19 September 2012 9:30 – 11:30 SPNHA Department Meeting 303C DeVos Facilitators: Mark Hoffman Recorder: Attendees: Donjo Robbins, Dan Balfour, Greg Cline, Rich Jelier, Priscilla Kimboko, Sherry Moyer, Fran Cain, Michael Moody, Lara Jaskiewicz, Niel Buckwalter, Davia Downey, Heather Carpenter, Sal Alaimo Guests: Ruth Stegeman Fran Cain, Mark Hoffman Minutes A. “The year ahead” for Grad Council (Sal): foster a graduate student community develop consistent advising procedures across programs develop standards for combined undergraduate / graduate degrees develop academic review policy for student probation differentiate graduate and undergraduate faculty workloads College Advisory Committee (Michael): New COT award Revamp all faculty / staff awards Rich will substitute for Diane College Curriculum Committee (Davia): Provost Office will be meeting with curriculum committees College Personnel Committee (Dan): Rich’s sabbatical proposal No other personnel actions for SPNHA this year. Undergraduate Program (Mark, Davia): Refresh emphasis areas Explore “Emergency Management” as a new emphasis area Graduate Programs (Rich): Need to track students in Certificate Programs to ensure employability (to maintain eligibility for students to receive federally-sponsored financial aid) Need new written protocols for deviation from program of study. Promote PACES Promote Writing Center MPA (Rich): Need to collect information for voluntary survey MHA (Greg): Working on accreditation Master of Public Health development committee (Lara): Goal is to create School of Public Health with professional doctorate degree MPA will use several of our courses We may get additional faculty The Project (Mark): GVSU is disassociating from Nonprofit Leadership Alliance (aka American Humanics) primarily because of $8K annual membership fee. Co-curricular organizational replacement is “The Project.” B. Open seats on faculty governance Of the 26 CCPS positions on university committees, only one seat is filled by a SPNHA faculty member. Donijo volunteered for open CCPS Senate seat C. PA611 course cap Greg: I am okay at 30, which is where I have been now for over a year. 611 is noticeably harder to teach and harder on the students when it is two days a week for an hour and 15 minutes. This class really should only be taught in the 2 hour and 50 minute format. Alternatively, it could be taught as a hybrid. Donijo: I agree with Greg about meeting one time a week. I do believe as we accept more students with a smaller skill set or poor performance in undergrad, a class of 30 is more difficult to manage than a class of 20. Decision: Cap PA611 at 20 and offer it in once a week format. D. Revised Renewal, Tenure and Promotion Policy Dan revised the SPNHA Guidelines for Personnel Review to account for the changes in university policy regarding the timing of pre-tenure contract renewal. See http://faculty.gvsu.edu/hoffmanm/rtpguidelines.doc E. Annual peer evaluation for untenured faculty Reduction to one pre-tenure contract renewal requires more faculty involvement in annual work plan and performance evaluation. The discussion led to: (1) Director and one designated mentor involved in annual evaluations prior to contract renewal (2) A committee will be involved in annual evaluations after contract renewal. The faculty did not agree on the composition of that committee: a. Dinosaur plan: Review Committee is all tenured SPNHA faculty b. Carpenter plan: Review committee is designated ad hoc for each candidate, and should include untenured faculty when needed to evaluate field breadth and depth issues. 2 The Internal Dynamics committee will devise a policy. F. Guest: Ruth Stegeman, Director for Community Engagement See: http://faculty.gvsu.edu/hoffmanm/stegeman.pdf As noted at the meeting, Ruth is inviting you to share your community partnership experiences, models, interests, and perspectives. If you are willing, please send her an e-mail with a couple of timeframes for a 30 - 45 minute conversation. Suggested dates are calendar: Oct. 8, 9, 11, 17, 18, and 19. 3