Faculty Senate Minutes - 4/1/2004
Missouri Western State College
Faculty Senate Minutes
April 1, 2004
Call to Order:
Senate President Barry Nelson called the meeting to order at 4:00 pm
Senators present:
Caldwell, Cluff, Haney, Hegeman, Hennessy, Hunt, Mikkelsen, Ottinger, Wacek, Senate President Nelson, Past Senate President Greiert, Senate Secretary Andrews.
Senators absent:
Blessing, Senate Vice-President Tapia, Wagner, Williams.
Ex-officio members present:
MWSC President Scanlon
MWSC Vice-President for Academic and Student Affairs Arnold
Guests present:
Senator elect Monica Nandan
Senate Salary Chairman Kevin Anderson
Approval of minutes:
Minutes of the March 4, 2004 were approved.
(Senator Cluff/Senator Wacek)
(vote unanimous)
Approval of agenda:
The agenda for the April 1, 2004 meeting was approved.
(Senator Haney/Senator Mikkelsen)
(vote unanimous)
Report from MWSC College President:
President Scanlon reviewed the recently completed State audit information with Senate members. He indicated it was a compliance audit which reviewed the years 2000-2001 and 2001-2002. Overall he was pleased with the audit indicating that findings concerning procedures at Western were either already being changed at the time of the audit or new procedures are being put in place after the audit to address the findings. He indicated we had fewer audit findings at Western than audits at other institutions.
The A-Plus program is under review statewide and may change to include more institutions as the issue is considered by legislators.
Merit pay was one of the issues raised by the audit team. President Scanlon reported we will use the current program that is in place this year for merit 2003-2004 but the program will be reviewed prior to awards for the 2004-2005 year. He supports a merit system and wants to conform to audit concerns for future years.
Budget indications suggest that Western will receive no additional State funding from holdbacks this fiscal year. He anticipates funding at the same level next year as we received this year. President Scanlon was specific about his commitment to continue improvement of faculty and staff salary programs including parity programs started this year. He indicated no positions would be lost but some might not be filled immediately. Western has lost approximately 6 million dollars over the last few years due to state budget reductions and withholding.
Insurance involvement with the multi-institution consortium is being reviewed in light of CMSU withdrawing from the group. Finalization of a decision will be made by the end of April 04 concerning the institutions continuing in the consortium. President Scanlon indicated we were prepared for either scenario.
Report from MWSC Vice-President of Academic and Student Affairs:
Vice-President Arnold reviewed the presentation from John Gardner. He pointed out five topics we will continue to consider 1. Developmental program, 2. Faculty advisement, 3. Credit hour considerations including applied learning 3+1, 4.Admissions information and Branding, 5. 1st year residence hall usage and requirements.
He indicated that three professional proposals are being considered for Enrollment Management along with implementation of the Strategic Plan and a decision is expected soon on which will be chosen.
He also reported on the new Retirement Bridge program announced in his e-mail of March 26, 2004 (see below)
**** This message is from the FACULTY email list *****
The Board of Regents approved the following faculty succession planning program:
Faculty have expressed interest in a retirement plan that would allow them to retire from full-time employment at MWSC yet continue some teaching responsibilities while a search is undertaken for their replacement. The following plan outlines a procedure that addresses faculty wishes and at the same time is beneficial to Western.
The following are the basic components of the Bridge to Retirement Program:
· The faculty member must be eligible for regular retirement.
· The faculty member must apply for consideration and the Western administration must agree to grant that request.
· The faculty member must be in good standing.
· The faculty member will teach 21-22 credits (on an AY basis) and be on campus a minimum of 10 hours per week for office hours while classes are in session. This equates to a 630-hour commitment per academic year.
· The faculty member will only be evaluated in terms of instruction and not in the areas of professional development or service while participating in the bridge program.
· In compensation for teaching the faculty member will receive $30,000 (roughly twice the adjunct rate) and in addition a $6,000 annual health insurance stipend. The compensation can be prorated for less than 21-22 credits per year, but the health insurance stipend would not be prorated unless the time period was one semester, then the health insurance stipend would be $3000.
· Participation in this program is granted one year at a time and is renewable for a second year after an evaluation is completed.
