College of Education Senate
University of Northern Iowa
October 15, 2007
Minutes #359
I. Call to Order
In the absence of Kurt Meredith, Chair, the meeting of the College of
Education Senate was called to order by Rick Vanderwall, Vice Chair, at
3:19 P.M. on Monday, October 15, 2007 in the Dean‟s Conference Room in
Schindler Education Center, Room 205.
Senators in attendance [in bold]
Dave Christensen [At large]
Rod Dieser [At large]
Dave Else [ELCPE]
Kim Knesting [At-large]
Elana Joram [EPF]
Chris Kliewer [SPED]
Kurt Meredith, Chair [C&I]
Rick Vanderwall [TCHG]
Windee Weiss [HPELS]
Robin Lund [At-large]
Alternates in attendance [in bold]
Susan Hudson
Robert Decker
Rob Boody
Amy Staples
Penny Beed
Bridgette Wagoner
Nancy Hamilton
Kevin Finn
Ex-Officio Members in attendance
Dean William P. Callahan
Guests
Aaron Spurr and Maxine Davis
II. Approval of Minutes of September 17, 2007 [#358]
It was moved by Christensen and seconded by Kliewer that the minutes
[#358] of the September 17, 2007 meeting be approved as read. All ayes.
Motion carried.
III. Welcome
Vanderwall welcomed the Senators and guests to the meeting.
IV. Reports/Announcements
A. College Visit: President Allen and Interim Provost Lubker will visit the
College of Education on Friday, November 9, 2007. An important part
of this visit will be a 45 minute 'Open Forum' for all faculty and staff
beginning at 9:45 A.M. in SEC 246. At that time President Allen will
address the COE faculty and staff for approximately 15 minutes
followed by a 30 minute 'Question & Answer' period. Vanderwall
encouraged all faculty to attend and to also be thinking of compelling
questions to ask of the President.
B. Call from Provost: Vanderwall reported that the Senate needs to
identify one faculty representative from each college to serve on a
committee to select a recipient for the Class of 1943 Faculty Award for
Excellence in Teaching and the Ross A. Nielsen Professional Service
Award. Hudson questioned if this award is geared toward community
service or professional service. There was consensus that it was for
professional service. Prior recipients of these awards would be
particularly appropriate faculty representatives. It was decided to ask
Kurt Meredith to serve as the COE representative.
V. Old Business
A. Senate Co-Sponsoring Academic Conversation as per Dean Callahan:
Dean Callahan stated that he would like to propose a series of monthly
conversations with faculty about an academic topic. It would be a
series of academic conversations, preferably around a book or a topic of
some controversy, such as “Descartes‟ Error” by Antonio Damusio. He
anticipates beginning these conversations yet this fall.
B. Senate Web Site: Vanderwall stated that the COE Senate web site is
being updated to make it more current. Maxine Davis, IRTS, has the
responsibility for maintaining this Web site. The dean suggested
forming a small committee to compile information, such as approved
minutes, by-laws, committees, etc. to be placed on the Web site. If you
need help writing, let the Dean‟s Office know as there might be funds
available to assist in this effort.
VI. New Business
A. University Award Committee: Vanderwall reported that we need to
identify a representative from the Senate to serve on the University
Awards Committee. Christensen suggested that the Chair of COE
Faculty Awards Committee serve as the representative. This year that
Chairperson is Radhi Al-Mabuk. Concern was expressed that there
might be a problem since Al-Mabuk is an administrator and may,
therefore, be ineligible to serve. Bartlett will check on this and make
a recommendation next month.
B. Technology Issues for College: Maxine Davis, Interim Director of
IRTS, attended the meeting to give an update on student computer
fee money. This year $209,000 was allocated to the College of
Education and will be distributed by the COE Technology Committee.
The majority of expenses, approximately $80-90,000, are for wages,
salaries, student salaries, operation/repair expenses, paper, toner,
renewal fees, and other annual fees. Then the Committee looks at the
amortization chart of all COE equipment that needs to be replaced,
updated, etc. This year there were classrooms that needed to be
updated plus two media classrooms added. The dean stated that
there is a terrible underutilization of multimedia classrooms. He is
going to look at the schedule to see when those classrooms are being
used in terms of rescheduling classrooms to make better use of them.
