D R A K E U N I V E R S I T Y
FACULTY SENATE MEETING MINUTES
April 20, 2005

The regular meeting of the 2004-2005 Faculty Senate was called to order at 3:30 p.m. by President Klaus Bartschat. The following senators were present for all or part of the meeting. Alexander, Allen, Bartschat, Clapham, Courard-Hauri, Dore, Esposito, Freeman-Miller, Gilbert, Gillespie, Lyons, Petersen, Reincke, Rozycki, Sanders, Simpson, Wade.
Absent: Frank, Morrow, Pandit, Tice

The March 2005 minutes were accepted.

President Maxwell’s Report

The Board of Trustees meets next week.

There agenda includes:

• approval of the fiscal 06 budget which calls of an additional 1.9 million in new monies for compensation;
• review of a four year strategic plan, which has been seen by the Senate Budget Committee;
• approval of a debt proposal for Phase One of the Drake Stadium project, which includes municipal bonds issued through the Windsor Heights city;
• review of development of a Vision 2025 document, which will be a main agenda item at a late June retreat;
  and
• approval of plans to renovate the 2nd floor of Olin.
  Senator Allen asked if there will be monies set aside for the upcoming work of the Diversity Committee. President Maxwell indicated he would look into that request.Provost Troyer’s Report
• Provost Troyer indicated that the earliest that any work would begin on the Olin Hall renovation would be during the Summer of 2006. This renovation is expected to last one year.
• Vice President Payseur and the Provost have been working on a fiscal 05 flex-budget which would accommodate allocations to the Diversity Committee’s initiatives. The flex-budget’s main purpose is to prepare for scenarios in the event of an over budgeted Fall 2005 enrollment.
• The enrollment numbers for the Fall 2005 semester are looking promising so far. There is an increase of 12% in tuition deposits. He cautioned that this number is filled with a variety of factors; including a number of these are early deposits to the Pharmacy program, which has a capped enrollment. There is an increase in some underrepresented groups. There is clear evidence that the work of the faculty and staff has been productive to bring students to Drake.
• The upcoming Board of Trustees meeting will include a new feature. Board members will be having lunch with faculty and selected students of that faculty member. The effort is to create a mechanism to build connections between faculty/students and Board members.
• The Board of Trustees Academic Affairs Committee has begun meeting in different locations on campus during previous Board sessions. This session will be in Cartwright Hall. This is also a direct attempt to connect the Board members to the students and faculty.
  

Senator Reincke asked about the flex-budget. She was interested in knowing what sort of expenditures might be serviced in this budget. Provost Troyer indicated that they had kept the items quite general, such as paying for FYS instructors needed for an increased, over budget First Year student enrollment.

President Bartschat’s Report

• Senate Executive Committee decided to send tabled motion 05-14 concerning the Day Free for Study back to University Curriculum Committee with an encouragement to look at possibility of starting their own task force on the issue of how Drake’s policies and practices are set for the end of the semester.
• Senate elections are in process for the 05-06 year and results are expected in early May.
• Senate committees have submitted reports except for one committee. Renae Chesnut, Faculty Athletic Representative, chairs the Intercollegiate Athletic Council (IAC) and made a presentation to the body. She had submitted an IAC report of their activities but wanted to highlight additional items:

1. The overall academic performance of the current student athletes is very strong. The existing support services are being utilized and the exit interviews of seniors indicated they had received strong academic encouragement from their coaches. There was an overall 3.11 grade point average for the Fall 2004 semester of the student athletes. There were 10 student athletes with a below 2.0 cum gpa at the close of the Fall 2004 term. One soccer player has received a prestigious NCAA scholarship for post graduate studies. He plans to go to law school.
2. There is new NCAA legislation which is academic related. The standards have changed concerning how many credits a student needs to pass to remain eligible. This will not impact Drake. There is also an increase in the admission requirements and the progression to degree standards. Many of these standards apply to the students who are currently in their first year at Drake.
3. The NCAA has established a system to calculate an Academic Progress Rate (APR) for each sport each year. Institutions or sports which have low (APR’s) may have penalties applied. Drake’s APR is not due out until after the Spring 2005 term.
4. A couple of years ago, the practice time policy was altered. The IAC does monitor its implementation. There is a belief that the change is working well. Ms. Chesnut asked that faculty report to her of any comments concerning students who state that their practice times interfere with class times. This should not be the case and she would investigate the statement.
5. There will be an NCAA Certification process beginning this next year. There will be more information disseminated on that as it begins.

There was a question or two for clarification of the past stated graduation rates as they compare to the University as a whole and Ms Chesnut indicated she would send this information to the Senate.

Senator Allen asked a general information question concerning what could happen to the student’s scholarship when a student chose to discontinue with a sport but continue as a student. Both Ms Chesnut and President Maxwell indicated that these cases are reviewed on a student by student basis and that there is an appeal process for the student throughout the process.

Senator Reincke, chair of the Budget Committee presented a one page handout. She acknowledged the willingness and cooperation which administration had given the committee. She complimented higher administration for taking the budget in the direction of transparency and accountability. Ms. Reincke continued that there had been multiple Strategic Improvement Plans (SIP) presented and reallocations done within the budget. None of the reallocations were done against the will of the unit. She continued with the statement that within the University there are still budgetary challenges and she believed that the faculty and Budget Committee need to be pro-active on what issues are to be priorities, such as faculty development funds.

President Bartschat presented a question on behalf of Vice President Payseur. He requested the body’s interest in having a budget presentation yet this semester or having such a session during the Fall 2005 semester. The body was interested in such a session during the Fall 2005 semester. There was also interest in having more direct and timely knowledge of what the budget assumptions are when they are created for the next fiscal year. It was acknowledge that the yearly budget process is complicated and lengthy.Senator Gilbert, chair of the University Benefits Committee (UBC) presented a report in addition to the provided pdf document sent to the Senators. The Human Resources Department is currently holding informational sessions during this the April enrollment period. The retiree plan is moving forward and one interesting benefit has been found. There are local health clubs which are available to these persons for no enrollment fee.

Mr. Gilbert continued his remarks with highlighting a summary of the survey results concerning the salary indexed and tier based benefit structure. The survey respondents were not in favor of the salary indexed option. There was interest in a two tier option, not three nor one. He explained some attributes of the differences between the two tier and single option.

President Bartschat stressed that the Senate and employees in general need to remember that as a self insured entity the increases in health costs also affect the institution by over $400,000.

New Business:

Dean John Burney and Lon Larson, Drake Curriculum Director, brought to the Senate a status report on the Drake Mission Explication as it relates to Student Outcomes and the Drake Curriculum. They distributed a summary report form the Criterion 3 (Student Learning and Effective Teaching) and Criterion 4 (Acquisition, Discovery, and Application of Knowledge) self study committees. These committees are chaired by Mr. Burney and Mr. Larson.

Their handouts included a Map of Mission Explication Outcomes. This grid displays which Areas of Inquiry (AOI) are currently met within the explication. Some points within the mission are well met by the AOI’s and some are not met at all. The task now is to determine how to develop further the link of the outcomes to the curriculum. A study group will be started to work towards grouping the mission’s outcomes around the stated themes and then develop teaching themes and methods. This group will begin their work this summer with an expectation to bring their recommendations to the faculty during the Fall 2005 semester. Accepted recommendations would be implemented over the next couple of years.

The criterion groups will continue to exist but may or may not meet this summer.

The body adjourned at 4:55 p.m. Secretary, Nancy Geiger