Minutes for October 2, 2023

The Faculty Senate of Eastern Kentucky University met on Monday, October 2, 2023 via Zoom. Chair Kay called the second meeting of the academic year to order at approximately 3:30 p.m.

The following members were absent:

^* Indicates prior notification of absence
^ ALT Anne Kipp attended for M. Emanuel
^ ALT Ann Callahan attended for E. Stevenson

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:

Senator Cogdill moved to approve the September 11, 2023 minutes as written, seconded by Senator Walz.  Motion carried. (YES = 46 votes | NO = 0 votes | ABSTAIN = 1 vote) (See also: Individual Votes).

ANNOUNCEMENT:

Senator Walz thanked all of her colleagues in the Senate and in her department for the flower arrangements last week. Everyone’s thoughtfulness was very much appreciated and came at a time when it was needed the most.

REPORT FROM THE PRESIDENT:  David McFaddin

EKU Highlights in the News - September 2023
A number of news stories have recently been covered in local, state, and national media outlets touting our EKU Success. (See pp. 1-3 of the full report for links to the articles.)

Budget
The Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE) adopted the FY24-26 statewide Postsecondary budget request components at their September 19th Council meeting. Highlights include:

• Additional $22M requested to increase the current Performance Funding appropriation to $120M and $191M in recurring base General Fund appropriation increases to be allocated annually to institutions, intended to help offset inflationary impacts stretching back several fiscal years;
• $350 million each year of the upcoming biennium (or $700 million in total) to finance asset preservation projects at Kentucky colleges and universities, which could be either cash or bond funded;
• The Performance Funding Work Group members voted unanimously to recommended five changes to the university funding model for the upcoming three-year period:
  • increase the premium for low-income bachelor’s degrees (↑ pool allocation from 3% to 8%; ↑ reward per degree from $1,579 to $4,213)
  • add a new adult learner metric to the model (include in credit hours earned metric @1.00 weighting)
  • eliminate degree efficiency index weighting
  • increase the small school adjustment for KSU and MoSU (↑ by $6.6 million at KSU and by $1.4 million at MoSU)
  • increase nonresident credit hour weighting (from 0.50 to 0.75)
• Increase for the Model Lab School to reflect public state support on a per pupil basis, similar to all other public K-12 schools; and
• Phase II capital appropriations for the new Model Lab School, Alumni Coliseum renovations, an additional round of Asset Preservation state funding and a Comprehensive Aviation Expansion project for the Aviation program and Central Kentucky Regional Airport.

New EKU Board of Regent Member
Governor Beshear has appointed Michael Garland to the Eastern Kentucky University Board of Regents. He will replace Juan Castro, whose term expired. Juan’s tenure on the Board of Regents positively impacted EKU, and he will be missed. Regent Garland will be sworn in at a special meeting of the Board of Regents at a date yet to be determined.

Open Enrollment
Benefits are one of the major components of being an Employer of Choice. This year open enrollment takes place October 16-November 1, 2023. The Human Resources team worked diligently with our insurance broker to get the best competitive benefit package. We are happy to report that we were able to keep rate increases to less than 1%. Here are some highlights:

• The maximum number of Physical Therapy visits has increased to 50 visits per plan year for all plans.
• PPO plan deductibles are being lowered by $500;
• Co-pays for participants in the PPO2000 plan, which is the most widely used plan, are being lowered from $35 to $30 for primary care visits; and
• Consumer Directed Health Plan is being lowered to $3,500

Open enrollment participation is mandatory for all benefits-eligible employees, regardless of whether they elect benefits. Enrollment access is available through your myEKU account. There will be two benefits fairs on October 17 at Keen Johnson Ballroom from 9-3pm and October 25 at Perkins Quads from 9am-3pm.

