FACULTY SENATE
FULL MINUTES OF DECEMBER 5, 2006
The fourth regular meeting of the 2006-2007
Agenda Item I. Call
to Order
Mark Taggart, Chair of the Faculty called the meeting to
order at 2:10 p.m.
Agenda Item II.
Approval of Minutes
The minutes of November
7, 2006, were approved as presented.
Agenda Item III.
Special Order of the Day
A. Roll Call
Senators absent were: Professors Rastatter (Allied Health
Sciences), Zoller (Art), Reisch and Schisler (Business), Grymes (Music), Wilson
(Sociology), Vice Chancellor Mageean, Academic Deans’ Representative Niswander,
and Past Faculty Chair Rigsby.
Alternates present were: Professors Coonin for Winstead
(Academic Library Services), Eble for Deena (English), and Alligood for Rose
(Nursing).
B. Announcements
A
special thanks was extended to
Chancellor Steve Ballard for providing the additional food and wine for the meeting.
It was noted that Vice Chancellor Mageean was in Washington,
DC this week and unable to attend the Faculty Senate meeting.
In an effort to enhance security controls on passphrase resets,
ITCS will implement changes to its passphrase reset procedures. Users are
currently encouraged to register in Signup and use this process to change their
PirateID passphrase. Although many users have registered, large percentages do
not change their passphrase via Signup. Effective 2/01/07, the ITCS Helpdesk will no longer reset PirateID passphrases via the
telephone for campus
users. All PirateID passphrase resets for campus users will occur via Signup or
users will have to provide proof of identity for PirateID passphrase resets.
ITCS has begun an awareness campaign immediately to inform the campus community
of the upcoming changes. Training sessions and awareness training will occur
prior to 2/01/07 to provide details on how to use Signup (PID) to reset
passphrases. All users who call into the ITCS Helpdesk will receive assistance
on how to register and use Signup. The ITCS Helpdesk will walk users through
how to use Signup if they have any issues with the process. We also will
provide resource at the Technology Resource center to provide assistance if
they need hands-on support. Plans are to review all centrally managed user
accounts (MVS, Banner, IDX, etc.) and apply measures to confirm the identity of
those users also. These efforts will improve security while providing a more
convenient method of resetting passphrases. You may visit http://author.ecu.edu/cs-itcs/itsecurity/PassphraseReset.cfm
for more details of the upcoming changes. IT Security is available to provide
additional information or to meet with any department or group to discuss the
changes and receive any feedback or suggestions. Please direct any questions to
Margaret Streeter, Interim Director of IT Security at 328-9187 or streeterm@ecu.edu.
The
Chancellor will host a
The Committee on
Committees has been charged to seek volunteers to serve on the various
academic, appellate, administrative, Board of Trustees, and student union
committees. Faculty are strongly
encouraged to participate in this component of shared faculty governance and
complete a volunteer form by February 16, 2007. Committee appointments will be finalized at the April 24,
2007, Faculty Senate meeting. Faculty members have two ways to note their
preference for service on the various standing University committees:
1) On
OneStop under Employee Section, faculty members click on “Faculty Committee
Volunteer
Form”
and complete the committee volunteer preference form.
2) A
faculty member may complete the volunteer preference form that is available on
the Faculty
Senate web site at http://www.ecu.edu/data-fsonline/committee/callforvolunteers.htm
Letters concerning unit elections for 2007-2008
Science magazine, with back issues of Science to 1880, and full access to the
News and Collections sections, is now available to ECU users via a campus-wide
subscription. Our users have online
access to Science and ScienceNOW through the efforts of Joyner
and Laupus Libraries. Science has the largest paid circulation
of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world, with an estimated
total readership of 1 million. It
regularly ranks as one of the most highly-cited journals, as measured by ISI. Science is published by the American
Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world's largest general
scientific society. Science can be
accessed from the libraries’ home pages using the link for E-Journal Locator, and through SFX
Citation Linker and ECU’s SFX “Find
It” service. Be sure to click on the
link for “Get full text from ...
