Minutes - 2/4/2000

Call to order:

President Mikkelsen called the meeting to order at 4:10 p.m.

Senators present:

Aschermann, Bargar, Brandt, Brooks, Cronk, Fowler, Greiert, Hamzaee, Leonard, McLear,
Mikkelsen, Nelson, Reidy, Roberts, Wagner, Wallner

Senators absent:

None

Ex-officio:

Janet Murphy, president of Missouri Western State College
James Roever, vice-president for academic affairs, Missouri Western State College

Guests present:

Todd Eckdahl, Susan Gille

Meeting agenda:

The proposed agenda for today's meeting was approved as submitted (Brandt/Brooks).

Minutes of the previous meeting:

The minutes of the February 3 meeting were approved as submitted (Leonard/Wallner).

Report from the college president:

MWSC President Murphy reported that a program of equipment replacement has been started and
that $600,000 had been released this week for replacement in the areas of academics, computers,
lawn maintenance, etc. She further reported that the North Central Accreditation visiting team will
send their preliminary report to the college in approximately three weeks.

Report from the vice-president for academic affairs:

James Roever, vice-president for academic affairs, expressed thanks for all those who assisted in
the recent visit of the North Central Accreditation team, especially mentioning those who served as
chairs of the various accreditation committees (Edwin Gorsky, Robert Hines, Julia Schneider,
David Ashley, Brian Cronk, Joanne Katz, and Kathyrne Mueller). He further reported that the
deans' council has met and set up priorities for capital expenditures. About $300,000 will be
available for capital requests, and about $ 50,000 has been earmarked for maintenance expenses.


Report from the faculty senate executive committee:

Senate president Mikkelsen provided a brief report on the work of the presidential search/screening
committee. Mikkelsen said that the committee had met weekly since Wednesday, February 2, that
over seventy applications had been received for the position, and that the committee was currently
completing initial reference checks on about twenty candidates who had made a "first cut."
Mikkelsen noted that the committee had adopted procedures which guaranteed that any candidate
who had not made the "first cut" could be reconsidered at a later time if any member of the
committee wished to have them reconsidered; he also noted that almost all of the candidates
initially ranked highly by the faculty members of the committee seemed to have broad support
among committee members. He indicated that the committee is still working on the assumption
that candidates will be brought to campus in April, but said that there had not yet been any formal
discussion concerning the schedule for such visits.

Next, he gave a brief report on the recent Committee on Transfer and Articulation (COTA)
conference, indicating that general studies competencies will likely become illustrative rather than
prescriptive, the general studies block will include 42 rather than 45 hours, transfer credit for
students not having completed the entire block will be done on a course-by-course basis, and that
the formal peer review process has been eliminated entirely in favor of mutual reviews of general
studies programs on web sites. Points of discussion between he and David Bennett, chair of the
MWSC faculty senate general studies committee, are that there is not much point in doing anything
with regard to our general studies program until final CBHE approval is granted (probably in
June), that a GESC minority report will be filed and that it could influence the CBHE's decision,
and that the general studies com
mittee can also wait to address Policy Guide irregularities next year.

Mikkelsen then gave a brief report of the recent Missouri Association of Faculty Senates (MAFS)
conference, indicating that key issues from around the state include promotion/tenure review
matters, possible evaluation of administrators, presidential search issues, distance education, and
MOSERS benefits and health benefits for half-time salaried faculty.

The bill which would allow faculty representation on Missouri college governing boards has passed
the Missouri House and has been heard but not acted upon by the Senate Education Committee.

Finally, Mikkelsen announced President Murphy's annual faculty senate dinner will be held at her
home on April 6 at 5:30 p.m. Guests at this year's dinner will include not only members of the
"old" and "newly elected" Senates, but also all past Senate presidents who have served since
Murphy came to Missouri Western.

Tony Wallner, faculty senate vice-president, presented a plan and process for election of senators
to be held in March. He noted that, according to the senate constitution, the senate shall consist of
eight per cent of the voting faculty from each of the two academic divisions with fractional values
being rounded to the nearest integer. This results in next year's senate consisting of ten
representatives from Liberal Arts and Sciences and six representatives from Professional Studies
(as compared to nine LAS representatives and seven PS representatives making up this year's
senate). In the ensuing discussion, it was noted that the shift in representation represents a
significant change in the senate makeup. Nominations for new members shall be on February 29
for PS Division and March 7 for LAS.



Report from the faculty senate professional leave committee:

Susan Gille, chair of the professional leave committee, distributed an alphabetized list of
professional leave candidates as approved by the committee (see Attachment A), a ranked list of
approved candidates as required by the 1999-2000 Missouri Western Policy Guide, and a list of
recommended changes to the 1999-2000 Missouri Western Policy Guide concerning professional
leave procedures and matters (see Attachment B).

Senator Greiert moved (seconded by Senator McLear) that the senate go into closed session
pursuant to Missouri Statutes 610.021(1) and (3) to consider legal and personnel matters related to
the ranking of candidates by the professional leave committee. The motion passed unanimously.

