Dr. Ann Albrecht— President
Dr. Mark Shipman — Past President , ex-officio
Dr. Don Beach – President-Elect
Dr. Rebekah MillerLevy – Sec/Treasurer
Dr. Reggie Hall - Parliamentarian
Faculty Senate Minutes
Date: January 14, 2015
PRESENT:
Mr. Alex Tanter, Ms. Manon Shockey, Dr. Randy Roisere, Dr. Allan Nelson, Dr. Ranjani Srinivasan
Karley Goen (sub for Dr. Robert Anderson) Mr. Art Dearing, Brenda Riley (sub for Dr. Brittany Rodriguez), Dr.
Rebekah Miller-Levy, Dr. Don Beach, Mr. Richard Willey, Dr. Mark Shipman, Ms. Paula McKeehan, Iwao Asakura (sub
for Dr. Anthony Pursell), Andrew Wolfe (sub for Dr. Wendell Sadler), Ms. Cathy Wilterding, Dr. Reggie Hall, Dr. Keith
Emmert, Dr. Brooke Dubansky, Dr. Mary Winton, Dr. Ann Albrecht, Dr. Matt Hallgarth, Misty Smith (sub for Ms.
Francine Pratt)
ABSENT:
Dr. Mircea Agapie, MSG Jimmy Garcia
CALL TO ORDER:
The meeting was called to order by Dr. Albrecht at 3:05pm
APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
Dr. Nelson moved to approve the minutes of the last meeting. Ms. Shockey seconded. Motion carried.
TREASURER’S REPORT:
Current balance is $4,639.03. Funds were spent on the Faculty Luncheon and Faculty Senate membership dues.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
None
UNIVERSITY COMMITTEES:
Reports/Committee assignments
A. Academic Assessment (Nelson)
Continue to work on SACs 5th Year Report.
B. Academic Council (Albrecht)
No meeting
C. Academic Council Management Team (Albrecht)
Continues to work on SACs 5th Year Report. Discussion end of the year assessments, suspension hearings. Dr.
Garza presented application numbers for next year.
D. Academic Standards (Hall & Beach)
Continue to gather data on how many students would be affected by not allowing transfer grades of D.
E. Access Equity and Diversity Committee (Pratt)
No report
F. ALE/REAL Oversight Committee (Miller-Levy)
Committee’s charge is to decide what the ALEs will look like after the QEP is completed. The Committee
looked at the results of the Faculty Survey conducted in November. (See more information below in Wayne
Atchley’s comments.)
G. Budget Advisory Council (Tanter)
Dr. Ann Albrecht— President
Dr. Mark Shipman — Past President , ex-officio
Dr. Don Beach – President-Elect
H.
I.
J.
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L.
M.
N.
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P.
Q.
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Dr. Rebekah MillerLevy – Sec/Treasurer
Dr. Reggie Hall - Parliamentarian
Evaluating the budget process and how fund are allocated. Continue gathering data on normal overhead costs
of academic and nonacademic departments. Discussion of adopting a formula based allocation model using
statewide weighted categories. This is in the early stages of development but will eventually affect
departmental budgets.
Campus Ethics, Compliance, and Enterprise Risk Management (Winton)
No meeting
CII Advisory Council (Wilterding)
Continue to review Online courses for SACs compliance for the SACs 5th Year Report. The Excellence in
Teaching Conference will be April 9 & 10. Committee asks for any suggestion from faculty.
Commencement & Convocation (Beach & Shipman)
No meeting
Curriculum Committee (Hallgarth & Miller-Levy)
Passed a variety of curriculum items, including several new minors designed to help Tarleton gain Hispanic
Serving Institution status. Concerns about non-credit courses now being required for students who need
remediation in math and science.
Developmental Education Advisory Council (McKeehan)
No meeting
Employee Benefits Committee (Shipman)
No meeting
Faculty Handbook Committee (Shipman)
No meeting
SEMEC (Albrecht)
No meeting
University Calendar Committee (Pursell)
Committee sent proposal of adding Saturday exams to the final schedule to Dr. Murray and it was accepted.
University Discipline Appeals (Miller-Levy)
No meeting
University Planning Council (Shipman)
Planning Retreat will be January 23. The theme is Adapting to Division 1.
UPMC (Albrecht)
No meeting
OLD BUSINESS
A. IRB – Dr. Murray held a meeting for the IRB office and COE Dean and selected faculty to discuss COE’s
concerns about the IRB process. Discussion included timeliness of response of IRB office to submissions,
perceived change in purpose of IRB (from protecting subjects to evaluating quality of research methodology),
the lack of communication of new expectations, and the impact on student and faculty research agendas.
Changes made to IRB process are a direct result of the Audit and until the Audit is complete, Tarleton is
operating under their rules and mandates. There are no exempt or expedited IRBs until further notice. A fulltime person has been hired to help with communications and timelines. The IRB office asks for patience
while they are working through the mandates of the Audit. Dr. Murray is open to holding meeting with other
colleges. Sally Lewis expressed an interest in coming to talk with Faculty Senate about the IRB process.
B. Shared Governance – Dr. Shipman presented a draft of part of the Shared Governance proposal he and his
committee is creating to give to Dr. Murray. The draft, based in part on the 2010 A&M White Paper, includes
background information and University searches, hiring, and evaluations. Several other significant issues will
be included in the final draft. If there are any suggestions or revisions, please get them to Dr. Shipman ASAP.
a. During the conversation about shared governance, concerns were raised the process for replacing the
Dean of Agriculture. The faculty of this area request a meeting with Dr. Murray to discuss the job
description and criteria for the new Dean position before the search begins. Dr. Hallgarth presented a
Dr. Ann Albrecht— President
Dr. Mark Shipman — Past President , ex-officio
Dr. Don Beach – President-Elect
Dr. Rebekah MillerLevy – Sec/Treasurer
Dr. Reggie Hall - Parliamentarian
motion that the Faculty Senate supports the Agriculture faculty in this request. Dr. Srinivasan
seconded the motion. Motion carried unanimously.
