FACULTY SENATE
FULL MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 4, 2008
The third
regular meeting of the 2008-2009
Agenda Item I. Call to Order
Janice Tovey, Chair of the Faculty called the meeting to
order at 2:10 p.m.
Agenda Item II. Approval of Minutes
The minutes of September
9, 2008, and October
7, 2008, were approved as distributed.
Agenda Item III. Special Order of the Day
A. Roll Call
Senators absent were: Professors Wilson
(Sociology/Parliamentarian), Zoller (Art and Design), Schmidt (Biology),
Greene, McFadden, and Stapleton (Education), Glascoff (Health and Human
Performance), Schenarts (Medicine), Eason and McAuliffe (Nursing), Ciesielski
(Technology and Computer Science), and Niswander (Business/Academic Deans
Representative).
Alternates present were: Professors Delvecchio for Christian
(Business), Felts for Vail-Smith (Health and Human Performance), Pravica for
Robinson (Mathematics), Larson for Jesse (Nursing), and Gopalakrishnan for
Pagliari (Technology and Computer Science).
B. Announcements
The
Chancellor has approved the following resolutions from the October Senate meeting:
08-41 Guidelines for Preparing a Cumulative
Evaluation.
08-42 Revisions to the ECU Faculty
Manual, Appendix B. Policy for the Cumulative
Review of Permanently Tenured
Faculty of ECU.
Professor Bob Morrison (Chemistry and Past Chair of the Faculty) graciously
agreed to serve as Parliamentarian during the meeting due to Professor Ken
Wilson’s illness.
We have the following vacancies on standing University Committees
and ask that anyone interested please contact Janice Tovey, Chair of the
Faculty, at toveyj@ecu.edu.
·
Continuing and
Career Education Committee,
·
Libraries Committee,
regular member (2009 term)
·
Teaching
Grants Committee, regular member (2009 and 2010 terms)
Letters concerning unit elections for 2009-2010
Faculty members not located on main
campus (Allied Health Sciences, Health and Human Performance, Health Sciences
Library, Medicine, and Nursing,) and who serve on various academic standing
committees are reminded of special courtesy parking permits available from the
office of Parking and Transportation Services.
Special Courtesy Permits allow faculty members attending meetings, etc. to
park in "A1/B1” lots on main campus.
These permits are issued to unit heads at no charge and are to be used
in conjunction with a paid parking permit. Additional information is available
from Parking and Transportation Services at 328-1961.
C. Steve
Ballard, Chancellor
Chancellor Ballard stated budget cuts continue to hold his
attention. The 2% cut had been announced and ECU has been asked to prepare for
a 4% cut. This is a reversion so it is not a permanent cut at this time. While
this has not been officially requested by the governor, General Administration
and President Bowles has asked every campus in the system to prepare for a 6%
cut. For purposes of comparison a 2% cut of state funds for ECU equates to
approximately $5 million. So we are looking at a $15 million potential
reversion for this year. Ten million of this we have been told to make plans
for and we have been told to plan for an additional $5 million to occur shortly
after the election. As a rule of thumb 80% of these cuts will be from the east
Campus and the remaining 20% will be from the west campus.
A memorandum has already been distributed by Vice Chancellor
for Administration and Finance, Kevin Seitz on activities that ECU has been
considering to save funds. For the most part these cost saving measures have
been to not fill vacancies, restricted travel (except at the faculty level),
increase conservation and efficiency efforts in all of our activities, and
minimize, if not cancel, any purchases. All of these savings simply go into an
account that can be used when the state withholds funding. In summary $5
million has already been returned; we expect another $ 5 million to be withheld
any day, and it is very likely that a third $5 million will be with held very
soon. If there are no more than $10 million in reversions this year, we think we will be able to manage it with
the restrictions that every Vice Chancellor has imposed on their division. We
are hoping that we do not get the 6% cut; but we are planning on it.
