MINUTES – Draft 10/11/05

Of the University of Central Oklahoma

FACULTY SENATE

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Education Building, Room 106

 

CALL TO ORDER

President Roberson called the meeting to order at 2:05 p.m.

 

ROLL CALL

Members present (23): Senator Beasley, Senator Bird, Senator Bizé, Senator Boling, Senator Cochran, Senator Dickson, Senator Ferguson, Senator Hartmann, Senator Hepner, Senator Hickman, Senator Holt, Senator Law, Senator Lucas, Senator Mock, Senator Montes, Senator Roberson, Senator Rooker, Senator von Minden, Senator Wallo, Senator Waters, Senator Webb, Senator Wright, Senator Zhu.

Members absent (9): Senator Dowdy, Senator Eckard, Senator Martin, Senator McNeiland, Senator Moyers, Senator Nelson, Senator Singer, Senator Smith, Senator Youll.

Recognition of visitors to the Senate: Assistant Vice President Dan Donaldson, Assistant Vice President Jerry Legere, Assistant Vice President Myron Pope, Student Body President Nathan Wollard, Speaker of the House Jill Sallee, Senate Student Secretary Ashley Meade.

 

APPROVAL OF THE August 25, 2005 MINUTES

The minutes were approved without emendation.

 

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORTS

President’s Report:

President Roberson noted that his official report is available on-line at the Senate website.  He chose, however, to highlight a few items from his report. 

·        He expressed his desire for “transparency” in Senate communications, and provided an apologia in regards to his surfeit of emails.

·        President Roberson reviewed the on-going work of the Promotion and Tenure Task Force.  He said that 70 issues had already been advanced as items of discussion.

·        He also cited problems with dispersal of Senate funds, particularly in relation to paying the wages of the Senate Student Secretary, Ms. Ashley Mead.

Vice-President’s Report:

Vice-President Beasley announced that the next deadline for submission of bills to the Senate would be October 8, 2005.

Reporter/Historian’s Report:

Reporter/Historian Hartmann noted that the title “Web Master” had never been officially adopted for this position, and that he would prefer to use the sanctioned title of Reporter/Historian.  He also queried the Senate about the possibilities of posting committee reports on-line.  There is currently no means of doing so.  President Roberson observed that – with 19 university committees and 12 standing committees – there would be a lot of information involved.

Secretary/Treasurer’s Report:

Secretary/Treasurer Law reported that the Senate had expended $2,323.11 to provide for the account which pays its own student secretary.  This money will apparently be replaced by additional monies granted to the Senate for this purpose.

Parliamentarian’s Report:

Parliamentarian Mock announced that an election for a replacement seat in the College of Education and Professional Studies is underway.  He also noted that the Parliamentary Workshop was conducted as required.

 

UNIVERSITY-WIDE  COMMITTEE REPORTS

Academic Affairs Council:

Senator Montes: the council met on September 14th for the first time.  Issues that may be addressed by the council include: (1) increasing elected college representatives from two to three; (2) alternatively, keep them at two, but add the chairs of the college curriculum committees; and (3) establish minimum requirements for membership (such as having served at least one year on a college curriculum committee).  President Roberson and Senator Montes also reflected upon the fact that some colleges have “appointed” (rather than elected) curriculum committee chairs.

Alliance for Institutional Advancement:

Senator Law: the Alliance has not been called into session since January 2004.

Alumni Association Board of Directors:

Senator Webb: no report.

Benefits Committee:

Senator Bizé: no report.  The committee will not meet till January 2006.

Budget Task Force:

Senator Hepner: no report.  The Task Force is not likely to meet until next semester.

Building Committee:

Senator Law: the committee has met every Friday for the last several weeks.  It is likely that the building will be a “general” classroom building (utilized by several colleges) and located not far away from the heating and cooling loop (to keep overall construction costs down).

Continuous Improvement Team:

CIT Facilitators, Former Senator Donna Kearns (not present) and President Roberson: alternative view points are being expressed and evaluated as the team moves closer to formalizing its recommendations.

CIT Prospective Students, Vice President Beasley: a draft recommendation is forthcoming from this subcommittee.

CIT Technology, Senator Dickson: although the subcommittee has been discussing “database integrity” a “final report” was handed to them by Robert Epstein, Assistant Vice President of Support Services.  Senator Dickson lamented the apparent ex cathedra manner in which this report was generated.

CIT Development/Continuing Education, President Roberson: sadly, the meeting of this subcommittee has been scheduled for exactly the same time that Senate is meeting.

