Minutes of the Faculty Senate meeting November 17, 2004

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, Bartschat, Courard-Hauri, Dore, Esposito, Frank, Gilbert, Gillespie, Lyons, Morrow, Pandit, Reincke, Rozycki, Sanders, Simpson, Wade.

Absent: Allen, Clapham, Gilbert, Petersen, Tice
The October 2004 minutes were accepted as corrected (The date of the document was corrected).
President Maxwell was not in attendance due to a University related trip.

Report from Provost Troyer
-- President Maxwell is currently at a NCAA site visit.

-- The budget process is about to begin for the next fiscal year. The assumptions which are used to build this budget will go to the Board of Trustees in January 2005. The whole process will last four to five months.

-- During the two week time after Thanksgiving, there will be eight candidates visiting campus for administrative and faculty positions interviews.

Senator Dore asked if the budget process will be using a unit based model or are all units in one pot of funds. Provost Troyer replied that a combination of models will be used. Since not many details exist, he was unable to indicate fully which units might be handled with which model.

Report from President Bartschat
--After the recent approval of the Bias-Motivated Statement, President Bartschat did notify the Board of Trustees Chair David Miles of the Faculty Senate’s desire for the words ‘actual & perceived’ to be added to the policies in the future.

-- The National Alumni Scholar Days will be February 12 and 26, 2005. He stated that many of the faculty senators have done this event before and he encouraged continued and expanded involvement. President Bartschat reminded the body that these are the students that we really want in our classes.

-- He announced that November 30th and December 2nd at 4:30-5:30 p.m. will be Faculty Senate opportunities to meet with the Vice President for Admission and Financial Planning candidates.

-- Vice President Payseur has invited the Senate to meet with the master planners to interact and express opinions. She offered two different mornings in December. The sense of the body was to meet on Wednesday, December 15th, 8:30-10:00 a.m.

-- The University Promotion & Tenure Task Force established once the university wide committee fell apart has stalled in its work. Provost Troyer will contact the AAUP to get their assistance in a review of Drake’s policies.

-- President Bartschat has begun a review of the Academic Charter especially in creating programs or academic units. There does not seem to be a quick fix. The issue has been added to the Criterion One Committee and he’ll keep the body informed on this topic.

Student Body President Drew Gulley asked when the ‘next round’ of work on the Human Resource policies might happen. President Bartschat indicated he did not know and would inquiry more. He believes that Senate approved the policy as if the words “actual and perceived” were in the document.

New Business:
Senator Simpson moved and Wade seconded motion 05-03:

Motion to endorse the Mission Explication

Provost Troyer reminded the body that the upcoming accreditation process has drastically changed. The former process was concentrated in the academic division of the University. We are now freed up to state who we are but with that we must be able to account for meeting the statements in the Mission Statement. This includes the athletics department, student life, finance and academic divisions.

We have a good Mission statement, he stated, but it was not widely known. The terms in the statement were not equally understood across the campus. Thus, the Mission Statement we have needed to be given a purpose. Many members of this community have contributed to this Explication. It is a community document.

Arts & Sciences Dean John Burney addressed the Senate concerning how this Statement will be used. It will be a living document.

Mr. Burney continued that as Drake decides what a graduate will be then we’ll create a curriculum to get the student to that point. People of the Drake community need to have a common goal for that graduate. He stated that Drake will use these outcomes to review and create a range of programming inside and outside the classroom. This document allows for the measuring of our successes and not the successes. It will be used to be consequential as programs are reviewed.

Senator Alexander asked what was exactly meant in Section I A. 3. concerning the core values. The core values are from the 2001-2006 Strategic Plan. Senator Alexander suggested that the core values be actually stated in a footnote of this document for easy reference.

There was a discussion of Section II. C. 2. stating that a Drake graduate will push the boundaries of current knowledge and current practices. There needs to be a set of baseline skills for Drake graduates. Both Provost Troyer and Mr. Burney acknowledged that this document is subject to change and enhancements in the next year. The request now is for this document to be endorsed by the Faculty Senate. They stated that as an academic community these strong statements present a challenge to all of us and this is a good. Mr. Burney stated that Drake is looking for persons to use this Mission and not just be satisfied with the status quo. He continued that we need to develop a continual circular process of evidence and evaluation.

Motion passed on a unanimous voice voteLon Larson, Co Chair Retiree Health Benefits Task Force distributed a one page summary of its work to date. As background, this task force was formed early last spring in response to previous efforts to address possible changes in retiree health benefits. The initial focus of the group was to review the organization Emeriti. A consultant for the Emeriti program assisted in the review. It would be very expensive to make a transition to this program.
Mr. Larson proceeded to give a brief description of the review given by the Task Force. They desire any change in benefits to provide retirees hired after September 1, 1995 health care benefits.

Another institution, Humana made a presentation to the Task Force and received generally good reviews. This product is cheaper or less expensive than what Drake is now paying. The Task Force would like to have informational meetings on campus very soon, in early December, and receive reactions from the general Drake community. The Task Force requests that Faculty Senate and All Staff council urge people to attend. It is important information for those persons close to retirement and those not close to retirement. He requested the Senate’s assistance in drawing persons to these informational sessions.

There was a discussion of why this alternative was not previously reviewed. Human Resource Director Vanessa Macro indicated that this type of plan was available but not necessarily with comparable benefits. The Human Resource Department is preparing a side by side view of the benefits. This will hopefully be available at the informational meetings. Mr. Larson indicated that this group is newly available to Drake. He stated that the lower cost from Humana would give the University a chance to reallocate resources and hopefully expand the coverage pool.

There were concerns that this is a short time frame for some persons to be able to attend these sessions. Mr. Larson expressed that the Board of Trustees is eagerly waiting for a proposal from the campus and that should be sent to them in April 2005. The Faculty Senate will be involved during the early Spring semester. Senator Simpson reminded the group that the budget assumptions go to the Board in January and the issue needs to be included in some fashion.

Senator Frank moved and Pandit seconded motion 05-04:

Motion to co-sponsor the Humana presentations

The motion passed.The Senate adjourned at 4:33 p.m.

Submitted by Secretary, Nancy Geiger