← Faculty-Senate-Minutes-8-20-18-APPROVED.pdf

Rebuilt HTML — PaddleOCR-VL (Baidu)

Content placed at each item's bbox to mirror the original PDF layout (font sizes are estimated). overlay · view JSON

Semantic Positioned (like PDF)

Page 1 Download HTML

Kentucky State University Faculty Senate Minutes

8/20/18

NAME Attendance Department Office

Shawn Lucas PRESENT Ag, Communities, and Env Academic Policies

Leigh Whittinghill PRESENT Ag, Communities, and Env Chair, Curriculum

Ken Semmens PRESENT Aqu and Aquatic Sci Vice Chair, Bud & Ac

Herman Walston ABSENT Fam and Cons Sci Professional Concern

Erin Gilliam (Parliamentarian) PRESENT Soc and Beh Sci Vice Chair, Acad Pol

Mara Merlino (Vice President) EXCUSED Soc and Beh Sci Professional Concern

Jyotica Batra PRESENT Math and Comp Sci Academic Policies

Caroline Gibson PRESENT Hum and Perf Arts Chair, Prof Concern

Marlin McKay PRESENT Hum and Perf Arts Chair, Acad Policies

Helen Smith (Secretary) PRESENT Hum and Perf Arts Secretary, Curriculum

Dantrea Hampton PRESENT Library Vice Chair, Curriculum

Rene Desborde PRESENT Bus and Tech Budget and Ac Sup

Jason Keeler PRESENT Edu and Hum Dev Secretary, Acad Pol

Phillip Clay PRESENT Edu and Hum Dev Chair, Bud & Ac Sup

Li Lu PRESENT Nat Sci Vice Chair, Prof Con

Bruce Griffiths PRESENT Nat Sci Secretary, Bud & Ac

Rebecca McCoy PRESENT Nur and Health Sci Curriculum

Lisa Turner ABSENT Nur and Health Sci Budget and Ac Sup

Robert Griffin PRESENT At-large (Hum and Per) Curriculum

Joe Moffett (President) PRESENT At-large (Hum and Per)

Debbra Tate PRESENT At-large (Library) Secretary, Prof Con

Allison Young EXCUSED At-large (Ag, Coms, En) Professional Concern

Swagata Banerjee PRESENT At-large (Bus and Tec) Academic Policies

Non-Senator Committee Members

Nkechi Amadife Academic Policies

Ken Andries PRESENT Ag, Communities, and Env Curriculum

Changzheng Wang PRESENT Ag, Communities, and Env Curriculum

William Welsh Budget and Ac Sup

Mike Unuakhalu Budget and Ac Sup

Christina McManus PRESENT Ag, Communities, and Env Interim Assoc Resrch Dir.

Lauren Graves PRESENT Academic Affairs

John Sedlacek PRESENT Ag, Communities, and Env

Tierra Taylor PRESENT BSS Chair

Kirk Pomper PRESENT Ag, Communities, and Env

LeChrista Finn PRESENT Ag, Communities, and Env

Buddi Gyawali PRESENT Ag, Communities, and Env

Kim Sipes PRESENT Academic Affairs Deputy Provost

Lucian Yates PRESENT Academic Affairs Provost

Mary Barr PRESENT BSS

Christopher Brown, III PRESENT University University President

Tymon Graham PRESENT

Wilfred Riley PRESENT BSS Ombudsman

Etienne Thomas PRESENT Athletics

Guests (in order of sign-in)

Page 2 Download HTML

The first regularly scheduled meeting of the AY 2018-19 Faculty Senate was called to order at 3:12 pm on Monday, August 20th, 2018 in Hathaway Hall 123. The agenda was approved with no amendments.

The new Senate President, Dr. Joe Moffett, welcomed the senators and guests and said it was his pleasure to serve with them.

Faculty Senate President Report:

Moffett has several copies of the AAUP red book in his office and invited colleagues to come pick one up if they would like one. His office is in HH 407C.

The Tenure and Promotion calendar will be available next week, as he has learned, and its deadlines will be pushed back slightly due to the delay. The Provost, Dr. Lucian Yates, noted that as a rule, this calendar should go out in the spring, but it didn't. He added that in the third week of March, Tenure and Promotion information should go out to faculty, so that they and the Provost can get working on the process in a timely manner. He said that the deans and chairs were just as chagrined as faculty that this calendar was not published on a timely basis.

