Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes
University of Southern Colorado
November 5, 2001
The regular meeting of the Faculty Senate was held on Monday, November 5, 2001, at 3:00 p.m. in the Ether Arthur Conference Room – Library 106.
Members Present:
G. Abrahamson, K. Brown, J.
Browne, P. Chacon, J. De Palma, J. Dorsch, J. Fogelquist, C. Foust, J. Goodman,
J. Griffin, V. Hansen, D., E. O’Leary,
H. Regassa, W. Sauer, R. Saul, P. Sefcovic, J. Seilheimer, B. Sheidley, R.
Sonnema, T. Taylor, L. Valerio, W. Wright
Members Absent:
M. Avina, S. Hudock, R. Joyce, D. Keplinger, M. Lucero, A. Tate
Parliamentarian:
E. O’Leary
Guests:
R. Glennen, B. Montgomery, K. Proctor, P. Levy
Senate
President J. Browne called the meeting to order at 3:04pm.
II. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
The
agenda was approved with deletion of Tracy Samora and the Colorado Combined
Campaign.
III. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES
Without objection, the minutes from the October 1,
2001 Faculty Senate meeting were approved.
A.
Senate President – Dr. Jay Browne
·
President Browne
announced that several committees are moving very quickly to finish business by
the end of the semester and he asked Senators to keep their constituents
informed.
B.
Interim President – Dr. Robert Glennen
·
Interim President
Glennen informed the Senate that interviews of internal candidates are taking
place to fill the new Enrollment Management position. There are currently 6 internal candidates.
·
Governor appointed Blue
Ribbon Task Force for Higher Education is beginning hearings on November
7. USC will make a presentation to the
Task Force on Thursday November 15. The
1406 document was very helpful in developing the Role and Mission document that
will be presented.
·
Health Insurance for
faculty will increase by 16% beginning January 1, 2002. The University of Southern Colorado
contributes half of the costs (i.e., 8%).
Faculty will realize an increase of $16.50 for singles and $41.68 for
families. There will be no change in the
premium costs for dental, disability, and vision.
·
USC will face a budget
rescission of 1-6%. The administration
is waiting for the final decision as to how large the budget rescission will
be. Dr. Glennen should have more information
to share as to USC’s response and the percent of the rescission at the next
Senate meeting.
C.
Provost – Dr. Barbara Montgomery
·
Dr. Montgomery commented
that the Governor established a Blue Ribbon Committee that asked every two and
four-year institution of higher education in the state to write a report
addressing its role, mission, goals, admission standards, programs, etc. On November 15, a 3-hour presentation is
scheduled with the committee in Denver.
Dr. Montgomery will be present to observe and take notes on CSU’s
presentation to the committee. The
President and Provost are currently meeting with community groups, University
groups, and students to solicit input prior to meeting with the committee.
·
Dr. Montgomery is meeting
with student groups concerning tuition restructuring. Need-based students will be covered by financial aid. High need students will have the resulting
tuition increase completely covered by grants and/or scholarships, moderate
need students will have the increase covered by a combination of grants,
scholarships and loans, and low need students can have the increase covered by
loans.
·
The requirement of
minors or areas of concentration should be reviewed and revised to reduce
barriers for freshman and transfer students.
Currently UC, CSU, and UNC do not require minors or areas of
concentration.
·
Dr. Montgomery reported
that student evaluation of teaching reports are currently being completed after
a delay of several semesters in some areas of the University; the difficulty in analysis of the student
questionnaire quantitative data has been resolved. She commented on the importance of timely feedback in getting
student teaching observation data to department heads and faculty for
developmental and evaluative purposes.
Kristy Proctor informed the Senate of discussions in the Dean’s Council
to standardize the student evaluation of instruction instrument thereby
streamlining that aspect of the teaching evaluation process for the entire
university. Should a common form be
developed it would include a common set of questions and allow for additional
questions by each unit, including open-ended questions. The centralized process would have
Institutional Research generating reports and comparisons. The Senate Executive Committee was asked to
discuss this issue at its next meeting.
Discussion ensued in the Senate.
It was recommended that the teaching role, including the issue of
assessment, might possible be the focus of the spring convocation.
D.