Chancellor Ballard stated that the $15 million could become
permanent when the legislature settles on the budget in June or July of next
year. That could require some different
business models and ways to provide services, such as more outsourcing, slower
services in many cases, loss of many middle management positions (EPA-non faculty),
and loss all non-faculty vacancies. The Chancellor stressed that he would keep
the
Chancellor Ballard stated that, regarding campus-based
tuition, ECU was trying to determine if we will charge our students more
tuition and fees for next Fall. ECU has the option to do this within a limit of
6.5 percent established by the UNC Board of Governors, but that is on a sliding
scale depending on the amount of money that is provided to the legislature. He
stated that the process involved seeking input from student affairs and student
services before a decision was made in regard to campus-based tuition and a
request forwarded to the Board of Trustees in November. At present, the
proposal will be a $70 tuition increase and a $30 fee increase for each
student. That would be a little less than a 2.5% fee increase to all students
for the cost of education. The $30 fee increase would be divided between a $10
health service fee and, perhaps, a $10-20 athletic fee at the undergraduate
level. There is still some agreement necessary between the Athletics Department
and student leadership on this amount. There are Board mandates that state at
least 25% of any tuition increase must go to financial aid and 25% of any
increase must go to faculty salaries given the effort to raise faculty salaries
to the 80th percentile of the salaries of their peers. The
Chancellor stated that his approach would be to put 50-60% of the tuition increase
in financial aid given the nature of the ECU student body. There are other fees
not covered by the 6.5 percent cap in the Brody School of Medicine and for MBA
students at the
A 2009-2011
Budget Memorandum from Rob Nelson was distributed to each Faculty Senator.
The Chancellor highlighted that the operating budget is the same as it has been
and that a $330 million expansion budget has been proposed by President Bowles.
ECU did reasonably well for requests in the operating budget, with some money
expected for faculty salaries. Planning money for the new
D. Deirdre Mageean, Vice Chancellor for Research
and Graduate Studies
Vice Chancellor Mageean provided an annual report on
research and updates on activities with the Carnegie Engagement
Classification and UNC
Tomorrow Phase II. A printed copy of the second annual report of the
Research and Graduate Studies was provided to each Faculty Senator. Vice
Chancellor Mageean explained aspects of the report, which included the six
interdisciplinary centers. She reported that there was an increase in research awards
from $38 million to $45 million this year and that there was also an increase
in start-up funds for faculty. VC
Mageean stated that the return on investments for start-up grants for faculty
was better than the return in the stock market last year. She extended congratulations
to faculty who were grant recipients and to those who used their grant money
wisely. The division of indirect rewards from the federal government was also discussed
with percentages of the 30% overhead going to faculty and individual academic
units.
VC Mageean stated that an effort has been made, with the
associate deans for research, to improve the data on grants, stating that improved
metrics on research dollars will assist in sound decision making. Another effort noted by Vice Chancellor
Mageean was the Science
at Starlight premier science networking
event. She stated that the Science at Starlight was a regional intellectual
exchange group designed to facilitate interaction and collaboration among
university and corporate scientists and engineers and that this activity
has helped build a community of scholars; with a similar organization being proposed
for fine arts and the humanities.
VC Mageean stated that, in regard to UNC Tomorrow Phase Two,
committees were meeting regularly to produce a report in December that would indicate
implementation efforts for the directions established in the first phase. She stated that, in regard to the Carnegie
Engagement Classification effort, the report was originally
submitted in September and a response was expected back in December. Open
forums will be held featuring Dr. Clarke and Dr. Cowling about the Carnegie
experience at N.C. State. VC Mageean
also briefly mentioned efforts underway with the Scholarship of Engagement and
undergraduate research. Following her remarks, no questions were posed to Vice
Chancellor Mageean at this time.
E. Janice Tovey,
Chair of the Faculty
Professor Tovey provided a summary
of the discussions at the three open forums on the Strategic
Enrollment Management Task Force Report and recommendations. She stated that she had charged the Admission
and Retention Policies Committee and the Academic Standards Committee with
beginning the discussion of the items in 2.8 of the Task Force report since
these are policies related to admission, retention, and grade replacement. She has
asked them to work together with members of the Task Force and solicit faculty
input from within the campus community and review the recommendations and prepare
appropriate policy and procedures recommendations for
Chair Tovey stated reminded the Faculty Senators that there
were many other items in the Task Force report that should be addressed by the
No questions were posed to Chair Tovey at this time.
F. Approval of the Fall 2008 Graduation Roster, including
honors program graduates.
Professor Walker (Allied Health Sciences) moved approval of
the Fall 2008 Graduation Roster, including
honors program graduates. RESOLUTION
#08-44
Following approval of the Fall 2008 Graduation Roster, Professor
Taggart (Music) congratulated Lori Lee, who works with the
G Hunt McKinnon, Faculty Assembly
Delegate
Professor McKinnon provided Faculty Senators a written
report on the October 24, 2008, Faculty Assembly meeting. Within this
report is a desire on the part of UNC-General Administration to form a
committee to look at best practices for the employment of fixed term faculty
within the university system. Professor
Martinez (Foreign Languages and Literatures) stated that, in reference to the discussion
of the 49% of fixed term faculty, she wondered if the large percentage was seen
as having a negative impact on academia and wondered what were the implications
for tenured faculty and the landscape of the
H. Question
Period
Professor Brown (Psychology) stated that in reference to the
Final Exam policy, was it the Provost’s assumption that faculty must occupy the
student’s time for the entire length of time allotted for their final exam. Provost
Sheerer responded no; the use of the final exam period is left up to the
professor of the course.
