Faculty Senate Minutes - 11/17/2005

Missouri Western State University
Faculty Senate Minutes

November 17, 2005
Spratt 216

Senators Present: President Mullins (presiding), Andrews, Chevalier, Fulton, deGregorio, Heider, Holian, M. M. Nandan,S. Nandan, Noynaert, Ottinger, Tushaus

Senators Absent: Gregory, Hunt, Keiewitz

Non-voting and Ex-Officio Members Present: President Scanlon, Acting VPASA Jeanie Daffron, Past Senate President Larry Andrews

Guests: Lou Fowler, Don Vestal

Call to Order: President Phil Mullins called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. The Senate met in Sprat 216

Approval of October 20, 2005 Minutes: (Ottinger/Heider) Approved

Approval of Agenda: (M. Nandan/Holian) Approved

Report from the University President:
• The Provost Search Committee has recommended two names. The search committee did an excellent job and made very good recommendations.
• The President’s Office is receiving information about FY 2007 beginning July 2006. This is an early notification date. Institutions are being asked to prepare for a 10% to 12% reduction in core funding. The four-year presidents have decided that they will not be silent on this issue. Our institution will try to avoid reductions in regular employees with satisfactory performance. Things like open positions may require some hard decisions. The University is also aware that our students are lower incomes, and we have tried to reduce the financial burden on our students. It may not be possible to keep tuition at current levels.

Report from the Acting Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs:
• The committee has met about professional development proposals. We were able to fund twelve proposals totaling about $30,000.

Report from the Senate President:
• The Executive Committee has met weekly since our last Senate meeting.
New Business
Motion (SR 8-06)
The following charge is to be added to the charges of the Evaluation of Faculty Committee:
Meet with the Information Technology (IT) and the Instructional Media Center (IMC) to insure that there is an ongoing system in place to provide for collecting meaningful student evaluation of faculty. (Noynaert/K. Andrews)

Report from the Professional Leave Committee
• Lou Fowler and Don Vestal presented the report from the Professional Leave Committee.
• There were high quality proposals for sabbatical leave. The committee noted that there has been an increase in interest in applying for sabbatical leave, and the quality of the proposals has increased. The committee is wondering whether the process will become more competitive as the institution approaches implementation of the up-or-out tenure process.
• The committee has prioritized the applications that they received. The committee recommends the following faculty members for sabbatical leave. The list is presented in alphabetic order.
o Stacia Bensyl, Associate Professor English Fall 2006
o Mike Cadden, Associate Professor of English Academic year 2006-07. Contingent upon award of Fulbright Fellowship.
o Kelly Henry, Associate Professor of Psychology/Director of Applied Learning Fall 2006
o Ian Roberts, Associate Professor of English Spring 2007
o Alicia Sindt, Assistant Professor of Nursing Academic year 2006-07
o Dan Trifan, Professor of History Fall 2006
• Motion: The recommendations were received by Senate (Motion to accept Ottinger/Fulton). Approved. .
• The committee also prepared recommendations for changes to the Policy Guide. (Appendix A) Some of this is necessary because of potential problems introduced by the up-or-out tenure system. The institution does not want to discriminate against “incumbents” who are going through the transition from the old tenure system to the new system. The changes are meant to address these problems. The number of years required for applying for sabbatical would be increased from five to six years. For incumbent faculty the time spent on sabbatical will count as a year of service.
• Motion (SB 9-06)
o The recommendations submitted by the Professional Leave Committee are approved by the Faculty Senate and recommended for inclusion in the Policy Guide.(Ottinger/Heider) (Appendix A)


