Faculty Senate Minutes - 11/20/2003
Missouri Western State College
Faculty Senate Minutes
November 20, 2003
Call to Order:
Senate President Barry Nelson called the meeting to order at 4:02 p.m.
Senators present:
Caldwell, Cluff, Haney, Hegeman, Mikkelsen, Ottinger, Wacek, Williams, Senate President Nelson, Past Senate President Greiert, Senate Secretary Andrews
Senators absent:
Blessing, Hennessy, Hunt, Senate Vice-President Tapia, Wagner
Ex-officio members present:
MWSC President James Scanlon
MWSC Vice-President for Academic and Student Affairs David Arnold
Guests present:
Max Schlesinger, Director of MWSC Instructional Media Center
Approval of minutes:
Minutes of the November 6, 2003 meeting were amended as follows page 3, paragraph 1,
Senator Wacek reported that the first Monday of the Fall semester faculty members were invited by Residential Life staff to meet with freshmen students in the dorm area.
Minutes of the Faculty Senate meeting November 6, 2003 approved (Senator Ottinger/Senator Wacek)
Approval of agenda:
Agenda for the November 20, 2003 meeting approved (Senator Mikkelsen/Senator Haney)
Report from MWSC College President:
President Scanlon reported that the groundbreaking ceremony for the new residence halls was held last Tuesday, November 17, 2003. The buildings include a separate structure as a Commons area, which may be used by all students for meetings and it will include some food service. This new building project is completely funded by bonds paid off over a thirty-year period by students who will reside in the new dorms. The new halls will be open in the Fall of 2005 for incoming students. He specifically indicated that no state appropriated moneys were used in this project. He also indicated electrical updates were being made to existing residence halls.
Dr. Scanlon discussed the progress on the Fulkerson Center building project for which bids will be opened December 9, 2003. The center will be built adjacent to the MC building and serve alumni and continuing education programs. Once again no state appropriated moneys are being used in this construction. Capitol campaign along with alumni campaign funds are projected for this 1.2 million dollar project. When completed one area will be capable of being used as individual classrooms or converted into one large room to seat up to 500 people for conferences and food service.
Governor Holden will be on campus on November 25, 2003 for an Education Round Table to be held in MC 214-216. Dr. Scanlon will be one of several members of the panel. President Scanlon along with the Presidents of all two and four years colleges and universities are requested to attend a meeting with the Governor in Jefferson City December 19, 2003. This meeting will likely discuss budget issues for higher education in Missouri.
The annual ¡§Holiday Brunch¡¨ will be held December 11th and 12th with invitations being sent by President Scanlon and his wife Lauren. Faculty and staff are requested to bring a gift book for a child. The books will be given out to area children for Christmas. There will also be a date announced for a warm clothing drive for area needy.
Senator Mikkelsen asked about the purpose of the meetings with the Governor. President Scanlon indicated that he presumed the discussions would relate to general but not specific information concerning the budget prior to the State of the State address.
Report from Director of the Instructional Media Center:
Max Schlesinger made a report concerning the updates for classrooms, web services and distance education. He reported that several areas were studied for the Strategic Plan including classroom improvements, the administrative computing project, intranet/internet services and others. He indicated Western is capable of reaching over 450,000 homes through Charter Cable and several million through other electronic media education programs.
Old business:
Faculty Senate President Nelson presented the following motions from the November 6, 2003 senate meeting.
MOTION SB04-04 (Senate Vice-President Tapia/Senator Mikkelsen):
that the Missouri Western State College 2002-2003 Policy Guide, Section Three: Personnel Policies, part VI. Benefits, be appended with the following:
"T. CULTURAL AND ATHLETIC EVENT TICKETS
Faculty members may purchase tickets for a cultural or athletic event at the gate at the reduced faculty rate in force at the time of the event, when providing proper identification."
(vote unanimous)
MOTION SB05-04 (Senator Mikkelsen/Senator Williams):
that in recognition of the valuable service rendered to the college for a modest recompense by faculty members who are not ¡§continuing, full-time," they be allowed to park their automobiles in parking areas marked "reserved."
(vote unanimous)
MOTION SB06-04 (Senate Vice-President Tapia/Senator Caldwell):
that the final passage, including approval by the President, of any addition, modification, or change in the MWSC Policy Guide be communicated to all employees of MWSC by email using the "empinfo" list-serve.
(motion tabled) (Senator Mikkelsen/Senator Haney) (vote unanimous)
MOTION SB07-04 (Senate Vice-President Tapia/Senator Hunt):
a) that an ad hoc Peer Review Integration Committee be established,composed of three Liberal Arts and Sciences faculty, three Professional Studies faculty, the Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs, the Dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and the Dean of Professional Studies, with the express purpose of formulating a general college model (in addition to other needed auxiliary guidelines) for faculty peer review by integrating various recommended peer review principles and guidelines which were developed by academic departments and submitted to the faculty senate during academic year 2002-2003.
b) the peer review model and any relevant/auxiliary guidelines shall be principally used by the Faculty Senate Promotion and Tenure Committee, as well as the Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs, in considerations and recommendations relevant to faculty promotion or tenure applications.
c) faculty members of this committee shall be elected by the faculty senate at its meeting of November 20, 2003.
d) the committee shall submit a progress report to the faculty senate on May 6, 2004.
e) that the faculty committee members consist of one professor, one associate professor, and one assistant professor from each of the two schools.
