Faculty Senate Minutes - 12/4/2003
Missouri Western State College
Faculty Senate Minutes
December 4, 2003
Call to Order:
Faculty Senate President Barry Nelson called the meeting to order at 4:00 pm.
Senators Present:
Blessing, Caldwell, Cluff, Haney, Hegeman, Hennessy, Hunt, Mikkelsen, Ottinger, Wacek, Wagner, Williams, Senate President Nelson, Senate Past President Greiert, Senate Secretary Andrews.
Senators Absent:
Senate Vice-President Tapia
Ex-officio members present: n/a
Guests present:
Professor Larry Lawson, Chairperson, Department of Business
Professor Ian Roberts, Department of E/FL/J
Approval of minutes:
Minutes of the November 20, 2003 were approved. (Senator Blessing/Senator Wacek)
(vote unanimous)
Guest Professor Lawson asked that the following rebuttal be offered to the Senate Executive report from November 20,2003. The rebuttal material relates to page 5, the paragraph beginning:
¡§Dr. Larry Lawson, chairperson of the Department of Business, was present at the request of Dr. Arnold. The concern, which originated with the executive committee, centered around the Department¡¦s plan to offer a majority of its courses using 8-week sessions rather than the traditional 15-week session. It was with the general consensus of the executive committee (with Dr. Arnold¡¦s agreement) that since the scheduling change would affect other departments¡¦ course offering and the business students, that the plan should be presented to the Curriculum Committee and cleared by the CGAC before implementation. On the positive side, Dr. Lawson should be complemented for his innovative change which, as was generally agreed, should provide better learning opportunities for the students involved. Nevertheless, the committee recommendation to Dr. Lawson that the changes, regardless of potential benefits, must be presented to the Curriculum Committee and subsequently to the CGAC for approval. Professor Andrews stated that the process of allowing a new offering to occur for up to one year on a provisional basis would allow the plan to proceed until Curriculum Committee review and CGAC approval are obtained.¡¨
This was accepted as additional information in an amendment by Senator Wagner and Senator Hunt.
(Senator Hunt/Senator Wagner)
(vote to amend unanimous)
Approval of agenda:
Agenda for the December 4, 2003 meeting approved
(Senator Hennessy/Senator Hunt)
(vote unanimous)
Report from Faculty Senate Executive Committee:
Faculty Senate President Nelson¡¦s report follows:
Executive Committee Report
December 4, 2003
The senate executive committee met yesterday, at which time we selected a recommended slate of faculty nominees for the Peer Review Committee, briefly discussed the matter of the unsettled "fall break day," and presented our concerns about the decision of the Athletics Department to pull several football students from courses during these last critical days of classes (December 4 - 6).
The slate of candidates for the Peer Review Committee recommended by the executive committee follows:
Liberal Arts and Sciences
Professors:
„h Phil Mullins
„h John Rushin
Associate Professors:
„h Ben Caldwell
„h Jennifer Hegeman
Assistant Professors:
„h Don Vestal
„h Mei Zhang
Professional Studies
Professor:
„h Brenda Blessing
Associate Professors:
„h Evelyn Brooks
„h Richard Porr
„h Kip Wilson
Assistant Professors:
„h Gene Bonham
„h Cindy Heider
The executive committee also confirmed the understanding that all 29 confirmed nominees remain available for selection to the Peer Review Committee by the full senate.
Nominees for Peer Review Integration Committee
Liberal Arts and Sciences
Professors:
„h Reza Hamzaee
„h Phil Mullins
„h John Rushin
„h Betty Sawin
„h Dan Trifan
Associate Professors:
„h Ben Caldwell
„h Deborah Freedman
„h Jennifer Hegeman
„h Monica Nandan
„h Ian Roberts
„h Allison Sauls
Assistant Professors:
„h Richard Bell
„h David Bennett
„h Mike Ducey
„h Martha Ellison
„h Jon Euchner
„h Kelly Henry
„h Deny Staggs
„h Don Vestal
„h Mei Zhang
Nominees for Peer Review Integration Committee
Professional Studies
Professor:
„h Brenda Blessing
Associate Professors:
„h Evelyn Brooks
„h Dale Krueger
„h Shiva Nandan
„h Richard Porr
„h Kip Wilson
Assistant Professors:
„h Gene Bonham
„h Cindy Heider
„h Yona Rasis
Vice President Tapia related the difficulty for finding a replacement member for the curriculum committee. Even though the committee has nearly finished its work on specific curriculum proposals, there remains much to be done regarding deliberations and recommendations concerning procedures and possible policy revisions. If senators know of an LAS faculty member who would be willing to serve, please let one of us on the executive committee know.
