Minutes of the Faculty Senate
Regular meeting held in Reynolds 205
February 16, 2023
DownloadPresent: Senators White, Tucker, Pfannenstiel, Hudgens, Fanning, Schroeder, Petty, Logan, Oden, Almotairi, Djiguimde, Valenzuela, Coppersmith, Samples, Nelson, Paulson, Nelson
Ex-officio and guests: C. Wilson, K. Landry, D. Lanoue, T. Berry, J. Rowsam, D. Allen, R. Giles, W. Impson, G. Plumlee, D. Wilson, A. Bachri, J. Hause
Call to order: 3:40 pm
Reading of Proxies: No proxies reported. J. Logan will serve as secretary during this meeting for A. Overholser
- Approval of Minutes
Minutes from January 19, 2023, were approved as read (motion-Nelson, second – Samples)
- Reports of Committees
Report from the Faculty Senate Handbook Committee (Senator White)
Senator White discussed the current work underway in the committee, providing examples of suggested language revisions for faculty to initiate the tenure and promotion process. The committee is currently working to align current Mentor instructions with the language in the Faculty handbook. The report is attached at the end of this document.
Report from Faculty Senate Budget Committee (Senator Tucker)
Senator Tucker provided a report, including four recommendations to the University Budget Committee: (1) significant COLA for the upcoming academic year, (2) increase in promotion salary increases to Associate and Professor, (3) increase to minimum adjunct salary, and (4) consideration of a more equitable allocation in departmental travel budgets. The report is provided at the end of this document.
Report from the Faculty Senate Parking, Facilities, and Grounds Committee (Senator Hudgens)
Senator Hudgens explained some recent updates to the committee’s responsibilities. The committee is currently working with the SAU police department to improve the process for reviewing and deciding on faculty and staff parking appeals. They are currently developing an online form that could be used in the appeal process.
- Liaisons from other Standing and University Committees
University Budget Committee
Senator White updated the Faculty Senate on recent actions from the University Budget Committee. SAU is in the process of purchasing and transitioning our current university system from Poise to Jenzabar. The move has been necessitated due to Poise no longer supporting the university system. A committee is currently being formed to help with this university-wide effort.
- Old Business
Ad Hoc Committee on Student Evaluation (Senator Schroeder)
Senator Schroeder provided updates on the committee’s recommended changes to the current student evaluation system. The revisions provide a simpler, shorter, and more user-friendly evaluation for students to complete. The full report from the ad hoc committee is provided at the end of the minutes.
- Special Orders of the Day
Dr. Berry met with the Faculty Senate and provided campus updates including:
- aquatic center closing due to structural concerns
- improvements to the outdoor campus
- new tennis and golf equipment huts
- Stater announces Dempsey College of Liberal and Performing Arts
- Improvements to Wilson Hall
- Increases in enrollment, housing, tours (*and Texas applications)
- Budget process is about to start with recurring meetings for discussion
Dr. Lanoue met with the Faculty Senate and discussed the following:
- SAU is currently monitoring classrooms for capacity since application numbers are increasing
- Two dean searches underway (COEHP – set to end in the near future; DLPA about to start)
Questions for the Administration
- What is the process for releasing the academic calendar for the upcoming year(s)?
- Provost Lanoue explained that calendars are now available through the 2024-2025 academic year.
- Crossing the west campus is becoming increasingly dangerous. Can we install speed bumps near the crosswalks by Wilson and Brinson (at least) to slow down traffic and keep it safe for everyone?
- Provost Lanoue agreed that measures are needed to slow down traffic through the center of campus. Speed bumps will be installed soon in front of Wilson and Brinson Hall, as well as Child’s Hall.
- With the increase in graduate student numbers on campus, has there been any discussion about moving grad student issues such as academic misconduct or academic suspension appeals to graduate-level specific entities?
