed the importance of correctly interpreting the university’s academic integrity policy, and the need to effectively communicate that interpretation to students as well.

Dr. Pressley invited faculty to attend a celebration for student athletes at 7pm on Tuesday evening in the Bratzke Center, Alumni Coliseum. 

Feel free to contact Dr. Pressley with any academic concerns relating to athletics.

Report on Learning Management System (LMS).  Dr. Betina Gardner was in attendance to begin the conversation about migrating to a new Learning Management Systems (LMS) at Eastern.  A new two-year extension on the current Blackboard system will begin on July 1, 2016 which will provide ample opportunity to research and determine which LMS package would best meet the needs of the University for the future.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS:

R&R Motion to Extend Senate Term Limits. Senator O’Brien reminded that as the motion comes before the Senate from committee, a second is not required. Motion to approve carried. The motion will need to be presented to the faculty-at-large for approval.

NEW BUSINESS:

Report from Council on Academic Affairs - Senator Zeigler reported for Senator Vice 

Program Revisions:

College of Arts and Sciences
Department of Languages, Cultures, and Humanities

1. French B.A. - Revise courses required for completion of the B.A. in French, as a result of dropped/new courses. Strike references to FRE 301, 302, 313, 314, 315, 340, 360; add FCC 210, FRE 305, 310, 340, 350, 360, 380, 410, and 430.
2. French/Teaching B.A. - Revise courses required for completion of the B.A. in French/Teaching, as a result of dropped/new courses. Strike references to FRE 301, 302, 313, 314, 315, 340, 360; add FCC 210, FRE 305, 310, 340, 350, 360, 380, 410, and 430.
3. French Minor - Revise courses required for completion of the French Minor as a result of dropped/new courses. Strike references to FRE 204 and 210, and add FRE 207. Revise Minor Title to “Minor in French Language and Culture”.
4. French Conversation and Culture Certificate - Revise courses required for completion of the Certificate in French Conversation and Culture as a result of dropped/new courses. Strike references to FRE 204, 210, 310, 320, 350 and add FCC 210 and FRE 207.

College of Business and Technology
Department of Accounting, Finance and Information Systems

5. Risk Management and Insurance B.B.A. - Remove redundant or obsolete classes from catalog description and add an additional class (RMI 376).
6. Risk Management and Insurance B.S.
   Delete some electives in the major requirements (RMI 460, 474, 486, APS 350, 438, and FSE 350) and add RMI 376 as an elective option.

College of Education
Department of Curriculum and Instruction

7. Rank I, Non-Degree Programs - Renumbering of ESE 774 to ESE 884 requires updating of the program displays using that course.

College of Health Sciences
Department of Exercise and Sport Science

8. Physical Education B.S. - Add a concentration in Pre-Athletic Training/Pre-Physical Therapy.
9. General Dietetics B.S. - Update the program requirements to indicate NFA 310 is now a 3-credit-hours course instead of 2 credit hours; Change the total number of core course hours from 55 to 56; Change the number of elective hours from 4 to 3.

Information Item:

10. Graduation Regalia Requests and Approval Process, Effective Fall 2016
    After review and input from Faculty, Associate Deans, the Student Government Association, and the Office of Student Life, the Council on Academic Affairs approved the new guidelines for the Graduation Regalia process.

Please click the link below for the attached form with details of the new process and submission requirements: Graduation Regalia Request Form.

On behalf of CAA, Senator Zeigler moved approval of items 1-9.  Motion carried.

Item 10 was listed for information only.

GENERAL & STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS

REPORT FROM SENATE CHAIR: Senator Day

Senator Day shared the following in his written report to Senate.

I have requested a legal review of Kentucky’s Open Meetings Act and an opinion from University Counsel regarding our options for an electronic vote of the faculty-at-large to ratify Senate actions whenever necessary.

As you probably know, the Senate is going through a bit of housecleaning these days. Committees are reviewing language in our Faculty Handbook and the Senate’s internal procedures in an effort to bring everything up-to-date. In the process we have discovered some outdated processes, and some mistakes. One mistake has to do with the election process for our Faculty Regent, which is set to occur this spring. Be Advised: While reviewing our minutes, our Faculty Senate Secretary discovered a Motion that was passed by the Senate a few years ago that would have altered language in the handbook, and therefore required faculty-at-large ratification. But that ratification never occurred!? Accordingly, the Faculty Senate Executive Committee determined that the existing language in the handbook would be followed until such time as the faculty-at-large may choose to ratify other language.

The Faculty Senate Rules Committee will consult with the Elections Committee to review the unratified Motion and propose to the full Senate an appropriate disposition of the matter.

The Provost recently called together Registrar Tina Davis and a group of faculty representatives to give final resolution to issues related to the instructional calendar. The group determined that it served the best interest of our students to return to the historical 17-week structure. Going forward faculty should anticipate 8 weeks of instruction, a break at Week 9, followed by 8 more weeks of instruction.