Publisher’s Web Site.” There are
over 150,000 articles dating back to the era of the first editor of Science, Thomas A. Edison. All articles are accessible in .PDF
format. If you have questions about
accessing Science, please contact the Joyner Library Reference Desk at
252.328.6677 or the Laupus Library Service Desk at 252.744.2230.
The Chancellor commented upon changes in the Health
Sciences. He informed the Senate that the Faculty Practice Plan has been used
as a “savings account” to subvention financial shortfalls, and that $25 million
of its reserves have been spent over the last 5 years. He stated that financial
stresses do not problems with the quality of services rendered, but rather
environmental changes challenging all public medical centers. These have arisen
principally due to 1998 Federal Balanced Budget legislation. Community based
medical centers in particular have struggled because they provide primary care
and do not own their partner hospitals. They therefore proportionally receive
less federal funding relative to hospitals. He recognized that ECU has
responded slowly to these systemic challenges in comparison to its peer
institutions, whose leaders see solidification of financial solvency as a 5-10 year
process. He emphasized that changes will not negatively affect ECU’s
fulfillment of its mission. While ECU cannot control environmental factors, it
is working on every variable it can influence: mix of services; expectations of
partners, especially insurance reimbursement rates; renegotiating many aspects
of its partnership with the hospital, increasing research funds for
infrastructure, and increased in fundraising (including a $2.5 million gift for
a geriatric center from the Monk family).
Chancellor Ballard indicated that he will address Senate on
the activities of the President’s Advisory Committee on Effectiveness and
Efficiency in the near future. Professor Ballard informed the Senate that four
key searches have been or soon will be initiated. Two of these are underway
(Associate Vice Chancellor for Economic Development, Director of Government
Affairs), and copies of
information on these positions are available in the Faculty Senate office and
on the Human Resources Position website. The other two searches
will begin early in January (Chief Diversity Officer, Vice Chancellor for
Student Life).
Levine (Medicine): Do you have a timeline for hiring a
permanent Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences? Dr. Ballard responded that the
organizational structure of the division must first be overhauled to reduce
administrative expenses and attract appropriate candidates. He is presently
receiving input from the consulting group and others, and tentatively would
like the process to begin by mid-spring.
Cope (Psychology): In light of the upcoming Board of
Trustees meeting in which the Yardley report will be discussed, what changes
have been made in their document and which draft will the Trustees be seeing?
The Chancellor stated that he was unable to answer as he did not have that
information, but that it was his understanding that changes had been made, that
Vice Chancellor Mageean has had discussions with the Trustees, and that the
process continues.
D. Jim Smith, Provost and Vice Chancellor for
Academic Affairs
With respect to problems in the Financial Aid Office over
the last two years, Provost Smith assured the Senate that Academic Affairs, Dr.
Henry Peele, and Stacy Tronto from the Auditor’s Office have been working on
correcting the situation, that they will report to the Board of Trustees next
week, and that new controls have been in place for about a year to ensure past
mistakes are not repeated. He will report further probably in January.
He thanked the faculty for their work in 2006, especially in
the area of promotion and tenure. He expressed that he is always impressed with
the PADS, and promised to evaluate them in their proper context.
Professor Smith noted that, in keeping with its policy of
transparency, the Senate had received the administration’s position memorandum
concerning the budget and resource allocation. He reaffirmed his willingness to
meet with the Budget Committee to discuss it.
Provost Smith thanked the faculty for their work on faculty
searches. He noted that projections indicate that in the decade ending in 2009,
the number of faculty at ECU will have increased by 50%. He stated that ECU
does not do diversity hires for three reasons: they are illegal, they are
insulting to faculty who might be hired in that way, and they might produce
backlash in personnel decisions. He affirmed that the appropriate way to
diversify the faculty is through the enrichment of candidate pools.
With regard to integrated planning, he stated his belief
that we are close to finishing an ECU Planning Document. He emphasized that
divisional goals should not stand between college and school goals. Changes in
academic areas should be based on best practices. He observed that some reforms
are needed in support areas, such as fixing IPRE and academic program
development.
