MSU-BOZEMAN FACULTY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
October 25, 2000
PRESENT: Morrill, Sherwood, Kommers, Mannell Noel for Peed, Leech,
Benham, Stewart, Larsen, Harkin, Mooney, Lefcort, McMahon,
McClure, Levy, Bogar, Bond, Jelinski, Kirkpatrick, McKinsey,
Lynch, Fisher, Prawdzienski, Butterfield.
ABSENT: Young, Hatfield, Miller, White, Anderson, Linker, Howard,
Jost, Nehrir, Locke, Lansverk, Scott, Griffith, Carlstrom.
The meeting was called to order by Chair Ron Larsen at 4:10 PM. It
was determined a quorum was present.
Acknowledgment of interim MSU President Terry Roark.
- Dr. Terry Roark was present and was thanked for ably filling
the difficult position as interim President of MSU since January.
Approval of minutes.
- The minutes of the October 18, 2000, Faculty Council meeting
were approved as distributed.
Chair's report - Ron Larsen.
- On November 1, Budget Director Craig Roloff will attend Faculty
Council to discuss student enrollment and budget issues.
- Also on November 1, at 7:00 PM, local candidates for the
Montana legislature are invited to a public forum in SUB Ballroom
C. This is an opportunity for the audience to ask questions of
the candidates. An appropriate question to ask each candidate is
whether the individual will support the $500/student additional
funding requested by the Office of the Commissioner of Higher
Education.
- Carla Gray, candidate for Chief Justice, will meet with faculty
this Friday, October 27, at 2 PM in 330 Cobleigh. Interested
faculty are invited to attend.
- UGC Steering Committee is receiving nominations for the working
group on budget information. Nominations will be discussed at
tomorrow's Steering Committee meeting. The working group will
soon begin meeting.
- Fall semester student enrollment at MSU-Bozeman is higher than
last year, but it did not meet projections. This will have
budget implications.
- A policy regarding ownership of electronic course materials has
been drafted in the Commissioner of Higher Education's Office,
and it will be presented at the November Board of Regents
meeting.
- During brief discussion, Provost Dooley explained that
LeRoy Schramm, Chief Legal Counsel in the Commissioner's
Office, drafted the policy and patterned it after the
current patent policy instead of the textbook policy. The
policy will be the same across the MUS.
- The draft policy will be on tomorrow's UGC Steering
Committee agenda.
- The SUB renovation committee is meeting. A faculty member will
be added to the committee, if a person is found who is able to
commit to the time involved.
Workload Task Force report - John Amend.
- In the beginning, the task force was to look at equality in
workloads among colleges, but the emphasis has shifted somewhat
to providing clarity and accountability for faculty work loads
both outside and inside the university (and within colleges) and
creating fairness in workloads.
Faculty Affairs Committee report - Ron Larsen.
- Faculty Handbook sections describing Faculty Council and its
committees have been completed and will be discussed by Steering
Committee tomorrow.
- Faculty Council By-laws are being updated.
- A resolution to move the MSU pay date to the 1st of the month
will be discussed by Steering Committee tomorrow.
- Other topics to be discussed by Faculty Affairs include student
evaluations and in-depth assessment of teaching, annual review
requirements, review of administrators, and the post-tenure
review policy which was drafted last year.
An article, "Re-engineering the University" was distributed.
Strategic Planning and Budget Committee - Dave Dooley.
- Following conversations this summer within the university
community regarding ways to revitalize the committee, some
changes were made in membership of the SPBC, and a new charge was
given the committee by the President.
- The Long Range Planning Committee will continue to envision the
long-term direction of the university, and the SPBC will do
strategic planning and tie it to budget on a shorter term time
frame. There will be a link between the LRPC and SPBC.
- SPBC will not deal with the details of the current year's
budget. The focus will be on budget development beginning with
the next biennium. (In response to a question, the Provost
indicated that the SPBC will address budget issues in the 1 to 5
year time frame, as per the committee's charge.)
- Recommendations given to the committee by the LRPC last spring
will be discussed, and Deans' Council has asked that strategic
plans of the colleges be included in the discussions.
Reversion of faculty lines policy - Dave Dooley.
- Recommendations for the policy came from discussions a year ago
and are a big departure from the policy existing at that time.
There has been very limited flexibility in reallocation of
faculty lines, and this policy will improve it.
- The policy affects only those lines funded in whole or in part
within Academic Affairs that become vacant through retirement or
resignation. Both faculty and professional lines are included.
- According to the policy, deans will keep 50% of the funding of
vacant lines and 50% will go to the Provost. When a hire is
made, all the money returns to the dean. If a line becomes
vacant and the Provost decides a line won't be returned to the
college, the dean receives 50% and the other 50% is kept
centrally for reallocation.
- Because deans did not have a chance to plan for this year,
deans may make a case to get more than 50% of the funding this
year.
- By the end of the year, it is expected the principles of the
policy will all be worked out and mechanisms for implementing the
policy will be in place. This year most of the money will be
returned to the colleges. The policy will continue to be
evaluated annually.
- In response to a question, the Provost stated that four or five
faculty lines will be affected this year.
- Because of time constraints, the Provost may be invited to
attend next week's Council meeting to allow time for questions
concerning the policy.
The meeting adjourned at 5:15 PM.
Joann Amend, Secretary Ron Larsen, Chair