EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING

Thursday, January 10, 2008

CSU Heritage Room

Approved Minutes

 

In attendance: Don Larsson, Jim Grabowska, Paul Hustoles (recorder), Mary Visser. Georgia Holmes, Roger Severns, Glen Peterson, Anne OÕMeara, Dick Swanson, Debra Anderson, Daardi Sizemore, Theresa Salerno, Paul Mackie, Jean Haar, Gerald Schneck, Paul Brennan, Evan Rusch, Ron Nickerson, Tim Secott, Gregg Marg, Jackie Lewis, Penny Knoblich, Dan Cronn-Mills.

 

Guests: Barb Carson; Julie Snow; Linda Duckett

 

President Larsson called the meeting to order at 8:19 a.m. 

 

1.  Minutes of November 1, 2007—Grabowska/OÕMeara moved to approve. Motion passed.

 

2.  Call for Additional Items/ Reordering of Agenda—Larsson: We will add a discussion regarding DARS.

 

3.  PresidentÕs Report

            a. Miscellanea—Larsson: There were some laws passed regarding textbook price containment and Barnes and Nobel has jumped on them. They should be contacting you about any changes in your order or to confirm orders.  Another law is based on the studentsÕ call for Textbook Pricing Projects.  There is $500,000 earmarked for this study and I am on the MnSCU committee overseeing the issue. I participated in a Development Day workshop with Linda Duckett, Lori Lamb and the other bargaining unit heads about conflict resolution. It was very useful.  Mackie: Are you talking about faculty on faculty or on administration? Grabowska: No it is not limited to either. It could be that or faculty on staff, or to mitigate any problems that might occur. Larsson: I tried to stress that people should not look at the union as a place of last resort, but to contact us before that, as a resource.

            b. Tuition Waiver Grievance—Larsson: The arbitrator has ruled in favor of the IFO. This was a major victory for us and everyone is pretty happy about this.

            c.  FA Elections—Larsson: Some of you will be retiring from your committee positions so you might want to keep an eye out for nominees.The State FA President is also up for election this year.

            d.  Administrative Searches—Larsson: The CSET Dean search is complete. I have already been in communication with Dr. Knox and we sent him our FAQ about how we work.

            e.  Delegate Assembly­—Larsson: We now have five openings.  And we have lots of alternate positions available. This is the place where we make all of our important decisions.

 

4.  Vice-President/Grievance Officer Report—Grabowska: We have one grievance at step 3 that was filed back in 2005.  Its arbitration date was postponed. This is in regard to funding for early separation. This should be scheduled within 10 days.

 

5.  Negotiations Update and Action Report—Carson: The Action Committee has not gelled as a group yet.  We need to give support to the Negotiation Team

 

6. Faculty Association Committee Chair Reports

            a.  Budget—Haar: We are going to meet with Planning and Assessment on January 24. We intend to discuss different models about how we set priorities and how to work in a collaborate manner. We will be looking at Strategic Priority Funding Applications. Larsson: We also talked about enrollment management and how that is impacted by the MnSCU allocation. We agreed that we need to have infrastructure support, but we need to keep pace with the system.

            b.  Extended Learning—Larsson: The President has a mandate from the Chancellor to make us a primary provider for the Hwy 169 corridor. I have not heard anything more about creating a ŌCollegeĶ of Extended Learning. Schneck: We have not been updated on plans for the metro corridor. We donÕt have our next meeting until two weeks from now. Swanson: What are the reasons we want to go off campus so much?  Schneck: I think this is to make sure we are recognized out there. We need to have a better presence. Enrollment management is a key factor. Our perception of online learning issues might be different than at other campuses. We need to keep monitoring this. I havenÕt heard a lot of people complaining about this. 

            c.  Faculty Development—Brennan: We havenÕt met yet.

