Faculty Affairs Meeting Minutes

October 4, 2017

Present: Pam Stinson, Jeff Tate, Kurt Campbell, and Deanna Payton

The items below were sent in from faculty chairs prior to the meeting. Discussion from the meeting follows in the bulleted responses to each item.

Stillwater Campus

  1. There should be a level of accountability with DCs and liaisons if there are faculty concerns. The current evaluations system is rather weak.
  2. The form for evaluating DCs will be sent to Faculty Affairs committee members to offer suggestions.
  3. There should be a more accurate breakdown of payroll assignments. For example, liaisons and DCs are paid extra for their responsibilities. Stillwater faculty are paid an extra stipend for reporting early. None of this is reflected on the payroll stubs or employment appointment letter. How do we know we are receiving it if there is not record of it?
  4. Information is broken down for everyone when they are hired.
  5. It was provided to all existing employees in 2009.
  6. Any faculty with questions can contact Pam for an updated breakdown.
  7. When will the VP job open?Will they hire an interim VP to finish out the year or just hire a full-time VP?
  • The ad has been posted; an interim is a possibility but may depend on the quality of the pool of applicants.
  1. The only thing people have voiced concerns about in the new building is who their office will be next to. How are you planning to arrange offices (since Shannon will not be here to do that)?
  • Pam will visit with Shannon to see if she has made any decisions already, but office selection will be based on seniority and will most likely begin in the next couple of months when the furniture inventory is matched to the new building.
  1. Is there any way to streamline student bills on Campus Connect so that the bill reflects the current semester only and is easy for parents and students to interpret?
  2. Passed this information on to Yvonne Brown and Anita Simpson on October 5.

Their response was that our current system does not allow that breakdown but it should be possible when we update POISE.

  1. Tenure: How is it determined if a faculty member gets tenured? Is there a rubric? Is there some place where the specifics are written about how tenure is determined?
  2. The tenure application procedure is in the Employee Handbook.
  3. It requires approval from direct supervisor and Academic Affairs.

Enid Campus

  1. Can we get some figures on how many times per week someone representing the marketing or foundation offices are on the Enid campus? Also, how many times per month do they attend Enid community meetings or events? A letter was formed in regard to marketing suggestions and signatures are being collected and will be sent to the appropriate people once everyone who wants to sign it has had the chance.
  2. Dr. Evans was asked and she would like to allow Sheri to give an overview in response to the questions at a special meeting called for Oct. 10, 3:30 in Enid
  3. Faculty are wondering if there has been any comment or recommendation regarding the development of a Reduction in Force (rif) policy.
  4. Pam presented the recommendation to Executive Council and was asked to send a draft to them for possible inclusion in the Handbook.
  5. The following draft reflects a recommended addition to the current policy found in section 3.4.2 on the handbook:

“If reduction in force for full-time faculty is necessitated, program review data may be considered, including cost of program, credit hour production, graduation and transfer rates, and regional workforce needs, as well as tenure status and seniority.”

Faculty chairs voted to approve the draft with the one addition referencing credit hour production for general credit courses. The draft was revised as follows and emailed to Executive Council on 10/25/2017:

“If reduction in force for full-time faculty is necessitated, program review data may be considered (including cost of the program, credit hour production both within the program and within the general education core, graduation and transfer rates, and regional workforce needs), as well as tenure status and seniority.”

After the review by Executive Council, the revised draft will be presented again to Faculty Affairs for their approval.

Tonkawa Campus

  1. A faculty member asked if there could be only one list emailed daily to detail excused absences. Pam visited with Jeremy Hise, Athletic Director, and he indicated that limiting to one list would delay faculty receiving the information in early classes as eligibility for trips sometimes changed at last minute. Jeremy did, however, ask all coaches to send excused absent lists in an alphabetical format for ease in checking against class rosters and also asked that they be sent out in a timely manner.