FACULTY SENATE
FULL MINUTES OF SEPTEMBER 11, 2007
The first regular meeting of the 2007-2008
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 April
17, 2007, and April
24, 2007, were approved as distributed.
Agenda Item III. Special Order of the Day
A. Roll Call
Senators absent were: Professors Lazure (Art and Design),
Rider (Education), MacGilvray (Medicine) and Chancellor Ballard.
Alternates present were: Professors Painter for Rastatter
(Allied Health Sciences), Ballard for Dosser (Child Development and Family
Relations), Hodge for Greene (Education), Alligood for Jesse (Nursing) Gantt
for Lowery (Nursing), and Clark for Parker (Theatre and Dance).
B. Announcements
1. 2008-2009
Teaching Grants are due Tuesday, October 2, 2007, in the
2. This
is a reminder that
·
Board
of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching (1 award)
·
Board
of Governors Distinguished Professor for Teaching Award (6 awards)
·
University
Alumni Awards for Outstanding Teaching (3 awards)
·
Max
Ray Joyner Award for Faculty Service Through Continuing Education (1 award)
For a description of the guidelines and nominating process,
please go online to:
http://www.ecu.edu/cs-acad/fsonline/aa/academicawards.cfm. If individuals making nominations or faculty
members who have been nominated have any questions about the award categories,
please contact Dorothy Clayton in the Center for Faculty Excellence at 328-6470
or claytond@ecu.edu.
3. The
UNC Faculty Assembly will meet on the following days this academic year: September 28, November 16, January 18, March
7, and May 2. Please feel free to
forward issues to members of the ECU Delegation that you would like to see
addressed. Faculty Assembly Delegates
include:
Mark
Taggart (Music), Brenda Killingsworth (Business), John Cope (Psychology), Ken
Wilson (Sociology), and Catherine Rigsby (Geology).
4. David
Dosser, Chair of the University Athletics Committee’s Academic Integrity
Subcommittee, will report to the
5. The
ECU chapter of AAUP (American Association of University Professors) will meet
on Monday, September 17, 2007, at 3:30 p.m. in a room to be announced
later. Please contact Professor Zach
Robinson at robinsonz@ecu.edu with
questions.
6. Announcements
related to the Research/ Creative Activity Grants will be circulated in the
near future to ECU faculty. Any proposed changes to the guidelines from last
year will be considered by the
7. The
Chancellor has approved the following resolutions from the April 17, 2007,
07-13 Policy
on Disruptive Academic Behavior.
07-14 Addition of new Policy on Disruptive Academic
Behavior in the official undergraduate catalog.
07-15 Revision to ECU Faculty
Manual, Part VI., in reference to parking privileges for retired faculty.
07-16 Curriculum matters contained in the minutes of the April 12, 2007,
meeting.
There
are two resolutions from last Spring still pending final approval:
07-03 Revisions to the ECU Undergraduate Catalog, Section 5. Academic Regulations,
relating to Grade Points and Grade Point Average, Grade Replacement Policy,
Warning and Probation, and Special Readmission (Forgiveness) Policy.
07-04 Revisions to the ECU Faculty Manual, Part VI.I.J. Salary Policies.
8. 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.
9. All
10. Faculty
interested in periodically receiving past copies of "The Chronicle of Higher Education" are asked to call the
11. Each
spring the Academic Awards Committee issues an official call for nominations
for the annual Lifetime and Five-Year University Research/Creative Activity Awards
with the goal of giving faculty members time
to prepare their materials for the nomination. All
relevant procedures are available online at:
http://www.ecu.edu/cs-acad/fsonline/customcf/committee/aa/researchspecifics.htm.
The deadline for submission of materials
(which includes 7 copies of departmental and unit review committee nominating letters,
complete CV, and 3 letters from outside referees) is November 1, 2007.
Evaluation materials submitted by this year’s
winners are available for review in the Center for Faculty Excellence (Old
Cafeteria, room 2305). Please feel free to stop by at your convenience to
review these materials. Please also direct any
questions to Professor Patricia Dragon, Chair
of the Academic Awards Committee at 328-0296 or dragonp@ecu.edu.
C. Steve
Ballard, Chancellor
Chancellor Ballard was unable to attend the meeting due to
the Board of Trustees’ various committee meetings scheduled at the same time.
