EAST CAROLINA UNIVERSITY

FACULTY SENATE

 

FULL MINUTES OF DECEMBER 5, 2006

 

The fourth regular meeting of the 2006-2007 Faculty Senate was held on Tuesday, December 5, 2006, in the Mendenhall Student Center Great Room.

 

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 Faculty Senate reception in the Chancellor’s residence on Tuesday, April 17, 2007, from 5:30 – 7:00 p.m.    Formal invitations will be forthcoming to all Faculty Senators, Alternates, past Chairs of the Faculty, and their guests.  

 

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 Faculty Senate representation will be mailed to unit code administrators in January.  In accordance with the ECU Faculty Manual, Appendix A, elections are to be held during the month of February.  Please call the Faculty Senate office if you have any questions.

 

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.

 

C.  Steve Ballard, Chancellor

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 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.  

 

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

 

B.  Agenda Committee
Mark Sprague (Physics), Chair of the Committee, presented the proposed 2007-2008 Faculty Senate and Agenda Committee meeting dates.  There was no discussion and the report was approved as presented.  RESOLUTION #06-32 

 

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

 


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

 

06-32 2007-2008 Faculty Senate and Agenda Committee meeting dates as follows:

       Agenda Committee will meet:         Faculty Senate will meet:

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