            d.  Faculty Improvement & Sabbatical—Evan Rusch: We will be working on FIG grants and sabbaticals. There are some new things but they are working themselves out.  Larsson: We have a Ōtentative tentativeĶ agreement on contract language about sabbaticals. Cronn-Mills: We have a faculty member whoÕs fixed term but will move to probationary.  When does the clock start?  Severns: Normally the fixed term years donÕt count unless they put language in the hiring letter.

            e.  General Education & Diversity—Nickerson: It looks like the new diversity graduation requirements will become a reality. I have been asked to schedule a meeting to talk about the mechanics, early this semester. Regarding general education assessment, this year we are doing categories 3 and 4; next year we will do 5 and 6.  MnSCU has asked all institutions to look at the MN Transfer Curriculum and how we line up with this. This is a reasonably good thing. Nine of our ten categories are right out of the transfer curriculum. But MnSCU staff sent us a note that talks about some classes that we offer that they donÕt think fit. We have written a response to this. They might come back at us on this. Business Ethics and Modern Languages are providing issues.  Holmes: Do they only look only at 2 to 4 year transfer students, or do they look at 4 to 2 years too? Nickerson: They are supposed to but they donÕt seem to be. Larsson: The transfer curriculum does define outcomes, but people keep looking at titles only.  Nickerson: And we look at outcomes all the time. Their staff seems to ignore this.  Larsson: The State IFO has objected about this. Let us do our own work.  Nickerson: I am also on the Honors task force. We have developed some preliminary recommendations.  The decision has been made, I think, that the program will be suspended for next year.  There was some discussion about the possibility of hiring an Honors Director. The consensus is that it should be a faculty member rather than an administrator. Severns: So we would suspend the program for a year and then admit sophomores into the program?  Nickerson: Yes, and we have to have a way to let transfer students in as well.

            f. Graduate—Secott: The electronic capstones in the library and grad school have not gotten out of committee yet. The idea is that the student submits their thesis online.  It would not be released to the public until the right signatures are obtained.  We would like to pilot this with a smaller program.  We would like to have this up and running for the first doctoral dissertations. Why? It would make archiving material much easier. It will also put this information at everyoneÕs fingertips because they would be but in PDF files. This will make them widely available. At the beginning of last semester, we were told to look at the Graduate School Mission. This wound up being a lot bigger than we expected. We eventually began to focus on graduate student compensation. Are they a student or are they an employee? The simplest thing we could do is to wave the stipend cap for externally funded sources. You should be able to pay that student more if you can fund it.  The market rate will vary between disciplines. They are averaging between $14,000 and $15,000 for the STEM [science, engineering, technology, mathematics] disciplines. We need to look at some kind of cost of living expense increase. What about summer compensation? Right now if they are paid during the summer, they have to take a course.  We would propose to waive tuition for up to three credits. The longer we have them stay in the summer, the sooner they will finish their projects.  Larsson: Any more movement on doctoral programs? Secott: There will be site visits this spring. Larsson: There is a proposal for recognizing graduate faculty scholarship and research. We suggested that unless the money was taken out or used as development money, that this would not fly.  Secott: There was also a concern about bias. The way it came through was that nominations would be evaluated by the previous winners.  It could become an old boysÕ club. We talked about going to an existing FA committee. As for the award itself, professional development money would be appropriate. Dean Blackhurst does have $15,000 now and it will disappear at the end of the fiscal year. If we donÕt act on this now, we will lose it. Mackie: This was going to be limited to full professors only. What is the recommendation now? Secott: This hasnÕt changed. Marg: But no money has been budgeted for next year.  This could disappear anyway.

            g. Planning—Marg: We did not get our enrollment management target until December. We have 39 proposals for strategic planning proposals but not nearly enough money for all of them. Regarding the Campus Master Plan, all of this hinges on where the new Business building would go. Until this building is sited, we canÕt move. We havenÕt talked about emergency planning much. Grabowska: Arts and Humanities went through an exercise on this. Sizemore: The Library also has a plan. Marg: We have not heard anything official about this. Larsson: This is known as COOP (Continuity of Operations Plan). This was all about operations until recently but it has important implications for faculty. On the statewide level, this is the third plan I have heard about this year, along with pandemic and technology emergency plans.  It is very fragmented. Swanson: What is Provost Olson thinking? We are spending money like never before. Marg: I do think he goes back to his academic master plan idea. Where do we want to grow? Larsson: And there is a lot of push from MnSCU on this. Locally, there has been a push to involve faculty in this discussion.  ThatÕs positive.

