Minutes of the Faculty Senate

Main Content

Meeting convened at 1:20 p.m. by Terry Clark, President.

ROLL CALL

Members present: Philip Anton, Connie J. Baker, George E. Boulukos, Joe Cheatwood, Rita Cheng (ex officio), Terry Clark, Lucian E. Dervan, Bruce A. DeVantier, Mark J. Dolan, Ahmad Fakhoury, Anthony Fleege, Carl Flowers (ex officio), Qingfeng GE, Edward Gershburg (Spfld), Steven C. Goetz, Laura Halliday, Agustin Jimenez (for Edward J. Heist), Eric J. Holzmueller, Andrea Imre, Allan Karnes (ex officio), Carolyn G. Kingcade, Meera Komarraju, Kelsy Kretschmer (for Rachel B. Whaley), John Legier, Belle Woodward (for Nancy Martin), James A. MacLean, John McSorley, Sajal Lahiri, Howard Motyl, John W. Nicklow (ex officio), James W. Phegley, Nicole Roberts (Spfld), Stacey Sloboda, Rachel Stocking, Brooke H. H. Thibeault, Stacy D. Thompson, Lyle J. White, Mingqing Xiao.

Members absent: None

Members absent without proxy: Tsuchin Chu.

Visitors and guests: Jim Garvey (acting Vice Chancellor of Research), James Allen (Associate Provost for Academic Programs).

MINUTES

Motion was made to table the approval of the minutes from the 2013-2014 Faculty Senate meeting on July 9, 2013, due to revisions.

REPORTS

1. T. Clark introduced Rhonda Ferguson as the new secretary for the Faculty Senate. Fall Faculty Luncheon has been set for Thursday, October 10th, in Ballroom B at the Student Center. Speaker will be Allan Phillips from IBHE. He will be giving a futuristic look on higher education. Chancellor will be picking up lunch. Notice to be sent out to faculty. RME on COEHS will be updated by Bruce DeVantier whose committee has been working on the resolution. This is a very complex RME, UEPC and Bruce has been working on this with due diligence. Every senator that wants to comment on the RME will get a chance as well as visitors to the senate. This could possibly take place in October or November.

2. Chancellor Cheng reported: a) A lot of good news to report, State of university address will be posted on the chancellor’s website, hopefully everyone will get a chance to peruse it. Highlights include: 2nd year in row ranked in top 100 public universities overall, named one of the best in the Midwest, 2nd consecutive year named to excellence in diversity from Insight Magazine; b) there is excitement about the recent freshman class, it’s the largest freshman class in 20 years, 2,571 students have joined our campus; c) many universities are seeing a decline in enrollment, this makes the work that has been done here even more outstanding and there is much to celebrate; d) average ACT scores are up one point, students are coming in academically prepared, which equals higher retention among solid students; e) maintained wide diversity and first generation students, 1400 international students from 120 countries which include freshman from 30 countries; f) Recruitment is again underway. Recruiters reported recently that SIU was the buzz and other institutions are eager to compete with us for students (we seem to have a bulls eye on our back) SIU will have a big presence at the SIU vs. SEMO game at Busch Stadium on Sept. 21st. Big opportunity in St. Louis area for recruitment possibilities; g) Expect to see natural retention of students due to all activities on campus aimed at student success; h) More information will be coming forth on the Summer School Model; Dell Tablet initiative is off to a good start; classrooms are being refurbished, 92% will be technology enabled when completed; i) Cheng announced the recommendation of Jim Garvey as Vice Chancellor of Research to the Board of Trustees; j) Cheng added that SIU has talented faculty and scholars crossing disciplines to keep us competitive for future, faculty accomplishments and quality of faculty define this institution.

3. Provost John W. Nicklow reported: a) Added more to Cheng’s enrollment discussion; four year college career is seen as a wave and using 2010 as a baseline – overall growth is up over the last 4 years; b) Recruiters are all back on the road, other schools asking “what are you doing?” a lot of the success is due to marketing. Nicklow wanted to express “thank you” to all faculty and scholars for their efforts and teamwork in enrollment success; c) Student Intercultural Office has been renamed Dean of Students Office to clear up confusion; d) Wait listing kinks have been worked out – expected to go live in Spring of 2014 for all courses, all colleges; e) Visit the Computer Store in Cambria room – quite a nice, classy store. Opening day did about $8,000 in sales, very busy and popular place; f) new Director of Research Computing in Information Technology has been hired. Hopefully will work with small clusters and get a group together to tie into U of I computer and capitalize on some synergies on campus; g) Email migration to Outlook is taking place, stay tuned. Deans have the schedules for the migration; h) Accreditations received this summer – Dental Hygiene and Architecture both received resounding reviews; i) Announced honors achieved over the summer, Law school won a Cypress award; Graduate student Society for Reproduction – out of 900 – the top six students present – SIU student was one who received honor from Department of Physiology.

QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSION

1. L. White asked question about freshman numbers from 2010 and 2012 being reported as the same – was that a mistake? Nicklow responded, yes that was a mistake – tracking was done differently and there was an error in fact book in the past – new students on campus this year is the highest in 20 years – been checked and double-checked.

2. A. Imre posed question about freshman enrollment being up but overall enrollment is down. Cheng answered with the retention issues – building freshman enrollment to build on that wave; looking to retention programs. Nicklow added information on the Education Advisory Program. SIU is a beta member of this program, data was minded and pilot program will be launched in all colleges. Program looks at the data and history of institution. This data can be used to advise and guide students in their choices. Students were leaving for various reasons – needs to be a collaborative effort to retain students.

3. S. Sloboda asked about the relationship between faculty and student retention. Nicklow responded that he doesn’t see that as an issue; faculty to student ratio has been holding steady and he looks at each individual circumstance for hiring purposes.