Vice Chancellor Mageean was asked to make brief
announcements for Chancellor Ballard and to provide a short report from the
Division of Research and Graduate Studies. VC Mageean reported that the first
Annual Report from Division of Research and Graduate Studies is completed and
will be posted on the web page. The
report is also available in the Faculty Senate office. It contains a summary of
all the elements from the Division including reports from the Office of
Sponsored Programs and the Office of Grants and Contracts. Mageean report that
faculty start-up funds were characterized by a very wide disbursement to
colleges, departments, and units.
D. Marilyn Sheerer, Interim Provost and
Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
and Student Life
Interim Provost Sheerer began with a summary of the topics
that she was asked to discuss at the faculty senate meeting, including shared
governance, faculty involvement in curriculum development, and administrator
evaluations. Sheerer discussed her
vision of shared governance and the different perspectives within the
university relative to the definition of shared governance that often occurs
between the administration and faculty.
Regarding the restructuring of the Divisions of Academic
Affairs and Student Life into the Division of Academic and Student Affairs,
Sheerer referred to the Chancellor’s experience in this type of academic
restructuring, which ultimately targets student success. She explained further
that by bringing these two divisions together, there will be increased efforts
devoted to student success including increasing retention rates, graduation
rates, and examination of grading policy issues.
Interim Provost Sheerer briefly commented on the issue of
faculty involvement in curriculum development and stated that ultimately
faculty have ownership of the curriculum. Sheerer commented about the SACS
visit in 2012-2013 academic year. In preparation for this visit, Professor
David Weismiller (Medicine) has been named Chair of the Steering Committee. It will take the committee five years to
prepare for the SACS visit.
Sheerer discussed the current status of the Office of
International Affairs and the need to have multiple faculty and staff involved
with the evaluation of this program.
The issue of a new Administrator Evaluation tool was
introduced by Sheerer. The mandate by the Board of Trustees is to have the
administrator evaluation tool completed by November 2007. In addition, Sheerer
reported that the Board of Trustees has mandated that administrator evaluation
implementation is within the Chancellor’s purview. Sheerer suggested that a
task force be formed to redesign the entire process, and that it include Faculty
Senate involvement.
Professor Jones (Criminal Justice) inquired about the status
of the Impact Committee and whether it has been dissolved. Sheerer replied that the ECU Impact Committee
continues to function especially in reference to alcohol and drug abuse
awareness and counseling. Professor Jones replied and recommended that ECU
implement an on-line course educating students about alcohol, tobacco, and
other drug abuse which should be mandatory for all students.
Professor Martinez (Foreign Languages and Literatures), Chair
of the Faculty Governance Committee, commented that the committee is aware that
the chancellor makes the final decision regarding the administrator evaluation
tool; however, faculty must have input and a voice with this process. Professor
Martinez reiterated that the ultimate voice of the administrator evaluation
rests with the administrators. Provost Sheerer agreed with Professor Martinez
relative to the development of the administrator evaluation tool.
Professor Rigsby (Geology, Past Chair of the Faculty)
questioned Interim Provost Sheerer about the merger of the two Divisions –
Academic Affairs and Student Affairs. She inquired about the existence of a
task force, as previously suggested, to investigate this university
reorganization.
Provost Sheerer replied that the task force had not been
formed; however, the Chancellor intends to form such a group.
Professor Reisch (Business) inquired about the status of
child care on campus. Provost Sheerer presented her concerns relative to the
lack of child care on campus. Provost Sheerer discussed the Welfare Committee
recommendations, commitment of upper level administration, and collaborative
approaches to implementing a child care center at ECU. David Powers has volunteered to take this
child care endeavor as a project, which would promote faculty retention and
recruitment support.
Professor McKinnon (Interior Design) inquired about the
status of Banner. Interim Provost
Sheerer explained that there continue to be challenges with Banner. She
remarked that the implementation of Banner with Financial Aid was a disaster.
While a delayed drop time was implemented this semester, there are still
problems. Judi Bailey and Don Joyner have attended to problems with the new
system.
Professor Robinson (Math) inquired about the relationship
between the 5 year unit reevaluation and the SACS reaccredidation in 2012.
Robinson questioned whether this unit reevaluation is a key element in
reference to the SACS reaccredidation. Robinson also asked whether there will
be a reimplementation of the rotating unit evaluation. Provost Sheerer replied
that she was not aware of any policy changes in the future.
