Faculty Senate Minutes – Friday, August 25, 2017

August 25, 2017

Portage Meeting Facility

Voting Members Present:

A. Alavizadeh, A. Angriawan, M. Block, R. Brusca-Vega, R. Calix, C. Chandramouli, N. Desai, D. Detmer, T. Dobrowski, K. Donah, J. Duzinkiewicz, A. Elmendorf, J. Garwood, R. Hallock, P. Hecht, J. Kuhn, Y. Lee, S. Mo, L. Pelter, J. Pula, V. Quinn, S. Rezak, C. Roper, A. Schooley, G. Schultz, K. Scipes, S. Smithson, J. Spores, J. Thomas, F. Wang, E. Weber, D. Whitten, D. Wilbur

Voting Members Absent:

M. Lantis, S. Nakayama, R. Rupp, P. Stompor, S. Trekles, X. Yang

Non-voting Members Present:

R. Biddings-Muro, T. Keon, S. Lerner, R. Mueller, C. Panlilio, M. Watson

Others present:

C. Arroyo, M. Biel, J. Colwell, K. Falzone, L. Feldman, L. Goodnight, A. Gregory, E, Hixon, C. Holford, L. Hopp, N. Nemeth, K. Parli, P. Riesmeyer, D. Robinson, R. Stankowski, S. Steele, K. Stompor, J. Williams

