skip to main content Indiana State University University Faculty Senate EC#2 Approved September 06, 2005. August 23, Minutes Indiana State University Faculty Senate 2005-06 Time: 3:15 p.m. Place: Hulman Memorial Student Union 227 Present: Chairperson S. Lamb, Vice Chair V. Sheets, Secretary Sr. A. Anderson V. Anderson, B. Evans, B. Frank, C. Hoffman, J. Hughes, S. Shure Ex-Officio: Provost Maynard Guests: K. Liu, R. Lugar, L. Sperry I. Administrative Report Provost Maynard addressed: 1) Back to School picnic last week was a success with a larger turnout this year than last; thanks to all who attended and worked to make a success; 2) enrollment status when compared to same time last year: FTE within 27, headcount within 12, still need 1,000 registrations before official enrollment date, graduates—even, freshmen—down, transfers—even. 3) President’s Fall Address this Friday; encourage colleagues to attend. II. Chair Report Chairperson Lamb report: “I continue to hear from faculty, frustration with the number of academic initiatives. There is a call for greater focus on fewer initiatives. We certainly are in a period of challenge. We suffer from declining enrollments. I have heard that the number of freshman is down 20% from four years ago. And we are all aware that funding from the State has treated ISU less than favorably. Any initiative that does not impact rather directly on enrollment should be given a serious look. Certainly, the quality of the academic experience, the ability to attract and retain good faculty, quality EAP, quality staff, and most importantly, good students is critical. Our turnover rate of EAP, Faculty and staff is extremely distressing. We must create an environment that attracts and retains. Regardless, I ask the administration to be concerned about taking on so many initiatives that we are not able to make serious impact with any of them. We must concentrate our energies; focus our energies on initiatives that make significant impact directly and quickly. On another note, I was most pleased to hear that the standards associated with academically challenged students have increased The University picnic held last Wednesday was most enjoyable and gave us an opportunity to relax and enjoy each other’s company.” III. Fifteen Minute Open Discussion 1) Difficulty staffing committees with tenured faculty within colleges expressed; great turnover of faculty a concern. 2) Quality of service a disappointment when assistance requested by Institutional Computing Services Help Desk. Provost will follow up immediately on concern. 3) A press release on the Laptop Initiative is anticipated. EC#2, 8/23/05 Page 2 4) Difficulties encountered by graduate students with the implementation of the revised Student Academic Progress Policy relayed. 5) Work load of staff dealing with Institutional Review Board demands may warrant review of the evaluation protocol. IV. Approval of the Minutes Minutes of the August 16, 2005 meeting were approved with modifications. (Hoffman, Evans 7-0-1) V. CAAC: Social Welfare Minor Guests were invited to the table. (Sheets, Frank 7-0-1) Discussion: the Department of Social Work desired to make distinction between two areas of work, social services and ancillary areas. Twenty percent of Social Work majors are interested in this minor. Noted that the minor affords little choice of classes; the department desired to take a macro approach to social welfare. Although a distinction was not made of the experiential learning component, the exposure presently exists within classes within the major. Approved. (Sheets, Anderson 7-0-1) VI. FAC Recommendation: Handbook Language Related to University Initiatives Removed from the table and guests invited to the table. (Hoffman, Anderson 7-0-1) Further discussion ensued regarding the dimensions of scholarship. Approved as modified (Hoffman, Evans 7-0-1): Faculty appointments and annual reviews shall be founded on the disciplines and missions of the academic units and the University. The assignment of academic rank and the award of tenure shall be based on faculty achievements in the interrelated activities of teaching or librarianship; research, scholarship, or creativity; and service. Faculty are expected to be scholars engaged in preserving, transmitting, and developing knowledge through the challenging work involved in teaching and facilitating learning; through original scholarship and/or creative work focused on discovery and integration; and/or through the scholarship of application which moves the scholar toward engagement and the application of knowledge to address consequential problems. Each academic unit (most commonly the department) will be responsible for determining the importance of the various research domains within the unit. Service may consist of service to the University, to the discipline, or to the community. Community service, as defined here and elsewhere in these policies, refers to service in which the faculty member offers discipline-related expertise to an external agency, company, or non-profit organization. VII. FAC Recommendations: Handbook Language re: Faculty Enrollment in Courses at ISU Enrollment by faculty members in courses should not conflict with assigned duties in the University. A faculty member may not enroll in a course in his/her own department. A faculty member who desires to take a graduate course at Indiana State University must first confer with the Dean of the College of Graduate Studies. Prior approval of the department chairperson, the appropriate academic dean, and the graduate professor scheduled to teach the course are required. A member of the faculty above the rank of instructor may not work toward a degree at this University. Exceptions to this policy may be granted through petition of the Dean of the College of Graduate Studies and the Provost. If tenured, a faculty member must resign his/her position upon entering a program leading to an ISU graduate degree. EC#2, 8/23/05 Page 3 A faculty member may enroll for no more than twelve (12) semester hours of work during a regular academic year. If a faculty member holds a teaching assignment during a summer term, he/she may enroll in courses but the total activity, teaching and personal course enrollment, may not exceed six (6) hours in any summer term. Faculty members enrolling in courses at Indiana State University are expected to follow normal enrollment and registration procedures. Motion to approve. (Hoffman, Evans) Chair Lamb gave some background on today’s recommendation: an instance of a faculty person enrolled in classes for credit within that person’s own department brought this matter to the forefront. This practice was viewed by a past Executive Committee to be unacceptable, “The framers of the Handbook language recognized that the close association of faculty within a department creates the possibility or perception of biased evaluation of a faculty member’s accomplishments if he or she is enrolled for credit in a course taught by a departmental colleague.” The first FAC motion dealing with this matter was forwarded and accepted by the Executive Committee on November 9, 2004, “encouraged the Executive Committee and the Faculty Senate to continue its dialogue with the Provost in furtherance of enforcement of the faculty's primary authority in this matter. Pros and cons on the issue were expressed. Motion to send the document back to the FAC for rework. (Hoffman, Frank 7-0-1) V. Sheets will prepare supportive comments for allowing faculty to take courses and C. Hoffman will prepare non-supportive comments to accompany the document upon its return. VIII. Handbook Issues Chair Lamb distributed a list of material/documents intended for the University Handbook. All material had received approval by the Faculty Senate; the Board of Trustees had approved some of the material, but, Board review was still needed on some items. Current status of all the material was being explored. IX. Faculty Dismissal Hearing Committee Sudipto Roy was approved for a five-year term on the Committee. (Anderson, Evans 7-0-1) X. Executive Session Moved into executive session. (Anderson, Hoffman 7-0-1) Moved out of executive session. (Sheets, Hoffman 7-0-1) XI. Charges to Standing Committees Standing Committee charges were discussed, modified and approved by consensus for distribution to the Senate standing committees. The meeting adjourned at 5:55p.m. Last modified: May 24, 2010  Copyright © 2010 by Indiana State University.