Dr. Ann Albrecht— President

Dr. Mark Shipman —Past President , ex-officio Dr. Rebekah MillerLevy – Sec/Treasurer

Dr. Don Beach – President-Elect Dr. Reggie Hall - Parliamentarian

Faculty Senate Minutes

Date: January 14, 2015

PRESENT:

Mr. Alex Tanter, Ms. Manon Shockey, Dr. Randy Roisere, Dr. Allan Nelson, Dr. Ranjani Srinivasan

Karley Goen (sub for Dr. Robert Anderson) Mr. Art Dearing, Brenda Riley (sub for Dr. Brittany Rodriguez), Dr. Rebekah Miller-Levy, Dr. Don Beach, Mr. Richard Willey, Dr. Mark Shipman, Ms. Paula McKeehan, IwaoAsakura (sub for Dr. Anthony Pursell), Andrew Wolfe (sub for Dr. Wendell Sadler), Ms. Cathy Wilterding, Dr. Reggie Hall, Dr. Keith Emmert, Dr. Brooke Dubansky, Dr. Mary Winton, Dr. Ann Albrecht, Dr. Matt Hallgarth, Misty Smith (sub for Ms. Francine Pratt)

ABSENT:

Dr. Mircea Agapie, MSG Jimmy Garcia

CALL TO ORDER:

The meeting was called to order by Dr. Albrecht at 3:05pm

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:

Dr. Nelson moved to approve the minutes of the last meeting. Ms. Shockey seconded. Motion carried.

TREASURER’SREPORT:

Current balance is $4,639.03. Funds were spent on the Faculty Luncheon and Faculty Senate membership dues.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

  • None

UNIVERSITY COMMITTEES:

Reports/Committee assignments

  1. Academic Assessment (Nelson)

Continue to work on SACs 5th Year Report.

  1. Academic Council (Albrecht)

No meeting

  1. Academic Council Management Team (Albrecht)

Continues to work on SACs 5th Year Report.Discussion end of the year assessments, suspension hearings. Dr. Garza presented application numbers for next year.

  1. Academic Standards (Hall & Beach)

Continue to gather data on how many students would be affected by not allowing transfer grades of D.

  1. Access Equity and Diversity Committee(Pratt)

No report

  1. ALE/REAL Oversight Committee (Miller-Levy)

Committee’s charge is to decide what the ALEs will look like after the QEP is completed. The Committee looked at the results of the Faculty Survey conducted in November. (See more information below in Wayne Atchley’s comments.)

  1. Budget Advisory Council (Tanter)

Evaluating the budget process and how fund are allocated. Continue gathering data on normal overhead costs of academic and nonacademic departments. Discussion of adopting a formula based allocation model using statewide weighted categories. This is in the early stages of development but will eventually affect departmental budgets.

  1. Campus Ethics, Compliance, and Enterprise Risk Management (Winton)

No meeting

  1. CII Advisory Council (Wilterding)

Continue to review Online courses for SACs compliance for the SACs 5th Year Report. The Excellence in Teaching Conference will be April 9 & 10. Committee asks for any suggestion from faculty.

  1. Commencement & Convocation (Beach & Shipman)

No meeting

  1. Curriculum Committee (Hallgarth & Miller-Levy)

Passed a variety of curriculum items, including several new minors designed to help Tarleton gain Hispanic Serving Institution status.Concerns about non-credit courses now being required for students who need remediation in math and science.

  1. Developmental Education Advisory Council (McKeehan)

No meeting

  1. Employee Benefits Committee (Shipman)

No meeting

  1. Faculty Handbook Committee (Shipman)

No meeting

  1. SEMEC (Albrecht)

No meeting

  1. University Calendar Committee (Pursell)

Committee sent proposal of adding Saturday exams to the final schedule to Dr. Murray and it was accepted.

  1. University Discipline Appeals (Miller-Levy)

No meeting

  1. University Planning Council (Shipman)

Planning Retreat will be January 23. The theme is Adapting to Division 1.