Determination of quorum
A quorum was declared at 10:01 A.M.
Call to Order
The meeting was called to order by Chair G. Schultz.
Approval of the Agenda
G. Schultz moved to approve the agenda. T. Elmendorf approved and C. Boiarsky seconded. T. Elmendorf moved to amend the agenda by moving the Bylaws document to Discussion instead of Information. C. Boiarsky seconded the amendment. Agenda approved unanimously by voice vote.
Approval of the Minutes of the May 5, 2017 meeting
T. Elmendorf moved to approve the minutes. C. Boiarsky seconded. Minutes approved unanimously by voice vote.
Remarks by the Chair
G. Schultz recognized the new members of the 2017-2018 Faculty Senate. He briefly described a few of the accomplishments of the last year; Dual Credit – discussed what it should be as a unified campus; Athletics – created a committee, still working on communication; the ExL resolution; and thanking P. Hecht for all his work on Gen Ed. This year’s work will include Senate Bylaws, P&T Guidelines and keeping Athletics and Dual Credit on the radar. G. Schultz thanked Provost Mueller for funding the Senate Secretary position, Maria Watson for taking on the secretary position and Kevin Parli from IS for revitalizing his role with the Senate.
Remarks by the Chancellor or Invited Guests
The Chancellor focused his talk on developing our own unique brand as a competitive university providing academic rigor and/or skills. We need to make sure our brand is positively distinctive. By doing things recognized as pure excellence, will garner us financial support. Brand quality, program quality, belongs in the faculty hands. He has developed a good working relationship with Geoff Schultz and Dan Wilbur and has come up with concerns with the P&T document. The revised the document gives more power to the faculty and takes administrator out of it. The Faculty Senate resolution omits deans from P&T committee and was suggested that deans sit on the committee with no vote. Please think carefully about these decisions. Becky Stankowski will have a website soon regarding real time information on student retention.
T. Elmendorf asks the question on enrollment. Chancellor Keon says enrollment is down little over 3% with no financial burdens. Our freshman year retention is up 8%. A policy to change the out of state tuition for domestic students is to go to the Board of Trustees.
C. Roper commented on the poor audio quality for the forum and asks if in the future can there be a leader on each campus for questions.
K. Scipes commented that there were no promotion of faculty in the community on the billboards. Chancellor Keon responded that there are weekly press releases that promote the faculty.
Unfinished Business
- None.
New Business
- None.
1. Curriculum Document Approval
  - None
2. Senate Documents For Action
  - None
3. Senate Documents for Discussion
  - FSD 17-01 Drop Dates (Executive)
    Drop dates for this summer were different than last year due to a West Lafayette policy. PNW did not have a unified policy until now. T. Elmendorf moves to adopt the policy and D. Wilbur has seconded. F. Song would like to policy to be sent to Ed Policy for review. C. Arroyo from the Registrar says there are also eight week classes during the regular semester and the policy needs to cover both. The motion to move the document to Ed Policy was approved.
  - FSD 17-02 Chair-Elect (Executive)
    T. Elmendorf explains that we need to elect a Chair-Elect to become part of the Senate leadership this to have the experience to become the Chair. G. Schultz reiterates there is tremendous value to be part of the meetings to see how everything works and will have an election in the spring for the Vice-Chair. R. Brusca-Vega asks if the senate is ready to identify rules for this policy. D. Wilbur says this is ideal if someone already on Senate, then if they have to, they will move to the other faculty. C. Boiarksy asks if we’re ready to make an announcement to the faculty. T. Elmendorf moves to move this document to action and R. Brusca-Vega seconds. K. Scipes doesn’t see the immediacy and voting at the October meeting would be sufficient. C. Boiarsky asks can we amend the document to vote in October. Call to question – unanimous Yes. T. Elmendorf moves to adopt the document and C. Roper seconds. K. Scipes adds a friendly amendment to change to the October 8th vote. T. Elmendorf accepts the amendment. F. Wang supports this. Call to question – unanimous Yes.
  - Faculty Senate Bylaws Revision
    T. Elmendorf is proposing to slightly reorganize the standing committees. The Nominating committee was never populated, therefore the subordinate committees were never populated. The Gen Ed and Assessment Steering committees would be merged to a single committee. There is clarification with the election of the Chair and Vice Chair. There is clarification with the qualifications to vote and serve as a Senator. There is a minimum of .50 FTE and no supervisory duties over faculty. There is a modification of the number of members on committees. Athletics having a subordinate committee to Student Affairs. And finally, some general clean up.
    R. Brusca-Vega asks for clarification of the Nominating Committee is supposed to populate the standing committees and subcommittees. The Nominating Committee will present a slate of candidates for all other committees.
    S. Lerner asks for clarification on the duties of the Parliamentarian.
    This document will go up for Action at the September 8th meeting.
Documents and Reports for Information
- Promotion and Tenure Guidelines
  J. Pula states that an ad hoc committee met over the summer and the Faculty Affairs Committee will review the revisions from the Chancellor/Provost today.
  C. Boiarksy would like to hear comments from the Senate of where they see things. T. Elmendorf likes the compromise of deans serving on the committee with no vote, but Faculty Affairs needs to review and present their findings.
  D. Wilbur says these are very good changes from the Senior Leadership.
  C. Roper explains that West Lafayette adopted system-wide polices and now PNW needs to coincide with those policies. It’s not just a matter reviewing the document.
  G. Schultz clarifies that the resolution from May 5th absolved deans on P&T. There needs a process for those faculty going through the P&T process now. P. Hecht also said there is a time issue involved.
  K. Scipes mentioned that for those going up this year, their documents are due September 1st which could possibly skew their P&T process. G. Schultz says those going up this year will be taken into consideration and be fine.
  J. Pula iterated that no college will be disadvantaged and criteria is not affected. It’s just the make-up of the committees.
Remarks by the Representative(s) of the Student Government(s)C. Panlilio commented the SGA president has stepped down and the Vice President has taken his place. The Vice President position is having elections today and there will be an SGA representative at future Senate meetings.
Remarks by the University Senate/Intercampus Faculty Council Representative(s)
Has not met yet.
Misc
C. Panlilio passed around a Student Assistance Card. Disruptive student behavior has been on the decrease. S. Lerner would like to add something like this to the syllabus. J. Duzinkiewicz asked how have students been informed of these resources. New student orientations, events throughout the year, and on the LCD screens in the buildings. Student advocate names have been sent to Deans, Department heads and Directors to give to faculty. C. Boiarsky says we need to be aware of the increase of students on the Autism spectrum. Maybe bring in a speaker to inform faculty about this area and give a list of common symptoms and behaviors.
F. Wang states that Ed Policy has a syllabus requirement to inform students of the resources available to them.
G. Schultz introduced Anne Gregory, Director, School of Education and Counseling. Concurrent Enrollment will now report to her.
Open DiscussionK. Scipes wanted to know more about the system-wide policies from West Lafayette. C. Roper wanted to know if they can impose those policies on us. G. Schultz responded Yes.
C. Roper stated that she is on the University Policy Committee and anything that comes out she sends those notices to the Provost/Senate. There will be more system-wide policies created due to lawsuits. One regional campus has policies that the other does not.
J. Duzinkiewicz stated that the University Senate is for West Lafayette only and there are additional mechanisms for regional input.
C. Brusca-Vega wanted clarification on the University Policy Committee. C. Roper says it is policy and procedure not operations.
F. Wang states that Ed Policy has Academic Regulator that is system-wide.
S. Lerner says we have limited representation in Senate and need to be on standing committees for our input.
T. Elmendorf is going back to K. Scipes P&T concern; West Lafayette adopted a system-wide policy April 19th and it is different from what we have.
C. Roper says the policy is available online; Faculty Promotion and Tenure
J. Thomas would like S. Turner to address the Senate regarding the decrease in enrollment at the September 8th Meeting.
Adjournment
Meeting adjourned at 11:43 A.M.