Dr. Mark Shipman — President
Dr. Sandy Graham —Past President , ex-officio Dr. Vicky Johnson – Secretary/Treasurer
Dr. Anne Albrecht – President-Elect Mr. Reggie Hall - Parliamentarian
Faculty Senate Minutes
Date: Wednesday, February 10, 2014
PRESENT:
MirceaAgapie, Annette Albrecht, Robert Anderson, Keith Emmert, Sandy Graham, ReggieHall, Matthew Hallgarth, Vicky Johnson, Paula McKeehan, Russell Pfau (for Allan Nelson), Francine Pratt, Rajani Srinivasan, RandyRoisere, Wendell Sadler, Mark Shipman,Mark Weber, Richard Willey, Cathy Wilterding, Mary Winton
ABSENT:
Kendra Bowen, Ron Corella, Art Dearing, Rebekah Miller-Levy, Michael Neerman, Alex Tanter
CALL TO ORDER:
The meeting was called to order by Dr. Graham at 3:04pm as Dr. Shipman was in a budget meeting
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
Ms. Pratt moved to approve the minutes of the last meeting. Dr. Anderson seconded. Motion carried.
TREASURER’SREPORT:
Current balance is $7019.84. Dr. Johnson, who attended the Faculty Senate budget hearing with Dr. Shipman, said that the senate will need to decide how to use the budget for the benefit of faculty or risk losing the line item.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
- Degreeworks: Ms. Winton asked what to do about advising. Ms. Pratt said that all of the course substitutions were saved in a PDF. Mr. Hall said that running an audit under the 2011-12 catalog is the most accurate if the degree has not significantly changed since then. Dr. Shipman will report further later in the meeting under Old Business.
- The budget hearing schedule is underway and the Faculty Senate is well represented
- There is an article in The Chronicles of Higher Education citing a 28% increase in the higher-ed workforce driven by administrator hiring. Link:
- Faculty Senate State meeting
Dr. Shipman and Dr. Graham will be attending. If anyone else is interested, please contact Dr. Shipman as soon as possible.
- There has been a non-payment payroll glitch for some faculty members who are adjuncts or who are receiving overload pay. Mr. Minckler has not been aware of a problem, but Dr. Shipman said it came to his attention from various faculty who reported the problem. If any other senators know of additional anecdotal evidence, please email Dr. Shipman, who will pass the information along to HR.
UNIVERSITY COMMITTEES:
Reports/Committee assignments
- Academic Assessment (Nelson)
No report
- Academic Council (Shipman)
No report
- Academic Council Management Team (Shipman)
No report
- Academic Standards (Crawford)
No report
- Access Equity and Diversity Committee(Pratt)
No report
- Budget Advisory Council (Tanter)
No report
- Campus Ethics, Compliance, and Enterprise Risk Management (Winton)
No report
- CII Advisory Council (Wilterding)
No report
- CLASS (Graham)
No report
- Curriculum Committee (Hallgarth)
No report
- Developmental Education Advisory Council (McKeehan)
No report
- Employee Benefits Committee (Shipman)
No report
- Faculty Handbook Committee (Shipman)
The next meeting will be March 7.
- SEMEC (Shipman)
No report
- University Calendar Committee (Johnson)
No report
- University Discipline Appeals (Bowen)
No report
- University Planning Council (Graham)
The committee will meet next week to finalize the complete 2014-15 calendar and skeleton calendars for the following 2 years. These will go to Academic Council for approval on Feb. 25.
OLD BUSINESS
DegreeWorks
Dr. Shipman met with Dr. Susan Stokes (registrar) who reported that the 2014-15 catalog should be functional within 2 weeks. She said that scribing is continuing to correct DegreeWorks errors. She welcomes emails identifying degree audit glitches in DegreeWorks. She also said that the transition to the Texas Common Core Nmbering System will begin on March 1. Summer courses will be listed as 4-digit numbers.
Faculty Satisfaction Survey
The survey has ended. We have quantitative results, but also many comments. There was a 60% return from survey invitations sent out to faculty with at least a 75% teaching load. COLFA faculty completed 33% of the responses. COBA had the lowest percentage, COST had the second lowest. Dr. Graham said that the department heads wanted to participate. After discussion, the consensus was that since this survey is intended to continue annually, the senate will revisit the question of targeted respondents next year. The senate also discussed how to disseminate the information. Some senators favored publishing the raw data, while others had concerns about maintaining anonymity with regard to the comments. Possibilities include categorizing the comments, summarizing the comments, or applying content analysis method to the text. It was also suggested to publish the quantitative portion of the survey now and add the other component at a later time as further decisions are made. Ms. Winton moved that the quantitative portion of the survey be presented to the Faculty Senate at our next meeting and that the Executive Board make recommendations on how the content of the comments will be disseminated. Dr. Roisere seconded the motion and the motion carried.
NEW BUSINESS
Disruptions in the classroom
The topic of protocol related to classroom disruptions was discussed in light of recent classroom events. These events can be in the form of student behavior or medical issues. Instructors may be unsure of protocol and procedures in light of liability and safety. Reports have been made to the ART committee (Assessment Response Team), but faculty members report receiving no feedback or response. Dr. Hallgarth asked whether there is a system SAP. Senators discussed the need for liaison between faculty and Student Services Mr. Jergins, in consultation with Dr. Murray, will address the issue in Academic Council.
Faculty input in the Strategic Plan
Dr. Shipman said the measures on the strategic plan do not show that the faculty is an integral part of the plan.Input from the survey could be of benefit to identify the disconnect between what the administration sees and what faculty sees as the plan for moving forward.
OTHER
Quality Matters
Mr. Hall shared that a new software program is being used at A&M (called “Quality Matters”) to evaluate online course content. A&M has reportedly spent $3,000,000 for the initial rollout and if the regional institutions adopt it, their outlay will reportedly be $500,000. Senators questioned whether this might infringe on academic freedom. Further information is needed, including whether this is planned for the regional universities in the system. Dr. Pfau moved that Dr. Shipman appoint a panel to report on this issue at our next meeting. Mr. Willey seconded and the motion carried.
Next meeting
The next meeting will be on March 3, since Spring Break will pre-empt the regular meeting time.
ADJOURNMENT:
Ms. Wilterding moved to adjourn. Dr. Srinivasanseconded. Motion carried and the meeting was adjourned at 4:55p.m.