Interim report from Graduate School Committee
• Jason Baker distributed a written report on committee progress (Appendix B).
• The floor was opened to questions from Senators.
o Is there going to be consideration for teaching and research assistantships? This will be part of the administrative decisions that need to be made. We are going to need to decide what extent we want to use teaching assistants.
o Are our library facilities adequate, especially journals, volumes, and additional search engines? Julia Schneider is on this committee, and she is on the subcommittee that is specifically looking at these issues.
o Will we take proposals first or applications for programs? The committee would prefer to see proposals first.
o Is the committee looking at putting together “building blocks” of courses like research methods, statistics, or introduction to business practices. This is not something the committee has had time to look at, but it will be added to the list.
o Many schools have business partnerships for paying for things like funding search engines. Are we looking at forming partnerships? Another use of partnerships is to try to build up a critical mass of students by targeting potential groups of students. Chris Shove is on this committee, and this is something he is looking at putting together. These issues will be considered in setting up our first programs.
 Have we looked at partnerships with other institutions as well as business partnerships. This is a fertile ground for building our programs. None of the public schools have partnerships with private universities. There is no reason we couldn’t do this.
 Have we looked at programs such as “Troops to Teachers” which involves helping retiring military transition to new careers.? The committee itself is not going out looking for program ideas. These are things that faculty members in various departments are aware of. The committee hopes that these groups will put together proposals for these programs.
o Is there any danger that the graduate programs will detract from any undergraduate programs? The experience of regional institutions is that graduate programs enhance the undergraduate programs associated with them.
Adjourned.

Appendix A

Professional Leave Committee

November 17, 2005


To: Faculty Senate 2005-2006

From: Lou Fowler, Chair of Committee

Page 48
O. SABBATICAL LEAVE

The purpose of sabbatical leave is for the professional development of the employee and for increased effectiveness of the individual to the institution and higher education. Sabbatical leave is open to any full-time employee, except Instructors (March 1996), who: (a) will have served five six years on the staff in a tenure track position or has been awarded tenure; (b) has submitted detailed plans for the period of sabbatical leave in advance for the approval of appropriate authorities; (c) has a proper and satisfactory record of performance as a teacher or administrator, as a counselor, and as a citizen in the University community. (November 2000) For faculty who apply for tenure and sabbatical during the same year, any sabbatical leave awarded will be contingent upon receiving tenure. Leaves should seldom be for more than one academic year plus contiguous summers. Normally, faculty who receive sabbatical should serve at least five years full time (or ten years half time) before their next sabbatical. However, faculty with special circumstances may be considered. A faculty member may have the option of one academic year at one-half salary or one-half of an academic year at 100% salary. Sick leave does not accumulate. (Susan Robinson 1991) An administrative or professional member may have the option of one full year at one-half salary or one-half year at three fourths salary. If funds are available, grants for support during the summer months will be offered.
Time spent on sabbatical will be counted towards tenure, promotion, or faculty awards. Leaves for a period of one year will not interfere with scheduled salary increases. Group insurance will be continued by the University.

Page 49
The individual is obliged to return to teaching or administering at MWSU for at least two years or remit all salary paid while on leave plus fringe benefits paid. Additionally, during the first semester upon his or her return, the awardee is obligated to file a report on how the original aims of the sabbatical request were fulfilled. The report is to be sent to the appropriate supervisor/supervisors and vice president. Each faculty awardee is also required to provide a copy of the leave report to the Faculty Senate and to the member of her or his department. (November 1990) (April 1996) (May 200) (June 2001)

Application Procedures for Faculty. A faculty applicant for sabbatical leave must submit one copy of the leave proposal to the department Chairperson by September 1. The Chairperson shall submit the proposal and the chair’s recommendation to the appropriate Dean of the College and the chair of the Professional Leave Committee by September 15. The Dean of the College will submit his or her recommendation to the chair of the Professional Leave Committee by October 1. (July 1993) (May 2000) (April 2004)