Distance Learning Task Force:

Vice President Beasley: Senator Dickson went to the meeting, and he, therefore, gave the report.  The first meeting of the task force acknowledged areas of potential development: most important are (1) the BOLD initiative being developed out of the Regents Office; and (2) the expansion of several programs to an outlet at Rose State.  Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs Dan Donaldson was invited to clarify some of the emergent initiatives.  Senator Rooker asked whether there would be some graduate offerings at Rose State.  Dan Donaldson said he believed there would eventually be a few.  President Roberson, in conjunction with Senators Dickson and Law, expressed concerns about potential lack of coordination between the multiple initiatives.  Vice President Beasley and Senator Montes noted that there was an upcoming meeting for discussing the BOLD initiative.  Senator Law explained some aspects of the BOLD initiatives, as he had already seen the PowerPoint presentation from the Regents Office.  Senator Rooker expressed the concerns of many in the Senate that more oversight was needed to assure that our efforts would be more effective.

Faculty Merit Committee:

Senator Lucas: no report.  The committee will not meet until next semester.

Faculty Enhancement Center Advisory Board:

Senator Youll: was not at the meeting; no report was given.

Faculty Handbook Editorial Board:

Vice President Beasley and Senator Montes: there has been no communication from this board.

Globalization Task Force:

Senator von Minden: the task force has not met, although a spread sheet on activities related to this semester’s Passport Program on India has been received.

Information Technology Advisory Board:

ITAB Faculty Advisory/Strategic Planning, Senator Dickson: no report.

ITAB Academic Affairs Group, Vice President Beasley: no report.

Outreach Committee:

Senator Montes and/or Senator Webb: it is uncertain whether the BOLD initiative will fall within the purview of this committee.  Clarifications will be forthcoming.

Parking Task Force:

Senator Bird: the committee has not met yet.

Research Advisory Council:

Senator Ferguson: the council has not met yet.  The deadline for abstracts for Research Day is September 30th.

Tenure and Promotion Task Force:

President Roberson: the task force is expending a lot of effort, however, the concerns, thus far, have been largely “procedural.”  Parliamentarian Mock (also on the Task Force) expressed concerns about being able to meet the targeted deadline of November for the task force to finish its work.

 

SENATE COMMITTEE CHAIR REPORTS

Senate Executive Committee:

President Roberson: the committee has met recently with President Webb.  Items of discussion included outreach initiatives, the forthcoming bill on parking, and the bills concerning adjunct affairs that were passed by the Senate, but remain unaddressed by the president of the university.

Academic Affairs:

Senator Montes: the committee will meet before the next Council meeting.

Alumni and Community Affairs:

Senator McNeiland: Senator Holt gave the report for Senator McNeiland, who was not at the meeting.  The committee met last week to discuss plans for Homecoming.

CPP&E:

Parliamentarian Mock: the mandated workshop on parliamentary procedures was done.

Faculty Handbook Committee:

Vice President Beasley: the committee has not met yet.

Information Resources:

Senator Dickson: the committee has not met yet.

Faculty Welfare and Development:

Senator Wallo: the committee will be meeting soon to discuss FSP 2005/2006-4  Moratorium on Increased Fees for Parking.  The pedestrian crossing on 2nd Street will also be discussed.

 

 

Personnel Policies:

Senator Webb: the committee has not met yet.  Initial discussion will deal with the issues of “outside employment.”

Research:

Senator Ferguson: the committee has not met yet.

Student Relations:

Senator Wright: the committee has not met yet.  Informal e-discussions have been held concerning the accident at the 2nd Street pedestrian crossing.

Budget Committee:

Senator Hepner: no report.

Adjunct Affairs Committee:

Secretary/Treasurer Law: a written report (summarized below) was distributed to the Senate concerning the committee’s September 12th meeting. The committee reviewed the work of the 2003/2004 and 2004/2005 Senate in the area of adjunct affairs.  Notable were a number of proposals that had been passed by the Senate, but have – as yet – no official response from the administration.  Included in this category are:

Consternation was voiced by many committee members (especially veteran senators on this committee) concerning the non-responsiveness of the administration on these issues.  A review of the adjunct survey administered by the 2002/2003 Senate confirmed that the perennial concerns of adjuncts are: (1) inadequate financial compensation, and (2) no benefits whatsoever.

The committee also reviewed a draft of a survey that the Office of Research has just finished administering.  The strengths and weaknesses of the tool were reviewed.  Concerns were expressed about how participation in the survey was being elicited, but it has subsequently been determined that each part-time faculty member was contacted individually, so participation in the on-line survey may be considerable.

Faculty Handbook Revision Committee:

Vice President Beasley: a few emails have been exchanged.

 

UNFINISHED BUSINESS:

There was no unfinished business discussed at this meeting.

 

NEW BUSINESS

Vice President Beasley introduced two new bills:

·        FSR 2005/2006-05 Modified Calculation Method for the UCO Faculty Retirement Supplement.  This bill was assigned to the Faculty Welfare Committee.

·        FSP 2005/2006-06  Support for the issuing of Faculty/Staff identification cards and Faculty/Staff parking permits for Graduate Assistants who serve as teachers of record for UCO classes.  This bill was assigned to the Budget Committee.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

There were no announcements.

 

ADJOURNMENT

Seeing that there was no further business before the Senate, President Roberson acknowledged a motion to adjourn 3:22 p.m.

 

 

Secretary/Treasurer Stephen Law  draft 10/11/05