Professor Tovey (English) remarked that she had worked with Michael
Poteat regarding internal evaluations, relative to unit assessment
Professor Wilson (Sociology) offered brief comments relating
to the merger of the divisions of academic affairs and student affairs and
expressed concern that by combining these divisions there may be more emphasis
on non-academic student issues.
Interim Provost Sheerer responded to
Professor Sharer (English) inquired as to the current status
of the grading policy since the Faculty Senate recommendation last spring.
Interim Provost Sheerer replied that Mark Taggart has worked diligently to
bring this issue to closure; however, all details have not been worked out and
Chancellor Ballard has not acted on this FS recommendation yet.
E. Terry
Holland, Director of Athletics
Mr. Holland was unable to attend the meeting due to the
Board of Trustees various committee meetings scheduled at the same time. He will report to the
F. Mark Taggart, Chair of the Faculty
Professor Taggart welcomed all senators to another year of
Faculty Senate. In an effort to promote
more effective communication, Taggart described the recent “Head’s Up for
Faculty Senate Meeting” e-mail from the Senate office. This monthly
communication will provide the faculty senators with important information to
assist in preparation for topics of discussion and upcoming votes that may
appear in the Faculty Senate agenda. He
thanked Vice Chair Deedee Glascoff for her work in preparing this
information.
Taggart reminded the faculty senators that they had been elected to represent
their academic unit and to keep their constituency informed and to share copies
of all information distributed at faculty senate meetings.
Taggart continued by discussing the Evaluation of
Administrators Policy. In 2003, Bob Morrison, then Chair of the Faculty,
charged the Faculty Governance Committee to review the Evaluation of
Administrators Policy and make it a formal part of the ECU Faculty Manual, Appendix L.
The Faculty Governance Committee has been working on this the past
eighteen months, and has consulted the following sources:
·
Recommendations from the AAUP
·
Policies in the GA approved peer
institutions
·
Policies in UNC-Chapel Hill, NCSU, UNC
·
Policies from Research One
Institutions, including the SUNY system and
·
Relevant Faculty Senate documents
·
Michael Poteat, Director of
Institutional Effectiveness, on the history of policies regarding
evaluation of ECU administrators
In addition, the
Governance Committee has responded to Chancellor Ballard’s letter of March 28,
2007, in which he suggested directions that he has in mind to serve as a
“reference check” to see if we are heading in the same direction on this policy
development. The criteria that the Chancellor
provided include:
·
The value of having multiple inputs
from the affected and interested parties
·
Faculty input in the evaluation of
administrators is very important, especially where contact is
common
·
The definition of appropriate faculty
evaluators, whether weighted by contact or not, is crucial
·
The evaluations must be centered on the
assigned position duties and expectations
·
Anonymous evaluations require very
careful and appropriate handling if fairness is to be
maintained
·
Confidence votes tell us very little
because there is no common basis for the vote or standard
of interpretation
·
The incorporation of more meaningful
and valuable Likert Scale summaries over specific
performance categories
·
The person to whom the administrator
reports is the responsible, controlling and accountable
officer.
Taggart acknowledged the hard work of the Faculty Governance
Committee to incorporate these criteria and thanked them for their dedication
in this effort and and as a result, the document entitled “Comprehensive
Faculty Evaluation of Administrators,” was made available for review this
summer.
Taggart continued with the report of the FG committee by
reviewing the contents of an email dated September 2, 2007, and that the Board
of Trustees charged the Chancellor to provide the following: “Please submit to the Board of Trustees no
later than November 1, 2007 a written plan for the recruitment, hiring, review
and retention of senior leaders and administrators at ECU. This plan should address, but not be limited
to, recruitment, appointment and promotion; performance assessment and
compensation. The BOT is responsible for
personnel policies at the university and we believe that a high performing
senior leadership team under your direction is critical to assuring ECU’s
continued success.”
As a result of this mandate, the Chancellor has asked Interim
Provost Sheerer and Vice Chancellors Horns and Mageean to form a task force to
advise him on the hiring and evaluation policies. He has requested that they establish, at a
minimum, a web-site so that campus-wide faculty input can be received during the
process.
Further, Chancellor Ballard welcomes input from the Faculty
Senate on this matter. He states that,
while the work of the Governance Committee can certainly be one input into the
process, the evaluation protocols are the responsibility of the Chancellor.
Taggart then instructed the Faculty Governance Committee to
continue with their efforts and to move quicker in reporting to the Faculty
Senate so that their work can be incorporated into the policy that Chancellor
Ballard presents to the Board of Trustees in November.
