MSU FACULTY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES February 19, 2003 Members Present: Marlow for Gipp, McDermott, White, Kommers, Schlotzhauer, Metz for Linker, Leech, Taylor, Howard, Stewart, Jones, Yoo, Conant, Weaver, Amend, Levy, Bogar, Jelinski, Idzerda, Pratt, Fisher, Prawdzienski, Kempcke, Knight. Members Absent: Young, Morrill, Giroux, Anderson, Chem Engr, Nehrir, Lefcort, Locke, Engl, Bond, Lynch, Lynes-Hayes, Hoffman. Others Present: Bandyopadhyay, Dooley, Fedock. The meeting was called to order by Chair Rich Howard at 4:10 PM. A quorum was present. The minutes of the February 5, 2003, meeting were approved as distributed. Report from ASMSU - Trevor Blyth. - The Montana Association of Students (MAS) is concerned that the student regent, Christian Hur, has been appointed to a third year on the Board of Regents. The concern arises from the fact that students do not feel he represents the students and their opinions and that his reappointment by the Governor prevents another qualified student within the system from gaining the experience provided as student regent. - Trevor outlined the process provided in the state constitution for appointment of the student regent. Students feel that the process was not followed. - MAS is pursuing avenues for remedying the situation or for at least having a rightful voice in the selection of student regents in the future. - During discussion, Trevor was invited to contact Faculty Council if support of the Council could be of value in this matter. Chair's report - Rich Howard. - The February 5 presentation by Doug Young on Montana's economy and taxation issues was well received and a much larger-than-expected number of people attended. - February 20, Faculty Council and Faculty Senate leaders from the university system will meet with Elaine Hairston of Academic Search Consultants, the company hired to facilitate the search for a new Commissioner of Higher Education. - Topics to be addressed during the meeting include: - Identifying challenges to higher education in Montana during the next years, and - Identifying the characteristics desirable in candidates. - Input regarding the two topics may be e-mailed to Rich by tomorrow a.m. - Some characteristics that should be considered include: - Ability to interface with the legislature, - Awareness of the role of the smaller schools within the system, - Ability to develop consensus on the Board of Regents, and - Ability to develop a method for providing funding flexibility on individual campuses. - During discussion, it was asked if Montana's regents attend national conferences designed for members of boards of regents. According to the Provost, several Montana regents have attended these conferences in the past. Discussion by the entire Board about information gained at the conferences is valuable, but time for such discussion has recently been very limited because of the structure of the board meetings. - There will be a special Board of Regents meeting March 3 to write the advertisement for the position. - An issue that will likely come up again, even though it has already been discussed by the Regents and voted on, is the role of the Commissioner. The issue is whether the Commissioner should be a CEO or a Secretary to the Board with the two presidents sharing leadership and the Board managing the system. - The first option (CEO) has been approved by a vote of the Board. - According to Chair Howard, states using a CEO model appear to manage better resource-wise with their university systems. - On February 13, UGC Steering Committee met with the President. - Issues he addressed were the legislative session and budgets. - Current enrollment at MSU was also addressed. Enrollment appears to be ahead of last year but down some from projections. - Chair Howard and Chair Elect Jones met with Provost Dooley and Vice Provost Fedock today. Topics discussed include the status of two university-wide searches and the next catalog. - The searches for the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and for the Assistant Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education (Summer Session) have attracted some strong candidates. - No new money is needed for the positions because of occurrences and reorganization within the Provost's Office. - Although there is broad support for filling the positions, before the Provost offers the position to a candidate, he invites input from faculty about whether they think it is of higher benefit to MSU to fill the positions or to leave the positions vacant and use the financial resources elsewhere. - The academic calendar for '04 and '05 has been determined for the next catalog. Because Labor Day falls on a later date during the two years (September 6 and September 5), classes will begin August 30 and August 29, respectively. - During comments by Faculty Council, it was requested that there be discussion of ways to manage problems caused to the teaching schedule by several one-day holidays in each semester, especially during Spring Semester when many of the holidays fall on a Monday. - As follow-up on the Council discussion with Dean of Graduate Studies McLeod regarding a liaison between Graduate Council and Faculty Council, Chair Howard announced that: - Craig Stewart will be the liaison between the two Councils for the remainder of the year. - Dean McLeod has invited Faculty Council to join a Graduate Council meeting on Friday, April 4, at 10:00 a.m. Faculty Affairs Committee report - Walter Metz. - Chair Howard and Legal Counsel Leslie Taylor are working out some issues on the two proposed Faculty Handbook changes approved by Faculty Council and forwarded to the administration. There will be further discussion at Faculty Council regarding the issues. - John Amend moved approval of amendments to Faculty Handbook Section 802.00 (Definitions for Formal Review of Faculty). The motion was seconded and carried. The amendment will be forwarded to the President for approval. - Jack Jelinski moved approval of amendments to Faculty Handbook Sections 463, 610, 618 and 730 (Post-Tenure Review). The motion was seconded. - During the ten-day faculty comment period, some issues with Sections 461 and 462 were brought up. Because they concern existing parts of the Handbook, the issues will be considered separately from this proposal, at a later date. - During discussion, it was suggested a counterbalance of faculty rewards (sabbaticals or other professional development) be provided along with this policy. This will be discussed in greater detail at another meeting. - The motion was approved. The amendment will be forwarded to the President for approval. - Because of the lateness of the hour, the amendment to Section 810.00 (Responsibility of the Candidate to Submit Dossier) will be discussed at the February 26 meeting. As there was no further business, the meeting adjourned at 5:05 PM. Joann Amend, Secretary Richard Howard, Chair