FACULTY SENATE

October 19, 2016 Strand Union Ballroom B

3:10 PM – 4:30 PM

MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY-BOZEMAN, MONTANA

Minutes

 

Members Present: Adams (Art), C.Z. Anderson (Film & Photo), R. Anderson (ChBE), Babcock (Chair), Belasco (AgEcon), Berry (CE), Bolte (Music), Burrows (Ext), Conrad (Arch), Eggert (Emeritus), Ewing (LRES), Greenwood (Math), Herman (NAS), Larson (MIE), Lux (Ed), Martin (Mod Lang), Merzdorf (CBN),Olson for Mosley (ARS), Rebane (Physics), Reidy (Hist & Phil), Repasky (ECE), Running (Nursing), J. Smith (Psych), Sterman (Library), Thomas (English), Wiedenheft (Micro/Immuno), Wilmer (Chair-elect), Yamaguchi (Soc/Anthro)

 

Others Present: Chris Fastnow, Larry Carucci, Eric Lopez, Bob Mokwa

 

Chair Babcock called the meeting to order at 3:10 pm, and a quorum was present. Minutes from the October 5, 2016 meeting were approved.

New Courses and Programs – Chair-elect Wilmer

  • Undergraduate courses approved in CPC. If senators have no concerns, they will be voted upon in Steering on October 25, 2016. All are posted on the FS web site:
    • ETEC 106: AC Circuit Analysis
    • ETEC 113: Circuit Lab
    • PLTT 101: Fundamentals of Light and Lasers
  • Graduate course approved by UGC will be voted upon in Steering on October 25, 2016:
    • EDU 611: Advanced Qualitative Research

Policy Discussion – Chair Babcock

  • Process Overview
    • Chair Babcock reminded senators to inform their constituents about the policies discussed in
    • Subsequent to senate discussions last week, suggestions from senators and others were provided to Faculty Affairs and JAGS and incorporated into the document that are before senators,
  • Standards and Timelines (Second Reading) – Chair, Faculty Affairs, Larry Carucci
    • Suggestions from the last FS meeting were brought to JAGS and incorporated regarding
      • Qualitative language was removed in sections 5, 6 and 8 before the word “integration” in the second bullets of
      • It was discussed in the last senate meeting that “effective” integration might be the wording for the second bullet point. Babcock noted that the #6 section for full professor, became challenging when “effectiveness” was added before “integration.”
      • Semi-colons were put between teaching; scholarship; service to show that you may engage in two, or more, activities for integration although three (3) are not
      • Discussions ensued:
  • Senator noted that because some faculty were hired and “integration” was not yet implemented in their departmental R&S documents, and is now being introduced in university policy, how will all this tie together? Mokwa stated that the timeline when all university policies will be implemented will come after the OCHE has approved them and will have an effective date of, most likely, July 1. However, there are pieces of the policies that cannot be effective by July 1 because of considerations such as this and an implementation timeline will involve input from the
  • Section 6: University Standards for Tenure
    • At tenure and promotion to associate and based on senators’ feedback, faculty, in a tenurable position, may choose a date from the first letter of hire or the most recently approved departmental R&S document. There was concern expressed in JAGS, however, that there will be many document versions under which a dossier will go up under, but there will be a cover sheet to make such a notation and the provost’s office will monitor
  • Section 8: University Standards for Promotion to Rank of Professor
    • Second bullet point has the word “sustained” before “integration” and review at the full level will remain as it was in the previous version which are indicators that were in effect two years prior. This is not as critical an issue for faculty at this level, as one may go up multiple times for promotion to full whereas at lower levels it is you either achieve the next level, or
  • Section 9: External and Internal Letters
    • Numerics of letters are in the Rights & Responsibilities; however, in this document the responsibility is one the
    • Criteria also apply to
  • Motion to approve RPT: Standards and Timelines as they are presented in senateàsecondedàdiscussionà(friendly amendment (1)àsecondedàapproved: friendly amendment (2)àsecondedàapproved)àall in favoràapproved:
    • Section 3:Expedited Tenure Review at Hire was discussed in FS steering committee, and the scenario presented was: If an administrator were hired on fast-track and ultimately retreated to back to the department and where the only review for the individual was at the departmental level, would that place pressure on the departmental review committee from upper administration? Babcock noted that he believed the departmental committee would be thorough in its review of the individual. Other levels of review might also increase the scrutiny of such an individual. Senator suggested an expedited review at all levels for a solution. Carucci reminded senators that senate approved a similar guideline three, or so, years ago. The downside to the guideline would be that exemplary candidates would forego coming to MSU as it might take 3-4 months for them to be reviewed in an expedited
    • Friendly amendment (1): After exhaustive discussions about the semi-colons separating teaching; scholarship; service and its ambiguity, senate Sections 5, 6 and 8 – second bullet in all three (3) will now read: integration of teaching, scholarship, service (two or more) during the review period, and…àsecondedàmajority approves.
    • Friendly amendment (2): Section 1, first sentence will read something like: Retention is a formative and summative review. Tenure and promotion reviews are summative reviews of the faculty member’s performance in teaching, scholarship and service over the designated Review Period. àsecondedàmajority approves.
  • Foreword (First Reading):
    • First paragraph, remove the word “separate” before “collective bargaining agreement,” and it should now read:

“Tenurable faculty employed by Gallatin College are not covered by this Handbook and are subject to a collective bargaining agreement.”

  • Senator suggested that instead of indicating BoR text by bolding it, it was suggested the language be placed in quotes as there are other bolded sections (titles, g.) in the document and it might confuse the reader.
  • “Tenurable” has been defined in the RTP documents and the BoR understands it means tenured and

ACE Fellow – Dr. Eric Lopez

  • Lopez is the Dean of EHHD and full professor of special education at Texas A&M University, San Antonio.
  • Two projects he is currently involved in:
    • High impact practices for student success for Texas A&M.
    • President Cruzado has asked Dr. Lopez to help institute a diversity plan.
      • First summit will be November 1, 2016; 8 am -12 noon and another 1-5 pm in Ballroom A. A spring summit will be
        • A web site will be set up for those who are unable to attend the summit to provide
      • Lopez will assist Nancy “Rusty” Barceló, who was hired (former VP of diversity for Univ. of Minnesota and Washington) as a consultant for diversity at MSU.
    • MSU is already engaged in many programs that have incorporated
    • Moving forward, focus groups and summits are scheduled to gather information and craft principles for the future. The aim is to generate ideas and understanding about diversity, inclusion, and equity among faculty, staff and students at MSU.
    • Jessi Smith – Primary investigator on NSF Grant, ADVANCE, has been working on diversity issues for the last 4-5 years, specifically women in STEM however activities that fostered inclusiveness around campus regardless of gender have also been Three major focuses of ADVANCE, after a survey from campus constituents were:
      • Building research capacity and opportunity for everyone;
      • Enhanced work/life issues;
      • Cultural attunement – search training processes, equity advocate, etc.
    • A survey was distributed among senators to fill out and return to Lopez.

Public Comment

  • There was no public

 

The meeting adjourned at 4:30 pm.

 

Michael Babcock, Chair Franke Wilmer, Chair-elect

 

A printable PDF of this information can be found here.