MSU FACULTY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES April 2, 2003 Members Present: Sherwood for Giroux, Kommers, Schmidt for Schlotzhauer, Leech, Taylor, Seymour, Jones, Nehrir, Conant, Weaver, Amend, Levy, Bogar, Bond, Jelinski, Pratt, Fisher, Lynes-Hayes, Kempcke. Members Absent: Young, Gipp, Morrill, McDermott, White, Anderson, Linker, Howard, Stewart, Yoo/Mumey, Lefcort/Bradley, Locke, English, Idzerda, Lynch, Prawdzienski, Knight, Hoffman. Others Present: Bandyopadhyay, Dooley, Fedock. Joe Seymour is the new representative to Faculty Council from Chemical Engineering The meeting was called to order at 4:10 PM by Chair Elect Warren Jones. A quorum was present. The minutes of the March 26, 2003, meeting were approved as distributed. Chair's report - Chair Elect Warren Jones. - Chair Howard is attending a special session of the Board of Regents in Helena. - The regents are discussing and voting on taking advantage of the Montana University System's allowed exemption from the state workmen's compensation insurance plan. A task force studied the issue thoroughly and project the university system could save $500,000 per year by becoming self-insured. - The regents are also considering items that were not discussed at the March Board of Regents because of time constraints. - The University Planning, Budget and Analysis Committee is meeting weekly. - During yesterday's meeting, budget amendments which are highest priorities were discussed and ranked. - If money is available, three faculty lines will be added. - UPBAC is expanding the contingency reserve. Much of the it would be an enrollment reserve to use to fund sections if there is a significant increase in students next year. - Buying the student recruitment services of Royall Company is a high priority, as is additional money for WebCT. - John Sherwood has been named head of the Department of Plant Sciences, effective May 1. University Governance Council Nominating Committee report. - Nominations for faculty positions on university-wide committees may be submitted to Vicky York, Chair of the Nominating Committee, by April 4. - Nominations may also be submitted for Chair of the Faculty Affairs Committee and Chair Elect of Faculty Council. Faculty Affairs Committee report - none. Professional Development Task Force report - John Sherwood. - Information regarding definition, rationale, and recommendations was distributed. - The task force is co-chaired by John Sherwood and Dean of Education, Health and Human Development Greg Weisenstein. Members of the task force include Anne Camper, John Hermanson, Mike Meyers, Greg Olson, Jay Schmidt, and Greg Young. - The report of the committee will be presented to the Provost by the end of the semester. - Deans were asked to describe the professional development opportunities available in their colleges. From the responses (included in the distributed information) it is apparent there are many opportunities in addition to sabbaticals. However, the opportunities across the campus are very uneven. - A survey of sabbatical programs among peer institutions was done. The availability of sabbaticals at MSU is substantially lower than any of the peers, including UM. - Recommendations of the committee are: - Make professional development opportunities a priority. - Develop a web page listing the professional development opportunities at MSU. - Regularly evaluate existing professional development programs and distribute funds depending upon need and perceived benefits. - Establish a standing committee to perform these functions. - During discussion by the Council, several points were made. - The value of professional development in the university setting appears to be viewed differently across campus, because some departments address professional development in annual reviews and some do not. - It seems that the philosophy of sabbaticals has changed from an opportunity for renewal granted all faculty to a competitive research-oriented process based on a proposal similar to a grant proposal. What are the sabbatical criteria for other institutions? A discussion of the appropriate philosophy to use at MSU may be in order. - The Buy-out for Enhancing Scholarship and Teaching (BEST) and the Scholarship and Creativity Grants are useful professional development tools, but they serve a different purpose from sabbaticals. - If more MSU faculty apply for sabbaticals, the need for funding additional sabbaticals may be more immediate. However, there appeared to be agreement that the current sabbatical form and its requirement for external review letters is a deterrent to faculty's applying. It is viewed as an imposition on colleagues to request a letter of review, particularly to substantiate a sabbatical proposal, so many faculty appear to be hestitant to do so. - Increasing expertise and effectiveness should be one of the main rationales for funding sabbaticals, and the external letters are not necessary to address this. - There was agreement by the Council and the Provost that a group - Faculty Affairs Committee, the standing committee proposed by the Professional Development Task Force, or some other group - should review the criteria for funding sabbaticals, and that this should be done before a call for sabbatical applications is made Fall Semester, if possible. - Chair Elect Jones will communicate this information to UGC Steering Committee at tomorrow's meeting. - Peter Kommers volunteered to serve on such a task force. As there was no further business, the meeting adjourned at 5:05 PM. Joann Amend, Secretary Warren Jones, Chair Elect