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EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING
Thursday, October 5, 2006
CSU 204
Approved Minutes
In attendance: Stephen Bohnenblust,
Roger Severns, Paul Hustoles (recorder), Mary Visser, Georgia Holmes,
Tricia Young, Glenn Peterson, Anne O’Meara, Theresa Salerno, Wayne
Allen, Gerald Schneck, Paul Brennan, M. Dawn Larsen (for Evan Rusch),
Ron Nickerson, Scott Page, Linda Duckett, Steve Gilbert, Cheryl
Radeloff, Dan Cronn-Mills
President Bohnenblust called the meeting to order at 3:04 p.m.
1. Minutes of September 7, 2006—Peterson
noted that he was in attendance.
Schneck/Nickerson moved to approve as amended. Passed.
2. Call for
Additional Items/ Reordering of Agenda—none
3. President’s Report
a.
Negotiator—Bohnenblust: Our team has already met and will meet
again in two weeks. Our contract expires on June 30. We
still do not have a local negotiator. I would really like to have
a woman faculty member who could do this on an interim basis. We
need to have more balance on our negotiating team.
b. Health & Wellness Report—Bohnenblust:
Mary Visser is one of the co-chairs. Visser: We will provide
access to our final report on line. Thank you for your feedback
so far but if you can come to any meeting, please do.
c. Homecoming
Development Task Force—Bohnenblust: The MSSA is looking at
starting a new task force and they are asking for us to become
involved.
4. IFO/MnSCU
Committees
a. Negotiator
b. DCR (Defined Contributions
Retirement Plan) Advisory Committee (2 Needed from Statewide University
System)
c. Board of Trustees Academic
& Student Affairs Policy Council (1 Rep from State University
System)
5. FACULTY
ASSOCIATION COMMITTEE APPOINTMENTS NEEDED
a. College of Business Representation on the
following: General Education (2 Years)—Severns: The COB has tried to
get classes in General Education and have been rudely rebuffed.
Bohnenblust: Maybe at some kind of college meeting we could bring in
our Gen Ed Chair to talk to the college.
b. General Education 1Year
Replacement for Education
6. 2006 FALL
APPOINTMENTS
a. College of Business Unit
Representative (2 Year Appointment)—Harold (Harry) Thiewes
b. Nominations & Election
Committee 2006-2007 –A&H – Paul Hustoles; SBS - Susan Burum
c. Admissions Appeal Board –
2006-2007 – A&H – Leah White; SBS – Beth Wiedle
d. Additions to IPSEL – John
Banschbach (Graduate)
e. SBS Graduate Committee Spring
Semester Replacement for Maria Bevacqua – Kevin Filter; Forrest
Wilkerson
Severns/Schneck
moved to approve Kevin Filter. Passed.
f. Diversity Funding Subcommittee
(3-4) – Stewart Ross (A&H); Mavis Richardson (A&H); Julie
Kerr-Berry (A&H)
Visser/Schneck
moved the rest of the slate. Passed.
7. Discussion Items
a. Textbook Issues—Bohnenblust: Thanks
to those who were able to meet last week. We have a summary of
the issues discussed (distributed). We also received a letter from the
MSSA and we certainly want to work with the students to help deal with
these issues. Some of you will recall that a couple of years ago
there were large ads that were negative about the faculty and I
discovered that they were coming from David Cowan. Then we got nailed
by this policy in the fall and it is time that we look at the practices
that we had heard about anecdotally. It is grossly naive to think
that faculty are responsible for the rise in textbook prices.
Brennan: I have had numerous problems with some textbook orders and I’m
guessing that the 55 number [who reported a processing error] is an
underreported amount. Add another 30 or 40. Bohnenblust: There is
no doubt that there are some faculty that are tardy with book orders.
Schneck: The students get a real deal if the book is offered the next
term. What if the course is only offered once a year?
Bohnenblust: We did come up with a plan that Barnes and Nobel will buy
the book back if it is being used next year. We are not obligated to
use the book but if we don’t, Barnes and Nobel takes the difference out
of the money they would give back to MSU. Nickerson: This idea
worked the first time but I haven’t been asked since then.
Bohnenblust: Dave Cowan used the title Contract Bookstore
Liaison. That person would be in charge of making that
work. O’Meara: Isn’t there a question on the book order form that
asks us that? Nickerson: There used to be. Bohnenblust: Several
faculty have volunteered to help work with the students on this.
Duckett: If we got a list from the bookstore like we get from the
Registrar’s that might help. Brennan: We could cut the bookstore out of
this entirely. Why not order them online? Bohnenblust: Right now,
the only way the students can find out what their book needs are is to
go to the Barnes and Nobel website. Why couldn’t we send book
orders to a MSSA website? Brennan: When you register for a
course, you are automatically on D2L. Nickerson: But you would have to
request to be on D2L. Severns: I do put a webpage together and announce
the textbook, so many students go to Amazon.com. In our
department, the secretary handles the book orders and each department
does it differently. Page: When you click on the class schedule, why
couldn’t you click on a link that would tell you what textbook is being
used? Bohnenblust: Can I send the handout to the faculty?
