October 11, 2023 Minutes

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Climate Week Poster

Slide Presentation

Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes

Leon Johnson 346

October 11, 2023

3:15pm-4:30pm

I.            Call to Order 

a.      Meeting was called to order at 3:15pm.

II.            Approval of FS Minutes from 09/27/23

a.      Chris Anderson moves to approve. Unclear multiple who seconds. None opposed. No abstentions. Approved. 

III.            FYI Items 

a.      MUS formally decided on Canvas for the system-wide LMS.  

b.      Fall 2023 Commencement on Friday, December 15th at the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse at 8:41am. You can submit an RSVP online form by December 1st. 

c.       Social Media Policy approved by University Council on 10/4/23

d.      Software Procurement Update 

i.      UIT is working on a list of all software currently available to the MSU system. They are revitalizing a tool called “Software Atlas” to accomplish this: https://www.montana.edu/cpa/apps/softwareatlas/index.php.

ii.      Procurement is working on a flow-chart/diagram that will show how the software procurement process works. 

iii.      We are exploring ways to increase communication between faculty, UIT, and procurement. The current CFAC process will serve as a starting point.  

e.      Faculty Senate Room Changes 

f.        Indigenous Mentoring Program

i.      Friday, October 27 || 9:00 am-4:00 pm || Register here

A.      Presented by Dr. Sweeney Windchief – Associate Professor, Higher Education. Light lunch served.

g.      Getting together with All-Staff Council, November 8th. 

i.      Will have a shortened Faculty Senate meeting and the get together will be in Inspiration Hall afterwards. 

h.      VPRed candidates interviewing on 16th, 18th and 19th 

i.      Info was on slide presentation

IV.            Information Updates 

a.      Arial Donohue: Diversity Report 

i.      Annual Diversity Report

A.      Work with liaisons from each college

1.      Departmental Self-Studies

2.      Not a comprehensive report of diversity on campus

ii.      Diversity Themes: Campus climate, Education and scholarship, Access and success, Leadership and accountability, Communication

iii.      Questions:

A.      How do you sign up for MCC?

1.      Email [email protected]

B.      Number of black faculty differs from what is on the Planning and Analysis site?

1.      It could be one is duplicating the data

2.      Could be TT vs NTT

C.      MCC Program-is it open to NTTs or students?

1.      All seminar instructors, student leaders from ASMSU and clubs, Leadership Institute, other critical roles.

2.      If you have people you feel would be good in this phase of the programs, that would be great.

D.     Has there been an increase in threats of Arab students? 

1.      Have not heard from any incidents. 

2.      Many conversations around making sure students are supported.

b.      Betsy Asserson: Student Mental Health Resources 

i.      Will be moving the new Wellness Center

ii.      Questions

A.      How much do the different entities on campus who students may reach out to talk to each other?

1.      The data counseling center collects is clinical data

2.      Care reports: significant crisis 

i.      Are there upticks in care reports?

1.      Yes, there have been upticks

B.      What are the top five issues that students come to you with?

1.      Anxiety

2.      Depression

3.      Relationships

4.      Family

5.      Trauma

6.      Overlapping

C.      Have students who want to take mental health first aid, but they can’t find the info. 

1.      On Suicide Prevention webpage training tab

D.     Are you seeing lingering effects of challenges that happened last semester?

1.      For some of them, it wasn’t a new thing.

2.      Impacts of discrimination or not feeling safe

3.      Students are gaining support in other areas as well as with mental health

V.            Undergraduate Courses and Programs 

a.      Courses—First Reading 

i.      GPHY 401 : Environmental Planning and Management Toolkit

ii.      MCH 220 : Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing Metrology

