MSU-BOZEMAN FACULTY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES September 20, 2000 PRESENT: Sherwood, Linker, Leech, Benham, Stewart, Harkin, Nehrir, Mooney, Lefcort, McMahon, McClure, Lansverk, Levy, Bogar, Bond, Jelinski, Kirkpatrick, McKinsey, Fisher, Prawdzienski. ABSENT: Young, Hatfield, Morrill, Miller, White, Anderson, Kommers, Peed, Howard, Larsen, Jost, Locke, Lynch, Butterfield, Scott, Griffith, Carlstrom. The regularly scheduled meeting was called to order by Chair Elect John Sherwood at 4:10 PM. It was determined a quorum was present. The minutes of the September 6, 2000, meeting were approved as distributed. Chair's report - John Sherwood. - Chair Ron Larsen is attending a Board of Regents budget meeting in Butte today. The Chair and Chair Elect will attend the Board of Regents meeting which follows tomorrow and Friday. - A two-page Executive Summary for MSU-Bozeman, "FY 2001 Budget Priorities and Status" was distributed (attached for members absent). - Student Activities Director Patti Inskeep has requested that as many faculty as possible participate in Homecoming and that faculty wear blue and gold on the Friday of Homecoming (Oct. 6). - A report from the Provost can be found on the MSU homepage. - The Faculty Council Chair indicated to the President and Provost that communication between central administration and faculty needs to be improved, and the best way to get information out to faculty is to mail it on the faculty/staff listserve. We are pleased that it appears we were heard. - The report can be discussed at Faculty Council if anyone has questions about any of the items. - The Strategic Planning and Budget Review Committee resolution approved at the September 13 University Governance Council meeting was delivered to the President September 15. There are indications that the recommendations will be accepted. - David Scheerer, College of Arts and Architecture, has agreed to be nominated as Chair of the Faculty Affairs Committee. The floor was opened to further nominations. As there were none, nominations were closed, and Jack Jelinski moved approval of David Scheerer as Chair of the Faculty Affairs Committee. The motion was seconded and it carried unanimously. Common Questions for President Candidate Reference Checks. - A proposed list of questions to be asked during MSU president candidate reference checks and a list of institutions at which the three candidates have worked were distributed. - If there are no further suggestions for revision, the forms will be e-mailed to Faculty Council representatives. Faculty Council representatives should distribute the information to faculty in their respective departments. - When asked how strong of voice faculty will have in the selection of a new president, it was pointed out that Commissioner of Higher Education Richard Crofts is the hiring authority for the position. Faculty, through Faculty Council and other avenues, need to make their thoughts known. - Evaluation forms from candidate forums are sent to the search committee. The recommendations made by Faculty Council based on return of reference check information would be sent directly to Commissioner Crofts and the Regents. - Volunteers were requested to compile the responses from faculty, present them to Faculty Council, and to draft a letter summarizing that discussion to Commissioner Crofts and the Regents before October 9. - Jack Fisher agreed to be part of the working group. - Other faculty involved with the task must not necessarily be Faculty Council members. Working Groups. - In addition to a group which will receive input and summarize the faculty viewpoint concerning the president candidates, three other working groups are proposed: - Legislature: - Should Faculty Council get involved with candidates before the election? This might include soliciting responses to questions about their stand on various issues or forums. (Questions could educate legislative candidates at the same time information about their stand on issues is gathered.) - Should faculty be involved during the legislative session? - During discussion, it was suggested consideration be given to including a faculty member in lobbying efforts by the university. This would provide advocacy for faculty. A formal arrangement for this would be appropriate so faculty would be included during future legislative sessions. - Budget: - Define what needs to be done, perhaps starting with a plan for presenting the budget in an understandable format. - Monitoring the budget could then follow. - Strategic Planning: - At first, the working group might consider different ways strategic planning can be done and propose a model that would be most effective for MSU. - During further discussion, the following points were made. - Ways to interface these working groups with SPBC will be needed. - The groups will have members from Faculty Council but will call upon other members of the faculty and the campus at large for expertise, so the groups are not necessarily limited to faculty. - The groups will represent the faculty viewpoint. As there was no further business, the meeting adjourned at 4:45 PM. Joann Amend, Secretary John Sherwood, Chair Elect