skip to main content Indiana State University University Faculty Senate UFS #5 Approved January 25, 2001. December 14, Minutes Indiana State University Faculty Senate 2000-01 Time: 3:15 p.m. Place: HMSU, Dede III Present: Chairperson F. Bell, Vice Chair P. Hightower, Secretary C. Hoffman Senators: A. Anderson, R. Baker, E. Bermudez, M. Brennan, D. Burger, P. Carino, J. Cerny, G. Christianson, B. Clouse, R. Clouse, J. Conant, N. Corey, H. Cox, P. Dutta, B. Frank, D. Gilman, R. Goidel, J. Huber, S. Lamb, N. Lawrence, K. Liu, C. MacDonald, R. McGiverin, J. McNabb, D. Memory, F. Muyumba, D. Prentice, A. Rider, R. Schneirov, S. Sharp, E. Warner, W. Warren, T. Zaher Absent: A. Blackshire-Belay, A. Cockerham, M. Harmon, L. Maule Ex-Officio: Interim Provost Hopkins, Vice President Schafer Visitors: T. Brewer, W. Hine I. Memorial Resolution A Rider read a memorial resolution for Conrado B. Alminaque. P. Carino moved acceptance of the memorial, seconded by A. Anderson; accepted 36-0-0. II. Administrative Report Interim Provost Hopkins gave the administrative response to actions taken by the Senate at the November 16, 2000, meeting. The administration noted: a) the memorial resolutions presented for Dolly B. Hoover and Akhtar Hassain Siddiqi; b) the recommendation that retiring and emeriti faculty may maintain their offices while on retirement sabbatical: # Upon official retirement, emeriti faculty may maintain their offices if possible, or a suitable alternative if not, and utilize department support staff, if desired, to finish books, articles, research or any other work for at least one year into their official retirement. Afterward, a shared office with appropriate and reasonable accommodations will be made available. Also, emeriti faculty, after leaving the University, can maintain all the benefits of campus resources as regular faculty. Departments should facilitate the smooth retirement of each retiring faculty in his/her department by helping these valued, emeriti faculty maintain feelings of worth as well as respect and dignity by their University colleagues; and c) the recommendation that all net salary savings recouped from faculty retirements be redistributed to address faculty salary issues, with compression a first priority and that faculty salary "compression" adjustments account for the number of years at ISU, number of years in rank at ISU, number of promotions, and number of "merit" or other high performance recommendations at ISU (so as not to "cancel out" performance achievements). The administration approved: a) the recommendation for faculty representation on the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs search committee; b) removal of the annual retirement event from the Faculty Affairs Committee in the future and future planning to be handled solely by the Provost's Office with possible assistance from the Staff Benefits Office; c) Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. David Hopkins, forming a committee of full-time temporary faculty, faculty, and key administrators to develop policies and procedures on salary, contracts, evaluation procedures, benefits/retirement, and workload and this committee's utilization of the final # UFS #5, 12/14/00 Page 2 documents from the summer work of the group of temporary faculty funded by the Lilly grant and the work of the Senate ad hoc Committee headed by Harriet Hudson; d) employee dependent children who are full-time undergraduate students (at ISU) may receive a fee award of up to $1,200 per semester for a total of eight semesters; e) the Guidelines for General Education Capstone Courses; and f) nominees to serve on the Theodore Dreiser Distinguished Research & Creativity Awards Committee. Interim Provost Hopkins noted that nominations for the Caleb Mills, Faculty Distinguished Service, and Theodore Dreiser Distinguished Research and Creativity awards are due tomorrow, December 15, and he asked that faculty be encouraged to apply or make nominations. He updated the Senate concerning clarification and distribution of the Promotion and Tenure document (effective 7/1/2003), international travel grants, the Blue Ribbon Study Committee on Distance Education, and on separate study groups considering salary compression with work expected to be completed by the end of March, and temporary faculty policies. III. Chair Report Chair Bell reported on his attendance at the board of Trustees retreat in Indianapolis on December 9, 2000, and a summary of compensation data from the Commission on Higher Education that has been forwarded to Senate Standing Committees (AAC, FAC, FEBC). He complimented University staff for their work clearing sidewalks and parking areas of the recent snowfall and thanked Academic Affairs for sponsoring the food served at today's holiday reception. IV. Fifteen Minute Open Discussion R. Schneirov expressed concern that the study group considering temporary faculty policies did not include a representative from the local AAUP. Interim Provost Hopkins responded that this was an oversight and asked that R. Schneirov forward suggested persons for the committee. S. Lamb asked for clarification of current policy governing correspondence courses. J. Conant and J. Huber relayed idiosyncrasies within the current policy governing course offerings. It was noted that courses offered through automatic transfer agreements had not gone through the University CAAC and did not receive ISU department or faculty interaction. Chair Bell expressed concern with the conditions under which instructors teaching these