Faculty Senate Meeting

Minutes

April 9, 2012

 

Please email corrections to Faculty.Senate@nau.edu 

 

1. Call to order/ Acceptance of Agenda:                                     Allen Reich

Faculty Senate President Allen Reich called the meeting of the NAU Faculty Senate (FS) to order in the Kaibab Room of the Student Union at 3:03 pm.

Members Present:  Shadow Armfield(appeared telephonically), TS Amer, Allen Atkins, Charlie Balch (appeared via Skype), Laura Blank (appeared telephonically), Blaise Caudill*, Natalie Cawood, Joyce DeVoss (appeared telephonically), Chris Downum, Heidi Fogelberg, Pam Foti, Kathleen Ganley(appeared telephonically), Bill Grabe, Liz Grobsmith*, Ro Haddon, John Haeger*, Susan Harris, Richard Hofstetter, Lenka Hospodka, Gae Johnson(appeared telephonically), Astrid Klocke, Ellen Larson, Rich Lei, Rich McNeill, Phillip Mlsna, Ishmael Munene, Pin Ng, Roderic Parnell, Ricardo Pereira, Veronica Perez Rodriguez, Pat Peterson, Allen Reich, Jon Reyhner, Linda Robyn, Erik Schiefer, Karen Sealander, Edward Smaglik, Cathy Small, Kathleen Timbers, Walter Vannette, Gerald Wood, and J. Allen Woodman for Nancy Barron.

Members Absent: Sara Aleman, Jonathan Bergeron, Michael Costelloe, Kate Ellis, Ryan Holder, Larry Mohrweis, Lori, Poloni-Staudinger, Nicholas Ross, Claire Schonaerts, George Speer, Rick Stamer, Julie Swann, Ric Wiggall, and David Williams. (*indicates ex officio members)

Others present: David Bousquet, Jennus Burton, David Camacho, Don Carter, Michael Connelly, Amy Cronkite, Oregon Diamid, Laurie Dickson, Pat Haeuser, Dan Kain, Robert Norton, Karen Pugliesi, Robert Till, and Diane Verkest.

Faculty Senate President, Allen Reich presented the agenda for approval.  The agenda was approved.   

2. Approval of Minutes                                         Allen Reich/Action Item 

Allen presented the minutes of the March 5^th FS meeting for approval.  A motion was made and seconded to approve the minutes.  The motion passed.

3. Faculty Senate President’s Report                                          Allen Reich

Allen reported on the following:

• Guns are still part of the legislative discussion.  There are two bills now under consideration HA2729 and HM2719. One allows guns in public buildings the other gets rid of the gun free school zones (a 1,000 ft perimeter arund elementary/secondary schools)
• He stated that service should be noted in SOEs.
• International week is April 16-22.
• The Faculty Awards Ceremony will take place April 11^th.  He encouraged all to attend. 
• The NAU Faculty Senate needs to play a larger role in NAU’s attempts at competing with our in-state rivals.
• Earth Week (green.nau.edu/Earthweek/) events from 4/11 to 4/22.

4. FS Council and Committee Reports and Nominating Committee           Committee/Council Chairs 

Walter Vannette, FS Vice President and Chair of the nominations and elections committee presented the slate for the upcoming senate elections to the FSEC, councils, and committees.  The list of nominees is as follows:

President: Allen Reich; Vice President: Walter Vannette; Secretary: Ro Haddon; Treasurer: Rich Lei; Parliamentarian: vacant; At-Large Senators: Phil Mlsna, Cathy Small, and Gerald Wood.  At this time there are no nominees for councils or committees.  Walter called for further nominations at this time.  Gae Johnson was nominated for the position of Parliamentarian.  Hearing no further nominations the ballot will be presented at the May FS meeting.   

 

5. FS Workshop Report          Allen Reich/Astrid Klocke/Rich Lei/Walter Vannette

The leaders of the various breakout sessions of the FS workshop held March 26^th gave brief descriptions of the material covered.

Rich Lei  -  Senate Effectiveness

1. What do you believe should be the primary responsibilities of the Faculty Senate?
2. How should the Senate prioritize issues that need to be addressed? How do we avoid “spinning our wheels?”
3. How do you see the role of the Summer Senate the same (or different) than that during the academic year?
4. Overall, what do you think the Senate does best?
5. Overall, what do you think is the Senate’s greatest weakness?

The questions above were addressed individually. The discussions proved very productive.  Some of the issues touched on were: the importance of setting a strategic plan each year: becoming more proactive rather than reactive; monitor and implement the goals of the strategic plan; take over structure and content of meetings; communicate with the faculty and the senate committees to better effect our goals; and maintain an independent voice.

 

Allen Reich  -  Shared Governance

1. Key points in the document.

2. What is Shared Governance?

3. In what specific areas do we need to have shared governance?

4. What is the appropriate amount of shared governance?

5. What is the ideal process for shared governance?

6. Other ideas for shared governance?

 

Walter Vannette  -  Workload/Service/Tenure Density 

1. Tenure Density

1. Different Colleges are experiencing different levels of changes of tenure density.
2. Impact between clinical and doctoral
3. Research at unit level what is the status? What is ideal?