Professor Martinez (Foreign
Languages and Literatures) asked Chancellor Ballard if additional items should
be added to faculty responsibilities in addition to teaching, research, and
service, such as collegiality.
Chancellor Ballard
replied that he had heard discussion on adding engagement but was not sure that
congeniality should be included. Provost
Sheerer stated that if faculty wish to have something like that included, then faculty
should craft a proposal and present it for discussion. University Attorney Donna Payne stated that collegiality
among all members of the University community was beneficial and that this had
already been included as a part of various Board of Governors’ policies. Therefore, it was something that should be
discussed on campus especially related to teaching.
Professor Sharer (English) asked for updates on SACS committees
and timelines. Chair Tovey stated that
this information is on the SACS website and would be distributed to everyone. Professor
Rigsby stated that she would like to see a full listing of the SACS groups that
include faculty involvement. Professor
Rigsby then asked Chair Tovey to make sure that this information was made available
for all within the University, stating that the various working groups involved
with assessment, etc. needed faculty input.
Chair Tovey agreed to provide that information to the Faculty Senators
as soon as possible.
Agenda Item IV. Unfinished Business
A. Academic
Standards Committee
Professor Linda Wolfe
(Anthropology), Chair of the Committee, presented several requests from the
Administrative Service Learning Committee that included Service Learning
criteria, request to have the “SL” designation included in the University
Undergraduate Catalog for all courses approved by the Administrative Service
Learning Committee, and a SL
designation form in the Service Learning Course Submission Process.
Professor Sharer (English) noted if,
in reference to ENGL 1100 and ENGL 1200 courses, these courses, when involving
service learning, could be listed separately in the catalogs and online. Since not all ENGL 1100 and ENGL 1200 courses
involved service learning. Angela Anderson, University Registrar, replied that
the service learning component would be designated in the catalog online by
section like writing intensive courses.
Professor Rigsby (Geology) asked who
oversaw the University Service Learning Committee and appointed its
members. Professor Wolfe stated that
currently Professor Sharon Ballard in Child Development and Family Relations
was the chair and that she was unsure how the membership was appointed. Professor
Rigsby (Geology) expressed concern about the courses that really do require
heavy time and involvement for the service learning component.
Following discussion, the Service
Learning criteria, request to have the “SL” designation included in the
University Undergraduate Catalog for all courses approved by the University Service
Learning Committee, and a SL
designation form in the Service Learning Course Submission Process were
approved as presented. RESOLUTION #08-45
B. Educational Policies and Planning
Committee
Professor
Sandra Warren (Education), Chair of the Committee first presented the
Professor
Warren then presented a Request
for Authorization to Establish New Distance Education Degree Program for a MAEd
in Family and Consumer Sciences Education in the Department of Child
Development and Family Relations. There
was no discussion and the request for authorization was approved as
presented. RESOLUTION #08-47
Professor Warren then presented a Notification of Intent to Plan (Distance
Education) BSBA
in Management in the
C. Faculty Grievance Committee
Professor Matt Mahar
(Health and Human Performance), Vice Chair of the Committee, presented the Overview
of 2007-2008 Committee Activities. There
were three grievances last year all from tenured faculty. There was no
discussion and the report was accepted as presented.
Agenda Item V. Report of Committees
A. Academic Standards Committee
Professor Linda Wolfe first presented ENGL 3920: Film Theory
and Criticism for approval of Foundations Curriculum Course for
Humanities. There was no discussion and
the Foundations Curriculum Course for Humanities was approved as presented. RESOLUTION #08-49
Professor Linda Wolfe (Anthropology), Chair of the Committee
then presented a proposed new “NR” grade for those courses for which the instructor/faculty member
fails to turn in a grade. Professor Taggart (Music) stated that he was surprised about
this topic and asked how many cases were involved. Angela Anderson, University Registrar replied
over 500.
Professor Coleman (Medicine) asked about possibly using another
designation. His concern was that the “NR” Not Recorded designated made it seem
as if the faculty member was not capable of doing what was needed; the response
was that this was exactly the intent.
The designation would isolate faculty members who do not
enter grades and to distinguish between this and work that was not completed by
the student.
