NORTHEASTERN STATE UNIVERSITY
Minutes of Faculty Council Meeting
Friday, November 3, 2006

A.  Call to Order

The meeting was called to order by President John Yeutter in SL129.  There was ITV access at Muskogee, Broken Arrow and Tahlequah.

Council Members in attendance: Jennifer Edwards (Liberal Arts), Ernst Bekkering (Business & Technology), Harriett Hobbs, (Library), Darryl Linde (for Rick Matzen, Science & Health Professions), Alan McKee (Optometry), John Milbauer (Liberal Arts), David Scott (Liberal Arts), Lallie Scott (Liberal Arts),  Dan Sisk (Science & Health Professions), Bill Rosener (Business & Technology), Denise Deason-Toyne (Business & Technology), Dawn Yonally (Education).

Council Members in attendance in Broken Arrow: Mayrene Bentley (Liberal Arts), Pam Christol (Science & Health Professions), Sandy Edwards (for Van Nostrand, Muskogee)

Council Officers in attendance:  John Diamantopoulos (Vice President), Linda West (Secretary/Treasurer), John Yeutter (President).

Guests:   Jym Brittain (Education/CTL)

Invited Presentations
 [Council will set aside time at the first of each meeting to visit with President Williams, VP Academic Affairs Bigbee and/or VP Administration Cherry should they be able to attend.]

A. Committees and Standing Reports
     1. Minutes of 10/06/06 meeting. 
Minutes of the October meeting were reviewed.  Milbauer moved to approve the minutes, Yonally seconded and the motion passed.

    2.  Financial Report
No formal report was submitted.  Last month, $100 was spent of the $4,500 in the budget.

B . New Business
    1.  Faculty/Instructor Evaluations (content & timing)
   
        New instruments need to be developed for all the media such as video conference and online.  A committee of 8-10 people from different colleges and campuses and different types of teaching should participate in developing drafts of the forms.

        Timing of teacher evaluations was discussed.  Is the 9th or 10th week the proper time?  It was suggested that research be done to see if that time or a time after the 13th week drop date shows a difference in ratings.  The rationale for doing them early is to get them back early, but most faculty do not seem them until later in the next semester.  We need to look at why we are doing these evaluations.  Perhaps the Faculty Welfare Committee could take on the task for reviewing the process.
   
    2.  "Speaker's Bureau" for Faculty (see item from 12/02/05 meeting) http://arapaho.nsuok.edu/~faculty_council/minutesdec22005.html

        This proposal was considered again.  It was suggested that we start with High School and College Relations to coordinate a speaking/recruitment program and to get funds for travel.  We could also explore producing DVD copies for students to view later.  The PDK has a speakers bureau (http://arapaho.nsuok.edu/~phideltakappa/images/2006_e6.pdf)
  
C.  Old Business

    1.  Committees

          a.  Nominating
     Contact John Yeutter if you want to be on the committee of if you are interested in running for President, Vice President or Secretary.

          b.  Faculty Awards
      Jennifer Edwards will replace Lallie Scott on the Committee.  Martha Parrott was suggested for Science and Health Professions.  We need a member from Education.

D. Other Business
      
       1.  Faculty Parking
     An email from the BA campus posed the question of why faculty in BA pay more for parking when there is no designated faculty parking.  We could suggest that they carve our faculty space in BA.  Another suggestion was to allow faculty to park in any lot.  This would be an added new benefit for faculty and seems fair since faculty pay more for their parking places.  This was referred to the Parking Committee.

       2.  Faculty Development Funding
     The current funding policies were discussed.  Funding is only available if you present a paper and people who present later in the year do not have as good a chance of getting money.  We need to have equal amounts available for each semester.  Also, in the past, their was funding for attending conferences and not just for presenting.  Yeutter will take to VP Bigbee about the funding procedure.  It was suggested that funding be increased, that we broaden the definition of what is participation, and that we make the money more evenly available by semester.

       3.  Retirement
     What is the status of the OTRS plan?  There is still concern about the under funded status of our retirement plan.  The problem has not been addressed.  It is unlikely that politicians would let the plan fail because so many people are covered by it.

E.  Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 4:02 p.m.

Next meeting, Friday, December 8, 2006, 3:00 p.m.

Submitted by Linda West, Secretary-Treasurer
12/5/06