The Mankato Update

The Mankato Update, May Edition, 5/1/08

Final Edition, AY 2007-2008

IFO Faculty Association—Minnesota State University, Mankato

Contents:

President’s Column	Dates to Watch—D2L	Other Dates
Campus Workplace Bullying Survey	Union Elections	Administrative Searches
	Contacts

PRESIDENT’S COLUMN:

The 2007-2008 academic year is about to wrap up, and I can look back on my first year as Faculty Association President as a time that has passed more quickly than imaginable. However, I would have been far busier and my job would have been far more difficult without the help of many others, including our Vice President and Grievance Officer Jim Grabowksa; our Secretary Paul Hustoles; our Treasurer Mary Visser; our campus representatives to the state IFO Board—Georgia Holmes, Roger Severns, and Patricia Young: the Unit Representatives for the colleges and unaffiliated faculty; the chairs and members of the sub-Meet & Confer standing committees; and all of you who have served on many other committees, task forces, and work groups and participated in the Delegate Assembly this spring. I also have to acknowledge President Davenport, Provost Olson, and all other administrators who have joined with the faculty in the spirit of mutual consultation, shared governance, transparent planning, and the early resolution of problems. There have been times and there will continue to be times when we disagree, but it has been invaluable to work in a climate that recognizes the rights and responsibilities that our contract requires for all of us. That is not the case on all of the system campuses, I am sorry to say. Finally, I want to extend my thanks again to Donna Blom, who as the FA’s Administrative Assistant, does far more than even I realize at times.

Here are a few major accomplishments of the state IFO and the MSU Mankato Faculty Association in the last year:

· The 2007-2009 contract has been approved, with the best financial settlement in memory but also with some important language changes that will bear close attention in the coming year.

· Our campus planning efforts have moved into a more mature phase, as the Budget and Planning Sub-Meets have begun active and productive meetings together. We have also approved the expansion of the Program Review & Assessment sub-meet into an Evaluation & Assessment committee that will parallel the structures of Planning and Budget. Now, MSU Mankato finally has a planning structure with active faculty participation in place that involves more than just coping with the pressures brought on us by the legislature, the MnSCU system and other forces.

· We have approved, after much discussion, the renaming of the Extended Learning Office to a College of Extended Learning that will preserve faculty and departmental control over curriculum while allowing the campus to better meet the needs of new student populations in the Metro area and elsewhere.

· We have participated in new initiatives for enrollment management that will help the university to adapt to rapidly changing demographics and needs for new students while still providing them with the physical, financial and technical infrastructures needed for success. Now we just need to make sure that there is follow-through on those initiatives that is consistent with our planning, budget and evaluation priorities.

· We have worked with Human Resources and the Affirmative Action office to find ways to prevent or solve problems of workplace conflict.

· We have continued Mankato’s tradition of successfully resolving faculty complaints before having to file a formal grievance.

· We have worked with Assistant Vice President Brenda Flannery, ITS and others in the creation of a new online system for policy proposals.

· We have approved the implementation of “shaded” (plus/minus) grading, starting next year.

· We have helped to publicize and encourage participation in the campus study on workplace bullying (see below).

· We have participated with administration, community, and student leaders to address questions of alcohol abuse and binge drinking.

· We have worked to address the questions raised by department chairs about summer teaching requirements (see below).

· We have helped to prevent a potentially disastrous piece of legislation that would have required all MnSCU system colleges and universities to adopt common numbering for “core courses.” The overwhelming number of objections from Mankato faculty was cited by one legislator as a reason that she withdrew her support for that bill.

But there is still much to do. In the coming year, some of our goals will include discussing the potential consequences of some of the new contract provisions and the best ways to implement them, including

· Redefined summer terms

· The appointment of all new faculty, starting in summer 2009, as “nine-month” faculty

· New provisions dealing with sabbaticals

· New language regarding athletic coaches

· The creation of “University Scholars”

In addition, we will have to pay attention to other significant developments and needs:

· Making sure that our budget and planning priorities are aligned with how money is actually allocated to the system by the legislature, to the campus by MnSCU, and to our departments and programs by our own administration

· Improving departmental processes for review and approval of Article 22 plans and reports and applications for tenure and promotion

· Finding ways to improve our communication with and service to various groups among our local faculty, including newer faculty, adjuncts, minority faculty, international faculty, and others

· Following through on the work and studies that have been done this year in planning, enrollment management and the bullying survey, among others, so that we can move from acknowledging problems to creating results

· Continuing to work for the good of our students and the university while respecting and honoring the rights and responsibilities of faculty

I hope to get preliminary discussions on these and other matters under way this summer while I am “on retainer,” and I look forward to working with all of you again in the fall. I am proud to serve this university and this faculty. Have a great summer!

