skip to main content Indiana State University University Faculty Senate UFS#5 Approved January 19, 2006. December 15 , Minutes Indiana State University Faculty Senate 2005-06 Time: 3:15 p.m. Place: HMSU, Dede III Officers: Chair S. Lamb, Vice Chair V. Sheets, Secretary Sr. A. Anderson Senators: C. Amlaner, V. Anderson, E. Bermudez, K. Bolinger, J. Buffington, J. Conant, B. Evans, B. Frank, D. Gravitt, A. Halpern, E. Hampton, J. Harper, T. Hawkins, P. Hightower, C. Hoffman, N. Hopkins, J. Hughes, R. Johnson, K. Liu, C. MacDonald, M. Miller, G. Minty, T. Mulkey, F. Muyumba, L. O’Laughlin, J. Powers, S. Shure, G. Stuart, P. Wheeler, S. Wolf, D. Worley Absent: C. Montanez, P. Plummer, S. Pontius, R. Schneirov, S. Sharp, Q. Weng Ex-Officio: President Benjamin, Provost Maynard, Vice President Schafer Visitors: E. Kinley I. Administrative Report President Benjamin: 1) noted Saturday is fall commencement; 2) recognized Vice President Schafer’s years of service to the University; this vacated position will not be filled but the responsibilities shared with current staff; 3) encouraged faculty to identify at-risk students and offer assistance; 4) noted Barb Asay’s retirement and years of service; discussion continues on filling this position; 5) reported the feasibility study regarding the initiation of a Law School at the University was introduced to the Board of Trustees in November; a taskforce will be convened in January with faculty involvement to further this analysis; 6) reiterated that none of the resources from the Program Prioritization Initiative will be applied to the Law School analysis; 7) extended Holiday Wishes. Provost Maynard reported: 1) Promising Scholars Program: fifty two applications received; sixteen will be selected for grants of up to $15,000 (a minimum of $5,000) to support and stimulate their research agendas consistent with the mission of their department, college, and the University; recipients will be notified by the December 15 deadline; 2) Programs of Promise: fifteen applications received by the November 15 deadline; those invited to submit a full proposal will be announced December 15; 3) Programs of National Distinction, Programs of Regional/State distinction, and Programs of Promise: a total of twenty-three applications were received for the December 1 deadline; those invited to submit a full proposal will be announced January 16. II. Chair Report Chair Lamb: “Just a few items. The Executive Committee has heard from both faculty and administration expressing concern over the general state of the web, the lack of ability to navigate, and the lack of currency. The Executive Committee, therefore, had discussions with Dr. Kinley, Dr. Libler, and representatives from Communications and Marketing about the connection between the ISU Web site and enrollment issues. Those discussions were fruitful. The Web UFS #5, 12/15/05, Page 2 Advisory Committee will be reestablished. If you would like to nominate yourself or someone else, send me an e-mail. Many an individual has expressed the concern that academic monies that are to be freed by the program prioritization initiative, will be used to help finance the Law School initiative. Faculty that have brought this issue to me are of the single mind that this would not be a wise use of these particular funds. It is the thought that funds freed up be used to increase the viability of existing academic programs. The Provost has assured the Executive Committee that this is the case. I certainly would not mind him repeating it to a wider audience. Also, I am pleased to report that Mike Murphy will be giving a report to the Executive Committee on the happenings of the Task Force on Prioritization immediately after the break. He also will be reporting to the Faculty Senate as well after the break. Now for the heart of the report. As I am sure that you are all aware, this is Vice President Schafer’s last meeting with the Faculty Senate. Bob is a man whom all faculty, administration, and staff can emulate. He has spent his entire career working for the benefit of the Institution. Over his 45 years of service here, he has been both staff and administrator, but more than that, he is ISU. He exemplifies the best that is in all of us, faculty, staff or administrator. We can use him as our role model as we work together to improve the university. I am exceedingly thankful for his career at ISU. As Hobart Scales has said, he is one of the best mentors an individual or an institution can have. Let us continue to follow his lead as we strive, as he has, to make ISU a better place. We may continue to use him in the future to represent our ideal, our institution. With all the powers invested in me, of which there are precious few, I declare this day to be Vice President Schafer’s day. Please rise with me and give Bob our heartfelt thanks and best wishes. III. SGA Report No report. IV. Approval of the Minutes Minutes of the November 17, 2005 meeting were approved. (Gravitt, Hightower 33-0-1) V. Fifteen Minute Open Discussion 1) M. Miller reiterated her concerns about the GroupWise mailbox quotas, updating them to include a complaint about the December 5 message informing campus that the next quota drop would take place on December 7, only a two day warning and during Study Week. In addition the message was a duplicate of the earlier one and still included no contact information. 