Academic Reorganization: Moffett noted that he took the academic reorganization information as he received it and assigned senators in colleges/schools as he thought they should go. He followed the Senate Constitution rule that every program gets at least one senator, and two if the program has more than 7 faculty. He has let the deans know that there are now several colleges without senate representation. His concern is to make sure that all areas have representation. For instance, he changed his own position to at-large senator because his division of LLP was reorganized.

Moffett thanked senators for sending him issues for Senate to work on. For instance, the Professional Concerns Committee (PCC) has been working on a Faculty Evaluation Form.

0 Senator Question: what if someone doesn't want to continue on Senate? Moffett: a couple of senators have already resigned or traded places with other people. He is working on a document that lists the senators and their new areas. He will distribute this document to the Senate once he finalizes it. He noted that even yesterday (8/19) there was still confusion in some divisions about which faculty members are Senators and which are not. Currently, there are the most Senate vacancies in the College of Public Service and Leadership Studies.

University President Christopher Brown: he wanted to say on record that this unit [PSLS] continues to be a unit that faculty senate needs to look at. It is the only unit in the reorganization that doesn't fit the criteria for having a discipline, a field and an application. Brown would welcome Senate's advice on whether those departments are in the right place and even if they should be restructured. For instance, the history department is campaigning to be moved. If Faculty Senate could look at the issue of redistribution in that area, we might be able to go down to four deans. Moffett responded that senate would take up this review. Brown noted that the other areas would also increase as a result, giving some areas two senators instead of just one.

0 President Brown explained that when he received this revised Faculty Evaluation Form, it came to him “cold.” As it was developed the year before last, when it came to his desk, no one had even mentioned to him, so he didn’t know about it. However, he said

Page 3 Download HTML

Moffett reported that he'd received an email from Dr. Tierra Freeman regarding the Faculty Peer Evaluation form. The form says "1991" at the bottom – if that's the last time Senate looked at it, it's worth reviewing.

Moffett asked Senator Marlin McKay to report on his proposal regarding faculty accessing their 401K accounts: McKay explained that most first-time home buyers can access their 401K for a down payment on a home. But he learned that at KSU, faculty cannot access their 401K accounts for any purpose. Best practice at other institutions is that employees can access it if they have a hardship of one sort or another, like a medical emergency. McKay has drafted a proposal to send to the Faculty Senate President, The Provost, and the University President, who fully supports the proposal. He asked for faculty support on this issue. There will not be a need to restructure current policies, faculty may choose not to exercise this option, but it should be an available option. Moffett said he would send this issue to PCC.

APC issues: Moffett reported that the Provost had asked if we could think about having more academic terms for credit, such as a May-mester, a winter term and maybe an “extreme spring break.” Moffett said that such terms might be attractive for students trying to catch up or to accelerate their program.

that he has no concerns with the document, and he anticipates it to come back up to his desk.

0 Provost Yates mentioned the need for early grade reporting by the end of week 3. He also mentioned the issues of the fall midterm exam date – there was a desire to move it earlier so it wouldn't coincide with Fall Break/Homecoming. He suggested to move midterms to around week six so that students will know where they are well before the end of the semester. A senator asked about a conflict of Columbus Day, which conflicted with Homecoming. Moffett stated that APC can look at this question of moving exam week up.

Faculty Regent Report:

As the Faculty Regent, Dr. Elgie McFayden, was absent, University President Brown asked if he could take the Regent's allotted time to speak:

Ombudsman: President Brown stated that he tries to minimize direct interaction with faculty, so any time faculty have issues in their unit, he directed them to go to Professor Will Riley, the Ombudsman. He noted that Riley sits on the University Forum and that he has resolved a number of issues, many of which have been longstanding.

