BoiseStateUniversity Faculty Senate
November 13, 2007 3:15 p.m.
Hatch C -StudentUnionBuilding
President Saunders called the meeting to order at 3:15 p.m.
Roll Call: Present – President David Saunders, Vice President Bob McCarl, Senators Dee Hartman, Elizabeth Wiatr, Cheryl Hindrichs, Sandy Gough, Melissa Kozel, Jennifer Snow-Gerono, Anne Gregory, Steve Tennyson, Anthony Marker, Nader Rafla, William Rainford, Sara Ahten, Edward Baker, Owen McDougal, Leming Qu, Jeff Peloquin, Lynn Lubamersky, Roy Rodenhiser
Changes to the minutes:Typos will be corrected and sent to Sarah. One change will be the word ombudsman to ombuds, the politically correct version.
Motion was made to accept the minutes, motion seconded and passed.
Old Business
Bachelor of General Studies: President Saunders sent out a request for faculty feedback from the College of Arts and Sciences, as well as other Senators who requested comments from their respective colleges to do the same. Senator Gregory, liaison for the University Curriculum Committee,said that they are working with Dr. Sharon McGuire of the Provost’s office to make revisions on the parameters, academic rigor, and course listings. Primary concern was that the degree seekers would report to the Provost’s office rather than to aparticular college. Other issues that were addressed were the mechanism of how this degree works and the prerequisites including the“five-year life experience.” Dr. Jim Munger of the Provost’s office explained that this degree was designed for non-traditional students who currently have 60 credits and want to return to college to complete a degree. Senator Rodenhiser stated that the Interim Dean of Social Sciences and Public Affairs, Shelton Woods, is willing to submit a proposal to house the degree in SSPA. These comments will be directed to the Curriculum Committee for further discussion; President Saunders hopes to receive a report by the close of the semester.
Clinical Faculty Position: Senator Baker had been negotiating with Dr. Jim Girvan, Dean of the College of Health and Sciences, in developing a narrow definition of the clinical faculty position. The current language reads; “Clinical faculty members are licensed or certified professionals in the department of Nursing, Radiologic Sciences, Respiratory Care, Kinesiology, Counselor Education, and the School of Social Work. The major responsibility of clinical faculty involves teaching students with academic and clinical settings supervising clinical experiences and engaging in professional related community service. Clinical faculty are not responsible for participation in research or scholarship activity. Clinical faculty may serve on selected department, college, or university committees that involve issues with the curriculum. Members of the clinical faculty are not eligible for tenure or may not serve on Faculty Senate or personnel committees evaluating the activities of tenure track faculty. Titles in this category are clinical instructor, assistant clinical professor, associate clinical professor, and clinical professor.” Senator Baker and Dr. Girvan are coming close to an agreement on the definition of the clinical faculty position. Once an agreement has been reached on clarifying the definition, they will move forward on reviewing the policy.
Ombuds Positions: Vice President McCarl addressedhis meeting with Provost Andrews and the proposal of the ombuds position. The position would be recruited from a tenured faculty at the associate level or above and report to the Provost. The selection committee would consist of a representative from the Provost’s office, two representatives from the Faculty Senate, and one from Human Resources. Suggested support for the position would be 50 percent ombuds and 50 percent regular faculty with a 25 percent summer workload; these figures are currently being negotiated. They will have access to personnel files and other material as needed and will have some type of evaluation instrument, whether it’s by the Office of Institutional Research or another body of the university not directly related with the workload of the ombuds. Questions were raised on student representation, the concern of the individual reporting directly to the Provost, and the 25percent summer workload be defined. Dr. McCarl and Provost Andrews are close to coming to a consensus on the position and will later report to the Senate on these issues.
Policy 5340B: Violation of Faculty Tenure Procedure: Senator Lubamersky introduced a letter written regarding a sensitive concern of the violation of Policy 5340B. President Saunders acknowledged that there was an issue with the tenure process and that there had been an agreement between a faculty member and administration; Senator Lubamersky stated that no such agreement had been reached and the faculty member’s portfolio was not taken into consideration for tenure. The violation of the policy was that the University Counsel instructed the Interim Dean of Social Sciences and Public Affairs to withdraw the faculty member’s application for tenure; in doing so, the individual missed the deadline for tenure consideration. This action violated policy 5340B, and the University Counsel should not have interfered in this matter.
Motion: I move that we file a letter of concern with the Provost office that our tenure procedures have been violated by the Chair of the Department of Sociology, the Interim Dean of SSPA, and by ascension to the Provost’s office; we expect an explanation of their actions with a concern towards developing more positive relationships in the future regarding our processes. Motion was seconded and passed.
President Saunders encouraged Senator Rainford, Senator Lubamersky, and Vice President McCarl to wordsmith the motion. Senator Rodenhiser asked that the Senate focus on the administration’s violation of the policy and not the faculty member. Discussion followed, and because this involves a current grievance issue that the name of the individual be stricken from the letter to ensure a fair review. Senator Rainford modified the motion to state:
Motion: Move to draft a resolution that calls for admonishment of the administration for violation of our tenure process, including clarification of who owns the tenure process and how it unfolds and the administration’s involvement and that we get the actual draft sent around via email for final approval. Motion was seconded and passed.
A quorum of 25percent is needed to pass, and an email will be sent out for a vote on Wednesday, November 14.
Policy 2525B: Telecourses Offered: Senator Gregory wanted to make a point of clarification from the Curriculum Committee on Policy 2525B, telecourse number 299,offered through Extended Studies.These courses have not been offered for approximately ten years. Since they have not been offered or used for the past ten years, Extended Studies would like to remove them from the list of course offerings; however, it is a policy issue not a curriculum issue and so the Curriculum Committee needed clarification on how to go about doing that.
Motion: Move to removePolicy 2525B from Extended Studies via the Curriculum Committee. Motion was seconded and passed.
New Business
Anti-Plagiarism Software: Dr. Susan Shadle, Director for the Center for Teaching and Learning,wanted to close the loop on a resolution from the Faculty Senate that the university adopted for Blackboard called ‘MyDropBox’ in 2005. This software was eventually sold to Blackboard, and now BoiseState receives the services free of charge. This program allows faculty and students to do a better job of using sources in writing and prevents incidents of plagiarism. Two access routes in Blackboard are under Course Tools and Assignments; this program searches publicly available websites and databases to identify plagiarism or cited material. The system also identifies student papers submitted in the fall and again in the spring as matching. The Senate discussed problems that were identified in the past on elimination of data when new text is added; Dr. Shadle said that an upgrade of the new version of Blackboard is scheduled for December and is suppose to make it easier to interface with ‘MyDropBox’. The Center for Teaching and learning offers workshops for faculty to learn how it works and to integrate the system into a course.
Next meeting is scheduled for November 27, 2007.
Meeting was adjourned at 5:15 p.m.
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