Performance Evaluations
The Performance Management process for staff will begin on October 6. Employees will be notified by email to begin the process. Last year the response was unacceptably low at a participation rate of 56%. It is critical that our employees have the information and tools to be successful and our supervisors have a matrix to ensure accountability and support. This year all eligible faculty and staff are expected to fully participate. The Performance Management schedule is as follows:

• October 6, 2023 – Performance Evaluation opens for all employees (goal-building phase)
• January 2024 — Progress check‐in
• May 2024 – Complete evaluation

Celebration of Philanthropy
This past Thursday night we hosted the annual Celebration of Philanthropy. As a reminder, we concluded our largest campaign in 2022, well exceeding our ambitious goals and raising over $61 million for the good of our campus community. Generous gifts helped us provide 2,323 scholarships totaling $1.7 million to deserving students last year. We awarded over 250 more scholarships than the previous year.

One of the highlights of the evening was recognizing Dr. John Wade who was recognized as the 2023 EKU Philanthropist of the Year. This award is the highest recognition for an alumnus or other friend of the university who has made a noteworthy, university-wide impact or has supported or directed fundraising for a specific major university priority project.

State of the University
Historically we have hosted the Richmond Chamber of Commerce’s annual State of the University at the Perkins Building. Last year we opted to change the format and invite the community onto campus for the event. Our inaugural site was the Campus Recreation Building. It was such a great success that we opted to select another on-campus location. I want to thank Dean Otieno and the STEM faculty for making the Science Building ready to host this year’s event. We welcomed community and business leaders from across the County to hear about all of the work our faculty has done over the past year.

Calendar of Events

• October 9-10 - Fall Break
• October 13-15 - Homecoming
• October 17-18 - GradFest
• October 17 - Benefit Fair and Flu Shots
• October 18 - EKU Football vs. Stephen F. Austin (Senior Day, Band Day, College of Health Sciences)
• October 25 - Benefit Fair and Flu Shots
• October 30 - Faculty Lunch and Learn at noon in Case Regents Room
• November 4 - Veteran’s Memorial Plaza Dedication
• November 23-24 - Thanksgiving Break
• December 2 - Convocation  

REPORT FROM THE PROVOST: Sara Zeigler

Provost Zeigler was unable to attend the meeting and submitted the following written report.

NCLEX Pass Rates:
The NCLEX pass rates reached 100% for both the ASN and BSN programs. The faculty in the School of Nursing took significant steps to prepare the students for the exams and those efforts clearly paid dividends. They are also offering skills seminars for senior-level students.

Fourth-week Progress Report Submission:
There was an unprecedented participation rate of 98% of CRNs on 4th-week progress reports. These reports give students a realistic sense of their progress and allows for additional outreach to those who are struggling. An impressive 19 departments had a 100% submission rate.

Midterm Grades Due:
Midterm grades for full-term courses are due no later than 11:59 p.m. on Monday, October 2nd, 2023. Please remind your colleagues to submit them by the deadline.

Adjunct Faculty Evaluation Form:
Our accrediting bodies require annual evaluation of adjunct faculty and it is important that such evaluations be more nuanced than a record of student opinion of instruction. Chairs are currently vetting a new (simple!) form. Senator Sheri McGuffin will also provide input to ensure that our adjuncts colleagues are represented. Associate Provost Wies will incorporate feedback into the final version of the form.

University Committees:
The Slate team is developing an automated process for notifying areas of committee vacancies and ensuring that committee membership is published and available to all. Committee staffing for 2023-2024 is in progress and lists will be published when finalized. Faculty will be able to self-nominate for openings that are not pre-determined by college election.

Work Groups:
Work groups focusing on faculty qualifications and updating syllabus regulation are in progress.

Provost’s Reception:
The next Provost’s Reception, preceding the Wind Ensemble and Concert Band concert, will take place on Tuesday, November 14th from 5:00-7:00 p.m. “Thank a Professor" will also be featured. This event is open to the university community and will include refreshments. 

GUEST SPEAKER:

Student Government Association Update. Camden Ritchie shared the following updates from SGA and the Student Senate.

• New bus routes for students are in the works to hopefully help alleviate some issues with parking.
• The fall Safety Walk is scheduled for November 6th. If any faculty would like to participate, please email Camden.Ritchie@eku.edu.
• Student Senate meetings are on Mondays at 6pm. Meetings are open to the public.

