MSU-BOZEMAN FACULTY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES October 25, 2000 PRESENT: Morrill, Sherwood, Kommers, Mannell Noel for Peed, Leech, Benham, Stewart, Larsen, Harkin, Mooney, Lefcort, McMahon, McClure, Levy, Bogar, Bond, Jelinski, Kirkpatrick, McKinsey, Lynch, Fisher, Prawdzienski, Butterfield. ABSENT: Young, Hatfield, Miller, White, Anderson, Linker, Howard, Jost, Nehrir, Locke, Lansverk, Scott, Griffith, Carlstrom. The meeting was called to order by Chair Ron Larsen at 4:10 PM. It was determined a quorum was present. Acknowledgment of interim MSU President Terry Roark. - Dr. Terry Roark was present and was thanked for ably filling the difficult position as interim President of MSU since January. Approval of minutes. - The minutes of the October 18, 2000, Faculty Council meeting were approved as distributed. Chair's report - Ron Larsen. - On November 1, Budget Director Craig Roloff will attend Faculty Council to discuss student enrollment and budget issues. - Also on November 1, at 7:00 PM, local candidates for the Montana legislature are invited to a public forum in SUB Ballroom C. This is an opportunity for the audience to ask questions of the candidates. An appropriate question to ask each candidate is whether the individual will support the $500/student additional funding requested by the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education. - Carla Gray, candidate for Chief Justice, will meet with faculty this Friday, October 27, at 2 PM in 330 Cobleigh. Interested faculty are invited to attend. - UGC Steering Committee is receiving nominations for the working group on budget information. Nominations will be discussed at tomorrow's Steering Committee meeting. The working group will soon begin meeting. - Fall semester student enrollment at MSU-Bozeman is higher than last year, but it did not meet projections. This will have budget implications. - A policy regarding ownership of electronic course materials has been drafted in the Commissioner of Higher Education's Office, and it will be presented at the November Board of Regents meeting. - During brief discussion, Provost Dooley explained that LeRoy Schramm, Chief Legal Counsel in the Commissioner's Office, drafted the policy and patterned it after the current patent policy instead of the textbook policy. The policy will be the same across the MUS. - The draft policy will be on tomorrow's UGC Steering Committee agenda. - The SUB renovation committee is meeting. A faculty member will be added to the committee, if a person is found who is able to commit to the time involved. Workload Task Force report - John Amend. - In the beginning, the task force was to look at equality in workloads among colleges, but the emphasis has shifted somewhat to providing clarity and accountability for faculty work loads both outside and inside the university (and within colleges) and creating fairness in workloads. Faculty Affairs Committee report - Ron Larsen. - Faculty Handbook sections describing Faculty Council and its committees have been completed and will be discussed by Steering Committee tomorrow. - Faculty Council By-laws are being updated. - A resolution to move the MSU pay date to the 1st of the month will be discussed by Steering Committee tomorrow. - Other topics to be discussed by Faculty Affairs include student evaluations and in-depth assessment of teaching, annual review requirements, review of administrators, and the post-tenure review policy which was drafted last year. An article, "Re-engineering the University" was distributed. Strategic Planning and Budget Committee - Dave Dooley. - Following conversations this summer within the university community regarding ways to revitalize the committee, some changes were made in membership of the SPBC, and a new charge was given the committee by the President. - The Long Range Planning Committee will continue to envision the long-term direction of the university, and the SPBC will do strategic planning and tie it to budget on a shorter term time frame. There will be a link between the LRPC and SPBC. - SPBC will not deal with the details of the current year's budget. The focus will be on budget development beginning with the next biennium. (In response to a question, the Provost indicated that the SPBC will address budget issues in the 1 to 5 year time frame, as per the committee's charge.) - Recommendations given to the committee by the LRPC last spring will be discussed, and Deans' Council has asked that strategic plans of the colleges be included in the discussions. Reversion of faculty lines policy - Dave Dooley. - Recommendations for the policy came from discussions a year ago and are a big departure from the policy existing at that time. There has been very limited flexibility in reallocation of faculty lines, and this policy will improve it. - The policy affects only those lines funded in whole or in part within Academic Affairs that become vacant through retirement or resignation. Both faculty and professional lines are included. - According to the policy, deans will keep 50% of the funding of vacant lines and 50% will go to the Provost. When a hire is made, all the money returns to the dean. If a line becomes vacant and the Provost decides a line won't be returned to the college, the dean receives 50% and the other 50% is kept centrally for reallocation. - Because deans did not have a chance to plan for this year, deans may make a case to get more than 50% of the funding this year. - By the end of the year, it is expected the principles of the policy will all be worked out and mechanisms for implementing the policy will be in place. This year most of the money will be returned to the colleges. The policy will continue to be evaluated annually. - In response to a question, the Provost stated that four or five faculty lines will be affected this year. - Because of time constraints, the Provost may be invited to attend next week's Council meeting to allow time for questions concerning the policy. The meeting adjourned at 5:15 PM. Joann Amend, Secretary Ron Larsen, Chair