USC Records
Office – Ms. Jennifer Cornelison
·
Approval of December
graduates. C. Foust moved that the
Senate accept the list of potential December Graduates presented by the USC
Records Office. W. Sauer Seconded. Motion carried.
E.
Committee on
Committees – Mr. Gayle Abrahamson
·
G. Abrahamson moved to
accept and confirm the nomination of Neal Osborn and Dennis Dalton to the
Grievance and Mediation Board. J.
Seilheimer seconded. Motion carried.
·
Two nominations were
received for the Admissions, Student Financial Services, and Scholarship
Board. A ballot vote was taken. John Borton was elected.
F.
CAPB – Dr. Roy Sonnema
·
A new program review
process in being tested this year and two programs are utilizing the new
process as a pilot. A short document of
20 pages and a 3- hour seminar are included as part of the new process. After the CAPB receives the program reviews,
the new process will be evaluated and CAPB will make a recommendation as to
whether the new process should be formally adopted. R. Sonnema moved that the Senate approve the use of the new
process as a pilot for the reviews of EXHP and FMTS programs. W. Wright seconded. Motion carried.
G.
APSB – Mr. Paul Sefcovic
·
The committee proposed a
language change in the catalog concerning the requirement of minors and areas
of concentration. The proposed change
would no longer require students to have a minor or area of concentration for
graduation, but allow colleges and/or programs to continue the requirement of a
minor and/or specific courses outside the major. After discussion about the proposed wording, T. Taylor moved to
refer the proposal back to committee for further clarification. R. Sonnema seconded. The motion carried. The clarified proposal will be presented to
the Senate at the next meeting.
·
P. Sefcovic introduced a
proposed Telecourse Policy as initial information item and asked for
input. Discussion revealed that there
are inconsistencies in the telecourse program.
It was suggested that USC needs a broad-based distance education
policy. It was asked that any feedback
on the policy be addressed to P. Sefcovic and APSB. Pending feedback to the coimmittee, the Telecourse policy will be
revised and brought back to the Senate for further discussion and/or action at
its November 26 meeting.
H.
Faculty Compensation Committee – Dr. Roger Saul
·
The committee has
developed a Salary Compression Model on an EXCEL spreadsheet based on 80% of
the CUPA salary structure. USC faculty
lag substantially behind the CUPA data, even when accepting an 80% level. The committee invites faculty to evaluate
their level of salary equity viv-a-vis CUPA data by using the equation-based
model to estimate the degree to which they approach the CUPA average. R. Saul has a template of the spreadsheet
and it is available for faculty use to generate calculations based on averages
for their disciplines. It is available
at http://www.colostate-pueblo.edu/facultysenate/commdocs/html
A recent publication of CUPA averages for all faculty
by discipline is available for review on reserve in the Library. If anyone has questions about the
spreadsheet please contact R. Saul.
·
Also, salary compression
is becoming an issue of increasing concern at USC. The committee investigated possible solutions. One possible solution is to address faculty
increases for promotion. R. Saul moved
that the Faculty Senate direct the FCC to submit a proposal to the Budget Board
that would change section 2.12.2.1 (page 55) of the Faculty Handbook (salary
Adjustments for Promotion in Rank). The
change would double the current salary increases for promotion (promotion to
Assistant Professor would become $2000, promotion to Associate Professor would
become $3000 and promotion to Professor would become $4000). The proposal would make this change
retroactive back to current faculty members’ most recent promotion at USC. L. Valerio seconded. Discussion revealed that the Budget Board
cannot change the Faculty Handbook. R.
Saul informed the Senate that the initiative under discussion would cost
approximately $190,000 and proposed that the money would come from new sources
(i.e., not from the annual faculty salary increase pool). There was also discussion about the
desirability of having several proposals forwarded from the FCC before the
Senate is asked to vote on the merits of a single proposal to address faculty
salary compression concerns.
·
At 5:00 p.m. J. Browne
asked for a motion to extend the Senate meeting 30 minutes (i.e., until 5;30
p.m.). J. Seilheimer moved to extend
the meeting. R. Saul seconded. Motion carried.
·
W. Wright motioned to
table the previous motion. J. Goodman
seconded. Motion failed.
