FACULTY SENATE
FULL MINUTES OF
JANUARY 31, 2006
The fifth
regular meeting of the 2005-2006 Faculty Senate was held on Tuesday, January
31, 2006, in
the
Mendenhall Student Center Great Room.
Agenda Item
I. Call to Order
Catherine
Rigsby, Chair of the Faculty called the meeting to order at 2:10 p.m.
Agenda Item
II. Approval of Minutes
The minutes
of November
8, 2005, were approved as distributed. The December 6, 2005, minutes will
be distributed and approved at the next meeting.
Agenda Item
III. Special Order of the Day
A. Roll Call
Senators
absent were: Professors Robinson (Mathematics), Yalcin (Philosophy), and
Eastman (Social Work).
Alternates present were: Professors
Wolfe for Avenarius (Anthropology), Holloman for Hodge (Education), Felts for
Estes (Health and Human Performance), Kirkpatrick (Nursing), Coddington for
Ciesielski (Technology and Computer Science), Parker for Funaro (Theatre and
Dance), and Cope (Psychology).
B. Announcements
1. There is no longer a curriculum
submission deadline for inclusion in the official ECU catalog. Faculty are
reminded that the official ECU catalog is the on-line catalog that is
available at
http://www.ecu.edu/cs-acad/aa/. February 23, 2006, is the curriculum submission deadline
for inclusion in the Fall 2006 printed catalog. Please direct any
questions to members of the University Curriculum Committee at cuc@mail.ecu.edu.
2. The Chancellor will host a
3. Letters concerning unit elections for
the 2006-2007
4. Faculty
are strongly encouraged to participate in shared faculty governance by
volunteering to serve on the various academic, appellate, administrative, Board
of Trustees, and student union committees. Currently there are 87 upcoming
vacancies on various standing University committees. The deadline for volunteer
submission is February 15, 2006. Committee appointments will be
finalized at the April 25, 2006, Faculty Senate meeting.
Faculty members have two ways to express their interest in volunteering.
1) On OneStop under Employee Section, click on
“Faculty Committee Volunteer Form” and
complete the committee volunteer preference
form.
2)
Complete
the committee volunteer preference form available at the site linked below and
forward it to the Faculty Senate
office at facultysenate@.ecu.edu.
Link to volunteer form: http://www.ecu.edu/cs-acad/fsonline/customcf/committee/callforvolunteers.htm
5. The
Joyner Library Director Search Committee has scheduled two campus-wide forums
to solicit input from the ECU community on the qualities and qualifications you
think are important for this critical position. All are welcome and
encouraged to attend. Those dates are:
Wednesday
February 1, 2006 from 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Tuesday February 7, 2006 from 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Both
sessions are in the Joyner Library Administrative Conference Room, 2nd
floor, Joyner Library
6. The
Chancellor has approved the following resolutions from the December 6, 2005,
Faculty
Senate
meeting:
05-44
Curriculum
matters contained in the minutes of the November 10, 2005,
Committee meeting.
05-50 Addition to the ECU Faculty Manual, Part VI.
Section I.H. relating to Phased
Retirement.
05-51 Revision to the ECU Faculty
Manual, Part VI. Section I.H.2.a.6
relating to the University Employee Assistance Program to read as follows: “6) Access to the University Employee
Assistance Program and Provider Directory when such services are
available.“
05-52 Revised Allied Health Sciences’ Unit
Code of Operation.
7. The
Faculty Governance Committee has scheduled three open hearings to discuss
proposed revisions to the following sections of the ECU Faculty Manual:
§
Part
XII. Personnel Action Dossier
§
New Part
XIII. Promotion and Tenure Timeline
§
Appendix
C. Personnel Policies and Procedures for the Faculty, Section I.D. Specific
Criteria for Appointment
§
Appendix
D. Tenure and Promotion Policies and Procedures
The open hearings are scheduled for:
Tuesday,
January 31, 2006, from 12:00 – 1:30 in Mendenhall 221
Wednesday, February 1, 2006, from 12:00 – 1:30 in Mendenhall 221
Thursday, February 2, 2006, from 12:00 – 1:30 in Blue Auditorium,
All interested faculty are invited to attend the open
hearings. Please direct any questions or forward any suggestions to
members of the Faculty Governance Committee at fgc@mail.ecu.edu.
C. Chancellor’s Report
Chancellor
Steve Ballard first briefly reported on faculty employment, which included a
distributed longitudinal profile of faculty tenure status and tenure status of
permanent and temporary faculty by unit.