Schneck: I think it is a good plan. Duckett: It’s been my experience
that the team at the bookstore has always been good to work with.
Should we mention that? Bohnenblust: This needs to be a 4-way
thing: the students, faculty, the bookstore and the publishers. I could
certainly say something nice about Molly Yunkers in here.
Nickerson: But we have had the same problems for the last several years
and at some point we have to make the bookstore accountable.
Holmes: I had some experiences last summer and they were definitely
trying to undercut the order I had submitted. We have to take
into account what their motives are. Severns: Thinking about the
previous bookstore owners, is the problem endemic to being a campus
bookstore or is it with Barnes and Nobel? Bohnenblust: There were more
positive comments regarding Maverick than Barnes and Nobel. Nickerson:
Maverick tends to get it right more and to be able to find more used
books. Gilbert: This is a complex problem and the students think it is
a simple problem. They need to know that. Holmes: It really is a
complex issue. Three of us tried to order a custom textbook and
Maverick didn’t want to order it. The dynamics with the
publishing business is another aspect of this. Severns/Schneck moved to accept the
Bohnenblust letter with minor editing. Passed.
Young: Should we include a copy of our discussion minutes with this?
Hustoles: It is over a page long. The more we send, the less
likely people are to read it. Bohnenblust: We can refer people to
our minutes online.
b. Enrollment Management—Bohnenblust:
This is a priority that President Davenport has established. They have
asked for two faculty representatives. I have suggested there might be
a need for more. How do we want to be represented as faculty on this
committee? This is going to be a big committee. Duckett: I
think we want to be as well represented as we can be. Schneck: We
should have representation of at least one person from each
college. O’Meara: I was on this committee last year and it’s a
pretty big committee. We should definitely have someone from graduate,
undergraduate and online. We need to think about what our potential
markets are and make sure they are covered.Nickerson: I think two is
too small. We have the responsibility of picking people who will stand
up for academic standards. This group has the potential of taking
anybody with a checkbook. Visser: This is going to be a hot button
item. We need some strong people in there. I do like the
idea of college reps. Schneck: The UCAP, Grad, and Extended
Learning Committees should be represented. Brennan: I would like
to amplify the importance of the diversity of the committee.
Peterson: I would concur with the college representations. And maybe
other seats at the table. Duckett: The President has yet to
announce the diversity initiative but that should be included.
Hustoles: I was on the Enrollment Management Task Force and it is
important that we have strong voices on this committee. The agenda of
student affairs is quite different than the agenda of the faculty.
Hustoles/Duckett moved that we invite reps from the UCAP, Grad and
Extended Learning Submeets (they would have the right of first refusal)
and add four more, making sure that all colleges and
Library/Unaffiliated are represented. Visser: Are we over-extending our
committee members? Page: We don’t have much feel about the time
involved. Also, I don’t know much about the undergrad programs in my
college. Hustoles: But all of us are called on in these committees to
represent the entire college or university. That goes with the
territory. Schneck: I recently put out a request for someone to
cover somebody at a meeting and only got one volunteer. What we have
started doing with UCAP is to exchange information between us and
Extended Learning and so far it has worked for the last couple of
weeks. Gilbert: I think it would be impolitic to not include the
Library. Brennan: What if you have a conflict in the decisions in
your submeets? Hustoles: It is up to the Exec Committee to resolve
conflicts. Visser: I have noticed a greater number of students with
emotional problems so Unaffiliated need to be represented.
Hustoles: I would change the motion to include the Library and
Unaffiliated [incorporated in above motion]. Passed.
Bohnenblust: Three submeet chairs, when can you have this done?
Page: When can you send a time frame commitment? Bohnenblust: Hopefully
tomorrow morning. Young: Don’t we have to have the 7 be approved?
Bohnenblust: I think we can go ahead and assume we can get that.
Chairs: By next week. Bohnenblust: Then we will discover which
colleges are represented. Do we want a general announcement or to have
the Unit Reps find them? Nickerson: A general call would be
our standard procedure. Young: We need to include the time commitment
in the general call.
c. Policy Consultation & Approval Process—Bohnenblust:
We are looking for two reps. Hustoles and Keating served on this
last year. Hustoles: I think it is important that someone from
Exec serve on this committee because you can call something from there
to here or to Meet and Confer. It helps if you know what we are
talking about it. Severns: The Administration really does want to
take the policy review mechanism more seriously.
