Approved 2-22-07
Thursday
February 8, 2007
2:00 p.m.
MA 211K
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING
PRESENT
Shannon Butler, Tamara Chase, Dave Ferro,
Bruce Handley, Ron Holt, Wade Kotter, Jack Mayhew, Ann Millner, Gene
Sessions, Mike Vaughan, Jim Wilson – Kay Brown Secretary
GUESTS
Craig Oberg
MINUTES
Wade Kotter: Moved to approve the
minutes from the February 1, 2007 meeting
Second: Jack Mayhew
Outcome: The minutes were approved.
COURSE REDUCTION
Craig Oberg, Chair of the Salary,
Benefits, Budget & Fiscal Planning Committee, reporting. Susan
Matt, Chair of the Research, Scholarship and Professional Growth
Committee, presented the following addition to PPM 8-11. This addition
to PPM 8-11 will replace the Weber Writes grant opportunity.
Proposed change to PPM 8-11 - Faculty Evaluations, Tenure Review Process
". . . In addition, in the second year of a candidate’s progress toward tenure, the department chair will do an assessment of the candidate’s progress. . . .
If, after the second-year review, the faculty member is performing satisfactorily, he or she will become eligible for a one-course reduction for one semester. This course reduction will be awarded before the faculty member is granted tenure and is designed to promote scholarly activity. Applications must be submitted 6 months in advance. The faculty member will submit to his or her dean an application describing plans for research or creative activities to be pursued during the semester in question.
During the third and sixth years of the probationary period, and other years when requested, the full review process shall include evaluation by the dean and the ranking tenure evaluation committees at the levels of the department and the college. . ."
MOTION
Gene Sessions: Moved to forward to
the Faculty Senate the above change to PPM 8-11 - Faculty
Evaluations, Tenure Review Process
Second: Wade Kotter
Outcome: The motion passed unanimously.
FACULTY SICK LEAVEEric Amsel, Barry Gomberg, Leah Murray, and Marjukka Ollilainen presented a proposed change to the Faculty Sick Leave policy to the Salary, Benefits, Budget and Fiscal Planning Committee as stated below.
Proposed PPM 3-21a - Sick Leave (Faculty)
I. DEFINITIONS:
A. Sick Leave - For the purpose of this policy, sick leave is the continuation of salary, benefits and service credit during a period of illness of the faculty member.
B. Illness - Health conditions, including off-the-job injuries and pregnancy-related
disabilities, that reasonably require bed rest, hospitalization, and/or other legitimate medical treatment necessitating absence from work.II. REFERENCES:
PPM 3-2 Employee Definitions
PPM 3-26 Maternity Leave
PPM 3-29a Family and Medical Leave
III. POLICY:
A. Faculty sick leave may be used during the period of a faculty member’s appointment for the faculty member’s own illness.
B. In the event of faculty sick leaves up to 120 consecutive calendar days, departments shall handle time off internally in consultation with the dean of their college. During this time, faculty members’ salary and benefits shall continue to be paid.
C. Faculty sick leaves longer than 120 consecutive calendar days:
I. A faculty member whose sick leave is approaching 90 consecutive calendar days, and is uncertain whether she or he will be able to return within an additional 30 consecutive calendar days, shall consult with her or his department chair and dean regarding making application for long term disability through the Human Resources office.
2. In the event of faculty sick leaves lasting longer than 120 consecutive calendar days, faculty members’ salary and benefits shall be paid until the University’s long term disability insurance carrier either commences coverage or rejects the claim, or some other accommodation is reached between the faculty member and their college, providing the faculty member applied for long term disability coverage in a timely fashion, as described above.
3. If the faculty member’s long-term disability claim is rejected, the department chair may recommend to the dean of their college that the absent faculty member’s salary and benefits, where applicable, be temporarily discontinued (leave without pay or benefits), or the faculty member’s contract may be terminated, subject to restrictions imposed by the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), PPM 3-29a, and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (Section 504) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), PPM 3-34.
4. Any leave for illness longer than the periods described above shall be unpaid, subject to restrictions under the FMLA, as outlined in PPM 3-29a, and Section 504/ADA, PPM 3-34.
D. Department chairs shall be informed by the absent faculty member any time he or she takes sick leave longer than three (3) consecutive calendar days. If a faculty member’s leave extends ten (10) consecutive calendar days this information shall be forwarded to the Human Resources office where it shall be evaluated, designated and maintained in accordance with the FMLA.
E. The University reserves the right to require medical verification for faculty leaves for illness lasting longer than three (3) consecutive calendar days.
F. The University reserves the right to require medical verification for faculty members’ fitness for duty when returning from leaves for illness lasting longer than three (3) consecutive calendar days.
G. Faculty sick leave has no cash value, and no payment will be made for unused sick leave in the event of separation from employment.
President Millner pointed out that staff earn sick leave hours over every month. Unfortunately, a small percentage of employees have taken advantage of the 120 days of paid sick leave.
Even though there is a current sick leave policy for faculty, it was up to the interpretation and good will of individual deans and was not being applied evenly in the various colleges. The proposed new language is an attempt to make the policy more uniform.
Mike Vaughan talked with Stan Greenhalgh about the proposed sick leave policy, and said Stan was not opposed to this proposed policy going to the Faculty Senate, but indicated that he would advise Norm Tarbox to recommend to the Trustees that this proposal be turned down.
