Faculty Senate MINUTES – November 14, 2017
Present:
April Holm, Vivian Ibrahim, Meagen Rosenthal, Adam Gussow, Patrick Alexander, Bath Ann Fennelly, Stacey Lantagne, Marcos Mendoza, Chris Mullen, Stephen Fafulas, Jessica Essary, Roy Thurston, Gary Theilman, Byunghyun Jang, Dennis Bunch, Lei Cao, Tim Nordstrom, Jennifer Gifford, Mary Roseman, Tejas Pandya, John Berns, Andrew Lynch, Jeffrey Pickerd, Linda Keena, Rory Ledbetter, KoFan Lee, Alysia Steele, Cecelia Parks, Brenda Prager, Ana Velitchkova, Sara Wellman, Marilyn Mendolia, Deborah Mower, Younghee Lim, Breese Quinn, Nancy Wicker, Randy Wadkins, Brad Jones, Zia Shariat-Madar, Martial Longla, Evangeline Robinson, Christian Sellar
Absent:
Aileen Ajootian, Zack Kagan, Sumali Conlon, Thomas Peattie, Chalet Tan, Tossi Ikuta, Antonia Eliason, Amy Gibson, Allyn White, Mark Ortwein, Ethel Scurlock, Gary Theilman, Robert Cummings, Christina Torbert
• Call Meeting to Order
o Called to order 6:00 pm
• Approval of October 10 2017 Minutes
o Approved
• Ross Bjork (RB) – Vice Chancellor for Intercollegiate Athletics
o Handout:
o
o The Athletics Department is part of the larger university, and is striving for excellence in both athletics and academics
o Athletics is not the most important thing at the University, we take it seriously, but it is the most visible face of the University
o Athletics recognizes that athletics is not usually part of the strategic plans of universities. But we will be taking that seriously.
o RB has been at the University for 5.5 years. Guaranteed two things when he arrived, 1) he would have a positive attitude and 2) that they would work hard
 Can’t control most other things
 Believe that we can compete at a higher level, be a good part of the community, capitalize on the assets of the University, change the mindset/culture around the Department
 First needed to get technical/financial/infrastructure in order
 Goal in 2012 to have a 3.0 GPA
• Goal achieved in 2016
• Graduation success rates 84% (up from mid 70s)
• APR (academic progress rate) scores 990 (up from 900)
 We have also had many athletic successes in the last 5 years
o Challenges:
 Athletics is here to add value to the university, they have not added value in the last few years that is my (RB’s) responsibility
• The university always comes first in any decisions made by Athletics
 NCAA
• RB has been Athletics director for 68 mos, 64 mos of that time have been dealing with NCAA infractions starting with women’s basketball
o Athletics has taken responsibility for things where fault was ours, made appropriate changes when needed, fought back where needed, and engaged many resources to help come to the best conclusion
• NCAA meeting took place in October
o Last week was the 8-week mark post meeting (usually takes 6-8 weeks)
o We still have not had a conclusion
 Goals for moving forward:
• Compliance audit independently undertaken
o All recommendations taken
• Must always reinforce systems (double and triple checks)
• BE aware of our surroundings at all time (who and what are around our program)
• Assess each situation independently and determine if it is a system problem, a culture problem, or a loan actor
• We have to hold people accountable for their actions and behavior
• We must admit that we had problems on the campus, but it is time to move forward
• We never want to have another NCAA case again
 It is always about the attitude that you take to challenges and more importantly how you move forward. Perspective from the football team is “good”…
• …We start now
• …Seize an opportunity to be better
• …Send a message that we will continue to change the culture
o We will not allow people to hurt our program
• …We will take ownership
• …We are going to go on a campaign to do better
 Questions:
• Q: It is my understanding that boosters harmed the program by giving things to students without the knowledge of the university, you think you can address that going forward?
• A: Once the report has been made public we are going to use that information to let everyone know what happened and educate all people around the program know what they can, and can not do.
o F/U: Within your program, if there are people causing harm, how do you address that?
