Minutes for November 4, 2019

The Faculty Senate of Eastern Kentucky University met on Monday, November 4, 2019 in the South Ballroom in the Keen Johnson Building. Chair Ciocca called the third meeting of the academic year to order at approximately 3:30 p.m.

The following members were absent:

^* Indicates prior notification of absence to the Faculty Senate Secretary
^ ALT Nathan Jasinski attended for R. Byrd
^ ALT Alison Connell attended for C. Edwards
^ ALT Esther Randall attended for I. Powell
^ ALT Margaret Ndinguri attended for D. Quan

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:

Senator Crosby moved approval of the October 7, 2019 minutes, seconded by Senator McCardle. Motion carried. (YES = 52 votes | NO = 0 votes | ABSTAIN = 1 vote) (See Also:  Individual Votes)

REPORT FROM THE PRESIDENT:  Senator Benson

Congratulations to Dr. Jerry Pogatshnik who has agreed to serve as Provost through the 2020-21 academic year before transitioning into a well-earned retirement in June 2021. His commitment and service in this position is deeply appreciated.

Congratulations to our academic faculty on their outstanding work. Below are a few recent highlights:

• EKU piano professor and director of the Foster Academy for Musical Excellence Dr. Rachel Taylor was awarded 2019 Teacher of the Year by the Kentucky Music Teachers Association (KMTA)
• Dr. Marcel Robles, Professor of Corporate Communication & Technology in the College of Business and Technology received the Fellow of ABC Award from the Association for Business Communication 
• Dr. Amy Thieme, associate professor of Communication Studies, was presented the Excellence in the Art of Teaching Award at the 88th annual meeting of the Kentucky Communication Association (KCA) 
• Dr. John Fitch III, professor of Broadcasting and Electronic Media/Film Techniques and Technology, was recognized by KCA with the Excellence in the Practice of the Communication Arts Award 
• Department of Communication Senior Lecturer Krista Kimmel was elected to a three-year term as KCA secretary and executive council member 
• Dr. Qaisar Sultana, professor emeritus in the Department of Special Education received her fifth Fulbright Award 

Thank you to our faculty, staff and students who led and participated in recent campus programs recognizing the diversity of our campus including events for Hispanic Heritage Month and the annual Diversity Breakfast. 

We are continuing to explore and enhance our campus culture related to diversity and inclusion. This month we are looking to finalize the structure of the newly formed President’s Inclusive Excellence Advisory Council. The council is led by a Steering Committee of both faculty and staff representatives including:

The search committee has been formed for our next EKU Director of Athletics. The committee members are: Betina Gardener (Chair), Dr. Scotty Dunlap, Dr. Tom Otieno, Dr. Abbey Poffenberger and Dr. Timothy Wiggins who will all provide a faculty voice to the search process. We welcome Mark Sandy back to campus as he has agreed to exit retirement temporarily and serve in the interim A.D. role.

Also, admissions has been leading a whirlwind tour of high schools in our service regions. We have been to several local schools already to meet with students and alumni and will continue these face-to-face interactions to boost our recruitment efforts to identify future Colonels. Our visit to Scott County last year resulted in a 40% increase in applications from Scott County.
Earlier today we visited George Rogers Clark High School in Winchester and learned that we are the only university to ever schedule this type of visit with them.

Finally, remember to vote on Tuesday, November 5. Please exercise your right to vote, and avoid the pain of inaction.

GUEST SPEAKERS:

Ombud Minute. Ombud Beck shared a recent personal experience where she was upset and took it out initially on the person in front of her who was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time and had nothing to do with the situation. As Ombud Beck stormed off to confront the decision makers, she thought about why she was mad and why the action hurt so. She realized the hurt had much less to do with the action and much more to do with other events going on in her life. So during the walk to cool down she applied ombudsman techniques to her situation. Through self-examination and consideration of the facts, the conclusion reached was that she had been treated fairly.

This is an example of why alternative dispute resolution takes a little bit of time. Through conversation and reflection, a complainant eventually finds the route cause and can determine or adopt a solution that truly addresses the concern. Every interaction has the potential to be explosive or to be healing. If you find yourself in the midst of a conversation that suddenly goes sideways, take a moment to breathe deeply and respond with kindness. Call on an intermediary to facilitate the conversation, but you might allow that other person the opportunity to work through and find a better solution.

NEW BUSINESS:

Policy for First Read. The following policy was presented for first read and will be on the December agenda for action.

• Policy 4.6.8 - Visiting Faculty

Report from Council on Academic Affairs. Vice Provost Robinson presented the following materials.

Senator Woodruff moved approval of items #1-9, seconded by Senator Wilson. Motion carried. (YES = 50 votes | NO = 0 votes | ABSTAIN = 2 votes) (See Also:  Individual Votes)

GENERAL & STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS

REPORT FROM SENATE CHAIR: Senator Ciocca

The position of parliamentarian is still vacant. Please share the information on the vacancy with your colleagues.

