Faculty Senate Minutes - 5/1/2003
Missouri Western State College
Faculty Senate Minutes
May 1, 2003
Call to order:
The meeting was called to order by President Steven Greiert at 4 p.m.
Senators present:
Larry Andrews, Brenda Blessing, Ben Caldwell, Bill Church, Richard Cluff, Steven Greiert, Mark Mikkelsen, Barry Nelson, Michael Ottinger, Keith Rhodes, John Tapia, Sharon Wagner, Randye Williams, Carolyn Windsor
Senators absent:
Susan Hennessy, Marilyn Hunt, Mike Smith
Ex-officio members:
President James Scanlon
Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs David Arnold
Guests present:
Christa Adam, Bonnie Alsbury, Phil Mullins, Pat Scott, Denise Smith
Martin Johnson, Dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Jeanne Daffron, Dean of Professional Studies
Approval of minutes:
Minutes of the April 10, 2003 meeting were approved (Tapia/Blessing).
Approval of the agenda:
A motion was made to amend the agenda, moving the recognition of outgoing members of faculty senate (#2 in the report from faculty senate executive committee) to occur after the approval of the agenda, and moving the report from the faculty senate curriculum committee to occur after the report from the vice-president for academic and student affairs (Williams/Wagner).
Recognition of outgoing members of faculty senate:
President Greiert presented plaques to Brenda Blessing, Bill Church, Keith Rhodes, and Carolyn Windsor in appreciation of their years of service to faculty senate.
Report from college president:
President Scanlon presented an update on the budget, indicating that the Senate had passed a budget that would remove a 10.8% cut from the core for the four-year public institutions, and
the budget from the House is forthcoming. Scanlon also indicated the bill pertaining to the university status of Western has not passed the Senate, and it seems unlikely it will do so this year.
Report from vice-president for academic and student affairs:
Vice-president Arnold reported he had met with all departments at Western except one. He asked senators to assist with informing faculty and staff that their jobs are secure in light of budget cuts. He also reported that the Search Committee for the Director of Athletics will be interviewing candidates this coming week and invited senators to attend the reception/public forum. Arnold added to his report an acknowledgment of Steven Greiert for handling adversity and for keeping communication open with administration. Greiert thanked Arnold for the acknowledgment. Greiert then asked Arnold to speak to AQIP, Academic Quality Improvement Program. Arnold reported that this program is being explored as an alternative to North Central Accreditation and would replace the self-study done at Western. He further indicated this program fits well in to the current strategic planning activities and would not require additional work for Western. In the fall, Arnold hopes to bring in representatives from Fort Hays State University to discuss their experiences with AQIP.
Report from faculty senate curriculum committee:
Christa Adam, chair of the faculty senate curriculum committee, distributed copies of her memo dated 4/29/03, which described the curriculum proposal that had been approved by the committee during the Spring 2003 semester(Attachment A). Adam summarized the purpose of the proposal and its components. Dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences Martin Johnson clarified the intent of the proposal, which is to increase the success of students coming to Western who have not taken the core courses in high school. Senators asked questions about the proposed courses, including: the
fiscal impact; qualifications of individuals who would teach the courses; relationship to CED 095;
and the effect on General Studies courses. Johnson responded to the questions. Greiert asked senators to send any written comments to him as soon as possible. Arnold added that the Coordinating Board has indicated that Western has more students who have not completed the high school core than other colleges in Missouri and that we need to communicate to high school counselors that all students must take the core courses.
Motion to receive the faculty senate curriculum committee report (Blessing/Ottinger). Vote taken with eleven yes, zero no and two abstentions. Motion passed.
Report from faculty senate executive committee:
1. Changes in faculty senate committee membership: Senator Tapia distributed the list of faculty nominations for senate committee membership (Attachment B) and requested a senator to serve as co-liaison for the curriculum committee from the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Michael Ottinger volunteered to serve as co-liaison. Tapia also distributed a list of faculty who had volunteered to serve on committees, but who were not selected.
2. Recognition of outgoing members of faculty senate: Item moved to and discussed after approval of the agenda.
3. Update on “children in the workplace” issue: Greiert reported that he had met with Ron Olinger on April 13, 2003, and suggested to Olinger that discussions about the proposed policy include Western’s Risk Manager, Western’s attorney, two faculty members, two support staff and two professional staff. Greiert indicated that Olinger agreed to his suggestion.
4. Update on promotion and tenure issue: Greiert reported that the executive committee had met with the Promotion and Tenure Committee and Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs Arnold to discuss issues raised from the faculty’s review of the report. Those issues included: Senate liaison to the Promotion and Tenure Committee excluded from the committee meetings; and the wording in the Policy Guide regarding the committee’s authority to determine a candidate’s eligibility for promotion. Greiert recommended the faculty senate should examine both issues in the Fall of 2003.
