The Faculty Senate of Eastern Kentucky University met on Monday,
December 1, 2003 in the South Room of the Keen Johnson Building. Senator Johnson
called the fourth meeting of the academic year to order at 3:30 p.m.
James Conneely, Student Affairs; Karen Janssen, Graduate Council Chair;
Ken Johnston, Financial Affairs; Cassondra Kirby, The Eastern Progress;
Laura Koppes, Academic Affairs; Elizabeth Wachtel, Academic Affairs; and
Marc Whitt, Public Relations & Marketing.
APPROVAL
OF THE MINUTES:
The November 3, 2003 minutes were approved as written.
REPORT
FROM THE PRESIDENT: Senator Glasser
Senator
Glasser reminded everyone the December commencement will be held
on Saturday, December 13. There are 1,022 candidates for graduation
and for the first time in December there will be two commencement
ceremonies. The first will be at 10:00 a.m. and will include the
Colleges of Arts and Sciences and Business and Technology. Dustan
McCoy (President of the Brunswick Boat Group in Knoxville, Tennessee)
will be awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree and will be the
morning guest speaker. The second ceremony will be at 3:00 p.m.
and will include the Colleges of Education, Health Sciences and
Justice and Safety. Colonel P.K. Keen (Assistant Commander of the
US Army's 7th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colorado) will be
awarded an honorary doctor of humanities degree and will be the
afternoon guest speaker.
Senator Glasser shared some enrollment statistics with the Senators.
This fall there were 1660 active courses and over 3,866 sections
offered with student enrollment. This is the highest enrollment
in ten years.
There will be a team of ten traveling to Nashville, Tennessee this
weekend to attend the national SACS Accreditation Conference. Senator
Glasser expressed her gratitude to Laura Koppes and Virginia Falkenberg
for putting together the SACS committee.
The
Chairs Association has provided several outstanding workshops for
new chairs. Senator Glasser thanked Malcolm Frisbie and Jaleh Rezaie
for their outstanding work coordinating the workshops.
Senator Glasser expressed her appreciation to Tom Watkins, newly
elected chair of the Gen Ed Committee, and John Wade for their outstanding
leadership to move EKU forward in the Gen Ed Program restructure.
There are currently 41 faculty position searches and 7 departmental
chair searches under way. In addition, the searches for the Associate
Provost and Dean of Graduate Education and the Dean of Arts and
Sciences are moving along. Senator Glasser took the opportunity
to thank Malcolm Frisbie, chair of the Graduate Dean search committee
and Gary Cordner, Chair of the Arts and Sciences Dean search for
their excellent work.
Numbers are up for new admits for the upcoming spring semester,
not only for new freshman, but for transfer students and graduate
students as well. This is due in large part to the hard work of
the Enrollment Management staff and the Marketing and Public Relations
staff. Undergraduate application requests are 36% ahead of this
time last year.
Senator Glasser stressed the importance of building an infrastructure
and support for faculty and staff to continue to pursue grants and
contracts. She has established a committee of faculty to examine
this issue and to bring recommendations to her in the near future.
While not an all inclusive list, Senator Glasser wished to recognize
some of the important college and departmental initiatives currently
under way.
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The
English department is collaborating with Enrollment Management
in the retention area. In particular, Jim Kenkel is doubling
as not only the department writing coordinator but also as the
Student Success Coordinator.
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The
Forensic Science program recently completed a self-study and
an on-site accreditation visit. EKU was one of six schools in
the country chosen to participate. The results of the accreditation
application will be known in January.
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The
College of Business and Technology has proposed a new degree
program in Professional Golf Management.
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The
Department of Agriculture has been very active in working with
the community and has raised funds this fall to buy gifts for
the Angel Tree project.
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In
the College of Education, the Professional Education Fellows
Program (PEF) for 2003-2004 includes a total of 61 fellows from
four of the colleges (Arts and Sciences, Business and Technology,
Health Sciences and Education) and eighteen departments.
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Three
members from the library staff have assisted the school district
in securing over $215,000 in grants for library improvements.
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The
College of Health Sciences, the Health Careers Opportunity program,
was recently funded by the United States Department of Health
and Human Services for a total of $312,000. The total project
is for three years and is for slightly over $1,000,000. The
target population for this program are students from 49 Appalachian
counties.
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The
College of Justice and Safety continues to pursue funding initiatives
and grants for the Department of Homeland Security which has
the potential for large amounts of funding. (Senator Glasser
has asked the College to consider offering a doctoral program
in this area).
EKU has signed a memorandum of understanding, in conjunction with
Hazard Community College and Morehead State University, for the
University Center of the Mountains. Byron Bond will be taking programs,
particularly in health and education, to a much needed service area.
In addition, there is now a full social work degree program offered
in Hazard.
Senator Glasser expressed her appreciation to Bruce MacLaren for
his outstanding coordination of the Chautauqua lecture series. She
encouraged everyone to attend the lectures.
EKU continues to collaborate with the Lexington Community College
and to partner with them in providing programs at the newly opened
Winchester campus.
Jim Marsh has been appointed as the General Manager of Arlington,
and he officially began his duties today. Also recently appointed,
J. Barton Meyer will be joining the EKU community on January 5 as
the new Vice President for Institutional Advancement.
Senator Glasser announced that the student newspaper, The Eastern
Progress, has been selected for a National Pacemaker Award.
This is the fourth time the Progress has received this honor,
and Senator Glasser commended the students for their successful
work.