Taggart concluded his remarks relative to the Evaluation of
Administrators Policy by acknowledging collaboration with Drs. Sheerer,
Mageean, and Horns for the purpose of the completion of this important mandate
given to the Chancellor by the Board of Trustees.
Professor Killingsworth reviewed proposed changes to the UNC Faculty
Assembly Charter.
She discussed the distribution of faculty representatives to
the Faculty Assembly and stated that proportional distribution was being lost
on the assembly; however, ECU will never lose its representation of five
members.
H. Question Period
Professor Sprague (Physics) inquired about the conflict
between the faculty senate and Board of Trustees meeting and asked whether
anything could be done about the conflict in scheduling? Professor Taggart
replied that the regular time for the BOT meeting is on a Thursday and a
Friday, but this year, that regular scheduled day fell on a holiday.
Professor Martinez (Foreign Language) provided comments
regarding unit assessment. FG will send an implementation of fixed-term faculty
(review of Appendix L). The 5th year evaluation had not been
consistently followed through by each unit. She stated that a priority agenda
item will address the implementation of the 5th year evaluation and
how and when the reports are completed in different units.
Professor Tovey (English) asked VC Mageean about the policy
on graduate student travel and reimbursement. Vice Chancellor Mageean discussed
the policy regarding travel for graduate students and reimbursement. The policy
states that graduate students can obtain travel funding in reference to their
jobs, but not for presentations, etc. Mageean stated that Anne Jenkins will be
looking into interpretation of this student travel policy relative to state
funds reimbursement.
Professor Corbett (Geology) directed a question to Mageean
relative to tuition waivers and grants.
Vice Chancellor Mageean replied that policies were being drafted
relative to tuition waivers by Associate Deans of Research. Gemperline
(Division of Research and Graduate Studies) offered information relative to
these new policies. He stated that the National audit agenda of NIH affects
certification and graduate student compensation. The Division of Research and
Graduate Studies is attempting to get policies straightened out.
Professor Rose (Nursing) commented that there appear to be
Admissions problems associated with Banner, especially in admitting students in
the middle of year. Vice Chancellor Mageean stated that the efficiency of the
staff working with Banner has improved due to continued training.
Professor McKinnon (Interior Design) directed a question to
Killingsworth relative to the top priorities of the Faculty Assembly (e.g.
Trimester system). Killingsworth replied
that the trimester system is still being considered by the Faculty Assembly and
GA. Other issues include shared governance,
a three-year implementation plan to work with CAO’s, administrative
review, and university interaction with community colleges to improve
articulation across systems.
Professor Sharer (English) directed a question to Mageean
relative to the Yardley report, which outlined the need for health insurance
for graduate students, particularly doctoral students. Vice Chancellor Mageean
responded that the division is investigating day care expenses, and a plan to
provide health insurance for doctoral students.
She stated that she may work through the graduate student body on this
issue. She stated that she needed to discuss it with Dean Pellicane due to the
large number of graduate students at ECU. She continued that faculty may be
able to write this into grant applications.
Professor Robinson (Math) questioned recent health benefit
changes and who might be able to explain the nature of the changes. Vice
Chancellor Horns responded that there is always an annual review of the State
health plan, but she was unsure if anyone consulted prior to the changes.
Professor Wilson (Sociology) asked a general question
relative to the policy for pay raises. Provost Sheerer remarked that EPA
employees would obtain a 4% raise and 1% would be used for merit and/or market
adjustments.
Professor Killingworth offered further information regarding
the Faculty Assembly’s initiatives in working with Community Colleges to
balance salaries. She also added that other initiatives of the faculty assembly
include distance education and public service of the university (e.g. UNC-
Tomorrow).
Professor Zoller (Art) directed a question to Interim
Provost Sheerer relative to international travel of graduate students. Provost
Sheerer remarked that this is being investigated.
Professor Rigsby (Geology/Pasts Chair of the Faculty) directed
a question to Interim Provost Sheerer relating to the merger of the two
divisions (Academic Affairs, Student Affairs). Professor Rigsby stated that
while it appears to be a good merger, international programs should be part of
this division. She encouraged the Provost
to consider faculty responsibility to the curriculum and education policies as
the task force is being formed. She asked Sheerer to consider the Faculty
Senate and faculty involvement with restructuring of any academic divisions.
Provost Sheerer remarked that she will certainly involve the faculty in the
task force.
