Faculty Policies Committee Minutes – Sept. 25, 2006

Attending: Carol Rychly, Charles Jackson, Rick Pukis, Robert Reeves, Mike Searles, Jim Benedict, Tom Colbert, Sam Myers, Donna Hobbs, Cathy Tugmon (chair),  Debbie van Tuyll (secretary), and Justin Clifton, IT Services

1. Tugmon called the meeting to order and passed around a sign-up sheet for the up-coming Faculty Mentor/Mentee luncheon.

2. Minutes of the Sept. 18 meeting were approved with three corrections.

3. Benedict reported on the work of the Cullum Study Committee. The committee has recommended that FPC approve putting the program on hiatus after the 2007 series while the future of the program is examined and funding possibilities are explored. This action would mean the 2008 series would have to be canceled, which is de facto the case anyway since no funding is available for the series in 2008. Chris Murphy, who was to chair the 2008 program, is aware of this and agreeable to it. Committee members were unsure whether their approval of this proposal was sufficient or whether the issue needs a vote by the faculty. Tugmon will research that question.

4. Tugmon announced that the FPC slot on the Program Advisory Committee is empty and needs to be filled. Van Tuyll agreed to serve for the 2006-2007 academic year. Benedict agreed to serve for 2007-2008.

5. Tugmon reported on her meeting with Dr. Bloodworth regarding the inclusion of faculty in the Customer Service policy. She said Bloodworth said the document was not intended to apply to the classroom but would apply to academic activities such as advising. Tugmon also spoke to Joe Green who heads the customer service initiative about revising the policy, and he told her the policy has already been filed with the Board of Regents and cannot be changed. He did offer to explore the possibility of adding an exemption for classroom activities. Several committee members objected strongly to the inclusion of faculty in the policy, to the adoption of this policy without any faculty input at all, and to the fact that faculty had received no notification of this decision until the document was unalterable because it had been filed with the Board of Regents. Others argued that some aspects of the Customer Service model could be appropriately applied to the academic programs at ASU.

            Dr. Bloodworth asked FPC to appoint a Customer Service Ambassador to serve on the Customer Service Advisory Board. Benedict agreed to take this seat. Members instructed him to make contact with Green to obtain more information about the board and its activities.

6. Tugmon reported that Public Safety Director Jasper Cooke is working on establishing the procedure for allowing faculty to purchase a second parking tag. He will let the Staff Advisory Committee know about the decision and he will work with Dan Whitfield, vice president for student services, to get the necessary paperwork prepared. Once this is done, he will announce the policy change to the faculty.

7. Because of the lateness of the hour, Tom Colbert’s report on the Student Technology Fee policy was tabled until the next meeting.

8. Myers will bring the food for next week.

9. The meeting was adjourned at 3:40 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Debbie van Tuyll