· Participation in this program would not change eligibility of dependents for tuition remission (see last sentence in section VI.C on page 139, Policy Guide)
Procedure for Application:
· The application form may be obtained form the Office of the Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs (VPASA).
· The department chairperson, dean, and VPASA must approve the application.
· The faculty member must notify the chairperson of their intention to apply for the Bridges Program by February 1 and the application must be submitted to the VPASA by March 1 of the academic year preceding the Bridge year (first year of program deadline would be May 1).
· Applicants will be notified by the VPASA of acceptance into the Bridge Program by April 1 (first year of program deadline would be June 1).
Decision Considerations:
· Annual evaluations of faculty
· Will the acceptance of an application create a severe hardship on the department?
· No more than one member or 20% of a large department may participate in this program during any academic year.
· If there are more applications from a department than allowed by the limitations above, the following criteria will be used, in combination, to determine who is approved:
· annual evaluations
· number of years of service at Western,
· difficulty in finding a faculty replacement,
· date of application.
Past Senate President Greiert asked several questions of Vice-President Arnold
concerning the process used to approve this new policy without going through the Faculty Senate or CGAC. VP Arnold indicated that in this case the plan went directly to the Board of Regents.
Senator Mikkelsen inquired of VP Arnold and President Scanlon about when we should expect to see outcomes from SPIF funding for advertisement and branding. They both indicated that results are expected in 2005.
Report from Faculty Senate Executive Committee:
Executive Committee Report April 1, 2004
Missouri Western Faculty Senate
The executive committee met on Wednesday, March 24. At the committee's request, President Scanlon and Vice President Arnold were also in attendance. Topics briefly discussed included the likely need for revision of the faculty merit pay system (to come into compliance with state requirements), the recent negative press reports concerning issues arising related to the completed state audit, and the student engagement presentation by John Gardner scheduled for Thursday, March 25.
The new 2004-2005 faculty senate met on March 11 for the purpose of nominating officers for the new senate; however, the meeting was terminated due to a lack of quorum. The nominations meeting was re-scheduled for March 23 after an email survey indicated the likelihood of achieving a quorum for the re-scheduled meeting. The new senate then met on March 23 and nominated the following for office:
for president: Larry Andrews and John Tapia
for vice president: Jennifer Hegeman and Randye Williams
for secretary: Michael Ottinger
The new senate then met on March 25 to elect the officers. Larry Andrews was elected president by a vote of 8-to-7. Vice presidential candidate Randye Williams then withdrew her candidacy, citing a preference that the faculty would be better served by having a vice president from the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences since the president comes from the School of Professional Studies. Consequently, the senate, by acclamation, elected Jennifer Hegeman to the office of vice president. Finally, with no competing candidates, Michael Ottinger was elected by acclamation to the office of secretary.
Report from Faculty Senate Salary Committee:
Professor Kevin Anderson, Chairman of the Faculty Senate Salary gave the following report.
Faculty Senate Salary Committee
Report to the Faculty Senate
2003-2004
The Committee’s charges for 2003-2004 were:
1. As part of its annual report to the Faculty Senate, make recommendations for the upcoming fiscal budget regarding improvements in salary for the Instructional Faculty of Missouri Western State College, and justify these recommendations with appropriate data.
2. Upon its appointment in the Spring Semester, study available institutional budgets and previous Salary Committee reports in order to make recommendations for the next two institutional budgets, the first of which will go into effect during the next calendar year after the committee’s appointment.
3. Work with the college president, as appropriate, in developing a system of distributing salary parity among the faculty.
These charges were addressed in the following ways:
Charge #1
Proposal #1: Continuation of the Faculty Salary Parity Plan.
As noted last year the salaries of Missouri Western’s faculty do not compare favorable with those of their peers in similar institutions. The results currently indicate a total adjustment of $1750 for full professors, $350 for associate professors, and $0 for assistant professors whose salary is currently comparable to peer institutions. These salary adjustments could be made incrementally or in one year, depending on financial resources available. (See Appendix 1)
Proposal #2: Increasing adjunct faculty salaries from $600 per credit hour to $750 per credit hour.
