January 26, 2022 Minutes

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Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes (Leon Johnson 346)

01.26.2022

3:10pm – 4:30pm

Please wear a mask.

WebEx for those not able to attend in person:

I.            Call to Order

a.       The meeting was called to order at 3:11pm

II.            Attendance Reminder

III.            Approval of FS Minutes from December 08, 2021

a.       Clem Izurieta moves to approve. Andrew Hill seconds. None opposed. No abstentions. Approved.

IV.            FYI items

a.       MyInfo Rolling Upgrades

i.      https://www.montana.edu/uit/pmo/currentprojects/myinfoupgrade/  

b.       Winter Traction Aid Program – Free Pair every Three Years

i.      https://www.montana.edu/srm/programs/icegrippers.html  

c.       Box Migration, no longer available in March 2022

i.      https://www.montana.edu/uit/boxtransition/ 

ii.      Trainings available - https://www.montana.edu/uit/boxtransition/boxqasessions.html 

d.       Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences internal grants

i.      Scholarship & Creativity Grants Program, due March 1, 2022 https://www.montana.edu/research/internal_awards/s_and_c_grants_fy2022.html  

ii.      Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (HASS) Grant Program, due March 1, 2022 https://www.montana.edu/research/internal_awards/hass_rfp2022.html 

e.       Senator Hour, Monday 11:30-12:30 and Thursday 10:30-11:30 via WebEx

V.            Information Updates: 

a.       Panopto

i.      https://ato.montana.edu/panopto/ 

ii.      MSU will transition from Techsmith to Panopto during the spring and summer of 2022.

iii.      Many training sessions will be available

b.       Chosen Name

i.      The university recognizes that many of its students, faculty and staff identify themselves using names other than their legal names. A chosen name is a name that an individual adopts. As long as the use of this different name is not for the purpose of misrepresentation, the university offers the opportunity to use a chosen name in addition to legal name. 

ii.      https://www.montana.edu/chosenname/

iii.      https://www.montana.edu/uit/chosennameproject/

iv.      Can also go through Myinfo

1.       Some that have tried via Myinfo say they get an error code.

v.      Anything non-legal will be updated to your chosen name

vi.      Chosen Name counts for MSU as of January 20:

1.       Total individuals utilizing the service = 139

2.       Students using the service = 97

3.       Employees using the service = 42

c.       Learning Management System

i.      MUS task force

ii.                          

1.       What experience do our students and faculty expect from a modern LMS?

2.       What features and tools do we most need?

3.       What features and tools will we need as our offerings and pedagogies evolve?

4.         

a.       Matt Herman-Will tribal colleges be a part of this?

i.      Provost Mokwa-Plan is to try and roll them in. Hope is that they will participate in this.

d.       Environmental Health and Safety Policy

i.      Chief Compliance Officer Camie Bechtold and Director of Safety and Risk Management Chris Catlett

ii.      https://www.montana.edu/legalcounsel/proposed/2021-12%20EHS%20Policy%20Final%20Draft%20-%20For%20Institutional%20Review_updated.docx 

iii.      Policy Purpose

1.       Ensure that Montana State University meets its mission in compliance with applicable Federal, State and Local Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) regulations, laws, rules, and standards.

a.       Extensive scope including OSHA, NRC, EPA, USDA, DHS, NIH, NFPA, MCA, MDEQ, BOR

2.       Create a safe campus environment

iv.      EHS Policy Background

v.      MSU adopted its EHS Policy in January 2014.

vi.      Substantial organizational & programmatic changes have occurred since adoption.

1.       Office of Research Compliance

2.       BioSafety & Radiation Safety Program improvements

vii.      Revision Goals

1.       Incorporate the Office of Research Compliance – Accreditation comment;

2.       Improve consistency in roles & responsibilities; and

3.       Shift programmatic content from the policy arena to the program arena.

viii.      Change Summary

1.       Shortened introductory sections for clarity

2.       Added ORC to Roles & Responsibilities section

3.       Added ORC Committees & relationship to MSU EHS Committee

4.       Edited out programmatic elements

a.       hazard control/rating;

b.       chemical inventory elements

c.       Inspections;

d.       Workers’ Compensation details.

ix.      Policy Contents

1.       Intro & Purpose

2.       Admin Agency & Authority

3.       Scope

4.       EHS Programs

5.       Responsibilities

6.       Committees

7.       Compliance Guidelines

8.       Communications

9.       Inspections

10.   Reporting

11.   Training

12.   Recordkeeping

 x.      Responsibilities

1.       400.50 Managers, Supervisors, Faculty, and Principal Investigators

a.       Managers, Supervisors, Faculty and Principal Investigators (PI) are responsible for:

b.       Ensuring effective implementation of and compliance with EHS Programs, policies, procedures, and guidelines as they relate to their operations.

c.       Ensuring that all employees and students receive the appropriate EHS training as well as instruction regarding general safe work practices and instructions specific to their job duties. Such education and training shall take place prior to assignment to potentially hazardous activities.

