February 10, 2021 Minutes

A printable PDF of this information can be found here. 

Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes

February 10, 2021

3:10pm-4:30pm

Webex

I.            Meeting was called to order at 3:12pm

II.            Approval of FS Minutes from January 27, 2021

a.       Ed Dratz moves to approve. Tomas Gedeon seconds. None opposed. No abstentions. Approved.

III.            Information Updates:

a.       Strategic Plan Focus for AY 22-23 survey

i.      Identifying the top three priorities for AY 22-23. Want senate to weigh in on those.

ii.      Chris Fastnow, Chair of Planning Council:

A.      Website has links to goals we have measures for so far

B.      What you tell us through Activity Insight is compiled for use in these goals and measures

C.      Academic Analytic-External: Uses public and proprietary data bases and compiles information

iii.      Survey in D2L

A.      Goals and Metrics-please read through those

B.      Link at the bottom of all but one metric, takes you to the strategic plan metric on the OPA website.

C.      Over the next week, please put them in rank order from 1-6

D.      If you don’t have a Faculty Senate icon on your D2L email  Michael and Bradford and they will get you added.

E.       Planning Council are looking for three goals. Want to work on a small subset so we can make headway on those goals.

1.       Want more forward thinking.

F.       Would Deans go to these goals to facilitate the approval of the expenditure of those funds?

1.       Yes, during the annual planning process, there needs to be a tie to one of those prioritized goals.

b.       President’s Executive Committee

i.      Meets every week

ii.      Big list of members

iii.      Float ideas, get feedback

iv.      Planning for orientation for students for next year.

A.      Online orientation

B.      2-3 day, in person orientation on campus

1.       300 students at a time will come and be in orientation for two days.

2.       Students can stay in housing.

3.       Faculty will be asked to participate in that.

4.       Dates have not been set, but are probably in June, July, and August

5.       All plans for the future are dictated by COVID, but all precautions will be taken during any orientation.

v.      Mentoring program proposed by VP for Student Success, Chris Kearns, and the Provost’s Office

A.      Proposal: Integration of e-portfolios for students in certain classes. Could be incorporated across campus.

1.       More accepted in some areas than others

2.       Peer mentoring-taking the best of Soph Surge and implementing them in classes

3.       Comment: Would like more information on this

4.       Evidence suggests these types of strategies are better for students.

IV.            Old Business:

a.       Undergraduate Course and Program Approvals (Second Reading)

i.      ACT 167: Mountain Biking (1/19/2021)

ii.      ACT 175: Orienteering(1/19/2021)

iii.      ACT 203: Flag Football(1/19/2021)

iv.      ACT 215: Climbing Wall Instructor(1/19/2021)

v.      ACT 218: Ultimate Disc(1/19/2021)

vi.      ECP 100: First Aid & CPR (1/19/2021)

vii.      ECP 103: Basic Lifeguard Training (1/19/2021)

viii.      HONR 319 : The Transformative Power of Music (1/27/2021)

b.       Graduate Course and Program Approvals (Second Reading)

i.      EDCI 521: Content Literacy (1/22/2021)

ii.      ENGL 562: Place-based English and Literacy Curriculum (1/22/2021)

iii.      MUSI 548: Ensemble (1/22/2021)

iv.      NRSG 619: Advanced Primary Care Skills and Procedures (1/25/2021)

v.      NRSG 629: Introduction to Advanced Practice Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing (1/25/2021)

vi.      PSPP 550: Plant Disease Control (1/25/2021)

vii.      ERTH 584: Climates of the Past, Present and Future-Title change from Quaternary Envr of Western US (1/22/2021)

V.            New Business

a.       Undergraduate Courses

i.      CSCI 443: UX Design Thinking (2/2/2021)

ii.      CSCI 445: Human Computer Interaction(2/2/2021)

iii.      EBME 100: Introduction to Biomedical Engineering (2/2/2021)

iv.      EBME 440: Biomedical Engineering Laboratory(2/2/2021)

b.       Programs: none at this time

c.       Graduate Courses: none at this time

d.       Graduate Programs

i.      PHD: Indigenous and Rural Health (2/2/2021)

A.      Excellent addition to campus

B.      Vanessa Simonds: A committee has been working on this proposal. 

1.       Designed to prepare professionals to address health issues that indigenous communities in Montana and beyond.

2.       Interdisciplinary input

i.      JJCBE

ii.      EHHD

iii.      CLS

iv.      Nursing

v.      Grad School

3.       Staff from the health community were on the committee

i.      Helped to make sure that this program fits the needs of the people it is meant to serve

ii.      Want it to benefit the students in the program

iii.      Increase training for current health workers

iv.      Practical, directly applicable 

v.      Looked for other programs. Found only one.