2. Workload and Service issues were discussed and the following suggestions were made:

1. We need an accurate assessment of the work load from the bottom up broken down by activities.
2. We need clearer communication of guidelines and interpretation of workload by the Chairs and Deans. 
3. Adjustments need to be made on what factors are made in identifying a 3 hour course.
4. Do not use the term release time but rather use a reallocation of time or another more appropriate word. 
5. Look at and discuss the implications of service within our colleges and units and the university community as a whole. 

Astrid Klocke  -  Student Success  -  Breakout Session

The issues covered in this breakout session

1. What do we teach
2. How do we assess learning
3. How do we provide feedback on assessment

As a result of the information discussed it was decided that the FS R&R Council will meet with the chairs and/or liaisons of four key university committees (University Curriculum Committee, University Assessment Committee, University Graduate Committee; and Liberal Studies Committee) to examine what each committee is charged with, the composition of each committee, and the leadership of each committee.  The meeting will help to ensure that each committee is operating most effectively as we move forward addressing the issues surrounding the many student success initiatives.  This meeting will take place prior to the end of this academic year so that concerns that arise may be addressed this summer. 

 

6. University Assessment Committee                 Robert Till

Robert Till, Chair of the University Assessment Committee (UAC), provided a report to the senate that addressed the following seven areas:

• Peer review of assessment efforts on campus
• The implementation of the 3-phase assessment cycle for degree program reporting
• The appointment of Laurie Dickson as the Director of Learning Design and Assessment
• The UAC’s anticipation of its role in developing new criteria for accreditation
• The UAC’s role in the curriculum review with relationship to assessment
• A review of the assessment policy
• Guidance from FS on how the UAC should proceed with the connection between assessment and its use in curriculum and learning design efforts on campus

 

7. UC Update and President’s Technology Initiatives Update                Karen Pugliesi

Vice Provost Karen Pugliesi reported that the University College Implementation Committee is near to finalizing its recommendations, which center on seven areas: course affiliation; faculty affiliation; internal governance; student focused policies & practices; communication; alignment of programs & initiatives; and assessment.

Recommendations will be presented to the provost and subsequently shared with academic/faculty leadership

 

The President’s Technology Initiative was sent out to faculty, deans and chairs last week.  An  RFP has been distributed seeking proposals to develop innovative, blended designs for 100-200 level, Flagstaff campus, multi-section courses that enroll at least 100 students per semester.  The program offers generous support to faculty to develop designs that will enhance learning, cost-effectiveness, and the reputation of the university as a leader in use of technology for learning.  Brief pre-proposals are due on April 16.  Development of full proposals will be guided and supported by the Office of the Vice Provost

 

8. Standards of Expectation and Conduct          Jennus Burton/Robert Norton/Diane Verkest

 

Vice President Jennus Burton presented the document entitled Standards of Expectation and Conduct.  The objective of the document is to establish standards and principles of conduct for the university community in order to help ensure that NAU maintains the public trust and enhance compliance with related laws and policies.  The document combines and references the existing applicable policies and laws into one document. 

Key areas addressed:

• Conflicts of Interest
• Protection of university resources and property
• Security and privacy of certain information

9. Report from the President            John Haeger

President Haeger’s report covered the following topics:

• NAU’s tuition proposal was passed by ABOR.
• The budget as it now stands will not include any cuts to NAU.  We should see a modest increase to the state’s base contribution. 
• ABOR has approved the Vice President position of the Athletic Director position. 
• ABOR will hold its June meeting at NAU.
• ABOR has announced the three new regents.  All are expected to be appointed by the legislature sometime in the next week.
• President Haeger will hold a forum on April 12^th at 3:30 in the High Country Conference Center.  The topics to be discussed: technology innovation proposal; personnel changes; and the FY13 budget. 

10. Report from the Provost                            Liz Grobsmith

Provost Liz Grobsmith reported on the following:

• The search for the COE Dean has been closed.  She will look over the recommendations and comments with Laurie Dickson and make the recommendation to President Haeger soon. 
• A search for an interim SBS Dean will begin this semester.  She has planned to meet with the college to seek input for a one year appointment and discuss a search for a Dean in the coming year.
• ABOR accepted the program fees at their meeting last week.
• Liz has asked the Deans to bring their wish lists regarding tenure track positions.  The Deans will need to work with the Chairs on how best to utilize these positions within their college.
• Liz encouraged everyone to attend the annual faculty awards program scheduled for this Wednesday.  Besides the awards for promotion and tenure there will be other recognitions including new Regents Professors; International awards; and Service awards.
• Lastly, she announced some of the activities coming up during both Earth Week and International Week.

11. Old Business/New Business Items/Announcements                           Allen Reich

Allen congratulated Bill Grabe on his appointment as the new Vice President for Research and Laura Huenneke on her appointment as Provost.     

12. Adjourn                           Allen Reich

There being no further business, a Motion was made and seconded to adjourn.  The motion passed unanimously.  The meeting adjourned at 4:38.