Professor MacGilvray (Medicine) asked what the motivation
was for faculty who failed to complete this aspect of their responsibilities.
It was noted that there could possibly be an extreme emergency that prevented a
faculty member from turning in grades, but that the large number of instances
created a problem for students and a remedy to this was needed. Professor
Gopalakrishnan (Technology and Computer Science) stated that he considered this
a gross negligence of duty on the part of the faculty member.
Professor Romack (Chemistry) asked if this had been tracked over
a period of time and, if so, what happened to the faculty members who failed to
do their job. He stated that he had used the “I” designation before, knowing
that it would turn into an “F” because the student failed to complete the
required coursework. Angela Anderson
(Registrar) noted the number of times that this has occurred in the past and
stated that she was not aware of anything being done to faculty members who
fail to complete this task.
Professor Rigsby (Geology) stated that the current proposal
from the committee failed to provide a provision for a timeline and if not
included in the resolution and asked if “NR” designation was meant to continue
throughout the student’s time in school.
It was stated yes. Professor Wang
(Geography) asked when would the “NR” be generated in Banner. Angela Anderson, (Registrar) replied within
20 minutes of the final deadline for grades.
Professor Walker (Allied Health Sciences) asked how would
the “NR” impact academic standing eligibility and were there differences
between the use of “I” and “NR”. The response was that the “NR” would not have
a negative impact on the student grade.
Professor
Gopalakrishnan (Technology and Computer Science) stated that currently, when faculty assign incomplete
grades and the deadline by which the incomplete needs to be removed passes by,
the grade changes to “F” from “I” automatically. He noted that he would like to see this
particular policy changed. He suggested
that when a faculty assigns incomplete grades, the faculty be asked to complete
a form in which the faculty should specify as to what grade the "I"
should revert to if a further report is not filed before the deadline for the
removal of the incomplete grade. This way the faculty does not have to file
additional paperwork in case the student fails to do additional assigned work. For example, a faculty might have decided
that the grade of a student should be “C” and in case they do the
additional work (which they missed in the regular semester due to illness for
about three weeks) their grade should be “B”. In that case, the faculty
should be asked to complete a form assigning “I” grade to the student and stating
in the same form that the "I" grade should revert to “C”, in case no
additional report is filed before the deadline for the removal of the
incomplete grade.
Professor Rigsby
(Geology) stated that she understood the need for the “I” designation, however
the recommendation to the
B. Educational Policies and Planning
Committee
Professor Sandra
Warren (Education), Chair of the Committee, presented first the proposed Guidelines
for Unit Academic Program Review.
Professor Pravica
(Mathematics) moved to include a reference to the unit codes in two sections of
the document. First, under the heading
Unit Offering the Undergraduate and/or Graduate Program, it was moved to add in
the first sentence the following text noted in parentheses, The unit chair is responsible for consulting
with IPR and for organizing unit faculty “following the procedures prescribed
in the unit codes”…. And, under the
heading Unit Program Review Schedule,
it was moved to add to the second sentence under #2 the following text noted in
parentheses, “Unless otherwise specified
by the unit code,” the unit undergraduate program coordinator (UUPC), the unit
graduate program….
Professor Rigsby
(Geology) spoke in favor of the motion to make the guidelines more clear so
that these proposed guidelines and action from them do not contradict what is
stated in the various unit codes. Professor Jenkins (History) asked what if
nothing was included in a unit’s guidelines.
Professor Bauer (Foreign Languages and Literatures) replied that it
should be and if the unit code did not address this, then faculty have nothing
else to follow but the guidelines being proposed to the Senate.
Professor Coleman
(Medicine) asked if this document would be made a part of the ECU Faculty Manual. Chair Tovey responded no, stating that this
document would be housed in the Division of Academic Affairs and probably
placed, by Associate Vice Chancellor Linner Griffin, on a University website
for easy retrieval.
Following discussion
the motion to amend the guidelines was approved as presented and the proposed Guidelines
for Unit Academic Program Review were approved as amended. RESOLUTION #08-51
Professor Warren then
presented the proposed Guidelines for Reviewing Low Productivity/Low Enrollment
Programs. For information, links to two General Administration memorandums were
provided to the Faculty Senators prior to the meeting: July 2008 Memorandum on Budget
(page 2 of attachment
2) and September 2008
Memorandum on Productivity
Study.
Professor Brown
(Psychology)asked for an explanation under Admission/Graduation Criteria and Statistics section of the phrase ” Are admission or graduation criteria so rigorous as to
significantly limit admissions or graduation rates but result in high caliber
student or graduate population?” Chair
Tovey responded that any way that faculty
can use these guidelines would be beneficial.