Approval Procedures for Faculty. In considering proposals for sabbatical leave the Professional Leave Committee requires the candidate to provide the following specific items: (a) name, educational status, and present academic rank; (b) eligibility (years in service at MWSU); (c) type and length of leave being requested; (d) outline of proposed course of study or professional activity to be undertaken during leave; (e) certification of acceptance in above program (recommendation is contingent on acceptance or validity of program); (f) major goal to be achieved as a result of leave; (g) justification for leave; (h) benefit to be accrued to the department and/or institution; (i) departmental arrangements to cover leave; (j) a brief resume/vita which shows evidence of the candidate’s professional development and overall performance at MWSU; (k) other pertinent information an applicant may wish to submit (i.e. student evaluations, testimonials, previous academic record, etc.). In addition, any faculty member who was granted sabbatical during the six years prior to the current application should provide a copy of the leave report from that sabbatical. The proposal will provide sufficient detail concerning the product and process of the proposed leave and will be limited to fifteen (15) pages, exclusive of the candidate’s resume/vita and any previous leave reports. (May 2000)

All candidates for leave will be interviewed by the Professional Leave Committee. The committee Chairperson will make the necessary arrangements to schedule same. The Professional Leave Committee will base its decision to recommend or not recommend the request on the following criteria: (a) merit of the scholarly and/or other professional development of proposed activity; (b) benefit of project to students, department and/or institution; (c) merit of candidate’s overall performance at MWSU. After considering all leave requests the Professional Leave Committee will determine, via secret ballot, which candidates will be recommended for leave and a priority ranking of these candidates will be established. Final committee recommendations with a ranking of candidates and the rationale for the rankings will be forwarded to the Provost and Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs and the Faculty Senate for consideration by October 25. The committee will also forward to the Provost and Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs copies of the proposals and recommendations from the chairs and Deans of the College. The committee will forward to each applicant and the appropriate Dean of the College and chair the committee’s recommendation and rationale (the rankings will not be included) by October 25. The Faculty Senate will review the committee’s recommendations, including the rationale for its rankings, at its meetings in the first week of November, and may forward any comments which it may have concerning the committee’s decision to the Provost and Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs no later than five (5) days after the Senate meeting at which the committee submits it recommendations. The rankings of candidates shall not be included in the minutes of the meeting at which the committee’s recommendations are reviewed, but the names of the candidates approved by the Senate for sabbatical leave shall be reported, in alphabetical order, along with a description of their projects and departmental affiliation. The Provost and Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs will forward his/her recommendations to each applicant and the appropriate Dean of the College and chair when the recommendations are sent to the President. (May 1993) (March 1997) (May 2000) (June 2001)

Appendix B

MWSU Graduate Studies Committee
Progress Report

Made to the Faculty Senate on Nov. 17th, 2005


Formal meetings of the Graduate Studies Committee have occurred on Oct. 7th and Oct 21st, and will occur on Nov. 18th. These meetings have led to the following:

• The committee hosted three campus-wide open forum discussions in order to hear faculty opinion and attempt to answer questions. These occurred on Oct. 19th, 20th, and 25th. Substantial notes were taken by committee members and all input will be considered by the committee before any recommendations are finalized. Attendance was modest at each forum.
• Committee members each read and discussed the Graduate Handbooks from five Missouri regional institutions with graduate programs currently in place. These help provide logistical models around which the MWSU graduate school can be built.
• Five sub-committees have been established to investigate topics in greater detail that appear to be essential for the formation of graduate programs. These sub-committees include:
o Grad counsel and grad faculty
o Administrative structure and funding
o Course numbering and curriculum approval
o Admissions and graduation
o Grad school logistics (including advising, committees, defense requirements, etc.)
• Sub-committees will each make a rough draft report to the whole committee on Nov. 18th to facilitate full-group discussion and the integration of overlapping material.
• A Request for Proposals was send out in early November, with a tentative deadline set for the end of January, to solicit graduate program ideas, in the form of masters degree programs or certificate programs. Submitted program ideas will be discussed in the committee as they arrive.



Submitted 11/17/05

Jason C. Baker
Committee co-Chair