Chancellor
Ballard was pleased with the Provost’s Task Force on Fixed Term
appointments. The welfare of fixed-term
faculty is a national problem and ECU must make this part of its compensation
plan. The growth of fixed-term faculty
is related to our mushrooming faculty size and enrollment projections. We need to have comparison data for
benchmarking and we need to make a commitment to continuous improvement.
The
Chancellor addressed legislative priorities which should reflect our broadest
institutional needs. This year we will
concentrate on the following five priorities:
The
Chancellor spoke of Erskine Bowles and expressed that President Bowles is
attentive to ECU. He business background
gives him a certain perspective. He has
reviewed our mission statement and feels it is too ambiguous. Bowles has asked what will define success at
ECU. The Chancellor asked the faculty senate
for feedback. We need to give a measure
of quantitative accountability.
The
Chancellor discussed the downtown area of
The
Chancellor thanked the faculty senate and Henry Peel for working over the last
16 months on identifying a new peer group.
He mentioned that ECU had received tentative GA approval for a new set
of peer institutions. The new list is tentative pending approval by
the Board of Governors. The peer
institutions include: Florida International University, Northern Illinois
University, Ohio University-Main Campus, Old Dominion University, Texas Tech
University, University Of Missouri-Kansas City, University Of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Western Michigan University, Wright State University-Main
Campus, University of Nevada—Reno, University of North Dakota—Main Campus,
Virginia Commonwealth University, SUNY at Buffalo, University Of Louisville,
and University Of South Carolina-Columbia.
He mentioned that of this group only one of the original institutions
remained from the old list. 11 or 12
have medical schools where before the only 2 or 3 on the list had such
schools. These peers have higher average
salaries, which can be a good thing for ECU as it gives us room to grow.
Cope
(Psychology) asked for an update on a planned
Long
(History) asked about the status of a
Painter
(Allied Health Sciences) stated that with Allied Health Sciences and Nursing
moving to west campus and the increase in students, faculty, and staff being
relocated there, could the University work with ViQuest to allow for discounted
membership rates. The Chancellor stated that a partnership with ViQuest has
been discussed. Growth needs are being
looked at.
Wolfe
(Anthropology) asked Chancellor Ballard if he supported creating a downtown
culture/natural history museum and/or a regional science center? The Chancellor stated yes. However, the proposed ECU downtown center must
come first. We can then look at other
proposals and prioritize to achieve the best impact to ECU.
Given
(Foreign Languages and Literatures) asked if the University supported the
renaming all of
D. Vice Chancellor’s Report
Deirdre
Mageean, Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Studies stated that she was
able to find an additional $179,000 to fund a total of 27 2006/07
research/creative activity grants. She stated that this would not be the same next year. She is working on the timing of getting funds
into the faculty hands sooner.
In
connection with the search for the Dean of Graduate Studies, the search is moving
along well with 39 applicants reduced to 8.
Video interviews are being conducted with the idea to bring 4 candidates
on campus sometime in March. She also noted that the first meeting of the Task
Force for Graduate Assistantships took place today. There is lots of work to be done.
Tabrizi
(Technology and Computer Science) first thanked the Vice Chancellor for the
increase in support and leadership shown by staff in the Sponsored Programs
department under Vice Chancellor Mageean’s leadership and he mentioned the work
being done by Marti VanScott and Melody Bentz.
He then stated that the funding for infrastructure is still lacking. He
asked if she had considered establishing individual sponsored programs offices
around campus to serve within each college/school to oversee mentoring research
faculty. The Vice Chancellor stated that the Research Council would continue to
look into this. She is happy to continue
working to improve our Sponsor Programs office, but will need more people to do
this and is always open to suggestions.
Jim Smith,
Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, provided Senators will the
following information prior to his presentation at the meeting.
1. ECU
Community Losses: We grieve the loss of three colleagues over the
past several weeks: Chia-yu Li, Linda Allred, and Gene Ryan.
They made so many contributions to the ECU community. So much was given
in so many ways by each of these individuals. Our loss is deeply felt and
our sympathies go out to family members and close friends.
2. Fixed
term appointments: I am pleased to say that the invitations for membership
on the Academic Council’s Task Force on Fixed Term Appointments have been
extended. The group will begin meeting bi-weekly in late February and
will have a draft report no later than mid-April. This report would be
circulated widely and presumably be considered by the Faculty Governance
Committee and then, revised or not, brought to the Faculty Senate. As we
see in today’s faculty category data, 461 full-time faculty out of 1,413 are
fixed term appointees -- 32.6%. We should analyze this percentage,
maximize faculty security and benefit where it is earned, and provide
continuing and improved quality for our students. I look forward to
chairing this task force as I did chairing the Senate in the mid-80s when we
were asking the administration to keep such appointments at 10%. Much has
changed in higher education and at ECU since then, but this concerted,
collaborative analysis is long overdue.
