MSU FACULTY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
September 5, 2001
PRESENT: Doug Young, John Sherwood, Rick Engel, Peter Kommers,
Michael Peed, Alan Leech, Harry Benham, Rich Howard, Craig
Stewart, Ron Larsen, Hashem Nehrir, Prasanta Bandyophadhyay,
Gary Bogar, Yves Idzerda, Lauren McKinsey, Pat Lynes-Hayes,
Pat Butterfield, Kim Scott, Ken Kempcke, Duane Griffith.
The meeting was called to order by 2000-01 Chair Ron Larsen. A quorum
was present. The minutes of the May 2, 2001, meeting were approved as
distributed.
UGC Nominating Committee report.
- Bill Martindale, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, has
been nominated for a position on the University Facilities
Planning Board. His nomination was approved and will be
forwarded to President Gamble for appointment to the vacant
faculty position on the Board.
Grievance and Conciliation Committees report.
- There were no grievances during the past year.
- One conciliation was attempted last summer. It was successful
to the extent that the parties met and shared their concerns, but
it appears there was no action taken after the meeting.
Faculty Council report - Ron Larsen, 2000-01 Faculty Council Chair.
- Faculty Executive Committee met during finals week Spring
Semester to discuss and rank the three candidates for Provost.
Two votes were taken on each candidate: "Is the candidate
acceptable?" and, "Is the candidate desirable?"
- No candidate was found unacceptable and no candidate
received a majority of the votes cast as "desirable"..
- In addition to the results of the discussion and vote, a
letter was sent to President Gamble stating that he could be
assured faculty leadership would work constructively with
whomever was selected as Provost.
- The Board of Regents increased tuition by 13% per year, both
for this year and next year, at the July meeting.
- An effort is being made to make a positive difference in
students' educations.
- One positive change was the volunteering of about 300
faculty and staff to help students move into the dorms
during Move-In Day (August 29).
- The first year of the Faculty Improvement Plan was funded at
1/2% above the 4% salary increase. This year it was used to
address salary inequities, although the on-going purpose is to
bring faculty salaries more in line with peer institutions. Even
though the first year of the six-year Pay Improvement Plan was
implemented, UPBAC did not adopt the entire plan. This will
require a significant effort on the part of faculty this year to
ensure that the Plan is adopted.
- The faculty line reversion policy is no longer in effect. It
is to be replaced by long-term planning that includes shifting of
faculty lines both within and among colleges.
- There has been discussion of MSU's mission and vision statement
by the UGC Steering Committee, and this discussion is continuing.
Faculty can have input by contacting Ron Larsen, John Sherwood or
Rich Howard.
- The faculty workload policy was approved for inclusion in the
Faculty Handbook. The administration has asked for clarification
of the word "fairness" in the policy.
- $250,000 has been set aside to improve large classroom
experiences for students. The work is underway.
Last year's achievements - Ron Larsen.
- Faculty Council and its standing committees were defined to
complete Section 200 of the Faculty Handbook, and the scope and
authority of the Council were broadened. The section was
approved by the administration.
- A review of administrators took place, using the web for the
first time. Greater participation by faculty would make the
results more useful.
- Some quality of professional life issues were addressed.
Sabbatical funding was approved without modification, even in a
tough budget year. A discussion was also initiated in Montana
Hall to get the word out on the various professional development
opportunities that exist beyond the traditional "sabbatical
pool".
- A program to buy out courses for faculty for a short term
so faculty are able to devote time to finishing particular
aspects of their research or other scholarly work has been
instituted by the Provost and Vice President for Research.
Initial funding comes from the Vice President for Research.
- According to John Sherwood, the Provost will discuss
current professional development opportunities at a Faculty
Council meeting in the near future.
- A new MSU President was hired. Now we need to work closely
with the President to move MSU forward.
- Last November, Faculty Council asked the deans to work with the
budget director to develop budget scenarios to avoid last-minute
decisions being made without planning. This did not happen, but
the need for such planning became very obvious in the spring
semester. It is hoped that any future requests will not fall on
deaf ears.
- Council has long sought a larger role for faculty in the
budgeting process. This year the University Planning and Budget
Committee (UPBAC) was created. Now we need to work hard to
ensure that our participation on UPBAC is real, and working to
advance this institution.
- This appears to be the first year budget decisions were
made on a common set of data. However, there was little
time for meaningful analysis of the data, or development of
a better set of data.
- It was requested that all university budgets be put on the
table for discussion. This did not happened last year.
We've been told that in the future all university budgets
will be on the table.
- UPBAC funded raises first, instead of waiting until final
budget discussions and using raises to offset shortfalls.
Raises need to continue to be a priority to build salaries
to reasonable levels.
- The university is beginning to address effective planning.
Introduction of new Faculty Council leadership and members.
- Ron Larsen introduced John Sherwood, 2001-2002 Faculty Council
Chair. Ron was thanked for all of his work on behalf of faculty
during the past year. Rich Howard, Chair Elect for 2001-02 was
introduced, as were all Faculty Council members and alternates
present.
Report from 2001-02 Faculty Council Chair John Sherwood.
- University Governance Council Steering Committee will meet
tomorrow with the President's Executive Council to discuss MSU's
mission statement and planning structure.
- Tomorrow's meeting is in preparation for a strategic planning
structure retreat September 10-11.
- Attendance at the retreat will include representatives
from the Long Range Planning Committee, Strategic Planning
Committee, University Planning and Budget Committee, the
colleges and the administration.
- If you have feelings about how the planning process should
proceed, give your input to John, Rich, Ron, or your college
representative.
- October 10 is the inauguration of President Gamble. Faculty
are encouraged to show their support for the President by taking
part in the faculty processional.
- University Governance Council will meet at 4:10 PM on September
12 in Wilson 1114. There will a report of legislative issues by
Cathy Conover, Director of University Relations; an explanation
of an initiative regarding the SUB renovation by Andy Parker,
ASMSU President; and an overview of the work of the large
classroom task force by John Amend, Chair of the task force.
As there was no further business, the meeting adjourned at 4:45 PM.
Joann Amend, Secretary John Sherwood, Chair