Minutes for May 2, 2022

The Faculty Senate of Eastern Kentucky University met on Monday, May 2, 2022 via Zoom. Chair Crosby called the eighth meeting of the academic year to order at approximately 3:30 p.m.

The following members were absent:

^* Indicates prior notification of absence
^ ALT Betsy Matthews attended for J. Brent
^ ALT Ann Callahan attended for E. Stevenson

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:

Senator Streetman moved approval of the April 4, 2022 minutes as written, seconded by Senator Grabeel. Motion carried. (YES = 46 votes | NO = 1 vote | ABSTAIN = 2 votes) (See also:  Individual Votes)

REPORT FROM THE PRESIDENT:  David McFaddin

Installation Recap
I want to take an opportunity to thank each of our members of the faculty who participated in my installation ceremony. In addition, I want to thank our faculty representatives: Dr. Richard Crosby, Dr. Dana Bush, Dr. Rusty Carpenter, and Dr. Ryan Baggett. The entire week was filled with opportunities for faculty, staff and students to engage in fellowship and celebration. We did receive feedback that the Faculty/Staff Event was a huge success with many faculty asking if that was something we could do more frequently. I have asked our team to look at ways to have more events like that for us to be together in a more casual environment. 

Melissa and I were also excited to announce the Michael J. Bowen Creative Arts and Design Scholarship Fund.

President’s Excellence Awards
We instituted a new university tradition last week with the recognition of EKU employees who have provided excellence in six areas. Congratulations to Dr. Theresa Botts, who received the Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion Award; Ms. Tiffany Hamblin, who received the Excellence in Engagement Award; Ms. Mary Miller, who received the Excellence in Hospitality Award; Mr. Chad Adkins, who received the Excellence in Innovation Award; Ms. Emily Jo Davis, who received the Excellence in Philanthropy Award; and Ms. Carrie Ernst, who received the Excellence in Leadership Award.

Scholars Week
The opportunity to recognize and celebrate faculty-student scholarship, research, and creativity is the purpose of Scholars Week. It’s always encouraging to listen to the keynote speakers, view the student research showcase, and talk with faculty creating innovative collaborations across campus. 

Giving Day
Our third ever Giving Day was a rousing success, as we saw 2,393 donors provide more donations in a 24-hour period than in any other single day in university history. We were able to raise $396,000. We also had record-breaking support from our employees and I appreciate your efforts of going above and beyond for financially investing in the future success of our institution. 

In the spirit of friendly competition, the College of Business was the unit with the most employee donors on this day, unlocking a challenge gift from my wife, Melissa, and me. While several colleges, funds and affinities rose to the top of the leaderboard, EKU in her entirety was the true winner on April 13. To see a full breakdown of Giving Day, visit go.eku.eku/givingday.

Commencement Ceremonies
I encourage you to come out to Roy Kidd Stadium, Friday, May 13, to celebrate an important celebration and transitional moment in the lives of our students. We will host two commencement ceremonies that day, one at 10 a.m. and another at 3 p.m. It is important to pause and reflect on the contributions and achievements of our graduates and wish them well in their future endeavors. For more information, visit registrar.eku.edu/graduation-celebrations. 

Summer Schedule
A benefit of working at Eastern Kentucky University is the immense amount of flexibility provided to faculty and staff. In addition to being the University providing the most vacation days to employees among all state Universities, we also believe that providing flexibility options for employees is an additional benefit. Again this year, we will be offering flexibility through a summer schedule. The Human Resources Department will send out additional details later this week about the details of this year’s schedule.

Asset Preservation Fees
In answer to Senator Cizmar’s inquiry for an update on the asset preservation fees, President McFaddin stated that over the next two years we are going to be spending about $60 million in asset preservation. Bryan Makinen and his team are scheduled to do a building-by-building survey over the summer. Then, a master plan will be developed which will list the projects and proposed timelines.

REPORT FROM THE PROVOST: Sara Zeigler

We’re making great progress on deans’ searches. The dean’s search committee for the College of Health Sciences has given me their recommendations and there was a good consensus among the committee. We will be moving quickly to try and secure our top candidate and have an announcement available soon. That just leaves one more dean’s search to go over the coming year.
This year Scholars week was expanded to two weeks. We had a wonderful celebration of faculty accomplishments at the award ceremony. 
We also have a wonderful cohort selected for the Provost Internship program which is a new initiative launching this year. This program is not just for people who may want to be administrators, but also for people who want to be senate leaders, who want to lead in other capacities on campus, or simply be informed participants in shared governance.
Over the course of the year, I visited all 30 departments and learned a lot about the faculty, their needs, their programs, and priorities. As expected, compensation was certainly a theme. Compensation remains a top priority for us, and we’re building the budget in accordance with those values.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS:

Faculty Senate Resolution on Cancelling Student Debt. The motion was postponed in April to the May meeting. As the resolution was time-sensitive, Senator Winslow asked to withdraw his motion to approve.