3. Promotion
and Tenure: We have 84 tenure and promotion personnel actions
involving 54 individual faculty members in Academic Affairs this year. In
9 of those cases we have disagreements among faculty committees, chairs, and
deans. This is nearly 17% of the cases. I urge faculty, chairs,
directors, and deans to ensure full communication through each year of
appointment and that all procedures are properly accomplished every year.
Collaboration and consultation are the avenues to reducing this percentage.
We can to better. I must say, too, how impressive it is to review 54 PADs
and see the accomplishments represented therein. We are a maturing
doctoral university where teaching excellence is highly valued and
thrives.
4. Faculty
Priorities, the Integrated Planning Process, and Day Care:
Faculty Senate Resolution #04-15 recommending the
establishment of a day-care center still awaits action. The amount of
money required is daunting amidst other needs such as travel money, start-up
funds, operating budgets, equipment replacement, and the like. In
discussions with Catherine and others, knowing how much emphasis to place on a
day care center begs faculty priority setting. You are being asked
to contribute to that analysis today. Going forward, we will compare
priorities and seek best practices on day care at other campuses. The
forming of a committee on day care and other priorities will follow soon in
some form.
5. Faculty
Manual Revisions: I urge everyone to take part in
reviewing the revisions brought forward by the Governance Committee.
Personnel processes are a signal moment in the collaboration of
faculty, chairs, directors, deans, and vice chancellors to provide the
chancellor and trustees with our best recommendations. The greater the
collaboration and communication (see #3 above) the greater the mentoring
success we will achieve. I am encouraging chairs, directors, and deans to
forward their reactions to suggested revisions, both to the Governance
Committee and to me. I look forward to the Faculty Senate meetings
we will have on these recommendations. There is little that is more
important to genuinely shared governance and faculty-administration
collaboration than insuring that these processes are the best they can be.
E. Catherine Rigsby, Chair of the Faculty
Chairperson
Rigsby asked the senate to refer to the blue sheet of priorities and asked
everyone to rank the priorities presented on this survey before they leave the
meeting today. The Provost made a
statement that perhaps there was a better way to get this information since the
senators had not had a chance to discuss this with colleagues. Chairperson Rigsby stated that this was for
informational purposes only to see if faculty were on the same track and a more
formal information gathering system could be used later.
She also
discussed the on-line catalog. As
previously mentioned above, there is no deadline. Once approved through the appropriate
processes, new courses and changes will go into the on-line catalog as soon as
possible. All catalogs will be archived
to keep track of what catalog a student came in on.
Chairperson
Rigsby asked the senate to try to attend the forums on the changes being
proposed to Appendix D. The document
will be brought to the senate at the February meeting. For the purpose of this discussion, please
focus only on those areas in which changes are occurring as not all areas have
been changed. Other changes will come
in the future, as this is an ever-evolving process.
In relation
to textbooks, the Student Scholarships, Fellowships, and Financial Aid
Committee has stated its support of the Student Government Association’s resolution on textbooks. A letter of
support was forwarded to Wanda Scarborough, Director of Student
Stores.
In relation
to baseball parking and the Frisbee Golf field. a win-win solution has been
reached through the diligent work of the Ad Hoc Greenspace Committee and
Athletics. There will be no parking on
the Frisbee Golf field (on the corner of Charles and
Wolfe (Anthropology) noted that in
reference to the University catalogs, to ask faculty to make sure that the new
course proposal form is correct in course title and description is
reasonable. However, to ask faculty to
create copy-edited, camera-ready copy for all of the places/pages that the
course might appear in the undergraduate catalog is not appropriate for faculty
at a research university. The old system
of turning in photocopied catalog pages with arrows indicating where the course
is to appear in the catalog and then a secretary creating catalog copy worked
well. The secretary would not now have to retype the information on the course
for the catalog copy because it would in digital form from the new course
proposal. She noted that faculty now have to make up whole new course proposals
to unbank a course, change a course number, make slight changes in a course
title, etc. A memo is all that should be
required. To ask for more is big waste
of faculty time. To make minor changes to a program where there was an error in
the catalog should only call for a memo and not the whole curriculum change
process. My hope is that we can minimize
the secretarial work required of faculty. The job of the University Curriculum
Committee is to judge the academic quality of the courses. Finding someone to
take care of producing the undergraduate catalog is the job of Academic
Affairs. Faculty should turn in a well written course proposal and a photocopy
of the catalog with arrows indicating where the program/new courses are to be
added. This procedure worked well for
years.
