Council of Chairs

Meeting Minutes
November 1, 2016

3:30 – 5:00 PM – Senate Chambers, Student Union

Meeting Invitees:

Blake, David; Brandon, Maureen; Clark, Brad; Clausen, Rebecca; Colby, Chad; Dott, Cynthia; Elkins, Dennis; Fine, Kathleen; Fulton, Richard; Gianniny, Gary; Gilpin, Sandra; Greer, Kristine; Haaland, Ryan K; Knight-Maloney, Melissa; Kraus, Sue; Labach, Elaine; Malach, Michele; Mangrum, William; Martin, Michael T; McCarthy, Anne; McCormick, Peter; McGurr, Paul T; Miller, Kenny; Morris, Barbara; Mulhern, Dawn; Owen, Dugald; Pepion, Kenneth; Peterson, Michele; Reed, Marc; Rodriguez, Theresa; Sellin, Amy; Shuler, Phil; Barrett, Lisa; Smith, Carol; Smith, Pam; Snyder, Lisa; Stremba, Bob; Talman, Martha; Valdez, Michael

Next meeting:

15 November – Council of Chairs

Announcements:

Provost Morris-Native American Cultural Awareness Workshop on November 15th Noble Hall 130 at 1:00-2:30. What cultural strengths help Native students succeed in college, what are common challenges, why are they more shy or quiet, how does one go about making connections to Native Students, importance of ceremonies, pressures of leaving reservation for college, how Native cultures are similar but different etc. Sponsored by Professional Development Council. A panel will present.

B. Clausen- Ship Rock Chapter House President will be on campus November 14th and 15th. Environmental, Economic, Cultural Change. Native American Center Lunch and public talk on the 14th.

Provost Morris-First faculty lunch today. Free hot lunch. 4 topics of conversation:

1). A discussion about contingent faculty, AAUP research and discussion, concerns of livable wage, benefits, childcare cost reductions, Durango Factor-contingent faculty because of low wage; adjuncts and visiting faculty. Trying to bring in someone for a year the salary to find housing. Have a lot of questions I will be talking to a variety of people about.

2). First year seminar pilot program, plea to bring it back. Last time we discussed it and there was a consensus to table it for now because of low number of faculty signed up. Requests to bring it back up, could the 8 or so faulty continue to pilot for next year. Want to continue to get the data and information they are gathering will be helpful for larger conversations about programming and engagement. Essentially, a lot of the faculty doing this year would do it for a second year possibly? Impacts only a handful of department chairs. Changed your schedule numerous times already. Does anyone object for it to continue for one more year?

S. Kraus said faculty getting really good results. Can inform a strategic initiative. Informs a broader conversation. B. Clausen, can we still add? Has to be a permanent faculty member, 100 level, and GT Pathways.

B. Clausen-Why 100 level? Course counting for degree requirements in original first year task force seminar. Has been extended based on faculty already teaching. Gather information and have the broader conversation.

3). Discussion about our current budget, enrollment pressures etc. What needs to happen? What is on the horizon?

4). Substance between conversations about changing, revising mission statement. Why now? Why change? Is there something going on behind the scene?

B. Clausen-AAP talked about paying health insurance, chairs can add name of adjunct to course schedule, home page with bio and picture on your website page, have picture on the website etc. Small things but increase visibility

Provost Morris-Group from AAUP will bring a list of recommendations of what we can do.

A. Sellin-Is there a reason why adjunct faculty are not listed on the schedule?

Provost Morris-Has to do with when they are hired. Timing of it. They have to be in the system.

Space the final frontier- discussion about how to prioritize and conceptualize classroom updates:

No mechanism or place to really think about what to do when we want to renovate a classroom. I want to hear from you, go back to your departments and think, are there classrooms you want renovated and what types of renovation. We are talking about flexibility of space. If we are putting resources into this we need to really maximize flexibility of use. Black box with slab floor and lots of outlets, so you can have movable boards, technology. I need first a list of classrooms that your department/program would be an ideal candidate for renovation that these are kinds of things in my dream world or my faculty’s dream world that I would like to see. Once we have the lists, we can come together to prioritize. We do not have a mechanism to prioritize the classroom renovation space for technology. Right now it might be due to department with some extra money. EBH renovations for business right now. Request for Noble 110,and for lyceum, for classroom space? What would that look like as a classroom space? Initial thoughts.

K. Miller-I asked my faculty for suggestions. We get stuck in Noble Hall for some reason, maybe because our classes are so big. I know we are trying innovative teaching techniques. All the classrooms are fixed desks, board comes down in front of chalkboard. I would suggest renovating the whole first floor of Noble Hall.

Provost Morris-Noble Hall is on our list for Capital Improvement Projects: Whalen, Gym Phase I and II, Library, Theatre and Noble.