Upcoming events include:

• October 12 – Colonel Corn Roast
• October 31 – Boo Bash Haunted Tours

As of last week, all the college senators should have reached out to their respective Deans. If there are any Deans who have not yet heard from those college senators, please send an email to Camden.Ritchie@eku.edu.   

NEW BUSINESS:

Budget Committee Election (1 vacancy). Senator Couvillon self -nominated. Senator Grabeel moved to close nominations and accept by acclamation, seconded by Senator Moore.

Faculty Welfare Committee Election (1 vacancy). Senators Dodd and Jones self-nominated. Senator Jones was elected to fill the vacancy. (Dodd = 19 votes | Jones = 31 votes) (See also: Individual Votes)

GENERAL & STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS

REPORT FROM SENATE CHAIR: Senator Kay

The Faculty Senate Executive Committee met on September 25, 2023. The committee discussed the closure of the MA in History with Senator Todd Hartch. Since the Faculty Senate no longer votes on program closures, the committee suggested that the department seek more information and request that someone be permitted to represent the department at the next CAA meeting.

Lauren Keeler provided an update on policies and regulations, and the committee asked questions regarding the proposal for the new regulation on university surveys. The committee also discussed the draft of the policy/regulation portion of the new Faculty Handbook provided by Ms. Keeler and decided to work closely with the Rules Committee to develop the faculty portion of the Handbook.

At our last Faculty Senate meeting, Senator Slijepcevic was asked about the cost of the choices for the next LMS. According to Micah Hunsucker in Purchasing, we are not able to disseminate that information because the university may be able to negotiate a better price later. Furthermore, disclosing this information could potentially provide the vendors with details about their competitor’s bids.

The Faculty Senate co-sponsored an event with the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning (FCT&L) on September 19th: “Let’s Collaborate: Transdisciplinary Opportunities at EKU for Your Program and Students.” We partnered with EKU Honors, EKU Graduate Profile, and the Office of Advising and Career Services. The event was well attended and generated a variety of ideas for potential collaborations.

The Senate leadership had a “Problem Solvers” meeting with the Provost earlier in September. Topics of discussion included the following:

• Areas in which Faculty Senate officially has input
• Issues impacting History faculty
• Biology salaries
• Parental leave policy
• Syllabus record retention
• Website photograph requirements
• Slate advising system concerns
• Student worker positions
• Rolling of summer grades for first-six-week courses
• Classroom reservations
• College recruiters
• Space relocation concerns
• Chautauqua Lecture Series and E3 programming
• Comments from the Faculty Senate Virtual Suggestion Box

We received an update on a past Problem Solvers topic from Holly Argo of the Graduate School. The following changes to the admission process for graduate international applicants are being made:

• English Language Requirement
  • Per approval from Grad Council, starting spring 2024, graduate applicants could submit Duolingo exam scores to satisfy the English language requirement if they earned at least a 95 on the exam. The Duolingo exam is $49 USD compared to the $200+ USD for TOEFL or IELTS.
• Declaration of Finance
  • Starting this week, the declaration of finance will be required post-academic admission for graduate students. They will have a hold that prevents registration until they provide their scholarship or bank letters. Once submitted, the student will be able to register.
  • If the alternation of the graduate admissions process shows to be successful, undergraduate admissions will consider taking this approach. Currently, undergraduate international applicants will be required to submit the declaration of finance and bank or scholarship letters pre-admission.

Vice Chair Blair and I are serving on the 8KBY28 working group, which is drafting some initial plans for increasing the number of online students enrolled at EKU to 8000 by 2028. I have been tasked with assessing faculty needs for online instruction, and I am planning to hold at least one focus group session to gather information. I have reached out to faculty in all of the colleges to ask for their participation. If you have any input to share, please contact Vice Chair Blair or me.

This Thursday, October 5th, Vice Chair Blair is going to discuss the work of last year’s Welfare Committee at a forum sponsored by the AAUP at 5:00 p.m. in Library 318 and on Zoom.

