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EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING
Thursday, January 12, 2006
Old Main Village
Approved Minutes

In attendance: Stephen Bohnenblust, Roger Severns, Paul Hustoles (recorder), Georgia Holmes, Sonja Meiers, Anne O’Meara, Dick Swanson, Don Descy, Theresa Salerno, Wayne Allen, Michael Bentley (for Jean Haar), Evan Rusch, Brock McMillan, Jim Grabowska, Penny Knoblich, Marie Pomije.

Guest: Don Larsson

President Bohnenblust called the meeting to order at 10:46 a.m.

1.    Minutes of November 3, 2005—Grabowska/O’Meara moved to approve.  Passed.
    
2.    Call for Additional Items/ Reordering of Agenda—Bohnenblust: We need to postpone 8b, as Nickerson is not with us. I want to add an 8h to talk about summer school teaching hours.

3.    President’s Report
a.    Delegate Assembly Delegates—Bohnenblust: We now have 42 delegates and 3 alternates for a full slate.
b.    IFO/MnSCU Contract—We did get the legislative approval, we will see our back pay on Feb. 3rd.
c.    MSU Mission—When we look at doctoral programs, extended learning, the campus master plan, we might be at a point to talk about the university mission at Meet and Confer. Swanson: This administration likes anything. They are not looking out much beyond the budget cycle. We have to make the colleges lay out a five-year budget so we know where we are. The administrators are here for too short a time. Grabowska: We (the Planning Committee) have been working on this all year. We will continue to meet with Budget. We are talking about having an Institutional Planner. There is not a vacuum here. O’Meara: Do you think the mission needs to be looked at? Grabowska: No, the Mission Statement is general enough to take into consideration new issues. It is yet another issue to incorporate ideas into forward thinking working plans. That is something that Planning and Budget have been doing. I would be happy to talk about all of the steps we have taken at the next meeting or at Meet and Confer. Bohnenblust: We should do that.  I would argue that the Mission Statement is too broad. The Master Plan we got at last Meet and Confer looks like a campus that emphasizes residential undergraduate education. Larsson: MnSCU is revising its mission and we have to be consistent with that.  The MSU Mission Statement itself might not need adjustment but maybe some of the goals and priorities need to be examined.The individual colleges, divisions, units will need to tweak their mission statements. Bohnenblust: Should we put this on our next agenda?  Grabowska: You bet.
d.    Appointment Process—Bohnenblust: I got mild criticism on this issue.With certain committees, like with Free Speech, I have identified individuals and asked if they would do this. There has not been a general call. Then we’ve done electronic balloting.  Should we continue to look for certain individuals? Hustoles: We need to be as inclusive as possible. We should always have an “all call” but, at the same time, there is nothing wrong with recruiting individuals with applicable skill sets. We are already on the record for not using electronic ballots whenever possible, but I prefer these to calling a meeting just to vote on openings.  Swanson: Every one of us gets a notice for normal Submeet openings, yes?  Blom: Yes, we do that. Bohnenblust: And often there is an opening on the ballot. There are circumstances where I do try to find someone to serve.
e.    HLC—Coming soon!  The Submeet chairs need to be available for meetings.
f.    SBS Salary Equity Task Force Report—This is now complete. I will send this to members of the college and we will make that available on our website. I would like the record to show that Kim Greer and the committee did a very fine job in a timely manner.

4.    Vice President’s Report: Severns: This is my last report as VP. I want to urge one or more
of you to run for this position. We have no outstanding grievances on our campus. The two we had at the end of the Fall have now been resolved.  This is very different than three years ago.  Part of this is a function of the turnover in the administration. Part of this has to do with personality. Having people who want to work for a better university makes a considerable difference. VP Olson is as important as President Davenport when it comes to a step one grievance. HR Director Lori Lamb has become much more important. And don’t underestimate the assistance and importance of VP Trauger. I also give Bohnenblust full marks for the relationship he has developed with the administration. In one grievance, an individual had a complaint. As the result of the investigation, a mediator was hired. By seeing that a problem exists, rather than that discipline is appropriate, it makes for a long-lasting solution. We are all trying to make things better for the future for everybody.  Another instance, an individual was up for a suspension to start in January. We were able to get this down to a letter of expectation.  Again, we worked on trying to make the situation better and decide that discipline was not necessary. This is an improvement. The administration is working hand in hand with us. When things go well, this is an easy job. If we work together to solve our problems on campus, problems are more likely to be solved. We have more in common with our administration than with MnSCU. Bohnenblust: Thank you. I certainly appreciate the fantastic work you have done.   

