EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING
Thursday, May 3, 2007
CSU 253-4-5
Approved Minutes
In attendance: Stephen Bohnenblust, Roger Severns, Paul Hustoles
(recorder), Mary Visser, Tricia Young, Glen Peterson, Anne O’Meara,
Theresa Salerno, Wayne Allen, Jean Haar, Gerald Schneck, Evan Rusch,
Ron Nickerson, Scott Page, Linda Duckett, Steve Gilbert, Cheryl
Radeloff, Dan Cronn-Mills
Guests: Don Larsson, Paul Mackie, Avra Johnson, Mike Miller
President Bohnenblust called the meeting to order at 3:04 p.m.
1. Minutes of April 05, 2007—Duckett/Schneck moved to
approve. Passed.
2. Call for Additional Items/Reordering of Agenda—none. Visser:
Please note that there is a retirement reception going on right now
down the hall for former FA President Gael Mericle. Bohnenblust:
Please feel free to leave this meeting for a moment to pay your
respects
3. President’s Report
a. Spring Picnic (Tuesday, May 8
from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Open Mall)—
Bohnenblust: We got a much better deal this year. We could easily
come in at $1,000 below what we budgeted for. I talked to Bill
Harvey (head of Sedexho). We decided to wait until the last
minute to set the menu and they would give us the best deal on what
would be lowest cost at the time.
b. HR Director
Assessment—Bohnenblust: There was considerable sentiment about
including this in our annual assessment. We don’t have to do anything
constitutionally to do this. So we could simply include the HR
Director next year.
c. Membership Update—Bohnenblust:
Out of our probationary and tenured faculty we are up to 82%. We
continue to inch up.
d. Dean Assessment
Forms—Bohnenblust: Thanks to Severns for doing the Dean Assessment
Forms. Thanks to Blom for compiling these. I will be meeting with the
deans next week, then with Provost Olson, their immediate supervisor.
These are kept confidential.
e. Thank Yous—Bohnenblust: I cannot tell you
how important Donna Blom is to our organization. You cannot realize how
her steady presence has been helpful to so many individuals. I cannot
tell you how often she has bailed me out! She has been
invaluable. I also want to thank all of you. I get to interact
with the best and brightest. It has been wonderful to get to know
people. (Several mentioned individually.)
4. IFO/MnSCU Committees
a. CTL Steering Committee (Begins
May 2007 with meetings scheduled 5 times September; November, January,
March and May – 3 year term)
b. MnSCU's Spring Diversity
Conference Planning Committee (1 Needed Statewide)
c. Board of Trustees Academic
& Student Affairs Policy Council (1 Rep from State University
System)
d. Instructional Management System
(IMS) Advisory Council
e. Action Person
f. MnSCU’s Academic and Student
Affairs Emergency Management Procedures Task Force (2 System Wide
Needed)
5. 2007 SPRING APPOINTMENTS
a. Graduate Studies & Research
Workgroup to discuss ways the university can compensate faculty:
Education – Jasper Hunt – Confirmed by Electronic Vote 04/08/07
b. Faculty Work Group (Grad
Faculty Compensation) – A&H – Brian Frink
c. Pre Doctoral Fellow Selection
Committee- Betty Young
d. UCAP Fall Appointment Fall 2007
– A&H Warren Sandmann
e. Chair Confirmations for Fall
2007 – Budget – Jean Haar; Extended Learning – Gerald Schneck; Faculty
Development – Paul Brennan; Faculty Improvement & Sabbatical – Evan
Rusch; General Education – Ron Nickerson; Graduate – Tim Secott;
Planning – Linda Duckett; Program Review & Assessment - ; Research
- ; UCAP – Warren Sandman (Fall 2007)???? – Dan Cronn-Mills (Spring
2008)
f. Policy & Approval
Consultation Committee 2007-08 – Paul Hustoles
g. Honors Program Summer Task
Force - A&H – Ellen Mrja; AH&N - Bikash Nandy; BUS – Kevin
Elliott; SBS – Tony Filipovitch, Don Friend; SET Lee Cornell; Russ
Palma; General Education/Diversity Committee Representative – Ron
Nickerson (AH&N); UCAP – Jessica Schomberg (Lib/Unaf)
Schneck/O’Meara moved to approve, Nickerson and Schomberg from the Sub
Meets,
and Raj Kapadia Honors Director. Discussion followed about
individual candidates. Motion passed. Visser/Young moved to approve
Russ Palma. Passed. Hustoles/Allen moved to approve Mrja. Passed.
Bohnenblust: Maybe we could argue for two more to get more college
representation. Allen/Severns moved to approve Kevin Elliott. Passed.
Bohnenblust: Let’s vote between Filipovitch and Friend to get a rep for
SBS. Friend was elected by hand vote.
h. Heath Services Dietician Search Committee -
Miranda Hellenbrand (Lib/Unaf)
Bohnenblust: We have been meeting about possible changes in the
Honors Program.
