Skip to Main Content ISU Home * MyISU * ISU A-Z * Giving To ISU * Search * Admissions * Visiting ISU * Academics * Research * Athletics * News ? * Faculty Senate * Meeting Schedule * Memberships * Minutes * Senate Committee * Governance Units * Faculty Resources * Program Prioritization * Faculty Scholarship * Faculty Survey 2005 * Senate Approved Documents * ISU Community * Prospective Students * Alumni & Friends * Parents & Family * Business & Community ? Contact Rakin Hall 426 Indiana State University 812.237.3007 E-mail Faculty Senate Office Hours: Monday-Friday 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM University Faculty Senate Faculty Affairs Committee INDIANA STATE UNIVERSITY February 18, 2009 FAC#9 Approved March 4, 2009 February 18,2009 Indiana State University Faculty Senate 2008-09 Present: Linda Sperry, Nancy McEntire, Robert Guell, Dale O’Neal, Richard Kjonaas, Arthur Halpern, Susan Hoffman, Barbara Skinner, Jason Winkle, Noble Corey, Bob English. Absent: Karen Evans Meeting was called to order by chair Linda Sperry at 8:30 a.m. Agenda: 1. Approval of Minutes of Feb. 4, 2009. Approved 6-0-0. 2. Report from Liaison to Academic Affairs (English) – no report. 3. Report from Liaison to Executive Committee (Halpern) a. Concerning the state initiatives under the national economic recovery act: ISU has shovel-ready projects should funds become available. b. The Indiana House of Representatives set a 1 percent increase for ISU’s budget, but this needs to go to the state Senate. c. Pres. Bradley is considering a university-wide committee to discuss benefits for all levels of employees. d. The Executive Committee heard presentations on admission and recruiting, community engagement, and revising the library web-site. 4. Report from the Special Purpose Faculty Advocate (Hoffman) a. ISU has one of the largest prison programs in the country, with 132 students. The comparative list of Indiana schools is still being prepared. Ivy Tech instructors are eligible to receive health benefits with only one course within a window of two weeks after the start of each semester, with a monthly payment of about $100. ISU’s policy is unclear. Ivy Tech also offers SRA possibilities to its employees. 5. Report from Chair (Sperry) – no report 6. Old Business a. Charge #14 on reviewing the faculty performance evaluation procedures developed by the ad hoc task force: Discussion began on the Memo submitted by Linda Sperry with recommendations for discussion by the committee, and the decision was made to handle each recommendation separately. Skinner raised the issue of the overall goals of the evaluation, which include identifying and documenting those faculty members who are not performing up to university standards. Halpern asked if perhaps these problems should be better solved administratively than through general evaluations for everyone. Much discussion ensued again on the criteria for evaluation, and English stressed that this would be determined by department. Guell proposed that each faculty member sign a short contract at the beginning of each academic year and that the evaluation would be based on the fulfillment of that contract. Halpern objected, given the unpredictability of projects and outcomes. Again, the emphasis is that each department will set its criteria and procedure. Turning to Sperry’s memo, the issue of exemption from a 12-hour teaching load for faculty involved in research was discussed; it was agreed that these terms were not limited to graduate faculty. The committee agreed on the following wording for this recommendation: “Faculty producing peer-reviewed scholarship shall normally be expected to teach no more than 9 hours unless the chair determines an over-riding need otherwise.” Taken to a vote, this language passed 7-0-0. The committee also agreed that pre-tenure faculty should be exempt from this process because they are already going through annual reviews (voted 7-0-0). It was agreed to strike the third recommendation on performing reviews for merit pay only when there is funding. Finally, on a vote of 6-0-1, the committee agreed that pending a pay-for-performance document, the grade given on the evaluations shall be limited to Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory. The meeting time expired before other Old Business and any New Business issues could be discussed. Meeting was adjourned at 10:10 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Barbara Skinner, Secretary 200 North Seventh Street, Terre Haute, Indiana, USA 47809-9989 Copyright © 2009 by Indiana State University. 1-800-GO-TO-ISU | 1-800-468-6478