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Working Group Report on Faculty Roles and Responsibilities

Present:  Cody Bustamante, Sib Farrell, Marny Rivera, Peter Wu, Jean Maxwell, Terry Longshore, Jon Harbaugh, Lee Ayers,  Etsuko Fujimoto, Elena Ruggerio, Dale Vidmar, Connie Anderson, Kemble Yates, Diana Maltz, John Whitesitt, John Richards, Dan Rubenson, Wayne Schumacher, Kevin Talbert, Wilkins-O'Riley Zinn, Laura O’Bryon.

Guests: Barbara Scott, Cynthia Beckwith, Paul Steinle, Mike Corcoran, Parvaneh Scoggin, Judith Ginsburg, Mada Morgan, John Engelhardt, Randy Johnson, Carl Moody, Laura Jones, Sandra Coyner, Dianne Brimmer, Elisabeth Zinser.

I.          Approved Minutes of May 3, 2004

            Motion by John Richards, Second by John Whitesitt with no changes. Vote: For-17, Against-0,             Abstention-1.

II.         Announcements

A.     Dale Vidmar announced the pilot seminar by AAAC scheduled on May 17 at 12 noon to discuss and develop dialog on the Strategic Questions such as "What is a Liberal Arts education?” and “What does it mean to be ‘regionally responsive.’”

B.     Dale Vidmar announced the Enhancing Teaching by Improving Learning with Technology (eTILT)  capstone presentations scheduled on Friday May 21 from 2-4:30 pm. 

C.     Marny Rivera asked for input to the Interinstitutional Faculty Senate Briefing Book that is being developed on the critical issues that are facing higher education. Any responses can be submitted by email to Marny by Wednesday, June 2, 2004.

D.     Laura O'Bryon announced the campus visit of David Hellstrom, a national speaker who addresses issues of underage drinking, on May 25 from 6:30-8 pm.

III.       Remarks from the President

A.     The institutions have been invited to respond to a set of assumptions and guidelines from OUS for 2005-07 biennial budget preparations, based on inflationary increases. This is called the “Essential Budget Limit”. If these assumptions were to translate into reality, it would include an inflationary increase for all employees at 2%. SOU had requested an additional 2% for faculty salary increases to be 4% and an increase for non-union administrators at 3%.

B.      The budget for next year (2004-05) and the next biennium (2005-07) depend heavily on enrollments holding up and approval for tuition, fee and plateau adjustments proposed for next year. The tuition and fees will be finalized at the State Board of Higher Education meeting being held on the SOU campus June 3 and 4.

C.     The restructuring in the Chancellor’s office leaves uncertainties about potential impacts on SOU. The President is providing input to the process as feasible to minimize negative impacts. Some adjustments and realignments likely will occur.

D.      Promotion and tenure decisions will be completed by the end of May.

IV.       Advisory Council Report from the Faculty Senate Vice Chair: Jon Harbaugh

A.     The AC discussed the proposed Administrative Evaluation Form changes. Consensus opinion of the AC (in concert with the Constitution Committee) was that the changes met the language of the Bylaws and that the Bylaws did not need to be changed. The item should have been brought to the Faculty Senate as “informational’ rather than as an “action” item; the Senate need take no further action at this time.

V.        Action Items

A.      Faculty Development Committee- Carpenter II Grants

A motion was made by Dale Vidmar to suspend the two-week waiting period to conduct a vote on the approval of the Carpenter II Grants submitted by the Faculty Development Committee on May 10, 2004, Second by Wayne Schumacher. Vote: For-18, Against-0, Abstention-0.  Discussion was held. A motion was made by Kemble Yates to approve the recommendations of the Faculty Development Committee, Second by John Richards. Vote to approve: For-18, Against-0, Abstention-0.

VI.       Discussion Items

A.     Human Resource Advisory Committee (HRAC) Update

The proposal under review to unite the Administrative Faculty and Administrative Professionals into one Administrative group in under review by HRAC and the AC. Recommendations for change of policies and practices will be made after additional work is completed over the summer. Four Administrative seats will remain on the Faculty Senate. Certain administrative persons such as the President and the Provost will maintain academic affiliation. The complex change process is being reviewed with those administrative personnel involved in the transition. The Faculty Senate will continue to receive informational updates on this issue as it progresses.

