Faculty Senate Minutes
April 20, 2017 – 3:10pm
Chattanooga Rooms, University Center
Members in Attendance: Ainsworth, A. Jerald; Asllani, Beni; Beech, Jennifer; Bell, Michael; Brown, Richard; Cairns, Virginia; Cooley, Morgan; Crawford, Beth; Dumas, Joe; Etheredge, Jessica; Hamblen, Josh; Hand, Kelli; Harvey, Jamie; Hill, Linda; Laing, Craig; Lee, John; Liedtka, Theresa; McAllister, Deborah; Nichols, Roger; Oglesby, Burch; Potts, Gretchen; Ray, Steve; Shaheen, Aaron; Sisworahardjo, Nurhidajat; Sompayrac, Joanie; Tanis, Craig;
Members Absent: Anderson, Dee Dee; Angle, Steven; Mike; Bonnal; Boyd, Jennifer; Churnet, Habte; Davidson, Susan; Green, Margaret; Gunasekera, Sumith;Halstead, Diane; Hargrave, Katie; Hunter, Rik; Iles, Gale; Liang, Yu; Mauldin, Marcus; McGhee, Felicia; Rausch, David;Trussel, John; Winters, Kathy; Zibluk, Jack
Guests in Attendance: Terry Denniston, Dawn Ford, Tony Grossi, Yousef Hamadeh, Eva Lewis, Valerie Rutledge,Charlene Simmons, Cindy Williamson, Katie High via Skype
- Call to Order
Sompayrac – Unless anyone objects when Katie High (Vice President of Academic Affairs and Student Success) joins us via Skype, we are going to change the agenda and consider the Handbook Chapters 3 and 4.
no objections were offered
Katie High was participating in the discussion via Skype
Crawford- The Handbook Committee is bringing Chapters 3 and 4 before the Senate. This was the old chapter 3 which has been split into 2 pieces. Chapter 3 is now all the detail about tenure track and tenured faculty. Everything that is non-tenured has been moved to chapter 4. The big changes are in the structure and order. When the system looked at our handbook, there were several sections that were repeated in different places. The result was that sometimes one section would get changed and the other would not get changed. This has been corrected. The revised RTP process in the document is not materially different from what we voted on last Spring in the Faculty Senate and the Full Faculty. It is a change from what is posted in the old handbook but corresponds to what we approved. Those were the big changes.
Asllani – Another difference is that the criteria in the proposal is less specific than the old chapter 3.The idea is that the specifics should be defined by the departments.
McAllister - I want to make sure I understand the RTR timeline. If you are a 1,2,4,or 5th year faculty member the RTR will be at the discretion of the Department Head and Departmental RTR will only vote on them in years 3 and 6.
Crawford – That is correct.
Sompayrac – I would like to clarify – were you asking in years 1,2,4,and 5 is it solely up to the department head?
McAllister – yes
Crawford – If a negative recommendation is given by the Department Head, it automatically enters the RTP process and they review it as well.
McAllister – When will this take effect?
Crawford – We are looking at this handbook going to the board in October so it will go into effect next year.
McAllister – Has this been discussed with Department Heads. I spoke to a department head who had not heard about this?
Crawford – All this was approved a year ago by this body and went to the full faculty.
McAllister – So if they did not wean it from full faculty then they are still in the dark.
Crawford – I know it has been talked about at Dean’s Council. It has been talked about for well over a year. I don’t know what Department Heads would not know about it.
Crawford – Are there any objections to voting for chapters 3 and 4 together?
No objections were offered
Crawford - Hearing no objections we will vote on chapters 3 and 4 together.
Vote on Chapters 3 and 4: For 21, Against 0, Abstain 0 - motion approved
- Approval of minutes from 3/09/17 meeting
Motion for approval: Crawford 1st, Cairns 2nd
discussion: none
motionapproved by unanimous voice vote - President’s Report
Sompayrac - Almostall the committee reports for this academic year have been posted on the Senate Website. - Administrative Reports
none - Committee Reports
SRFI
Chantelle Swaren presented the Student Rating of Faculty Instructions Proposal. A link to the proposal is found on the 4/20/17 Faculty Senate Agenda.
Swaren – The SRFI Committee is seeking approval of our pilot assessment for the 2017-2018 academic year.
The SRFI committee focused on two things this past year
1. Supporting the current rating system
2. Developing a pilot program for 2017-2018. To construct the pilot, we used the feedback faculty, administrators and students. We also did a literature review and looked at other institutions. We drafted 8 questions we would like to offer as a pilot for Fall 2017. It would be an opt-in program where professors could choose to supplant the current rating system with these 8 questions. The committee will then look at the results to determine reliability and validity. The new focus is on student learning.
Dumas: Would this replace the current system?
Swaren - Yes, but we wanted to test it first.
Mcallister - Is the approval for the pilot or implementing if the pilot is successful?
Swaren - This is only for the pilot. We will come back and present the results.
Vote on Pilot Assessment: For 21, Against 0, Abstain 0 - motion approved
Curriculum Committee
Simmons – Curriculum Committee is bringing 27 proposals forward to the Faculty Senate. Proposal 17-138 was not approved by the curriculum committee.
Vote on Motion: For 21, Against 0, Abstain 0 - motion approved
Committee is somewhat concerned about that fact that we are bringing you proposals in April for the Fall Catalog. We had hoped to bringing you Spring proposals but they are being delayed untilSeptember. Future committees may want to look at what can be done so that proposals for the upcoming Fall are not being approved in April.
Committee on Committees
Potts - I would also like to discuss new business since it affects the committee on committees proposal
Sompayrac - Yes, that will be fine. - New Business
Report from Ad Hoc Mapping Committee
Potts - Ad Hoc Mapping Committee has completed its work. I would like to thank the committee members, Virginia Cairns, Claire McCullough, Jim Tucker, Louie Elliot, Charlene Simmons, Leanora Brown, Chris Brockman, Jamie Harvey
We tried to map every committee. We were successful with University Committee and College Committees. We were not as successful with Departmental Committees as some departments did not return the requested information.
The Committee on Committees would like to review the information before putting people on committees. I am here as the Chair of the Committee on Committees to ask for an extension on the placement of faculty on committees.
Sompayrac - Is there any objection? None were made
Vote on Extension: motion approved by unanimous voice vote
Potts - Based on a preliminary review, we might want to alter some of our current committees which are contained in the By-Laws. If the committee recommends any changes, those will be brought forward at the next meeting which will be in the Fall. We have been recruiting students for committees and we already have 17 students who have volunteered.
Report from Faculty Engagement Survey -
This survey came from my interest in knowing what people on campus would like to discuss.
The results of the survey have been posted on a website:
I want to thank Cindy Williamson of OPEIR for her help. I plan on reviewing it this summer and bringing it back to the Senate in the Fall to see how we want to move forward with that information. If you have any suggestions after you review it, please send me an email.
Sompayrac - The next part of new business is that I get to turn over Faculty Senate to the New President, Gretchen Potts and the President-Elect: Steve Ray. The rest of the agenda will be handled by them.
- Unfinished Business
none - Faculty Concerns
Ainsworth – I would like to thank Joanie leading the Senate this year. Applause followed. - Announcements
Potts – Unfortunately, only a few new Senators for next year have been elected.
The By-Laws state that the new Senators should be elected by the last full faculty meeting which occurred in February. So we need to review the By-Laws to see if they are feasible.
Sompayrac – My husband, Tony, is here today and he ran the Boston Marathon Monday. I am very proud of him. - Adjournment
Motion for adjournment: Bell 1st, Harvey 2nd