Senator Glasser stated that the budget continues to look
bleak. She has met personally with newly-elected Governor Ernie Fletcher
to discuss a number of issues. She shared with the governor that in the
past two years, EKU has internally cut $6,000,000 and that proactive measures
have been taken to help reduce expenses further. An expected budget cut
is anticipated sometime in the spring. In preparation for this, Senator
Glasser requested a 7% reduction in all non-academic operating expenses
and asked that all nonacademic vacancies remain unfilled for three months.
With the help of the Budget Council, President Glasser will be making
several recommendations to the Board of Regents on Friday. One of
the recommendations will include a tuition increase for the biennium.
An exact figure is not known at this time.
Senator Glasser reminded everyone that weather announcements for
the campus community are available three different ways: on EKU's
web site, on radio and television stations, or by calling EKU's
weather hotline at 859-622-2239.
Senator
Glasser recently accompanied the Honors students to the National
Collegiate Honors Conference in Chicago where they participated
in a number of panel discussions. Senator Glasser joined the students
on a panel discussion of "Rudeness in the Electronic Media." Senator
Glasser commended Bonnie Gray for her excellent work with the Honors
Program.
Senator Glasser shared some of the results of SGA's student survey
with the senators.
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Based upon your experience how do you perceive EKU as
an academic institution? -- 87.9% rated EKU good to excellent.
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Are you proud to be a student of EKU? -- 93.2% said
yes.
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Are you a member of a student organization? -- 59.4%
said yes.
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Do you think EKU encourages diversity? -- 87.7% said
yes.
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Do you think EKU is becoming a more diverse campus?
-- 79.3% said yes.
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81.7% of the students said that in the past year they
have attended at least one activity such as an academic lecture, music
concert or art gallery showing.
REPORT
FROM THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE CHAIR: Senator Johnson
The Executive Committee met on November 17 and November 24. Discussion
included the recently approved sabbatical leave policy and some
clarification changes which were made and will be presented later
in today's meeting. Also discussed was an upcoming motion presented
by a member of the Faculty Welfare Committee.
A motion from the Rules Committee regarding the faculty regent election
procedures was deferred to the December meeting. A representative
from the Rules Committee has been asked to be present at that meeting
to answer questions.
In both meetings, the committee discussed the presidential review.
The review was completed and the information has been shared with
the appropriate individuals
REPORT
FROM COSFL: Senator Siegel
COSFL
met on November 15 with CPE President Tom Layzell to discuss the higher
education budget submitted by CPE to the Governor.
An amendment
to COSFL's bylaws was proposed that would provide four voting members
for the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS). The
proposal will be considered further at the next meeting.
Responding
to issues raised about retirement plans and retiree health benefits,
COSFL is in the process of compiling a page of website links where
information for each member institution can be found. A KTRS representative
will be invited to a future meeting to provide information about the
state retirement system.
Summer
school compensation will be discussed at a future COSFL meeting.
CPE's "Purple Card" request for funding for 2004-2005 is available
online, linked from a press release at: http://www.cpe.state.ky.us/announce/News/release2003_11_04.asp
or from the Senate's web site at: http://www.eku.edu/academics/facultysenate/other/1_Purple_Card.pdf.
COSFL's
next meeting will be held in late January.
PROVOST REPORT: Senator Cook
Senator Cook reported that an updated Sabbatical Leave Policy was
distributed to all senators in the meeting packet for today as an
informational item only. Changes made include the recommended changes
suggested by the Senate at the previous meeting and a couple of other
changes made for clarification purposes only.
Senator
Cook announced that two supporting positions were recently funded
in the Grants Office, and a post-awards accountant has been added
to the Business Office.
Senator
Cook reported that the information has been distributed on the equity
adjustments to the committee members. That committee will gather and
make recommendations to him shortly and hopefully the equity money
can be distributed to those identified in a timely manner.
REPORT
FROM STUDENT GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION: Senator Johnson reported for
Kristina O'Brien
Senator Johnson reminded everyone that the tree lighting ceremony
will take place at 5:30 p.m. outside the Keen Johnson Building today.
STANDING
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Budget Committee: Senator
Siegel reported that the Committee met on the November 13. The committee
continues to study major university budget areas. Ken Johnston was in
attendance to discuss the changes in positions during the past budget
cycle. Discussions on this topic will continue at the January meeting.
Rules
Committee: Senator M. Yoder reported that there are currently
two motions the Rules Committee has forwarded to the Executive Committee
for their review.
Elections
Committee. Senator DeBolt reported that the committee is currently
working on the time line for the Faculty Regent election in the spring
semester.
Committee
on Committees. Senator Wolf announced that the committee is in
the process of revising the annual letter to send out to faculty for
self-nominations to university committees.
Faculty
Welfare Committee. Senator G. Yoder reported that the committee
met on November 11 to address the issue of an appeals process for
salary equity adjustments. A motion will be presented later in today's
meeting.
NEW
BUSINESS:
Council
on Academic Affairs. Senator Cook presented the following items
for approval:
1. Program Revision
- MS in Industrial Education (changing program title)
2. Recommended faculty handbook change regarding criteria
for the selection of faculty members for service in the Graduate School
(information item only)
3. Suspension
of the Interior Design Motion
Senator
Collins, seconded by Senator Coyer, moved approval of the preceding
items. The motion was approved by the majority of the Senate.
Faculty
Welfare Committee Motion. Senator G. Yoder moved approval of the
salary equity appeals process, seconded by Senator Reed. Senator Johnson
ruled the motion substantive and deferred further discussion to the
January meeting.
ADJOURNMENT:
Senator Cook moved to adjourn at approximately 4:35 p.m.
Meetings