Minutes of the Faculty Senate meeting December 8, 1999 The regular meeting of the 1999-00 Faculty Senate was called to order by Dan Spencer at 3:30 p.m. The following Senators were present for all or part of the meeting: Berry, Brady, Cairns, Gillespie, Hariman, McCrickerd, Phillips, Pomeroy, Romig, Schneider, Simpson, Spencer, Stratton, Strentz, Torgerson, Walker, Wright Absent: Honts, Parsa, Petersen, Sisk Minutes of the Previous Meeting: Upon proper motion and second, the minutes of the November 1999 meeting were approved. Secretary's note: the Spring 2000 Softball and Women's Tennis schedules were distributed. Report from President Maxwell: At a visit to the Carnegie Corporation office, President Maxwell learned that they will be doing work in the area of joint offerings of professional studies and liberal arts. He will receive draft guidelines concerning any developmental monies, which may be of interest to Drake PEP Academy; Partners with Educational Progress may be asking for our assistance in the near future. Tomorrow will be the Town Meetings concerning the Vision for Drake in Bulldog Theatre with Tom Westbrook serving as the moderator. There are two sessions planned and President Maxwell expressed his hope that many faculty and staff would be in attendance. The President then requested comments concerning the possible College of Special Studies (working title). He presented the idea, as a way to address some of the learning needs in the community that Drake has not had a sustained response to lately. He acknowledges that we are solid in our undergraduate population and meeting their needs but Drake is not holding its own in the non-traditional populations, which nationally and locally are the growing, populations attending post-secondary schools. This division under consideration could react quickly and create opportunities for the non-traditional population. There would need to be a systematic check that the academic excellence of Drake was not put in danger. The unit would not have tenured faculty reporting to it. Several operational and philosophical questions/concerns were raised and discussed. These included A. Whether this unit needed to be its own college/school as that status of a Dean presenting its needs might be important to its success. B. Would this be a degree granting unit or designed to coordinate the non-degree offerings? C. The Summer and Distance Education offerings could be housed in this unit. D. The leader of the unit would need to be innovative and broker work with existing programs and yet be responsive to faculty oversight. E. There was an acknowledgement that most likely the credit hour calculation would not be the same in this unit as for other costs per credit hour. F. Past units at Drake have been dissolved with their tasks being picked up by the remaining colleges/schools and offices and would this new creation be duplication or a simplification of those tasks. G. There was concern that the startup period would require resources and the business plan should also specify when the unit would be expected to show institutional revenue growth. H. There was emphasis on the desire for a vision, philosophy and an intellectual plan as to why Drake was supporting this unit rather than simply because of the market. No conclusions were reached at this session on any of the matters. President Maxwell also asked the body for their sense of how much change the institution will tolerate in the coming months. There will be a process that leads to some consideration of major changes and this will require wide support to be realized. There was a definition of program review in a book on the topic that has been supplied to the Executive Committee. The definition given for a program is any activity that consumes resources. There was discussion between the President and Senate that the need for confidence and trust will be paramount for this Academic and Administrative Review to be completed. If fundamental change is to be made, several Senators spoke in favor of making those decisions rather than cosmetic or minor, tinkering changes. President Maxwell commented that there would be a different perspective on the administrative review from the academic. The Administrative will focus on having the right people doing the right things in the right way. He indicated that he came to this institution to work with the faculty and enhance Drake and a most exciting part of the job is working with the faculty. Report from Provost Hoag: The Deans Council has approved funding for four projects involving the Drake Curriculum, which were recommended by the General Education Committee. The Council discussed the recently developed English Department policy concerning teaching materials. There was no action taken by the Deans Council. Dean Rod Henshaw is working on expanding the collaborative licensing utilized in the libraries. Also a set of issues currently before the Deans Council includes budgeting, technology planning and faculty position approval. Congratulations to the 515 magazine for winning an award with their first effort. The question was asked if Drake would be looking at ways for faculty and staff who use Quickmail at home as many are asked to perform community service and non-traditional learning functions which are often done outside the Drake campus. Provost Hoag indicated that they are looking at ways to address that need. Report from President Spencer: Actions of the Executive Committee since the last meeting centered around discussions with President Maxwell the Faculty’s participation in the process for Academic Program Review and the Administrative Program Review. Judy Allen, an Associate Dean in Arts & Sciences, gave a mid-year report to the Arts & Sciences chairs on two projects: 1. Faculty Mentoring Project which will pair first and second year faculty with a senior faculty outside their department. 2. Faculty Roles Project which is a learning community of faculty reading and discussing the literature that addresses faculty roles, workload, and reward systems, with the aim of having a pilot project for post-tenured faculty in A&S by the end of this academic year. Please contact Ms Allen for copies of her report. David Skidmore, Director of the First Year Seminar Program, has a report available on the status of the First Year Seminar program and aspects of the first year experience. There will be a “Paths to Knowledge” two semester course to be implemented during the Fall 2000 semester. Student Senate issues of interest include the continued discussions of mid-semester evaluations/feedback in EPI and Student Senate. Student Senate and Sodexho-Marriott invite faculty and staff to participate in the Midnight Breakfast beginning at 11:00 p.m. on Sunday, December 12th. Faculty and staff volunteers are requested to serve the before-finals-week breakfast while the Student Senate and Sodexho-Marriott personnel will do the cooking and cleaning. Student Body President John Rosen addressed the assembly and distributed a calendar of Student Senate meetings and events for the Spring 2000 semester. He invited senators to attend. Senator Strentz asked if there is a systematic review of procedures and policies in progress following the recent student suicide. President Maxwell indicated that there have been several meetings to date and he is impressed with Dean of Students Jerry Price and his staff concerning their handling of the unfortunate incident. Senator Pomeroy wanted to relay publicly that he had received positive comments from students concerning the compassionate, personal handling of the first few hours and days following the incident by President Maxwell, Dean Price and Student Life staff. Unfinished Business: None presented. New Business: None presented On proper motion and second the meeting closed at 5:00 p.m. Submitted by Nancy Geiger, Secretary