R. Haaland-The 2 new classes in GP will be extraordinary. Everyone should meet in there to see what is possible. When you see the room may expand your vision of what you want to do with your rooms. They will seat 60 and 30. A whole new paradigm on how we teach. We should have a meeting there.

G. Gianniny-Have a Council of Chair meeting there.

Provost Morris- December

G. Gianniny-Next semester

C. Colby- Talking about just rearranging, not outbuilding?

Provost Morris-More than paint and carpet, taking out furniture, new modular moveable furniture, electrical to have smart boards etc. What are the possibilities? We will be hiring an Instructional Designer that will talk about Pedagogy. We have Clint. We could bring someone to campus to talk about the future of classroom space. Think outside of our norms.

P. Smith-Plans for Geo Space. When will we know the plans?

Provost Morris- Put it on hold, asked for 100 times over. For the classroom space, find out much leftover money if any for refurbishing new classroom type of spaces. The office space is still being discussed. Give your requests to me. People are asking Gary and Ryan. Not right person to ask. Physics and Engineering will continue to be same. Geo Sciences space will be fresh space.

P. Smith-Top priority for Math to get out of the trailer. Mostly for the convenience of students.

Provost Morris- Yes they are on the list

C. Colby- What is the plan for theater? New or renovated space.

Provost Morris-Not to the project plan yet so there is no plan. Move over by arts by Jones and make a center for the arts. Or renovate the existing space. It is on the list.

M. Reed-What does that mean timetable wise?

Provost Morris-Plan began in 2007/2008. Plan was obsolete when we started. There is a lag. You have to get it on prioritization list first. Doesn’t mean plan can’t change. Whalen submitted and approved. You can move up each year after submission. Gone through the hoops. Given the budgetary situation at the state, it may be that capital projects stay around in limited fashion rather than an annual basis like operational costs.

B. Clausen-When we are advocating to state to get on a list to prioritize, thinking about Noble pedagogical needs but also thinking about ADA requirements. How segregated someone in a wheel chair is. They can get through the door but otherwise it is very limited accessibility. Will this be factored in to priority?

Provost Morris-Health and safety and ADA are compelling reasons for state funding. Will be good when we get up to state level. Remember 5th in the queue on our internal plan. Timelines, ebbs and flows of funding.

C. Dott-Do you want lists of rooms from us?

Provost Morris-Yes, list of rooms and brief description of what you would like in the rooms. Give it to me before Thanksgiving Break. I will compile for the next chairs meeting.

C. Dott- Screens that block the board are in a lot of rooms.

K. Miller-Screens that block the board, Mike can look at to see if he can solve it.

Provost Morris- Maybe list the rooms that have screens that block the board for Mike. IT trying to create a podium in each room that is standard across the campus. That would be good feedback on how helpful that is.

C. Colby-Nomad podiums, retro-fitted with MACs not working well.

K. Fine-Dare-Rooms are really unfriendly to short people.

Provost Morris- Write that out for me.

B. Clark- Encourage you to consider lighting in your comments also.

A. McCarthy- Basement of EBH. There are terrible sight lines, depending on line of sight students have to board and lighting and glare, cannot always see the board. Walls not actually flush. Not sure what can be fixed easily, but room shape is awkward.

Provost Morris-Probably cannot change structure, but can look at furniture, lighting, and boards.

November 15thMeeting we will discuss-Advising Student Success Collaborative.

Provost Morris- Neck deep in advising now. We acknowledge there are gaping holes and cliffs. We are working on trying to understand that and moving to better what we do. Go back to the quality initiative. New achieve, collaborative, mentorship operational. We have all the pieces and they are failing. Not fully operational. We will look back at it and have that conversation. More than a one shot Council of Chairs conversation. More legs to it due to all the concerns I am getting from departments, students, faculty and administrators.

K. Fine-Dare- Student email said not accepting declaration of minors right now. Is that true?

Provost Morris-That’s a new one. Might be because it is during registration period. That might be something you can do- bullet point a list of concerns and questions you are facing. If I have that ahead of November 15th, I can begin to seek out what is going on. Send me your list, less than 10 pages. Advising and registration issues.

A. Sellin-How many of currently enrolled students have registeredfor classes?

Provost Morris-Still early to get that information. Do you as Chairs get at the end of registration a list of your majors that haven’t registered? No

R. Haaland- We ask for weekly updates so we do.

A. McCarthy-Something else to be aware of in BANNER with Math placements. Students trying to register for next course in the sequence, even if they have the correct pre-req. cannot register for the class. Has something to do with the way courses were recoded. So far, forwarding requests to Carol. She does a magic fix.

S. Gilpin-Happened when we switched over to pathways placement systems. Calc, Stats and Quantitative Literacy Placement. Those had to be hand entered. All of the freshmen should be fine. I don’t know how Carol decided who got it or not, so some students we did not know existed so doesn’t have a placement. Forward to Carol and they enter the placement by hand. As the classes come in it will be less and less of an issue. Anyone who needs Stats that is also happening.