            h. Program Review & Assessment—Lewis: We worked on a new committee structure and, therefore, we looked at the charge. There has been more of a need for assessment at the student level but at all levels as well. We will be meeting with Planning and Budget in January. We are dealing with VSA (Voluntary System of Accountability).  Provost Olson told us to look at this in November. It is like an institutional report card.  Larsson: MnSCU had a kind of dashboard system. The VSA might be a viable alternative.  Nickerson: I am a bit confused by your committee charge. Would this dissolve the sub meet and then expand it? Larsson: It would be parallel to Planning and Budget.  Nickerson: The language here works well for departments doing departmental assessment, but it does not address the kinds of assessment that is needed for gen ed, diversity or honors. I donÕt want to fix a system that is not broken. Lewis: We donÕt want to do the kinds of assessment that the administration should be doing.  We have kept the language very broad. Nickerson: I would like to see language to reflect this. Marg: Planning talked about this a lot. Planning doesnÕt do the planning for the whole university, we just receive proposals. It would be the same for Assessment.  Larsson: We still donÕt have an Assessment Director yet. We are expecting a job notice posted soon. As far as this change goes, we can bring changes to Meet and Confer. We will need a constitutional change. So we will need a formal recommendation from the committee.  Severns: Is that PelletÕs old job? Hustoles: This was brought to Exec in the fall.  Schneck: If this is on the spring ballot, could we still have the openings for that election?  Larsson: Yes, because the membership would not change. Grabowska/Hustoles moved to put this issue on the ballot for spring voting for a constitutional change. Motion passed. 

            i. Research—Knoblich: Faculty Research Grants were evaluated and we funded about 70% of them. We did keep some funding for the spring round.  We are doing some summer grants to the tune of $5,000, geared towards the dissemination of work. These will be due Feb. 15. Larsson: CESRÕs new director is Steve Bohnenblust. He is still trying to figure out what this will be. Grabowska: Part of their work will be to vet documents.  Larsson: Also helping to write grant proposals. Mackie: I was the first person to put a paper through.  Use this service.  They are very good. Larsson: It might be useful to have Bohnenblust talk at the General Meeting. Peterson: They are good at statistical analysis too. 

            j. UCAP—Cronn-Mills: We will close our doors on new proposals in mid-February.  You have to either move quickly or save it for next year. There is a policy about students who miss classes for extra curricular activity. Students can be put into a real bind.  Please look at this—the revised one, not the original one. Visser: I have a problem with a grad student who is going to miss 6 out of 8 classes. We have to be aware of the abuse of students. I know this is a separate thing. Some of them are asked to put in 50 to 60 hours a week. We need to make sure that Athletics understands this. Nickerson: We talked about this in Gen Ed.  We can live with the revised statement. It has a much better tone.  Carson: Some athletic teams are much better than others. It says, ĶEveryone should be made awareÉĶ  Can we put down whose responsibility this is? Larsson: This is still in informal review. Grabowska/Secott moved to request the substitution of the revised policy for the original.  Hustoles: This motion is in order. We need to get rid of that first draft. Then we can make all kinds of suggestions. OÕMeara: I have questions about Ōthe student and teacher will mutually agreeÉĶ  Larsson: We can tweak some of these. As Hustoles pointed out, we can still work on the details. And this is not just for Athletics.  The students have concerns, as do other academic areas. Motion passed. Larsson: Regarding the 120 credit hour graduation limit, there is a MnSCU task force established.  They are aware of programs like the BFA that are credit heavy but not connected to a licensure.  WeÕll see how this develops. 

