MSU FACULTY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
                          September 25, 2002
                                   
MEMBERS PRESENT:  Young, Gipp, Morrill, Sherwood for Giroux, Engel,
Kommers, Schlotzhauer, Linker, Leech, Taylor, Howard, Stewart, Jones,
Nehrir, Conant, McMahon for Weaver, Cloninger for Amend,
Levy/Bandyopadhyay, Bogar, Bond, Jelinski, Pratt/McKinsey, Fisher,
Lynes-Hayes, Prawdzienski, Kempcke, Knight, Faculty Affairs Chair
Walter Metz.

MEMBERS ABSENT: White, Anderson, Chem Engr, Comp Science, Lefcort,
Locke, English, Idzerda, Lynch, Hoffman.

The meeting was called to order by Chair, Rich Howard, at 4:10 PM.  A
quorum was present.  The minutes of the September 18, 2002, meeting
were approved as distributed.  John Sherwood was thanked for his work
as Chair of Faculty Council during the past year.

Chair's report - Rich Howard.
     - The Board of Regents meet in Butte, September 18-20.
          - In response to a question, it was noted that Regent Margie
          Thompson's term ends in February, 2003.  Regent Ed Jasmin's
          term ends in July, 2003.
          - Chair Richard Roehm has added two seats to the table at
          the Regents' meetings:  a faculty representative (Rich
          Howard, selected by the MUS faculty representatives) and a
          student representing associated students (a member of the
          MSU-Northern associated students).
          - A strength of the MSU faculty is that when the regents
          talk with MSU-Bozeman faculty, they are assured they are not
          talking with the faculty union.
     - UPBAC met yesterday.  There are difficult issues that must be
     considered.
          - Chair Howard and Chair Elect Jones will provide input they
          gather from faculty.
          - "A Communication from the Strategic Planning Committee to
          the University Planning and Budget Analysis Committee
          Regarding MSU's Capacity for Growth"
          (http://www.montana.edu/upba/spc/documents/index.html) was
          distributed and briefly discussed by UPBAC.

Faculty Affairs Committee report - Walter Metz.
     - The Committee is completing its discussion of a proposed
     post-tenure review policy.  It is anticipated it will come before
     UGC Steering Committee next week.

Discussion with President Gamble.
     - FY03 budget:
          - UPBAC has done a remarkable job in preparing it.  The
          President had hoped to have a planning/budgeting process in
          place within three years of his arrival.  The process may be
          ahead of schedule.
          - The President meets with faculty, student, and classified
          leadership regularly.  He hopes to gather a President's
          cabinet, about 40 people who will meet every 4-5 weeks to
          give input.
          - The task of UPBAC and other university committees and
          individuals is to remember what a university is and
          determine how to maintain a balance between price and
          quality.  MSU balances its purpose - to discover new
          knowledge and to educate - very well, at a reasonable price.
          - The position taken on faculty salaries is healthy.  MSU
          must be prepared to continue promotion and tenure salary
          increases, as well as equity raises for faculty,
          professionals, and classified staff as appropriate.
          - Discussion took place at the latest BOR meeting regarding
          funding of the Agricultural Experiment Station, Extension
          Service, and Fire Training School.  There were proposals to
          backfill the funding of these agencies from MSU and UM state
          money.  The motions regarding the matter were defeated, but
          a compelling argument needs to be made to the legislature to
          fund these agencies appropriately.
     - The 2003 legislature opens in January, faced with a serious
     budget deficit, now expected to be $250 million.
          - Budget reductions are expected in state agencies, so UPBAC
          will have to make choices to maintain balance.  Students
          will probably be asked to make up some of the deficit,
          because an increase in state funding for universities is
          unlikely.
          - The university system will recommend the state make
          specific investments in the system,  providing  information
          about the expected return on the investments.
          - Both the revenue and expenditure side of the university
          budget will need to be addressed, to achieve balance.
          - UPBAC will be encouraged to focus on strategic priorities.
          The planning committee will be expected to make
          recommendations, which then need to be tied to budgeting.
     - On October 23, there will be a town hall meeting which includes
     representatives from all four MSU campuses and state and
     community leaders.
          -   The state and national economic impact upon Montana's
          universities will be discussed, as well as ways for the four
          units of MSU to work together as productively as possible.
     - Recruitment and retention are an important component of the
     university.
          - This has been a great recruiting year for MSU.
               - The mix of students is good.  A larger percent of
               out-of-state students than in the past adds diversity
               to the university.
               - The additional students have an economic impact on
               the Bozeman community.
               - Private fund-raising has been very successful.  The
               President set a goal of $10 million over two years, and
               by the end of May, $9 million had been pledged.  Early
               this fall, an additional $2 million was raised, so the
               two-year goal has been raised to $15 million, providing
               $750,000 per year for scholarships from an endowment.
          - Faculty are a key element in recruiting and retaining
          students.
               - If students are accepted, the university needs to
               make a commitment to keep them.
               - A number of good students leave the university each
               year.  How does the university keep them here,
               especially those in the top 10 % who leave?
               - A goal is to increase retention and graduation rates.
               How can this be done?  What is the appropriate size for
               MSU, given available resources?
               - Faculty initiatives, similar to the large-classroom
               task force, need to come from the faculty to address
               the issues of retention.
     - Discussion followed.
          - Exit interviews could be used to gather information about
          why students leave before graduation. A significant number
          of new students do not appear to have the skills necessary
          to succeed in university-level classes.  Somewhere in the
          system, students who are not doing well in a specific area
          but might succeed in other areas need to be helped.
          - There needs to be a support system to help faculty with
          student advising.  Services must be provided for students
          who need specific kinds of assistance.  Although faculty are
          a front-line of advising, it can't all be left to faculty,
          and it needs to be determined how best to organize advising
          and then follow through.  What advising model will work at
          MSU?  Faculty advising, centralized advising, and student
          -to-student advising might be included in the model.  There
          needs to be some reward for faculty advising students, or it
          is not necessarily a priority.
          - An immediate consequence of recruiting and retaining
          students may be overcrowded classrooms, which can turn
          students away.  Adjuncts provide one means of supplying
          teachers, but the available pool is not consistent in all
          disciplines from semester to semester.
          - Retention of students varies widely across campus, so some
          areas need more work than others.  The number of students a
          faculty member advises must be a consideration.
          - There needs to be communication between departments and
          colleges during the advising process.
     - The President challenged the faculty to give these retention
     issues some thought and come up with some ideas to address them.

As there was no further business, the meeting adjourned at 5:15 PM.


Joann Amend, Secretary          Rich Howard, Chair