- Dean C. Wilson shared that the Graduate Council is currently discussing these graduate student issues. Graduate Council is specifically discussing issues on suspension policies and maintaining academic integrity in graduate programs.
- If SAU has an emergency notification system to notify the campus community in the event of emergencies, why hasn’t it been used for emergencies, such as the tornado in Waldo, the escaped inmates from the Columbia County jail, and the school closure due to weather?
- Allen explained that the emergency notification system is only used when the campus community is in clear and immediate danger at that time, and some action is required. Many campus users have opted out of the emergency notification system, so the administration is cautious to avoid overloading the system and sending out notifications when no clear and immediate danger is present.
- Many of our faculty work over the weekend, yet we only offer IT help on M-F. Time-sensitive issues such as Duo Mobile are one example of issues faculty need help with. How can we help faculty on the weekend?
- Provost Lanoue asked for further feedback from senators regarding what tech issues faculty might experience over the weekend. As discussion ensued, the need was shown to increase faculty training and IT support service monitoring where possible.
Adjournment @5:09pm. Senator Nelson provided a first motion, Samples seconded.
Faculty Senate Handbook Committee Report: Thursday, February 16, 2023
Handbook Committee: Senators Djiguimde, Logan, Petty & White (Chair)
The Faculty Senate Handbook Committee and Gerald Plumlee met on Monday, Feb 13th. Our group has another meeting scheduled for Monday, Feb 20th. The topics of these meetings are to align the language in the Faculty Handbook with the use of “Mentor”, the University approved document organization system for Faculty promotion and tenure applications, faculty annual reports, and other faculty-related measures and documents.
This is not a motion of action but a general update on the type of issues our committee is considering. Here are three examples.
Example (1)
Section of the Handbook: Faculty Appointment, Tenure and Promotion Guidelines
IV Criteria and Specific Rules for Promotion
Documentation of Criteria for Tenure and Promotion
Applications should include the information presented below. Concise, well-organized documentation is encouraged.
Required General Information
Table of Contents REPLACE WITH FORM D
Current curricula vita (CV)
Copy of the most recent Annual Summary of Professional Activity placed in University’s approved system
Copy of all developmental plans (for non-tenured faculty only)
Example (2)
The notification to the chair/dean of intent to apply for tenure/promotion will start with submitting an eDoc version of FORM-D (Faculty Members Statement) on the SAU Website (Campus Connect or other resource). Submitting FORM-D will notify the faculty member’s chair and dean and will also automatically request access to Mentor.
The committee is working on language to recommend to the VPAA/Provost office to include in the fall reminder for timeline requirements for promotion & tenure.
The Faculty member’s FORM-D document would be included in the list of required documentation in Mentor.
Example (3)
What does “Summary of all student evaluations from the past three years” mean?
Does this mean the Summary document provided by HR or a faculty-member-developed summary document?
Our group is considering language to help clarify this requirement in the handbook and Mentor.
Faculty Senate Budget Report: Thursday, February 16, 2023
Budget Committee: Senators Tucker, Valenzuela, Samples, Schneiderwind
The Faculty Senate Budget Committee met from 2:10-3:15 pm on February 9th, 2023, to consider budget recommendations for the 2023-2024 Fiscal Year.
In addition to the consideration of a significant COLA, the Committee recommends that the following budgetary adjustments be considered for discussion and possible endorsement by the Faculty Senate.
- Increase promotion salary increase to at least $3000 for promotion to Associate Professor and $4000 for promotion to Professor. This is an increase from $2000 (Associate) and $2500 (Professor) and would be the first increase in the amounts set over a decade ago.
- Increase minimum adjunct salary from $700/$800 (Masters/Doctorate) per credit hour to $800/$900. Adjunct salary for those making higher than the minimum amount would be unaffected. Overload pay would be unaffected.
- Consider a more equitable allocation and a possible increase in departmental travel budgets.