·
R. Saul accepted a
friendly amendment to the original motion.
The amended motion read: The Faculty Senate directs the FCC to submit a
proposal to the Budget Board to address past salary adjustments to promotion in
rank. The adjustment would match the
current salary increases for promotion (promotion to Assistant Professor would
match $1000, promotion to Associate Professor would match $1500, and promotion
to Professor would match $2000). The
proposal would make the adjustment retroactive for current faculty to their
most recent promotion at USC. J. Dorsch
called the question. The motion
carried.
·
J. Dorsch moved that the
Faculty Senate direct the Handbook Committee to change Section 2.12.2.1 (page
55) of the Faculty Handbook (Salary Adjustments for Promotion in Rank). The change would double the current salary
increases for promotion (promotion to Assistant Professor would become $2000,
promotion to Associate Professor would become $3000 and promotion to Professor
would become $4000). J. Seilheimer
seconded. Motion carried.
I.
Gen. Ed. Board – Dr. J. Goodman
·
J. Goodman stated the
committee is waiting for a report from the State General Education Committee on
core requirements for colleges and universities before making any changes to
USC’s general education requirements.
The committee will then determine which USC courses fit the State’s core
requirements. The committee is
currently working on Gen Ed assessment issues.
J.
SBA Representative – Dr. Jack Seilheimer
·
J. Seilheimer reported
that USC’s Role and Mission report was well received by the SBA. He received several comments that it was
well written.
·
J. Seilheimer informed the
Senate about two reports given at the SBA Fall 2001 retreat. One report addressed Higher Education
Funding Challenges, Employee Health Insurance, and a Legislative Forecast for
2002. The other report was a Summary of
Institutional Admissions Issues. Anyone
interested in obtaining a copy of either of these reports may request one from
J. Seilheimer.
·
The USC Presidential
Search Committee met last weekend in Denver and interviewed 9 prospective
candidates. The next step is
referencing and background checks.
After the referencing, the committee will meet and choose finalist for
recommendation to SBA for on-site interviews.
The interviews hopefully will take place before the close of the fall
semester.
·
The next meeting of SBA
will address Faculty and Student Representative performance appraisal of
Presidents. Three performance
dimensions will be addressed:
·
President relationship
with faculty.
·
Academic leadership.
·
Academic administration
·
J. Seilheimer asked
faculty to provide input to him so he can author a performance appraisal of
Interim-President Glennen. J. Browne
suggested that more faculty would provide feedback regarding Interim-President
Glennen if Seilheimer were to e-mail faculty a request for feedback pertaining
to the three performance dimensions of inetrest to the SBA (i.e., President
relationship with faculty, academic leadership, and academic administration).
K.
Handbook Committee – Dr. Will Wright
·
W. Wright reported that
the proposed handbook changes on Tenure and Promotion was put to the entire
faculty for a vote. The proposal was
passed: 52 votes in favor, 6 votes opposed.
The proposed wording for tenure and promotion to Associate Professor
stated that faculty must demonstrate meritorious performance at the Assistant
Professor level in all areas (teaching, scholarship/creative activity, and
service), and demonstrate significant accomplishment in one of the three
areas. For promotion to Full Professor,
faculty must demonstrate meritorious performance in all areas at the Associate
Professor level, and demonstrate sustained significant accomplishment in one of
the areas.
·
Dr. Saul mentioned that
the Chemistry Department did not receive the ballots but predicted that it
would not have effected the outcome of the vote.
L.
CFAC Representative – Dr. Pat Levy
·
Pat Levy reported that
she was unable to attend the first CFAC meeting but did report from the minutes
of the meeting held September 14, 2001.
The primary issues discussed included: The Governor’s Blue Ribbon Panel,
faculty load, FTE guidelines (which now include distance education), faculty
salaries continue to be an issue, and the GE-25 committee that is developing
the general education competencies in the King bill.
·
P. Levy will attend the
CFAC meeting in the spring. Any
concerns that faculty would like addressed should be forwarded to Pat.
II.
Unfinished
Business
·
None
III.
New Business –
·
None
IV.
Adjournment –
·
Without objection the
Senate meeting was adjourned at 5:23 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Carol Foust Pamela
Parrack
Secretary Recording Secretary