Minutes - 10/4/2001

Missouri Western State College
Faculty Senate Minutes
October 4, 2001

Call to order:

The meeting was called to order by Senate President Klostermeyer at 3:36 p.m.

Senators present:

Larry Andrews, Mike Cadden, Ben Caldwell, Bill Church, Steven Greiert, Marilyn Hunt, Robert Klostermeyer, Mark Mikkelsen, Barry Nelson, Evan Noynaert, Keith Rhodes, Mike Smith, Kelly Williams, Carolyn Windsor

Senators absent:
Brenda Blessing, Sally Radmacher, John Tapia

Ex-officio members present:

James Scanlon, President of Missouri Western State College
James Roever, Vice President for Academic Affairs



Guests present:

Kathyrne Mueller, Associate to the Vice President for Academic Affairs
Max Schlesinger, Director, Instructional Media Center
Earl Milton, Vice President, Administration
Judy Grimes, Director of Student Success Programs
John Comerford, Director of Residential Life
Mark Mabe, Director of Computer Center

Approval of minutes:

The minutes of the previous meeting of September 6, 2001 were approved with the following correction: Victoria Wacek's academic department changed from CS/M/P to Edu (Noynaert).

Approval of agenda:

The agenda for today's meeting was approved as proposed (Hunt).

Report from college president:

James Scanlon, President of Missouri Western State College, reported that he has been working with the Missouri Commissioner of Higher Education and the Missouri Coordinating Board of Higher Education (CBHE) for "justice" in terms of core funding for Missouri Western. Excluding the University of Missouri, Missouri Western's core funding has been approximately one thousand dollars less (per equivalent full time student) than the average of other Missouri state colleges and universities. At a meeting with the Commissioner in Jefferson City on September 10, accompanied by James Roever and Jeanie Crain, the Commissioner recommended a core funding increase adjustment of $1.5 million for Missouri Western. Subsequent to the meeting, Scanlon responded to the Commissioner with a letter of appreciation which also included his position that the core funding still needs some consideration for raising to the $4 million level where it ought to be; he has not yet received any response from that letter. The $1.5 million adjustment will be implemented over a two year period. Meanwhile, Scanlon will continue to push for the needed $4 million adjustment. The Commissioner suggested working with the state legislature to attempt to achieve the $4 million adjustment.

Scanlon further reported a breakthrough in allotments for the capital construction, renovation, and expansion of the Science and Math facility. Originally, $25 million had been requested for the project. After 3 days of negotiation, the state agreed to the funding in two phases ($16 million in phase 1, and $9 million in phase 2), on the condition that we raise locally 20 percent of the expansion part of the project.

Some discussion of these issues followed Scanlon's report, in which he stated that the Commissioner could not support the $9.4 million request for the Fine Arts building. However, Roever noted that a new proposal was going forth from the college, advocating an increased budget of $15 million to renovate the entire fine arts building.

Report from vice president for academic affairs:

James Roever, Vice President for Academic Affairs, reported that the general studies committee has completed phase 1 of the state general education requirements matrix, posting the matrix on the college web site today (in the "General Studies" page of "Academics"). He invited all college faculty to review the matrix, and indicated that interested parties have 30 days to respond to the matrix.

Some general discussion followed concerning imminent changes to MOSERS and the college retirement options. Senate President Klostermeyer indicated that discussion would be more fruitful if deferred until specific details of the plan are available.

Report from faculty senate executive committee:

Robert Klostermeyer, Faculty Senate President, reported that the Senate executive committee met on Tuesday, September 25. Klostermeyer announced that he had asked President Scanlon for an arrangement wherein the executive committee could meet with him on a fairly regular basis, to which Scanlon agreed. It was also noted that Klostermeyer will attend the Missouri Association of Faculty Senates (MAFS) in Jefferson City, for a one day meeting on Friday, October 5. He also indicated that he was working with the office of President Scanlon in providing names of faculty to serve on institutional committees.

Senate Vice President Steven Greiert distributed the revised 2001-2002 Faculty Senate Committee Roster (Attachment A). He then proposed committee changes as follows: (1) Kathleen Andrews to replace Terry White on the professional leave committee, since White is not on campus this semester; (2) Virendra Varma to replace Mohammad Najafi on the promotion and tenure committee, since Najafi is not on campus this year. The changes were approved by consensus.

Greiert also announced that no one has come forward from the Professional Studies Division to replace Virendra Varma on the grievance committee (Varma is leaving the grievance committee to serve on the promotion and tenure committee). He will make one more attempt to try to get a Professional Studies faculty member to serve on the grievance committee, but, if none is forthcoming within the next two weeks, a volunteer from the Liberal Arts and Sciences Division will be appointed to that committee (as allowed in the Missouri Western State College Policy Guide).

It was moved (Nelson) and approved to adopt Senator Greiert's committee recommendations.

Discussion of MWSC Strategic Plan:

President Klostermeyer distributed the following seven documents related to the Strategic Plan:
Academic Affairs and Enrollment Management (Attachment B)
Planning and Budgeting (Attachment C)
Western Image and Enhancement (Attachment D)
Facilities and Grounds (Attachment E)
Information Technology (Attachment F)
Community Service and Partnerships and Workforce Development (Attachment G)
Experiential Learning and Student Development (Attachment H)
He then announced that related issues will be discussed at this time, in the order in which the documents were distributed, and that the strategic plan objectives will be crafted by mid-October. By the end of November, the plan will be mostly in final form for each of the seven focus areas, and will be codified and distributed in booklet form sometime in January, 2002.

Discussion followed regarding each of the seven emphasis areas, with chairpersons or representatives from most of the seven committees available to answer questions and to receive suggestions or recommendations. At the conclusion of each area of discussion, each respective committee representative thanked the Senate for its input and indicated that he/she will take the points of discussion back to the committee for review and consideration.

Old business:

(none)

New business:

A discussion ensued, led by Kelly Williams, Senate Liaison to the professional leave committee, regarding the situation wherein five (of a total of eight) applications for professional leave were submitted to the committee two weeks after the deadline. After considerable discussion, the Senate decided not to take any particular action in this matter, other than to follow the Missouri Western State College Policy Guide rule that applications must meet the published deadlines.

Adjournment:

The meeting was adjourned at 5:28 p.m. (Williams)




G. Barry Nelson, Secretary
Missouri Western State College Faculty Senate