Faculty Senate
February 25, 2014
Lookout Room
(Draft Minutes)
President Stephen Crowley called the Faculty Senate meeting to order at 3:07pm.
1) Roll Call: President Stephen Crowley and Vice President Tony Marker
Senators – Jim Stockton, Janice Neri, Kerry Rice, Nader Rafla, Bruce Ballenger, Kevin Ferris, David Wilkins, Scott
Lowe, Tim Chenoweth, Faye Carlson, Julie Lane, Rose Barlow, Mary Aagard
Guests – President Kustra, Provost Marty Schimpf, Vice Provost Jim Munger, Registrar Kris Collins, Dr. John
McCellan, Dean Mark Wheeler, Director Katy Ritter and Assoc. Vice President Harold Blackman
Agenda Items:
2) Approval of December 10 and January 28 December Minutes – Senator Stockton move to accept asked both
sets of minutes. Vice President Marker seconded. Motion carried.
3) Old Business: None
4) New Business:
a. Legislative Update – President Bob Kustra came to give the Senators’ a legislative update. He stated that he
joined his fellow Presidents to emphasize why this bill should not pass. If the bill passes and gets to the floor there
will nothing to hold it up it will get passed on the House Floor. The last chance would be for Governor Otter to
veto it. This is really going to have an impact on the community as well as the University.
b. SSPA Update – Vice Provost Marty Schimpf stated he would like to let the Senators know what the vision is
moving forward for the College of Social Sciences and Public Affairs. There were three departments involved in the
original process, Public Policy, Criminal Justice and Political Science. When he started talking to the chairs involved
it became evident the point of developing this school is to raise the mission that BSU has around Public Policy and
government. This new school would report directly to the Provost. The reason to do this with as a school would
be to gather a set of faculty under a common structure with a common mission and purpose, which would be
government. When that group was reconvened in late January, other groups were invited into this conversation,
Community and Regional Planning, Military Science, Communications and Economics. This group of departments
has drafted a proposed school structure. The idea is we will continue to widen the conversation until we have
discussed all parties that could be affected by this change. Currently the Department of Kinesiology is moving to
the College of Health Sciences. Several other departments are looking at relocating to the College of Arts and
Sciences. The Provost will be reaching out to those effected departments. There are still multiple loose ends to tie
up and it will take and ever broadening circle of conversations around this change. The key in the Provost’s view is
that to make these changes work is to make sure fundamentally that faculty feels safe and secure in their
department and where it will be placed. Senator Chenoweth asked if this was going to be College. Provost
Schimpf replied no. Senator Wilkins questioned what the time frame for the change will be and if it had to be
approved by the State Board of Education. Provost Schimpf wants to make sure we have conversations with
everyone involved in the change and yes it does have to be approved by the State Board. The Senate will be kept
informed as the process moves forward.
c. Innovation Initiative – Provost Schimpf stated if you listened to the President’s address last fall there was
reference where he made a call to the faculty that we need to address these trans disciplinary programs.
President Kustra recently asked me to pursue the creation of the College of Innovation and Design. This wouldn’t
be a college in the traditional sense of the word, we’ve all heard of the venture college. It wouldn’t have academic
departments or degree programs. It would provide a framework for faculty to develop trans disciplinary clusters
of courses or activities that students could be given credentials on their degree for completing. As I’ve researched
trans disciplinary programs I ran across an article by Newton Freeman, the article was titled how you get a job at
google. They are looking for soft skills. This new college of innovation and design would be a way for BSU to shout
out we are addressing this need. The next step is I’d like to give the faculty as a whole one more opportunity to
throw out some ideas. To coordinate this, Dr. Sian Mooney will be joining the Provost office on assignment. She’s
working an RFP that we hope to get out by April 1st. I think it provides faculty many opportunities.
d. IP Ad Hoc Committee –Now I will turn it over to Director Katy Ritter from the Office of Technology Transfer and
Harold Blackman, Associate VP for Strategic Research Initiatives met with Senator Stockton a few weeks ago to
discuss IP policy. The Office of Technology Transfer is here to support faculty in identifying inventions they may
need to file a copyright or patent protection. The office may assist commercialization, grant compliance, material
transfer agreements, dissemination of information, market landscape reports and may assist with startups of
companies. Boise State only has interest in the copyright work if it was developed under a grant that was
specifically commissioned, if it was under the university or if it was done through the normal scope of your
employment. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the office. Senator Stockton stated the
committee works mostly via the internet. The committee worked with four departments that lead to contractual
agreement on IP or Copyright for faculty. We work together with the Office of Technology and Transfer to make
sure all the pieces are working together.
e. UAPSC Report – Dr. John McClellan stated the committee had very busy fall semester, we reviewed the policies;
#3060 Practicum/Internship and #3160 Grad Exclusion. The discussion around practicum and internships was
mostly to clarify procedures so they followed policy. In regards to grade exclusion policies, if a grade is excluded
do they remain on the transcript. We agreed on that. The key reason for reviewing these policies is making sure
they are clear and articulate. Policy 3080 Final Exams “Dead Week” is still on hold awaiting feedback. It has been
tabled by our committee, if it comes up again we’re ready to bring that for discussion. Vicki Stieha, the Director of
Foundation Studies is a member of our committee. I think we’re pleased with our role together. We discussed a
Foundational Studies Council and the ties between the council and our committee. We had recruitment efforts;
our committee is now fully represented across the university and I am the new chair.
f. Faculty Research Report – Tabled to the March 11 meeting.
g. Faculty Senate Staffing – Tabled to the March 11 meeting.
5) Adjournment
a. Senator Wilkins moved to adjourn at 4:45pm. Vice President Marker seconded. Motion carried.