Many local colleges and community college have adopted a variable pay scale for adjunct faculty. There averages of which are $727 starting to $883 on the top end of the pay scale. We recommend increasing adjunct faculty salaries to $750 per credit hour in order to attract adjunct faculty. (See Appendix 2)
Charge #2
Proposal #3: The Salary Committee recommends an across-the-board percentage increase in salary that would be fair and equitable for the school & concurrent with other state colleges in order to maintain the equity that has been achieved this year.
Charge #3
In Fall 2003 the Salary committee calculated the current Faculty Salary Parity as of Fall 2002. This data was presented to the “Faculty Salary Equity Task Force” headed my Dr. Arnold. The head of the Salary Committee also met with the Task Force on Dec. 5 2003, which developed the plan to distribute salary parity among the faculty; which went into effect in January 2004. The data gathered by the salary committee expedited the Task Force’s work and the Task Force completed its distribution plan in one meeting.
Recommendations for the next faculty salary committee
· Continue to look at Faculty Salary Parity, to determine if the current plan is effective.
· Look at the possibility of a graduated pay scale for Adjunct Faculty Salary, which could include salary adjustments for experience and/or education.
APPENDIX 1 FACULTY SALARY PARITY PLAN
Peer institutions used for comparison.*
Missouri Southern College, Lincoln University, Central Missouri State University, Truman State University, Northwest Missouri State University, Southeast Missouri State University, Southwest Missouri State University.
Method used to determine disparity:
Average salaries for peer institutions for 2003-2004 at each rank were averaged and compared to MWSC’s average salary at each rank. MWSC averaged salaries were not used in computing average peer institution salaries.
Proposed
Rank Peer Institution Avg. MWSC Avg. Adjustments
Professor $64,296 $62538 $1750
Associate $51161 $50818 $350
Assistant $43329 $43654 $0
The committee proposes to increase the salary of each faculty member by the amount of difference from peer institutions at his/her rank. At current staffing, the total increase would be:
Rank Number Adjustment Total(# x Adjustment)
Professor 40 $1750 $70,000
Associate 58 $350 $20,300
Total $90,300
*These institutions were selected for comparison because 1) they are members of the same higher education system, are funded by the state of Missouri, and are impacted by similar economic factors; 2) we have historically, used other in-state institutions to analyze the need for faculty salary adjustments.
APPENDIX 2 ADJUNCT FACULTY SALARIES
Local institutions used for comparison:
Central Missouri State University, Maple Woods Community College, Penn Valley Community College, Johnson County Community College, Saint Mary University, Wentworth Military Academy, Rockhurst University, UMKC, William Jewell, North West.
Method used to determine averages:
Adjunct faculty salary averages salaries of local institutions for 2003-2004 were compared to adjunct faculty salaries at MWSC. MWSC adjunct salaries were not used in computing average local institution adjunct faculty salaries.
Past Faculty Senate President Greiert commended Professor Anderson and the Salary Committee. The Senate agreed thanking Professor Anderson and the Salary Committee for their hard work and the report offered to the Senate.
Motion to receive the Faculty Senate Salary Committee report:
(Senator Caldwell/Senator Haney)
(vote unanimous)
Old business:
Senate President Nelson requested the Senate appoint members to serve on the Active Career Award Selection Committee. Eligible members to serve are award winners from the selection process last year. A vote was undertaken by the Senate considering Jane Frick, Reza Hamzaee, Phil Mullins, Elizabeth Sawin, John Tapia and Phil Wann. The Senate agreed to appoint the members based on the number of votes received by the eligible faculty members. It was also agreed that if one of the members appointed could not serve the next member receiving the most votes would be appointed.
A discussion concerning internet access for off campus usage by faculty was undertaken.
VP Arnold indicated the phone number was being changed and a study would be conducted now and in the fall concerning usage. Faculty received an e-mail today reviewing new procedures for home internet use and the method to apply.
New business:
none
Motion to adjourn:
Faculty Senate was adjourned at 5:20 pm
(Senator Ottinger/Senator Hunt)
(vote unanimous)
Respectfully submitted,
Larry D. Andrews, EdS
Professor
MWSC Faculty Senate Secretary
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