Faculty Policies Committee Minutes

October 12, 2009

Members present: Peter Basciano, Angela Bratton, Kim Davies, Wally Evans, Mark Fissel, Sudha Ratan, Bruce Saul, Christine Terry, Mike Searles, Eric Zuckerman

1)   Wally called the meeting to order at 2:35pm.

2)   Minutes from 5October were approved. They will be posted soon.

3)   Wally reviewed the topics of discussion for the Faculty Meeting scheduled for 13October.

4)   The study abroad course evaluation instrument was the next subject reviewed. Concern was voiced about comparisons that could be made between intensive language programs and freshman level survey courses. The group was in agreement that distinctions could be made by instructors and their chairs if illogical conclusions were drawn. The students completing evaluation forms should be given instructions (written and verbal) to help clarify the intent of the survey. The new instrument will have room for “instructor or departmental questions”, which could help reflect the true value of a specific class or program.

5)   Sudha discussed course evaluation instruments on campus and made comparisons to other systems, like the one at West Georgia. Their successful instrument is completely on-line and uses the program, COURSEVAL. Discussion topics included: flexibility of this software; how to handle all classes with this tool; comparison with the SCANTRON E-LISTEN program; use of IDEA-CENTER; danger of third party data storage; necessity for faculty/chairs to “tease” out individual data and prevent exploration by unauthorized users; feasibility of the campus going to an on-line instrument by Fall2010; comparisons between results of written versus on-line instruments; Sudha will look into testing the system in each College. The FPC will seek advice from the administration, ITS and others on (and off) campus.

6)   Wally discussed the current promotion and tenure process. It was suggested that the instructions sent to faculty should agree with the Faculty Handbook. In the future, early promotion will be allowed, if in agreement with BOR policy and hiring documents.

7)   The FPC discussed additions to the promotion and tenure section of the Faculty Manual in order to clarify the process. Discussions will continue next week.

8)  The next FPC meeting will be on October 19th at 2:30 in SH 1012W.

Adjourned at 4:00 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Bruce Saul