            k. Unit Representatives—Peterson: We did surveys with the department chairs regarding summer chair teaching assignments but we are going to defer this until the next meeting. We will have written summaries then. Regarding grade appeals, we were asked to send a rep on a grade appeal where a dean reversed a faculty memberÕs grade. There is room for improvement for the procedure itself. We might suggest that the Unit Reps participate in a procedure whereby we and the administration develop language to clarify the policy. Knoblich: I heard that there was no rep from that college on the review process. It seems like you should have someone from their college on the review.  Peterson: I would defer to Larsson, but there is a double-edged sword. Would the Unit Rep be compromised getting between their dean and a fellow faculty member? Mackie: It is a question about whether you serve as an advocate or a mediator. Larsson: The language says that the Dean or VP ŌmayĶ convene a committee.  We might want to make a college committee review mandatory. Salerno: The language needs to be looked at.  Severns: We have an accreditation visit coming up in the College of Business very soon.

            l. State IFO Representatives—Holmes: The Legislature is about to convene.  Larsson: They might have an impact on our negotiations.  Grabowska: And four new trustees will be appointed by the Governor for MnSCU. 

 

7.  Spring 2008 Appointments

            a. FA Extended Learning Committee – Replacement for COE Maureen Prenn; Scott Page.  Grabowska/OÕMeara moved to approve Page.  Motion passed.

 

8.  Positions to Be Confirmed

            a. The Great Place to Work – Stewart Ross; Jim Grabowska

            b. Bookstore Advisory Committee – Evan Bibbee

            c. Parking Advisory Committee – Autumn Benner

            d. Enrollment Management Teams—Leadership Group—Don Larsson;

Graduate Studies—Tim Secott; Transfer—Anne OÕMeara; High Ability—Ron Nickerson (Kellian Clink for Honors Program); New Entering Freshmen—?; Marketing—?;  Diversity—Jim Grabowska; Retention—Warren Sandmann; Financial Aid & Scholarships—?

Hustoles/Brennan moved to approve a though d.  Motion passed.

 

            e. Football Coach Search Committee—Jeff Pribyl, Gary Rushing.  Larsson: We have heard that we have faculty members on this committee.  Coaches are IFO positions.  Visser: I am concerned because some of the coaches are teachers. Nickerson: For any coach that has any academic responsibility, we should be involved in the search. We even approve middle level staff positions. Hustoles: This goes back to the need for any faculty representative for anything. The request should come though Exec to make them official. Visser: Athletics seems to run by its own rules. We need to have a strong voice on this. Larsson: There is a gray area. Regular faculty searches are a departmental issue.  And we do not mandate that all members are FA members. Severns: I absolutely agree that this should have gone through this committee. But do we want to stall this search process? How big an issue do we want to make this?  Do we want to take this to Meet and Confer? Grabowska: We have already brought this to HR Director Lori Lamb.  Larsson: And I have talked to Provost Olson and Vice President Straka as well.  Swanson: I want to support Visser. This has been a consistent pattern.  Schneck: There are additional searches that will be coming up very quickly. Visser: This is deliberate.  Nickerson: Two issues. One is the immediate search for the football coach. The second is with our Athletic Director.  There is a broader issue of putting the reins on that entity.  Severns: You donÕt want to stop the football search. If you want to bring this to the President, you need to have a very specific agenda. Grabowska: We need to make sure this doesnÕt happen in the future. The committee does contain two faculty FA members.  My recommendation is that they be approved. Larsson: I think we should bring this up at Meet and Confer. We need to have some things on the record.  Visser/Grabowska moved to approve Pribyl and Rushing. Visser: I am not comfortable with the third non-FA member faculty person serving on this committee. Nickerson: We have made a concerted effort not to approve members who are not members of the Association.  Grabowska: But we are not approving that third member. Motion passed.  Larsson: What about the third member? Grabowska: I think we can discuss this with the Administration. Secott: Has it been identified in what capacity this person is serving?  Schneck: I could see where this would open up the door. Larsson: The contract only gives these rights to the department. Severns: Did this person have department support?  Visser: No.  Larsson: We will express our concerns. Swanson: Why donÕt we ask that they be removed?  Larsson: We might have to go up the line with this. Visser: IÕm not sure this is the battle we want to fight.      