C. Dr. Beach asked to add an item to Old Business. Last meeting we discussed the Texan Tall campaign and
concerns faculty and student organizations have about the campaign and, the Office of Marketing and
Communications in general. The Senate discussed Dr. Shipman formulating a letter to the head of marketing
outlining faculty concerns. The Faculty Senate Executive Committee and a select group of Senators (Selected
by Harry Battson, Vice President of Marketing and Communications) have been invited to participate in a
Faculty Senate Focus Group on Marketing. In light of the previous conversation about writing a letter
outlining the Senate’s concerns, Ms. Wilterding presented a motion to give Senate approval for the Executive
Committee to revisit the concerns in the letter after the Focus Group and decide how to proceed with sharing
any unaddressed concerns so the concerns can be presented without waiting a month for another Faculty
Senate meeting. Dr. Hallgarth seconded motion. Motion carried unanimously.
D. College Tenure & Promotion/Post – Tenure Review – The first stage of the review of T&P/Post-Tenure
Review has been completed. All Deans have forwarded College votes on to Dr. Murray. There is still concern
that Tenure and Promotion and Post-Tenure Review are in the same document. There are also major concerns
about the teaching and service components not being addressed.
NEW BUSINESS
A. Budget Hearings – College and Departmental Budget Hearings are coming up. Each Department Senator
needs to attend the Department hearing and there is a sign-up sheet for College hearings. Faculty Senate needs
to be represented in all Budget Hearings.
B. Summary of Dec. 10 Executive Board Meeting with Academic Affairs Leadership – Dr. Beach
summarized minutes from meeting. (See Attatched)
Guest: Wayne Atchley, Chair of the ALE/REAL Oversight Committee
A. ALEs originated with the QEP and as the 5-year strategic plan ends, the ALEs will continue in some form per
Executive Cabinet mandate. The Strategic Plan states that by 2020, incoming freshman must complete three ALEs
as a graduation requirement.
B. The ALE/REAL Oversight Committee is charged with formulating a plan for how the ALEs will look after the
QEP is completed.
a. There are two different models being considered:
i. Embed ALEs in the curriculum – some disciplines lend themselves very well to embedded ALEs.
It is a matter of selecting courses that are already doing real world experiences and tweaking the
assignments to meet the ALE documentation requirements. It is not a matter of creating new
courses or assignments.
ii. Have ALES as a graduation requirement the student must seek out on their own.
b. Tarleton is behind schedule on rolling out ALEs so a new timeline has been deployed. By Fall 2016, each
Department needs to identify one course which can incorporate an ALE. By Fall of 2018, each
Department needs to identify the second course which can incorporate an ALE; and by Fall 2020, each
Department needs to have three courses identified and ready to offer ALEs to every incoming freshman
before graduation.
c. The ALE/REAL Council has been enlarged to include a Faculty Senate representative and a
representative for every college in an effort to include the voices of all faculty in the decision making
process.
d. Faculty input was solicited in the Fall through an online survey. The participation was disappointing. No
department had more than a 40% return rate. The ALE/REAL Oversight Committee is committed to
listening to the ideas and opinion of the faculty on this issue so the ALEs post QEP will be a usable,
workable experience for both students and faculty. In an effort to gain more insight into faculty opinion,
Faculty Senators are requested to share the Applied Learning Experience (ALE) – Quick Reference sheet
and ALE Feedback and Suggestion sheet provided by the ALE/REAL Oversight Committee. This
Dr. Ann Albrecht— President
Dr. Mark Shipman — Past President , ex-officio
Dr. Don Beach – President-Elect
Dr. Rebekah MillerLevy – Sec/Treasurer
Dr. Reggie Hall - Parliamentarian
feedback form is specifically designed to gather constructive feedback on current ALE procedure and
provide suggestions for how the ALEs might look in the future. Please help the committee gather this
information. Dr. Albrecht will send electronic forms to Faculty Senate.
e. Things to consider for post QEP ALEs:
i. How many ALEs are too many?
ii. How many ALEs are too few?
iii. How will ALEs be assessed, monitored, and by who?
iv. If everyone is required to complete three, how will distinction be earned?
v. Should there be a set requirement for everyone (1) and opportunities for more (3) in order to earn
cords of distinction?
vi. How will this graduation requirement affect nontraditional students? Off center students?
Graduation rates? Application numbers?
vii. Will there be a way to recognize life experience (military, previous work experience, mission
work)?
viii. How will the graduation requirement affect transfer students?
ix. Is there research supporting the benefits of ALEs?
x. Will denying graduation based on non-completion of ALEs stand up in court when a student
sues?
xi. Is Administration prepared to see enrollment drop as student decide they do not want to attend
Tarleton because of ALE requirement?
xii. How is this graduation requirement going to affect Tarleton’s desire to be a student-centered,
Hispanic serving institution?
xiii. How do ALEs fit with the push to complete in 120 hrs./ 4 years?
xiv. Are we inadvertently creating a SES biased situation by pairing Study Abroad/Away (expensive
trips) with Undergraduate Research where the students who can afford the Study Abroad/Away
will have a much different Applied Learning Experience than those students who are forced to do
Undergraduate Research because they cannot afford to Study Abroad/Away?
ADJOURNMENT:
Dr. Albrecht adjourned meeting at 5:06 p.m.