UFS#3
Approved November 18, 2004.
October 21 Minutes
Indiana State University
Faculty Senate 2004-05
Time:
3:15 p.m.
Place:
HMSU, Dede III
Officers: Chairperson H. Hudson, Vice Chair S. Lamb
Senators: J. Allen, V. Anderson, M. Bahr, F. Bell, J. Buffington, K. Byerman,
D. Burger, P. Burkett, A. DiSalvo, B. Evans, B. Frank, E. Hampton, M. Harmon,
D. Hews, P. Hightower, C. Hoffman, N. Hopkins, J. Hughes, J. Jakaitis,
J. Kuhlman, C. MacDonald, R. McGiverin, C. Montanez, T. Mulkey, M. Ould-Mey,
S. Sharp, V. Sheets, J.Tenerelli, Q. Weng, P. Wheeler
Absent: Sr. A. Anderson, N. Corey, A. Ford, J. Gatrell, D. Gravitt, R. Johnson,
S. Pontius, S. Shure
Ex-Officio: Provost Maynard
Visitors: K. Janz, E. Kinley, S. Powers, D. Worley
I. Memorial
A memorial for Richard Spear was read and accepted by acclamation. (Byerman,
Hoffman 32-0-0)
II. Administrative Report
Provost Maynard:
1) President Benjamin could not attend today’s meeting;
2) copies of VU’s proposal to offer four-year programs has been distributed to deans
and departments;
3) the local unit of the American Association of University Professors has sponsored
a panel presentation/discussion about ISU's academic relations with Vincennes University
and the IVY Tech system. The forum will take place next Wednesday, October 27;
4) the University gave a budget presentation last week to the Indiana Department of
Higher Education and the State Budget Committee;
5) three subcommittees of the Compensation Committee continue to work—
recommendations are expected by late November;
6) the ad for searches will be running in the Chronicle for Higher Education next
week—forty-seven faculty positions are advertised;
7) the University continues to prepare the appeal to the Department of Education
regarding financial aid repayment of $1.5M for years 1999-2002;
8) a reception for new faculty and staff planned by the Wabash Valley Educational
Alliance is to take place this evening. Participants will be from member educational
institutions--ISU, Rose-Hulman, St. Mary of the Woods, and Ivy Tech.
III. Chair Report
Chair Hudson:
1) attended the PPARC meeting last Monday;
2) the Board of Trustees is scheduled to meet next Thursday and Friday;
3) meetings are being held to verify the working status for the newly approved
expedited admission policy;
4) the ad hoc Benefits Committee has been formed—co-chaired by Peter Mikolaj and
John Sanders;
5) Senators unanimously approved the following e-mail sent by the Chair to the
Provost regarding Pay for Performance (Hoffman, Hopkins 31-0-1):
“Here are the points regarding pay for performance that I mentioned at
yesterday's Exec. meeting. I urge you and President Benjamin to incorporate
them in whatever plan you develop, and to communicate that plan to the faculty
soon. Members of Exec. would appreciate being informed of your plan before it
is shared with the faculty at large.
The faculty support the concept of pay for performance, but given the budget
picture for the next several years, it seems unlikely that there will be sufficient
funds for meaningful performance increments to salaries. When performance
increments are inconsistent, or small, pay for performance ceases to either fairly
reward or effectively motivate employees. For these reasons, it would be
appropriate to suspend the current pay for performance system until there are
sufficient funds. Annual faculty review should continue separately from pay for
performance.
While pay for performance is suspended,
1. Faculty should not be required to submit the extensive documentation of
accomplishments called for in most department pay for performance guidelines.
2. Departments should not be required to perform the pay for performance
evaluation process.
3. Faculty performance should continue to be reviewed annually by
departments based on FRPAs and any other documentation the department finds
necessary.
4. Faculty should be informed whether their performance meets or falls below
department standards. The Senate officers believe that to institute a third level
explicitly recognizing superior achievement would just lead to the submission
of voluminous evaluation materials which would give rise to lengthy, arduous
review procedures, and we'd be back where we started.
5. Faculty accomplishments from 2002-4 as well as the period of pay for
performance suspension should be considered whenever budgets permit a return
to pay for performance.
6. Faculty should be informed of the need to maintain documentation in
anticipation of return to pay for performance.