 

9.  FA Positions to be Filled

            a.  College of Allied Health & Nursing—UCAP – 1 Year Term

            b.  College of Business—General Education & Diversity (2 Year Term); Planning (2 Year Term)

            c.  MnSCU & Minnesota State Mankato policies on copyright protections, as they pertain to online course materials (1 Needed from SBS).

            d.  Employee Appreciation Committee (2 More Needed)

            e.  Repair & Replacement Prioritizing Committee—2 meetings a year (1 Needed)

 

10.  IFO/MnSCU Task Forces/Committees

            a. IFO Academic & Student Affairs Policy Council (1 from State University System – Selected by IFO Board)

            b.  IFO Benefits Equity Statewide Issue Committee (1 At Large – Selected by IFO Board).

            c. Mail Access & success at MnSCU Newly formed Study Group (2 at large from State University System –Selected by IFO Board.)

            d. Residency Policy & Procedure Taskforce (2 At Large)(1 Selection from each campus sent forward to the selection of the two.)

 

11.  Discussion/Action Items

            a. Policies for Review (see http://www.mnsu.edu/acadaf/policies/#Policiesunderreview)

                        i. Campus Information Technology Privacy

                        ii. Grading [Previously approved by Exec. Committee]

                        iii. Makeup Work and Missed Classes (See UCAP revisions, attached)

                        iv. Mathematics Placement Policy—Larsson: This is partly coming out of a                           MnSCU initiative.  Lewis: It has come through our committee.

                        v. Priority Registration

                        vi. Smoking and Tobacco Use or Sale Prohibited

                        vii. Student Athlete Drug and Alcohol Testing and Education

                        viii. Student Complaint and Grievance Policy

                        ix. Transfer of Technical Credits

                        x. Undergraduate Extended Learning Student Admission to University                                             (Previously approved as expedited policy)

                        xi. University Closure for Weather and Other Emergencies

                        xii. Verification of Enrollment for Students with Disabilities—Nickerson: We looked at this in Gen Ed and we think it is in decent shape. Consenus that we can report no major objections aside from issues already discussed such as iii.

 

            b. FAQ/Best Practices for Departments in Nonrenewal/Promotion/Tenure—Larsson: I have been getting some questions from departments about these processes.  Our position is that you are ideally voting on a recommendation (for or against).  Sometimes difficulty stems from the chairs and their role in the process. Sometimes it has to do with collegiality. There are some common questions. Administration seems to be open to creating some loose guidelines about how to proceed in these areas. I will be sending out a request for FAQ regarding these issues. By the middle of the term I would like to come up with a list to share with the departments for next fall. 

            c.  Graduate Research Committee—Secott: This would parallel the URC.  I would like to have a committee formed this academic year so they could become active in the fall. Larsson: We should request that Dean Blackhurst request members so we can send out the call. 

            d. Distinguished Scholars Program—OÕMeara: Are we going to lose this money? Secott: Who is going to make this decision? We would have to meet fairly quickly to decide what to do. BlackhurstÕs vision is that the awardees be presented during the week of the Undergraduate Research Conference. Larsson: We would need to see some committee structure at our next Exec meeting. Severns: You might want to ask Provost Olson if Dean Blackhurst has submitted this proposal. OÕMeara: Our next meeting is too late.  How were we going to pick the first one anyway? Nickerson: Trying to create a new committee for just one shot seems inefficient. We should give this to an existing committee.  Severns/Secott moved to give this charge to Faculty Research Committee for this year.  Motion passed.  