courses work. Interim Provost Hopkins noted the University's study group on Distance Education would review current policy concerns and further noted that the ICHE Policies and Procedures Task Force for Community Colleges would also be addressing working conditions. F. Muyumba said it was problematic for freshmen enrollment in 300 level classes and should not be permitted since the proper foundation for such courses was missing. Dr. Will Hine, Director of the McNair Project at ISU, made the following remarks to the Senate: When Dr. Bell asked me to make some very brief remarks in regard to this project, I told him that as a dean, university professor and an ordained minister, wherever two or three are gathered I am always available to make a speech! It is especially pleasurable when I am talking about such a wonderful program as the McNair Post-baccalaureate Achievement Project, referred to as the McNair Scholars Program. Ronald E. McNair was an African-American physicist who was killed in the Challenger disaster in the 1980s. The Program is a grant sponsored by the Federal Office of Education on about 150 colleges and universities throughout the country. The grants are awarded to these institutions on a four-year cycle and last year Indiana State University was very fortunate to receive one of these grants. The other institutions in Indiana that have the McNair Programs are Indiana University, Purdue University and the University of Notre Dame. In Illinois, some of the institutions that have # UFS #5, 12/14/00 Page 3 McNair grants are the University of Illinois, Northwestern University, University of Chicago and DePaul University. Succinctly stated, at ISU 20 bright and academically gifted sophomore and junior students are to be identified who have a minimal GPA of 3.25, are first generation college students, who come from families that meet certain economic criteria, and are underrepresented in certain professions. Upon identification and selection of these students, they participate in activities such as summer research opportunities and other things in order to give them the experience and the skills to apply for, be accepted to and be successful in graduate education, eventually pursuing Ph.D., Ed.D., or D.B.A. degrees. This program is not designed for people going on to medical, law or dental degrees unless it is a combined Ph.D./M.D., etc., degree program. The 20 students that we have in program come through your schools and college; from your own departments of dietetics, sociology, secondary education, English, geography, business, psychology, life science, speech communication, African & African American Studies, Health and Human Performance, history, etc. Last summer I recruited ISU faculty to directed 3 credit hour research activities during the second summer session and to serve as advisors/mentors during this year. Also, this fall we hired 5 of your bright, articulate ISU graduate students to serve as mentors to meet with the McNair Scholars bi-weekly to discuss issues of graduate education, etc. We will be bringing in graduate deans from other institutions and from ISU to discuss the graduate application process. We have set up a McNair Scholar Reference & Study Room in the library that will contain a computer and information about graduate schools, how to take the GRE, Miller Analogy Test, etc. During the year a variety of other enrichment seminars and programs are provided. This program can be a great asset to ISU on the undergraduate and on the graduate level. This program puts Indiana State University with other major universities in the country in developing McNair Scholars and even having the program here can be a strong recruiting tool. Because of the success of this program nationwide, the Council of Graduate Schools has established a sub-committee that works with the McNair Scholars program and it has developed a database that lists all the McNair Scholars in the United States. In addition, a number of major universities use that database and have set up McNair graduate student scholarships with the only criteria being that the student was a McNair undergraduate student. Last spring, at Eastern Illinois University, where I am Dean of the School of Adult and Continuing Education and Professor of Education, I discussed this program with a number of candidates applying for the Graduate Dean position. To a person they all agreed that they would seek out McNair scholars because they know them to be high caliber students with solid research experience. On a state level, we are participating in a research conference that will bring together all the McNair Scholars from the other universities within the state of Indiana to present their research. I strongly believe that this program can be an excellent recruiting tool at Indiana State University; a way to maintain and keep the best and the brightest graduate/undergraduate students. This program will be most successful by getting the word out to your good students who qualify; by volunteering to be mentors and research directors; and by recruiting good, qualified students who will take advantage of the best parts of this program. I want to get the word out about this exciting program and I want to kindle your enthusiasm for helping to recruit, mentor and/or direct research activities for McNair scholars. I would be glad to meet with other groups within your schools and college and to discuss this program in more depth. Please feel free to contact me at any time to arrange such a conversation/meeting. Finally, I want to