Comments from the group discussions at the Faculty Celebration: May 18, 2005

Reflecting on this past academic year, what were our accomplishments?

• We all survived the semester!
• Positive relationships between faculty; a sense of camaraderie
• Governance reform. We (eventually) filled all the faculty governance positions.
• Restoration of divisional structure
• Continued commitment to student-centered mission
• Girl’s softball almost made it to the “World Series”, other athletic accomplishments and increased faculty support for these endeavors
• Good number of students enrolled
• Faculty celebration !!! Good turn out for the faculty celebration.
  • We enjoy meeting new people and getting to know better people we might know only by name of by face (this was also a good attribute of the faculty retreat format).
  • It would be good to have a similar opportunity to meet other members of the faculty at the beginning of the semester.  The introduction in the opening faculty meeting can be overwhelming for a new person. 
  • Another option to know who colleagues are would be a faculty directory with photos (as is done for students).
• Steps (for what they were) did get re-established but staff and adjuncts did not move at all!
• We are managing larger classes secondary to increased enrollment. And the student profile is improved. Attracted an impressive number of students for next year, but did we have good retention?  All faculty members should receive this information.
• The BOD is reviewing tenure quotas as requested.
• Some programs / majors have larger graduating class size.
• Great job placement / graduate school acceptances this year
• Campus beautification projects
• Education department is expanding, hiring new faculty
• AACSB accreditation
• US News and World report
• Opportunity to buy “meal plan” and Market Place use.
• Publications and conference presentations show continued intellectual contributions by the faculty
• Foreign language Institute as a model of how different with other colleges
• Professional Development Center
• Having a new Dean of the Faculty: the office and the name is a very important thing; it is not all administrative.
• On-line registration
• Continued faculty dedication to students and our institutional reputation
• Governance We finally finished a plan to revise our governance structure. D.B. mentioned the communiqué Faculty Council received from the Board which stated some issues they had with our adopted Constitution. We agreed that how we choose to govern ourselves should be of little concern to the Board, except of course, where the Board is directly involved, e.g. Faculty representation to Board and the official communication channels between the Board and Faculty .
• We continued working without step increases J. We unanimously decided that this originally tongue-in-cheek remark should go into our report. Determining whether the tongue is still in the cheek is a challenge left to the reader.
• We’re still a top pick in USN&WR College rankings.

Looking to the future, what are our greatest challenges?

SHORT TERM

• Salary steps: process needs to be addressed in practical and realistic terms
• Faculty space: proposal resolution for the Gold Room. Must make sure this space is utilized!
• Create opportunities to talk about inter-disciplinary issues
• Grade inflation: is a disservice to students over the long term
• ? consistency of academic expectations
• Create dialogue with students
• Create dialogue between disciplines: discussion may be related to setting academic expectations in first year
• Include adjunct and part-time faculty in EVERYTHING. Invite to meetings, gatherings, etc.
• Communication between ALL faculty may be lacking, not all part-timers or adjuncts are in the e-mail list.
• Be diligent about organized and productive divisional meetings: include Dean of the Faculty
• Improve / expand opportunities for socialization among the faculty. Happy hour maybe off campus, CELT social, open house for the new Gold Room, be creative (and include part-time and adjuncts in these).
• Rising expectations of faculty (workload) but same time allotted
• Academic advisement – problems with advisors from outside a student’s major
• The dual breaks in March seemed to affect courses and student learning.  It was hard to accomplish much in between them. 
  • Do athletic schedules (particularly the need for some teams to get outside during Spring Break) affect the timing of break?
  • Could the Easter and Spring breaks be combined when such a situation arises again?
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LONGER TERM

