Meeting of the Faculty Council
November 8, 2013, 10:00 a.m., Dean’s Conference Room, 3rd Floor Pafford
In attendance: Brad Yates, Amber Smallwood, Pam Hunt, Salvador Peralta, Soo Moon, Tom Hunter, Mike Johnson, and
Chris Aanstoos, Alan Pope, Lara McCormick (sitting in for Ashley Smallwood)
1. Call to order: 10:03 a.m.
2. Motion to approve minutes of 10-11-13 meeting; seconded; approved unanimously
3. ANNOUNCEMENTS
a. B. Yates summarized the October 30, 2013 Chairs Meeting
i. Presidential grants are due on November 14, 2013.
ii. The next Community Leaders on Campus event will take place in March 2014. Anyone interested
in nominating someone please contact Associate Dean Amber Smallwood.
iii. The BOR continues to monitor low-enrollment programs.
iv. Program evaluations are on the horizon.
v. Performance based budgeting is also in the horizon.
4. Special Guest: Danny Gourley, Advising Center-Presentation on GradesFirst
a. GradesFirst will be become the standard tool for roll verification for financial aid purposes.
b. There is a Faculty Guide (and the important information for faculty starts on p. 11 of this document).
The document will be available in mid-December.
OLD & NEW BUSINESS
1. ACADEMIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE (Hunt, Pope, Smallwood)
a. Proposal: to approve course and program modifications (see Course Catalog System) (Associate Dean
Smallwood)
i. Course modifications/additions/deletions
1) COMM 3302-Public Affairs Reporting
2) COMM 3303-Layout and Design
3) COMM 3353-Fundamentals of Film & Video Production
4) COMM 4454-Media Law
5) COMM 4486-Internship
6) CRIM 4286-Internship
7) POLS 4504-International Political Economy
8) PSYC 8006-Advanced Human Science Methodologies
9) PSYC 8007-Foundations in Clinical Psychology
10) PSYC 8008-Humanistic Foundations of Psychology
11) PSYC 8009-Foundations in Transpersonal Psychology
12) PSYC 8010-Theoretical Foundations of Psychology
13) PSYC 9002-Doctoral Qualifying Seminar
14) Motion to approve these programs as a block; seconded; approved unanimously.
15) Recommendation: Motion to approve course modifications with friendly amendment;
motion passed.
ii. S. Peralta raised the following question: How should the Faculty Council streamline the approval
of some kinds of course modifications? In particular, when the modifications are nonsubstantive (e.g., changing the name of a course, correcting the name of a course), should these
kinds of course modifications be forwarded to the Faculty Council or should there be a different
process to approve these non-substantive course modifications? Peralta expressed the opinion
that the Faculty Council should review requests for substantive course modifications, but not
deal with minutiae.
iii. Program modifications/additions/deletions
1) CRIM-Accelerated Master’s Program in Criminology
2) COSS-Post Baccalaureate Certificate in Data Analysis and Evaluation Methods
3) COSS-Post Baccalaureate Certificate in Nonprofit Management and Community
Development.
4) Motion to approve all program modifications as a block: seconded; approved
unanimously.
5) Recommendation: Motion to approve program modifications with friendly amendment
to include Community Psychology in the course electives for items 2 and 3.
6) SOCI-Accelerated Master’s Program in Sociology
7) Recommendation: at the request of SOCI representative this item was tabled until next
meeting.
b. Standing Proposal: to identify potential Student Success Measures
i. Update from FC Past Chair’s discussion with other Colleges/Schools’ leadership on development
of success measures
1) Past Chair Aanstoos reported that other colleges and schools are having limited
conversations about such measures and are unsure about how to effectively measure
student success like we on FC are
2) COSS is ahead of others at this point on this topic
ii. Update from Academic Affairs Committee-no new information to share
iii. Further discussion tabled until later time
c. Summer Library Privileges
i. Data collected by COSS Graduate Program Office reveals other institutions across the nation
allow graduate students to use the library free of charge during the summer
ii. Resolution: The College of Social Sciences Faculty Council formally recommends the Faculty
Senate consider a university policy change to allow graduate students use of the library during
the summer free of charge even if they are not registered in summer classes.
iii. FC approved resolution language; B. Yates will send resolution to Senate Chair, Jeff Johnson
2. PLANNING COMMITTEE (Aanstoos, Johnson, Yates)
a. Summer Budget Allocation Formula Proposal
i. The following proposal is based on the assumption that each department will send forward a
summer schedule to the Dean’s Office based on each department’s summer teaching policy.
ii. Proposal: Faculty Council recommends the following priorities be considered when allocating the
summer budget for teaching across all academic departments:
1) Required courses for students to graduate in their respective majors should be given first
priority, including required core courses.
2) Additional courses (e.g., major electives and advanced electives) should be given second
priority
3) Core courses should be given third priority
4) Team-teaching opportunities within and across departments should be given fourth
priority
5) Faculty’s need to earn a summer salary should be given fifth priority
iii. Faculty Council approved proposal with addition of “including required core courses” in item
one
b. Faculty Council charged with reviewing Presidential Grant proposals
i. All committee members are asked to participate in screening of applications
ii. Proposed meeting date: Friday, November 15, 2013 @ 2 p.m.; FC members agreed to meet
iii. Administrative Council review: Wednesday, November 20, 2013 @ 10 a.m.