introduce you to Mr. Tony Brewer who is the recruiter and Assistant Director of this project and does an excellent job in this capacity. V. Approval of the November 16, 2000 Minutes H. Cox moved approval, seconded by R. Clouse. The minutes were approved as amended, 36-0-0. VI. FEBC Recommendation: Performance Based Salary Suspend the current performance based pay system beginning the second year of the biennium and reinstitute a reformed performance based pay system after salary issues of compression and market competitiveness have been adequately addressed. # UFS #5, 12/14/00 Page 4 P. Hightower moved approval, seconded by E. Warner. Chair Bell opened discussion by updating the Senators with the background of the following friendly amended recommendation: If this year's efforts to address compression and market competitiveness prove inadequate, part of next year's monies available for salaries, but no more than half, should again be set aside to address compression with the remainder allocated to performance-based pay. Additionally, the expected outcomes of the performance-based-pay system will be identified and a systematic method for its evaluation and improvement to be established this year. Discussion of the amended recommendation ensued. Interim Provost Hopkins said he had spoken with President Benjamin, and that the administration supported the amended recommendation. After further consideration, the amended recommendation was tabled and recommitted to the Faculty Economic Benefits Committee for its consideration (C. Hoffman, R. Clouse; 36-0-0). VII. Reports of Standing Committee activity since the last Senate meeting: Administrative Affairs Committee, K. Liu The AAC last met on November 20 and approved minutes #4 (November 2, 2000). Each subcommittee made a progress report on charges from the Faculty Senate. The AAC set meeting dates and time for next semester and will meet on January 22, February 12, March 19,and April 9 at 3:00 p.m. in Root Hall A 237. Since there was no new agenda, the December 11 meeting date was canceled. Arts Endowment Committee, G. Christiansen The AEC had not met. Curriculum and Academic Affairs Committee, J. McNabb The CAAC had met three times and approved two fast tracked proposals and Sociology 110 for General Education credit, appointed a three member task force to draft a new set of recommendations concerning the role and authority of the General Education Coordinator and the role and authority of the General Education Council. Discussion topics include the sufficiency of course offerings for the accommodations of students with the GE 2000 program, articulation agreements concerning the 2+2 Programs, and the number of credit hours granted versus the number of class hours required in some classes. Faculty Affairs Committee, P. Dutta The FAC had met once, discussed the evaluation of teaching recommendation, committee charges, and selected the pool for the Faculty Grievance Committee. Faculty Economic Benefits Committee, S. Sharp The FEBC had met twice. The Committee had forwarded the recommendation on today's agenda, forwarded another to the Executive Committee, continued its efforts to determine the criteria used by PCS to allow or disallow coverage for medications, and reviewed information on salary ranges being used for current faculty searches, reasons for failed searches and national faculty salary averages for each rank in each discipline. At the December 11 meeting, a motion was forwarded to the Executive Committee regarding the practice of docking faculty pay when an absence, although "covered" professionally, is due to personal reasons. # UFS #5, 12/14/00 Page 5 Graduate Council, C. MacDonald The Graduate Council has met twice. The Council approved new courses: QDS 525, 535, 570, the PE 635 Innovative Summer Session Course Proposal, and the Vocational Technical Education program name change. The Council also approved the proposed scheduling change for preliminary examinations in the Department of Counseling. Work on reviewing and revising of the Graduate Catalog continued. The next meeting will be Thursday, January 11 from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in Erickson 111. Student Affairs Committee, M. Harmon The SAC had met once and forward two recommendations to the Executive Committee. University Research Committee, B. Frank The URC had met once and funded four proposals. VIII. New Business S. Baker was approved as a replacement for the University Leaves Committee and D. Barnhart was approved as a replacement for the University Promotions Committee (R. Clouse, C. MacDonald; 36-0-0). IX. Old Business R. Clouse asked that the administration revert to the old travel policies and procedures. Interim Provost Hopkins noted the administration would review information currently being collected by the end of January and discuss with campus constituencies--including AAC representatives. J. Conant said he found it problematic that the University's travel contract was confidential to faculty. Vice President Schafer said he would explore the concern and report back in January. Chair Bell noted H. Cox's retirement at the end of this semester and thanked him for his service to faculty government--Senators applauded. Chair Bell further noted P. Carino would be teaching abroad next semester. He applauded Senator Carino's many contributions to faculty government and expressed his pleasure for having served with him--Senators applauded. The meeting adjourned at 4:27 p.m. Last modified: May 20, 2008  Copyright © 2009 by Indiana State University.