 NEW BUSINESS:

Faculty Welfare Report on Faculty Survey Results. Senator Blair introduced the committee’s report and Senator Jones explained the graphs and charts provided.

The following conclusions and recommendations were shared in the report:

• Morale is at an all-time low among both full- and part-time faculty at EKU for a variety of reasons, first among them concerns about consistently low salaries.
• Salary compression leads to additional workloads, both on and off campus, to pay the bills. Bring up salaries to at the very least catch up to and keep pace with inflation.
  • However, do not take overloads away and force faculty to live with lower wages. This will not resolve the problem.
• Identify methods/strategies to promote professional development that supports practices leading to tenure/promotion (i.e., offer CEUs, travel pay, memberships).
• Preserve and maintain tuition waiver.
• More transparency and shared governance is needed (more equitable distribution of funds among facilities, faculty, and administration). 
• Loss of confidentiality and decreased role moving from ombudsperson to faculty advocate. 
• Consider returning perks like free parking (used to be a much-loved benefit of working at EKU) and adding benefits like free access to the rec center to encourage healthy exercise habits (would help with healthcare costs for both EKU and faculty).

Provost Zeigler provided updates on some of the issues addressed in the report. 

• We did hear very clearly from faculty that the facilitator thresholds were too high and those have now been lowered. Those new thresholds will go into effect with the Summer I term. 
• Similarly, we have a work group looking at each campus coordinator’s roles, including their obligations and their compensation levels and making sure that deans and chairs are empowered to choose those people and make sure that those people are doing what needs to happen for their program.
• We’ve also reinstituted the comprehensive budget development by program for all of our campus programs, and we’re making sure that we are getting faculty input on those processes.
• We have also altered the formula for how we allocate hours for part-time compensation to allow part-time faculty to teach more courses, if they wish to do so.
• Please be assured that class overloads are not being eliminated.
• Professional development is also a high priority.

President McFaddin stated that he would be more than happy to sit down and have a meaningful conversation with a working group about the issues raised in the report. He further stated that compensation continues to be a priority and he will be bringing a budget forward to the Board that has a recurring pay increase for employees.

Report from Council on Academic Affairs. Associate Provost Wies presented 25 items for approval. (2 new programs, 20 new certificates, and 3 program suspensions)

Senator Grabeel moved to combine all 25 items into one motion and approve, seconded by Senator Price. Motion carried. (YES = 48 votes | NO = 2 votes  | ABSTAIN = 3 votes) (See also: Individual Votes)

Items 26-47 (new courses) were presented as information only.

GENERAL & STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS

REPORT FROM SENATE CHAIR: Senator Crosby

Thanks to everyone who worked on the installation activities this last week.

REPORT FROM FACULTY REGENT: Senator Marion

The next Board of Regents meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 14. Future meetings are scheduled for Friday, September 16, and Thursday, December 1.

The June meeting typically includes Board actions on proposed rates for tuition, fees, residence hall rates and dining rates. Following those items, the Board then considers action on the annual operating budget.

Below are several general updates: 

Brief Anticipated Budget Synopsis:
Among items informing the operating budget will be the difficult task of forecasting university enrollment scenarios, expenditures related to increases and volatility in the consumer price index and energy markets, and any savings expected in our annual operational costs through the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s investment in our physical infrastructure via the approved Budget, which received final votes on April 13. Overall, the State Budget provided considerable investment in our physical infrastructure which should defray or reduce some of our ongoing and long-term costs ranging from repairs typically funded from our regular operations and maintenance budgets, and through savings presented by enhancements in energy efficiency by upgrades associated with the university’s physical plant. Included are significant investments in Alumni Coliseum ($72.35M) and replacement of Model Laboratory School ($90M). The final state budget also enhances improvement in the university’s overall budget for non-capital costs. Consequently, as in recent years, the budget lines related to personnel remain heavily dependent upon university enrollment, and fortunately, mark another consecutive year of increased investment in public higher education. 

Thank You to our Faculty #1:
On Friday, April 15, the initial faculty recruitment lunch workshop greatly exceeded attendance expectations by organizers in Enrollment Management to which they were delighted, and able to accommodate through hosting the event in O’Donnell Auditorium. The attendance numbers demonstrated there’s a strong interest in department-level recruitment and retention efforts, and it is my hope that we can have more workshops in the future. Department-level faculty are often the best positioned to recruit into their fields of study, so using their time effectively is paramount in achieving goals and shared institutional success. 