• Getting more faculty involved with governance. Certain people continue to do all the committee work and will get burned-out. This lack of participation by faculty in governance, other activities and service in general is hurting the faculty and community of King’s. *** This issue is seen as a huge problem for the future.
• Reviewing / revitalizing the CORE: needs to address current “2005” student profile. What outcomes do we want then see what gets us there. Need to be sure that all courses within one area have same objectives (consistency) for instance CORE 270.
• How does the CORE figure into setting tracks for students and helping them to determine their path?
• Writing needs more emphasis in the CORE, perhaps discipline related. Link skills to content. Students use the computer too much: perhaps don’t read enough good writing to know what it is
• The continuing review of the Core Curriculum: All seemed to think only minor adjustments were necessary. Therefore, we have a lack of a “crisis” atmosphere. However, one issue, reading and writing skills, received much discussion. It was noted that writing skills have increased remarkably in the many years he’s been here, but all lamented the low reading threshold of the general student, who thinks that a 25-page chapter or handout is a great amount to read. Since another reading/writing course is not likely to fit into the Core, it was agreed that to address this issue we must stress a “reading and writing across the curriculum” approach.
• Institute reading / essay before coming to college
• Make King’s more accessible to economically-challenged families: be consistent with mission
• Create a more diverse campus: what do we mean by diversity?
• Expand student recruiting out of state
• Growth of city: social opportunities for students
• Economic growth of city affects our campus experiences
• Related to CORE revitalization and market supplements: What is meant by “market conditions” vs. individual applications?
• Relationship between external (accreditation) standards and King’s mission: standards need to be clarified.
• Part-time faculty role is important, they are teaching our students especially in the CORE, we need interaction.
• Maintain enrollment
• Control health care costs
• Monitor tuition exchange / set clear standards and process for how this will be done
• Space (office, storage, equipment, research)
• Establish balance between full-time and part-time faculty
• Assure adequate faculty numbers per department
• Reevaluate “tenure-type-track for clinical professors
• Get student EXCITED: they need to appreciate what they are learning, enjoy the process; not just get the grade and move on
• Need to do a better job at identifying students with learning disabilities and ways to help them
• Becoming / staying competitive in national markets for hiring new faculty
• The budget
• Tenure vs. Academic appointment needs to be resolved
• Consider academic “tracks” for students
• Consider time during orientation week and FYE to discuss majors: each department could present options for education, employment, etc.
• Major specific: inform students about what terminal degree they need for specific jobs
• Need better communication with departments concerning closing out students from classes for various reasons: If computer kicks it out this student’s spot should be held until situation is straightened out
• Be sure students know requirements for graduation early in careers.
• WebAdvisor: still a bit cumbersome. Can it do deficiency forms? Why is this on a separate web site from all other grading functions? Problem: not being able to pull records of your class students who are not your advisees.
• Advisement: We were hopeful that the recently undertaken review will lead to substantial improvements.
• Faculty Benefits: Making that committee a real part of the College planning process. Step increases may also have come up in this discussion, just maybe.
• Tuition Control: We as a whole College have to figure out WHY tuition is rising so. It was noted that there has not recently been a spike in the budget for faculty salaries. Athletic programs were mentioned. They are a great recruiting tool, but are they cost effective? (And, how do you measure cost effectiveness?)
• Sense of Community

• MSB vs. non-MSB faculty status / rules / etc.
• Part-time instructors should be made more a part of the Kings community. We rely more and more on them, which is a question in its own right, but unless they are included in the community, we cannot really count on their consistent quality. A sense of ownership may help them. It was noted that many adjuncts have offices and computers, but other part-timers don’t. Could we perhaps at least have a part-timers’ community office where they could hold office hours and better serve the College? (The unused CT call center on the 4^th floor of Administration was floated as a possible location.)
• Faculty and Staff should have more events/discussions together. One example was the upcoming Staff trip to a Red Barons game; why not Faculty AND Staff ?
• Getting to know one another.  More small-group interactions would be helpful. End of the year meetings with Fr. Grimes and Dr. Holodick are good for that.
• We’re concerned about the deterioration in morale among those in dining services and maintenance. 
  • They no longer have a sense of being part of the King’s College Family.
  • The loss of a gathering room makes break time not really feasible—it would take too long to get to the remaining available facilities. 
• More global awareness on campus.  Would like to see more students participate in the Spring Break trips to Europe .  We could encourage it more as a first step to Study Abroad.
• Even need to help students to think about getting out of town—trips to New York City and Washington , D.C.
• We would like to see more enrollment in underutilized majors.
• Ought to increase the number of science and math faculty—currently need to rely heavily on part-time faculty; some sections have very large enrollments (40 students).
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• Athletics vs. Academics: This is not currently a big issue, but it is likely to get bigger as our teams become better and we continue to use the successful sports programs as recruiting tools. A simple solution, firing the current coaches and hiring incompetent ones, was rejected quickly. The real rub seems to be students missing classes due to sports competitions. Some saw the growing problem as an advisement issue; is it overtly part of the advisement planning process (time of day for classes, etc.)?

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