Professor Martinez (Foreign Languages and Literatures) noted her thanks
to the Chair of the Faculty and the committee for addressing this issue and for
the administration for allowing faculty input prior to implementation. Following
discussion, the proposed Guidelines for Reviewing Low Productivity/Low Enrollment
Programs were approved as presented. RESOLUTION #08-52
Professor Warren then
presented a proposed Change
in Placement of Military Programs, including minors in Professional Officer
Course (Air Force) and Military Science (Army) into the
Professor Warren then
presented a proposed Change
in Name of the Master’s Degree in Speech Language Pathology to
Communication Sciences and Disorders.
There was no discussion and the proposed change in name of the Master’s
Degree in Speech Language Pathology was approved as presented. RESOLUTION
#08-54
C. Research/Creative Activity Grants
Committee
Professor Paul Gares
(Geography), Chair of the Committee, presented revised Guidelines for the
2009/2010 Research/Creative Activity Grants. He noted that these guidelines removed
the appeal process because since adding it two years ago, there had been a lot
of confusion and the timeframe did not allow for appeals once the recommendations
had been forwarded to the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate
Studies.
Professor Pravica (Mathematics)
asked if faculty members, who had accidently not followed the submission
guidelines, could be given a day to revise their materials if found to be out
of line. Professor Gares replied that it
was not possible due to the timeframe given and he reminded Faculty Senators that
large, universal granting agencies did not provide opportunities for
resubmission either. Following discussion, the revised guidelines were approved
as presented. RESOLUTION #08-55
D. University Curriculum Committee
Professor Jane Manner
(Education), a member of the committee presented the curriculum matters
contained in the September
11, 2008 and October
9, 2008 committee meeting minutes. There was no discussion and the University Curriculum
Committee minutes of September 11, 2008 and October 9, 2008 were approved as
presented. RESOLUTION #08-56
E. University Environment Committee
Professor
Jill Twark (Foreign Languages and Literatures) presented a resolution on Green
Space and Heritage Trees. She stated that there were a lot of activities that took
place on campus that damaged trees, landscape, etc. when there were other areas
that remained underutilized that should be considered. Following discussion,
the resolution on Green Space and Heritage Trees was approved as
presented. RESOLUTION #08-57
The meeting adjourned at 4:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Hunt McKinnon Lori
Lee
Secretary of the Faculty
Department of Interior Design and Merchandising
FACULTY SENATE
RESOLUTIONS APPROVED AT THE NOVEMBER 4, 2008, MEETING
08-44 Fall
2008 Graduation Roster, including honors program graduates.
Disposition: Chancellor
08-45 Service Learning criteria, request to have the
“SL” designation included in the University Undergraduate Catalog for all
courses approved by the University Service Learning Committee, and a SL designation form in the Service
Learning Course Submission Process.
Disposition: Chancellor
08-46
Disposition: Chancellor
08-47 Request for
Authorization to Establish New Distance Education Degree Program for a
MAEd
in Family and Consumer Sciences Education.
Disposition: Chancellor
08-48 Notification
of Intent to Plan (Distance Education) BSBA
in Management and a Notification of Intent to Plan (Distance Education) BSBA
in Management Information Systems.
Disposition: Chancellor
08-49 Approval of ENGL 3920:
Film Theory and Criticism as a Foundations Curriculum Course
for
Humanities.
Disposition: Chancellor
08-50 Return of the proposed “NR” designation policy to the
Academic Standards Committee for
consideration of provisions for
removal and appeals, similar to the current incompletes
policy.
Disposition: Academic Standards Committee
08-51 Guidelines
for Unit Academic Program Review
Disposition: Chancellor
08-52 Guidelines for Reviewing Low Productivity/Low Enrollment
Programs.
Disposition: Chancellor
08-53 Change
in Placement of Military Programs, including minors in Professional Officer
Course (Air Force) and Military Science (Army) into the
Disposition: Chancellor
08-54 Change
in Name of the Master’s Degree in Speech Language Pathology to
Communication
Sciences and Disorders.
Disposition: Chancellor
08-55 Revised Guidelines for
the 2009/2010 Research/Creative Activity Grants.
Disposition:
08-56 Curriculum matters contained in the September
11, 2008 and October
9, 2008 committee
meeting minutes.
Disposition: Chancellor
08-57 Resolution on
Green Space and Heritage Trees.
Disposition: Chancellor