B.     CREAC Update

Lee Ayers will develop a letter from the AC to document support for the work being done by CREAC. CREAC will work through fall 2004 with a commitment to work on the Committee goals (as there is a good deal of work still to accomplish). The CREAC team will be working on identifying a transition team next academic year, mentoring the new Committee members through the transition in membership.

VII.  Informational Items

1. Update from the meeting of the Oregon Association of Faculties (AOF), the Interinstitutional Faculty Senate (IFS), and the Association of University Professors (AAUP) from Kemble Yates:

The annual meeting was held at Oregon State University on May 8, 2004. Neil Bryant, the former Senator from Bend and chief OUS lobbyist reviewed the Goldschmidt resignation and handicapped the coming legislative session.  Governor Kulongoski is taking over as President of the State Board of Higher Education. Greg Hartman, chief attorney for the PERS coalition, noted that the PERS lawsuit is in the fact-finding stage with July 30, 2004 set for the start of trial. An expected date of resolution is January 1, 2005. A federal lawsuit is also underway. On June 30, 2004, a new formula will be enacted for determining retirement earnings payments. The Optional Retirement Plan (ORP) issues have been resolved favorably, but final settlement is still awaiting signature. If persons have questions on the issues of PERS or ORP, please contact Cynthia Beckwith.  

2. Faculty Senate Committee Updates
1. Curriculum Committee: Paul Steinle shared that new documentation for new course criteria will be initiated next fall.
2. Honors Committee: Sandra Coyner reported on the Freshman Honors Program and put        forward a request to remove the pilot label from the title, thus letting incoming students feel like this is a permanent continuance (as established) of this freshman-based pilot program that has been offered for two years. The Churchill Honors program, based on the study of ethics, will be continuing as established, with the potential of developing "Honors in the Major" programs in the future. The first year of the pilot freshman program held fifteen 1^st year courses with 160 students, and the second year of the program held 13 1^st year courses with about the same number of students. Sandra shared that there was 81% retention from the 1^st year to the 2^nd year of freshman to sophomore standing. A motion was made by John Whitesitt to suspend the two-week waiting period to conduct a motion on the approval of the request, Second by Kevin Talbert. Vote to suspend waiting period: For-18, Against-0, Abstention-0.  A motion was made by John Whitesitt to approve the request as presented, Second by Zinn. Discussion was held, reflecting on the current work being done by CREAC in the development of new general education requirements, and the possibility of endorsing the program at this point for one more year (2004-2005) rather than making it a permanent program at this time. A motion was made by Connie Anderson to table the vote on this request until the Faculty Senate meeting of June 7, 2004, Second by Peter Wu. Vote to table motion: For-14, Against-3, Abstention-1. Faculty Senate requested that the Curriculum Committee review the decision and a report will be given at the June 7^th meeting. A vote will follow.
3. Academic Policies Committee: Mike Corcoran noted that work is underway on the following- revision of the grade grievance policy, the development of equity for transfer students regarding catalog options, and the formalized policy revision on the issue of a student facing more than two finals on the same day.
4. Elections Committee: Etsuko Fujimoto reported Faculty Senate election results and noted that the election for the At-Large seat is underway. There have been five special elections this academic year.
5. Committee on Committees: Jean Maxwell reported that there are empty seats on the Academic Standard and Financial Aids & Awards Committees.  Discussion was held on the potential of allowing adjunct faculty to serve on Committees. The Faculty Senate recommended that the Committee on Committees make recommendations based on discretion when adjunct faculty request participation.
6. Constitution Committee: Jon Harbaugh, Mark Siders, and Curt Whittaker reviewed the proposed changes to the Administrative Evaluation Forms; the committee agreed that the changes were appropriate and that the changes met the requirements of the current Bylaws.
7. Core Curriculum Committee: Parvaneh Scoggin shared that nine courses were approved; the Committee accepted expanded criteria for Synthesis and Applications courses; and reviewed assessment tools to be used on general education coursework in the future.
8. Technology Council: Dale Vidmar stated that there was a 70% response to the survey requests on our campus and that survey work is underway on best practices at other institutions.

VIII.  New Student Senate Representative

1. Randy Johnson, the Student Senate Pro Tem, is the new Student Senate Representative who will be attending the Faculty Senate meetings to give Student Senate reports starting on June 7, 2004.

IX.  Adjourned approximately 5:45 pm.                                               Minutes submitted by Laura O’Bryon

Updated Friday, October 1, 2004, 21:10:10
by the CSC Webmaster

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