DATES TO WATCH—DESIRE2LEARN (D2L)

If you use D2L, you have received information from MnSCU and from MSU Mankato’s D2L manager, Jeff Henline, about some important changes coming up soon. At the risk of repetition, all faculty and departments should be aware of the following dates (including a couple not mentioned in the other notices):

May 11: Earlier, the judge in the patent lawsuit by Blackboard against D2L issued an injunction against further operations by D2L (in Blackboard’s favor), but he also issued a stay so that D2L could continue to operate while the case was still in litigation. That stay expires on May 11. On that date, one of four things may happen:

Nothing—the case will be concluded in D2L’s favor; life will go on as planned.
The stay will be extended and we can continue to work with D2L for the time being.
The stay will be denied and the injunction against D2L will go into effect. D2L’s company will have to suspend its own operations but current users (including MnSCU and MSU Mankato) will still be able to use the system.
The stay will be denied, the injunction will go into effect, and all D2L users will have to shut down.

1 and 4 seem pretty unlikely, but keep your head up for news about May 11! The MnSCU IMS Council (which deals with D2L) will be discussing this issue on this Monday (May 5), so we may hear more soon.

May 18: Assuming that nothing drastic happens on May 11, MnSCU’s IT services will begin to prepare for a major upgrade of D2L by purging old discussion posts from the system. Most faculty probably won’t care if these are lost, but if you have a particular reason to preserve discussion posts that occurred during Fall 2006 or earlier, check Jeff Henline’s email post from Friday, May 2. Instructions for saving old discussion posts are also available at http://mnscuims.mnscu.edu/documentation.html. As Jeff notes, other questions can be referred to our local support staff at desire2learn@mnsu.edu or 389-6654.

June 5-6: Again assuming that nothing drastic happens on May 11, MnSCU will upgrade to D2L version 8.3. The user interface and graphics will look pretty much the same as now, but the new version supposedly will get rid of some major problems in the current system. D2L also claims that this version avoids the patent issues in the Blackboard lawsuit and should render further legal problems moot. (Blackboard has not said that it agrees!) The important thing to note is that D2L will be unavailable during this time while summer classes are in session (Thursday and Friday). If you are using D2L for an on-campus or online course, be prepared not to be able to use D2L on June 5-6 (and probably on the weekend, June 7-8, as well).

Aug. 18-29: Orientation Week and first week of classes for both Mankato and St. Cloud. It is likely that the common start dates for the two biggest campuses in the system will put very strong demands on the D2L system. The upgrade to D2L 8.3 may reduce the chance of system crashes, but be prepared!

In short, if you have used or are planning to use D2L this summer or fall:

Back up any files, discussions, etc. that you do not want to risk losing
Have a backup contingency for any course materials that you are putting on D2L for summer or fall
Get your course materials loaded on to D2L well before fall semester begins
Watch for future alerts from Jeff Henline and/or MnSCU ITS

OTHER DATES TO WATCH

May 23: Back pay

The paycheck issued for this date should reflect adjustments for back pay for the last year resulting from the contract settlement. Look carefully at your statements—check online if you don’t make a regular habit of doing that. If there are problems, let Human Resources know. The new salary schedule and other changes are posted on the IFO web site: http://www.ifo.org/. If you want to consider one or more of the deferred compensation options offered by the state or TIAA-CREF, check with Human Resources or Russ Stanton in the state IFO office (stanton@ifo.org) to learn more about your choices. Also see the email memo from Therese Mullins in HR, which was sent out last Thursday (May 1).

Aug. 1: Deadline for choosing 12-month pay option

If you want to continue to receive your pay checks over 12 months instead of 9, or if you want to select that option for next year, you have to fill out and return the form available on the HR web page: http://www.mnsu.edu/humanres/. This requirement is in response to new rules from the IRS.

WORKPLACE BEHAVIOR (BULLYING) SURVEY

Last week, on May 1 and 2, the results of the campus Bullying Survey were presented to various campus leadership groups and in open meetings by the consultants, Dr. Loraleigh Keashley (Wayne State University) and Dr. Joel H.Neuman (State University of New York at New Paltz). This study was requested by the President’s Commission on the Status of Women, with the collaboration of the Faculty Association and others. There is a significant amount of data to digest, and the consultants offered to continue to work with the university as we examine and discuss the implications of the findings and develop ways to address the issues raised by the survey. The Preliminary Report, the PowerPoint presentation given by the consultants last week and other materials can be found online at http://www.mnsu.edu/csw/workplacebullying/. We will be hearing more about these issues!

UNION ELECTIONS:

By now, you have received notice of the results of the spring elections for the Faculty Association and state IFO. We will be posting those results, as well as other Mankato committee information, on the FA webpage at http://www.mnsufa.org. (New Unit Reps are listed in the Contact Information below.) To no one’s surprise, Rod Henry was elected as state IFO President. Constitutional changes for the Mankato FA and the state IFO were also approved.

ADMINISTRATIVE SEARCHES AND CHANGES

· Dean, College of Science, Engineering & Technology: Dr. John Knox of Idaho State University will take over in July. We look forward to working with him, and we wish Dean John Frey a happy retirement!

· Vice President for Advancement: Three candidates were interviewed on campus in the last two weeks. A decision from the President should be forthcoming soon.

· Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs: Search is in progress into the summer.

· Director, Assessment: Search is in progress into the summer.

· Director, Research & Sponsored Programs: Search has been reopened after initially failing.