b.      Courses—Second Reading 

i.      BMIS 312 : Data Analytics II

ii.      HDFS 468 : Home Visiting for Families

iii.      HLD 346 : The Leader's Way: Deep Listening, Systems & Processes

c.       Course Changes — Second Reading 

i.      LS 499R :Senior Capstone 

A.      Change in title from 

B.      Credit change

d.      Course Inactivations

i.      HDFS 454 : Professional Issues - Senior Seminar

A.      Hasn't been offered in several years and has been prelaced by HDFS 494.

VI.            Graduate Courses and Programs 

a.      Courses—First Reading 

i.      ASTR 550 : Radiative Processes in Astrophysics

ii.      ASTR 561 : Astrophysics of Galaxies

iii.      ECIV 444 : Civil Engineering Computations

iv.      ECNS 503 : Microeconomic Theory I

v.      FILM 528 : Non-Fiction Film Performance

b.      Course Changes — First Reading

i.      ASTR 560 : Stellar Astrophysics

A.      Rubric change from PHSX

B.      Title change from Astrophysics

C.      The Physics Department is updating the program and requirements for the PhD in Physics. This course is being slightly revised as part of the change.

ii.      ERTH 524 : K-14 Earth System Science

A.      Credit change from 2 to 3.

B.      Although the learning outcomes for this course have not changed, the time needed for students to complete more complex activities related to these learning outcomes has increased. As such, we'd like to propose a move from 2 credits to 3 credits for this course to account for the time changes. 

iii.      FILM 505: Critical Approaches to Science and Natural History Filmmaking

A.      Credit change from 3 to 4

B.      Title change from Crit Apprch Nat Hst Filmmaking

C.      The course meeting time will increase to 4 hours / week with a seminar format. The credit change from 3 to 4 credits reflects this increase in meeting time and more accurately reflects the in-class and out of class workload expectations.

iv.      PHSX 501: Mathematical Methods and Their Applications in Classical Mechanics

A.      Title changed from Advanced Classical Mechanics

B.      Phsyics is updated program requirements for PhD in Physics.

v.      PHSX 519: Mathematical Methods and Their Applicaitons in Electromagnetic Theory

A.      Title changed from Electromagnetic Theory I

B.      Phsyics is updated program requirements for PhD in Physics.

vi.      PHSX 580: Conceptual Physics for Teachers

A.      Number changed from 575 which is reserved for the professional paper and project.

c.       Course Inactivations 

i.       CSCI 520 : Distributed Systems

A.      The instructor who developed and teaches this course is no longer at MSU. Furthermore, the course has been replaced by CSCI 521

ii.      CSCI 548 : Reasoning Uncertainty

A.      This course is being replaced by a recently approved course, CSCI 546: Advanced Artificial Intelligence. 

iii.      DGED 614 : IGERT: Advanced Methods in Geobiology

A.      Course was part of an NSF grant and is not being offered.

iv.      DGED 676 : IGERT: Geobiological Systems Science – Internship

A.      Course was part of an NSF grant and is not being offered.

v.      ESOF 523 : Software Testing and Analysis

A.      Instructor who developed this course no longer at MSU. No other faculty have proper background to teach. 

d.      Program Inactivations

i.      IGERT-PHD : Doctor of Philosophy in Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training

A.      Was connected to an NSF grant

ii.      MADO-CERT : Online Graduate Certificate for Dual Enrollment Mathematics Teachers

A.      Program has not generated interest or applicants. 

VII.            Senators’ Open Conversation 

a.      Comments from Paul Lachapelle, provided to faculty senate

i.      October 30-November 3-Climate Solutions Group Events

ii.      Would like to see instructors put something in their curriculum that week

b.      Record enrollment 

i.      Steve Stowers: US News and World Reports rankings show MSU/UM are dropping in the rankings. Comments are provided to senate.

ii.      MSU’s ranking in US New and World Report 

A.      Faculty salaries are part of the ranking

1.      Negatively impacting our ranking

2.      TT’s leave and are replaced by NTT’s, lowers pay rate

B.      Will have impacts on hiring faculty and retaining students.

c.       Paul, please reach out to Duke Elliot. He can answer some of the questions raised. 

d.      Last campus climate survey was 2018

i.      When will we do another one?

e.      Ratio of student credit hours taught by TT faculty vs adjunct faculty 

i.      Should be a key metric

f.        Diversity report is well done

i.      Would be a good example of the sustainability report we’ve been asking for

g.       Paul Lachapelle: My name is Paul Lachapelle and I am a Professor in the Dept. of Political

Science and today I rise to discuss two items.
First, nearly 2 years ago, this body passed what I, and many others agree, was the most
important resolution in this body’s history. On December 8, 2021, MSU Faculty Senate
unanimously passed our resolution declaring a Climate Emergency. The text included
statements that “recognize climate change as one of the most significant challenges
facing Montana and the world” …
acknowledges “our obligation to be leaders in building a sustainable future” …
and “calls on our entire university community to continue taking meaningful and
measurable steps to mitigate the anthropogenic causes and impacts of climate change.”
We also requested the “development and annual reporting of an institutional Climate
Action Plan.”