Faculty Senate President Nelson read into the Senate record a statement prepared by Faculty Senate Vice-President Tapia who was away from MWSC to receive an award. The statement follows:
¡§I apologize for missing the 12/04 FS meeting. If I were at eh meeting I would make the following comments:
a) The FS minutes of 11/20/03 ¡V need an addition to FS Executive Committee
Report
I was under the impression that concern was also raised over having all business
courses, with the exception of two or three, being scheduled in 8-week sessions
for the fall semester without going through the curriculum committee and CGAC.
b) Peer Evaluation Procedure
Because we have a number of volunteers at the full-professor level from LAS, I
withdrew my name from consideration.
c) Curriculum Committee Replacement
We need a two-year replacement on the curriculum committee in the LAS School.
I have contacted several LAS faculty about filling this vacancy but have not been
successful. If you know of someone willing to serve on this committee from the LAS school, please let me know.¡¨
Professor Larson was requested to return either to the Senate Executive Committee to discuss the concerns of any misunderstanding or request to appear at an upcoming Faculty Senate meeting.
Past Senate President discussed several concerns about the new registration offering on December 9, 2003. He indicated that he had written to Gene Eulinger with the issue of faculty serving current students during finals and waiting for a new registration period until faculty had completed the current issues. Several Senators agreed with this issue.
Faculty Senate President Nelson indicated he had contacted MWSC Vice-President Arnold suggesting the registration change should go to CGAC and was awaiting a response.
Senator Caldwell reported a concern about changes relating to grants procedures in the MWSC Policy Guide. He indicated that the changes which were apparently made June 03, need to be reviewed to make them more useful and workable for the faculty. Past Senate President Greiert stated he was at the CGAC meeting of June 03 but did not realize the problem. He indicated the Senate could ask for the section in question to be reconsidered by CGAC. Senator Caldwell will follow up with the proper procedure to improve the concern for grants.
Faculty Senate President Nelson directed discussion toward Peer Review Committee issues which were discussed at length. The discussion from Senators related around concerns about how the committee should be structured including the manner of appointment, how many faculty should serve, how faculty ranks should be represented and when the Senate will vote on the committee. The executive committee slate was offered only as a starting point as required by senate bylaws. It was agreed by the senate that all 29 confirmed nominees would be considered and great effort would be taken to include as many academic departments and as much diversity of departments as possible. Appointments will be made one each from the Professor rank, one from the Associate Professor rank and one from the Assistant Professor rank from each school.
The Senate will vote on this committee at the January 22nd Senate meeting.
Professor Ian Roberts addressed the Senate and indicated he would definitely like to be one of the appointments to the committee. He indicated he was very interested in service on the committee.
Senator Haney made a motion to increase the size of the Senate committee from the 6 currently being considered to 8. The additional two will come one each from each school and be appointed without reflection of professional rank. This motion originated from Senator Caldwell discussing the need to make sure the faculty is represented well on such an important committee.
Motion: Increase the committee size from 6 to 8 faculty members, two at large members, one from each school without reflection to professional rank.
(Senator Haney/Senator Caldwell)
Motion to suspend the rules:
(Senator Blessing/Senator Wagner)
(vote to suspend the rules unanimous)
(vote on main motion unanimous)
Senator Ottinger made a motion to limit representation to only one representative on the Peer Review Committee from any department.
Motion to limit representation:
(Senator Ottinger/Senator Cluff)
(vote fails)
Considerable additional discussion was presented and considered by Senate members relating to making this committee equitable across campus with no additional resolutions or motions coming from the Senate at this meeting.
Faculty Senate President Nelson stated the Senate would go into closed session at the January 22, 2004 meeting if we discussed personal issues as required by state law.
New business:
The following options were considered concerning the ¡§fall holiday¡¨.
OPTION 1: Columbus Day (Monday)
OPTION 2: Friday closest to mid-term in which there is not a home football game that weekend
OPTION 3: Second Friday in October
OPTION 4: First Friday after mid-term grades are due
Motion: Second Friday in October will be dedicated as the Fall Holiday
(Senator Hennessy/Senator Hunt)
Motion to suspend the rules
(Senator Mikkelsen/Senator Caldwell)
(vote to suspend the rules unanimous)
(main motion approved, 6 for 4 against)
Discussion was undertaken concerning the issue of ¡§student engagement¡¨ with the decision to take this issue up at the January 22, 2004 meeting with some clarification to Faculty Senate President Nelson from MWSC Vice-President Arnold to enhance discussion of the issue.
Motion to adjourn:
(Senator Blessing/Senator Wagner)
(vote unanimous)
Adjournment:
Faculty Senate was adjourned at 5:20 pm
Respectfully submitted,
Larry D. Andrews, EdS
Professor
MWSC Faculty Senate Secretary
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