7. During the period of suspension, the University can focus its attention and
resources on addressing the recommendations of the Compensation Committee.
8. While these recommendations should be the priority, if additional funds are
available they should be distributed across the board to faculty whose annual
reviews are satisfactory.
9. During the period of suspension, pay for performance should be reviewed
and revised so it is simpler, fairer, less contentious, and better and more
consistently funded. The amounts involved need to be meaningful to the
recipients and worth the efforts of the evaluating committees.
Suspending pay for performance and making progress toward addressing the
compensation issues would be tremendous positive steps. Among their many
benefits, I believe they would encourage faculty to make needed changes to pay
for performance procedures. The Senate stands ready to help address these
issues.”
IV. SGA Report
Vice President Scales:
1) students are being selected for service on Senate standing committees;
2) the all sports pep rally held last Friday had good attendance;
3) issues around the Collegiate Readership Program are being discussed in the
Student Senate;
4) the final meeting of the 4002-2004 Election promotion will be next week.
V. Fifteen Minute Open Discussion
1) Relayed difficulties encountered when scheduling space for academic conferences:
space availability, timeline for requests, and priority given requests.
Provost Maynard will respond at future meeting.
2) Concern and discontent with present system used to allocate classrooms expressed.
VI. Approval of the Minutes
Minutes of the September 23, 2004 meeting were approved. (Byerman, Frank 30-0-1)
VII. Sabbatical Leaves Policy Handbook Language
Motion to approve. (Hightower, DiSalvo 30-0-1)
Language of document accurately reflects policy approved by the Senate on April 29,
2004.
Editorial revisions provided by C. Hoffman were approved. (Hoffman, Evans 30-0-1)
Document will be forwarded to Vice President Schafer requesting review by the
Board of Trustees.
VIII. Old Business
None.
IX. New Business
None
X. Information Presentation: ISU Notebook Initiative
Preliminary to review by Senate standing committees (CAAC, FAC, and Graduate
Council), Senators were given an informational presentation regarding a broad-based
initiative that would place notebook computers in the hands of all full-time undergraduate
students and faculty. Topics of the presentation: literature support of the initiative,
enrollment, budgetary impact, and implementation. Presenters: E. Kinley, K. Janz, S.
Powers, and D. Worley.
XI. Standing Committee Reports
AAC: met once; discussed revisions to the Faculty Satisfaction Survey. Discussion will
continue at the next meeting.
AEC: no report.
CAAC: met three times; elected officers and selected representatives to ITLOC, QLOC, and
General Education Council; approved eight program modifications. Discussion items:
benchmarks as a Framework for a Coherent University Assessment System and the different
approaches of selection of the questions to be utilized; Life Science department divisions;
Senate Executive Committee charges.
FAC: met twice; prepared select committee nominations; began work on this year’s charges.
FEBC: no report.
Grad Council: no report.
SAC: met once; continuing and new charges were discussed and action plans for managing
the charges were formulated. A subcommittee to oversee the implementation of the Faculty
Scholarship, to be awarded in spring 2005, was formed. SAC will be investigating the recent
retention initiatives and participate in the development of policies and procedures regarding
undergraduate admission, retention, and academic standards. SAC will also work with SGA
to refine the procedure for selecting student representatives on University standing
committees. Concern was expressed about the proposed mandatory laptop policy, to be
phased in beginning 2006. The reorganization of Financial Aid has had a positive effect—
financial aid figures for the beginning of 2004 were $10 million higher than the comparable
2003 figures.
URC: met once; considering applications.
XII. General Education Council Report
Council has met six times since the last report; Debra Worley has been selected as
Acting Coordinator of General Education for spring 2005; approved: capstone course
proposals
from Nursing and Music; approved MUS 329/AFRI 329 (Music in Africa) for Multicultural
Studies: International Cultures credit; returned to the Mathematics and Computer Science
Department a capstone course proposal; approved the format of letters requesting assessment
and review materials for all Literary, Artistic, and Philosophical Studies Literature and Life
and Elective courses—soon to be distributed to department chairs; assessment and review
materials for all LAPS courses and for all Multicultural Studies: US Diversity courses will be
due in the spring 2005 semester—formal letters requesting materials have yet to be approved.
The meeting adjourned at 5:17 p.m.