Professor Smith noted that only nine faculty members had
signed up to attend the commencement ceremony, that this number is
insufficient, and appealed to more faculty to step forward.
The Provost affirmed that the new child care group is still
being formed, and that from recommendations made so far he believes new child
care services could be made available in between 1-3 years.
Allen (Chemistry) stated that he was approached in
confidence by a student who complained that an instructor spends an inordinate
amount of class time discussing political matters unrelated to the stated goals
of the course, and asked for advice on how to respond to such concerns. Provost
Smith said that if the faculty member does not feel that (s)he can work it out
directly with the person, nor that it is advisable for the student to approach
the chair, that he would be willing to talk with the student personally.
E. Mark Taggart,
Chair of the Faculty
Professor Taggart offered congratulations to faculty authors who were
recognized at the Division of Health Sciences 2nd Annual Faculty
Recognition Awards. He also offered a
special thanks to Dr. Dorothy Spencer for organizing the event. Dr. Taggart
thanked the Faculty Senators and alternates from the Brody School of Medicine
who met with him for a lunch meeting on November 28th. It was important that we keep our lines of
communication open during these times of transition for the School of Medicine
and Health Sciences Division.
Dr. Taggart
noted that plans were being finalized for the University’s Centennial
Celebration that begins on March 8, 2007.
This is the 100th year anniversary of the legislation that
was passed to create ECU. He asked
Senators to please save time on their calendar next spring for these important
centennial events.
Vice
Chancellor Deirdre Mageean, Associate vice Chancellor Paul Gemperline and Dean
of the Graduate School Patrick Pellicane have stated that they have been
meeting with individual colleges in order to discuss the findings in the
Yardley Group report, or with any matters pertaining to graduate education at
ECU. He encouraged faculty to please
contact them if their college is interested in partaking in this discussion.
As you
know, the motto of East Carolina University is “to serve.” He stated that he says this, as we approach
that time of the year when the Committee on Committees solicits volunteers to
serve on our 21 Academic and 5 Appellate committees. Shared governance is most effective if it is
regularly infused with the spirit of volunteerism. Our committees regularly report their
progress right here on the Senate floor.
As you hear these reports, don’t forget the importance of informing your
colleagues of our committee work, as these recommendations will often reach far
beyond the Senate Floor and into our programs and classrooms.
Though the
Faculty Governance Committee was not reporting today, he briefed the Senators on
what would soon be coming from them. The
Committee has just completed another review of Part XII of the Faculty Manual,
and should also report to the Senate in the Spring on two more important elements
of shared faculty governance: on the recommendations made by the Fixed Term
Task Force and revisions to the Review of Administrative Officers.
As it is currently
written in the ECU Faculty Manual, a review of administrative officers should occur
during the March of the fourth year of the administrator’s service and during
March of every fourth year thereafter. In the case of code unit administrators,
the unit faculty’s vote on the effectiveness of the administrator shall occur
during the same semester. The Governance
Committee believes that the faculty of a college should also have a vote on the
effectiveness of their Dean as part of the review as well. Some colleges have
also just been recently created, where this review has yet to take place. Such
reviews are an important part of shared governance.
Professor
Taggart noted that it was his hope that the Faculty Governance Committee would
report soon on many of these important issues.
He noted that the Faculty Governance Committee is but one of many
committees that needs volunteers for the following year. So think of the University’s motto when you
receive the call to volunteer.
He
concluded with a reminder about commencement scheduled for December 16, 2006,
in Williams Arena in Minges Coliseum. He noted that those wishing to
participate should make reservations through OneStop. The ceremony would begin
with a band concert at 9:30 am and the commencement program at 10:00. He
asked that the faculty members please take this opportunity to listen to the
University’s excellent Wind Ensemble, directed by Dr. Scott Carter, noting that
they are one of the finest wind ensembles in the land!
There were
no questions posed to Professor Taggart.
F. Patricia Anderson,
Co-Chair of the Centennial Celebration Committee
Professor
Anderson led the Senate in a game of ECU Jeopardy. Senators’ scores were not
made public. She noted that the task force includes faculty, staff, student,
administration, and community members.
