Minutes of the Chairs and Directors Assembly

November 19, 2014

Minutes of the Chairs and Directors Assembly

SO 1020 AB, 8:30-10:30 AM

Present:

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Alexander, Michael

Berwald, Olaf

Bradbury, JC

Carte, Traci

Casey, Becky

Cheramie, Robin

Clune, Richard

Cope, Jim

DeMaio, Joe

DiPietro, Michele

Gainey, Barbara

Goldfine, Ruth

Golian-Lui, Linda

Gregory, Diana

Hardigree, Christian

Johnston, Linda

Lieberman, Robbie

Love, Keisha

Matson, Ron

McGarey, Don

Mitchell, Mark

Nelms, Tommie

Pate, Alice

Porter, Kandice

Rice, Bill

Robinson, Karen

Sipp, Geo

Smith, Susan

Stallings, Lynn

Swint, Kerwin

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Guests:

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Burke, Meghan

Devine, Flora

Gay, Stephen

McGee, Mary Ellen

Nkumeh, Nwakaego

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Lynn Stallings, Chair of Chairs and Directors Assembly, called the meeting to order at 8:30 AM.

Donald McGarey, Interim Chair of Biology and Physics, volunteered to record minutes.

Approval of October Minutes

A call to accept the minutes from the October Chairs and Directors Assembly was made by Lynn Stallings. A motion to accept and a second were made. A vote to accept the minutes as is was called and passed unanimously.

IT Security Policy Updates

Stephen Gay, KSU ITS Associate Director,spoke on IT Security Policy Updates and highlighted some changes that resulted from annual review and revision:

KSU ITS becomesUniversity Information Technology Services (UITS)as a result of consolidation.

University phone numbers have changed (470-578-extension).

The updated USG information technology (IT) handbook is available. KSU policies were revised to align with USG IT policies. KSU IT policies are available at under Information Technology. For new faculty, policies are discussed by human resources during new faculty orientation.

Academic Testing Center at KSU

Darrin Theriault, KSU Director of Academic Testing, was introduced to the Assembly. He describedhis background in military leadership and the new testing center, including the center’s mission, location (Suite 350 Kennesaw Center, West Entrance), operations. He showed several photos of the Center and told how to request exam services.He explained that this Center would be connected to the existing testing services provided by Disabled Student SupportServices (DSSS). Although a fee per exam has not been determined, Darrin mentioned that $25.00/exam is the fee used by other institutions with testing centers.

Sexual Misconduct Policy

Flora Devine, University Attorney and Special Assistant to the President for Legal Affairs, opened second reading of the Sexual Misconduct Policy document by indicating the addition of confidential reporting to the document. Revisions to the document and additional discussion were moderated by NwakaegoNkumeh, Assistant Legal Counsel (KSU Division of Legal Affairs). Mary Ellen McGee,EEO/Title IX Officer (Office of Diversity and Inclusion), was also present to answer questions.In particular, attention was drawn to the following revisions of the document:

• Line 65 of revised policy: Inclusion of all employees of the university and identifies available resources.
• Line 75 of revised policy:Confidential reporting.
• Line 218 of revised policy: Confidential reporting entities and language.
• Line 304 of revised policy: A table listing the contacts in the event of sexual misconduct.

Discussion within the CDA focused on the procedure to follow in the event that a student reports sexual misconduct to a faculty member. It was advised that faculty not ask for details of the event if the event is to remain confidential, but to direct the student to the appropriate person or center. University faculty are mandatory reporters and would be required to report the incident if the details were known, and so can’t have a confidential conversation about sexual misconduct with a student without reporting it.

The following advice was given to CDA members:

When a student reports sexual misconduct to a faculty member, the faculty member should respond “Before you go on, I am a mandatory reporter and obligated to report cases of sexual misconduct. If you wish this report to remain confidential I will contact/walk you to the KSU Counseling Center or the KSU Health Clinic. If you do not wish this report to remain confidential, I will contact the EEO/Title IX Officer and arrange a meeting.”

If a faculty member is unsure how to proceed, that person should contact the EEO/Title IX Officer for advice and direction. This can also be resolved through the Department Chair, and it was advised to document the complaint and how the issue was resolved.

When faculty or staff report sexual misconduct by other faculty or staff, they should be directed to Human Resources to report the complaint.

If a sexual misconduct complaint is made by a student in regards to class materials viewed as ‘pornographic’ (Line 183-184), send the complaint to the EEO/Title IX Officer for assessment. Or, this issue may be resolved by the Department Chair/Director, and documented in writing.

The following recommendations were made from the CDA and agreed upon:

• Because the EEO/Title IX Officer, KSU Counseling Center and the KSU Health Clinic were identified as the major contact points for cases of sexual misconduct, it was suggested that the table (line 304) be revised such that these entities and contact information be listed at the top of the table. The table should clearly indicateif each of these (and all other listed contacts) were places for confidential or non-confidential reporting.
• It was also recommended that a summary action sheet be developed for distribution to the faculty and/or a link to the EEO website on how to respond to a student reporting sexual misconduct was recommended.