d.       Ensuring documentation of all EHS training of employees and students in their areas of responsibility is maintained.

e.       Developing and maintaining an inventory of hazardous materials present in all work areas within the department. (SRM and ORC can provide assistance if requested.)

f.        Posting appropriate safety notices and/or procedures in conspicuous locations.

g.       400.50 Managers, Supervisors, Faculty, and Principal Investigators

h.       Managers, Supervisors, Faculty and Principal Investigators (PI) are responsible for:

i.         Ensuring effective implementation of and compliance with EHS Programs, policies, procedures, and guidelines as they relate to their operations.

j.         Ensuring that all employees and students receive the appropriate EHS training as well as instruction regarding general safe work practices and instructions specific to their job duties. Such education and training shall take place prior to assignment to potentially hazardous activities.

k.       Ensuring documentation of all EHS training of employees and students in their areas of responsibility is maintained.

l.         Developing and maintaining an inventory of hazardous materials present in all work areas within the department. (SRM and ORC can provide assistance if requested.)

m.     Posting appropriate safety notices and/or procedures in conspicuous locations.

xi.      Points of Emphasis

1.       Responsibility by role

2.       Safety Coordinator Role

a.       Additional liaison to SRM/ORC

b.       Appointment Considerations

xii.      Contacts

1.       Chris Catlett, Director, SRM

a.       994-4146

2.       Camie Bechtold, Chief Compliance Officer

a.       994-2030

e.       Missing Student Policy

i.      Also under consideration by UC

ii.      Updated for compliance purposes

f.        Provost Mokwa

i.      Spring Awards for Excellence are listed each day on the main MSU website

ii.      Today’s award is the Betty Coffey award. Thank you to Jerry Coffey. Betty was the first tenured female at MSU.

g.       Family Advocate

i.      Provost Bob Mokwa, Chief HR officer Jeannette Grey Gilbert and Senior Diversity and Inclusion Officer Ariel Donohue

1.       Started with NSF grant in 2012-1017

2.       Take those practices and learn from them

a.       Enhance

b.       Expand

3.       Work in progress

a.       Not going away

4.       Can’t rely on a couple of faculty members to talk to each person about this. 

a.       Will have 50 TT candidates interviewed this spring

5.       In a learning stage. 

6.       Also action stage

a.       Need to capture all of the good things 

b.       What else do we need to be doing?

c.       What else do they need?

7.       Want to put together a smaller group to see where we’re at and where we can grow.

a.       Ask for input

b.       Welcome faculty to take part in faculty forums

8.       Asked for volunteers and now have more than we need

9.       Questions:

a.       Megan Van Emon

i.      Who will be collecting data on the modified duties…

1.       Have recently had this data shared with us

ii.      Who will oversee the family peer rooms, point of contact….

iii.      Will the program be going away?

1.       No, the program isn’t going away.

iv.      Leave is a difficulty area to paint with broad brushes. 

1.       Please reach out to HR with specific questions

b.       Ariel Donohue

i.      Thank you to those faculty who have served as faculty advocates. It’s an important role.

ii.      Opportunity to develop websites and other ways to get info out quickly and widely. 

c.       Jerry Coffey

i.      How many vacancies are there and what are the challenges with equipment and retention?

1.       100’s of vacancies across staff, admin., student success, etc.

2.       Have had a lot of vacancies in these areas recently. Focusing on compensation.

3.       Focused on retention. 

4.       Flexible where we can, to attract and keep people

5.       Large exodus of staff during the pandemic, but it is leveling off now.

6.       Focusing on what we can change and where we can address compensation.

ii.      Provost Mokwa: Veil of hiring moratorium has been lifted at MSU. Will work back through our normal process. Not just hiring, retaining is important. Have doubled the merit pool for raises Increase the raises we grant at promotion (10%) to associate and to full (20%). Want to reward them for that effort. 

1.       It is not retroactive, but we will work through that. At raise time, will look back at those who have already been promoted and try to provide backfill.

d.       Colter Ellis

i.      Need clarification: Can I utilize a peer advisor before it gets to the HR level, or will that person no longer been available for me to talk to?

1.       You can talk to whoever you want to or need to. 

2.       Important that it is consistent across the departments. Can’t ask the few people now to work all of the candidates. We need to get help, so they don’t have to do it all while teaching, etc. 

3.       Want folks to reach out to HR to be sure they are getting the correct information, non-conflicting information about the resources available to them. 

4.       Seek advice, seek council, and help each other, but when it comes to certain things, HR is the best resource. 

5.       It will take a partnership for these efforts to continue and to grow. 

e.       Andrew Hansen

i.      Appreciated the Family Advocacy Program for candidates for jobs.

ii.      How do we best interface with the program in a short time frame? We have candidates coming in soon.

1.       Business Partners are the contact person. Any candidate, not just finalists, can be referred to your business partner. 