2) Noted that the cost of living increase for 2005 is 4.1%. Last year’s salary increase was below this, employees of the University therefore experienced a decline in compensation. 3) In response to an inquiry, President Benjamin indicated he was unsure as to the length of the contract and the fees associated with the use of the consulting firm assisting in the feasibility study for the Law School Initiative; all funds supporting the effort are from the Foundation. 4) Spring enrollment projections indicate nothing significant. 5) G. Minty, “I read with interest the statement by Jake Jakaitis in the minutes of the November 17th meeting. But, based on my review of the fall and spring bulletin of classes, I do not agree with his assessment of the distance courses for general education. I reviewed the Spring 2006 bulletin of courses and found the University is offering 229 classes at a distance, of those 132 are undergraduate classes but only 14 are general education, of those 14 only 3 are upper division general education classes. I looked at the Fall 2005 bulletin and found only 13 general education classes and only 3 were upper division. Because two upper division UFS #5, 12/15/05, Page 3 courses were offered both semesters I find that a distance student could only take four upper division general education courses during this academic year.” 6) No action has been taken to resolve the Life Sciences’ memorandum of understanding issue. VI. FEBC Recommendations 1) Application for Staff Dependent Child Fee Award Fee Award Policy Approved. (Gravitt, Evans 32-0-2) Approved text: Effective academic year 2006/2007 A fee award of 75% of academic fees per semester for a maximum of ten (10) semesters is provided for dependent children of regular faculty and staff enrolled as full-time undergraduate students at Indiana State University. An additional award equal to 100% of all mandatory fees contingent upon enrollment including, but not limited to, the Technology fee, lab fees and distance education fees is also provided. Policy guidelines: 1. A regular faculty or staff member is a full time employee, eligible for the Indiana State University staff benefits program. Eligibility is extended to dependent children of employees who have retired under the Indiana State University retirement policy and to dependent children of employees receiving long-term disability benefits. One- year and/or temporary appointments are not eligible. 2. The award will be applied as a credit against the student account for the applicable semester. Any partial use during a semester will count as one semester. There are no summer fee awards. There are no fee awards for extension or correspondence courses. 3. Dependent children are all children of employees who meet the dependency definition as required by Federal Income tax guidelines, including stepchildren and children who have employees as their legal guardians. Proof of guardianship may be required. 4. Full-time undergraduate student is a student enrolled in a minimum of twelve (12) semester hours in a semester and pursuing either a baccalaureate or an associate degree at Indiana State University. 5. A student must have a 2.0 cumulative grade point average to have continued eligibility for the Dependent Child Fee Award. 6. This fee award is for eligible employees who are employed at ISU on the first day of classes. No pro-rata share of the award will be available for employees hired during a semester. No fee adjustment will be made for employees who terminate during a semester. 7. To facilitate proper credit and maximum benefit from this award, the fee award form should be presented to Staff Benefits Office by July 1 for the upcoming fall semester, and by November 1 for the spring semester. 8. Those individuals receiving full University sponsored scholarship will be eligible for the additional award. The staff dependent fee award is to be calculated on the entire amount of academic and mandatory fees and applied first before any additional scholarship or waiver. UFS #5, 12/15/05, Page 4 2) Disease Management Approved. (Gravitt, Frank 33-0-1) “Appoint a committee with appropriate membership to determine the components of a comprehensive Disease Management Program for ISU.” VII. Standing Committee Reports Senators provided updates on respective standing committee activity since the October Senate meeting. The meeting adjourned at 4:12 p.m. Last modified: September 16, 2008  Copyright © 2009 by Indiana State University.