Delay Vote on Sexual Misconduct Policy until next meeting.

A motion was made to delay the vote on approving the document until the next meeting. This would allow chairs/directors the opportunity to review changes based on the latest recommendations. The motion was seconded and passed unanimously.

SACS Justifications

Ronald Matson, AVP for Faculty, addressed the CDA in regards to faculty credential guidelines needed for the report associated with the upcoming SACSCOC accreditation visit. He discussed recent conversation with Dr. Ed Rugg,USG Accreditation Consultant & Reports Editor,and the justification documents sent Nov 10 to Chairs/Directors. He indicated justification for faculty teaching specific undergraduate and graduate courses may require more support than a statement such as “has 18 graduate credit hours in the area.” These justifications must provide enough detail so that a SACS reviewer can evaluate the faculty member’s qualifications.Dr. Matson said he would be sending an additional e-mail to Chairs and Directors later that day or the next in regards to these issues.In addition, he was willing to consider extending the deadline for faculty justifications.

It was stated the faculty who are not qualified to teach specific courses should be pulled from teaching those courses, or gain qualifications to teach those courses.

In regards to justifying faculty who teach graduate courses, a suggestion was made to coordinate the forms used to establish graduate faculty status (Graduate College) with faculty credentials for SACS-related justifications.

CETL Reorganization

Michele DiPietro, Executive Director of CETL, gave a presentation on the changes that have occurred in CETL; primarily a “laser-sharp focus on teaching.” Highlighted were the services CETL provides such as teaching centered programs and classroom reviews, position searches currently in progress and what CETL will not do. Dr. DiPietro requested each Department/Division invite him (or a CETL representative) to give a 10 minute presentation to their faculty in regards to the services available through CETL.These services are available to both full-time and part-time faculty; however, non-instructional time must be considered for part-time faculty in regards to maximum time permitted prior to crossing hours for partial benefits eligible status.

Digital Measures and Annual Reviews

Meghan Burke, Professor of Mathematics, will continue to oversee Digital Measures and discussed the use of Digital Measures to generate the Annual Review Document and Faculty Performance Agreement (ARD/FPA). It was noted that some ARDs were not being generated as a Digital Measures report, but rather ARDs were written in the report format without using information uploads. This circumvents the objective of having data accessible through Digital Measures for other reporting needs. Some of the problems may exist in the forms. If changes to the ARD/FPA forms used for each college are needed,Dr. Burkeasked that someone send the revision request to her ( or ).She noted it takes about 10 business days for a change to take effect.

All KSU faculty are required to use Digital Measures to generate an ARD/FPA. SPSU faculty will not be required to use Digital Measures this year, but may elect to do so. Everyone in the consolidated university will be required to use Digital Measures in 2016.

She asked the CDA if they prefer faculty submit their report to the Chairs, or should the Chair pull the report? The responses from the group were mixed, and it seemed that the decision should be made by each Department/Division.

Discussion on using “Workflow” for ARDs was discussed.Electronic signatures are not available at this time for sign-off, so printed versions are still required.

Other ideas, questions or concerns should be sent to Dr. Burke.

Update on Shared Governance under Consolidation

In regards to an update on shared governance under consolidation, Lynn Stallings indicated the OWGs on shared governance are still trying to come to consensus and no recommendations have been made yet.

Proposed Joint Meeting with SPSU Chairs

Lynn Stallings announced a change in the April meeting of the Chairs & Directors Assembly. Instead of meeting on Wednesday, April 15, the meeting has been moved to Tuesday April 14th, room 300 in the KSU Center. The meeting will include all chairs in the consolidated university.

Liaison Reports

KSU Distance Learning Executive Committee, Barbara Gainey and Jim Cope

1)Final purge of Vista files/information

2)The D2L student progress tool is unreliable, advised not to use for following participation if participation is used in calculating final grade

3)$50/student extra stipend to faculty for on-line instruction is being discussed.

KSU Policy Process Council, Lynn Stallings

This business was already covered in this meeting.

Faculty Senate, Alice Pate

Meeting cancelled, no report

President’s Budget Planning and Advisory Council, Lynn Stallings

A request for proposals: One for a 3% budget cut, and the other for an undetermined increase. Provost Harmon has requested 61 new faculty lines to reduce the student: teacher ratio from 29:1 to 27:1 and Dr. Randy Hinds requested funding for facilities work. For more details, Dr. Stallings provided a link to her notes of the PPBAC 11/10 meeting:

University Council, Keisha Love

Meeting was postponedso Keisha had no report.

Other Business: Appointment of Guttenberg, revoked. How was he appointed initially? Uncertain, but not through Academic Affairs.

Meeting adjourned 10:40.

Next Meeting: December 17, 2014, SO 1020AB

Minutes submitted by Don McGarey

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