Faculty Senate

Minutes of the Faculty Senate meeting               January 30, 2008

 

The regular meeting of the 2007-2008 Faculty Senate was called to order at 3:30 p.m. by President LouAnn Simpson.  The following senators were present for all or part of the meeting.  Bohorquez, DeLaet, Dore, Esposito, Harvey, Houle, Keefer, Nelson, Reincke, Sanders, Saylor, Simpson, Swilky, Torry, Vandegrift, Walker, Younger

Absent: Allen, Conley, Parsa, Vitha

 

The December 2007 minutes were accepted.

 

Report from President Maxwell – No report given since he is out of town on University business.  President Simpson reported that President Maxwell has sent via email the Board of Trustees initial response to the Darfur motion.  She expects the topic to be discussed at the April Board of Trustee meeting.

 

Report from Provost Troyer

- Provost Troyer shared news that Professor Judith Allen had an accident in Olin 344 today.  He indicated that there was an extraordinary response by faculty and staff to assist Ms. Allen.

- The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) site visit is scheduled for next week. He distributed the visit schedule and warned the group that much of the information is already out of date.  He emphasized that it is important that members of the Drake community are available and respond promptly to requests from the team.  He offered that Drake’s greatest weakness right now is having sufficient direct measures of student learning.  There are many measures of what students ‘think’.   Drake’s participation in the Assessment Academy allows us to learn and plan concerning assessment. Associate Provost John Burney heads the effort with the Academy.  The Mission Explication document is a perceived strength for Drake. Very few institutions have done such though work to know their Mission Statement.  Finally, Provost Troyer indicated that we can be expected to be asked about what progress has been made on any and all goals previously stated.

 

Report from President Simpson

-- Student Senate – no report

-- Campus Council – Senator Walker indicated that at the last Council meeting the Student Handbook was the main item along with Sustainability issues.

-- Senate Committee Reports

            Klaus Bartschat, chair of the Admission and Financial Aid offered that the committee description is abit out of date.  The Vice President of Enrollment is not specifically listed in the membership and other titles are not up to date. Mr. Bartschat asked the Provost and Vice President to give a presentation to the committee after the Fall 07 Board of Trustees meeting.  He did not think the committee should be abolished but they may well review the charge to make it more realistic to the current climate at Drake.  He concluded by stating that the whole process is complex and the Faculty do really need to get regular updates.

            Catherine Gillespie, chair of the University Curriculum Committee shared a report which listed the courses which have been approved for AOI’s. There is also a description of how a course is received for review for AOI by the committee.  Lisa West serves currently as Vice-Chair and will take over in May 2008.

            Brian Sanders, chair of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, indicated that they are in care of three main areas. These are: 1) the semi annual review of policies and procedures, 2) the semi-annual inspection of facilities which house lab animals (and he noted that only minor discrepancies were found during the last inspection) and 3) the review of requests to use animals in research.

            Vanessa Macro, spoke for the University Benefits Committee which is chaired by Matt Dore. Their main work is during the Spring semester. The current issues include: 1) reviewing a new pharmacy benefits manager to ensure smooth transition, 2) reviewing the retiree benefits program to know if it should continue. This review is being done by a subgroup chaired by Lon Larson, 3) the medical/dental plan will be reviewed, 4) smoking cessation is a possible inclusion in the benefits and 5) a formal assessment of the wellness program.

            Renae Chestnut, chair of the Intercollegiate Athletic Council distributed a packet of information.  The IAC meets regularly to approve schedules and awards, receive practice time reports, and review student exit interviews. There is a compliance subcommittee which meets in the Spring term to review NCAA issues. The subcommittee recently added into their review the minority and gender plan.  It may make recommendations to the full committee.

Ms. Chesnut offered to come back to Faculty Senate when asked if there would be interest in more detailed review of the distributed charts.  The Academic Progress Rate is a relatively new tool (four or five years old) which calculates a semester by semester evaluation by sport. She offered that the NCAA web site does hold a great deal of data and may be of interest to someone.   Drake offered the Provost’s Award to the team which has the highest gpa average.

            Bart Schmidt, chair of the Board of Student Communications, distributed student publication budget materials. The BSC committee overseas student publications. There have been renovations done to the Times-Delphic offices and their current advertising revenues have been record breaking due to some very talented, driven student efforts. The issue of plagiarism is quite real and the staff and Journalism professors are trying quite hard to educate the students about the issue.

            Maria Valdovinos, chair of the Institutional Review Board, noted that 54 new proposals had been approved. As chair, she has received training and has learned the needs of the Board.  There was also training made available for the community member.  They have added a second community member to the committee and they have created a vice-chair position. She suggests that there be administrative support for the IRB.  There is a need to enter into an agreement with Iowa State University (ISU) to facilitate the research.

 

Senator Walker moved Parsa seconded Motion 08-02

            Motion to approve a policy agreement with Iowa State University and Drake’s IRB

 

Senator Swilky asked if it only applies to joint research where one institution needs to be the IRB of Record.  It was agreed that if there was not to be collaboration, then the policy agreement would not be involved.  Senator Torry asked if the principal researcher is at Drake, then Drake would by the most likely IRB of Record.  Ms. Valdovinos agreed.

 

The motion passed with a voice vote.

 

            Matt Esposito, chair of the Budget Committee, indicated that they have yet to meet with Provost Troyer and Vice President Payseur to learn about the recent Board of Trustees meetings.

            Charles Nelson, chair of the Honorary Degree and Drake Medal Committee, indicated that typically most of their work is done in the Spring semester and nomination forms will be sent shortly.

            LouAnn Simpson indicated that the University Hearing Panel has not met, as the pre-hearing officer has resolved all incidents so far.

 

Senators offered nominations for President Elect, due to Senator De Laet’s plans to be away from campus for part of the 08-09 year. Those nominated declined and the discussion was postponed.  It was stressed that anyone on Senate, regardless of current term of service, is eligible to serve.

 

Unfinished Business – none presented

 

New Business

Senators Walked moved and Keefer seconded motion 08-03:

Motion to amend the Guidelines for Construction of the Academic Calendar

 

Change the Calendar Construction Guidelines, section D

To be implemented for Summer 2008 courses

 

current

D.  The Summer session is organized into two five-week terms.  The beginning of the first five-week term shall be determined in reference to the closing dates of the public schools in the Des Moines Metro area.

 

proposed

D.  The beginning date of the summer term shall be the Monday immediately following commencement. The Ending date of the summer term shall be the Sunday immediately before the opening day of classes in the fall (either the University classes or Law School classes, which ever is earlier).

 

The Faculty Senate will set an opening fall semester date when the academic calendar is created four full years in advance.  The Faculty Senate will give final approval to the calendar 1.5 years in advance of the fall semester. The Law faculty will approve an opening fall semester date before the Faculty Senate final approval vote to ensure that a summer ending date is established.

 

The rationale for this change is to maximize the dates in August to offer courses and stay within federal guidelines.

 

With a voice vote; motion passed

 

Faculty Senate adjourned at 4:45 p.m.  Nancy Geiger, Secretary