We are also looking at IDEA, the faculty evaluation system presently used by our students. As the contract with IDEA nears its end, the Chairs and other faculty have been asked to review the pros and cons of the system and possibly field-test an alternative. This week the Chronicle on Higher Education outlined the fundamental concerns with student evaluations in a story titled, “Can the Student Course Evaluation be Redeemed?”.

PROVOST REPORT: Senator Vice

Senator Vice shared the following in her written report to Senate.

Here are a few points of pride from Academic Affairs:

• e-Lab Fee in Math
  This fall, the Department of Mathematics and Statistics piloted an “e-lab fee” for its MAT 090 and 095 courses that enabled students to be billed directly for the access code required for the course. With the new pilot of billing students directly, no student experienced an interruption in course materials access.
• Cost of Textbooks
  Academic Affairs has been working with Financial Affairs and Barnes & Noble to explore ways to help reduce textbook costs for students. One of the “quick wins” is for faculty to adopt textbooks early, which gives the bookstore more opportunity to adequately supply used and rental copies of books. At this time, textbook adoptions are about 20 percent higher than this time last year.
• EKU Libraries
  Continuing to be the “destination of choice,” EKU Libraries has:
  1. Provided space on the first floor to house the new EKU Student Success Center, which will open in January.
  2. Implemented the Worldshare Management System, which, when fully nuanced, will expedite the discovery of world-wide and local research materials for students and faculty.
  3. Developed the First Floor study area and the Noel Reading Porch.
  4. Participated in the Assessment in Action Project, part of an Institute of Libraries and Museum Grant, which tracked student use of electronic research material and their GPA and discovered a correlation to use of library material and success.
  5. Re-allocated resources to expand library hours on Friday evenings, at the SGA’s request.
  6. Supported publication of the Kentucky Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship.
• University Programs
  • Collaborators from the Noel Studio and Department of Communication facilitated a month-long ePortfolio Bootcamp for students to hone communication as they prepare to enter the workplace.
  • EKU Mock Trial has continued to be impressive this fall, most recently earning first place at the Great Lakes Mock Trial Invitational in Michigan.
  • First Year Courses recently collaborated with Student Life to sponsor the 3rd Annual Registration Games on November 19 to assist first-year students with Spring 2016 registration. More than 320 first-year students attended the Registration Games and received much needed one-on-one scheduling and registration help from academic advisors from each college and first-year peer mentors.

Dr. Maria Salazar will present to the campus regarding Making Excellence Inclusive in Challenging Times on Thursday, December 10, from 10 a.m. – Noon, in the O’Donnell Auditorium (Whitlock Building). Pre-register now at http://studio.eku.edu/salazar-registration.

On Friday, December 18, members of CPE will visit campus for the purpose of negotiating our goals for the following performance-based-funding metrics:

• Baccalaureate Degrees – Total Degrees, Under-Represented Minorities (URM), and low income
• Retention Rates – Total Degrees, URM, and Low Income
• 6-Year Graduation Rates – Total, URM, and Low Income
• STEM-H
• 30+ Hour Progression Metric
  • Percentage of full-time UG degree-seeking students enrolled in the fall semester who earn 30+ hours in an academic year (fall, spring, summer semesters).
• Institutional Metric (Number of Graduate Degrees)

A Faculty Innovation Workgroup has been assembled to examine professional-development resources and develop a plan for increasing online and on-ground opportunities for faculty to advance innovations in teaching. Committee members are:

Rusty Carpenter (Chair) Chris Daniel Lisa Day Timothy Forde Betina Gardner Bev Hart

Tim Matthews Shirley O'Brien Sherry Robinson Dustin Tennill Matt Winslow Sara Zeigler

The version of Blackboard EKU is using will not be developed any further. Blackboard has committed to update current versions, but it will not develop into a more flexible product. Beginning July 2018, CPE will stop cost-sharing support of Blackboard and will not return to a price support model. UK and Murray State have already migrated to a different product.

Currently, Blackboard is paid out of the IT budget at a cost of $124,000/year. Since we are no longer under obligation to Blackboard because the CPE subsidy is ending, this is a good opportunity for EKU to explore other instructional software options. The vetting process can begin in January 2016, with a goal to make a decision regarding software by January 2017 and then move to full implementation of a new system by July 1, 2018.

Betina Gardner, CIO and Dean of Libraries, will work with Dr. Shirley O’Brien and members of the Academic Technology Advisory Committee to develop the process for choosing and implementing a new LMS. Kelly Smith represents the Faculty Senate Technology group on the ATAC and will be key in helping Dean Gardner communicate with the Faculty Senate and the faculty at large. Members of the committee are:

Anthony Blose Jagger Coffey Mary DeLetter Steve Swinnells Terry Gray Jeff Kilgore Jean Marlow Nicola Mason

Rick Mott James Pharr Tim Ross Kelly Smith Cristina Tofan Ryan Wilson Matthew Winslow

After considering all viable calendar options, the decision has been made to return to a standard 17-week semester (which includes 15 weeks of instruction, 1 week of finals, and 1 week of vacation). Spring Break will begin the 9th week of the spring semester. The first two days of Fall Break will also begin the 9th week. The final 3 days of Fall Break will be the Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of Thanksgiving. This schedule allows for a 4-week Winter Term and a 12-week Summer Term.