2.       Business Partners listed on the HR website.

f.        Clem Izurieta

i.      In department meetings, classified staff don’t speak up. What are we doing for them?

1.       Many are part of a bargaining unit

2.       Multi position strategic pay increase-between 8 and 12 of these have been approved recently. 

a.       Estimation: approaching to being able to triple the amount of raises to classified staff

i.      1161 staff

g.       Provost Mokwa

i.      Raises for tenure track faculty 

ii.      What about NTTs?

1.       Starting to look at NTTs, over .5 FTE, compare to national benchmarks

2.       Work in progress

h.       Sarah Stoneback

i.      Main feedback that you need from faculty that would be helpful?

1.       Look at the work the advocates have done

2.       What are the biggest concerns or questions that candidates have?

3.       Concerns about our leave policy

a.       Some leave policies are in Montana State Code

4.       Other areas that faculty feel HR could be more supportive

5.       Training is also an element of this process. When it is appropriate for a candidate to reach out, etc. 

i.         Dan Flory

i.      How does Sarah Rushing feel about the transition?

1.       Grateful to faculty I’ve worked with. Have worked collaboratively with HR. 

2.       Sad that I haven’t been consulted at all on this process.

3.       Very sad that Ariel Donohue worked so hard to get the Family Advocacy program under her roof only to be told that it was over, and that Sarah needed to wrap it up. 

j.         Is there a website or blurb that I can share? 

i.      Website was updated and should be back online in the next week or so.

VI.            Undergraduate Courses and Programs

a.       Courses – First Reading

i.      None at this time

b.       Courses – Second Reading

i.      MART 122 : Introduction to Adobe (Spring 2022)

ii.      MUSI 225 : Jazz Improvisation and Concepts I (Fall 2022)

iii.      MUSI 351 : Collaborative Piano, title changing from Accompanying

c.       Programs

i.      None at this time

d.       Program Inactivation – First Reading

i.      HIC-CAS : Certificate of Applied Science in Health Information Coding

1.       Based on feedback from industry partners from hospitals, medical offices, and services across SW Montana, we have decided to adjust our existing Health Information Coding CAS to include more office support as medical billing is often done by medical office staff. For this reason, we are requesting that our existing Health Information Coding CAS be put into moratorium and are designing a “Healthcare Administration Professional” CAS to be submitted for review soon.

VII.            Graduate Courses and Programs 

a.       Courses – First Reading

i.      MB 558 : Human Pathophysiology (Spring 2022)

ii.      CSCI 546 : Advanced Artificial Intelligence (Spring 2023)

iii.      PSCI 595 : Capstone Professional Portfolio (Spring 2022)

b.       Course Changes – First Reading

i.      BIOE 536 : A Study of Local Ecosystems for Teachers

1.       Change of credits from 1 to 2

2.       Changes to learning outcomes

ii.      ERTH 523 : Weather for Elementary and Middle School Teachers

1.       "and Middle School" was added to the title

2.       Credits have changed from 1 credit, to 3

iii.      NRSG 623 : Advanced Clinical III: Primary Care for Aging Families 

1.       Title changed from NRSG 623 : Advanced Clinical II: Psychotherapeutic Modalities

iv.      PHSX 571 : Electric Circuits and Magnetism for Teachers

1.       Credit change from 2 to 3 credits

c.       Courses – Second Reading

i.      MUSE 531 : Contemporary Issues in Music Education (Summer 2022)

ii.      MUSI 501 : Analytical Techniques (Summer 2022)

iii.      MUSI 502 : Musicology (Spring 2023)

d.       Programs / Certificates –First Reading

i.      CERT : Graduate Certificate in Science Teaching in STEM

ii.      AEE-CERT : Graduate Certificate in Applied Economic Analysis

e.       Program Changes – First Reading

i.      IIP-PHD : Individual Interdisciplinary Doctor of Philosophy

1.       Change to Program Description

2.       Addition of learning outcomes

3.       Changes to Program Details, Curriculum requirements

VIII.            Old Business

a.       None at this time.

IX.            New Business / Senators’ Open Conversation

a.       Dan Flory

i.      Suggestion that the library do away with journal subscriptions. Is that correct?

1.       The Library is considering a change to Elsevier subscription

2.       Search for individual articles and the library will pay for them individually. This will greatly reduce cost. 

3.       This has not been decided. It is still in the works. 

4.       Library will be coming to speak to senate in two weeks.

5.       There wouldn’t be any change to what you would have access to. 

b.       Sarah Stoneback

i.      Regarding masks, specifically for music/voice students: will there be talk of lifting masks in the future?

1.       Provost Mokwa: It is in place until it is not. Understand the impact on music students. 

2.       Michael and Bradford will be a part of those conversations going forward. 

 X.            Public Comment

a.       None

XI.            Adjourn

a.       Peter Tillack moves to adjourn. Ed Schmidt seconds. Meeting was adjourned at 4:31.

REMINDER: Next meeting is Wednesday, February 9 from 3:15pm-4:30pm in Leon Johnson 346