Chair
Rigsby noted that these issues continued to be of concern for many faculty
members on and off the committee. She noted
that she was pleased that both Provost Smith and Interim Associate Vice
Chancellor Griffin were present to hear the discussion. She also noted that there have been many
improvements in the process recently and thanked Interim VC Griffin for her
help with these issues. Several more procedural changes are still needed and
the University Curriculum Committee, in coorperation with Academic Affairs, is
continuing work to improve the process.
F. Brief Moment in History
Henry
Ferrell (History) provided some history of ECU in relation to the past student
government association.
G. Question Period
Faculty are
encouraged to participate in the Question Period of the Faculty Senate meeting.
This period allows faculty an opportunity to ask questions of administrators
and others present relating to activities of the administration or Faculty
Senate committees.
Glascoff
(Health and Human Performance) asked Provost Smith why fixed term faculty were
not asked to serve on the Academic Council’s Task Force on Fixed Term
Appointments. Provost Smith stated he is
looking for those with experience. He
stated that the Committee needs to fashion some way to hear fixed-term faculty
and be protective of them at the same time.
There was a lot of support for this inclusion, when Provost Smith asked
by a show of hands how many Senators supported the inclusion of fixed term
faculty on the task force. Given (Foreign Languages and Literatures) asked that
Provost Smith please allow fixed term faculty to decide for themselves if they
wish to serve on the new Task Force.
Wang
(Geography) asked if Provost Smith would consider a campus-wide University
minimum pay raise for promotions. The
Provost stated that it was difficult to find one size to fit all and that
discussions will continue.
Willson
(Medicine) stated that the
Tabrizi
(Technology and Computer Science) stated that ECU was awarded funds to develop
a Rave/Cave Virtual Reality System and wondered why it now no longer
exists. The Deans were to inform the
faculty of its decision.
Agenda Item
IV. Unfinished Business
There was
no unfinished business to come before the Faculty Senate at this time.
Agenda Item
V. Report of Committees
A.
University
Curriculum Committee
Ellen Arnold
(English), Co-Chair of the Committee, presented the curriculum
matters contained in the minutes of the December 8, 2005, and January 12, 2006, Committee
meetings. There was no discussion
and the curriculum matters were approved as presented. RESOLUTION #06-01
B. Committee
on Committees
Henry
Ferrell (History), Chair of the Committee, first presented the nominees for one
delegate and one alternate to the UNC Faculty Assembly Delegation. The following (noted in bold print)
were elected to serve as the University’s Delegation
with terms expiring in 2009.
UNC Faculty
Assembly Delegates Ballot 1 2 3
|
Charles Boklage |
Medicine |
10 |
9 |
3 |
|
Connie Ciesielski |
Technology and Computer Science |
12 |
16 |
5 |
|
Gregg Givens |
Allied Health Sciences |
9 |
2 |
1 |
|
David Rosenthal |
Business |
3 |
-- |
-- |
|
Ralph Scott |
Academic
Library Services |
5 |
-- |
-- |
|
Ken
Wilson |
Sociology |
12 |
22 |
39 |
UNC
Faculty Assembly Delegates
Ballot 1 2
|
Charles Boklage |
Medicine |
13 |
5 |
|
Connie
Ciesielski |
Technology
and Computer Science |
27 |
39 |
|
Gregg Givens |
Allied Health Sciences |
5 |
2 |
|
David Rosenthal |
Business |
2 |
1 |
Professor Ferrell then presented the second reading of the proposed new
University Environment Committee charge.
There was no discussion and the proposed new standing Academic Committee
was approved as presented. RESOLUTION
#06-02
C. Educational Policies and Planning
Committee
Dale Knickerbocker (Foreign
Languages and Literatures), Chair of the Committee, presented several items of
business for information only. Those included: request to change name from BSBA
in Management Accounting to BSBA in Accounting, request to establish a
Bioprocess Manufacturing concentration in the BS Industrial Technology degree
program, request to establish a MS in Software Engineering, notice of Intent to
Plan a BA degree program in African-American/Black Studies, and request to
change the BS degrees in Special Education. There was no discussion on this
committee report.