The announcement has come out. We need approval for the task
force itself.
Severns/Schneck moved to approve the Honors Task Force. Passed.
Schneck/Nickerson moved to approve the rest of the slate. Passed.
6. Discussion Items
a. Tuition Waiver Doctoral
Programs—Bohnenblust: You have a handout. The office of the Chancellor
is making the argument that doctoral programs are not included in the
contract. We were at a meeting in October when this was first
discussed. We have inquired about the decision on this. Our last
meeting was on April 26, 2007. This memo came out on April 27.
This is a despicable tactic. We are working very hard on the
doctoral programs and here we get a major slap in the face. This is
very serious. You will hear discussions about a vote of “no confidence”
for the Chancellor. This could become a concerted action on the part of
the seven state universities. If they are saying the doctoral
programs are not in the contract, it puts the future of doctoral
programs in jeopardy. Doctoral workload is not in the contract
either. Young: Do you think they want to negotiate about this because
they know we want it? Bohnenblust: That would not surprise me. If
it is not there, and we want it in, we might have to give something up
for it. Paige: Part of the issue is when the idea was brought up, there
was concern that tuition waivers could easily negatively affect the
programs. Severns: They are picking and choosing what part of the
contract they can apply this principle to. They can’t assign courses
for doctoral faculty unless this goes through negotiations. It’s going
to be a difficult and, perhaps, ugly process. One of the first
grievances might come from our campus because we have the only doctoral
program so far. Haar: Has the IFO taken a stance? Bohnenblust:
IFO President Black has indicated that this interpretation is
incorrect. There is going to be a system-wide grievance about this.
Haar: I can understand the concern about this. The doctoral level is
very different than the masters or bachelor programs.
Bohnenblust: The cost of the programs is a legitimate concern.
But we are concerned that they have taken away a faculty right. We were
pleased that VP Straka talked about a different way to fund the
doctoral programs. Young: It’s like they just figured out how expensive
this is going to be. They are basically saying the contract doesn’t
cover anything doctoral. That means we might not get this settled
for a long time. O’Meara: Were there no letters of understanding?
Bohnenblust: Well this letter was dated after our last State Meet and
Confer. There are no negotiations. Duckett: If they are putting
this on the table, they are opening up workload and salary issues too.
Bohnenblust: It would seem so. Young: What do you want from us at this
point? Bohnenblust: I’m not sure there is anything we can do at
the local campus. I don’t know what else we can do but file a
grievance. Young: Could we do a LOA regarding tuition? Schneck: Given
that we are starting the new negotiations, where will our team go? This
was never discussed in the Delegate Assembly. Duckett: I think it would
be best to brainstorm and look at the whole package and not just the
tuition item. Radeloff: Do we have some people here who have to
finish advanced degrees? Bohnenblust: Yes. Radeloff: And we
have monies available for faculty development too. Bohnenblust:
There is an expectation that there might be many nurses in the system
that would want to take advantage of this. Page: We never really did
address this. Schneck: Isn’t there something that says we can use
our waiver on a space available basis? Severns: I think we need
to put this letter in context. There is a disconnect between local
campuses and MnSCU, particularly in the HR area. I don’t know if the
Academic Affairs area had anything to do with this. The local campus
administrators are not much happier than we are. I’m not sure if we
have to fight too hard to win this. Bohnenblust: President Black
has consulted a lawyer about this. Page: Our certificate programs did
not exist the last time we negotiated a contract either. So there
is precedent. Bohnenblust: Years ago, there was a doctoral program
between St. Cloud State and the University of Minnesota. We want to see
if any faculty received tuition waivers for that. Young: Severns, who
would fight for us on this? Severns: I am guessing that there was not
much discussion within MnSCU before this came out. Young: What
would be in our best interest? If it is best to spell it all out,
we should just go to negotiations. Severns: We cannot allow MnSCU to
pick and choose what part of the contract they want to apply this to.
Bohnenblust: Should we put this on Meet and Confer? Consensus.
b. Planning Model (AVP Avra
Johnson and Dean Mike Miller joined us for this discussion.) Duckett:
We talked about the possibility of having an Assessment Sub Meet. AVP
Johnson has put together four models to speak to this (document
distributed). The Planning Committee has made a recommendation to go
with one of these models. If FA Exec thinks this is wise, perhaps we
can put this on Meet and Confer. Gilbert: And Program Review is
meeting on Monday to discuss this too. Johnson discussed the four
models. Miller: I sit on all three sub meets: Planning, Budget and
Assessment. Planning took the most time with this. HLC is
directing us to move toward a shared governance system where these
three areas would be geared to the institution, not just for one group.
Planning would lead to budget implications.That seems a concern that
people have agreed with. Historically, Budget has been a place
not for decision-making, more of sharing information. Planning
has focused on strategic planning but the money is more marginal.
