FA Home  >  Main Meet & Confer  >  Notes — 2/26/04
Faculty Association Meet and Confer
26 February 2004
3:10 p.m.
CSU285
(Administration Chair/Faculty Agenda)

NOTES
Attendance:
Faculty:  Stephen Bohnenblust, Roger Severns, Paul J. Hustoles, Stewart Ross, Don Descy, Jim Kapoun, Barbara Keating, Donald Larsson, Gregg Marg, Mary Visser
Management: Richard Davenport, chair, Scott Olson, Lori Lamb, Diane Solinger, John Winkworth, recorder.  Mark Johnson was present for parts of the meeting.

The meeting was called to order by President Davenport at 3:10 p.m.
1.  Information Items:
a.    Reorder/Additions: VPAA Olson requested that item 2d. SSN as Identification be moved earlier in the agenda as courtesy to VP Mark Johnson who has another obligation at 3:30 p.m.  With no additional requests, President Davenport recognized VP Johnson for the discussion of the SSN as identification. (see item 2d. below)
b.    FA President’s Report:  1.  Lobby Days—Governor Pawlenty is charging a group, the Citizen’s League, to evaluate higher education.  No public funds.  No higher education representatives.  This is potentially worrisome.  2.  University Flags in the Classrooms at Winona State University—This has been an issue at Winona State and may be an issue on our campus in the future.  President Davenport shared details on the situation.  3. Statewide Meet & Confer—Presidents Davenport and Barden from Moorhead were in attendance.  There was discussion of additional duty days.  MnSCU wants to limit the number of days to 224.  IFO argues for campus autonomy on this issue and that the approval of additional duty days is an administrative prerogative.  There is a clear desire to get away from the one-size-fits-all approach.
c.    MSU President’s Report:  1.  Additional Days—President Davenport reported that he considered us to be a test case on this additional day issue.  A little bit of leeway was given for faculty funded by grants.  In these cases, with an MOA, we can increase the daily rate of pay for a faculty member. This remains a controversial issue.  No reasons have been given for this policy.  2.  The President apologized for not being more prompt in signing the notes from the last Meet & Confer.  3.  Travel Schedule—President Davenport’s travel schedule has been quite hectic of late, within the state and within the country, meeting with legislators, alumni, and civic leaders.  In addition he has been hosting a series of lunches on campus with department chairs and program directors. 4.  The bonding bill is not in a good position at present.  Legislators want to help but our project, the science building, is quite far down on the MnSCU priority list (#22).  5.  Retreat—This was an excellent example of the management and the faculty working together on difficult issues.  6. PR Marketing Plan—Weber-Shandwick’s report will be shared with the campus.   The President asked specifically for comments and suggestions from the FA.
d.    VPAA’s Report:  1. Retreat—VPAA Olson agreed that the retreat was successful and a good experience.  2.  Academic Master Plan to Planning—The Academic Master Plan will be discussed with the Planning Sub Meet and Confer. 3.  Research Park Progress—The research park concept is being discussed with interested parties locally and at Gustavus Adolphus College.  At present some likely areas include alternative forms of energy, pervasive computing, and bio-technology/health.  4.  Senator Dayton’s State Director, Jim Gelbmann, was on campus this week to discuss the Higher Education Reauthorization Act.  He reported that Legislators at the Federal level are looking at placing a cap on tuition increases, and on making reductions in student financial aid.  Mr. Gelbmann likes our earmark proposals.

2.    Discussion Items:
a.    MnSCU/Legislative Relations:  There are two bills in the Legislature to allow MnSCU institutions to offer doctoral degrees.  We need to see how important an issue this actually is. FA President Bohnenblust has heard that President Bruininks from the U of M will not support this.  FA:  This would put additional pressures on our current graduate education.  We need to fix what we have now before embarking on this.  FA:  Support for graduate students is an issue as well.  President Davenport:  The allocation model would need to be adjusted to handle graduate education so this might be a way to get MnSCU to reconsider the allocation model.
b.    Budget—President Davenport:  We are better off than we thought we would be. The challenge is to create a new initiative fund for strategic priorities; at least $500,000.  Need a process for reviewing the financial proposals for this fund.  We are guardedly optimistic about the budget picture for next year.
c.    Recurring Items:
1.    Consultants—No report.
2.    Administrative Searches—HR Director Lamb distributed a list of current administrative searches. VPAA Olson reported that the Dean of Graduate Studies and Research is furthest along of the current searches.  We still have a strong pool although we did lose a few applicants after the candidates learned that tenure is not part of this position. President Davenport reported that VP Mark Johnson is chairing the search for the Vice President for Student Affairs, where a search firm has been hired, and Dean Michael Fagin has agreed to chair the search for the Director of Affirmative Action.
3.    Campus Master Plan—No report.
4.    Accreditation Update—FA Larsson reported a number from the campus will be attending the annual meeting of the Higher Learning Commission in Chicago.   
5.    Parking—No report.
6.    Electronic Campus—No report.

