MSU FACULTY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
November 20, 2002
Members Present: Gipp, Sherwood for Giroux, Engel, White, Kommers,
Schlotzhauer, Metz for Linker, Leech, Taylor, Stewart, Jones, Yoo,
Nehrir, Conant, McMahon, Sunner for Amend, Levy, Bogar, Jelinski,
Idzerda, Fisher, Lynes-Hayes, Prawdzienski, Kempcke, Knight.
Members Absent: Young, Morrill, Anderson, Howard, Chem Engr, Lefcort,
Locke, Engl, Bond, Pratt, Lynch, Hoffman.
Others Present: Bandyopadhyay, Fedock.
The regular meeting was called to order at 4:10 PM by Chair Elect
Warren Jones. A quorum was present. The minutes of the November 6,
2002, Faculty Council meeting were approved as distributed.
Chair's report - Warren Jones.
- It was announced at the November 13 University Governance
Council meeting that the Provost and Faculty Council Chair agreed
to add a Faculty Council member to the Strategic Planning
Committee.
- Following brief discussion, Sandy Levy, Department of
History and Philosophy, was nominated for the position. A
show of hands approved the nomination, which will be
forwarded to Provost Dooley.
- The position will be filled until June, 2003. During
Spring Semester, a Faculty Council member will be nominated
to fill the position for a full term.
- UPBAC will be meeting every week for two hours.
- Part of the budgeting process will be to use Key
Performance Indicators of academic departments. This process
will be discussed in greater depth by Faculty Council when
Executive Director of Planning and Analysis meets with
Faculty Council December 4. An effort is underway to develop
KPI's for non-academic units, also.
- Because KPI's indicate efficiency, not quality, other
measures will also be used. Measures suggested by UPBAC to
use in assessing the priority of a department include program
demand; state, regional, and national need; uniqueness in the
state or region; G&C activity; contribution to general
education; scholarly work; outreach and service; growth
policy; and strength or reputation.
- During discussion by Faculty Council members, the following
points were made.
- Student success is as important as demand for the
program.
- Requirements of one program impact another.
- Other measures to be considered include accreditation
results, licensing, job placement rate, graduation rate
and retention rate of freshmen.
- The number of graduate students is included in the
KPI's. However, it is unclear how the quality of
graduate education will be assessed in the matrix.
-"Graduation rate" may not necessarily indicate "program
success".
- According to Vice Provost Fedock, the ultimate goal of
the process is to give UPBAC a way to prioritize for
budget setting.
- It was pointed out that this process takes into
consideration the academic part of the budget only, and
the entire university budget needs to be prioritized.
UPBAC is responsible for making informed decisions about
all parts of the university.
Faculty Affairs Committee report - Walter Metz.
- The proposed amendment to Faculty Handbook Section 620.00 (Role,
Scope, Criteria, Standards, and Procedures Documents) is an
addition which reads, "A candidate for tenure will be subject to
the department's Role, Scope, Criteria, Standards, and Procedures
document in effect at the date of hire. In the event of a change
in the department's Role, Scope, Criteria, Standards, and
Procedures document, the candidate for tenure will be given a
choice of being evaluated using the document in effect at the date
of hire or any approved departmental document up to and including
the document in effect at the time the tenure dossier is
submitted. In any event, the candidate will place the appropriate
document at the front of the tenure dossier."
- John Sherwood moved the amendment be approved and sent to the
STAFF BULLETIN to notify faculty of the proposed addition. The
motion was seconded and carried.
- The post-tenure review policy will be discussed at the December
4 Faculty Council meeting.
- It is anticipated the addition to Faculty Handbook Section
1312.00 (Conciliation and Grievance Deadlines) will be approved at
the December 4 Faculty Council meeting. The proposal will then be
forwarded to the administration.
Report from the Strategic Planning Committee (SPC) - Bruce Morton,
Chair.
- This is a strategic planning committee, charged with planning
for the long term, not for the immediate future. It is a
subcommittee of UPBAC.
- The Provost, as Chair of UPBAC, charged SPC with preparing two
documents, a statement of capacity for growth and an analysis of
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The first
iteration of the documents was to be completed in time for UPBAC
to use them in their deliberations this semester. To prepare the
two documents, the committee used various sources of information
recommended by the Provost and other available sources the
committee felt were relevant.
- Individuals invited to SPC for discussion before the documents
were prepared include Ronda Russell and Diane Donnelly (student
demographics, recruitment and retention), Bob Lashaway
(facilities), Chuck Nelson (classrooms, other Registrar's issues),
Tom Stump (auxiliaries), Mark Sheehan (ITC), Bruce Morton
(Libraries), Dave Bryant (Extension, outreach), Joe Fedock
(growth, summer school), David Dooley (academics), and President
Gamble (MSU and MSU "family" issues). In addition, Kathy Attebury
and Ben Sharp (institutional research) attended meetings to
provide data and other information as requested. Jim Rimpau,
Director of Planning and Analysis, began attending meetings after
he arrived on campus. The committee has had to rely on
individuals familiar with each area for data and interpretation.
- It was asked if non-academic areas of the institution are
receiving the same scrutiny that academics is receiving. Chair
Morton responded that he believes both SPC and UPBAC are looking
at all areas of MSU.
- Some of Morton's observations:
- Everyone needs to be aware that MSU will probably not
continue to be the same institution that it is now. This
change can come about through inertia or through strategic
planning.
- It is assumed the state will continue to be less
financially supportive.
- Anticipated changes are not necessarily bad. MSU can be
strengthened if there is a process in place to make fully
informed decisions. This doesn't necessarily mean unanimity
regarding the decisions.
- MSU will be marketed, but how is another issue. It can either
just happen or it can be strategically planned.
- At the first UPBAC meeting in September, 2001, a vision
statement was adopted stating that MSU aspires to be the
institution of choice in the Northern Rockies. How is MSU
different from other institutions and how shall it be marketed?
- In response to a question, Morton stated that the SPC documents
are consistent with the Morrill Act.
- Regarding recruitment of additional highly qualified students,
Morton said that SPC recommended a more selective admission
policy, a controversial recommendation in UPBAC.
- SPC minutes, agendas, and documents are posted on the web at
As there was no further business, the meeting adjourned at 5:10 PM.
Joann Amend, Secretary Warren Jones, Chair Elect