Faculty Senate Minutes – Friday, September 8, 2017

September 8, 2018

Portage Meeting Facility

Voting Members Present:

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

Voting Members Absent:

K. Al Shamaileh, D. Detmer, J. Garwood, M. Lantis, S. Smithson, X. Yang

Non-voting Members Present:

R. Biddings-Muro, T. Keon, S. Lerner, S. Turner, M. Watson, D. Williams

Others present:

M. Biel, A. Biro, N. Nemeth, K. Parli, M. Rincker, D. Robinson, K. Stompor, J. Tazbir

Determination of quorum
A quorum was declared at 10:00 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 D. Wibur seconded. T. Elmendorf moved to amend the agenda by adding document FSD 17-01 Drop Dates to the agenda for Action and D. Wilbur seconded. F. Wang says that EPC still needs time to review this document with the Registrar. T. Elmendorf states that the Senate has no policy in place for drop dates and if this goes to the next meeting in October, the end of the 1st session of 8-week classes will have just about ended. F. Wang says there is no stipulation regarding those 8-week courses and needs time to review. G. Schultz called to question – voting resulted in 29 Yes, 1 Opposed. Voting to amend the document results in 29 Yes, 1 Opposed. Document to be amended.
Approval of the Minutes of the August 25, 2017 meeting
C. Boiarsky moved to approve the minutes. C. Roper seconded. T. Elmendorf has a correction of on FSD 17-01, replacing withdrawn with approve. Minutes approved unanimously by voice vote.
Remarks by the Chair
G. Schultz suggested we reconsider a regular meeting next August as there is too much going on, in too short a time, to prepare properly. He stated the bus service has been a problem and people were stranded after the last meeting. M. Watson has remedied the situation and we will have bus service pick up after the meetings at 12:30, 1:30 and 2:30. He stated the VCAA has changed how we fund activities by establishing a budget for senate activities. The VCAA will transfer $27,500 to this budget for use during the academic year. He reminded the senators that we do offer travel reimbursement for certain circumstances and release time for some of the offices. He thanked the Provost for these funds. He reminded the senate that a P&T resolution would be brought for discussion during the meeting. Also the Senate Bylaw revisions will be brought for action also. It was noted that There are a changes to the senate committee structure, such as the Nominations committee and the combined Assessment and Gen Ed committees. There is also a calendar issue as Founders Day is not identified on the calendar. Senate needs to have a resolution approving Founders Day and Schultz asked EPC to create a resolution for discussion of this issue.
Remarks by the Chancellor or Invited Guests
The Chancellor discussed data on the freshmen make-up and some demographics of our first- time college freshmen. We have about 1080 freshmen as opposed to 1200 last year
- About 50% male and 50% female
- 10% African American, 23% Hispanic 2.5% International and about 60% Caucasian
- 95% are full-time
- 73.5% are 18 or younger and 96% are 20 or younger
- Undergraduate populations is 79% full-time, graduate population is about 1/3 full-time
Enrollment is down 4.5% creating shortfall in the general fund, but it now has no immediate impact for this year. Declining enrollment may impact budget for next year. A 5-year enrollment decline of 18% was discussed. Freshman retention is at 68.2%, up from 60%, highest rate in the last 10 years. Retention for Juniors/Seniors is not good. The Chancellor also mentioned developing our own “brand identity”, adding U.S. News and World Report – Best Colleges issue has recognized PNW programs in Engineering and Business.
The Chancellor mentioned need for more graduate school autonomy, as given to the undergraduate programs. West Lafayette takes our student transcripts and formats them when it could easily be done on the PNW campus. It’s an operational thing, but why aren’t we doing it ourselves?
T. Elmendorf asks about our PNW diplomas in response to President Daniels remarks about Kaplan diplomas, stating there are two diplomas. Chancellor Keon said he addressed the issue in our last meeting and at the bottom of the Purdue diploma it states “this diploma was issued at PNW”. It has always been the practice to identify the campus where the degree was earned.
The Chancellor reported that West Lafayette holds a career fair and invites the PNW students to attend. This year West Lafayette is issue a special pin to identify West Lafayette students from others. We are not West Lafayette and need to develop a distinct identity of our own.
J. Duzinkiewicz mentioned not wanting to lose the advantages of being associated with West Lafayette by moving to become autonomous too quickly. The Chancellor was pointed out that he will fight for autonomy when appropriate, but he believes we would benefit as a campus with more independence.
S. Lerner asked with the decline in upper class enrollments if we surveyed the students as to why they’re leaving. The Chancellor said a number of reasons explain the trend, but a large group left to simply attend four year campuses away from home, like IUPUI and Ball State.
6. He also discussed concerns that our campus hasn’t done enough in health related areas.
R. Brusca-Vega asked if incoming students are surveyed as to whether they intend to get their degree at PNW. Chancellor Keon said that we do and that 80% of last year’s class said we were the first choice.
C. Boiarsky asked about the freshmen decline on each campus. Chancellor stated there was a larger decline on the Westville campus, but both campuses showed a decline. There are new admission standards that contributed to the decline. The campus is now moving forward to the change in out-of-state tuition for both the undergraduate and graduate levels which could help enrollment. Also develop more feeder schools from the Midwest would improve our numbers.
Unfinished Business
- None.
New Business
- None.
1. Curriculum Document Approval
  - None
2. Senate Documents For Action
