NSU Faculty Council - Minutes March 9, 2012

NORTHEASTERN STATE UNIVERSITY

Minutes of Faculty Council Meeting
Friday, March 9, 2012

Call to Order

The meeting was called to order by President Deason-Toyne SCL 129. There was ITV access at Muskogee, Broken Arrow and Tahlequah.

Council Members in attendance in Tahlequah: Ron Cambiano (Education), Shari Clevenger (Liberal Arts), Isaac DiIanni (Business & Technology), Kendra Haggard (Liberal Arts), Chris Miller (Liberal Arts), Brandon Oberg (Library), Spence Pilcher (Science & Health Professions), Cheryl Van Den Handel (Liberal Arts), Joyce Van Nostrand (Muskogee), Susan Woitte (Library)

Council Members in attendance in Broken Arrow: Tia Bennett (Education), Jeb Briley (Business & Technology), Kelly Dunbar (Education), Julia Kwok (Business & Technology), Tobi Thompson (Education)

Council Members in attendance in Muskogee: Ryan Fenska (Optometry)

Council Officers in attendance: Denise Deason-Toyne (President), Pamela Louderback (Vice President), Linda West (Secretary/Treasurer).

Guests: Ernst Bekkering (Business & Technology), Tom Jackson (AVP) - Tahlequah. Dave Kern (Business & Technology), Tom Rink (Library), Mike Wilds (Liberals Arts) - Broken Arrow. Diana Mashburn (Science & Health Professions) - Muskogee

Dr. Jackson addressed the Council concerning the upcoming HLC visit and the HLC Assessment Academy. There will be a Monday, 11:00 am time slot in the Morgan Room for Faculty Council to meet with part of the visiting team. There were no public comments received. Ben Young is chair of the team from Indiana. Our self study looks good. We joined the HLC Assessment Academy in late 2010 and have two projects. 1. A study of the outcomes of the old versus new gen ed and capstone. 2. Will be a later project to assess our graduates performance and feedback from employers. The HLC link is on the homepage. There will also be an open faculty meeting on Tuesday at 11:30. Everyone is encouraged to read the self study.

Kern then addressed the Council representing the UPC. There is a request for new proposals for projects for the coming year. They can come through groups or directly. Each project will have a cabinet sponsor. Several ideas came up in discussion and will be brought up at a future meeting. Shared governance was one of the topics discussed. Delegates were encouraged to get feedback about projects and bring them to the next meeting.

A. Call to Order

1. Review/Approval of minutes of the February 2, 2012 meeting (http://arapaho.nsuok.edu/~faculty_council/minutesfeb2012.html)

Minutes were accepted.

2. Budget Report

The budget is unchanged except for the $500 expended for Undergraduate Research Day.

B . Committees/Standing Reports

    1. Need volunteers to serve on and chair the following:

            Nominating Committee- We need to get candidates for fall elections. Deason-Toyne will try to find members of the committee again through email.

C. Old Business/Pending Issues

    1.   Uses for Faculty Council Budget Funds

            We discussed additional bricks for the COE circle and additional needs for a memorial. Maybe we could involve the Art Department and have a competition and use funds as the prize. It would also be a service learning project. For the memorial, people could purchase bricks for people's names. A list of all former faculty could be placed on a web page hosted by Faculty Council. Van Nostrand moved and Van Handel seconded that we offer a $250 prize for the competition. The motion was approved. It would be announced in the RiverHawk Weekly. Photos will be taken of the site and sent by email. May 1st would be the deadline and we could encumber the funds.

    2. Potential design/location for Circle of Excellence Brick

             A field trip was requested to let the delegates visit the proposed site. It would be in a parallel location to the Student memorial.

     3. Establishment of a Learning Community in Tahlequah

         No one heard about this at Professional Development day, we will followup with Rick Shelton.

D. New Business

    1.   Proposed Consolidation of "Celebratory Events" - i.e. Circle of Excellence celebration with all other university ceremonies.

          This would not take effect until next year as this year's dates have been planned. It was proposed to save money and time. There was consensus that this honor should not be watered down by combining it with other ceremonies. The student Ovation winners are given a banquet. It was thought that a banquet would be appropriate for Circle of Excellence winners, also.   The problem of funding was discussed. Perhaps we could get donors or a Foundation fund to support the banquet. We will discuss these ideas again at another time.

    2. A concern was raised about tenure decisions and how long it takes for faculty to be notified about outcomes.

           Tenure decisions are made by December on campus but not communicated until July 1st from the President to the faculty member. No other person is allowed to share the decision with the faculty member. It was felt that this was too long a waiting period and that perhaps the chair or dean should be allowed to share with the faculty member. It was noted that annual evaluations are not even across campus and that chairs could use more training. It was suggested that there be a simple survey to find out which departments are not evaluating annually. It was also mentioned that next August we will have new deans and a VP and we could start fresh with new ideas. Chairs have had retreats and training in the past.

   Announcements:

        Dr. Hannah is on the agenda for the April meeting. We will also invite Julie Sawyer to come regarding graduation venues.

        Faculty Council stayed in close contact with the Riverhawks basketball game being played during our meeting and celebrated the 53-45 final victory. There will be a bus to the game tomorrow.

E. Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 4:45 p.m.
Next meeting: April 6th

Submitted by Linda West, Secretary-Treasurer
4/4/12