Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Meeting held in Bryant 209
Senators in Attendance:
Aileen Ajootian, Adnan Aydin, Melissa Bass, Michael Barnett, Sarah Blackwell, Will Berry, Judith Cassidy, Bill Chappell, Yunghee Chang, Jason Dewland, Robert Doerksen, Mark Dolan, Leigh Anne Duck, Daneel Ferreira, Les Field, John Garner, Carol Gohm, Amanda Johnston, Jason Kovari, Soumyajit Majumdar, Mustafa Matalgah, Erwin Mina-Diaz., Ann Monroe, Mike Mossing, Brice Noonan, Brian Reithel, Philip Rhodes, Charles Ross, Jeff Roux, Bashir Salau, Chris Sapp, Ronald Schroeder, Paul Scovazzo, Justin Sherman, Steven Skultety, Jason Solinger, Chung Song, Cristiane Queiroz Surbeck, Mark Walker, Alex Watson, Donna West-Strum, Lorri Williamson, Ethel Young Minor, Ahmet Yukleyen
Senators absent with prior notification:
Susan Allen and Mark Bing
Senators absent with replacement:
Durant Thompson was replaced by Matt Long
Lollie Vaughan was replaced by Greg Snyder
Senators absent without prior notification:
David Case, Douglas Davis, Stephanie Noble, Zia Shariat-Madar, Debra Spurgeon, and Don Summers
Agenda
- Senator Albritton opened the meeting at 7:00 p.m.
- Approve minutes of last meeting
- Moved by Senator Salau
- Seconded
- Voted
- Passed unanimously
- Moved by Senator Salau
- First order of business: Provost Stocks to speak on programs operated by the office of outreach
- Oversight of academic programs not taught by academic departments, e.g. distance education and intersession
- Concern over teaching by people unaffiliated with department
- Deans of relevant schools contacted
- Dean Chitwood says all courses are department-affiliated
- Another response indicates that outreach serves as “registrar and bursar”
- All faculty go through the same process of evaluation; deans somewhat confused by question
- All are supervised by their department
- Rigor and integrity of short courses (e.g. intersession)
- Common response of deans: they trust faculty to ensure rigor/integrity
- Taught by same professors as regular classes; deans trust them
- Task force that met before SACHS accreditation made 4 recommendations that may or may not have been followed (2008)
- External affairs or provost should study quality of compressed-video courses
- This type of course had the most complaints
- Technical difficulties are chief issue
- External affairs or provost should study why students are doing better in a truncated class than a longer course
- Senator Barnett is familiar with effect
- Classes are smaller
- Classes attract academically engaged students
- Comment: only taking one course and coming to class every day is an answer
- Senator Barnett is familiar with effect
- External affairs or provost should study compressed-video and compressed-time classes to develop guidelines
- External affairs or provost should study demographics of students in these courses
- External affairs or provost should study quality of compressed-video courses
- Hiring and tenure at off-campus location
- Without fail, academic departments In question point out that all hiring is made through department/school
- Business/acct have no tenured faculty at branches
- App science has a few
- Education has some, including some tenured here and then moved
- Liberal arts has some tenure track people at branches
- Is ultimately up to school or department
- What happens to the money?
- Revenue from branches
- Goes to support branch activities
- Most benefit from relationship with a community college
- Costs cover:
- 80 full time people
- Compressed video network
- Offices
- Travel
- Advising and other operations/maintenance functions at branches
- Revenue does not cover all costs
- Continuing studies covers all deficits, not general fund
- Revenue from summer and intersessions
- Summer school lost money when it was part of provost’s office with difference from general fund
- No longer the case with office of outreach in charge
- Summer school is proportionately larger than our peers
- Net tuition revenue pays:
- Salaries and costs
- Portion of faculty salary at main campus (about 2%)
- Remaining funds distributed between provost, deans, and office of continuing studies
- 50% goes to deans
- divided based on summer school revenue
- biggest earner gets most money
- lib arts gets more than half
- 25% to provost
- used for academic support
- summer research grants
- 25% to OCS
- can’t be redistributed without firing people
- salaries are not built in to university budget
- 50% goes to deans
- Senator Noonan: do study abroad fall under OCS?
- Provost Stocks: study abroad, study USA, and ESL all fall under
- Does not know exact balance sheet
- Accountant has been hired to sort finances out
- Provost Stocks: study abroad, study USA, and ESL all fall under
- Senator Barnett: what about hybrid classes?