Motion to amend: (Senator Ottinger/Senator Cluff)
From: section c
c) faculty members of this committee shall be elected by the faculty
senate at its meeting of November 20, 2003.
To: c) nominations for faculty members of the committee shall be received from
the faculty senate and from the faculty as a whole, with final selections for
membership made through a process approved by the faculty senate.
(vote to amend unanimous)
(main motion unanimous)
Motion to accept Professional Leave Report: (Senator Haney/Senator Caldwell)
(vote unanimous)
The faculty senate commends the Professional Leave Committee and Chair Ali Kamali for their work on professional leave.
Report from Faculty Senate Executive Committee:
Faculty Senate President Nelson¡¦s report follows:
The executive committee met yesterday with Dr. Arnold, at which time the following issues were discussed:
„h concern for Business Department course schedulingƒn
„h method for selecting peer review committee faculty membersƒn
„h plan to increase/enhance student engagementƒn
„h concern for the decreasing numbers of declared majorsƒn
„h concern for apparently uneven faculty loadsƒn
„h Columbus Day holiday versus "fall mid-break" holiday
Dr. Larry Lawson, chairperson of the Business Department, was present at the request of Dr. Arnold. The concern, which originated with the executive committee, centered around the Department's re-scheduling ACC 201 and ACC 202 so that each course would be a concentrated 8-week session with its own final examination, rather than the normal 15-week session. It was the general consensus of the executive committee (with Dr. Arnold's agreement) that since the scheduling change affects other departments' course offerings and the business students, themselves, that the plan should have been presented to the curriculum committee and cleared by the CGAC before implementation. On the positive side, Dr. Lawson was complimented for his innovative change which, as was generally agreed, should provide better learning opportunities for the students involved. Nevertheless, the committee recommended to Dr. Lawson that the changes, regardless of potential benefits, must be presented to the curriculum committee and subsequently to the CGAC for approval before such schedule change can be again implemented.
With regard to the selection of peer review faculty committee members, it was recognized that the selection process may be more involved than first anticipated by some, and may involve review of nominees' curriculum vitae. For that reason, there was general agreement to "slow down" on the process of selection of these committee members, in light of the anticipated seriousness of the committee's work.
Dr. Arnold recommended that the faculty senate provide an opportunity to discuss and brainstorm possible initiatives for enhancing student engagement across campus. We anticipate providing a time slot during our upcoming December 4 meeting for this purpose.
Dr. Tapia presented his concern for the decreasing numbers of declared majors across campus. This needs a deeper look, perhaps, to rectify the situation.
Also briefly discussed was come concern for the apparently wide disparity among faculty teaching loads, especially with regard to numbers of student in classes for a particular semester and numbers of advisees assigned to faculty members. Also put forth, related to this, was the concern for the inequity in the 23-to-25 hour teaching load requirement among faculty; would it be more equitable to establish a fixed 24-hour load, for example. Likewise, it was determined that these issues may need a closer look.
Finally, the question of retaining the Columbus Day holiday or replacing it with a "mid-fall break" was briefly discussed, since the CGAC had requested that the senate take a second look at this option. The principal concern for keeping the Monday Columbus Day holiday is apparently the loss of the Monday night class time in the fall semester. It is our intention to take a second look at this problem and report back to Dr. Scanlon on any revised or enhanced opinion of the senate.
Finally, a group of Western personnel who are members of "Team AQIP," which is a subset of the steering committee, attended the AQIP Workshop Forum near Chicago during the period November 12 through November 15. Those representing Western were:
„h Dave Arnoldƒn
„h Jeannie Crainƒn
„h Peggy Ellisƒn
„h Darcy Groceƒn
„h Kristy Hillƒn
„h Bob Klostermeyerƒn
„h Barry Nelsonƒn
„h Patt Lilly
The primary purpose of the forum was to examine and improve upon our three or four "Action Projects" which we have designed as a part of the AQIP accreditation cycle. These Action Projects are, in a nutshell, (1) enhancing student applied learning across all academic programs, (2) improving student engagement among all students, and (3) improving/correcting our image among our stakeholders. In addition to intense scrutinization of the Action Projects, contacts were made for networking and mutual assistance among the seven higher education institutions present.
Senate quorum was lost at 5:01 p.m.
Adjournment:
Faculty Senate was adjourned (Senator Williams/Senator Andrews)
Respectfully submitted,
Larry D. Andrews, EdS
Professor
MWSC Faculty Senate Secretary
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