 A: Hiring the right people, tracking communications with recruits (via email, phone calls etc.), tracking academics. Then it is as simple as going to staff meetings and walking the halls. The key is constant communications.
• Q: Does that mean hiring more people in compliance?
• A: We have increased the staff in the last few years
• Q: Is the financial health of the program okay?
• A: We have more than $20million in reserves, which is up from zero when we started. With our self-imposed penalties, we have cost our reserve $8million.
• Q: Legal services?
• A: It has been included in Olemiss athletic foundation operations (see image at the beginning of the section for specifics)
• Derek Cowherd – Senior Associate Athletic Director for Academic Support
o Three arms of Academic Support
 Student athlete engagement
 Academic counseling – there are 8 counselors in total
 Academic enrichment
o Academic counseling
 Helps students with time management
 Monitors students’ classes
 Develops weekly reports to coaches at the program
 There are 125 students in football alone
 Each coach in all sports receive bi-weekly reports
• Football and basketball have weekly reports
o Academic enrichment
 Full battery of tests for ALL students to help students be more successful
 Summer program provides
• Success tips
• Study skills
• Diversity training
• Program has been very successful (2017 – 390hrs earned; 3.47 GPA)
o 60-70 students
 Tutoring programs offered
• 11000-14000 tutorial sessions per semester
o Student Athlete Engagement – Program is intended to get students exposed to things they wouldn’t otherwise be able to do
 Diversity engagement
 Community engagement
 Personal advancement
• Financial literacy
• Etiquette diner
 Career development
o Students are very busy working from 630am-900pm
o Top programs for student athletes are Business, General Studies, Undeclared, and Exercise Science
o Academic progress rate (APR) – retention rate of students (which students are eligible in fall and spring)
 955 in 2007 we are currently 988 in fall 2017 (990 currently)
 In the middle of the SEC pack – Vanderbilt University is at top
o GPA 2012 2.76, currently at 3.01
o Graduation success rate is 84%
o Internal precautions
 Progress reports
 5 tutorial trainings every semester
 Class percentage checks
 Major percentage checks
 Online course registration (never been a year over 14%)
 Service learning process
o Tutors needed contact Derek Cowherd for details (cowherd@olemiss.edu)
o Questions:
 Q: One of the programs you offer is personal advancement, does that cover addressing and minimizing sexual harassment and assaults?
 A: Yes
 Q: If you are a senior in humanities, afternoon seminars are difficult?
 A: We have a couple of history majors
• F/U: Do you track career choices for students who don’t go pro?
• A: Yes. Career development is working on getting longitudinal data on 80 people. We are trying to teach students more about career develop and future planning.
 Q: Who do you report to?
 A: Reports to provost
 Q: Do you have backdoor access to blackboard?
 A: Yes, we can only see the grade book
 Q: How critical is it that we complete the bi-semesterly requests for how students are progressing?
 A: If you use blackboard you don’t have to complete it. But the information is incredibly important and valuable.
 Q: In relation to the progress reports, what is the drop rate as we approach the drop date for classes?
 A: We are watching to see if students will make themselves immediately ineligible by staying in a class. It has not been more than 10%.
 Q: Can an instructor’s job be in jeopardy if they fail a student athlete?
 A: That declaration would never come from this office. There is no pressure on faculty with respect to that. We would rather you fail the student and we address that through our office.