The Academic Calendar for 2016-17 is attached. An updated five-year calendar (2016-2020) will be posted before the semester break and can be accessed through the Colonel’s Compass link or by clicking on Calendars in the A-Z index of EKU’s webpage.

Two workgroups (reading/composition and math) were formed this semester with the charge to reform our developmental education model. The goal has been to build on our successes and work toward getting underprepared students into credit-bearing courses earlier. The workgroups brought forward very viable recommendations, which will now go to the curriculum committees.

After EKU implemented a fee/premium for 100 percent courses that are offered online, a practice has developed whereby courses will be (a) scheduled and announced as hybrid courses with some face-to-face meetings, but then (b) be changed to fully online after students register and the term begins. This practice is problematic for a number of reasons. To help remedy this situation, the Deans, Associate Deans, and I have reviewed and approved clarifications regarding the definition of and expectations/procedures for hybrid/web-blended courses. Please see Attachment 2 for further details.

Beginning in January 2016, routine curriculum changes (e.g., dropping a course, revising a course title, etc.) will go on a consent agenda for CAA action. Any member of the CAA will be able to request more substantial review of an item on the consent agenda. Substantial curriculum changes (e.g., new programs, significant program revisions, new courses, etc.) will go on an action agenda, and each item will be reviewed by the Council. Substantial curriculum proposals should be accompanied by curriculum maps and curriculum guides, and new courses should be accompanied by course syllabi, including showing how the course supports the student learning outcomes of the academic program. Please see Attachment 3.

Below are some upcoming dates:

1. Thursday, December 10 – 10 a.m., O’Donnell Auditorium, Whitlock Building
   • Dr. Maria Salazar’s Making Excellence Inclusive in Challenging Times
     Pre-register at http://studio.eku.edu/salazar-registration
2. Commencement Exercises – All commencements will be held in Alumni Coliseum.
   • Friday, December 11 –
     • 9:30 a.m. – College of Arts & Sciences Commencement
     • 2:30 p.m. – College of Health Sciences Commencement
     • 7:00 p.m. – College of Business & Technology Commencement
   • Saturday, December 12 –
     • 9:30 a.m. – College of Justice & Safety Commencement
     • 2:30 p.m. – College of Education Commencement

Please remember that the Wednesday luncheon for senators is cancelled for December and January. 

REPORT FROM STUDENT GOVERNMENT: Katie Scott

Ms. Scott shared the following updates:

• LiveSafe, the safety mobile app, will launch on February 1, 2016
• Funds for student organizations will be available on January 26, 2016
• Over 600 students attended Midnight Breakfast
• Spring SGA elections will be held on Tuesday, March 22, 2016

STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Academic Quality Committee. Senator Howell announced that the committee plans to meet soon with a number of faculty who teach blended, hybrid, e-Campus and stand-alone courses in order to determine how each of those types of classes maintain a level of quality.

Budget Committee. Senator Fitch shared a copy of the graduation expenditures for the colleges and for the University.

Several faculty contacted the committee with concerns on the budgeting process. If anyone has additional questions, please contact Senators Fitch or Miller.

The committee discussed working with the TLC to offer a session on ways to help students reduce textbook costs.

Elections & University Nominations Committee. The committee has been working closely with the Executive Committee to clarify the Faculty Regent election process.

Senator Irvin announced that the first call for nominations for Faculty Regent will be going out later this week through EKUToday.

Information Technology Committee. Senator Smith announced that the committee is working on a technology survey that will be distributed in February. Please encourage colleagues to complete the survey when it becomes available.

Rights and Responsibilities Committee. Senator Fitch stated that the committee continues to work on the ombudsperson issue. Anyone with feedback on the issue from a prior institution should share that with Senator Fitch.

The committee is still working on the shared governance report and will share that with the Senate soon.

Rules Committee. Senator Neugebauer stated that the committee is working on the updates for the Senate internal procedures. He has contacted the other standing committee chairs and asked them to review and update the procedures for each of the committees. He urged the chairs to contact former committee chairs to seek their guidance. A list of former chairs is available from the Senate website.

Faculty Welfare Committee. Senator Spigelman indicated that the committee is still researching the perceptions on summer time pay. Anyone with questions or concerns about summer school pay should direct those to her.

AD HOC COMMITTEES:

Athletics and Academics. Senator Carpenter reported that the committee met for the last time this semester on Wednesday. Most recently the committee has focused on gathering and analyzing academic readings and resources.

Last week the committee reviewed the graduation success rate (GSR) among students by conference.

The committee will meet bi-weekly beginning in the spring semester.

ADJOURNMENT:

Senator Zeigler moved to adjourn at approximately 4:15 p.m.

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