4.       Questions:

i.      Can contact Vanessa if interested-vanessa.simonds@montana.edu 

ii.      Craig Ogilvie: Strong supporter of this program. Commend the team for the curriculum plans, attention to try and create a grad program that is supportive and inclusive, making sure that it addresses the needs of the community and beyond. 

VI.            Policies from JAGS (Joint Academic Governance Steering Committee)

a.       Policies up for Revision-Faculty Handbook is basically our contract. All of these policies will go into that. 

b.      Please share these with your faculty prior to noon next Wednesday so we have the broadest base for feedback.

c.       Jennifer Glad is the Legal Counsel for this process.

i.      Consulting Revisions 12/11/2020

A.      Change to first paragraph under 401.1

1.       Ed Dratz: Paragraph is greatly improved from what it was before. 

2.       John Neumeier: Laura Black’s email: MSU doesn’t cover our health insurance while consulting. 

i.      Laura Black: Section 10f, page 6. Does make sense when talking about worker’s comp. But it doesn’t make sense if talking about health insurance. It’s part of our benefits. I’m still an employee. 

1.       What about my dependents? Do they lose their coverage if I’m consulting?

2.       John Neumeier (email following meeting) See  https://leg.mt.gov/content/Publications/fiscal/Session-2021/Vol-1-Statewide-Analysis-Gianforte.pdf . If you look at the section “Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education”, the details are there. The budget plan does not suggest cutting benefits. It indicates that the state will take a two-month holiday from paying into the general benefit fund, because it has a sufficient balance fund to cover fiscal needs.

ii.      Provost Mokwa: This has been in the policy from the beginning. Has been in the Faculty Handbook for three years, but that doesn’t mean it’s correct. Needs clarification. Are they talking about health insurance, or another type of insurance? Will get clarification from Legal and HR. 

iii.      John Neumeier: If we are on sabbatical in a foreign country, our health insurance covers us. This doesn’t make sense. 

3.       3: Consulting Activities-changes have been made to this section

i.      Sounds better

4.       Hongwei Gao: Days of consulting, is it 39? We will get to that section. 

5.       4d: Intellectual property language has changed

i.      John Neumeier: Find this strange. If you submit a patten application, the university does not pay to get that patten. They solicit companies to pay for it. 

1.       Ed Dratz: Confusing paragraph. It’s important and should be given more attention. 

2.       Email us with more ideas and we will take them to JAGS.

3.       John Neumeier: Look for the lead in Grants and Contracts for feedback on this. 

6.       6: Approval of consulting/avoiding conflicts of interest

i.      Time is difficult to define. 

ii.      20% or equivalent of one day per week. 

iii.      For a 12-month, 8-5 contract, it’s fine. It’s those who don’t have that regular kind of schedule that have trouble defining a “day”. 

iv.      Added Request for Approval of Outside Professional Work from Dean? Department Head? 

1.       Ed Dratz: Wouldn’t the Dept Head approve first, and then the Dean?

a.       The ability to appeal to the Dean if the Dept Head denies would be a good recourse. 

7.       Dave Roberts: What if time off request conflicts with your other duties? 

i.      Michael Brody: That is between you and the approver. I don’t think there is any language in the policy about that anymore. It could be a legitimate request. 

B.      Provost Mokwa: 

1.       The form that was circulated has not been to JAGS yet and is not in proper format. It still needs work. 

2.       I believe the insurance is referring to liability and not health insurance. 

3.       The 20%, 1 day per week is pretty standard

C.      Kevin Amende: Colleagues that will do expert witness work. Worked on personal computer but backed up on MSU computer. His hard drive did crash, and since his back up was on an MSU computer when he was subpoenaed it had other info on it. May need to add a statement on that type of thing. 