• Dr. Ron Rychlak – Professor of Law and Faculty Athletics Representative
o Deals with situations like excessive absences from students, behavior problems, etc.
o Also want to work with athletes, but also ensure that they are being students and meeting those requirements
o Can set up proctors, skype, recording lectures to help the students when needed
o If you have any problems or concerns please don’t hesitate to get in touch
 (662) 915-6841
 rrychlak@olemiss.edu
o Questions:
 NONE
• Dr. Michelle Emanuel – (Professor, Library) Head of Metadata & Digital Initiatives
o Will present the case for proposed institutional repository (UMIR) and solicit feedback.
o See attachment for poster
o UMIR – showcases the intellectual activity of an institution
 Shares freely available research and scholarship, as well as an information that you do not usually publish
 It will be optional
 It can host:
• Hosts data sets
o It is now a Federal mandate that data created by funded projects (NSF, NIH etc) must now live somewhere where it is publicly available
• Thesis and dissertations
• Open access journals/education resources
o Can be used to start a new open access journal by UM faculty
• University archives
o Reports
o Minutes of organizations
o Campus newspapers
o Campus events
 Audio and video
o Born-digital material
• Other: student work, white papers, poster sessions
o Oral histories
o Exhibits
o Collaborative work
o Recitals, films, etc
o We are an R1 institution and the flagship university of the state and we need to share what we do
o Currently looking at Digital Commons for hosting their IR
o Libraries strategic plan to make UM intellectual property available to the world
o UMIR will be searchable through google and the libraries search system
o This program will also provide analytics for reporting
o Writing the RFP currently, looking to launch academic year 2019
o Survey (https://uofmississippi.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_2h32ZMgDRP7qoSx)
o Questions:
 Q: If a department has award winning student work, could this be used for that, assuming that the students are willing?
 A: Yes
 Q: How will the uploading process work?
 A: We will provide guidelines for what should be uploaded and there will be an authenticating process (you will have to UM affiliated to upload at all).
 Q: If people change jobs in the middle of a project, if they are using this program to manage their data what would happen?
 A: Something could be worked out to share the data
• Dr. Laura Antonow – Office of College Programs & Lead on Childcare Initiative
o Appointed as a ½ time Postdoc to explore childcare options for UM, Dr. Antonow will update the Senate on her work.
o This initiative will serve students, staff, faculty and the community
o Children included 6 wks – 4 yrs
o Likely be a lab school, childcare development facility and a parent cooperative (but still not decided)
o Close proximity to campus
o Looking to get an advisory board together
o Has conducted a number of site visits
 University of Alabama
 MS State
 Arkansas State
 Home Depot Corporate Headquarters
• 3rd party provider runs this program
o Potential partners:
 The Y of Memphis and mid-south
 Core Logic
 City of Oxford
 School district
o Third party providers
 The Y
 Bright horizons
o Things for consideration
 Child care vs. child development
 New construction vs. renovation
 Kind of staff
• Living wage, benefits, professional development
 Access
• Hours of operation, cost, selection criteria
o Questions:
 Q: Have you thought about financing and sustainability of this program? Will it be tuition driven, or supported by the university?
 A: Good question, we are not 100% there yet. We don’t think it will be totally tuition driven. There are other funding models that we can explore, but there will be tradeoffs to make it all work.
 Q: Is your job to provide a single recommendation to address these questions or a combination?
 A: It will likely be several recommendations, from both the committee and her. This is a five-year plan.
 Q: The word used on the first or second slide is “will”? SO is this actually happening?
 A: That is likely me sub-consciously willing it all to happen, but everything is on the table.
• Committee Reports
o Academic Instructional Affairs
 No report
o Academic Conduct
 No report
o Finance & Benefits
 No report
o Development & Planning
 Brief draft of two proposals sent to the executive committee
• Create a standing committee on contextualization
• Recommendation to remove the Civil War monument
 More information coming on Dec 5 meeting
o Governance
 No report
o Research & Creative Achievement
 No report
o University Services
 No report
• Old Business
o No old business
• New Business
o Dr. Wilkin asked for reps for two searches
 Dean of the Graduate Dchool
• Tim Nordstrum
 Dean of Applied Science
• Mary Roseman
o Next Senate meeting at 7:00 because of an exam
o Reminder about invitation from Chancellor for Christmas get together
o Some proposed tax law changes to tax tuition waiver
 Provost: UM is well aware and in communication with legislators and are drafting documents outlining the concerns and possible consequences to students, donations, and the university
• Adjournment
o 8:07