Craig Oberg will talk with Stan Greenhalgh about the proposal. Once Norm Tarbox feels comfortable with the proposal, it will come back to the Executive Committee.
CURRICULUM COMMITTEE Laine Berghout, Chair of the Curriculum Committee, reporting.
Curriculum Cover Sheets - At the January Faculty Senate meeting there was a request for more information on the discussion of the Curriculum Committee as they reviewed curriculum proposals. Included on the cover sheet will be notes from the Curriculum Committee minutes.
Curriculum Proposals
Health Promotion and Human Performance - Nutrition
Course proposals for Sports Nutrition - Nutr 3020, Nutrition and
Fitness - Nutr 4420, Nutrition and Fitness - Nutr 6420
Computer and Electronics Engineering Technology, Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering Technology
Program proposal for Bachelor of Science in Engineering
Course proposals for Internship - Engr 3890, Senior Project I -
Engr 4700, Senior Project II - Engr 4710
Course proposals for Sports Engineering Emphasis: Electrical Circuits - Engr 2270, Fundamentals of Sports Engineering - Engr 3300, Measurements and Instrumentation - Engr 3320, Machine Design - Engr 3330, Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer - Engr 3340, Plastic and Composite Manufacturing - Engr 3350, Numerical Methods for Engineers - Engr 3360, Principles of Biomechanics - Engr 4300, Finite Element Analysis - Engr 4320, Vibrations - Engr 4350
Course proposals for Avionics & Electronics Concentration: C Programming - CS 3140, Avionics Principles - Engr 3100, Semiconductor Circuits - Engr 3110, Analog Systems - Engr 3120, Digital Systems - Engr 3130, Signals & Systems - Engr 3140, Electromagnetics and Radar - Engr 3150, Engineering Seminar - Engr 3190, Avionics Systems - Engr 4100, Embedded Software - Engr 4110, Signal Integrity - Engr 4120
Course proposals for Enterprise Engineering Emphasis: Design Using Solid Modeling - Engr 3200, Engineering Design Using Solid Modeling Lab - Engr 3200L, Human Factors & Safety in Product & Process Design - Engr 3210, Lean Production Systems - Engr 3220, Six Sigma Methods and Tools - Engr 3230, Plant Layout & Facilities Planning - Engr 3240, Automation - Engr 4210, Automation Lab - Engr 4210L, Manufacturing Information Systems - Engr 4220, Engineering Economics Analysis - Engr 4230.
MOTION
Gene Sessions: Moved to include on the cover
sheets notes from the Curriculum Committee minutes, and to
forward the above curriculum proposals to the Faculty
Senate.
Second: Dave Ferro
Outcome: The motion passed unanimously.
ELECTION TELLERS
The Executive Committee suggested asking Al Talbot, Molly
Smith and Gary Dohrer to serve as election tellers for the general
faculty election of Executive Committee members March 5-7, 2007.
MOTION
Tamara Chase: Moved to ask Al Talbot, Molly
Smith and Gary Dohrer to serve as election tellers.
Second: Wade Kotter
Outcome: The motion passed unanimously.
ANONYMOUS
REPORTINGThe Board of Regents are mandating that all the state institutions have an anonymous reporting system. The policy came about somewhat because of what has happened at the Weber County School District and at the Davis County School District, and is primarily designed for fiscal issues. EthicsPoint is an open system that can be used by anyone, faculty, staff, students. Weber State has a process that deals with breaches of policies, and items reported to EthicsPoint would eventually go through the normal channels at Weber State.
Concern - "EthicsPoint is a reporting tool that assists the university community in working together to address fraud, abuse, misconduct and other violations . . ." This statement leaves it very open ended.
The Executive Committee felt faculty would have been more receptive of the memo had it come through the Provost or the Executive Committee, and if it indicated it was designed primarily to report fiscal issues.
GRADE REPORTING TIME LINE
Mike Vaughan has put together an ad hoc committee to
look at the length of fall, spring, and summer semesters, and the
time between semesters. Also under discussion is a trimester year
with the idea of increasing summer semester from 12 weeks to 14
weeks coupled with the idea of decreasing fall and spring semesters
from 15 weeks to 14 weeks. BYU does a 14 week term. Also under
discussion is a two day Easter break rather than the week long
spring break.
Options for summer semester could include -
6 6 12
7 7 14
8 8 16
HONORS DIRECTOR
The Provost appointed Judy Elsley as Director of the
Honors Program. She will serve half time as the Director of the
Bachelor of Integrated Studies Program, and half time as Director of
the Honors Program. The Deans have been given budget cut, and budget
cut are also needed within the area of Academic Affairs outside the
academic colleges. One way of cutting expenses was to ask someone to
do double duty. This is not a consolidation of the two programs in
the future. Given a different budget, the Provost would like to have
dual
OTHER ITEMS
Stella Chang has resigned from the Admissions, Standards
and Student Affairs Committee. Joan Hubbard does not want to replace
her with a Library representative.
President Millner’s Legislative Report will be Thursday, March 1 at 2:00 p.m. The Smith Lecture Hall now holds about 150 and may not be large enough to hold everyone. It was suggested that two sessions could be held in the Smith Lecture Hall, one at 2:00 and one at 2:30.
Arrangements have been made to hold future Faculty Senate meetings in the Smith Lecture Hall.
ADJOURN
The meeting adjourned at 3:17 p.m.