She then called Senator’s attention to the Centennial Celebration
schedule of on-campus, off-campus, and athletic events, all of which she noted
will be family oriented. She made specific mention of the Oct. 17, 2007 speaker
(p.4), whom a community women’s group helped recruit. She also noted Sept.
2009’s public meeting of the Servire Society (p.5), a prestigious scholarly
group, during which a summary of some points of distinction of ECU’s history
will be presented. Also in 2009 will be a back-in-time celebration in which
faculty and students will be asked to dress as they did when they first came to
the ECU campus. Each school and college will also be sponsoring
discipline-related activities. She informed the Senate that there is a
centennial planning office at 328-1907, and inquiries could be directed to her
or the staff there her or office. She promised further updates.
There were
no questions posed to Professor Anderson.
G. Question
Period
Faculty are encouraged to participate in the Question
Period of the
Sprague (Physics) asked
Provost Smith about the timeline for and nature of the searches for the
Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Program Development and Director of
Faculty Excellence.
Provost Smith noted that
that he had three internal people interested in the Academic Program position
and that there would probably not be a national search for either of these
positions in order to save money. He affirmed that faculty will be consulted
and represented in these searches.
Robinson (Math) encouraged
Provost Smith to continue to support ECU’s efforts to defend academic freedom,
noting that some professors have been targeted by students belonging to
political groups who have been planted in their classes.
Cope (Psychology) asked
Paul Gemperline, Associate Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Studies
about the status of the Yardley Report.
Professor Gemperline responded that the Yardley revisions are largely
complete, that he is waiting for the Research Division to confirm the accuracy
of data, and does not know what the exact date of completion will be.
Long (History) asked
Chancellor Ballard about the relationship with the School of Medicine and the
Pitt County Memorial Hospital; specifically, why weren’t they mutually
beneficial? The Chancellor responded that it was due to changes in federal and
state policies over the years, and the fact that the Faculty Practice Plan had
been financially successful for a number of years and for that reason had not
previously bee renegotiated.
Agenda Item IV.
Unfinished Business
Edson Justiniano, Chair of the Ad Hoc Committee on Yardley
Research Group Draft Report, provided a brief interim report on the Committee’s
activities. Professor Justiniano stated that the
6 members have met twice and participated in Yardley’s recent site visit. He
said they presented the opinion that the negative data and its analysis were
flawed and often self-contradictory, and expressed concern that the Board of
Trustees had seen such as version. There
were no questions posed to Professor Justiniano.
Agenda Item V. Report
of Committees
A. Academic
Standards Committee
Linda Wolfe (Anthropology), Chair of the Committee,
presented a recommendation by the Committee to grant SECS 1000, offered by the
Department of Political Science, Social Science Foundation Credit. There was no discussion and the
recommendation was approved as presented.
RESOLUTION #06-31
C. Educational
Policies and Planning Committee
Dale Knickerbocker (Foreign
Languages), Chair of the Committee, presented for information only a Request for
Authorization to Establish a New Distance Education Degree Program in Business Education with a
concentration in Communication Technologies, College of Education.
Roberts (Philosophy) stated that there was no information
about this online degree or the existing degree at the Continuing Education
website. Knickerbocker explained that the present program appears on the
Business Education web site, but that since only on-line programs are under the
aegis of Continuing Education, the program will not appear on that site until
it is approved for DE.
D. Faculty
Information Technology Review Committee
Karl Wuensch (Psychology), Chair
of the Committee, presented a brief overview of the need for online University
Undergraduate and Graduate Catalogs.
Linner Griffin, Interim Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Program,
presented a short presentation on how the new online catalog works.
Professor Griffin was asked if
hard copies would still be printed. She indicated that a very limited number
would be. She was then asked which would
be the official or “legal” version. She responded that backups would be made as
revisions were included, but that the online version would be official. She
noted that, presently, as revisions are made, dated links are inserted in the
on-line text to those changes. Following
discussion, the Committee was thanked for their informative report.
