Minutes from October 28, 2020

1. Welcome and announcements
   1. November and December meetings are being moved up a week due to holidays and shortened to one hour from 2:00-3:00 p.m.
   2. Board of Regents will meet on 11/19.
2. Remarks from President Cruzado
   1. We are now celebrating the 10^th anniversary of Planning Council. This is one of the most successful councils that we have. The adoption of discipline in strategic planning is amazing. Two weeks ago, we had our midcycle review and visiting team noted the discipline people were exhibiting with regard to the strategic plan. Congratulations and great job!
   2. Hoping to finish the semester in person and to have both last spring’s and this fall’s commencement ceremony. Faculty, students and staff have been wonderful in sticking to the Covid-19 guidelines. Covid threw a wrench into implementing our strategic plan, but it did show how flexible it is. We do not need to rewrite the strategic plan for Covid. We need to embrace this time and think about how we will reflect that in the future. Seeking recommendations on what to do with the strategic plan.
   3. Planning Council members have been great plan shepherds. “Disciplined thought, disciplined people, disciplined action.” Please continue talking about and pushing the strategic plan.
   4. Questions and Answers:
      1. Stephanie Grey asked if President Cruzado was recommending to take the opportunity to change the strategic plan and build in metrics regarding online learning or to not worry about its deadlines due to COVID? President: Planning Council should have the peace of mind that she will not be disappointed if we are not perfect at the end of the strategic plan rather than changing the plan to meet the new reality. We may exceed some goals and make some progress but not meet other goals.
      2. President Cruzado thinks faculty and researchers have done a wonderful job, and Jason has been a great liaison to outside agencies. The faculty has had impressive intellectual growth from this crisis. A new legislative session starts in January. The agenda is still being put together. Important projects will be on the agenda, including the second allotment of $15 million research dollars for MREDI.
3. Approval of 9/23 minutes – approved
4. Discussion
   1. Review remaining timeline change proposals
      1. Grad program reviews (1.2.4) – Craig Ogilvie
         1. Push back deadlines one term on Univ Graduate Council’s recommendation.
         2. UGC charging a committee to design the review rather than conduct it, asking departments to review their programs, armed with placement data from Academic Analytics.
      2. Grand Challenge metrics (2.1.2) – Jason Carter
         1. Research Council meets tomorrow and will finalize this. They agreed to take this on and will make recommendations to Planning Council by the end of spring ‘21 semester.
         2. Per Chris Fastnow, we want to see a metric that shows are making an external impact. Not just what we produce or provide at MSU.
         3. Regarding the expectation of number of metrics for the Grand Challenges, Chris Fastnow says 1-3 will suffice.
         4. Working on identification of grant projects tied to Grand Challenges through the Electronic Proposal Clearance Form.
      3. External partnerships (3.2.2 and 3.2.3) – Kim Obbink
         1. All the impacts and delays we have faced get amplified when working with external partners. E.g. four of the six external partners funded in seed grants last year were unable to meet their goals. Rural communities have really been affected by COVID.
         2. Push back 3.2.2. The ad hoc committee should make a draft recommendation to OEC by fall ‘21. OEC should bring the plan to Planning and University Councils by spring ’22.
         3. Push back 3.2.3 to spring ‘21. The ad hoc committee should make a draft recommendation to OEC by the end of spring ‘21. OEC should bring the plan to Planning and University Councils by fall ‘21.
         4. Craig Ogilvie suggested that if there are conversations with external partners about research, questions about what education is needed should be added.
         5. Stephanie Gray said Gallatin College has also relied on community input for program development so she seconds Ogilvie’s suggestion.
         6. Kim Obbink thinks we have a lot of this data but that we are not communicating the information between departments well.
   2. Approve or amend proposals on last month’s actions with near-term timelines
      1. Interdisciplinary Scholarship (2.2.4) – approved
      2. Diversity and Inclusion (3.3.5) – approved
         1. Cati Carmody asked if Ariel Donohue is working with the BIPOC Advisory Council. Donohue answered that yes, the two intersect heavily.
      3. Sustainability (3.3.6) – approved
      4. Jason Carter would like to advance the three that were presented today.
      5. No one objected, so Chris Fastnow advanced all six proposals.
      6. Fastnow charged the Council with rereading the strategic plan with an eye toward our current environment so we can have discussions in our November meeting.
   3. Mid-cycle accreditation visit/Intentional Focus Strategy Effectiveness Team (IFSET) reports – Tami Eitle
      1. Our weakness in prior assessment cycles was in convincing them that we are using assessments to plan and make improvements and that we are funding areas that need improvement.
      2. The most notable takeaway from the recent visit is to apply this to the long-term projects we have so much invested in.
      3. Chris Fastnow:  This is an opportunity to use these assessments to help us better understand progress or lack of progress on the strategic plan.
      4. Some IFSET reports will be posted on the website.
      5. Fastnow recommends that as we move into budget prioritization, Planning Council take these into account.
      6. Planning Council gave a big thank you to Tami Eitle for her work on accreditation and congratulations on her new position at Indiana University-Purdue University.
   4. Report on Goal 3.3 – Ian Godwin
      1. Metric 3.3.1 does not have a tracking method yet. It should measure projects between curricular or academic units and co-curricular units like Student Success. OSP grants would be a subset of the data.
      2. Metric 3.3.2 shows grant data from OSP through Activity Insight. Ian Godwin showed a Tableau visualization that can be found on Planning Council’s website. 2018 had more awards, but 2019 showed an increase in the number of awards per number of applications. There were fewer applications, but more were successful.
         1. Rob Maher asked if we are making any effort to increase the number of applications. Godwin referred him to Jason Carter or Extension. We are really measuring the latent collaborations.
         2. Jason Carter: The objective is to have an Office of Research Development to encourage and facilitate these collaborations. E.g. we just got funding from the Governor’s office for an interdisciplinary project among four colleges (Ag, Engineering, CLS, and EDDH).
      3. Metric 3.3.3: Godwin showed a Tableau visualization of salary comparisons that can be found on the Planning Council website. Progress in staff salaries and flat in faculty for the three years shown.
      4. Metric 3.3.4 shows a slight increase in participation in professional and personal development activities among employees from 2018 to 2019 and a drop in 2020 due to Covid-19. The spring well check was canceled. The visualization can be found on Planning Council’s website.
         1. Tracy Dougher asked about some creative wellness activities being done in individual departments that are not connected to well checks.
         2. Godwin: HR is planning to give some data on this metric, and faculty can report their professional development/trainings through Activity Insight.
         3. Fastnow: There are different ways of moving this forward. Some can be reported to supervisors, but there is a disincentive to report some wellness activities like mental health activities to a supervisor.
      5. Goals 3.3.5 and 3.3.6 will be measured and reported on by their respective committees (Diversity and Inclusion and Sustainability).
   5. Fall Institutional Report (if time) - postponed to next meeting. It will be posted to the website next week.
5. Other business
   1. Rob Maher asked John How for an update on campus construction projects. John How:  Everything is on schedule. In fact, Bobcat Athletic Center is ahead of schedule. American Indian Hall will open early fall next year. Romney Oval work is still progressing. There will be one more concrete pour before it gets too cold, and Romney Hall should reopen in 2022.
   2. Katie Ivester asked if part-time NTTs are excluded from the metrics for goal 3.3.3 because there’s not an industry standard for them. Ian Godwin confirmed that is correct.
6. Public comment – none

Next meeting:  November 18, 2:00-3:00 p.m., via WebEx

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