  1. UPMC (Albrecht)

No meeting

OLD BUSINESS

  1. IRB – Dr. Murray held a meeting for the IRB office and COE Dean and selected faculty to discuss COE’s concerns about the IRB process. Discussion included timeliness of response of IRB office to submissions, perceived change in purpose of IRB (from protecting subjects to evaluating quality of research methodology), the lack of communication of new expectations, and the impact on student and faculty research agendas. Changes made to IRB process are a direct result of the Audit and until the Audit is complete, Tarleton is operating under their rules and mandates. There are no exempt or expedited IRBs until further notice. A full-time person has been hired to help with communications and timelines. The IRB office asks for patience while they are working through the mandates of the Audit. Dr. Murray is open to holding meeting with other colleges. Sally Lewis expressed an interest in coming to talk with Faculty Senate about the IRB process.
  2. Shared Governance – Dr. Shipman presented a draft of part of the Shared Governance proposal he and his committee is creating to give to Dr. Murray. The draft, based in part on the 2010 A&M White Paper, includes background information and University searches, hiring, and evaluations. Several other significant issues will be included in the final draft. If there are any suggestions or revisions, please get them to Dr. Shipman ASAP.
  3. During the conversation about shared governance, concerns were raised the process for replacing the Dean of Agriculture. The faculty of this area request a meeting with Dr. Murray to discuss the job description and criteria for the new Dean position before the search begins. Dr. Hallgarth presented a motion that the Faculty Senate supports the Agriculture faculty in this request. Dr. Srinivasan seconded the motion. Motion carried unanimously.
  4. Dr. Beach asked to add an item to Old Business. Last meeting we discussed the Texan Tall campaign and concerns faculty and student organizations have about the campaign and, the Office of Marketing and Communications in general. The Senate discussed Dr. Shipman formulating a letter to the head of marketing outlining faculty concerns. The Faculty Senate Executive Committee and a select group of Senators (Selected by Harry Battson, Vice President of Marketing and Communications) have been invited to participate in a Faculty Senate Focus Group on Marketing. In light of the previous conversation about writing a letter outlining the Senate’s concerns, Ms. Wilterding presented a motion to give Senate approval for the Executive Committee to revisit the concerns in the letter after the Focus Group and decide how to proceed with sharing any unaddressed concerns so the concerns can be presented without waiting a month for another Faculty Senate meeting. Dr. Hallgarth seconded motion. Motion carried unanimously.
  5. College Tenure & Promotion/Post – Tenure Review–The first stage of the review of T&P/Post-Tenure Review has been completed. All Deans have forwarded College votes on to Dr. Murray. There is still concern that Tenure and Promotion and Post-Tenure Review are in the same document. There are also major concerns about the teaching and service components not being addressed.

NEW BUSINESS

  1. Budget Hearings –College and Departmental Budget Hearings are coming up. Each Department Senator needs to attend the Department hearing and there is a sign-up sheet for College hearings. Faculty Senate needs to be represented in all Budget Hearings.
  2. Summary of Dec. 10 Executive Board Meeting with Academic Affairs Leadership – Dr. Beachsummarized minutes from meeting. (See Attatched)

Guest: Wayne Atchley, Chair of the ALE/REAL Oversight Committee

  1. ALEs originated with the QEP and as the 5-year strategic plan ends, the ALEs will continue in some form per Executive Cabinet mandate. The Strategic Plan states that by 2020, incoming freshman must complete three ALEs as a graduation requirement.
  2. The ALE/REAL Oversight Committee is charged with formulating a plan for how the ALEs will look after the QEP is completed.
  3. There are two different models being considered:
  4. Embed ALEs in the curriculum – some disciplines lend themselves very well to embedded ALEs. It is a matter of selecting courses that are already doing real world experiences and tweaking the assignments to meet the ALE documentation requirements. It is not a matter of creating new courses or assignments.
  5. Have ALES as a graduation requirement the student must seek out on their own.
  6. Tarleton is behind schedule on rolling out ALEs so a new timeline has been deployed. By Fall 2016, each Department needs to identify one course which can incorporate an ALE. By Fall of 2018, each Department needs to identify the second course which can incorporate an ALE; and by Fall 2020, each Department needs to have three courses identified and ready to offer ALEs to every incoming freshman before graduation.
  7. The ALE/REAL Council has been enlarged to include a Faculty Senate representative and a representative for every college in an effort to include the voices of all faculty in the decision making process.
  8. Faculty input was solicited in the Fall through an online survey. The participation was disappointing. No department had more than a 40% return rate. The ALE/REAL Oversight Committee is committed to listening to the ideas and opinion of the faculty on this issue so the ALEs post QEP will be a usable, workable experience for both students and faculty. In an effort to gain more insight into faculty opinion, Faculty Senators are requested to share the Applied Learning Experience (ALE) – Quick Reference sheet and ALE Feedback and Suggestion sheet provided by the ALE/REAL Oversight Committee. This feedback form is specifically designed to gather constructive feedback on current ALE procedure and provide suggestions for how the ALEs might look in the future. Please help the committee gather this information. Dr. Albrecht will send electronic forms to Faculty Senate.
  9. Things to consider for post QEP ALEs:
  10. How many ALEs are too many?
  11. How many ALEs are too few?
  12. How will ALEs be assessed, monitored, and by who?
  13. If everyone is required to complete three, how will distinction be earned?
  14. Should there be a set requirement for everyone (1) and opportunities for more (3) in order to earn cords of distinction?
  15. How will this graduation requirement affect nontraditional students? Off center students?Graduation rates?Application numbers?
  16. Will there be a way to recognize life experience (military, previous work experience, mission work)?
  17. How will the graduation requirement affect transfer students?
  18. Is there research supporting the benefits of ALEs?
  19. Will denying graduation based on non-completion of ALEs stand up in court when a student sues?
  20. Is Administration prepared to see enrollment drop as student decide they do not want to attend Tarleton because of ALE requirement?
  21. How is this graduation requirement going to affect Tarleton’s desire to be a student-centered, Hispanic serving institution?
  22. How do ALEs fit with the push to complete in 120 hrs./ 4 years?
  23. Are we inadvertently creating a SES biased situation by pairing Study Abroad/Away (expensive trips) with Undergraduate Research where the students who can afford the Study Abroad/Away will have a much different Applied Learning Experience than those students who are forced to do Undergraduate Research because they cannot afford to Study Abroad/Away?

ADJOURNMENT:

Dr. Albrecht adjourned meeting at 5:06p.m.