E. University
Curriculum Committee
Janice Neil (Nursing), Chair of the Committee, presented the
curriculum matters contained in the minutes of the November
9, 2006, Committee meeting. There was no discussion and the curriculum
matters were approved as presented. RESOLUTION
#06-33
Professor Neil than presented a review of the Liaison Pilot
Program and stated that it was the consensus of the Committee that the Liaison Model be continued as a
regular part of the University Curriculum Committee protocols. The option
to bring curriculum matters before the committee without the involvement of the
assigned liaison remains available. Faculty who
wish to bypass the liaison process can access submission procedures at the University
Curriculum Committee’s website at: http://www.ecu.edu/cs-
acad/fsonline/cu/curriculum.cfm All of the necessary forms and
guidelines are available there. Academic
unit liaisons will be available to answer any remaining questions.
Glascoff (Health and Human Performance) asked what faculty
input existed for selection of the liaison? Professor Neal replied that they
were usually appointed by the Dean or unit head. Roberts (Philosophy) asked why
the Chair of the curriculum committee does not do it? Neil passed the question
to Professor Cheryl Stevens (Health and Human Performance), who responded that
it was very time-intensive, and therefore assigned to someone who had at least
50% administrative reassigned time.
Tovey (English) observed that not all units have curriculum
committees. Robinson (Mathematics) affirmed that, given that curriculum is a
faculty responsibility, he does not see why administrators would be appointed.
Roberts (Philosophy) wondered who, within a unit, would have 50% administrative
reassigned time?
Jones (Criminal Justice) endorsed the model, stating that
the Curriculum Committee Chair needs another set of eyes. Glascoff (Health and
Human Performance) expressed concern about the process of deciding who liaison,
and called for more faculty input on who is chosen. Eason (Nursing) asked if
anything prohibits a Dean from requesting input on the selection?
Robinson (Mathematics) asserted that while theoretically the
liaison does not influence the curriculum decisions; there have been cases in
which that have not been so, especially in units with few faculty.
Tovey (English) affirmed that all seem to agree that a
liaison is needed, and that each unit should deal with any problems with
selection of the person. Chair Neil observed that the University Curriculum
Committee does not mandate how the liaison is selected.
Gilliland
(Medicine) expressed that it all comes down to whether the unit works well or
not, but that the liaison cannot mandate or reject proposals.
Following
discussion, the use of the Liaison Model as a regular part of the University Curriculum Committee protocol, with the option
to bring curriculum matters before the committee without the involvement of a liaison
was approved. RESOLUTION #06-34
Professor
Neil also noted that there were no longer February deadlines for curriculum
matters to go before the University Curriculum Committee and stated that the
Committee would continue to meet until late April 2007 in order to address
curriculum issues.
Agenda Item VI. New
Business
There was
no new business at this time.
There being
no further business to come before the body at this time, the meeting adjourned
at 4:45 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Dale Knickerbocker Lori
Lee
Secretary of the Faculty Administrative
Officer
Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures
FACULTY
SENATE RESOLUTIONS APPROVED AT THE DECEMBER 5, 2006, MEETING
06-31 Grant SECS 1000, offered by the Department of
Political Science, Social Science Foundation Credit.
Disposition: Chancellor
August
28, 2007 |
September
11, 2007 |
September
25, 2007 |
October
9, 2007 |
October
23, 2007 |
November
6, 2007 |
November
20, 2007 |
December
4, 2007 |
January
15, 2008 |
January
29, 2008 |
February
5, 2008 |
February
19, 2008 |
March 4,
2008 |
March
18, 2008 |
April 8,
2008 |
April
22, 2008 |
|
April
29, 2008 Organizational
Meeting |
Disposition: Faculty Senate
06-33 Curriculum
matters contained in the minutes of the November
9, 2006, Committee meeting.
Disposition: Chancellor
06-34 The use of the
Liaison Model as a regular part of the University Curriculum Committee
Protocol, with the option
to bring curriculum matters before the committee without the
involvement of a liaison.
Disposition: Faculty
Senate