Cronn-Mills/Nickerson moved to reappoint Hustoles. Passed.
d. Search Committee CSET—Bohnenblust:
John Frey is retiring. With SBS, the Department Chairs were asked to
send a rep from each department to the search committee. Shall we
do the same? Consensus.
e. Doctoral Programs—Bohnenblust: This
is an ongoing discussion (document distributed). Page: The CSP
doctoral program has been sent to MnSCU. We do have some concerns
about the DNP and the consortium. We are putting together a list
of our concerns to attach to the proposal. Nickerson: The college
curriculum committee has approved the DNP this afternoon. Page:
We had concerns about the library resources. The way it is
structured between the four school (Metro, Moorhead, Winona and
us), each will accept 7 students and tuition dollars will follow
the students. We are the worst from a library holdings
standpoint. The other schools have agreements with hospitals and other
colleges. Nickerson: We have a possible link with ISJ and the Mayo
Health systems. Schneck: How did the electronic access get dealt with?
Page: Kathy Phiel looked at the different requirements but the library
has been extensively looking at the proposal. I haven’t looked at
that yet. Schneck: Sometimes the publishers will include journal
access with the textbooks. O’Meara: This sounds like a nightmare for
the teacher. I assume there is going to be online classes. They won’t
have access to the same library resources? Bohnenblust: I talked
to President Davenport about the issue of tuition waiver. The
idea would be that a college would reimburse the tuition wavier to the
delivery campus. That is still an unresolved financial
consideration.
f.
IPESL—Bohnenblust: This is moving along fairly well. I tried to
summarize the major points (document distributed). Cronn-Mills: It is
still focused on critical thinking. We are looking at up to 42
grants. O’Meara: Originally weren’t there 3 areas? Bohnenblust:
There were 7 and they are all still there. Holmes: What are the
communities of practice? Bohnenblust: They are similar to CETL
and Valley Writing. Holmes: Small group work? Nickerson: Yes, we
would have called them
“learning
communities.” Bohnenblust: We are hoping that this will be a
springboard for future funding. Cronn-Mills: When the call goes
out it will be a very fast turn around. All of this has to be
done before December. Young: Can you send out any information
before it is finalized? Cronn-Mills: Sure. But it is
changing.
g. Holiday Gathering—Bohnenblust: In
the past we have done this in the conference room. Shall we do it
again? Yes. SR: We have had a modest budget.
Consensus to continue.
h. Bubble Sheet Grading—Cronn-Mills:
Both paper and online systems will be available for Fall 2006.
The faculty would have to specifically request bubble sheets from the
registrar—they would not be automatically delivered. The suggestion is
to eliminate bubble sheets in Spring 2007 and have all grading
submitted online. Most institutions are ahead of us on
this. Hustoles: Can chairs have access for graduate assistant
oversight or grade changes? Cronn-Mills: As long as you have
access to the system. Brennan: I do remember that one year the
system wasn’t accessible by the due date. Hustoles/Schneck moved to support the move
to online only grading system by Spring of 2007. Passed.
i. New Test Scoring Software—Young: A
faculty member reported to us that a new software package does not have
the ability to determine discrimination difficulty. Schneck: We
discussed this in LTR. There is a new machine. But I thought
there was some item analysis available. They can still send you a
hard copy. Bohnenblust: Has there been a change made without
checking what the implications are for faculty? Schneck: It
didn’t come before LTR before the decision was made.
Bohnenblust: Should we bring this up at Meet and Confer?
Yes. Schneck: We should also include course evaluations. Were those
shifted too? Young: I will talk to them tomorrow afternoon and I will
email Bohnenblust with any other information.
j. Academic Calendar—Bohnenblust: Some
problematic issues were brought up by CSET. Other bargaining units want
Veterans Day celebrated on the day itself. There was some concern
regarding the labs. Nickerson: For those who teach Tuesday classes,
that one week before is election day. Bohnenblust: Do we want to ask
that classes be held on Veterans Day? Holmes: When I was FA
President, I was amazed at how complicated this issue is. Bohnenblust:
Regardless if our classes are held, ASFSCME could demand to have the
day off. Severns: Would it be possible, given two years lead-time, to
think about alternative solutions? Salerno: I can’t answer that.
Nickerson: This is not just a Tuesday night issue. Holmes is right,
this is a very complicated issue. Page: I was a TA in Biology.
The labs coincide with the lectures. Bohnenblust: What do we want
to do about this item? Young/Brennan moved to refer this to the
Calendar Committee. Much discussion followed. Motion failed. Severns/ Schneck moved to take this issue
to Meet and Confer and ask for the Calendar Committee to be reconvened
and discuss the Veterans Day issue. Passed.
k. Non, Non-Renewal—Bohnenblust: The
contract only requires action for non-renewal. Many chairs are
frustrated with the current system. Discussion followed.
Schneck: If we have left over agenda items, we should put them to the
top at the next meeting.
11. Informational Items
a. Next Executive Meeting – Thursday, November 2,
2006 @ 3:00 p.m., CSU 204
b. Next FA/AD Meet & Confer – Thursday, November
9, 2006 @ 3:00 p.m., CSU 204 FA Chair/AD Agenda
The meeting adjourned at 5:03 p.m.
Paul J. Hustoles
Recording Secretary
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