NORTHEASTERN STATE UNIVERSITY
Minutes of Faculty Council Meeting
Friday, October 7, 2005

A.  Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 3:00 p.m. by President John Yeutter in UC 228.  There was ITV access at Muskogee, Broken Arrow and Tahlequah.

Council Members in attendance: Terri Baker (Liberal Arts), Ernst Bekkering (Business & Technology), Harriett Hobbs (Library), Peggy Kaney (Library), Rick Matzen (Science & Health Professions), Alan McKee (Optometry), John Milbauer (Liberal Arts), Tom Salmon (Optometry), David Scott (Liberal Arts), Lallie Scott (Liberal Arts),  Dan Sisk (Science & Health Professions), Robert Taylor (Education), Joyce Van Nostrand (Muskogee), Dawn Yonally (Education).

Council Members in attendance in Broken Arrow: Jon Shapiro (Business & Technology).

Council Officers in attendance:  John Diamantopoulos (Vice President), Linda West (Secretary/Treasurer), John Yeutter (President).
 
Guests: John Unger (Liberal Arts) and John Gyllin (Director of Development)

Introductions:

John Gyllin spoke to the group about the NSU Foundation.  He made two points.  First, that along with Anita Thompson, they are working to update the alumni database.  It is in need of work.  We have never had a full annual giving program.  He intends to send everyone, including all graduates, a letter.  Second, he is having meetings with faculty, staff and administration to identify what the needs are.  Then he can target the "right person with the right gift at the right time."  He is working with the three Cs: contact, connecting and committing.  They are planning the Centennial Capital Campaign.  The letters to all faculty staff this year netted a 28% increase in faculty staff giving and a 13% increase in current faculty staff givers.

A. Committees and Standing Reports

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

1. Minutes of March 4, April 8,  May 2, 2005 and September 2

Dr. Matzen requested a correction to the September 2nd minutes.  Dr. Baker moved to approve minutes from all four meetings.  The motion was seconded by Dr. Lallie Scott and passed unanimously.

 2. Treasurer's Report

The budget for the year is $4,679.  We should get carry over funds from last year.  The office and phone are charged at $20 per month.

3. Faculty Welfare Committee Report

There was no report. 

B. Special Business

1.  FAC Survey from OSRHE

There is a meeting November 5th of Faculty Senate and Council Presidents in the state.  The survey responses received by Dr. Yeutter and others were discussed and a consensus for each question was recorded.  Additional notes were made for Dr. Yeutter to take to the meeting.

C.  Old Business

1.  Task Force on Dept. Chair Selection

    A proposal from the group has been sent to the President.  Dr. David Scott shared the recommendations of the group.

2.  "DFW" research

    After the last meeting, there was additional information that Cindi Fries, Instructor of Education, is doing her dissertation related to this topic.  Dr. Yeutter will talk to her about her research and to see if that would substitute for the study we were going to conduct.  There was additional information about the source of emphasis on DFW implications.  The Noel Levitz report, according to them, did not recommend action in this area.  There is no State Regents policy concerning DFW.  The only citation that was found was in the 2004/2005 Academic Priorities from the Office of Academic Affairs.  Priority number 2 relates to increasing graduation rates, it states that we should continue to study the failure rate in select classes.

3.  Faculty Lounge

Dr. Yeutter mentioned that there is a place in the Library that might be converted to a faculty lounge.

D. New Business

1 .  Research Scholarships - David Scott

2.  "Speaker's Bureau" for Faculty - David Scott

3.  Fitness Center Fees - David Scott

Because the meeting was running long, Dr. Scott passed out information about items 1-3 and they will be discussed at the next meeting.

4.  Funding for Undergraduate Research Day - John Unger

Dr. Unger asked for Faculty Council's continued support for Undergraduate Research Day.   Dr. Lallie Scott made a motion, seconded by Ms. Hobbs that we provide $1,500 for Research Day.  The motion was amended with a second by Dr. David Scott that we increase the amount to a total of $1,600 for Undergraduate Research Day.  The amended motion passed.

5.  Circle of Excellence Submission Guidelines - Rick Matzen &/or Celia Stall-Meadows

The submission guidelines are being revised.  There will be one more draft and then a recommendation will come to Faculty Council for approval.

6.  OTRS Funding - Rick Matzen

There is concern about the unfunded liabilities of OTRS.  A chart showing several retirement systems showed that OTRS is funded at 47.3% and others average about 63-91%.  There was discussion of what can be done to support OTRS.  A motion was made by Dr. Matzen and seconded by Dr. Baker and the motion passed.  The following wording was adopted:  "Faculty Council supports an effort to establish some communication with other faculty councils of the state."

7.  OSRHE Funding - Rick Matzen

It was noted that President Williams asked us to get involved in addressing the decline in the percent of our budget that is paid from appropriations versus tuition and fees.

E.  Other Business

There is concern over the withdrawal of support and eventually access to the WordPerfect suite of software.  Dr. Matzen volunteered to take the concerns to the Academic Technology Computing Committee.

There was also concern over the removal from NSU's logo of the Clock Tower image.  New business cards have a blank space where the tower used to be and the color of green is different.

F.  Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 5:10 p.m.

Submitted by Linda West, Secretary-Treasurer
11/1/05
Corrected