D. Faculty Welfare Committee
Bill Sugar
(Education), Chair of the Committee, presented a resolution on health
insurance. Long (History) asked who administers the current healthcare plan and
who makes the decisions on coverage.
John Toller (Associate Vice Chancellor for Human Resources) noted that
the legislature oversees the current plan.
Glascoff
(Health and Human Performance) noted that employees with low salaries were also
included in this plan and that the current healthcare plan places a burden on
them. Willson (Medicine) stated that he
supported the resolution and that those who oversee the plan should consider
eliminating the co-pay required for University employees when seeing ECU
physicians.
Following
discussion, the proposed resolution on health insurance was approved as
presented.
RESOLUTION
#06-03
E. University Athletics Committee
Mark Taggart
(Music) presented a resolution on practical measures to reduce the class days
missed due to athletic competition.
There was no discussion and the proposed resolution was approved as
presented. RESOLUTION #06-04
F. Admission and Retention Policies
Committee
Larry Seese
(Business) presented a proposed revision to the ECU Undergraduate Catalog, Section 5. Academic Regulations,
relating to Class Attendance and Participation Regulations. Following a brief discussion, the proposed
revision to the catalog was approved as presented. RESOLUTION #06-05
Agenda Item VI. New Business
There was no new business to come before the
Respectfully
submitted,
Christine
Zoller Lori
Lee
Secretary
of the Faculty Administrative
Officer
Department
of English Faculty
Senate office
FACULTY SENATE
RESOLUTIONS APPROVED AT THE JANUARY 31, 2006, MEETING
06-01 Curriculum matters contained in the minutes of the December
8, 2005, and January
12, 2006, Committee meetings.
Disposition: Chancellor
06-02
New
Academic University Environment Committee.
Disposition:
Chancellor
06-03 Health Insurance.
Whereas,
Whereas,
Whereas, an affordable and effective
health plan is one of the primary incentives for recruiting and retaining
current faculty and staff members; and
Whereas, an affordable and effective
health plan should promote health and wellness for its members; and
Whereas, the cost of health
insurance coverage continues to increase without increasing benefits for its
members, thereby decreasing the affordability and dollar value of this
coverage; and
Whereas, the existing system does
not provide incentives to East Carolina University faculty and staff members to
better utilize its regional medical resources (e.g., ECU Physicians) for their
health needs; and
Whereas, 158 East Carolina
University faculty and staff members have opted out of the university’s free coverage because of the current
plan’s costly deductible and limited coverage.
Therefore Be It Resolved that, the
Faculty Senate strongly recommends that Chancellor Ballard request University
of North Carolina President Bowles make an affordable and effective health plan
a top priority on his North Carolina state legislative agenda; and
Therefore Be It Further Resolved
that the Faculty Senate strongly recommends that Chancellor Ballard contact
University of North Carolina President Bowles to emphasize the need to
implement the pilot study of more effective health coverage for University of
North Carolina employees.
Disposition:
Chancellor
06-04 Practical measures to reduce the class days
missed due to athletic competition.
Whereas, the Conference USA Mission
states that the conference is to: (1) support the primary education mission of
member institutions and (2) protect and promote the welfare of
student-athletes. (p 129)
Whereas, the Conference USA Guiding
Principles state that the conference “places its highest value upon high
academic achievement. The student first, the athlete second.”
Whereas, Conference
Whereas, the 2005 Conference USA
Women’s Soccer Championship required the
Whereas, the student athletes
competing on the ECU men’s basketball missed an average of 14 class days due to
CUSA games during the 2001 to 2004 seasons.
Whereas, the student athletes
competing on the ECU volleyball missed an average of 8 class days due to CUSA
games during the 2001 to 2004 seasons.
Therefore, Be It Resolved that
the East Carolina Faculty Senate requests that the Athletic Director and
Chancellor work with other Conference USA members to take all practical
measures to reduce the class days missed due to athletic competition.
These measures should include but not be limited to:
§
The
timely completion of a study that applies standardized measures to determine
the extent of the problem across the conference.
§
Establishing
specific policies resulting in a 25% reduction in missed class days over a
two-year period.
§
Eliminating
scheduling of mid-week conference contests whenever practical.
§
Creating
conference tournament schedules that do not conflict with the primary academic
mission of the conference members.
Disposition:
Chancellor
06-05 Revision to the ECU Undergraduate Catalog, Section 5. Academic Regulations,
relating to Class Attendance and Participation Regulations.
Disposition:
Chancellor