College of Education Senate
University of Northern Iowa
March 8, 2010
Minutes #380
I. Call to Order
The meeting of the College of Education Senate was called to order by
Windee Weiss, Chair, at 3:25 P.M. on Monday, March 8, 2010 in the
Dean’s Conference Room in Schindler Education Center.
Senators in attendance [in bold]
Alternates
Windee Weiss, Chair [HPELS]
Todd Evans
Rick Vanderwall, Vice Chair [At-large]Shelly McCumber
Jan Bartlett [ELCPE]
Gerri Perreault
Rod Dieser [At-large]
Heather Olsen
Suzanne Freedman [EPF]
Chris Kliewer [SPED]
Kim Knesting [At-large]
Deb Deemer
Robin Lund [At-large]
Elizabeth Zwanziger [TCHG]
Rick Knivsland
Leigh Zeitz [C&I]
Mingshui Cai
Term expires
2011-12
2010-11
2011-12
2010-11
2011-12
2011-12
2010-11
2009-10
2010-11
2010-11
Ex-Officio Members in attendance
William P. Callahan, Dean
II. Approval of Minutes
It was moved by Vanderwall and seconded by Dieser that the minutes of
the February 15, 2009 [#379] meeting be approved as read. All ayes.
Motion carried.
III. Reports/Announcements
The following reports/announcements were made:
 Knesting discussed the upcoming visit to the UNI campus by Dr.
Paul Gorski. Dr. Gorski is an Assistant Professor of Integrative and
Interdisciplinary Studies in George Mason University’s New
Century College. His opening session will be on Monday, April 12th,
from 8:30-10:00 A.M. in Lang Auditorium. He will then work with
small groups of faculty during the remainder of his visit.
 The following letter has been written to the UNI Facilities Advisory
Board. All Senators have been asked to sign the letter.
As a Senate, we believe that Schindler Education Center [SEC] is
desperately in need of renovation. The SEC has not been renovated in
years and the current condition of the building and classrooms is
insufficient for our goals of producing the top educators, leaders, and
professionals in the State of Iowa. Our goal is to support 21st century
learners, but we will not be able to accomplish this with mid-20th
century architecture. The constantly evolving technology demands
within the classroom and in the professional setting require that we
bring the SEC up-to-date and provide our students with the necessary
tools to be successful. Additionally, there are significant structural
issues that affect the quality and ability of teaching and learning.
Improving the SEC will do more than benefit education students. The
SEC serves students for all parts of the campus and is used frequently
by the community and professional groups.
The SEC houses the education program that President Allen identifies
as one of the key programs for the university. Currently, the College
of Education [COE] is searching for a new Dean to lead our efforts at
making the education program at UNI the strongest in the country.
This is the only search that has been approved by the President, thus
highlighting the critical importance of the COE. The building should
reflect the important place that education holds in our university.
 Bartlett reminded everyone that the Call for Nominations for the
COE Outstanding Faculty Awards and the Dean’s Award for
Multicultural Initiatives will be going out soon. The deadline for
submission of nominations is March 22nd.
 The deadline for May Term classes is March 15th and the deadline
for June/July classes is April 15th. The minimum enrollments as
established by the Provost’s Office are: 18 for lower level classes; 15
for upper level classes; and 8 for graduate classes.
 Senators were reminded there are Notifications of Concern [NOC]
that can be filed if there is a repeated problem with a student. The
NOC goes in their file, but students do have a chance to redeem
themselves. Knesting stated that this also allows tracking by faculty
of a particular student with concerns. Senators were encouraged to
share this with their colleagues.
 There was consensus to decide at the April meeting if a May
meeting is warranted. A new Senate chair will also be elected as
this meeting.
IV. Old Business
A. COE Dean’s Search Update: Dean Callahan recused himself for this
portion of the meeting. While Dr. Elana Joram and Dr. Sue
Etscheidt, Co-Chairs of the COE Dean’s Search Committee, were
unable to attend the meeting, Weiss provided an update on the COE
Dean’s Search. To date there are approximately 20 applicants. The
Web site has been updated and a tentative timeline submitted. It is
anticipated that video phone interviews will be held April 7-9th with
approximately 10-15 candidates. Then two weeks later [the last week
of April] on campus interviews will be schedule with 3-5 candidates.
Applications are still being accepted so Weiss encouraged Senators to
forward names to Search Committee.
B. COE Senate Elections: Vanderwall stated that nominations for the
COE Senate elections have been coming in, but some openings still
remain. One such opening is someone to replace Vanderwall who is
presently serving as an At-Large Senator. The Committee on
Curriculum is another difficult, but significant slot to fill. If we can’t
fill before Spring Break, there was consensus to wait until afterwards.
V. New Business
A. Platinum Analytics Discussion: Weiss reported on a recent
conversation at the COE Leadership Team concerning a Platinum
Analytics demonstration on March 25th. Platinum Analytics is tool
which:
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Identifies student demand for specific courses;
Analyzes how many sections of each course are needs;
How and when courses should be scheduled;
What is demand versus what is want;
How to increase credit hour production;
How to maximize space utilization and energy and
infrastructure sustainability; and
Improve persistence and graduation rates, etc.
Basically it will take the current schedule across university and then
put people where it is the most efficient for them to teach. It will
take all the control of scheduling out of the hands of faculty. She
stated that the COE Leadership team was very concerned about this
possibility. It will also put more demands on the students in terms
of class location, etc. It was suggested that Senators ‘float’ this out
to their constituents for their feedback.
B. Faculty Workload Discussion: Weiss questioned if everyone had
seen the attachment from Gerald Smith [College of Business
Administration] regarding the “meaningless research occurring on
campus”. Most Senates have issued a statement about faculty
workload and it was felt that we need to do the same. Lund stated
that there is strong concern about who decides on quality research.
It was moved by Vanderwall and seconded by Knesting that a draft
statement be written by a select group of individuals, at the Chair’s
appointment, and that draft then be circulated electronically. The
Senate will vote in advance to accept statement. All ayes. Motion
carried. Weiss will draft with the agreement that she will sign as
Chair of the Senate. [Vanderwall left at 3:55]
VI. Dean’s Report
Dean Callahan reported on the following:

He has been working on a Higher Learning Commission [HLC]
proposal to offer two new existing online master’s degree programs:
1] Professional Development Master’s Degree out of the
Department of Educational Psychology & Foundations; and 2]
Elementary Education Master’s Degree out of the Department of
Curriculum & Instruction. Two HLC evaluators will be on campus
March 21-23 for an initial visit and then the major HLC review will
occur in November 2010. Most people are unaware of the status of
their student outcomes and if they are accurate. There is some
expectation that faculty should be familiar with the HLC report.
Each of the departments should ask Donna Vinton to meet with
them to make sure that they are in compliance with the HLC
standards.

April 5-7 are the dates of the Ed.D. program external review.

Dean Callahan reported that faculty office hours are on the AAC
agenda tomorrow.

Dieser questioned that matter of merit money in terms of “faculty
without record of scholarship”. The following excerpt is from the
COE Senate Minutes [#379] of the February 15, 2010 meeting
under the heading III. Reports/Announcements:
It was reported that if faculty do not have a record of
scholarship [publications within the last three years], they
will not be eligible for summer employment and may be
required to teach 12 hours. Dieser questioned where this is
coming from. Weiss will seek clarification from Dean
Callahan.
The dean stated that there has been extensive conversation among
the other deans concerning faculty who continue to demonstrate
excellence in all three areas of scholarship, teaching, and research.
If we have poor teachers, we need to identify them to set up a plan
to help them becomes better teachers or figure out what to do with
them. Dean Callahan stated that complaints are coming from
students and they want to know what we are doing about it.
The College of Business Administration uses the three year time
frame, however, Academic Affairs Council has not yet set a time
frame. The deans want to enforce the contract which has clear
guidelines/expectations for faculty. Then, if a faculty member
doesn’t meet those expectations, the following might occur: 1]
remediation; an intervention program that supports the individuals
efforts to get better; and/or possibly termination.

Lund raised a question concerning Governor Culver’s request for
$30m to get $100m in ARRA funding. The dean doesn’t think
anything will be coming back to the Regents as he hasn’t seen
anything in the Legislature about this.

Weiss asked if there were any truth to the rumor that Chris
Edginton will be stepping down as Director of the School of Health,
Physical Education, and Leisure Services after this year. Dean
Callahan stated that he was unaware of this.
VII. Upcoming Meeting Dates
April 12, 2010
May 10, 2010
September 13, 2010
VIII. Other Dates to Remember
March 15-19, 2010
April 26, 2010
May 8, 2010
August 23, 2010
Spring Break
COE Faculty Awards
Commencement
Fall Semester begins
IX. Adjournment
The next meeting of the COE Senate will be held on Monday, April 12,
2010 at 3:15 P.M. in the Dean’s Conference Room in Schindler Education
Center. It was moved by Dieser and seconded by Lund that the meeting be
adjourned. All ayes. Motion carried. The meeting was adjourned at 4:40
P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Mary-Sue Bartlett, Secretary
College of Education
:msb