5. Update on health insurance issue: Greiert reported on the number of responses he had received from faculty in response to his email asking for preferences about staying with the Consortium, changing to Blue Cross and Blue Shield or changing to Community Health Plan. He indicated
that the majority of those responding preferred to stay with the Consortium.
6. Progress reports on peer evaluation: Greiert reported that the progress reports from the departments are due today.
7. CGAC proposals: The meeting has been rescheduled for 5/13/03. Greiert will bring four proposals from faculty senate to CGAC. They are as follows: Changing the wording in the foreign language proposal (Hennessy/Blessing) from “B.A. program” to “B.A. degree” (SB. 06.03) ; Senator Church’s motion to change the policy guide statement regarding sabbatical leave (SB.01.03); Rhodes/Andrews motion regarding faculty salary (SB.08.03); and the Windsor/Nelson motion regarding grade appeal process (SB.09.03).
8. AQIP: Discussed under the Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs Arnold’s report.
Old Business:
SB 10.03 (Blessing/Cluff) “Approve the ad hoc grievance policy as presented on April 10, 2003, with the changes recommended by Senator Tapia in that same meeting.” Vote taken and passed unanimously. Greiert thanked committee members, Phil Mullins and Larry Andrews, for their hard work.
SB 11.03 (Rhodes/Andrews) “Amend Section One, Part X, of the MWSC Policy Guide, page 97, to add the Master of Fine Arts as a terminal degree in English for those with appointments in Creative Writing. Change MWSC Policy Guide, page 97, SECTION TWO: ACADEMIC AND INSTRUCTIONAL POLICIES. X. TERMINAL DEGREES
from: “English, Foreign Languages and Journalism-Doctorate”
to: “English, Foreign Languages and Journalism- Doctorate in all areas except
Creative Writing. The MFA would be considered a terminal degree for those
with appointments in Creative Writing. (June, 2003)”
Call for the question (Blessing). Vote taken with ten yes, one no and two abstentions. Motion passes.
SB 12.03 (Caldwell/Blessing) “Change the MWSC Policy Guide, p. 260, regarding membership on the faculty senate scholarship committee by altering the membership of the Director of Financial Aids to that of a non-voting ex-officio member. Change MWSC Policy Guide, page 260, APPENDICES: M. Bylaws of the Faculty Senate.”
from: “Scholarship Committee
Purpose: This committee represents the faculty in matters pertaining to
academic scholarships.
Membership: This committee is composed of two faculty members from each
division plus one faculty member chosen from the faculty at large. Scholarship
Committee members serve staggered three-year terms. The Director of Financial
Aids is a member.”
to: “Scholarship Committee
Purpose: This committee represents the faculty in matters pertaining to
academic scholarships.
Membership: This committee is composed of two faculty members from each
school plus one faculty member chosen from the faculty at large. Scholarship
Committee members serve staggered three-year terms. The Director of Financial
Aids is an ex-officio non-voting member.”
Vote was taken and passed unanimously.
New Business:
Motion to remove faculty senate faculty salary committee report from the table (Wagner/Andrews). Vote taken with four yes, five no and two abstentions. Motion fails.
Pat Scott, Chair of the Faculty Senate Evaluation of Faculty Committee, distributed copies of the committee’s report (Attachment C). Scott summarized the committee’s activities and the three recommendations brought forward from the committee. The recommendations are as follows:
1) Create an institutional committee to comprehensively evaluate the current teaching evaluation system with the development of guidelines for interpretation of data; 2) Dissolve the Evaluation of Faculty Committee as a standing committee, yet retaining some of its functions as an ad hoc committee when needed; 3) Locate and organize Faculty Senate committee minutes. There were no questions from senators.
Steven Greiert complimented the committee for their work and thanked Scott for the excellent report. A motion was made to receive the report (Tapia/Wagner). Unanimous acceptance from senators.
A motion was made to dissolve the Evaluation of Faculty Committee as a standing committee of the Faculty Senate (Ottinger/Church). A second motion was made to invoke the emergency clause (Rhodes/Ottinger). A vote was taken on the second motion with eight yes, three no and one abstention. Motion passes. Discussion among senators followed. Call for the question (Blessing). Vote was taken with ten yes, one no, one abstention. Motion to vote on the question passes. A vote was taken on the motion to dissolve the Evaluation of Faculty Committee as a standing committee, with five yes and five no. Motion fails.
Regarding the topic of dual credit, Greiert suggested the senate initiate discussion for the Fall.
Senators concurred.
Adjournment:
Meeting adjourned at 6 p.m. (Wagner/Blessing).
Respectfully submitted,
Carolyn Windsor
Faculty Senate Secretary
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