Faculty Senate

Minutes of the Faculty Senate meeting               March 12, 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. Allen, Bohorquez, Conley, DeLaet, Dore, Houle, Keefer, Nelson, Parsa, Reincke, Sanders, Simpson, Swilky, Torry, Vandegrift, Walker, Younger

Absent: Conley, Esposito, Harvey, Saylor

 

The February 2008 minutes were accepted.

 

Report from President Maxwell – not present

 

Report from Provost Troyer

The Strategic Plan Draft is being worked on by the Planning Council incorporating comments received from the various forums. Tasks for each goal are being added.  These revised drafts are expected to be distributed later this semester. 

 

The 08-09 faculty & staff compensation pool is $2.2 million.  The FY09 Budget will include an increase of the Faculty Research/Development monies which go to the Deans. This completes a three year plan to double the fund.  The Staff Development fund will also have been increased during these three years. 

 

The 08-09 fees include a $30.00 increase in the student technology fee.  This will be used for support for faculty to integrate technology in the classroom.  The Provost went to the Student Academic Affairs Committee to promote the increase.  Associate Provost John Burney will develop the guidelines which will be used to distribute the funds, including creating technology intensive classrooms.  He reminded the body that these funds are not calculated for distribution until late September or October each year.

 

The Provost was asked about the status of the two Dean searches.  He indicated that an announcement should be forthcoming soon for the Arts & Sciences position.  Matt Dore indicated that the Law School search continues to progress.

 

There was a question as to whether any of the technology funds would be made available for the ITunes initiative which the students presented last December.  The Provost did not believe that would cover all the needed costs.  He suggested checking with CIO Paul Morris for a complete answer noting that he has done an analysis of this project’s impact including copyright effects.

 

In response to a question concerning the progress of the quiet phase of the Capital Campaign, the Provost was aware of various pledges being received.  He declined to indicate any amounts regarding pledges or signed intentions.

 

President Simpson Report

Planning continues for the April Board meetings including participation of faculty and students.

The Campus Council is studying the academic calendar issue.  The All Staff Council elections will happen in early April following the Employee Appreciation Week (March 31-April 4).

Student Senate report included a thank you for arranging the bus trip to St. Louis for the men’s basketball tournament; the Student Senate elections have progressed and the new officers have been announced.  The student fees allocation process for recognized organizations will soon begin.

 

 

Old Business:

President Simpson requested nominations for the position of 08-09 Faculty Senate President.  Art Sanders was properly nominated and accepted.  He was approved by acclamation.

 

Senators moved and seconded motion 08-02:

to approve Student Handbook Policies

 

Associate Provost Sue Wright and Dean of Students Sentwali Bakari were present for this discussion.  Ms. Wright described how the web page would appear as represented in a handout and what was previously emailed to Senators.  There will be links to the Academic Misconduct and Non-Academic Misconduct policies under the Code of Student Conduct heading.

 

Senator DeLaet thanked all concerned that her issue had been addressed of keeping the Academic and Non-Academic policies together.

 

With no other comment or discussion; the motion passed with a unanimous voice vote.

 

New Business

Senators moved and seconded motion 08-03:

to approve IRB changes to existing policy regarding classroom research activity.

 

Associate Provost Wright opened the discussion by providing general information concerning classroom research issues noting that there is a full IRB manual available on the web.  Any institution, which receives federal aid, must protect Human Subjects. The Institutional Review Board, IRB, which falls under the purview of the Office of the Provost, and includes in its membership, Rachel Boon, Associate Director of Research is charged with assuring the rights of research subjects.

 

Currently the approval process can be time consuming.  Today’s proposal strives to simplify the approval process.  The instructor goes through an on-line process. A discussion ensued concerning: a) the phrase in condition three “if there is a remote chance” of the data being made public, b) what constitutes research in non-hard science disciplines and c) how interviews should be handled.  The body agreed that general training on these topics is needed for all classroom instructors. 

 

The body was reminded that the basic purpose is to protect individuals as research subjects. 

 

The motion passed on a voice vote.

 

Paul Morris, Chief Information Officer, was introduced.  He presented a Technology Services Update.  First he announced that there would soon be resources devoted to Blackboard and correcting its current poor performance.  The resources include both increased hardware (from one server to six servers) and the services of a new staff position.  It is expected that the major performance enhancement will begin this summer.  The question was asked concerning how instructors should handle Blackboard issues yet this semester and they were advised to contact Peggy Steinbronn and Mr. Morris will speak with the Network Services personnel.  Also requested was some assistance for faculty for the once-a-semester type transactions within Blackboard.

 

Secondly: There should be enhanced speed to the internet soon due to increased bandwidth.  There will also be a split created (50/50 at the beginning) within the bandwidth to separate faculty/staff from the students usage.  This will be monitored for performance.

 

A question was asked about the practice of schools outsourcing their email service.  This is not a positive step for Drake from Mr. Morris’s point of view.

 

Last: He presented an update on the new Emergency Notification System.  Participation at Drake in this system is mandatory rather than an opt-in service.  He noted that recent tests have shown that over 90% of faculty, staff and students were reached in about 20 minutes.  This does not indicate how quickly any one person got the message rather how quickly the message was delivered to either their phone or email.  Various additional methods of notification are being considered including enhancing the building fire alarm systems or the installation of outdoor speakers throughout campus.

 

Provost Troyer reminded the body that tornado season will soon start and the usual lead time is quite short for this severe storm condition.  He noted that increasingly parents and government bodies are interested in how well an institution is prepared to protect the students and employees.

 

Faculty Senate adjourned at 4:40 p.m.  Nancy Geiger, Secretary