D.      John Neumeier: Section 8: Consulting During Leave Periods

1.       Is this for full time contract people? We don’t get any annual leave, so maybe that could be clarified. 

i.      Referring to when you are not on contract

2.       10d: Cannot use university employees or students in consulting. What about internship opportunities for students? Maybe this could be reworded. We are a public university; students are encouraged to work with the public. Seems strange they wouldn’t let them take advantage of this opportunity. 

ii.      Annual Review Revisions 12/30/2020

A.      Faculty in your dept have a responsibility for knowing what is in your Role and Scope

B.      If dept head finds you didn’t mean expectations in a certain area you could appeal that to the dean. 

1.       Comments were that it shouldn’t go straight up the ladder but have peer review/input. This would avoid being ‘railroaded’ by the administration. 

i.      Maybe the college P&T committee could weigh in

ii.      Ed Schmidt: Thank you for addressing this. This was the biggest comment we had with our faculty. 

C.      Ball is in your court: Look at it. Share it with your faculty. Get us comments. Would like to have a robust discussion on this at our next meeting in two weeks. 

iii.      Post Tenure Review 12/30/2020

A.      “Tenure track faculty are governed by the faculty handbook and accompanying policies and procedures.”

B.      Non-tenure track faculty at MSU are governed by the collective bargaining agreement.

C.      Where is the most current version of the annual review policy? It hasn’t changed since it was last sent out. Also, on the Faculty Senate website. 

D.      Discussion:

1.       Paul Lachapelle: Concerned about confidentiality language, section 4:

i.      Meetings of all review committees are closed

ii.      https://leg.mt.gov/bills/mca/title_0020/chapter_0030/part_0020/section_0030/0020-0030-0020-0030.html 

iii.      The right of individual privacy may be waived by the individual about whom the discussion pertains, and, in that event, the meeting must be open.

iv.      The presiding officer of any meeting may close the meeting during the time the discussion relates to a matter of individual privacy and then if and only if the presiding officer determines that the demands of individual privacy clearly exceed the merits of public disclosure. The right of individual privacy may be waived by the individual about whom the discussion pertains, and, in that event, the meeting must be open.

1.       Individuals have the ability to waive their privacy rights. 

VII.            Senators Discussion

a.       Michael Reidy

i.      Bookstore has been out of books. Communication needs to be better. Professors didn’t know until the students told them. 

ii.      Sabbaticals: What are the numbers about and who are making those decisions?

b.       Laura Black: 

i.      Concern from faculty on MUS Benefits Committee: Governor wants to take 5 million from the plan. Do we, as a senate, want to make a statement?

A.      Can I see a document on the Brightspace regarding the Gun Law issues? Bradford Watson: OCHE contacted us directly asking for our letter. That is an exception to us as State Employees. We cannot lobby the legislature. You need to do it on your own computer, on your own time, to keep yourself safe. 

B.      Ed Schmidt: Saw the letter, thought it was great, but it came from the Faculty Senate without seeing it. 

1.       It was sent by the Chair and Chair Elect, not the entire Faculty Senate. 

2.       Less than 24 hours to send that letter. 

3.       Chair and Chair Elect ARE representing the entire senate. Senate should have seen it and give input. 

i.      We told you we would act on it, and we did. 

VIII.            Public Comment

a.       Grad School: https://www.montana.edu/gradschool/wellbeing/kindness.html 

IX.            How can we communicate and support each other in COVID time?

a.       Senators’ Hours in Webex: 

i.      Tuesdays 1-2 PM and Thursdays 11 AM to 12PM

b.       Faculty Senate D2L Brightspace: discussion area for topics of interest

c.       Faculty Senate Email Group: msufacultysenate@montanaedu.onmicrosoft.com 

d.       You can always contact us through email

i.      brody@montana.edu

ii.      Bradford.watson@montana.edu 

X.            Adjourn               

a.       Ed Schmidt moves to adjourn. John Neumeier seconds. Meeting was adjourned at 4:30pm. 

REMINDER: Next meeting is February 24, 2021