Minutes of the Faculty Senate

Meeting convened at 1:01 p.m. by Meera Komarraju, President.

ROLL CALL

Members present: Ira J. Altman, Ken B. Anderson, Philip Anton (for Terri S. Wilson), Kimberly Asner-Self, Connie J. Baker, George E. Boulukos, Joe Cheatwood, Rita Cheng (ex officio), Tsuchin Chu, Terry Clark, Mark J. Dolan, Stephanie Graves, Edward J. Heist, Eric J. Holzmueller, David M. Johnson, Jyotsna Kapur, Carolyn G. Kingcade, Meera Komarraju, Douglas W. Lind, James A. MacLean, John W. Nicklow (ex officio), James W. Phegley, Kevin Roth (for John T. Legier), Matthew Schlesinger, Stacey Sloboda (for Holly S. Hurlburt), Brooke H. H. Thibeault, Stacy D. Thompson, James A. Wall, Rachel B. Whaley.

Members absent: Scott Ishman (ex officio), Allan Karnes (ex officio).

Members absent without proxy: Bruce A. DeVantier, Anthony T. Fleege, Qingfeng Ge, Edward Gershburg, Michelle Kibby-Faglier, Nancy L. Martin, Diane Muzio, Nicole K. Roberts, Mingqing Xiao.

Visitors and guests: Ahmad Fakhoury (Plant, Soil and Agricultural Systems), Steven Goetz (Aviation Management and Flight), Sajal Lahiri (Economics), Jessica Wettig-Miles (Daily Egyptian), Lyle White (Educational Psychology and Special Education).

MINUTES

The minutes from the regular meeting on March 19, 2013, were corrected as follows: The second sentence of the second paragraph under Reports should be corrected to read, “Many departments are not able to offer classes they need to because there are not enough students to meet the 5/10/15 rule." Also, B. Thibeault asked for clarification on the percentages under item 3 of Reports (second paragraph) where it reads, "The 70% was split 39% going to the VCR and 30% to the Chancellor's office. This fall, there was redistribution so that now the Chancellor's office receives 40% and the VCR receives 30%." The sentence should actually read, “…39% going to the VCR and 31% to the Chancellor’s office.” Minutes were approved as corrected. The minutes from the regular meeting on April 9, 2013, were approved as presented.

REPORTS

1. M. Komarraju presented and reviewed her final report as Senate President (included as Attachment A to the Agenda).

2. Chancellor Cheng reported: a) the visit from the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) was a great success. The University received verbal affirmation by the site team on the strategic plan, and they will be recommending no follow-up. She thanked Associate Provost Jim Allen for all his work in leading the campus accreditation process many years ago and extending that to the financial report and site visit. She reported the University was lauded for being in control of the budget and received accolades on student enrollment and student success, as well as recruiting and setting goals and targets for new students. The strategic planning, marketing and branding efforts were something the site team believed created a stronger identity for the campus. The fact that the Foundation and Alumni Association are working on new identities to conform closer to the campus, as well as working on their messaging and branding to support the campus, was something the site team was positive about. They believed employee relations were better and the transparency of the leadership, the listening sessions and the strides made on assessment were efforts that needed to continue. Chancellor Cheng thanked all those across campus who participated, noting that the strategic plan is now posted on her website; b) the first research publication in a while is now out. It was intended by messaging and size to tease the peer review people at APLU (Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities) and AASCU (American Association of State Colleges and Universities), as well as donors, to reintroduce them to the good work done here. She did receive letters from the presidents of Ohio State and Clemson, who commented that the publication was unusual and caught their eye. Doing more of these in different ways will remind people that SIU is a research university and belongs in the groupings of the top research schools; c) there is a lot of good news on enrollment and some positives on the incoming students at the undergraduate level. The Graduate School is working hard and has aggressively worked with departments to respond faster to students and to get fellowship, scholarship and assistantship information out quicker. The School of Law is doing the same; their applications are down, but admissions and acceptances are holding; d) the Faculty/Staff Excellence Awards will be April 24. The Alumni Board will be in town April 26- 27, and April 30 will be the undergraduate academic excellence awards. The Foundation Board will meet on May 3-4, and the Board of Trustees will meet on May 9; e) the McLafferty Annex Committee report has been submitted, and S. Ishman has asked that it be presented to the Graduate Council at its upcoming meeting. She will be looking for ways to have other faculty input across campus before beginning that project; f) there has been no additional information on pensions; g) a new Vice Chancellor for Development has been hired. Pat Moline will begin on May 1. Her task is to start filling development officer positions in the colleges.