He stressed that ultimately all space belongs to the university so we
can move any class as needed. Joram suggested that there needs to
be a schedule of rooms that are being converted so it is equitable for
each department. With the remaining $30,000, the Committee
decided to add two additional rooms and then look at the
amortization schedule more closely. A question was raised as to who
sits on this Committee. There is one representative from each
department: C&I [Robin Galloway]; Educational Leadership [Linda
Nebbe]; Educational Psychology & Foundations [Michael Fanelli];
HPELS [Forrest Dolgener]; Special Education [to be identified]; and
Teaching [Megan Balong] plus student representatives.
It was also reported that a proposal was received from Steve Moon,
Acting Associate Vice President for Information Technology, to
centralize service. This would also include hiring an additional
support person. The College of Education would be required to
provide funds to support this effort. Vanderwall questioned if we
would lose our COE person. Davis responded that we would not –
this would be an additional position. There is some concern on
whether or not this would be cost efficient. The cost of maintaining
all equipment is rising and it is unclear when student computer fees
were last increased. Vanderwall questioned the frequency of use of
the labs. Davis reported that the SEC computer labs are heavily
utilized. It was suggested the computer lab in the WRC might be an
alternative. Terri Meehan in the HPELS Office can be contacted for
more information. The dean stated that we are doing a careful
analysis of space utilization. Hudson questioned what impact the use
of wireless has on the use of computer labs. Davis responded that
wireless gives more access, but she doesn‟t think it has impacted the
labs much.
C. Faculty Activity Reports: Aaron Spurr made a presentation on faculty
activity reports currently being used by the Lab School. This faculty
activity report template is divided into three areas: Teaching,
Service, and Scholarship/Research. Faculty can import information
from previous years and then add data during the year to keep an
updated faculty activity report. One consequence for the Lab School
is that reporting has become more consistent. Christensen
questioned if there are any security issues. Spurr responded that
faculty have access only to their own report while Dave Smith has
access to all reports but cannot edit any data. The dean stated that he
may invite Spurr to make a presentation to the COE Management
Team. He also commended him on his work with PowerSchool, a
portal for parents to use.
D. Senate Member to ISU Education Summit: Vanderwall distributed
information on the Education Summit, “The Future of Education:
Responding to Uncertainty”, which is being sponsored by Iowa State
University. The Summit will be held on the ISU campus on
November 2, 2007. Most of the COE Management Team will be
attending. It is hoped that we can also have a large turn-out of
tenure/tenure track faculty, specifically 1-2 P.E./Health Ed. people.
There is no registration fee and the College will provide
transportation. Biff Williams is coordinating registrations which are
due by October 26th.
E. Scholarship Committee: This item was tabled for discussion at a
future meeting.
F. November Meeting Date Change: Due to Thanksgiving Break, the
November meeting date has been changed to November 26th.
Hudson questioned the December meeting date which follows
Commencement. Vanderwall responded that historically the
December meeting has been an „optional‟ meeting date.
VII. Dean’s Report
Dean Callahan stated that with the Presidential Debate scheduled for
November 6th on the UNI campus there has been a flurry of requests for
information. We may not be able to do everything, but President Allen
expects us to be the „go to‟ place for requests for information. This is a
tremendous opportunity for UNI. The dean publicly thanked Williams for
his outstanding efforts. The “drive-down” philosophy of getting
information to faculty has been very helpful.
Also, fundraising efforts are going well. Dean Callahan will be attending a
Wallace Foundation Grant meeting in New York City October 21-25 as part
of a 9-member Iowa team. In addition, he will be traveling to California
November 15-19 along with Sherry Kluender to meet with potential
donors. He stated that we are still looking for ideas to be included on the
Foundation‟s Wish List. Please spread the word that if your area is not one
being promoted, please let him know.
VIII. Upcoming Meeting Dates
November 26, 2007
December 17, 2007 [Christmas Break] – Optional meeting date
January 21, 2008 [University Holiday]
February 18, 2008
March 17, 2008 [Spring Break]
April 21, 2008
IX. Other Dates to Remember
October 23, 2007
November 5, 2007
November 9, 2007
December 15, 2007
January 14, 2008
Teacher Induction Convocation
T.E. Fall Faculty Meeting
COE Visit by President Allen
Commencement
Spring Term Begins
X. Adjournment
The next meeting of the COE Senate will be held on Monday, November
26, 2007 at 3:15 P.M. in the Dean‟s Conference Room in Schindler
Education Center. It was moved by Kliewer and seconded by Weiss that
the meeting be adjourned. The meeting was then adjourned at 4:22 P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Mary-Sue Bartlett
Secretary
:msb