Faculty Policies Committee Minutes, March 29, 2004

Present: Michelle Benedict, Tom Crute, Cliff Gardiner, Jeff Heck (secretary), Bill Reese (chair), Katherine Sweeney, Wendy Turner, Sabina Widner, Janice Whiting

Minutes from March 22 were approved as corrected

OLD BUSINESS

1. Elections –

The FPC discussed possible scenarios relating to one candidate who was nominated for both Parts A and B within the Faculty Policies Committee ballot. Wendy Turner will contact the candidate to discuss the situation and make sure the candidate understands the options. The General Election is March 31 and April 1.

2. Cullum Proposals 2006 –

Three topics were distributed to faculty. One pair of faculty have responded as potential co-chairs on one topic. Bill Reese will forward the email to Jeff Heck so he can request the team announce their chairmanship of the committee and invite additional committee members to join. Once a full committee has been pulled together, the two faculty can forward the their proposal, including membership of the committee, to the FPC for consideration.

3. Faculty Secretary Update –

Tom Crute and Sabina Widner will prepare a letter of thanks for the departing Faculty Secretary.

4. Course Evaluations –

Cliff Gardiner, following discussion with Chip Matson, notes that use of Scantron forms is being discouraged for some uses (where the faculty member might be better served by having the survey on WebCT, for example), but that they will be used for the near future for course evaluations. Information Technology Services recently purchased a new scanner for Scantron forms.

The committee reviewed changes made by Janice Whiting in moving the instrument to a desktop publishing format.

The FPC discussed the upcoming forum, which will be Wednesday, March 31, in N126 Allgood Hall. Forum attendees will be reminded that a new committee will be formed soon to evaluate use of the data provided by the new forms.

Janice will prepare folded copies of the instrument (11” x 17” full-size) for distribution at the forum and will recollect ones not retained by attendees.

5. Professional Leave –

The FPC voted unanimously to forward the statement on Professional Leave for approval.

6. Part-time Faculty Involvement in Elections –

Current text in the Faculty Manual is not explicit on the eligibility of part-time permanent faculty and temporary full-time faculty to vote and run for office in elections. This needs clarification. The FPC discussed the nature of “permanent” faculty and the rationale of inclusion and exclusion of these categories. Jeff Heck will draft a proposal.

7. Probationary Service Credit –

Bill Reese distributed a proposal to bring our policy (section 451.5 in the Faculty Manual) in line with Board of Regents’ Policy. The additional sentence provides the President discretion to award probationary period service credit for a variety of types of leave. The FPC approved the proposed change unanimously. This will appear on the agenda for next year’s first Faculty Meeting.

8. Committee on Committees –

Wendy Turner and Katherine Sweeney will work this semester and into the summer preparing next year’s committee lists. They will check with Information Technology Services’ Chip Matson, then ask Steve Duckworth to prepare the online form that faculty will fill in and submit to show their committee preferences. Turner and Sweeney also will check with offices such as the Vice President for Academic Affairs’ office to be sure the list of committees is complete prior to completion of the online form.

The FPC requested that Bill Reese draft a reminder to faculty that electronic submission of committee reports from is important to faculty governance. Reese will prepare a reminder either separately or in union with the VPAA’s office, as the latter prefers.

NEW BUSINESS

1. FPC Composition –

Bill Reese distributed a handout on this issue for work next meeting. The proposed change to the Faculty Manual would restrict participation on the Faculty Policies Committee to those individuals who do not serve on any other statutory body. Statutory bodies are the Faculty Policies Committee, the University Council, the President’s Cabinet, and the Academic Vice President's Council.

Adjourned at 5:15 p.m.

All other agenda items were deferred.

Next Meeting: April 12, 2004, 3 p.m.

Allgood Hall, Dean’s Office Conference room, within the N210 suite

NOTE: The final meeting of the FPC for 2003-4 will be April 26, 2004. During this meeting, remaining issues will be turned over to the incoming committee members. A new chair will be elected after the departing membership leaves, and a meeting time will be developed for Fall Semester.