            e. Proposed Changes to Procedures for Implementing the Graduate Faculty Policy—Secott: In the current policy there was some confusion regarding evaluations and peer evaluations. We read it as Ōeither/orĶ so we suggest this modification (document distributed). If at some point there is going to be release time associated with this, we wanted to move the decision to the fall so that chairs could figure out their academic planning for the next year. Grabowska: Has anyone actually gotten this? Marg: This is the first year so we donÕt have data. Grabowska: How many are there? Secott: About 40.  Grabowska/Sizemore moved to endorse the proposed changes.  Motion passed. 

            f. DARS—Severns: My experience has not been very good. Often the links arenÕt there. We need to bring this to someoneÕs attention. Marg: He is talking about STAR.  Severns: That doesnÕt work either. We just need to talk about technology concerns. 

            g. Faculty Provisions for Students with Disabilities [Discussion with Julie Snow (Director, ODS) and Linda Duckett (Affirmative Action)]—Larsson: We had some questions about the mutual obligations between our students and your office. For example, the faculty often sign a document talking about modifications. Is this set in stone? How can we help the student but how can we keep up our own standards as well?  Julie Snow (a folder was distributed): This is a growing population. Currently we have 408 students with active plans. This includes learning disabilities, psychiatric needs, hard of hearing and deaf, the blind, etc. We have a variety of needs and limitations. We provide and coordinate with the students and we make sure your classes are assessable. We are governed by law. We must look at each student on an individual basis. Our two biggest accommodations are note taking services and alternative testing. It is the studentÕs responsibility to initiate accommodations for each class. Once they have, it is the professorÕs obligation to follow through.  Swanson: How do we intervene with psychiatric challenges?  What do you recommend?  Snow: You have to trust your gut.  If the student discloses something, I would suggest not ignoring it. But you can certainly call this office or the Counselling Center. It is up to the student how much to disclose. Duckett: Once you have that information, you cannot disclose that to anyone. Brennan: Can we contact you about a particular student? Snow: I can talk about the limitations. I would have to talk to the student before we could say more. Some students have great self-advocacy skills but many do not. Grabowska: Is there some assistance for alternative testing design?  Snow: We can work with the department for special accommodation. Schneck: Not all persons with disabilities are known to the Office of Disabilities, especially with psychiatric issues. We need to do a good job of monitoring a studentÕs performance. Severns:  Sometimes someone is doing well, then something comes up and you suggest that they go to the counseling center. Should they come to you too? Snow: It could be referred to us from both. We canÕt provide retroactive accommodations. Schneck: What do you do when you sense that a student is in crisis on a Friday? Larsson: Keep the lines of communications open between all of us. Snow: I would like to know what the best way is to get this information to the broader group. What is the best way to glean feedback from faculty? Swanson: Smaller groups are better. Larsson: Consider learning contexts—big/small groups, in-class/online. Snow: I want you to know that you can contact us. 

            h. Spring Initiatives and Action Priorities—Larsson: If you have any concerns about any issues, let me know. Nickerson: I would like to see Administration commit to the writing intensive assistance, to writing skills in general. Larsson: At the beginning of the year, I thought that this would be a major issue.  We need to keep pushing it.

 

12. Informational Items

            a.  Faculty Association General Meeting, Thursday, January 17, 2008 @ 3:00 p.m. – Ostrander Auditorium

            b.  FA/AD Meet & Confer, Thursday, January 31, 2008 @ 3:00 p.m., CSU 204, FA Chair/AD Agenda

            c.  Organizational Meeting (Larsson; Grabowska; Hustoles; Young; Holmes; Severns; Sizemore; OÕMeara; Marg; Brauer; Bohnenblust; C. Johnson) for Delegate Assembly Resolutions – Tuesday, February 19 @ (time yet to be determined) in the FACR. (Resolutions back by 02/15/08)

            d.  All Delegate Assembly Resolutions Review Meeting – Friday, February 29 noon to 2:00 p.m. in CSU 284.

 

 

The meeting adjourned at 12:02 p.m.

 

Paul J. Hustoles

Recording Secretary