5.    FACULTY ASSOCIATION COMMITTEE APPOINTMENTS NEEDED AS OF
1/12/06
a.    College of Business Needs Representation on the following: General Education; Institutional Review Board
b.    International Programs Committee (1 Faculty Member Needed)
c.    Learning & Technology Roundtable substitute for Angela Monson Spring, 2006 (AH&N)

6.  IFO Appointments
a.    IFO Budget Committee - Gregg Marg—Grabowska/Severns moved to approve.  Passed.    
7. New Spring 2006 - APPOINTMENTS
a.    Learning & Technology Roundtable replacement for Nina LeNoir (A&H) (Steven
    Smith)
b.    International Programs Advisory Committee - Kimberly Contag (A&H); Soonhwan Lee (AH&N); Ron Browne (Educ); Raymond Asomani-Boateng (SBS) Allen/Grabowska moved to approve a & b.  Passed.
c.    Previously Confirmed by Electronic Vote:
1.  Search Committee for SET - Jeff Pribyl
2.    Free Speech Committee - James Dimock
3.    Search Committee for VP of Financial Affairs - Roger Severns
4.    Health & Wellness Committee - Jeff Pribyl; Mark McCullough; Susan Fredstrom; Penny Knoblich; Judy Luebke
5.    Search Committee for Development Officer for A&H - Paul Hustoles

8.    Discussion Items
a.    Academic Programs Housed in Academic Affairs—Pomije: We made the decision to have the author of a proposal from AA to come to UCAP and for each member of the committee to bring it to their respective college. How does the FA feel about programs like Honors or Continuing Ed?  Universities in MnSCU do have programs that are not housed in an academic department. McMillan: We had the same problem with courses coming from Extended Campus. We said that we would not approve this.  Proposals should come from faculty in programs. Holmes: We’ve had interdisciplinary programs but they have always been housed in a department.  Pomije: Almost every rep came back with Honors as being the example of how it doesn’t work. There was so much traffic in and out of the program, it was decided that it should become a minor.  Hustoles: Honors was in A&H forever and it was a real challenge. It took away from other departments rather than having a life of its own. While I feel that it does belong in a program/college, it needs to have its own discreet funding and the home college be held harmless.  O’Meara: The current structure gets in the way of some of these programs.  They don’t really belong in any one college. Bohnenblust: Could there be a General College, or college for orphan programs? O’Meara: I would be against randomly assigning these entities to just any college. Meiers: I support what McMillan said. How do these proposals get to UCAP?  Pomije: “Department Chair” is crossed off and AVP Sandmann signs as dean. Bentley: There are all kinds of truly interdisciplinary programs out there.  There really needs to be a structure to house these. Swanson: Open Studies was a real issue when it was housed in a college and the dean didn’t want to support it. Hustoles: But it was department chairs who were the ones who demanded a change. That did not just come from the dean. Severns: If we approve a program and if it runs out of AA there is no way to really change it. Pomije: The Faculty Director could. O’Meara: There is different politics involved.  Severns: I like the idea of a college for orphan programs.  This is a Meet and Confer issue. Bohnenblust: This should be at Meet and Confer.  Bentley: Yes, philosophically the university should be fluid. Ideas come from faculty and if they don’t fit into a rigid structure, the administration should be willing to change.  Bohnenblust: We will put this on Meet and Confer.  
b.    Update on Diversity Curriculum Committee—postponed
c.    Delegate Assembly Resolutions—Bohnenblust: There is a Feb 17 deadline. Those who were going to write a resolution, if you could get those to me by the end of next week, electronically.  We need to look at them.
d.    HLC Accreditation Update—Larsson distributed a CD version of the completed report.  Larsson: I would urge you to browse through this. There is a lot of stuff that we have reported on. This summary document (distributed) has some key points. Personally I don’t see any need for a follow-up focused visit. It is quite possible that we will be asked to issue some periodic reports. Eighty-five percent of the institutions accredited have had some kind of follow-up activity. When we file the request for institutional change for the doctoral programs, that will motivate a campus visit. On the team visit itself, they will be examining documentation. They will be engaging in informal discussions. I just got a tentative schedule and the list of team members (and those were listed and discussed). A complete schedule will be distributed when finalized.    

9.  Informational Items
a.    Next Executive Meeting -Thursday, January 19, 2006 @ 3:00 p.m., CSU 204
b.    FA/AD Meet & Confer - Thursday, March 09, 2006- CSU 204 - FA Chair/AD     Agenda
c.    Delegate Assembly - Friday, March 24 and Saturday, March 25, 2006 -     Radisson - Roseville

The meeting adjourned at 12:06 p.m.

Paul J. Hustoles
Recording Secretary

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