Minutes of the Faculty Senate meeting April 19, 2000 The regular meeting of the 1999-00 Faculty Senate was called to order by Dan Spencer at 3:30 p.m. The following Senators were present for all or part of the meeting: Berry, Brady, Cairns, Gillespie, Hariman, Honts, McCrickerd, Parsa, Phillips, Pomeroy, Romig, Schneider, Simpson, Sisk, Spencer, Stratton, Strentz, Torgerson, Walker Absent: Petersen, Wright Minutes of the Previous Meeting: Upon proper motion and second, the minutes of the March 15th meeting were approved. Report from President Maxwell: Mr Ben Ullem has been elected as Chair of the Board of Governors at their recent meeting. His term will begin June 1, 2000. Mr. David Miles is the new Chair of the Alumni Board. The role and structure of the Board of Trustees has been reviewed by the governing bodies in recent months. The recommendation has been made and accepted to merge the Board of Trustees and Governors and condense the membership. A new President's Council, with a maximum of 20 members, has been created. This body will allow for persons to continue to contribute to Drake's governing structure without attendance requirements and other formalities of Board membership. The President's Council will begin June 2000. President Maxwell reported on the status of several position openings. Today, the candidate for the Vice President for Institutional Advancement position is on campus. Mike Marty, Chair of the Athletic Director Search Committee, will be holding an open meeting next week to hear from the campus community on the requirements and attributes for the position. President Maxwell stressed that this is mainly an external position who will be a represent with integrity and compassion the strong academic attitude at Drake. Two candidates for the Women's Basketball Coach's position will be interviewed on campus this week. Neither of the two Provost's candidates interviewed on campus will be offered the position. President Maxwell is holding conversations with Cabinet and the Senate Executive Committee concerning the next step in this process. The Des Moines/Drake Corporate Partner Scholarships have been announced and have applicants already. There may be more corporate offerings in the next months. Two upcoming important events merit attendance and participation by the campus community. The annual Faculty/Staff Recognition will be held on April 20th, 3:30 p.m. in Sheslow Auditorium. Also, May 13 and 14 will be the annual Commencement Ceremonies. Senator Strentz asked is there was any cause for concern among the faculty considering the new Faculty Athletic Representative is an administrative faculty person. Provost Hoag indicated that Renae Chesnut does hold faculty rank and carries a teaching load in addition to her administrative duties in the College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences. Vice President Vicki Payseur distributed a one page handout concerning Drake's 990 Tax Return. The sheet titled Compensation Comparison for Officers and Key Employees and Five Highest Paid Employees other than Officers and Key Employees was reviewed for the assembly by Ms Payseur. She explained that this sheet was given to the student newspaper and the full form would be available to anyone interested in looking at it in her office. The salaries noted covered the 1997-98 and 1998-99 fiscal years. Ms Payseur fielded questions concerning the deferred compensation notations. These monies are reported federally in both the years, earned and actually received. She stressed that the persons listed were not necessarily the ten or fifteen highest paid individuals at Drake University but represented the persons in positions prescribed by IRS definitions to be reported. Report from Interim Provost Hoag: Provost Hoag deferred any report due to the Senate's lengthy agenda. He offered to field any questions and none were asked. With Senate consent, the agenda was reordered. New Business: Senator Strentz moved and Pomeroy seconded motion 00-12: approve changes to the Undergraduate Dependent Tuition Rebate Coverage Mary Hanson, Chair of the University Benefits Committee and Barbara Decker, Vice Provost for Human Resources were present to answer questions. Senator Sisk asked if the committee reviewed graduate dependent tuition rebate coverage also. Mr Henshaw asked how this effected the exchange program. Ms Decker replied that the graduate benefit was not individually reviewed but the motion does call for a comprehensive review of the tuition exchange and rebate programs. Senator Strentz asked if these percentages were negotiable for individual new faculty or staff. The answer was no as there is a concern about the tax status for that portion of the benefit. On a voice vote, the motion passed. Report from President Spencer: Mary Hanson gave an oral report from the University Benefits Committee (UBC) on their work concerning the Retiree Health Benefits. The issue of changing the benefit was brought from the Board to Vice President Payseur who requested the Committee's assistance. Over a five-month