Agenda Item IV. Unfinished Business
A. Major Frank Knight
Major
Knight remarked that there have been significant physical improvements made to
campus over the summer to aid in campus safety. Faculty senators were provided
with handouts relative to these improvements.
He stated that there were additional card readers in the Rivers,
Flanagan, Belk, and Cardiovascular buildings. There is a new “hit” list for
lighting updates on campus. In addition, an emergency communication response
team has been formed. Also, students and
faculty will have access to emergency text messaging via a voluntary sign-up
service through Banner. In addition, there may be a voice-over web based system
to notify students, faculty and staff in the event of a campus emergency
situation. He stated that the ECU police
department is hiring more officers and is more aware of vulnerable
surroundings. He encouraged the faculty to be the first line of defense by
reporting any problem to campus police and the counseling center.
Professor Schenarts (Medicine) asked Major Knight if there
will be emergency contact to the Brody School of Medicine, perhaps through the
paging system. Major Knight stated that the ECU Police will investigate West
campus and that BSOM will be notified in the event of an emergency.
Professor Schenarts (Medicine) asked another question
relative to the security of BSOM and stated that further security coverage was
needed in the late evening hours through the early morning hours of 5 and 6
a.m. Major Knight stated that security coverage was not yet available for early
morning escorts.
Professor Painter (Allied Health) asked for clarification
regarding West Campus security (Allied Health and Nursing). Major Knight stated
that Allied Health Sciences and Nursing (West Campus) currently has two
permanent officers, three officers at night, and 4 - 6 security guards at
BSOM. He stated that those security officers
protects BSOM, Allied Health, Nursing, and Health Sciences Library through 4
a.m. He also stated that a student patrol exists for escorts. Future security
additions will include escorts to vehicles and security coverage from 4 a.m. to
7 a.m.
Professor Wilson (Sociology) commented that most student
concern over safety is from 9 to 9:30 p.m. at night. There appear to be
assaults at this time. Professor Knight replied that Safe Ride and security
officers are more active in parking lots and around buildings.
Professor Stapleton (Education) stated that one faculty
member received a threat last year. She asked Major Knight about an ECU policy
to deal with threat. This particular incident concerned a threat to a faculty
member from a student. Professor Knight stated that he did not recall case. He
stated that if this type of incident occurs that the Office of Student Rights
and Responsibilities should be involved. He stated that when a threat occurs,
certain protocols must be met before action can be taken. Janice Harris, Chief of ECU Police, stated
that in the event of such an incident (threat) the ECU and
Professor McKinnon (Interior Design) asked Major Knight
about continued concerns with the Rivers building. He asked whether student
parking zones could be moved closer to the card readers. Major Knight remarked that additional funding
is needed for card readers, which is currently not available.
Professor Vail-Smith (Health and Human Performance) asked a
question regarding the jurisdiction of ECU police. Major Knight replied that
police jurisdiction includes all campus properties; from the Tar River to
B. Edson Justiniano, Chair
of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Yardley Research Group Report
Final
Draft of the Yardley Group’s Report on the Assessments in Support of
Graduate Education and Research
Professor Justiniano was unable to attend this meeting and
will prepare a report for the
Agenda Item V. Report of Committees
A. Committee on
Committees
Professor Tom Caron (Education),
Chair of the Committee, presented nominees for one regular and two alternate
members to the Appellate Hearing Committee. Professor Linda Mooney (Sociology)
term was elected to a 2009 regular term.
Professor Sandy Triebenbacher (Child Development and Family Relations)
was elected to a 2008 alternate term.
Professor Cathy Hall (Psychology) was elected to a 2009 alternate term.
The full roster is available at: http://www.ecu.edu/cs-acad/fsonline/customcf/rosters/hr.htm.
B. Educational
Policies and Planning Committee
Professor Dale Knickerbocker (Foreign Languages and
Literatures) Chair of the Committee, presented proposed requests to change the
C. Unit Code
Screening Committee
Professor David
Weismiller (Medicine), a member of the Committee, presented a proposed revision
to the
There was no additional business to come before the
Respectfully submitted,
Marianna Walker Lori
Lee
Secretary of the Faculty Administrative
Officer
College of Allied Health Sciences
FACULTY
SENATE RESOLUTIONS APPROVED AT THE SEPTEMBER 11, 2007, MEETING
07-19 Change the
Colleges.
Disposition: Chancellor
07-20 Revision to the
Disposition: Chancellor