A. McCarthy-Students trying to add Calculus. Something added wrong in Banner.

S. Gilpin-Success coaches should be aware but faculty may not

Provost Morris-Get your bullet points to me in the next week or so. It may be more than one meeting to discuss this. Triage most pressing. Goal to get a better version by next advising period in the spring. To work out whatever big bugs.

TA Discussion:

Provost Morris- There is a problem in giving credit for students as a TA. HLC requirements not part of a degree program. Fine to have TA and compensate them but creating course credit through independent study unless distinctive to your program, contributing to academic content knowledge is a significant issue. Kim Hannula wrestled with it. It is now in Anne’s lap.

R. Haaland-First funded out of Kim’s focus grant.

A. McCarthy- Two issues, focus grant with Kim embedded mentor/tutors. Take responsibilities, duties of TA, it might be a nice way to start. The other thing, we have started seeing people submit Independent Studies for 299 and 499, only a handful of programs doing this. Program to Program question-additional academic value to the TA duties? Some cases it is clear, TA in lab, handling samples etc. Argument for disciplinary skill set from TA not seen in other coursework in some cases.

Provost Morris- How does it apply to major, apply to the credit? How is it assessed? How an Independent Study, usually research or internship based fit into the program of study? I am sure there is a wide variance. Anne gets to play with that.

R. Haaland- We’ve been a long time benefactor of Kim’s program. Embedded TA there to mentor in lab. Separate from graders.

Provost Morris-Does everyone use graders?

D. Mulhern- 299 and 499 suggested after education course went away. We were advised how we should go about doing it.

Provost Morris- Academic with strict assignment piece. We should not be assigning credit if someone is a grader for example.

K. Fine-Dare- Is work-study appropriate for TA duty?

D. Mulhern- Other than tutoring or work study office what pool of money to pay them?

Provost Morris- Departmental money. It is a significant issue but it cannot be course credit.

A. Sellin- Not performing a service to department to ease workload. We have a few. It’sbeen an interesting learning opportunity so credit makes sense.

Provost Morris- Have to align it. How does it fit in?

D. Mulhern- Lab situation having to answer student questions, etc. Higher level.

L. Snyder- Kim and I worked on the new form. That form was based on requirements for all Independent Studies. They need to fit into the program. It needs to be very clear how outcomes for independent study. How are you going to assess specific outcomes? How does it fit program and benefit student. The form gets at all the information. Independent Study Form. However, there has been the issue of drift. The Independent Study and its use for TA’s and students helping with grading. We want to tighten that up before someone finds out.

Provost Morris- We need to do an audit. Make the case. Align it in. Are you making the case? Line it up in a real robust, rigorous, legit way.

A Sellin- Other form had clear guideline on hours.

A McCarthy- Still on the form. Independent Research calculation is easy but trying to assign hours to TA work. Does the time student spends doing TA duties carry the same educational, academic value? That is one of the concerns. If some programs happen to have money to pay students to grade, and hold office hours, and others have students paying tuition to get credit to be TA’s. Concern from a student perspective.

S. Kraus- Advanced learning necessary for grad school. If only for work study only a few students can have that opportunity. Helps student be competitive for grad school. We have to be careful about taking it away.

D. Mulhern- Some want to credit rather than paid.

Provost Morris- I understand but I want you to be sure it is rigorous, adding academic value that you are making the case. That is the front end. That is the benefit they are getting.

C. Dott- Seems like obvious solution is for teaching practicum course to come back? Was there a problem?

R. Fulton- It did not have learning outcomes.

Provost Morris-In education. Wrong prefix? It does not fit into their program of study. It has to fit into your curriculum. Your major requirement.

A. McCarthy- Suggest an alternative. Michelle Bonanno needs to be part of this discussion-embedded tutoring. Some guidelines, what does a grader look like, what does an embedded tutor look like. Whatever learning might be happening in a Chemistry Lab TA different set of outcomes for PSYC TA outcomes. What happens if it turns into elective credit in your program? Make the TA parts program specific for programs that depend on those and pull it out of independent study. Puts a lot of onus on person reading the forms to have to follow up with every single form. Might be another idea.

Provost Morris- It aligns, assessing your program, upper –division elective. One of the concerns I have, signing off on 200 and 400 and not understanding how sophomore could be a TA. How does it fit in to overall degree program?

G. Gianniny- Things to work out. TBD for a lot of courses. As a departmental course required to have a meeting time.

Provost Morris- Conversation for how it fits in curriculum. Is it a dangling elective or does it fit into a grouping of electives? Choice of A, B, or C. Careful about too many choices. What are the pre-reqs, limits? A number of questions to ask about that.

L. Snyder- You could make it an online course, submit reflections, assessment to take care of meeting times. Clear guideline on the course of what a TA is or is not. Becomes a master course, every time a student participates. Great way to make sure as chairs the assessment piece there is follow through. Easy to demonstrate the value.