EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MINUTES Approved 11-12-98
Thursday, November 5, 1998
SS115, 2:00 p.m.
PRESENT: Karen Dewey, Judy Elsley, Thom Kuehls, Judith Mitchell - Vice Chair, Diane Pugmire, Candadai Seshachari - Chair, Alden Talbot, President Thompson, Kay Brown - Secretary
EXCUSED: Dave Eisler, Bruce Handley, Monica Mize
MINUTES
Diane Pugmire: Moved to accept the minutes of October 22, 1998.
Second: Alden Talbot
Outcome: The minutes were approved.
ON-LINE COMMITTEE
Brad Carroll, Chair of the Ad Hoc On-Line Committee, reported on the committee=s work. Committee members are: Richard Alston, Tom Day, Dave Eisler, Don Gardner, Jim Jacobs, Judith Mitchell, Sally Shigley, and Peg Wherry.
The committee report discusses five areas (1) Financial and Resource Constraints, (2) Curriculum Review, (3) Guidelines for Teaching Onload, (4) Intellectual Copyright, and (5) The Capacity of WSU Online. Recommendations were presented to the Executive Committee. A copy of the final report will be attached to the minutes.
Development costs of about $98,000 were covered by tuition and one-time CE funds. Instructional costs of a little more than $96,000 were covered by tuition. Current provisions of the PPM regarding curriculum review and related issues adequately cover online courses. The committee recommended that the definition of Aclassroom@ be expanded to included online courses or that the term Aclassroom@ be dropped from the PPM wherever possible. All online courses belong to departments. The selection of courses for online development is the decision of the department chair in consultation with department faculty and subject to the approval of the college dean. PPM 5-41 adequately covers the intellectual copyright issue. To date $54,000 has been spent on hardware and software for WSU Online. This is the amount originally anticipated. At present WSU Online is not near its limiting capacity in either hardware or software. It has the capacity to handle two or three times its present load.
The consensus of the On-Line Committee is that it has met the goals it set for itself. The committee recognizes that it may meet again at a later date to revisit some issues (WSU Online growth, delivery fees) and to discuss other matters (implications of teaching online for the tenure and promotion process, the Utah Electronic Community College, and the purchase of courses from outside sources).
A full report from the Online Committee can be obtained from the WSU homepage by clicking on Information for Faculty, Online Committee.
MOTION
Judith Mitchell: Moved to place the Online Committee report on
the agenda for the November 19, 1998 Faculty Senate meeting.
Second: Diane Pugmire
Outcome: The motion passed unanimously.
FACULTY RIGHTS
A subcommittee is being formed to look into the rights and responsibilities of faculty regarding Internet access. Don Gardner, Richard Hill and Brad Carroll will serve on the committee. A few weeks ago a student was arrested in a faculty office downloading child pornography. There are national laws and state laws regarding child pornography which the FBI routinely use to monitor those who are accessing such material. The institution is put at risk from such activities. One faculty member has written Dr. Seshachari to state that faculty need to have the right to access anything from the Internet. The American Association of University Professors have addressed this issue and give some guidelines in this area. This information can be obtained from their homepage.
GRADUATION SPEAKERS
The Honorary Degree and Commencement Speaker Committee has been working to acquire more high profile speakers for graduation. Last year=s committee met in January and February of 1998 to select speakers for the December 1998 and May of 1999 commencements. The committee reviews the nominees and then forwards a list of names to the Trustees, who will make the final selection. The Trustees prioritize the names and then ask President Thompson to contact the person to see if they are available and willing to come speak at commencement. Jay Garn was selected as the commencement speaker for the December 1998 Commencement. The Trustees will meet November 10 and make a final decision on the May 1999 commencement speaker. This years Honorary Degree and Commencement Speaker Committee will select the speaker for the May 2000 commencement.
STUDENT FEES
Dr. Nandi Dyal-Chand asked student officers to consider a change in the allocation and distribution of student fees. He asked that two faculty members sit on the Student Fee Recommendation Committee. This represents a change in the composition of the Student Fee Recommendation Committee as faculty members have not previously served on this committee. Sue Harley and Devon Deppe have agreed to serve on that committee.
EARLY RETIREMENT
Bruce Handley has written an additional charge to the Salary, Benefits, Budget and Fiscal Planning Committee: In the early 1990's based on advise from the Director of Human Resource Management, Stan Greenhalgh, and upon the recommendation of the Salary Committee and the Faculty Senate, the administration revised the early retirement policy at WSU. At that time, the Salary Committee was operating on the assumption that the only early retirement policy that would meet federal law regarding discrimination on the basis of age had to terminate at age 65 and be limited by the amount of expected social security benefit at age 65. Accordingly, the current early retirement policy was recommended and implemented by the administration. Recent revisions of federal law regarding discrimination in early retirement specifically exempts tenured faculty. Since the current limitation to age 65 was a change in WSU=s policy that grew out of a legal constraint that is no longer present, the Executive Committee desires the Salary, Committee to review our current early retirement policy and make recommendations about its revision.
MEMORIAL TRIBUTE
A memorial tribute to Dr. Daniel Gallego will be given at the November 19, 1998 Faculty Senate meeting. The Sociology Department is writing the tribute to be presented to his family at that meeting.
SENATE APPOINTMENTS
PPM 1-13 Section 2 states: Any seat unoccupied, or that will obviously be unoccupied, for longer than three months for any reason shall be declared vacant by the chair. Section 8: A declared vacancy for one year or less shall be filled according to the election procedures established by the faculty of the organizational unit which elected said Senate member. . . Dean Sadler will be holding an election in the College of Social Behavioral Sciences to fill the vacant Senate seat.
DEAN APPOINTMENTS
In regard to Dean appointments, PPM 1-17, VI states: . . . AActing@ positions must be authorized by the Academic Vice-President for no more than a one-year term. Roger Nichols has been appointed as the Assistant Dean in the College of Health Professions and Catherine Zublin has been appointed as Associate Dean in the College of Arts & Humanities. There needs to be an official letter in their file stating that this is a one year appointment. Dave Eisler will address this issue at the next Executive Committee meeting.
PPM 1-13 Article I, Section 1 states: The general faculty membership shall be composed of faculty members holding full-time appointments, with the rank of professor, associate professor, assistant professor, instructor or instructor specialist, and whose primary function is that of instruction but who may also hold administrative appointments at the organizational level of department chair or lower. . . In accordance with this policy Catherine Zublin will need to be replaced on the Faculty Senate.
ADJOURN
The meeting adjourned at 3:05 p.m.