Minutes of Faculty Senate Meeting
November 13, 2020
Submitted by Danny Collum, Secretary
Meeting began 9:01 a.m.
2. Approval of Agenda [5 minute time limit]
Agenda approved as offered.
After Thanksgiving break the remainder of the semester, including final exams will be conducted online.
Due to President Keeler's departure from KSU, Vice-President Phillip Clay will become Faculty Senate President in January. An election for a new Vice-President will be held at the first Senate meeting of the new semester.
Additional items reported: A survey on student technology needs is available in the Faculty Senate section on Microsoft Teams. And President Brown's chat this afternoon, while billed as primarily for staff, is also open to faculty.
Senator Griffiths reported that the university needs to increase the data we get on our general education courses. We need to assess each general education course and the program as a whole. Faculty should contact him to participate in this effort.
Dr. Schneller introduced Daryl Love, of Professional Development and Career Services, to present about InScribe, a new student support software program.
According to Mr. Love, InScribe is a virtual kiosk for student support, especially when the university is operating remotely. It will help students solve common problems with information, starting with quick access November 20. As students use InScribe, it will keep adding information and evolving. This will allow us to move from the “send email and get a response” pattern to a more interactive model. It will also create an environment of sharing with student comments. When a new question is posed to InScribe, a moderator will get a notification. InScribe will be available through a link in “Current Students” on kysu.edu. Anyone can read from InScribe, but only students can post to it. InScribe represents one small step we are taking to overcome the isolation imposed by the pandemic. Academic units can create InScribe pages. Interns will be employed to curate the pages. It’s hoped that InScribe will be a less scary way for students to reach out for information.