D R A K E U N I V E R S I T Y
Minutes of the Faculty Senate meeting
September 17, 2003

The regular meeting of the 2003-2004 Faculty Senate was called to order at 3:30 p.m. by President Nancy Reincke. The following senators were present for all or part of the meeting: Alexander, Allen, Bartschat, Clapham, Courard-Hauri, Dougherty, Lovell, Lyons , Morrow, Petersen, Rankin, Reed, Reincke, Rozycki, Schaefer, Sheehy, Shulman, Soltis, Vitha, Wade

Absent: Esposito

April 30, 2003 minutes were accepted as presented.

Report from President Maxwell

-- President Maxwell welcomed back the faculty to the Fall semester noted that the institution is off to a good start.

-- Many of the campus construction projects are done or fully on schedule. The Olmsted renovation dedication is set for Oct 2 nd . The heating and cooling project will continue for another year.

-- With delight, President Maxwell reported there is a Vice President for Advancement, John Willey. He is conducting some assessments of the division. One of his highest priorities is the funding of endowed chairs and faculty positions and for classroom and laboratory inventory upgrades.

-- There should be an announcement soon concerning the Director of Marketing & Communications.

--There have discussions at the Senior Advisory Council and other levels expressing that improved campus communication is a major goal. President Maxwell requested suggestions concerning what formats for these discussions.

-- The deferred maintenance schedule for buildings and grounds is a remaining concern from past faculty questions and this body should receive a report from Vice President Payseur this semester on this status. The increased noise around classrooms especially due to construction is still a concern but is an area being addressed.

Senator Shulman asked who is in charge of safety during construction. President Maxwell replied that Assistant Human Resource Director Gary Johnson is the person. Senator Shulman cited his concern for safety of pedestrians along Forest Ave at 27 th and 28 th streets.

Report from Provost Troyer

-- Provost Troyer began his remarks by introducing Dean of Students Ronald Sentwali Barkari who was in attendance at the Senate meeting. The Provost indicated his desire with the Dean of Student's leadership to address the divide between the academic and student life activities. He indicated that initiatives will be announced soon.

---The faculty position requesting process has started. He reminded the body that many requests will be received but not all will be approved. The whole process will force the institution to review and recognize the continued importance of the strategic plan.

--Near the end of March 2003, Drake was approached by Chinese officials. The interest is to set up collaborations with student and faculty. The contacts have showed initially strong interest in the Insurance and English fields. A group from Drake will visit the China province in October to further explore this possible relationship.

--There were fewer international students coming new to Drake this fall. Fall 2002 there were 60 and for Fall 2003 there are 38. The Provost indicated that multiple factors are included in this drop, but that Drake needs to be concerned as this should not become a downward trend for the school at a time when global education is a needed strength.

Senator Morrow asked if the Fall 2002 figure, 60, was indeed an increase or within the overall range. Provost Troyer had the five year figures which indeed indicated that the 60 was an average first year enrollment number.

Senator Reed asked if there was a known trend for students to be at Drake from any particular region. International Programs Director Gretchen Olson answered that our Pakistani numbers are greatly decreased but no other noticeable regional trends. She continued that the overall depressed world economy is an issue for many potential students.

Senator Clapham asked if various Drake academic departments have been involved in the China arrangements. The answer was yes.

Senator Bartschat asked if there is any directly which Drake is doing concerning the decrease in international student arrivals. It was his sense of the situation that Drake must not be the only institution with this position, noting that the best connection between any international exchanges has always been the personal touch. Provost Troyer replied that recruiting trips were cutback over the past two years, but these will be increased this year. Also, that what is a loss for many American schools has been a gain for locations such as Great Britain and Australia . President Maxwell commented that Drake had received positive assistance recently with the visa situation from Senator Harkin's office. He emphasized that as various bilateral exchanges are created with an institution that increases the personal contact.

Report from President Reincke

-- As general information, the Academic Charter description of the Faculty Senate was distributed.

-- President Reincke announced that most of the committees have their faculty positions filled and a full list will be posted shortly.

-- The All University Tenure & Promotion Committee will not have their report done by Dec 2003, but expects to report during the Spring term.

-- An issue from the previous academic year concerns employee benefits. President Reincke is working towards having an all university informational meeting concerning benefits at the Oct 15 th Faculty Senate meeting. The session will attempt to better understand the guiding principled of the benefits offered at Drake. Human Resource Director Vanessa Macro will be invited.

Unfinished Business:

Election of the Senate Vice President ø Klaus Bartschat was elected.

New Business:

The Senate engaged in a discussion of the Report of the Instructional Technology Task Force brought forward by Co-Chairs Dan Alexander and Paul Morris. Senator Alexander gave a brief history. He had approached Provost Troyer with the desire to integrate the web instructional program into the university. At appropriately the same time, Drake hired a Chief Information Officer, Paul Morris. The 47 page report consists of sections XXXXXXX

The report includes XXX recommendations including the establishment of a Distance Learning Coordinating Board and the Instr. Tech Policy Cmte. These groups would try to coordinate several initiatives and be driven by faculty. These two committees would help to address the larger issues rather than to have ad hoc groups.

CIO Paul Morris indicated that as he came to Drake,

a) the institution was at the point of recognizing the classroom technology needs were more than just hardware, as the faculty need to put time into feeling good about the usage within the classroom.

and b) the previous head start usage of the web program, six years ago, was very innovative. But there has been little change in structure in that time. Other institutions have made great strides in this teaching and Drake must be careful or soon lose the market edge.

Senator Petersen asked what happened to the earlier attempts in the early 1990's in distance learning. Mr. Morris replied that the technology upgrade needed for the ICN room will be best served with the creation of a video conferencing room. President Maxwell indicated that one of the issues for him was the strengthening of the distance learning structure thus assisting our students as they study abroad.

Senator Schaefer asked if there is a plan for the systematically updating classrooms. Mr. Morris replied that there is a current committee addressing the technology classroom program and the total institutional learning environment. He was not aware of a target date for their full report. The Tech Report does mention the completed classroom report being worked into the full report. President Maxwell expressed his interest in this report and its value to the Advancement division as donors can be identified.

The report also mentions beginning to have higher enrollments in some web courses which includes hiring discussion leaders. There was a pilot of this in the Spring 2003. The teaching experience was considered successful but not appropriate for all on-line courses. There was an expressed need to maintain Drake's academic quality in this learning environment. The assessment of quality instruction using total online delivery or partial is of concern for the

Senators also asked about the marketing of the web program and securing a reasonable rotation for desktop technology. Senator Allen asked it the University considered providing used computers to the homes of participants in the I Have a Dream program. Senator Alexander reminded the group that three years is not the end of a computer's life. There is a method and process to computer recycling.

The body was reminded that this report does not need to be approved by the Senate but the task force did desire to gain general feedback concerning the topics addressed and the recommendations.