I looked back through our historical records and I can find no other example of MSU
declaring an emergency over any issue, not even during World Wars 1 or 2.
In the nearly 2 years since our Faculty Senate declared this climate emergency there has
been over 100 billion metric tons of Greenhouse gases added globally, and there is
absolutely no evidence to suggest that MSU is “taking meaningful and measurable steps
to mitigate the causes and impacts of climate change.” There has been no annual
reporting of emissions data and targets to this body or even discussion of a proposed
climate action plan.

Despite repeated requests to the Campus Sustainability Advisory Committee, (CSAC),
myself and faculty and students continue to ask the following questions:

1. Why are there no written reports on our emissions reductions, as most of our
peer universities do each year?
2. Why are the CSAC Working Groups closed to the public with no minutes kept.
3. Why have our GHG emissions data for the last 7 years not been released to the
public? On this last point, we’ve been told by staff in the Office of Sustainability
that our emissions data for the last 7 years can’t be released until its approved
by the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS) staff, but I
recently spoke to the Senior Manager for Data Quality for STARS who told me
that they are not a third party verifier and it is entirely the discretion of MSU
whether or not to release or withhold our emissions data.

I will remind this body that the Chair of Faculty Senate serves on CSAC and should be
advocating for compliance with our previous resolutions.

Today, I am announcing, in light of the lack of information on progress to take
meaningful and measurable steps to mitigate the causes and impacts of climate change
that I will be working with at least five Faculty Senate members who have so far
volunteered to help draft a new resolution as well as opening the process to our faculty
at large. I have copies here of a new Faculty Senate resolution that just passed
unanimously at Utah State University that I would like to pass out. This resolution calls
for 10% annual emission reductions which is consistent with the goals of the Paris
Agreement.

Our MSU process will be open and transparent and I encourage any faculty as well as our
students and members of the public, to play a significant role in the drafting of this new
resolution. Please contact me if you are interested in engaging in this process.

Second, I’d like to invite all of you to participate in our Climate Week events planned for
Oct. 30th to Nov. 3rd being organized by many of the 100+ faculty and students with the
MSU Climate Solutions Group. We have many exciting learning opportunities; most of
these events are being planned and organized by our amazing students. We are hoping
that many of you will also consider adding some content on the topic of climate change
during your class lectures, regardless of your discipline. Please contact me at
[email protected] for more info on the Group or events. I spoke at the last
University Council meeting on Oct. 4 and personally invited President Cruzado to discuss
her vision for a decarbonized campus. I asked her to join us and explain how bringing 6
new buildings on‐line, and likely more in the coming years would lead to the lowering of
our carbon footprint, and how we are going to raise the tens of millions, if not hundreds
of millions of dollars that are required to address the climate crisis on our campus. I
mentioned that she alone, not staff, is best positioned to address these critically
strategic questions. I just received an email from her yesterday that she is declining the
invitation and instead suggested that staff from the Office of Sustainability address these
questions. Students and faculty will continue to request that our President provide her
views on these critical questions in the near future.

In closing, I’d like to leave you with this; What we need in an emergency is resolve and
courage, and I ask that all of you consider the gravity of this emergency, the
commitment we made through our 2021 Faculty Senate Resolution, and how a new
resolution will serve as a call to action showing our continued commitment and
leadership as members of the academy.