Comments received via the anonymous virtual suggestion box on the Faculty Senate website are all being read and forwarded to relevant individuals or committees. A recent request asked us to share the comments or themes with the faculty. Here are some topics of recent comments:

• Compensation
• Benefits (e.g., prescription plan)
• Staffing
• Building maintenance
• Scheduling blocks of protected time (Note: Department chairs can do this.)
• Parking
• New branding guidelines
• Contracts for adjunct faculty
• Admission standards
• 8KBY28 

REPORT FROM FACULTY REGENT: Senator Marion

The Board of Regents has not met since our last meeting of Faculty Senate. There will be a special meeting of the Board of Regents scheduled soon regarding a new appointment. The fourth quarterly meeting of the year will be on Wednesday, November 15.

Expected Special Meeting:
The Board of Regents received notification about one week ago from the Board Chair, President, and Regent Juan Castro that Governor Beshear has filled a vacancy on the EKU Board of Regents. Regent Juan Castro had been graciously continuing to serve in that role for the last several months and his service, perspective, and voice will be missed as he has just concluded his term of service on the Board. He has advised that he will continue to be present and supportive of the students and at many university events. As a new appointment has been made, the Board is obligated by statute to have a meeting which will include the administration of the oath of office for the new regent. In addition, there will be an election for vice-chair, treasurer, and secretary of the Board. No other business is expected for that anticipated special meeting at this time; however, it is possible that something else may arise.

In addition to regular meetings, along with Senate Chair Kay, and Vice Chair Blair, we continue to meet with the Provost on topics raised by the Faculty Senate and shared to me directly or shared with Faculty Senate Executive Leadership. In addition to having Problem Solvers oriented meetings with the Provost, Staff Council Chair, Dr. Caelin Scott, has been helpful in re-establishing meetings between Faculty Senate and Staff Council leadership to further assist in our joint efforts in continually improving the university, including the welfare of the students and all employees. Our first meeting was a productive meeting, and we look forward to further conversations and recommendations from those meetings.

STANDING COMMITTEES

Academic Quality Committee. Senator Buck announced that the committee’s first meeting is scheduled for this Friday.

Budget Committee. Senator Lauk stated that the committee would schedule their first meeting soon.

Elections & University Nominations Committee. Senator Spira reported that the committee met, elected her as chair, and set their fall meeting dates.

Information Technology Committee. Senator Fry announced that their first meeting will be on Thursday, October 5.

Faculty Rights and Responsibilities Committee. Senator Brent provided an update on two important issues that the committee is working on. One is the Grievance policy. A meeting is scheduled on October 23 at 8:30am to re-initiate the drafting team procedures moving forward. The initial redraft of the policy has been located and will be used as a foundation through which the new policy will be edited and modified.

The other big item the committee is working on is reviewing Policy on Policies 1.1.1 which was revised in June, 2021. The committee is currently:

• Reviewing any policy changes that have been made since Policy 1.1.1 was changed in June, 2021.
• Checking with benchmark institutions to look at the role of their Faculty Senate in regards to the decision-making process within those universities.
• Taking stock of all policies and procedures at EKU and going through them one at a time to identify which of the ones that have been revised since June 2021 should come through Faculty Senate for purview, oversight, and voting.

Rules Committee. Senator Bishop-Ross stated that the committee met on September 20th and elected her as chair. The committee also reviewed their charges and set goals for the next meeting.

Chair Kay added an additional charge today to assist the Executive Committee with developing the faculty section of the Employee Handbook. The committee will discuss that at the next meeting on October 30th.

Welfare Committee. Senator Manning reported that they met last week with the Provost to discuss follow-up from last May. In addition, she and Senator Streetman were elected to serve as co-chairs. The meeting schedule was also set for the remainder of the semester.

ADJOURNMENT:

Senator Buck moved to adjourn, seconded by Senator Grabeel, at approximately 4:30pm.

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(See Also:  Polling Results by Motion & Senators)

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