- Theater has 6 hybrid classes for offer this fall
- Music appreciation may be similar; their department is getting funded through provost’s office
- Revenue distribution model is in works
- Provost stocks: online course offerings have not been provided with revenue for growth
- Fully-online courses in education, health, ESL, geospatial studies coming this falls
- University provides no incentives, which has stymied development
- Summer school lost money when it was part of provost’s office with difference from general fund
- Revenue from branches
- Common response of deans: they trust faculty to ensure rigor/integrity
- Oversight of academic programs not taught by academic departments, e.g. distance education and intersession
- Second order of business: Announcements
- Time for senate elections for next year in nigh
- One-year terms
- Term limit of 4 consecutive terms
- Letter will be sent to chairs asking them to conduct elections
- Last meeting of year will be the Tuesday of final exam week
- Coalition on intercollegiate athletics has referred proposals to senates for affirmation
- Referred to Academic Affairs committee
- Coalition on intercollegiate athletics has referred proposals to senates for affirmation
- Undergraduate Council
- Considered last class week proposal from Senate
- Tabled
- Requested that faculty Senator member attend meeting
- Volunteer solicited to advocate
- Senator Bass volunteered
- Tabled
- Attendance policy proposal passed
- Will be forwarded for approval
- Comment from Undergrad council guest: would be happy to discuss last class week concerns with Senator Bass and Senator Albritton
- Lack of UC understanding over what proposal is, what it does, why offer it now
- Half-week doesn’t seem to actually help students
- Considered last class week proposal from Senate
- Time for senate elections for next year in nigh
- Third order of business: Committee reports
- Executive committee
- Nothing to report
- Academic affairs
- Referred collegiate athletics proposal for recommendations
- Academic support
- Nothing to report
- Finance
- Nothing to report
- University services
- Nothing to report
- Governance
- Senate appointments to standing committees have been made by provost in the past
- Senator Albritton will ask Governance to make these appointments this time
- List of appointments will be sent to committee
- Senate appointments to standing committees have been made by provost in the past
- Executive committee
- Fourth order of business: ASB representatives have asked to speak
- ASB president:
- Problems/concerns with students can be addressed to asb@olemiss.edu
- Scantrons
- More efficient purchase and distribution needed
- Campus locations believed insufficient for current needs
- Many schools provide scantrons to students with tests
- May be purchased for coming year
- $10-15,000 needed
- funds approved
- ASB president doesn’t know where funding comes from
- May be purchased for coming year
- Profs may be asked to estimate scantron needs for future
- Logistical concerns?
- Senator Noonan: couldn’t it be entered in system with textbook info?
- Conceivably
- Senator Ross: could scantrons be passed out through campus mail to faculty?
- Senator Albritton: perhaps to department?
- Question: would scantrons still be present at bookstore?
- unknown
- Senator Williamson: is this transferring burden from students to faculty?
- Should be student’s responsibility
- Is part of problem
- ASB president: is logistical problem
- Senator Williamson: couldn’t student buy them in advance?
- ASB president: from practical standpoint, is more difficult
- 1 location, 13,000 students, 50 parking spaces
- Senator Barnett: can’t they walk?
- ASB president: Central distribution makes sense
- Senator Noonan: is constantly checking on forms, doesn’t mine a few bucks from budget being removed
- Proposal would help that
- Senator Monroe: scantrons could be sold with book, perhaps as package
- ASB president: bulk purchasing is cheaper
- Senator Reithel: faculty should recognize difficulty
- University spends more on grove toilets than it would on scantrons
- Senator Sapp: what about blue books?
- ASB president: would like to see them passed out too, but scantrons are a start
- Should be student’s responsibility
- Senator Noonan: couldn’t it be entered in system with textbook info?
- Logistical concerns?
- Other ASB guests: resolution from ASB senate
- Communication between faculty and students is a concern
- Resolution encourages senate to post reminders/updates to blackboard/email
- Questions would be added to teacher evaluations in that capacity
- Up to five questions on this capacity
- Exploratory committee is being formed along those lines
- Questions would be added to teacher evaluations in that capacity
- Senator Skultety: would this force people who don’t use blackboard to adopt it?
- It might, “for consistency’s sake”
- More efficient purchase and distribution needed
- ASB president:
- Fifth order of business: Ombudsman system at university
- Have academic support take up issue and make recommendation
- Sixth order of business: New business
- Senator Barnett: any insurance/benefits updates from chancellor?
- Senator Albritton: letter of concern has been drafted for IHL
- Some unmarried faculty worry that money could be taken from them for faculty with dependents
- Have taken concerns to deans
- Some unmarried faculty worry that money could be taken from them for faculty with dependents
- Senator Albritton: at least one IHL member seems interested/concerned
- Senator Albritton: letter of concern has been drafted for IHL
- Senator Barnett: any insurance/benefits updates from chancellor?
- Senator Albritton closed the meeting at 9:00 p.m.