Executive Committee met on October 21st at 3:30pm. One of the things discussed was Policy 4.7.6 – Political Activity of Faculty. This is a new policy that is being prepared. Once the policy becomes available for vetting, the Rights and Responsibilities Committee has been charged with reviewing the policy and providing feedback to the Executive Committee. Also discussed was Policy 1.3.1, the animals on campus. An email was sent to senators to make them aware that the policy was posted for comments.

The committee also discussed the continued work on the Ad Hoc Committee on Open Textbook Resources. Senator Woodruff suggested that the committee look at low-income resources as well as free resources. Senator Marion asked that they also review the process used by Barnes and Nobles which almost seems to demand listing a textbook. There needs to be a section added to the excel spreadsheet for comments for such things as “no textbook required” or “using outside resources” in order to avoid continued late textbook notices. Senator Pogatshnik suggested asking Steve Caudill to attend either an Ad Hoc Committee meeting or an XC meeting to talk about textbooks and to answer questions.

REPORT FROM FACULTY REGENT: Senator Marion

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

Many thanks for the Executive Committee their thorough work on completing the annual administrative review of the president. Lastly, thank you for your participation and/or encouragement of your faculty peers to participate. The response rate was 51.8%.

Lynnette Noblitt, Chair and Professor of Government, and I have been appointed to serve on Madison County’s/EKU’s Census 2020 Complete Count Committee. Over the next few months, your support and encouragement of Professor Noblitt and the Complete Count Committee’s work will be appreciated as federal financial resources entering our community depend upon our headcount during the 2020 Census.

A “Red [Maroon] Tape Reduction Initiative Committee” has been established to help find savings and remove unnecessary roadblocks that may be slowing our work. In the coming weeks or months, the committee will be listening to ideas and gathering feedback for making recommendations. Your ideas and suggestions will be valuable.

The next regularly scheduled meeting of the BoR is November 19th at 12:30 p.m. The planned location will be in Martin Hall. 

REPORT FROM PROVOST: Senator Pogatshnik

Dr. Sherry Robinson has submitted her request for retirement from EKU effective May 31, 2020. Given the importance of the position, an immediate search will begin for her replacement. The search committee members are: Dean Sara Zeigler (Chair), Drs. Richard Crosby, Garret Yoder, Tanea Reed, Kellie Ellis and Ms. Melinda Compton.

EKU offers eight annual faculty awards through the Noel Faculty Awards program. Award recipients are announced and recognized during Scholars Week held each year in April. Applications for all awards are due on February 1. All faculty are encouraged to nominate and apply. Additional information and applications for the awards are available at https://studio.eku.edu/noel-faculty-awards-program.

The CPE Program Review Process is still moving forward but the timeline has been extended considerably. Gray and Associates has modified their data request to make it somewhat less onerous. We have a conference call scheduled for this Thursday afternoon and hopefully more details will be available after that.

The EKU basketball season begins this week. It would be nice to see more faculty at these events, if schedules permit. The first men’s game is tomorrow night and the women have their first game on Wednesday.

When schedules permit, spend a few minutes reviewing an article published in the “Chronicle” last week entitled, “4 Ways to Have More Fun as a Faculty Member.” Although this isn’t the entire solution and it is not meant as a panacea, it is well-documented that having more control over our own personal lives promotes a sense of satisfaction.

STANDING COMMITTEES:

Academic Quality Committee. Senator Jones stated that the committee continues to investigate and expand on last year’s work on large classroom sizes.

Budget Committee. Senator Palmer stated that the committee working on information-gathering at this stage.

Rights & Responsibilities Committee. Senator Cizmar announced that the committee has a new charge to review the political activities policy when it becomes available to move through the vetting process.

Rules Committee. Senator Bishop-Ross moved approval of the revisions to Part 7 in the Faculty Handbook. As the motion comes from committee, a second is not required. Motion carried. (YES = 49 votes | NO = 1 vote | ABSTAIN = 2 votes) (See Also:  Individual Votes)

Welfare Committee. Senator Gremp stated that the committee is currently working on the charge to gather data on the number of faculty who have left the university in the last couple of years because of budgetary reductions.

Ad Hoc Committee on EKU Forward. >Chair Ciocca noted that the committee on EKU Forward met on Monday, October 28, in the FCTL at 3:30 PM. Senator Daniel Enz was in attendance. Senator Engebretson was represented by Professor Bill Phillips. Semester scheduling possibilities were discussed, especially in the context of Winter and Summer terms. Of note, during this meeting, was consideration of morale, given the current financial situation. It was felt, by participants, that even simple gestures of recognition would have a significant impact. The subject will be discussed again in future meetings. Further, possible safety issues late in the evening in the Combs building were discussed. Provost Pogatshnik will follow up.

Ad Hoc Committee on Open Textbook Resources. Senator Szabo reported that the committee continues to review open education resources and other ways to reduce textbook costs for students.

Chair Kelly Smith has applied for an Innovation Fund grant through the Board of Regents geared toward incentivizing faculty to use existing open education resources in their classes or to develop new ones.

Chair Smith would like to add additional faculty to the committee. Faculty interested in serving should contact a member of the committee.

ADJOURNMENT:

Senator Pogatshnik moved to adjourn at approximately 4:15pm.

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