NORTHEASTERN STATE UNIVERSITY

Minutes of Faculty Council Meeting
Friday, September 9, 2011

Call to Order

The meeting was called to order by President Denise Deason-Toyne in SCL129.  There was ITV access at Muskogee, Broken Arrow and Tahlequah.

Council Members in attendance: Sarah Burkhead (Library for Oberg), Ron Cambiano (Education), Shari Clevenger (Liberal Arts), John Diamantopoulos (Science & Health Professions), Isaac DiIanni (Business & Technology), Kendra Haggard (Liberal Arts), Chris Miller (Liberal Arts), Spence Pilcher (Science & Health Professions), Dan Sisk (Science & Health Professions), Cheryl Van Den Handel (Liberal Arts), Susan Woitte (Library)

Council Members in attendance in Broken Arrow:  Tia Bennett (Education), Kelly Dunbar (Education), Buster Hall (Broken Arrow), Julia Kwok (Business & Technology)

Council Members in attendance in Muskogee: Ryan Fenska (Optometry), Joyce VanNostrand (Muskogee)

Guests: Les Hannah (Liberal Arts), Andell Shelburne (Liberal Arts), Ernst Bekkering (Business & Technology), Cari Keller (Chairs Council), Tom Rink (Library), Stephanie Ingold (Library), Dave Kern (Business & Technology)

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

A. Call to Order

    1. Review/Approval of minutes of the May, 2011 meeting (http://arapaho.nsuok.edu/~faculty_council/minutesmay2011.htm)

         Minutes were accepted with one minor correction.

    2. Budget Report

          The budget is $4,100 and $912 is allocated to travel.  President Deason-Toyne will be using travel funds to attend the State Regents Faculty Advisory Council meeting this month.

B . Committees/Standing Reports

    1.  Nominating Committee, CIRCUS, Faculty Welfare, Curriculum/Program Review

               No reports from these committees.

    2.  Grievance Committee

          Additional members will be available after the 9/12 department meetings.  Katy Ellis is the temporary chair and will call a meeting by September 16th according to the Faculty Handbook.  We still need members from Optometry and Liberal Arts.  

C.  Old Business/Pending Issues

    1.   Shared Governance position paper

          The document has been approved by Cabinet, Student government and Staff Council.   After discussion it was moved by Van Den Handel  and seconded by DiIanni to table the vote until after the discussion of the Chairs Council proposal.  The Chairs Council proposal was moved up in the agenda.

    2.  Representation on Faculty Council/Senate for Department Chairs Council

          Cari Keller presented the Chairs Council proposal that the council be provided one seat on Faculty Council/Faculty Senate.  Discussion centered on the need to change the Faculty Council Constitution, whether one vote on Faculty Council was the voice that Chairs Council needed, whether a change to the shared governance document would provide better representation and the role of department chairs in relation to Faculty Council and elected representatives from colleges.  There was then a motion by DiIanni seconded by Van Den Handel to amend the Shared governance document to add Chairs Council to the collegial bodies listed.  The motion passed.  The motion was then made to adopt the amended shared governance statement by Van Den Handel and seconded by DiIanni.  The motion passed.

    3.  Faculty Council to Faculty Senate
      
            There was discussion of the reasons behind the change and what other changes would need made to the constitution, etc.  This would only be a name change of the elected group.  The change was tabled.

    4.  Student Writing Skills

             A group lead by Isaac DiIanni met over the summer to draw up some recommendations.  A large part of the resolution has already been put in place by the composition program.  Les Hannah and Andell Shelburne spoke to the issues.  Discussion followed on assessment and testing that would be added to ENGL 1113 and ENGL 1213 and how this would work.  It was also discussed that transfer students would not be involved in this process and there are problems with writing from these students, also.  The Department Languages and Literature is instituting a new unified curriculum this year and supports the ideas in the document.  Two changes in wording were made to the document.  The motion was made to approve the changed resolution.  The motion passed with one opposed.  See the document at: http://arapaho.nsuok.edu/~faculty_council/studentwriting11.pdf

D. New Business
  
    1.  Faculty Concerns regarding search for NSU President
      
             Many questions have come forward about campus visits and involvement of faculty in the process of hiring a new president for NSU.  Faculty Council supports a strong proposal that recommend a process similar to that used for the last VP/Provost search.  A resolution was written (See http://arapaho.nsuok.edu/~faculty_council/resolution9.9.11.pdf).  The motion to adopt was made by Kwok and seconded by DiIanni.  The motion passed.  President Deason-Toyne will take the resolution to the Faculty Advisory Council as a proposal for state wide adoption. 
      
Announcements:      

        October 7th next meeting.

        There is now a location for a faculty gathering place on the Tahlequah campus.  The Cypress room behind Flo's has been given to us with promises of some funds to refurbish it along with any items from surplus that we would like.  It is open the same hours as Flo's.  Please come use the room and gather with your colleagues.  A location on the Broken Arrow campus is still under discussion.

E.  Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 4:59 p.m.


Submitted by Linda West, Secretary-Treasurer
9/26/2011