I have typed my comments and again ask that these be printed verbatim in the
upcoming minutes. Thank you.

h.        Steve Stowers: The US News and World report 2024 college rankings recently came out

and MSU tied with Ferris State University for 304th.
2010 Montana State University 183 = 41%
2010 University of Montana 191 =44%
2019 Montana State University 205 = 47%
2019 University of Montana 201 = 46%
2024 Montana State University 304/439 = 69%.
2024 University of Montana 361/439 = 82%.
The two flagship universities in Montana currently rank in the bo􀆩om one‐third (MSU)
and bottom one‐fifth (University of Montana) na􀆟onally.
Other universities ahead of Montana State University
2024 University of Idaho 185
2024 University of North Dakota 236
2024 University of Wyoming 216
2024 University of South Dakota 269
2024 North Dakota State University 249
2024 Utah State University 269
2024 New Mexico State University 296
2024 South Dakota State University 296
US News and World Report metrics and weighting for determining rankings
Graduation rates
16%
First‐year retention rates
5%
Graduation rate performance
10%
Pell graduation rates
3%
Pell graduation performance
3%
First generation graduation rates
2.5%
First generation graduation rate performance
2.5%
Borrower debt
5%
College grads earning more than a high school grad
5%
Peer assessment
20%
Faculty salaries
6%
“Research shows there is a link between academic outcomes and compensation of
faculty”.
Student‐faculty ratio
3%
Full‐time faculty
2%
Financial resources per student
8%
Standardized tests
5%
Citations per publication
1.25%
Field weighted citation impact
1.25%
Publications cited in top 5% of journals
1%
Publications cited in top 25% of journals
0.5%
Class size
0%
Terminal degree faculty
0%
Alumni giving average
0%
Graduate debt proportion borrowing
0%
High school class standing
0%
TOTAL
100%
One trend that has negatively impacted MSU’s ranking is replacement of tenure‐track
faculty losses with non‐tenure‐track faculty or not replacing tenure‐track faculty at all.
Replacement of tenure‐track faculty with non‐tenure‐track faculty results in a reduced
average for faculty salaries and this is penalized in the metrics. Not replacing lost
tenure‐track faculty at all results in a higher student/faculty ratio which is penalized in
the metrics.
MSU’s decade‐plus continual decline in the rankings will eventually negatively impact
enrollment, faculty recruitment, and faculty retention

VIII.            Public Comment 

a.      Albert-grad school

i.      Grad students losing access to mental health services.

A.      If less than 7 credits, pay the health fee

B.      Has been the same for undergrad students. Making them the same.

b.      Is there another campus climate survey coming out?

i.      Having those conversations and gathering list of those who will be involved, etc. 

ii.      Do not have a timeline right now. 

c.      Public comment from Provost Bob Mokwa

a. Provost Mokwa commented on a statement that was recorded in meeting
minutes from the previous Faculty Senate meeting held on Sept. 27, 2023
(meeting minutes IV. B. 2. v.) The following statement regarding faculty
salary raises was incorrect: “The pool for raises has stayed the same over
the years.” Faculty raises and the pool for funding faculty raises has
increased significantly over the previous six years. The statement that the
“pool for raises has stayed the same” is incorrect.

b. Provost Mokwa shared the following data.

A. The merit, market and equity TT raise pool has increased 81%
since fiscal year 2018.
B. In FY23, promotion raises for faculty promoted to associate
professor and full professor were doubled to 10% and 20%,
respectively.
C. In FY23, an additional $579,143 of base dollars were allocated to
the market, merit equity and promotion TT faculty raise pool to
provide retroactive raises to TT faculty that were granted
promotions the previous three years.
D. The infusion of additional promotion raises into faculty base
salaries resulted in an increase to the market, merit, equity,
promotion raise pool of 306% between FY18 and FY23.
E. In addition, the university has made significant increases to NTT
and staff salaries over the previous two years.
F. In academic year 2022‐2023, $1,837,858 was invested to increase
NTT compensation. The university values highly all of our faculty,
including NTT instructors who are dedicated to the teaching
mission of MSU and carry heavy teaching loads, including many of
our large first‐ and second‐year courses.
G. The pool increases I mention do not include the 4% pay plan raises
that were approved in the 2023 legislative session for all university
employees and was allocated on July 1, 2023. An additional 4%
will be allocated on July 1, 2024.

IX.            Adjourn 

a.      Michael Walach moves to approve. Chris Posbergh seconds. Meeting adjourned at 4:33pm.