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Faculty Meeting Minutes
Snyder Room, Sheehy-Farmer Campus Center
October 26th, 2007
In attendance: 57 members of the faculty; Nick Holodick, Dean of the Faculty, attended as a guest.
• Greg Bassham, Faculty Council Chair, called the meeting to order at 2.05 p.m., at which point Rev. John Ryan led the faculty in an opening prayer.
• Bill Bolan, Director of the Shoval Center for Community Engagement and Learning and the Community Outreach Coordinator, provided an update the College’s service-learning programs. The College has procured a grant for a $30,000 service-learning project, which includes hosting an annual regional conference, cultivating relationships with community partners, and stipends for faculty who integrate service-learning into their courses. Interested faculty should contact Dr. Bolan.
• Brian Pavlac, Chair of the C&T Committee, outlined recent developments in curricular matters. He reported that Faculty Council has adopted the proposed Core Revision; encouraged interested faculty to participate in upcoming CART meetings; announced that revisions are being made to the policy for proposing new majors and minors; and noted that the C&T Committee continues to investigate the roles of service-learning, the Freshman Orientation Program and FYE course, and the newly developed First-Year Seminar in the College’s revised Core Curriculum.
• Margarita Rose, Chair of the Faculty Benefits Committee, provided several updates. First, the Committee has inquired about the status of the College’s Tuition-Exchange Program. Given the recent imbalance between ‘imported’ and ‘exported’ students, a moratorium has been put on the latter. The Committee is finalizing a survey aimed at collecting data on faculty members who hope to utilize this program in the near and distant future. Also, the Committee seeks faculty willing to offer personalized attention, such as meeting at lunch, to prospective ‘import students.’ Second, the Committee will not seek any change to the College’s “Family and Medical Leave Policy” which appears in the Employee Handbook. Third, the Committee will submit proposals to IPARC concerning an increase in compensation for courses taught by adjunct and part-time faculty and as overloads. Additionally, a proposal for faculty salary increases—to bring them in line with faculty pay-scales at appropriate peer institutions—is in the works.
• Rev. John Ryan reminded faculty of the ETS Course Evaluation Pilot Study taking place during the 2007-08 Academic Year. At the end of the Fall and Spring semesters, students will complete a more detailed course evaluation form, one that includes the College’s existing evaluation as well as a supplemental evaluation of approximately 40 questions. Students will need approximately 15-20 minutes to complete this evaluation form. The A & P Committee will solicit faculty feedback on the pros and cons of adopting this alternative student evaluation form.
• Joyce Armstrong reported that the College’s Assessment Project Team continues to collect data concerning assessment strategies as they pertain to all majors offered by the College. At present, assessment of the Core Curriculum remains a matter for Project-Team Leaders/CART Coordinators and the C&T Committee.
• Dan Ghezzi, Chair of the A&P Committee, reported on several matters. First,
progress on a proposed revision of the College’s Academic Integrity Policy is
nearing completion and should be ready to present to faculty in early Spring.
Second, applications for Summer Research Grants have been relatively low in the
last several years; interested faculty are strongly encouraged to apply. Third,
A & P will monitor the implementation of the ETS evaluations. Fourth, A & P will
review the 2007 revision of the Faculty Handbook to insure that no significant
changes have been made inadvertently. Fifth, Faculty Council approved the
Committee’s proposed revisions of the Faculty Handbook concerning
“qualifications” and “application procedures” for tenure and promotion (Part
Two, Sections II & III). The “Chairperson’s Evaluation of Department Faculty”
form will be updated to correspond with these Handbook revisions.
o At this point, some faculty members charged that the revisions went beyond
matters of “clarification” and, in fact, functioned as policy changes. Dr.
Ghezzi assured faculty that this was not the intent and agreed to study the
matter further, if charged to do so by Faculty Council. Greg Bassham invited
faculty members to submit to Faculty Council their objections to these
revisions.
Dr. Ghezzi concluded his report with an update on the Committee’s efforts to
oversee the development of discipline-specific criteria for Scholarship and
Professional Development, as charged by Academic Affairs. He provided a handout
that outlines one possible means of initiating this process and acknowledged the
importance of collaboration between chairs, faculty, faculty committees, and
administration. The Committee hopes to move forward on this matter immediately,
but it invites faculty members to submit alternative methods for the development
of these discipline-specific criteria.
• Greg Bassham asked faculty members to initiate discussions on “Post-Tenure Review” in upcoming divisional meetings and agreed to attend such meetings—pending invitation—in order to provide context on this issue.
• The meeting adjourned at approximately 3:10 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Neal Bukeavich