Minutes of the 红领巾瓜报 Faculty Senate
Monday, October 22, 2012
CH 126 3:30 pm
Members Present: Alexander, Anderson, Baker, Barut, Bergman, Besthorn, Brooks, Bryant, Celestin.
Close, Decker, DeSilva, Driessen, Horn, Hull, Jacobs, Kagdi, Klunder, Lewis, Liu,
Matveyeva, Miller, Moore-Jansen, Mosack, Oare, Pulaski, Rillema, Rokosz, Ross, Skinner,
Smith, Solomey, Yildirim
Members Absent: Hamdeh, Lu, Markovich, Mukeerjee, Toops, Yeager
Members Excused: Johnson, Kreinath
Summary of Action
1. Endorsed the Gainful employment guidelines for undergraduate program certificates.
2. Accepted the nominees for Standing Committees from the Rules Committee
I. Call to Order
President Bob Ross called the meeting to order at 3:30 pm
II. Informal Statements and Proposals
Senator Brooks reported that a colleague of his had asked him to inform the Senate
of the fact that in his opinion online journal articles are looked at dismissively
during the tenure and promotion process. Discussion followed and a common feeling
from those voicing opinions was that the candidate, department chair, and dean should
provide sufficient evidence to support the quality of the online publication.
Senator Close told the Senate that he and other online teachers at WSU felt that
the teaching evaluations for online courses were inappropriate. He indicated that
a group of online instructors would develop a more appropriate form of evaluation,
Senator Solomey announced that the Academic Affairs committee would meet every Tuesday
of the semester, except for the first Tuesdays of the month, in room 04 Jabarra Hall.
III. Approval of the Minutes
President Ross indicated that someone had objected to a word choice in part IV of
the minutes of the October 8, 2012, meeting of the Faculty Senate. David Koert, visiting
chair of the mechanical engineering department, indicated that he felt that even though
the visiting faculty members of the mechanical engineering department had 鈥渄eclined鈥�
to comment at the previous meeting of the senate (part IV of the minutes) that should
not be interpreted to mean that they had no opinion on the matter. President Ross
said that the minutes would be modified as appropriate. The minutes were approved.
IV. President's Report
President Ross reported on several activities that he has participated in recently.
1. Kansas Board of Regents' Meeting
a. At their meeting last Wednesday, the Regents announced a mandatory post tenure
review requirement for all of the Regents Schools. The Regents will formally vote
on the proposal in their December meeting. Each university in the Regents system will
be responsible for developing specific policies and procedures relating to post tenure
review. The chairman of the Board stipulated that he expects this procedure to take
months, not years. He wants the Review system to be ready for implementation by June
2013.
President Bardo's suggested approach to post tenure review is to make it as simple
as possible. The details will be worked out in concert with Provost Pickus and the
Senate.
WSU has an advantage in that it already has a system of faculty activity reports
that are completed by every faculty member every year. These reports could be utilized
as the building blocks for whatever system is developed.
The Faculty Senate will be directly involved in the process. President Ross will
keep the Senate up to date on the development of the criteria, and each senator should
keep their unit informed
b. The Regents are also focusing on enhancing the six year graduation rates at all
of the Universities that are under their control.
2. President Ross indicated that in his conversations with WSU President Bardo that
the Senate would have a significant role in the selection of faculty for the search
for the vice president of academic affairs. President Bardo indicated again that he
intended to be a hands-on president, thus the change from a Provost position to a
VPAA.
3. President Ross recognized Senator Rhonda Lewis for having been named the 鈥淥utstanding
African American Faculty and Staff Association Member鈥� for the current year.
4. Mechanical Engineering Task Force: As announced last meeting, a task force has
been formed to evaluate a proposal developed by the senior faculty of the College
of Engineering, dealing with the creation of a new Department of Bio Mechanical Engineering.
That task force has begun its evaluation.
V. Committee Reports
Victoria Mosack, Chair of the Rules Committee, brought forward the following slate
of nominees for College of Education committee vacancies:
University Admissions & Exceptions - Jeri Carroll
Planning and Budget - Fuchang Liu
Honors - Clay Stoldt
Faculty Affairs - Joseph Mau
Scholarship & Student Aid - Kaelin Young
The Senate voted to accept all of the nomination from the Rules Committee.
VI. Old Business 鈥� President Ross introduced Rick Muma, Associate Provost, who provided a follow-up
on the proposed 鈥�Policy on Definition and Assignment of Credit Hours鈥� that he had presented at the Faculty Senate meeting of September 24. At the time
of that meeting the Senate had asked Muma to provide some 鈥渟uggested language鈥� for
faculty to include in their course syllabi regarding credit hour definition and faculty
expectation for student effort beyond the classroom. Muma distributed a copy of the
proposed 鈥渟uggested language鈥� and asked for comments. Questions were raised concerning
cooperative education classes and Human Performance Studies Activity Courses. Muma
agreed that these classes were extraordinary and that the instructors would have to
try to meet the spirit of the policy in a logical manner.
VII. New Business
Gainful employment guidelines for undergraduate non-degree program certificate 鈥� Rick Muma, Associate Provost (attached to e-mail of the meeting notice) Rick Muma
summarized the proposed 鈥淕uidelines for Undergraduate Certificate Programs.鈥� The guidelines
are necessary to meet new federal regulations associated with certificate programs
designated as 鈥済ainful employment certificate programs.鈥� Essentially a large number
of for-profit institutions are offering these 鈥済ainful employment certificate programs鈥�
which hold out the prospect to students that this certificate will lead to 鈥済ainful
employment鈥� in a specific recognized occupation. These programs receive significant
federal financial aid and the government is requiring full disclosure about the student
cost, graduation rates, job placement rates, and average debt by students who complete
the program.
Senator Celestin moved that the Senate endorse the proposed guidelines and Senator
Lewis seconded the motion. The motion carried with no dissenting votes.
VIII. As May Arise
President Ross indicated that the proposed intellectual property policy would be
returning to the Senate for further deliberation. He said that he had talked with
President Bardo and that he would share any new information that he received about
post tenure review with the Senate. Bardo assured Ross that post tenure review should
not be viewed as punitive action. President Bardo informed Ross that the job description
for the vice president of academic affairs contained a desired requirement to work
in consultation with the Faculty Senate.
President Ross reported that he had spoken with Mary Herrin, Vice President of Administration
and Finance, regarding the twelve-month distribution of faculty salaries. She saw
no obstacle to reinstating the former policy for the distribution and she is currently
investigating the matter. President Ross said that he would contact her again to get
an update on the status of her investigation. Interim Provost Pickus indicated that
he would also 鈥渨eigh in鈥� with Mary Herrin.
Interim Provost Pickus informed the Senate that the Office of Research Administration
was undergoing some significant re-organization. The post awards segment of the office
will be transferred to Lois Tatro's Office of Financial Operations and Business Technology
(Division of Administration and Finance). The ORA will focus its efforts on assisting
faculty and staff in procuring grants and contracts.
IX. Adjournment
The meeting of the Faculty Senate was adjourned at 4:35pm.
Submitted by Walter Horn
Secretary of the Faculty Senate