4. A. Karnes questioned financial aid refunds and the fact that they could be given back in payments instead of lump sum. Cheng responded that they are mandated to go back to the student in a lump sum.

5. S. Lahiri – what is the amount of the scholarship money and what determines it? Cheng responded that she sets aside scholarship money every year (upwards of a million dollars). Some students were being over awarded and some under awarded. Have taken steps to balance that out and to offer more students better financial help. Outside money was included and coordinated to offer better packages

6. G. Boulukos: How sustainable is the scholarship money offered and is the university going to be able to sustain that from year to year? Cheng answered students are to maintain a 3.0 GPA to keep scholarship and the university is woefully committed to offering incoming students financial aid. Tuition is being discounted, a lot of Illinois universities are making this a practice, it is an investment that has to be made. Leveraging out the student aid to keep students enrolled year after year. Projected out 4-5 years to help keep money sustainable and to support scholarship initiative. Federal aid is also a key component along with the institutional aid. Nicklow added the investment being made on recruitment side, the teamwork and motivation are making big returns on the investment.

REPORTS (continued)

3. Allan Karnes, Faculty Advisor to the IBHE. Allan noted the committee had not met but did have some updates for the senate. (see attached)

4. Carl Flowers, Graduate Council. Graduate council held their first meeting Sept. 5th and are off and running. Four program committees will be meeting soon. Educational Policies Committee is working on whether or not the information in department handbooks and graduate catalog is newest information and to update accordingly. Second issue is student tuition waivers and the policy for graduate students. They will be looking at different ways to award the waivers at the graduate level. The Programs Committee will be looking at RME and meeting with Deans and Chairs of various departments to get input. Hope to have resolution in October. Graduate School and Research have become separate departments with Susan Ford being appointed interim Dean of the Graduate School and the Office of Vice Chancellor of Research (acting) Jim Garvey.

EXECUTIVE COUNCIL

1. T. Clark reported that the Fall Faculty Luncheon will be on October 10th, in Ballroom B. Announcements will follow.

COMMITTEE ON COMMITTEES - L. White, Chair

1. L. White presented for approval the list of Standing Committee Assignments (included as Attachment D to the Agenda). B. DeVantier brought it to the committee’s attention that assignments need to be ratified by Council. Discussion by council ensued. Some members had not received their listing because of web problems and it was determined that Standing Committees could be provisionally approved pending no changes.

G. Boulukos made motion and A. Mire second motion to accept Standing Committee appointees.

Standing committee assignments were approved 27-0-0 on a show of hands vote.

2. L. White presented for approval the following Committee Appointments.

JRB Task Force Bethany Spielman, Medical Humanities
Judith Green, Educational Administration 
Lisa McClure, English

JRB Task Force committee assignments were approved 27-0-1 on a show of hands vote.

Search committee for Dean College of MCMA
Donald Sparling, Cooperative Wildlife Research Lab 
HD Motyl, Radio, Television and Digital Media 
William Recktenwald, Journalism

Search Committee for Dean College of MCMA assignments were approved 27-0-1 on a show of hands vote.

Chancellor’s Community College Task Force 
David Johnson, Foreign Languages 
Donna Post, Curriculum and Instruction
Victoria Kreher, Journalism

Chancellor’s Community College Task Force committee assignments were approved 28-0-0 on a show of hands vote.

BUDGET COMMITTEE -- George Boulukos, Chair 
G. Boulukos reported that budget projections were based on a flat state budget. Units will be funding 2% salary raises out of their budgets. The 70/30 model will still be used to distribute funds around campus. College with declining hours and enrollment could face cuts based on 70/30 model. Incoming freshman are paying higher tuition which will cover the loss on other undergraduate students. Two percent salary increase request on Board of Trustee’s agenda for September meeting. Tuition money should stay same as 6 months ago.

UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION POLICY COMMITTEE -- B. DeVantier, Chair

B. DeVantier discussed the RME to add the specialization in Actuarial Mathematics for the Mathematics Major, College of Liberal Arts. The committee met, discussed the RME, asked for concurrence from the Dean, College of Science on why this is being added to COLA when it is being taught by Mathematics which is College of Science. Dean concurred and explained, all departments were in favor, committee wrote and presented resolution. (attachment B)

Resolution to Recommend Approval of the RME was approved 27-0-0 on a show of hands vote

B. DeVantier presented and read the NUI request for the New Bachelor of Science Degree in Behavior Analysis and Therapy, Department of Rehabilitation, College of Education and Human Services. The NUI was unanimously approved all the way through; projected enrollment a little optimistic – committee approved. Question on impact of reorganization of COEHS – no impact reported. (attachment C)

Resolution to recommend Approval of NUI was approved 27-0-0 on a show of hands vote

A status report was given on the reorganization of the COEHS. Committee had met twice and there had been discussion on the RME. Committee will be meeting with deans and weekly. Focus to be on the effects on undergraduate students.

FACULTY STATUS AND WELFARE COMMITTEE -- E. Heist/H. Hurlburt, Co-Chairs

No report.

GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE -- B. Thibeault, Chair

B. Thibeault reported the committee will be meeting next week; at that time, they will discuss the changes to the Operating Paper to better define “Voting Faculty”. There has been some discrepancies on the Non-Tenure Track and Tenure Track faculty and their voting privileges. The committee will be looking at those instances.

OLD BUSINESS - None.

NEW BUSINESS

It was announced that October 13th and 14th, there will be a conference at Touch of Nature for the Illinois Symposium of Reproductive Sciences.

ANNOUNCEMENTS -- None.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting adjourned at 3:12 p.m.

Respectfully submitted, 
Mark J. Dolan, Secretary

MJD:rf