NORTHEASTERN STATE UNIVERSITY

Minutes of Faculty Council Meeting
Friday, November 7, 2008

Call to Order

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

Council Members in attendance: Grant Alexander (for Bekkering, Business & Technology), Sarah Brick Archer (Library), Ron Cambiano (Education), Denise Deason-Toyne (Business & Technology), John Diamantopoulos (Science & Health Professions), Jennifer Edwards (Liberal Arts), Chris Garland (Liberal Arts),  Brian Kaney (Science & Health Professions), Alan McKee (Optometry), Amy Aldridge Sanford (Liberal Arts), Tom Salmon (Optometry)

Council Members in attendance in Broken Arrow:   Rhea Johnston (Education), Pamela Louderback (Library), Mike Wilds (BA)
Council Members in attendance in Muskogee: 

Council Officers in attendance:  Craig Clifford (President), Lallie Scott, (Vice President), Linda West (Secretary/Treasurer).

Guests:  Dalton Bigbee (VP Academic Affairs), Jym Brittain (CTL), Deb Smith (Science & Health Professions), Martin Venneman (Science & Health Professions), John Yeutter (Business & Technology)

Guests BA: Kevin David (Education)

Invited Presentations

[Council will set aside time at the first of each meeting to visit with President Betz, VP Academic Affairs Bigbee and/or VP Administration Cherry should they be able to attend.] - Minutes are listed in agenda order, topics were covered in a different order in the meeting.

Bigbee reported on the meeting of the Board of Regents.   VP Cherry reported to the regents about insurance concerns.  The regents had received the letter from the Faculty Senate/Council presidents.  The current plan is to write an RFI to hire a consultant who will work for RUSO and other institutions to draft an RFP to bid.  This will take most of next year.  Maybe by January 2010 we will have a new carrier.

President Webb represented RUSO at the state regents meeting where a proposal was taken to ask for an additional 84 million dollars for RUSO institutions to cover increases in mandatory costs.  In return, the RUSO institutions would not raise tuition or fees for the next year.  This was approved by the regents and sent to the legislature.

The new Director of International Relations was named this week.

There were questions about University support for health and wellness by reducing fees for the Fitness Center.  Bigbee stated that there are some plans underway in this regard.

He was also questioned about the stipend that had been mentioned at the beginning of school.  A stipend is being planned for Dec./Jan.

A. Committees and Standing Reports

    1. Minutes of  10/10/08 meeting

         Deason-Toyne moved that the minutes be approved.  The motion was seconded by Archer and the motion passed.

    2.  Spending Report

          The council approved the purchase of a gavel for past president Yeutter.  We need to check a list of past presidents for needed gavels and to post on our web site.  It was noted that, due to giving up our office in the Administration building, we will be saving on the monthly phone expense.  Another expenditure was a vehicle for Clifford to attend the state Faculty Assembly.

        Clifford proposed the idea of ordering pens as gifts for faculty with faculty association information on the pen.  It was moved by Sanford to spend $500 on pens.  The motion was seconded by Deason-Toyne and the motion passed.

B . Old Business

    1.  General Education Task Force - Update (Sanford)

                Focus groups have wrapped up their meetings.  Reports will be due soon from all groups.  The Task Force will meet and review responses.  Some changes have emerged from group discussions.

    2.  Evaluation of Online Courses - Two packages being examined (Clifford/Bekkering/Brittain)

           The new online evaluation tool will be available the first week in December.  There will be a click through from BlackBoard classes and students will sign in with their NSU id.  Only those in online classes will be able to take the evaluation.  The file of students is ready for the company.  There was question about ITV courses.  Send sites are now evaluated using the paper forms.  The council would like to see receive sites also use evaluations.  Brittain stated that there needs to be a group to put together a different evaluation instrument or a motion will be needed from council to use the face-to-face tool for receive sites.

    3.  Conflict of Interest Policy - Draft Update (Clifford/Deason-Toyne)

          Deason-Toyne reviewed the Albin changes and submitted a few additional changes to the document.  Clifford will send delegates the document for review.  There was discussion about the reverse situation where the University engages in activities that are in direct competition with local businesses.  Deason-Toyne stated that the intent of the current document is to allow for disclosure of faculty activities.  A faculty member stated that there are questions about whether it would be upheld by a court if challenged.

    4.  TIAA-CREF vs. Private 403B - Clifford

         The online survey instrument has caused some concerns.  Faculty are not sure why the amount of funds on deposit is needed information.  Yeutter stated that the new changes to the law require the University to maintain records of account balances for participating employees in all accounts.       

    5.  Selection of Department Chairs - (Clifford/Bigbee)

         The committee recommendation has been incorporated into the Faculty Handbook.  Bigbee and Clifford will meet to see if the recommendations have been used for chair selection.

    6.  State Regents Annual Faculty Assembly - October 25 (Clifford)

<>         Clifford attended the assembly.  He was not elected to the advisory board.  The seven member board is being expanded to 13 members: 4 from regionals, 2 from OU, 2 from OSU, 4 from community colleges and 1 private. Insurance concerns came up at the meeting. 

C.  New Business

    1.   Proposed Faculty Forum to discuss Office Hour Requirement, Study Days, On-Line Course Limits and Evaluation, ITV Course Evaluation on January 13 at 2:00 p.m. - Clifford

          Clifford is planning a forum for January that will provide a time for all faculty to talk about these issues.  It is the day before classes start and should provide a forum for many faculty to take part.  Some comments were made about study days.  One faculty member found a 5% improvement in grades after study days.  We are unique in being the only school offering no classes during the "dead day/week" period.

    2.  Preliminary Enrollment Report Available - Clifford

           The Preliminary report is available from the regents.  Faculty can receive the document from Clifford on request.  There is also an IPEDS Data for Peer Institutions report for in and out of state schools for 2008 available.

       3.  Faculty Council Office - Clifford
      
            The Faculty Council Office in the Administration building has been given back to administration.  Clifford cleaned out the files, etc.  Older documents will be placed in the University Archives.

D. Other Business

Announcements:
        November 18, 2-4 p.m. - Library will host Honor NSU Authors event.
        November 17-21 is International Education Week and National Geography Awareness Week.  There will be events each day.
        Riverhawk Rally is tomorrow.  

E.  Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 3:50 p.m.

Next meeting December 5.

Submitted by Linda West, Secretary-Treasurer
11/25/08