After the ensuing closed discussion, the senate was called out of closed session by President
Mikkelsen. By consensus, the senate received the professional leave recommendations and
expressed thanks to the committee and chair.

In discussing five 1999-2000 Missouri Western Policy Guide recommended changes, Gille
reported that the committee decided explicitly not to deal with the issues of whether professional
leave is appropriate for finishing a terminal degree and whether the possible three-hour release time
for returning candidates is appropriate (see "New Business" for a motion related to this
discussion).

New business:

Due to the relevancy to the immediately previous discussion, the following new motions were
introduced at this time rather than being introduced after Old business:

MOTION: Change the fourth sentence in the third paragraph on p. 49 and the corresponding
sentence of the fifth paragraph on p. 126 of the 1999-2000 Missouri Western Policy Guide to read
as follows: "The awardee is also required to provide a copy of the leave report to the Faculty
Senate and to provide some form of report to the members of their department." (Greiert/Cronk)

MOTION: Change the text of the paragraph beginning with the words "Application Procedures
for Faculty" on p. 49 and pp. 126-127 of the 1999-2000 Missouri Western Policy Guide to read as
follows: "A faculty applicant for sabbatical leave must submit one copy of the leave proposal to
the department chairperson by the first day of the spring semester. The proposal and the chair's
recommendation must be submitted to the chair of the Professional Leave Committee by February
1. A copy of the proposal and the chair's recommendation shall also be given to the appropriate
dean by February 1. The recommendation of the appropriate dean shall be forwarded to the chair
of the Professional Leave Committee by February 5." (Wallner/Greiert)

MOTION: Make the following three changes to the text of the paragraph beginning with the words
"Approval Procedures for Faculty" on p. 49 and p.127 of the 1999-2000 Missouri Western Policy
Guide:
(1) Insert the following words after (j): "a brief resume/vita which shows evidence of the
candidate's professional development and overall performance at MWSC."
(2) Add a new item, (k), and move the wording now included after (j) to appear after (k).
(3) Add the following sentence at the end of the paragraph: "The proposal should provide sufficient
detail concerning the product and process of the proposed leave and should be limited to ten (10)
pages, exclusive of the candidate's resume/vita." (Nelson/Wagner)

MOTION: Change item (c) in the first full paragraph on p. 50 and the third full paragraph on p.
127 of the 1999-2000 Missouri Western Policy Guide to read as follows: "benefit of project to
students, department and/or institution." (Wallner/Brooks)

MOTION: Change the second and third sentences of the third full paragraph on p. 50 and the
fourth full paragraph on p. 127 of the 1999-2000 Missouri Western Policy Guide to read as
follows: "Final committee recommendations with a ranking of candidates and the rationals for the
rankings will be forwarded to the Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Faculty Senate for
consideration by February 28. The Faculty Senate will review the committee's recommendations,
including the rationale for its rankings, at its first March meeting, and may forward any comments
which it may have concerning the committee's decision to the Vice President for Academic Affairs
prior to the date on which the Vice President submits his recommendations to the Board of
Regents. 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 for
sabbatical leave shall be reported, in alphabetical order, along with a description of their projects
and departmental affiliation." (Nelson/Wagner)

MOTION: Delete the final sentence of the third paragraph on p. 49 and the last sentence of the
fifth paragraph on p. 126 of the 1999-2000 Missouri Western Policy Guide which reads: "A
faculty member returning from an academic leave may request a reduced teaching load of up to 3
equated credit hours for one semester if attempting to complete a dissertation or any other
significant writing." (Aschermann/Brooks)

Old business:

MOTION: To amend the 1999-2000 MWSC Policy Guide, page 119, paragraph 3: "In academic
areas where there is low availability of qualified persons for faculty positions, the Vice President
for Academic Affairs with the written agreement of the appropriate department Chairperson and
Dean may have the option of increasing the initial contract salary up to TWENTY percent beyond
the initial salary placement," so that it reads: "In academic areas where there is low availability of
qualified persons for faculty positions, the Vice President for Academic Affairs with the written
agreement of the appropriate department Chairperson and Dean may have the option of increasing
the initial contract salary up to THIRTY percent beyond the initial salary placement. (Word to be
changed is capitalized.) (Greiert/McLear)

Senators expressed sympathy with the intent of the motion. Senators also discussed whether this
change is prudent at this time, since there are other pressing salary issues which also warrant
discussion and action, including the issue of "parity" with other Missouri public institutions and
"salary compression." The comment was made that a member of the North Central Accreditation
team had commented at the "open meeting" for faculty and staff held during the team's campus
visit that measures such as this are best not discussed separately from equity issues such as salary
compression.

After significant discussion of these issues, Senator Greiert moved to table the motion. Greiert's
motion to table was approved unanimously by voice vote.


Additional new business:

MOTION: That the results of the faculty senate elections be announced indicating both the names
of electees and the numbers of votes received by each candidate. (Roberts/Hamzaee)

Adjournment:

The meeting was adjourned at 5:55 p.m. (Leonard/Roberts)

Respectfully submitted,



G. Barry Nelson, secretary