Faculty Salary Survey: Brown said that his office will be reviewing the Faculty Salary Survey that was submitted by Mara Merlino and Buddy Gyawali: “They did a great survey and what we want to do is go through the survey with Will [Will Reilly, the Ombudsman] and get his feedback, and then sometime in September or October, we will be coming back to the Senate for what I will call mediation or arbitration. I think I have a strategy which would ultimately be an across the board adjustment of somewhere between 5-10% [salary increase] to try to redress historic grievances, knowing we need a longer strategy. Then my request would be that we would not have that conversation for about 3 years. Not that Merlin would not go on, but no larger adjustment.”

Page 4 Download HTML

0 Moffett noted that the salary survey is a commendable document. There are comments in the back of the document that note some issues in the document that Senate needs to work on.

Committee Book: President Brown acknowledged that he needs to make faculty appointments to the standing committees listed in the Committee-Book. He requested the Senate to send that Committee-Book to his office so that committee members can be assigned in a timely manner. He noted that last year, those committees were not assigned and convened until the spring, and many committees never met.

0 Moffett noted that these committee assignments are a complicated process.

0 A senator agreed that the process is convoluted.

Another senator said that there are two committees, IRB and Animal Use, that have guidelines that go beyond the university; the USDA and other funding agencies oversee those committees.

Provost Yeats noted that another committee, Biohazards, has a special member-makeup that has to be fulfilled.

0 Moffett noted that the Senate needs to clean up the Committee Book before he sends it to the President's office.

Faculty Handbook: A Senator asked President Brown about an update on the Faculty Handbook Revision.

0 Moffett noted that he had been trying to find an answer on this issue.

Deputy Provost Sipes noted that the Action Item of 2014 requiring the President's approval on every Senate Item has been rescinded. Since then, the Action Items that have passed in Senate have been approved, with the exception of the Tenure and Promotion Action Item, which needs to go to the Board of Regents.

0 Moffett stated that we need to have a group of people who know what's been done to add all the updated information to the Handbook.

A Senator noted that there was the Science faculty load proposal that was approved through Senate which needs to be moved to the Administration so that issue can be resolved, as well.

0 Moffett asked Senators to send him the Action Items which they know have been approved so that he can put them all together.

Faculty Ombudsman Report:

Will Riley, Associate Professor of Political Science and Faculty Ombudsman, introduced himself. He said that last year in Senate, he had given a 10-minute overview explaining his role as mediator and describing the issues he'd been working on. He said that the Ombudsman is a wheelhouse for faculty questions, concerns and disputes. For instance, at the request of faculty members, he pursued funds that had been promised to faculty members in the past which had not been received; those epafs are now going out. On another instance, he spoke to a publisher for a faculty member. For another faculty member, he contacted the HR office to ask when a stipend was coming. He welcomed people to come visit him with any concerns; his office is Hathaway 234. The issues he addresses usually are in one of two categories: HR issues that have not made it to HR, such as adjudicated disputes or work place disputes. Second are simply issues that one might want resolved as a faculty member; these have been across the

Page 5 Download HTML

board, including advice about professional issues. Reilly stated that he will be at each meeting of the Senate to discuss the goals and objectives of his office.

Other Business:

President Brown welcomed the new Director of Athletics, Etienne Thomas. She introduced herself to the Senate and stated that she is looking forward to working with Senate and ensuring that our athletes make it through in 4 years. She noted that she is adding staff, including academic support staff. She asked for faculty partnership in their endeavors. Her office is in 227 Exum.

A Senator stated that the faculty handbook is still an issue; the last time it was revised was 2012. He asked if there is a more recent version that can go online.

Deputy Provost Sipes responded that the faculty handbook is available on the KSU website, under the faculty tab.

Moffett noted that for the last several years, the Senate has been trying to amend the faculty handbook.

Sipes stated that she didn't think there are substantive changes to the Post Tenure Review section of the faculty handbook, but that she would check.

Past Senate President Dantrea Hampton reported that none of the Faculty Handbook changes that were made during her term have been posted online.

0 Moffett reminded the Senators to send issues to him, as well as any Action Items that have passed or are pending.

Committees meet to elect chair, vice chair, and secretary:

Moffett explained that he assigned committee members based on their choices but also in a way that would create balance among departments on the committees.

The Senators then disbursed into their respective committees, and each committee elected a chair, a vice-chair and secretary.

Adjournment:

The full Senate adjourned at 3:52pm.