FSU FACULTY SENATE MEETING

January 15, 2009

 

PRELIMINARY Minutes

 

1.      Chair’s Report. Dr. John Mattox reported that the electronic vote on the academic planning process for establishing and discontinuing academic programs concluded on 12/13/08 with 32 votes in favor, none opposed. The electronic vote on the proposal for Revision to the Program in Nursing concluded on 12/16/08 with 20 votes in favor, none opposed. A quorum would have required 26 votes, so technically the senate indicated strong support for the proposal rather than passing it. Notwithstanding, the Provost and the Chancellor approved it. Finally, Mattox indicated that the electronic vote to inform the Chair’s appointment of a second a member of the Senate to the Search Committee for the Provost was held between 1/9 and 1/13. A total of 25 votes indicated a preference for Socorro Hernandez-Hinek. She was appointed (along with Mattox) to represent the Senate on this search committee.

 

  1. Report from the Interim Provost, Dr. Jon Young. Dr. Young reported that the Chancellor will call a meeting to address the budget crisis. Young reported that the new governor increased her projection of a shortfall. FSU is being asked to rescind 7% of the funds allocated by the State for the current fiscal year. When asked about travel, Dr. Young reported that, while faculty development grants that have already been approved won’t be stopped, no new requests will be granted. He also indicated that Title III requests will be carefully scrutinized. In response to a question about travel, Dr. Young stated that “We should not be submitting any more travel requests.” He then moved to a discussion of registration and student numbers, reporting that FSU has 5,764 students enrolled for spring semester. This number, 8% below last spring’s enrollment, is partly due to tighter admission standards designed to enhance student success. At the same time, Dr. Young urged faculty to help insure that as many students as possible register. Dr. Young reported that the Board of Governors has revised guidelines for policies for tenure and post-tenure review. Our revised policy documents need to be submitted to GA by March 1. He also announced the creation of a new committee, the Ad hoc Committee on the Implementation of New Policies on Academic Progression at FSU. This committee will be responsible for informing faculty, staff, and students about new standards. The FSU standards to be implemented in Fall 2009 will be the strictest academic progression standards in the UNC system. These standards were approved last spring; former Chancellor Hackley agreed to postpone their implementation for a year. Dr. Young also announced that Dr. Dean Swinford has been appointed as the new Catalog Officer.

 

  1. Approval of the Agenda. Motion by Dr. Heather Griffiths. Second by Dr. Stanley Johnson. Motion passed.   

 

  1. MINUTES APPROVAL FOR 11/20/08 meeting. Amended items: name change; addition of final “e” in Dr. Dan Autrey’s last name in item 3. Motion to adopt minutes with changes passed.
  2. Election of members for the Ad hoc Committee on the Implementation of New Policies on Academic Programs. Dr. Heastie and Dr. Han approved by acclamation.
  3. Academic Affairs. Dr. Michelle Darnell, chair of the committee, presented two proposals.
    1. Department of Social Work: change SWRK 516 to SWRK 613/ representative Dr. Harvey. Motion to Approve PASSES
    2. Proposal for MA in International Studies

Proposal last discussed in October meeting; postponed pending corrections of errors. Edits to proposal submitted to Dr. Darnell and Dr. Mattox; Academic Affairs voted to approve changes to the proposal. No vote occurred in November due to a mid-meeting quorum call. After reviewing the history of the proposal, Dr. Darnell addressed a question from Dr. Maurice Mongkuo regarding the edits and changes to course syllabi. Dr. Darnell responded that a new objection raised by one member of the Academic Affairs Committee is that objectives are not presented as course objectives and do not use Bloom’s taxonomy to categorize these objectives. While the authors were told to address this issue, no corrections were made. Discussion on the proposal followed, leading to a call by Dr. Chet Dilday for an amended motion to approve the proposal for the MA in International Studies pending changes to course objectives in syllabi that bring these in line with the language that will be necessary for the upcoming SACS reaccreditation.

Motion to Amend PASSES

Motion to Approve Amended Proposal PASSES

  1. Governance Committee Report. Dr. Jonathan Breitzer discussed significant changes to the charter of faculty governance, making clear to differentiate the purposes of the charter of faculty governance and the by-laws. The major changes Breitzer discussed included the following:
    1. Plans to establish the entire faculty, and not just the Faculty Senate, as the organized assembly. This gives precedence to decisions of the general faculty over Senate action. As part of this change, the Faculty Senate head will be elected by the general faculty, and not by the Faculty Senate.  
    2. Plans to redefine the term “faculty” to include all non-tenure track instructors, such as adjuncts, part time instructors, and full time instructors.

Discussion of the changes focused on the timeline for electing a new Faculty Senate head, given that the mid-year conference has already passed. Also, several senators raised questions regarding the feasibility and desirability of including adjuncts in the Faculty Senate. As a result of this unresolved discussion, Dr. Mattox suggested a postponement of the vote on the proposed charter until February. In response to the proposed change to the process for electing a new head of the Faculty Senate, Dr. Young affirmed that a meeting of the general faculty could be called to deal with the issue. Dr. Dan Autrey raised the question of how to administer the election, citing the need for personal statements prepared and distributed in a timely manner, electronic voting, and a pre-determined process for managing and administering the election. Further discussion of these issues and a vote on the proposed charter will take place during the February meeting.

  1. Proposed Revision of Approved Class Times. Dr. Young distributed copies of the proposed revision of class times, and noted that the proposal aims to ensure greater efficiency of classroom usage. He is seeking Senate approval of the proposal.
  2. Next meeting: February 19, 2009, 2:00 - 3:30 p.m., LSA 120.

 

MEETING ADJOURNED

Dean Swinford