d.    SSN as Identification:  VP Mark Johnson reported on a number of issues associated with the use of SSN for identification purposes.  The administration agrees with the FA that all inappropriate uses of the SSN for identification purposes need to be eliminated.  Staff in ITS have been working on bringing about these changes for over two years.  While there are a few legitimate uses of the SSN, we are working to eliminate inappropriate uses.  Changes are being made to current systems, like parking.  The switch is being made to tech ID’s. “Mav Secret” is a developing process that will allow an individual to create a secret identifier.  FA:  What about pin numbers on payroll?  VP Johnson:  There are three levels of identification numbers currently in use:  Department of Finance, MnSCU, and local levels.  We are working with MnSCU to make some changes at that level.  Locally, travel forms now require payroll identification numbers and not the SSN.  HR Director Lamb:  On campus there are three distinct numbers:  SSN, Tech ID on Mav Card, and the Payroll ID number for payroll. The campus received notification of this in early February.  There are other forms that need correction.  We continue to work on these issues.
e.    Enrollment Management Plan:  VPAA Olson distributed copies of the final report that is available on the web (http://www.mnsu.edu/president/priorities/ reports/enrollment/).  The draft has been thoroughly discussed by various campus groups.  The question is:  How do we act on some of these recommendations?  President Davenport asked that suggestions and ideas need to be sent to Dean Coultrap-McQuin.  FA Secretary Hustoles urged action on at least some of these issues before the end of the year. FAVP Severns asked a specific question about the academic qualifications of the new students.  Is it still first come, first serve?  VPSA Solinger reported that after the April 1 cut-off date we will go to a space-available pool.  At present our applications are down by six percent compared to last year at this time.  This Plan is going to the Meets and Confers and then goes to the President. The Task Force suggested that we need to form an enrollment management committee to carry out these recommendations.  The FA needs to get final comments to the President. FA President Bohnenblust will send a formal request to the FA Executive Committee for discussion and final recommendations by next Thursday.
f.    Differential Tuition:  VPAA Olson is working with the FA to form a task force to study differential tuition.  Currently the FA has two reps, there is the VPAA and the Graduate Dean, and a place for a student representative.  Given that the issue is directed primarily at graduate education, a graduate student is preferred.  The FA indicated that a UCAP member is needed as well.
g.    Fall Orientation Calendars:  an adjustment in the orientation week calendar for faculty has been proposed by the FA and accepted by the administration. The graduate faculty meeting moves to the afternoon of the third day and the FA General Meeting moves to the afternoon of the second day (Tuesday). This change removes a long-standing meeting conflict between the FA Executive Committee meeting and the meeting of the Graduate Faculty.
h.    New Faculty Orientation Day (Mentors Compensation): CETL Director Stewart Ross reviewed a proposal he has made to VPAA Olson concerning the addition of a half day prior to the first faculty duty day in August for new faculty orientation activities. New probationary faculty and a group of senior faculty-mentors would be invited to attend. Faculty participation would require compensation in the form of half day of compensation for faculty who attend.  VPAA Olson supports the idea and, provided the funding can be arranged, he will recommend to the President that the proposal be implemented.
i.    CETL Director Position & Assignment:  VPAA Olson formally expressed his appreciation for Professor Ross’s efforts with the CETL. With the agreement of the FA, he suggests that Professor Ross be continued in his current position as Director of CETL for an additional year, consistent with the conditions of the grant.  Following the ending of the grant period, VPAA Olson intends to continue this as an on-going position.

3.  Action Items:
a. Academic Misconduct Policy:
(http://www.mnsu.edu/acadaf/pdfs/draftMisconductpolicy.pdf):  This policy has been thoroughly reviewed by appropriate FA Sub Meet and Confer committees including Graduate and Faculty Research.  This policy will be discussed by the FA Executive Committee.
b. Conflict of Interest Policy:
(http://www.mnsu.edu/acadaf/pdfs/draftCOIpolicy.pdf):  This policy has been thoroughly reviewed by appropriate FA Sub Meet and Confer committees including Graduate and Faculty Research.  This policy will be discussed by the FA Executive Committee.
c.    Uniform and Clothing Policy (Lori Lamb):  HR Director Lamb distributed copies of this policy for consideration by the FA.  Because this policy does not affect the FA, there was no need to consider the policy by the FA.
d.    Holiday Schedule (Lori Lamb):  HR Director Lamb is recommending that in FY2005 the University closed only on 23, 24, and 31 December, that there would be no additional closings as has been the case in the past. FA President Bohnenblust stated that this being the case, the FA has no need to spend any additional time on this item.
e.    Request to Consider Using a Duty Day for CETL Workshops (Ross): Professor Ross made a request that his proposal to implement a professional development day for faculty be added to a future agenda for consideration. There was general agreement.

The meeting ended at 4:38 p.m.

        John M. Winkworth            Paul J. Hustoles            John M. Winkworth                Paul J. Hustoles
    Reviewer for Management            Review for Faculty


Next Meet and Confer:  Thursday, March 18, 2004, 3:30 p.m., CSU 285
(****NOTE TIME CHANGE) (FA CHAIR/ADMINISTRATION AGENDA)
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