Thank You to our Faculty #2:
Thank you for representing us well at the Installation Week events and for your attendance at the Installation Ceremony. It is likely that most of the regents on the Board of Regents have never observed all the colleges and their faculty assembled together in a single event, and accordingly, many regents shared their sincere appreciation for the many faculty in attendance. The week’s events afforded an opportunity for social interaction and relationship-building among colleagues, and dialogue between administrators, regents, and elected officials. Lastly, faculty attendance and engagement demonstrated our shared support of President McFaddin in leading the university in pursuit of its mission, as well as a celebration of both his journey and our mission, while also connecting all parts of the university community into a single garment with a shared destiny as One Eastern. 

CPE News:
The CPE passed a resolution honoring Governor Andy Beshear and the General Assembly for their support of higher education. 

Lastly, it has been a remarkable year, and I’m humbled to serve you all in this role. Thank you all for your support and continued guidance.

STANDING COMMITTEES:

Academic Quality Committee. Senator Sands shared their year-end report. In addition to their standard charges, the committee received a new charge to develop an assessment plan of online instruction on campus. The final report was presented to Senate in April.

Recommended charges for next year include ongoing monitoring of:

• Enrollment patterns in online and on-campus courses 
• Student outcomes, DFW rates
• Faculty resource and professional development needs

Budget Committee. Senator Yow shared their year-end report. The committee focused its work on producing a compact budget report for the past five years. The report was presented to the Senate in February.

For the next academic year, the committee should create a spreadsheet template that can be updated with new budgetary data each year. This template should be used to compile new data to append the report completed this year. This will provide the basis for an updated report on the EKU budget in spring 2023.

Elections and University Nominations Committee. Senator Meiners reminded that the Faculty Regent election was held in March. Senator Marion was declared the winner having earned 100% of the votes.

The part-time faculty election was completed earlier today. Congratulations to Jamie Shaffer who is the newly elected part-time faculty senator with Sheri McGuffin and Michele Anderson serving as alternates.

Information Technology Committee. Senator Hight reported that a Google Drive was created for the committee to house all IT Committee documentation for easy access for future committee members.

The RFP has been put out for the purchase of new laptops. We are currently receiving evaluation machines for Lenovo, Dell and Apple. Staff machines will be switched out first as those machines are a year older than the faculty machines. Backups can be made through cloud storage. Both OneDrive and Google drive have unlimited storage for EKU employees. If assistance is needed, please call IT and they can walk you through the process. Backups are the responsibility of the user.

In addition the committee worked in collaboration with EKU Libraries personnel to develop a faculty and staff video-usage survey which was distributed by email in April.

The committee chair also serves on the University Academic Technology Advisory Committee (ATAC). That committee’s name has been changed to the University Teaching and Learning Technology Committee.

Rights & Responsibilities Committee. Senator Nachtwey reported that the committee continued to push for revisions to Policy 4.7.4, Faculty Grievances. The senate voted to approve revisions to the policy which were recommended by the committee in 2020-2021, but University Counsel advised that such revisions would need to go through the vetting process of an ad hoc Drafting Committee. Dana Fohl, University Counsel, recently indicated that a new policies director will be hired soon. Hopefully once the new person is on board, a drafting team can be formed to work on those revisions to the Grievance Policy.

Rules Committee Report. Senator Kay presented two additional changes for approval to the Faculty Handbook, Part 7 (changes are noted in yellow on p. 10 & 12). Motion carried. (YES = 49 votes | NO = 0 votes | ABSTAIN = 2 votes) (See also: Individual Votes)

The following charges are recommended for next year:

• Work with other relevant entities on campus to review the Faculty Handbook to ensure that it does not conflict with university policies and regulations.
• Investigate what open meetings laws imply for voting requirements and update the Faculty Handbook accordingly.
• Consider updating archaic language in the Faculty Handbook.
• Make other necessary updates to the Faculty Handbook.
• Update Internal Procedures as needed.

Faculty Welfare Committee. Senator Blair reported that the committee completed each of their assigned charges this year.

The following recommendations are suggested for next year’s committee to investigate:

• Check with HR about scheduling more frequent meetings of the University Benefits Advisory Committee.
• Continue monitoring the external environment for higher education as well as faculty perceptions of benefits being provided by Eastern Kentucky University and work directly with key decision makers within and outside of Eastern Kentucky University to improve workplace conditions and compensation.
• Explore why the tuition waiver benefit may be changed (reduced) and provide evidence to decision makers why this benefit should not be fully or partially taken away.

Ad Hoc Committee on OERs. Committee Chair Kelly Smith presented the final report for the ad hoc committee. Their recommendation is for the Faculty Senate ad hoc committee to be dissolved and transition to a university standing committee as described in the year-end report.

ADJOURNMENT:

Senator Walz moved to adjourn at approximately 5:15pm, seconded by Senator Price.

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