Assessment has been more for the IFO and more of a student achievement
piece. Nowhere have we talked about institutional goals. Where do
we have those conversations? If we don’t discuss this, it will become a
problem. It seems like a priority to come forward with some kind
of structural change so we can collectively own this. The Assessment
Sub Meet would expand itself and include other bargaining units. The
thought was to make Budget a more interactive strategic group.
Planning would still talk about strategic planning. Those three sub
meets would be the strategic planning shared governance system.
They would inform the large Meet and Confers. Nickerson: I’m a
little bit miffed that you have gone so far but have not talked to the
Gen Ed Committee. We do a lot of assessment. Johnson: When
I sat on Assessment as a faculty member, we didn’t talk about these
things with Gen Ed so I will take responsibility for that. All these
things have to combine. Nickerson: And we have just passed a
constitution change that will include assessment for cultural diversity
within that committee. I like this concept but we have to do it in a
way that includes all of our assessment programs. Duckett: This
was a sin of omission not intent. We need to bring all of these
aspects relating to each other together. Larsson: This is one of the
most problematic aspects of academic planning. What oversight will
there be for academic assessment per se? Whenever HLC refers to
assessment they are only talking about learning outcomes for academic
programs, not university-wide items. Finally, this is a long-term
issue: there are things in the US Department of Education and they have
been talking about the acreditor’s role and how it relates to
assessment Secretary Spellings has declared that she can do
whatever she wants to do. The general direction is not going to
change. Severns: This is going to be a major topic for next year.
All three sub meets need to discuss this. Miller: How does
assessment get into planning? Nickerson: It doesn’t. Miller: We
need to deal with larger goals. HLC does focus on student
learning, but there are ways they contribute and ways they distract.
The Executive Meeting then shifted focus to honor retiring members.
President Davenport, Provost Olson, Vice President Williams and HR
Director Lori Lamb joined as our guests. Thanks yous, including much
praise, were heaped upon the following individuals for their
outstanding service during this pervious term, including: Wayne Allen,
Cheryl Radeloff, Scott Paige, Ron Browne, Steve Gilbert, Don Descy,
Roger Severns and Steve Bohnenblust. The official meeting was suspended
from 4:30 p.m. to 4:52 p.m. for refreshments. (Special thanks to Dona
Blom for making all of these arrangements.)
c. General Education Assessment
Report—Nickerson: Some of the recommendations we want to make are
getting some resistance from Academic Affairs. These are
institutional recommendations that we want to bring to Meet and
Confer. We need to do some other systemic stuff. AA seems
to want to let the Deans deal with it. Consensus to bring this to
Meet and Confer.
d. Administrative Drop
Policy—Bohnenblust: We just want to ask them what they
are going to do.
e. Materials Accessibility—Schneck: We wanted to
make sure that people have accessibility despite either disability or
due to age. We came up with recommendations to bring our campus
and online offerings up to a higher level. It should have been
addressed a long time ago. We brought this to the LTR. We want to
bring everyone together to develop institution-wide policies of
inclusion. We want our education to be truly accessible.
Bohnenblust: We will bring this to Meet and Confer.
f. Communication Disconnects—Paige: We still
need clarification on the smoking
policy. Bohnenblust: We will add to Meet and Confer. Salerno:
Regarding alarm testing, they are notifying people who reside in the
building, not ones that teach in the building. An alarm happened
during an exam. There is also some asbestos abatement happening
during exam week. Maybe a better time would be after grades are due.
Bohnenblust: So often some people don’t think to check with people who
might be affected by such things. I want to discuss this at our
last Meet and Confer. Nickerson: Another example, the new online
registration system launched the first day of registration.
7. Policies up for Review
http://www.mnsu.edu/acadaf/Resources/Policies.html
a. Administrative Drop
http://www/mnsu.edu/acadaf/pdfs/administrativedrop.pdf
b. Repeating of Undergraduate
Courses
http://www/mnsu.edu/acadaf/pdfs/CourseRepeatPolicyRevised2006.pdf
c. Access for Students with Disabilities
http://www.mnsu.edu/acadaf/pdfs/accessforstudentswithdisabilities.pdf
8. Informational Items
a. Last FA/AD Meet & Confer for Spring Semester,
2007– Thursday, May 10, 2007 @ 3:00 p.m., CSU 202 (AD Chair/FA Agenda)
b. TENTATIVE FALL 2007 Calendar of Meetings
c. Fall Executive Retreat—Tuesday,
August 21 @ 8:30 a.m.– Old Main Village
d. New Faculty
Orientation—Wednesday, August 22 @ 8:30 a.m. – MH 103
e. New Faculty Social September
(August, 2007 Executive Agenda)
The meeting adjourned at 5:02 p.m.
Paul J. Hustoles
Recording Secretary