c. Bylaws and Policies and Procedures will be sent to Faculty for a Vote (see Appendix)
3. FACULTY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE (Hunter, Moon, Peralta) – (all items tabled until next meeting)
a. Proposal: to co-sponsor with the Library the first-ever UWG Pedagogy Conference: a day-long oncampus conference for faculty to share teaching ideas
i. Target date will be early May before Summer Sessions begin (Tuesday, April 29 or Wednesday,
April 30)
ii. Anne Barnhart was planning to reserve the Ballroom for whichever date was open
iii. Details to work out include costs, who will fund the initiative, and what incentives might entice
faculty to be involved
b. Proposal: to endorse collaboration between the Library Staff and COSS faculty who teach introductory
courses to help students learn more about research techniques related to the various majors (e.g.,
searching special databases, etc.)
c. Proposal: to endorse a an XIDS course that would cover research and writing for the social sciences
i. Course would help train students so they would have a higher level of competency in the
research methods and writing techniques of their chosen major when they are in their upper
level courses
ii. This would fit with the COSS Strategic Plan
d. Proposal: to endorse the creation of a Faculty Information Literacy Institute in collaboration with the
Library
i. The Institute would help train faculty in the latest information gathering techniques
ii. This initiative may be an alternative to summer teaching that will help faculty engage in
professional development related to teaching and be compensated for their participation
4. OTHER BUSINESS/ANNOUNCEMENTS
a. If S. Peralta, the current chair-elect, is selected as the new Chair of the Political Science department, we
will need to have a special election to find a replacement. The nominee must be a tenured faculty.
b. Invite Dr. David Jenks to discuss the Criminology Department’s recent agreement with West Georgia
Technical College. What are the positive and negative implications of this agreement?
Respectfully submitted,
Sal Peralta
Appendix A
Proposed Amendments to Bylaws and Policies and Procedures
College of Social Sciences
Approved by Faculty Council
Reviewed by Administrative Council
Submitted to COSS Faculty for Consideration
Fall 2013
Bylaws (http://www.westga.edu/assetsCOSS/coss/COSSBylaws.pdf)
1. Department Chair Evaluation
a. The proposed amendments to Article II.B.3.b. make COSS Bylaws language consistent with the Faculty
Handbook and further clarifies who may serve the faculty departmental review committee for the
evaluation of the department chair and who may be involved in the evaluation process.
i. Current language: The performance of each department chair shall be reviewed at intervals not
to exceed four years by the members of the chair’s department, a report of which will be
submitted to the Dean.
ii. Proposed amendment: The performance of each department chair shall be reviewed at least
once every three years by the members of the chair’s department, a report of which will be
submitted to the Dean.
iii. Additional proposed amendment: Add the two subsections to Article II.B.3.b. noted below
a) Article II.B.3.b.i.: Eligible members of the faculty departmental review committee include
all full-time tenured/tenure-track faculty.
b) Article II.B.3.b.ii.: In accordance with the Faculty Handbook, the faculty departmental
review committee shall use the Personnel Evaluation Questionnaire (section 104.0302)
to conduct a comprehensive performance review from among departmental, college,
university and community constituents.
2. Dean Evaluation
a. The proposed amendments to Article II.A.1.c. make COSS Bylaws language consistent with the Faculty
Handbook.
i. Current language: Evaluation-In addition to any performance evaluations by the Provost’s office,
the Dean of the College shall be evaluated at intervals not to exceed four years by the
Administrative Council and by the Faculty Council.
ii. Proposed amendment: Create sub-section II.A.1.c.i: In addition to any performance evaluations
by the Provost’s office, the first periodic evaluation of the Dean of the College shall cover a full
three-year period and occur in the Dean’s fourth year of appointment. Thereafter, the periodic
evaluations shall cover a full four-year period and occur every five years. The Review Committee
shall follow the procedures outlined in Section 104.0601E of the Faculty Handbook.
iii. Additional proposed amendment: Create sub-section II.A.1.c.ii.: Members of the Review
Committee shall be comprised of at least one member of the Administrative Council and at least
one member of the Faculty Council, elected within each governing body. The remaining four
members of the committee, who may be members of the Administrative Council and/or Faculty
Council, and the faculty at-large, shall be nominated by each department and elected by the
Faculty Council. Eligible nominees shall be full-time faculty, regardless of rank.
Policies & Procedures (http://www.westga.edu/coss/index_13.php)
3. Promotion & Tenure Advisory Committee composition
a. The proposed amendment to Section I.4.b.ii. clarifies who may represent a candidate for promotion
and/or tenure.
i. Current language: COMPOSITION: One faculty from each academic department of the College,
elected by their department, and one faculty elected by the College at large. All members of the
committee must be tenured faculty. Department chairs are not eligible to serve, nor are any
faculty members whose application for tenure or promotion would come before the committee
during their term of service. Members may not serve more than one term consecutively unless
there are no other faculty in their department eligible to serve. All terms shall be two-year
terms, except the initial election following the adoption of these rules in which terms will be
staggered so that approximately one-half of the committee will be elected each subsequent
year.
ii. Proposed amendment: add the following language to the exiting language: If no member of the
Promotion & Tenure Advisory Committee from the department of a candidate can be present at
the meeting, or is eligible to serve on the committee, and the departmental representative is
outside the discipline, then the department faculty may elect a spokesperson to be available to
answer questions about that candidate at that portion of the meeting in which that candidate’s
dossier is evaluated. Such a spokesperson would participate only in that portion of the meeting
at which their department’s candidate is being evaluated and would not be eligible to vote on
the candidate.
4. 3rd year Pre-tenure Review Policy
a. The proposed amendment to Section I.3.b. makes COSS Policies and Procedures language consistent
with the Faculty Handbook.
i. Current language: a third-year review of tenure-track faculty by their tenured department
colleagues, department chair, and the College Dean.
ii. Proposed amendment: a third-year pre-tenure review of tenure-track faculty by their tenured
department colleagues, department chair, and the College Dean.