Faculty Senate Minutes - 12/2/2004
Missouri Western State College
Faculty Senate Minutes
December 2, 2004
SU 208
Senators Present: President Andrews, Vice President Hegeman, Secretary Ottinger, Senators Caldwell, Gregory, Haney, Heider, Holian, Hunt, Nandan, Noynaert, Tapia, Tushaus, Williams
Senators Absent: Past President Greiert, Senator Voelkel
Ex-Officio Members Present: Vice President Arnold, President Scanlon
Ex-Officio Members Absent: none
Guests Present: none
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Call to Order: President Larry Andrews called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m.
Approval of November 18th Minutes: (Gregory/Caldwell)
Correction was requested under "Old Business: Appointment of Committee Members..." David Tushaus' department was incorrectly listed as "EFLJ", it was corrected to "CJLS."
Minutes were approved, as corrected, by voice vote.
Approval of Agenda: (Tapia/Gregory)
Agenda was approved by voice vote.
Report from College President:
¨ Gregory Fitch has been appointed the new Missouri Commissioner of Higher Education. He is currently president of the Utah College of Applied Technology, which services 60,000 students. He was previously the Executive Director for the Idaho State Board of Education (the Idaho equivalent of the MDHE). Most of his experience has been with 2-year colleges. He has shown an interest in working with the College and University Presidents.
¨ Need-based Financial Aid is a hot topic in Jefferson City right now. Missouri recently received poor marks for affordability of higher education. A major concern is how need based aid should be distributed: Flat dollar - same amount no matter what school you attend, or Cost-based - students attending a school with higher tuition would receive more funding. Debate on this issue has already begun.
¨ At the Governor's Conference Betty Sawin received the Distinguished Teacher Award for Missouri
Western.
¨ At the Higher Education Summit, Governor-elect Blunt spoke on his agenda, which included his "Truth in Tuition" approach, by which families would know the expected 4 year cost for an education at the beginning of the first year. He did not mention tuition caps. It appears that the legislative emphasis will be on "Access & Affordability". There was no formal statements on the budget. Talk is that there will probably be no withholding this year. The CBHE proposed budget of 6% above this year's budget does not seem likely. Probably we will receive a flat budget - or less. MWSC is still in a good position financially, but budgets will remain tight. There was no word on capital projects. There appears to be some movement in our direction concerning University status.
¨ Question was asked, if "Truth in Tuition" passes could we also get "Truth in State Funding" ?
Report from Vice President for Academic & Student Affairs:
¨ The teleconference on Foundations of Excellence was today. Dr. Arnold will prepare a document on our involvement for dissemination to the campus.
¨ "How to start behaving like a hot college" sessions will be at 11:00 and 3:30 on December 8th in the Kemper Auditorium.
¨ The Peer Review Committee is preparing documents to be disseminated to the faculty.
¨ Also, Dr. Arnold will be reminding all faculty of the upcoming Equity Adjustments that will be made in January.
Report from Senate President:
See Minutes Appendix A for President Andrews report.
Report from Committee Liaisons:
Senator Caldwell (Scholarship Committee): The committee has not formally met yet this year. The chair is working with Financial Aid to get ready for the spring. The committee is ready and waiting to do their work.
Senator Noynaert (Academic Regulations and Standards): The committee has met twice. At the first meeting they handled the suspension appeals. At the second meeting they handled an unusual grade appeal. They are looking into problems of plagiarism and cheating. In most school handbooks there is a large section on plagiarism and cheating. In our student handbook there is a short, ambiguous paragraph. The committee is also reviewing the IP grade issue and will be meeting with the registrar.
Old Business:
Appointment of Committee Members for Ad Hoc Committee on Advisement/Hours: Executive committee recommended the following as members of the committee: Senator Tapia (CST), Senator Voelkel (Nursing), Professor Jill Miller (CJLS), Professor Sharon Vestal (CSMP), and Beverly Payne (Business). The committee is charged with examining how advising should be equated into faculty teaching loads.
Question was raised if a non-faculty member should serve on the committee. It was determined that anyone could serve on an Ad Hoc committee, if they were willing.
Motion was made (Heider/Hunt) to approve the above as members. Motion passed by a voice vote.
New Business:
Since there is no urgent business for the Senate to take up, it was proposed (Gregory/Nandan) that the next two scheduled senate meetings (December 16th and January 13th) be cancelled as they fall during finals week and during registration. The next meeting of the Senate will be on January 20th. Motion was approved by acclamation.
Adjournment:
Senate adjourned at 5:00 pm.
Respectfully Submitted,
Michael B. Ottinger, PhD
Senate Secretary.
Minutes Appendix A
Faculty Senate President Report
December 2, 2004
The following reviews the work of the executive committee of the faculty senate since the last senate meeting of the 2004/2005 academic year. The executive committee met twice, once with the College President and Vice President, discussing the following topics:
· University status – offered Senate support by resolution
· Fee Wavers - report from President Scanlon in Spring 05
· Peer Review Committee – see notes on web
· Policy Guide update – re-typing ongoing – completion date ?
· Parking questions – e-mail memo from Senate President 11-29-04
· Banner questions – registration questions – enrollment questions
· MAFS information request – forwarded to Jeanie Crain for report
· VP evaluation committee update – Committee Chair Professor Greiert
· Faculty Work Load 23-25 hour issue
· Ad-Hoc Committee on Laboratory Lab(etc) hours – Senator Caldwell report date
· Ad-Hoc Committee on Academic Advisement hours, recommendation to Senate for appointment.
Proposed members: Senator Tapia, Senator Voelkel, Professor Jill
Miller, Professor Sharon Vestal, Beverly Payne
· School elections for Senate members – February 24
· December 16, 2004 Senate meeting ?
Additional comments from Senate Vice-President Hegeman:
¨ Incoming Senate Executive Committees should be required to read the Senate Bylaws. Bylaws committee will submit their report at the next senate meeting.
¨ Committee Liaisons need to request that committee chairs send their minutes to the Senate Vice President. These minutes need to include attendance. The VP will forward the minutes to the Senate Secretary for posting on the web page.
¨ Committee Liaisons should request that committee chairs e-mail their committee reports to the Senate Vice President no later than the Tuesday Morning of the week in which they are scheduled to report to the Senate. The Senate Secretary will then make copies and distribute the written report to all senators with the agenda and minutes.
|