Referral to the Faculty Senate Handbook Committee from the Ad Hoc Committee on Course Evaluations, February 16, 2023
Current Handbook Language regarding Student Evaluation Procedures under Evaluation of Faculty and Administrators, Section C – Student Evaluation Procedures indicates three items:
- Student Evaluation Procedures
- New faculty will be evaluated by students in each course during their first three years of employment. Beginning with the fourth year of employment, the faculty member will be evaluated at the same rate as other faculty.
- Faculty in their fourth year of employment or beyond will be evaluated at least once in every course taught over a three-year period. These faculty must also be evaluated in a minimum of two courses per year. The cycle of courses to be evaluated during the three-year period will be agreed upon by the individual faculty member and appropriate departmental chair(s).
- Faculty members or their immediate supervisors may request and be granted a student evaluation during any semester. The Student Survey Formwill be used as the instrument for faculty evaluations.
The Ad Hoc recommends that updated Handbook language be as general as possible regarding timelines and technology so that as platforms change, legacy Handbook changes are not required.
All changes should be incorporated into the Faculty Handbook using language that works for face to face, online, as well as hybrid courses and the individual needs and requirements of each course style.
The committee also recommends reworking this section of the handbook to provide more guidance to both the faculty being evaluated and the administrators processing the evaluation data, including
Administering the Evaluations
- The student evaluations will be made available to students no later than the third Monday prior to the start of finals week each semester.
- Students that have withdrawn (W, WN, WF) and students with academic integrity violations in the course will be excluded from the evaluation process for that course with this last option to be approved by the Provost/administration.
- Faculty in face-to-face and hybrid courses will schedule in advance sufficient regular class time in order for students to complete the course evaluations for their course (likely no more than about 10 minutes). Students should be encouraged to bring their mobile devices to that class session.
- Faculty in online courses will alert students when the evaluations are available and encourage participation in and completion of the evaluation process, and provide reminders throughout the duration of the evaluation’s availability.
- During the scheduled evaluation time for face-to-face classes, the instructor will be absent from the classroom, and the evaluation session will be proctored by another SAU faculty or staff member as assigned by the department chair for the course being evaluated.
- It is recommended that QR codes be generated and displayed prominently during the evaluations, which will allow students easy and direct access to the evaluation portal using their mobile devices. This will facilitate efficient access to the evaluation form for all students. Student login will still be required for evaluation security to ensure that no student fills out the evaluation more than once.
- The evaluation proctor should read aloud the information on top of the evaluation form regarding how the evaluation results are used and reminding students to complete the evaluations with care and consideration.
- The language at the top of the current Student Evaluation form can also be modified by the Handbook Committee as they see fit. Any changes must be approved by the Faculty Senate, faculty assembly, and administration.
- Upon completion of the evaluations in face-to-face courses, the proctor will notify the faculty member that the evaluations are complete.
- All student evaluations should be completed no later than 11:59 pm on the night before the first day of final exams. After this time, the evaluation portal will no longer be available.
Processing the Results
- Data from the evaluations will be processed at the earliest possible convenience of the ITS and HR departments, with information distributed to each faculty member and administrator, also at the earliest possible convenience.
- Each faculty member will receive the results of the evaluations of their courses. Each course report will include response counts (strongly agree = 4, agree = 3, disagree = 2, strongly disagree – 1) for each question as well as information about the average of the “instructor questions” (currently Questions 4-10 on the new form), and also compiled lists of open responses. The Provost, Dean, and Department Chair will also receive or be granted access to these individual reports.
- Each Department Chair shall receive or be granted access to departmental, college, and university summaries – one with all responses and one with instructor questions only – of all evaluated courses in their departments for comparison purposes. These summaries will not be accompanied by the written comments. The Provost and Dean will also receive or be granted access to these summaries.
- Individual faculty can request the raw data for the evaluation responses for any of their courses for crosstab analysis. This request can be made through an email to the ITS HelpDesk.