D R A K E U N I V E R S I T Y Minutes of the Faculty Senate meeting March 14, 2001 The regular meeting of the 2000-2001 Faculty Senate was called to order by President Lou Ann Simpson. The following Senators were present for all or part of the meeting: Allen, Bartschat, Cairns, DeLaet, Gillespie, Honts, Kleiner, Lovell, Parsa, Phillips, Pomeroy, Rankin, Reed, Reynolds, Sanders, Simpson, Symonds, Torgerson, Walker Absent: McCrickerd, Wright Minutes of the Previous Meeting: Upon proper motion and vote the minutes of the February meeting were approved. President Maxwell was out of town on Drake University business and unable to attend. Remarks from Provost Troyer The Campus Information Officer (CIO) position advertisement has been placed. This will not be a cabinet level position. The person will report to the Provost. A search committee is currently being formed. The recent cabinet level meetings with the Noel/Levitt company have provided good information which will be used to carry out the Program Review recommendation to reduce financial aid. This will require careful planning. Two more Program Review Task Forces, the Library and Corporate Communications, have been formed and their memberships will be announced soon. Vice President Voos has identified $40,000 to be transferred to the Provost’s Office for use as a Faculty Development Fund. The fund will be applied towards Program Review initiatives. Provost Troyer will release soon the criteria for obtaining a portion of these funds. Remarks from President Simpson The 2001-2002 Faculty Senate will have its organizational meeting on April 11 at 3:30 p.m. in the Olmsted Conference rooms. President Simpson supplied some information concerning issues, which were split from the Academic Charter main motion. The benefits’ wording in section VIII C6 & D7 is in the process of being adjusted. Steve Hoag supplied information concerning the number of faculty already on campus who fall under Section VI G which define fulltime faculty. There are a total of 24 positions on campus. 10 in Pharmacy, 4 in Nursing, and the remainder are spread over three other colleges. Senator Allen asked why Drake would want to have permanent persons in non-tenure tract positions. Senator Hoag indicated that this offered flexibility in filling positions, which vary greatly depending on student needs especially in their external professional experiences. Senator Torgerson read from the AAUP Red Book about their interpretation of the fulltime faculty definition. He suggested that the original language change offered is a radical change from the AAUP language. Mr. Hoag indicated he would pursue with other institutions as to how they handled these types of positions. Senator Sanders indicated he would like specific information to make a better decision. Senator Allen indicated her interest in having language broad based enough to accommodate various units. Unfinished Business: None known New Business: Senator Phillips moved and Sanders seconded motion 01-20: Amend senate committee description 5:03 Faculty Senate Committee on Assessment by adding the following sentence at the end of the first paragraph: The Chair is appointed by the Executive Committee. Without discussion, the motion passed unanimously. Senator Torgerson moved and Sanders seconded motion 01-21: 1.02 The President of the Faculty Senate shall be elected by the faculty at large to serve a year as President-Elect and then a year as President of the Faculty Senate with full rights as a member of the Senate. The election process shall begin with faculty who are eligible to serve on the Faculty Senate being nominated (including self-nomination) for election. Faculty who accept the nomination and agree to have their names placed on the ballot will provide a brief statement stating their willingness to serve as President of the Senate and why. If a present member of the Faculty Senate is elected, that person's position will be filled through normal procedures. The four years of consecutive service rule does not apply. A faculty member may serve as President only once in ten years. The President of the Faculty Senate will receive a one course reduction. After nominations are received, the traditional voting procedure will be used to reduce the final ballot to two candidates. The final ballot will consist of the two faculty members receiving the most votes. The Faculty member receiving the majority of votes cast on the final ballot shall be the next President-Elect and then President the following year. This procedure shall go into effect to choose the President-Elect for 2002-2003. Senator DeLaet will vote in favor of this motion as it promotes active participation in the election process. She further stated that the motion provides for candidate information to be disseminated which she liked. Senator Phillips indicated that he believes the informed portion of the voting process is very important. Senator Torgerson noted that the expanded role of the Faculty Senate President in the past couple of years makes a strong case for a wider election process for the position. Senator Gillespie expressed some concern that this system would encourage an election of a person from the larger colleges too frequently. Senator Allen noted that with the last campus wide elections, Arts & Sciences has not dominated the outcome. She supported the idea of faculty having the opportunity to vote for the Faculty Senate President. Senator Lovell indicated he did not see a reason to change the current selection procedure. There was a short discussion of the President’s standing committee obligations. With a show of hands vote; the motion failed (8 yes; 10 no; 1 abstention) Senator Phillips raised the issue of a possible need for an examination of how the university academic calendars are constructed and approved. He is aware that the setting of spring semester break is a reoccurring campus-wide concern. Senator Reynolds indicated that EPI would be bringing to the April Faculty Senate meeting the appropriate calendars for approval, under the current guidelines. He continued that EPI can certainly review the calendar issue but would need to gather some information before proposing changes to the already intricate set of calendar construction guidelines. Senator Reynolds did poll the current Student Senate regarding their preferences regarding the length of mid-term break vs. the close of the Spring semester. They were more favorable to the Spring semester closing earlier rather than a longer mid-term break. Phillips moved and Gillespie second motion 01-22: To refer to EPI to study and possible implementation that Drake University set calendars five years in advance. And consult with Des Moines Schools concerning their calendar guidelines. Senator Lovell indicated that he sees the setting of Spring Break as a separate issue from the perceptions driving this review of the guidelines. There was a discussion of how frequently EPI makes a change to an academic calendar. The response was that changes have occurred when there were concerns raised by University constituencies, either the students, faculty or administration. Senator Pomeroy indicated that the performing arts departments schedule up to 150 events a year based on the academic calendar. He knows that any change made can become an astronomical ripple effect. On show of hand vote: the motion passed The meeting adjourned at 5:00 p.m.