  - FSD 17-01 Drop DatesThe current document does not address the 8-week classes. T. Elmendorf would like to amend the document to replace “other” with “summer”, striking “during the summer”. Moved to approve the document with the modifications, F. Wang seconds. F. Wang also made friendly amendments to strike the first “Whereas…based on WL”, strike the second “Whereas” and the Calumet reference, rewording the “Therefore” and deleting the last sentence. T. Elmendorf accepted these amendments. F. Wang motioned to approve the document with the new amendments, J. Duzinkiewicz second. Document approved unanimously.
  - FSD 17-04 Bylaw RevisionT. Elmendorf said there were a number of revisions suggested and all have been incorporated. M. Watson asked about amending the secretary position but that will happen at a later date. R. Brusca-Vega asked if amending the bylaws would be easy and done through a regular resolution. F. Wang thanked the committee for drafting the revisions. Call to question – Boiarsky. Document is approved unanimously.
3. Senate Documents for Discussion
  - FSD 17-05 P&T Committee MakeupM. Block introduced this resolution from Faculty Affairs. It is a compromise in the makeup of the university committee as the current document removes the deans totally from the committee and this resolution allows the deans to stay on the committee, but with no vote. FAC will be reviewing the rest of the Provost’s revisions.
    There was some confusion with the document and previous versions and placement on the agenda. The document was brought up for discussion but appeared “for action” on some agendas faculty printed of the senate website.
    T. Elmendorf clarifies that the resolution is revising the makeup of the university committee and that is the only change.
    R. Brusca-Vega asks if all the deans are going to be on the committee with every candidate and it was answered yes.
    D. Whitten suggested having the deans leave the room when the committee starts to vote.
    K. Scipes stated the only dean that should be in the room is the one associated with the faculty.
    The Chancellor stated that historically there were 6 deans on the committee and they all voted whether or not it was a faculty member from their college.
    T. Elmendorf commented that the Provost said the current P&T document that was adopted by the Senate in May 2017 was never ratified by the administration.
Documents and Reports for Information
- FSD 17-07 Curriculum Document ScheduleD. Whitten introduced this document for information and it explained the due dates for the curriculum document submission. The need to be posted on the webpage.
Remarks by the Representative(s) of the Student Government(s)Mr. Williams introduced himself as the SGA President. Their focus was on filling the senator positions and committees. Two of their initiatives are fundraising for the victims of hurricanes Harvey and Irma and having everyone know which senators are for which college.
Remarks by the University Senate/Intercampus Faculty Council Representative(s)
G. Schultz reported that Intercampus Faculty Council (IFC) has not met yet. J. Pula reported the Faculty Affair Committee of the University Senate (WL) met and has a policy capping the number of Continuing Lecturers – at 22% for regional campuses. The VCAA would monitor the number. The College of Liberal Arts in West Lafayette will be using Academic Analytics to evaluate faculty performance using numerical data. Faculty Affairs in West Lafayette claimed the PNW’s number of tenured track faculty has increased while enrollment decreased by 25%. When asked where they got this data, no one could identify the source.
C. Boiarsky asked if the AAUP had a minimum or maximum number of Continuing Lecturers. T. Elmendorf and D. Nalbone didn’t think there were minimums or maximums.
F. Wang stated there was no official WL university document to raise the CL limit; it was a verbal decision. C. Roper says that Ft. Wayne argued that they needed the rate raised due to budget crisis.
Chancellor Keon stated this is another reason for autonomy; why are people outside the PNW university making these decisions. Look seriously how many credit hours are being taught by the tenured, tenured track faculty in WL.
D. Nalbone suggests an ad hoc committee to look at the different classifications of faculty and budget.
Misc
G. Schultz had newly appointed faculty in the Senate introduce themselves.
Open DiscussionF. Wang stated that the WL University Senate has an updated Academic Regulations document that is over 90 pages and the senate needs to review this.
S. Lerner commented on the “whereas” in document FSD 17-01, that it doesn’t take anything away in the resolution, but provides and appropriate context for the resolution.
R. Brusca-Vega askd how are we going to populate the Nominating Committee and the other committees. T. Elmendorf said if there is no Nominating Committee, then the Executive Committee will populate the Nominating Committee.
T. Elmendorf stated the senate passed FSD 17-02 Chair-Elect at the August meeting and there have been no nominees, He asked for nominations of faculty for next years senate chair. Voting will occur on Oct. 13th.
F. Wang expressed that EPC is missing two people on this committee. There also needs to be a chair replacement.
D. Nalbone volunteered to be on the Nominating Committee.
R. Brusca-Vega asked where was the resolution on faculty evaluation of administrators.
J. Duzinkiewicz said he heard, If students have an interruption in financial aid, they are told to stop going to class. T. Elmendorf argued students need to keep coming to class so they don’t fall behind. M. Biehl from Financial Aid said the policy is not driven by Financial Aid and that office tells students to keep going to class. S. Turner stated there are student attending classes that have no financial aid and to please refer them to the Financial Aid office if faculty become aware they have been dropped from the class roster. This potentially can cause s an undue financial burden on the students. Faculty have to abide by the federal regulation ,and they have to have evidence of attendance.
G. Schultz apologizes for having the agenda go out so late. In the future, It will be sent out a week before the meeting with no changes made unless approved on the floor of the senate. That policy was not followed for the present meeting due to a two-week window between senate meetings.
Adjournment
Meeting adjourned at 12:04 P.M.