period, the group examined many alternatives to the current retiree benefits plan. The Committee used a benefits consulting firm with actuarial capabilities. The UBC recommended that retiree benefits should remain unchanged. The Committee did acknowledge that the current Administrative Program Review should include the examination of future retiree benefits. Three options were presented to the administration for consideration if there is interest by the Administrative Review Committee to do anything at all with this benefit. Ms Hanson stressed that the Committee made no clear decision on any option. There were questions concerning the implementation timing of any change to the retiree benefit such as 'grandfathering' or allowance for those persons involved in the Transitional Leave Program. No direct answer was known to these concerns, but President Maxwell indicated he and the Cabinet have discussed these issues and would be cautious to change any rules-in-midstream concerning any Drake employee. The Academic Charter Review Group is not fully yet formed but names are being collected. Lon Larson will chair the Review and Priorities Advisory Committee (RPAC). The full membership will be made public soon. Sue Wright was not present to give an update from the Academic Program Steering Committee. The prioritization guidelines are available now on the web site. Jim Romig, Chair of the General Education Committee (GEC), distributed a two-page handout concerning the Drake Curriculum (DC). This outlined the committee's work this past year with the Council of Assistant and Associate Deans (CAAD) and the two GEC subcommittees. The most significant update to the Drake Curriculum was a change in the approval process, which streamlines the approval of the choices made by the student and advisor. There will not be an additional review of Path B selections once approved by the advisor. He indicated a current weakness of the DC is in the assessment area. He would like to revisit the possibility of portfolios, perhaps web-based. Senator Torgerson felt that there has been a weakening of General Education in part due to the reality that the established criteria used to approve courses are now merely guidelines for the student and advisor to use to decide what is general education. He continued that if we are serious about the learning experience, we should expect massive advisor training and should expect the student to write a rationale for each criterion selected within an Outcome. Senator Phillips asked is an advisor can approve a plan with courses not on a posted list. The reply was yes. Senator Simpson gave an example of an extremely creative advising situation and stated she felt that the whole sense of the DC was lost since this example could now stand without oversight. Senator Torgerson indicated he wants the curriculum offered to be more than what a major is and more what we want Drake to be but noted that is not easy with the reality of some of the existing advising loads. Senator Schneider indicated that as long as there are guidelines, then there is a possibility to think differently within the DC. Unfinished Business: None presented New Business: Senator Berry moved and Simpson seconded motion 00-13: The Executive Committee of the Student Senate recommends that mid-semester feedback be encouraged in all courses. The professor will collect the feedback for prompt review on the course' s progress. Renae Chesnut, Chair of Educational Policies and Issues (EPI) and Meggan Boyle, from the Student Senate, were present to answer questions. Senator Sisk noted that this does not apply to the Law School. Senator Spencer noted that the end of semester evaluations are standardized but these mid-semester feedback instruments would be encouraged only and developed by the instructors themselves. President Maxwell noted there should be an important distinction between the set of questions used at midterm and those used at the end of the term. Senator Stratton looked as this as soliciting information from the consumers of a course. Senator Walker wondered if this is merely a small step towards getting to students how they should report a poorly prepared or poorly studied instructor. He had concerns about the perception that this may have of weakening a course, which has high expectations. The high expectations of any course or instructor should not be lost from the Drake experience. It was noted that this is what the students have requested and even though it may be a small step, it is the Senate's opportunity to support the students. A friendly amendment was offered and accepted which rearranged the language and exchanged 'obtain' for 'collect' and 'timely' for prompt'. A reminder was made that the implementation is not binding. Mid-semester feedback is encouraged in all courses. The professor will collect the feedback for timely review on the course's progress. The motion as amended passed. On proper motion and second the meeting closed at 5:00 p.m. and the assembly moved into Executive Session. Submitted by Nancy Geiger