April 3, 2024 Minutes

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Slide Presentation

Faculty Senate Meeting

Leon Johnson 346

April 3, 2024

3:15pm-4:30pm

I.            Call to Order 

a.      Meeting was called to order at 3:21pm.

II.            Approval of FS Minutes from March 20, 2024

a.      Paul Gannon moves to approve. Julie Ruff seconds. None opposed. Approved. 

III.            FYI Items 

a.      SmartBuy, MSU’s new purchasing and procurement platform, will be released soon. UBS is offering multiple 2-hour training sessions in anticipation. No sign up is necessary, just visit this Teams link at one of the below times: 
April 2nd 10 am and 2 pm

April 3rd 9 am

April 5th 9 am

April 8th 10 am

April 9th 12 noon

April 15th 11 am

April 16th 9 am

April 17th 8 am and 1 pm

April 18th 12 noon and 3 pm

April 19th 10 am

April 22nd 11 am

April 23rd 9 am

April 24th 8 am and 1 pm

April 25th 12 noon

b.      26-month pay. Deadline to return the form is May 17, 2024, if want to take part. 

c.       Clarification on Distance Learning Policy

i.      Moving a course online due to travel, injury or illness is not governed by this policy. 

IV.            Information Updates

a.      Update on faculty compensation from Provost Bob Mokwa and VP Terry Leist

i.      Slide presentation

ii.      Questions

1.      In state vs out of state ratio? Have seen a decline in residents and offsetting with non-resident.

2.      How does the increase in pay compare to inflation? None of our salary gains have met the inflation growth.

3.      When comparing pay, do you look across disciplines? Not all disciplines pay the same pay.

4.      Is it still a priority to raise the allocation we get from the state for salaries, or is that what fed our 4% raises the last two years? It is a matter of balancing the budget and educating those who make the decisions (BOR and the Commissioner).

5.      Employees are a high priority when we are in discussions with the BOR. Should see a small increase this cycle.

6.      Do not anticipate that the raises for promotion to full professor pay to change for the near future.

7.      These numbers represent tenure and tenure track faculty.

8.      NTTs do get merit raises. They also get promotion raises.

9.      Hiring pools: Does anyone track junior faculty who left us early in their career due to not being able to afford to live here? We do have some of that information. Should be tracked in Applicant Tracking System. It depends on who is entering the information. Have seen it more with staff positions.

10.  Are we gathering exit info for those who leave? Center for Faculty Excellence may track this.

11.  Do you have any sense of what percent we may have come out of the next session? We have not heard anything. Will be this fall before we start hearing the information out of the Commissioner’s office.

12.  The request will be sent to the Commissioner’s office to increase the amount toward employer contributions to benefit.

13.  Has it ever come up that the state could help with a down payment for new faculty homes, then they could get a percentage of the profits when the home sells? It has been discussed, but it is not our role as a land grant institution to be in the real estate business.

V.            Old Business

a.      Changes to the Graduate Catalog

i.      Eligibility for Assistantships

1.      Language on “departmental or university limits” was removed.

2.      Chris Posbergh moves to untable. Maggie Thorsen seconds. None opposed. Untabled. 

A.      Discussion

i.      Do the limits that were in the language still exists? Does the omission cause a lack in information/transparency? “Eligible” doesn’t mean they will get an assistantship. 

B.      Chris Posbergh moves to approve. Karie Orendorff seconds. None opposed. Approved.

ii.      Academic Standing 

1.      The following sentence was removed: “Committees should not base their decision solely on one item, e.g., a qualifier exam."

2.      The sentence was added: Committees should weigh the student’s overall performance and come to a consensus before making their decision.

3.      The following sentence was added: “Note, comprehensive exams (section 5.3.5), thesis (section 5.2.9) and dissertation defenses (section 5.3.6) are handled separately and are described in separate sections of graduate school policy.”

4.      More info in slide presentation

5.      Discussion

A.      Still have issues with qualifying exam. In our dept. students take this exam early on before they have a committee. 

i.      Should be forming a committee in the second or third semester. I would encourage departments to form committees asap. 

B.      Students felt the process of a holistic committee approach was not transparent and too subjective. If a student is put on academic suspension and they appeal, will the graduate school back the department in a court case, if it comes to that? 

i.      If this gets approved, departments should specify what guidance they give committees who are making these decisions. 

ii.      Student can appeal all the way up through the BOR to the court system. 

6.      Rob Maher moves to approve. Julie Ruff seconds. One opposed. Approved. 

VI.            Undergraduate Courses and Programs 

a.      Courses – First Reading 

i.      ITS 299: Capstone

ii.      GPHY 408: Advanced Geospatial Analysis for Earth Sciences

b.      Course Changes – First Reading

i.      BGEN 104US: First Year Business Seminar

1.      Title change from Business & Entrepreneurship fundamentals Seminar

ii.      PLTT 298: Internship/Cooperative Education or Final Project

1.      Title changed from Internship/Cooperative Education

c.       Course Inactivations – First Reading

i.      MAS 260: USAF Aerospace Weapons

VII.            Graduate Courses and Programs 

a.      Courses – First Reading

i.      BGEN 525: Life Design and Career Development 2

ii.       BGEN 570: Business Law, Government, Society, and Ethics

iii.       BMGT 535: Applied Data Science

iv.      BMGT 560 : Innovation and Technology Strategy

v.       BMGT 565: Operations and Supply Chain Management

vi.      BMGT 570: Leading for Influence

vii.      BMKT 580: New Product Innovation

viii.       BMKT 585: New Product Introduction

ix.      NRSG 651: FNP Diagnosis & Management I

x.       NRSG 652: FNP Diagnosis & Management II

xi.      NRSG 653: FNP Diagnosis & Management III

xii.       NRSG 654: FNP Role Transition

xiii.       NRSG 655: FNP Advanced Clinical I

xiv.      NRSG 656: FNP Advanced Clinical II

xv.       NRSG 657: FNP Advanced Clinical III

xvi.      NRSG 658: FNP Advanced Clinical IV

xvii.      NRSG 661: PMHNP Diagnosis & Management I

xviii.       NRSG 662: PMHNP Diagnosis & Management II

xix.      NRSG 663: PMHNP Diagnosis & Management III

xx.      NRSG 664: PMHNP Diagnosis & Management IV

xxi.      NRSG 665 : PMHNP Advanced Clinical I

xxii.       NRSG 666: PMHNP Advanced Clinical II

xxiii.      NRSG 667: PMHNP Advanced Clinical III

xxiv.      NRSG 668: PMHNP Advanced Clinical IV

VIII.            Senators’ Open Conversation 

a.      Rob Maher: Strategic plan 3.3.3., our goal to meet 100% of median. Has slipped in percentage. Would like to know why. Maybe we should be finding endowments through the foundation for faculty salaries. 

b.      Gilbert Kalonde: Would like new food in the meeting. 

IX.            Public Comment 

a.      Albert Reyes, Grad Student: Thank you to Craig Ogilvie, dean of the Graduate School. 

X.            Adjourn 

a.      Karie Orendorff moves to adjourn. Scott McCalla seconds. Meeting adjourned at 4:30pm.