3. Provost Nicklow reported: a) freshman applications are up 4%; there are more applications now than they have ever had at this time of year, and there are more now than there were the entire cycle last year. All admissions are up about 8%, and registered students for fall are up 6%. Housing contracts are up 22% for freshmen and 8.5% for transfers. New student orientation registrations are up 7.5% and 13% in transfers. Provost Nicklow thanked all those faculty who made calls, noting there are pockets of faculty making calls and getting strong responses; b) Law School applications are slightly down, but deposits are up. The trend is similar for the Graduate School, with applications down 7%, but admissions up by 7%; c) they are continuing to monitor the quality of admitted students, with ACT scores still running a full point higher. The University is getting better quality students; d) the ICE redesign committee forwarded important recommendations on how the pilot went in the fall. There are faculty who will continue to pilot it in the spring. They found that the current version of D2L is not the version they should be using. Upgrading to D2L10 in May will help. They are also looking at other tools such as Tophat Monocle to help better facilitate course evaluations by phone or tablet. At this point, the task force has completed its charge. The added tasks will go back to the Center for Teaching Excellence, and Karla Berry will follow up on items that he hopes she will be able to talk a little more about to the Faculty Senate in the fall; e) he has asked College of Agricultural Sciences Dean Mickey LaTour to lead a summer school effort to take a close look at open access campus, credit by exam and how summer school is run. Summer school has been declining rapidly over the last few years. They are discussing a cost recovery model, something like the distance education model, and he is moving quickly to see what courses are high demand or are of most interest to students; f) Automotive Technology received full accreditation. He expressed kudos to those who worked on that accreditation; g) during one of the HLC visits, there was a long assessment that focused on two elements; one was strategic planning, and the other was assessment. He expressed thanks to J. Allen for leading the campus-wide effort to improve assessment and establish rubrics, a template for assessment and an annual collection of data that puts the University right where it needs to be; h) he thanked the faculty and departments for the syllabi that are being posted at the department levels. This was another positive for the University. One of the comments they received was that they need to make sure the learning outcomes are on those syllabi; he believes that is the next step.

QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSION

1. J. MacLean asked about Tophat, primarily because the developers have been contacting him [to see how he likes using that system]. He understands that at this time, it is voluntary for students. Now that it is part of their fees and every student has access, will instructors who want to use it be guaranteed the full class has access? Provost Nicklow responded that the campus has not institutionally committed to Tophat. He suggested J. MacLean may want to refer the developers to the Center for Teaching Excellence, noting that if the University decides to move in that direction, it will be as a campus rather than by department.

2. B. Thibeault reported that she recently learned that the Board of Trustees has a new rule that students on study abroad internships have to start paying campus fees, which they have not had to do in the past. Provost Nicklow responded that this is not a new Board policy but rather a long- standing Board of Trustees/University policy that has not been adhered to consistently. There is a campus [certification?] for study abroad, and there were people who intentionally or unintentionally found loopholes and overlaps; so there were internships charged as off campus [and as study abroad]. It was one of the things he and J. Allen wanted to clarify. Now, if a student is enrolled in an on-campus program and has done the on-campus effort [and they are in an internship], whether it is off campus or not, they are participating in an on-campus program; they are being advised by on-campus instructors, so those students are paying [the traditional] campus fees--Recreation Center, Student Center, Bursar, etc.--fees that support the mechanisms of support they have on campus. On the other hand, distance education fees are primarily for off-campus distance education students; then, there is study abroad (those designated programs for study abroad). There was a lot of overlap, so really it is not a new policy. B. Thibeault asked whether the study abroad students in her department should be paying on-campus fees. Provost Nicklow did not believe those students were paying fees; he believes that semester is handled differently, but he could check. B. Thibeault asked, in the case of the internship course, if it is considered study abroad. Provost Nicklow responded it is not; an internship is a campus course, [even if the student studies abroad]. If it is truly an internship, then those students are still being advised and contacted by campus personnel, so there is that campus link. He added that the deans have also asked if this was a new policy, and they have been informed as well. There are three categories, and the criteria for those three categories are clear; there was just no attention being paid.

EXECUTIVE COUNCIL -- No report.

BUDGET COMMITTEE -- J. Wall, Chair

J. Wall distributed and reviewed a copy of the committee’s final report (included as Attachment B to the Agenda). He expressed appreciation to the committee, and in particular G. Boulukos, who served on the Chancellor’s Planning and Budget Advisory Committee during the last semester. G. Boulukos indicated that one of the Chancellor’s Planning and Budget Advisory Committee items he raised at the last Senate meeting was about an IT charge that will be accessed to all units. He reported that it was $50 per month for anyone full-time and $25 for all other classes of people (GAs, part timers, student workers). It turns out that there are several other alternatives being considered aside from that proposal. He wanted to raise the issue now because the committee is interested and responsive to the notion that this could be deeply problematic to specific departments.

COMMITTEE ON COMMITTEES -- K. Anderson, Chair

K. Anderson presented the committee’s final report (included as Attachment C to the Agenda) and thanked the members of his committee for their efforts over the past year. He believes next year may be as difficult and demanding as this year. The bucket (volunteer list) has run dry, and he asked Senators to encourage their colleagues to step up. It is an opportunity for them to participate in the running of the University and would make the committee’s job much easier.

FACULTY STATUS AND WELFARE COMMITTEE -- H. Hurlburt/J. Kapur, Co-Chairs

J. Kapur presented and reviewed the committee’s final report (included as Attachment D to the Agenda). She thanked committee members for their work this year.

GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE -- I. Altman, Chair

I. Altman presented and reviewed his report (included as Attachment E to the Agenda).

UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION POLICY COMMITTEE -- D. Johnson, Chair

D. Johnson presented and reviewed the committee’s final report (included as Attachment F to the Agenda). He thanked his committee members for their efforts this past year.

OLD BUSINESS -- None.

NEW BUSINESS

M. Komarraju recognized the following outgoing Senators with certificates of appreciation: Ira Altman, Ken Anderson, Kim Asner-Self, Blaine Bartholomew, Stephanie Graves, David Johnson, Jyotsna Kapur, Michelle Kibby-Faglier, Douglas Lind, Diane Muzio, Matt Schlesinger, James Wall and Terri Wilson.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

M. Komarraju announced that the first meeting of the 2013-14 Senate will convene shortly in order to elect officers.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting adjourned at 1:31 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Kimberly Asner-Self, 2012-2013 Secretary

KAS:ba