Faculty Senate

                                        

October 11, 2007                                                                                                                                   325 Graff Main Hall

Vol. 42, No. 4                                                                                                                                       3:30 p.m.

                                       

I.          Roll Call.

Present:  M. Abler, R. Ahmed, J. Anderson, S. Brokaw, V. Crank, S. Crutchfield, L. Dickmeyer, J. Heim, K. Hoar, D. Hoskins, S. Kelly, R. Knox, A. Loh, C. Miller, P. Miller, J. Miskowski,. S. Senger, S. Smith, G. Straker, R. Sullivan, B. Udermann, C. Wilson

Excused:  K. Hunt, A. Olson

 

I.          Reports.

 

A.  Chair’s Report  

 

SEC Activities

 

Administrative Offices Evaluation

The evaluation of administrative offices survey is finished for this year and will shared with the administrative offices and the Senate soon. 

 

University Reorganization Task Force

The SEC decided to create a University Reorganization Task Force to evaluate the impact the reorganization has had.  The SEC hopes to include members from both the SAH and CLS (including people from the School of Education).  In addition, the SEC hopes to get non-instructional staff representation, such as coaches who now report to the Dean of Students, but who also are members of the College of SAH.  We plan to ask the task force to consider issues such as

Please encourage your colleagues to consider volunteering for the task force. 

 

SEI handbook

Based on comments made from Senate, the SEC modified the SEI Items and Administrative Reporting Procedures document to strengthen the wording by firmly stating requirements.  Proposed procedures will be used for all courses at UW-La Crosse (undergraduate and graduate classes, including all on-line courses). In addition, the wording of question 1 was changed to read "At the start of this term, I was looking forward to taking this class."  The new draft of the SEI Items and Administrative Reporting Procedures will be presented to the Senate at the October 25, 2007 meeting as a motion.

 

Outside Activity reports

The SEC has been discussing Outside Activities Reporting.  In 1999 an Ethics Advisory Committee evaluated the issue and forwarded the committee’s report to Senate for review in 2002.  Senate did not vote on the report, but rather on a resolution from the SEC included the following:

  1. Orientation sessions for new faculty and department chairs should include information on UWS 8 and UWL 8.
  2. The distribution of the Annual Activities Report will be accompanied by a cover letter from the Faculty Senate Chair outlining the purpose of the reporting form, the additional reporting obligations incumbent upon faculty, the role of the Ethics Advisory Committee, and the principle that faculty must govern themselves in this matter.
  3. The Provost will be asked to investigate and if feasible implement a mechanism for disseminating summary information derived from the Annual Activities Report for the purpose of informing faculty on the nature and extent of activities reported by their peers.

The SEC and Interim Provost Colclough will take some time to look at this issue and how it is working.  The SEC will also compare this to the Ethics Advisory Committee report. 

 

General Education Survey

If you have not reviewed the documents and responded, please do so.  Also, please encourage your colleagues to do the same.

 

Provost Search

The Provost search has closed.  The committee received over 60 applications.  They will begin screening applications in mid-October, and plan to conduct initial interviews with a smaller pool of candidates to choose finalists to visit campus.  While they have not set on-campus interview dates, they hope to have the visits completed by the end of November.

 

B.  Chancellor

The Chancellor invited faculty to attend the inauguration and gave a brief update on State budget negotiations.

 

The Chancellor again stressed that we won’t borrow heavily to pay for the stadium.  He does support the projects in the capital gains campaign.  A room tax is one option to help pay for the stadium.  After the stadium deadlines are past, we will move in high gear to seek funding for the academic building.

 

C.          Faculty Representative’s Report

If no State budget is passed, the University would have to work with the one we have from last year.  Since salaries went up in April, last year's budget was not funded to cover 9 months at present salaries. Cuts would need to be made elsewhere to cover these costs

 

At the first Faculty Representative's meeting, the concern was raised that Regents are not orientated to the UW System Chapter 36, dealing with shared governance issues.  They also created a System wide strategic planning initiative with the hopes of creating a plan in about 3 months.

 

            D.     Student Association Representative’s Report

The Student Senate will be forwarding feedback on the General Education survey to the SEC.

 

II.  Parent & Guardian Philosophy Policy

There was some concern about when parents would be notified and who makes those decisions. 

A group of people will makes such decisions and there are some guidelines in the document

 

M/S/P

The Parent/Guardian Notification Policy Philosophy - draft and

The Parent/Guardian Notification Policy University of Wisconsin - La Crosse draft

 

III.    Faculty Recruitment and Retention Task Force Report

First Read

We have some personnel rules already in place, but no policies on how to implement them.  This addresses issues we are already facing on campus.  Other models, including the policies at UC-Berkeley, were used in writing these documents.  Deans, chairs, faculty and the office of Human Resources were consulted on theses documents.  We need to be sure that the University gets the justified work from the faculty member on part-time, but also be sure that the faculty member is not being expected to do too much for part-time employment.

 

There are pre-tenure and post-tenure options.  There is also the option to move to a part-time option while already employed or to be hired at the part-time level. (Advertisement may need to be written to offer things both ways at times.)  The faculty member needs to initiate the part-time option. 

 

References to Department Chair approval should be changed to Department approval.

 

IV.   Spousal Partner Hiring Policy & Procedures

 

This policy would allow the campus to hire a spousal partner without an open search.  This can give us recruiting and retention advantages.  This policy protects the University and the applicants.  This policy is open for all hires, not simply faculty hires.

 

M/S/P

Faculty Senate Approval of the Spousal Partner Hiring Policy and Procedures

 

V.   Talliores Task Force Report

This was a student initiated proposal and the students took an active part in this report.  The task force is already actively addressing parts of the Talloires Declaration.  Reporting to the Chancellor makes grass-roots efforts more visible and unified.  The declaration does not force the campus to do anything, but instead gives guidelines and directions.

 

M/S/P 

The Task force made the following recommendations.

1.     The ad hoc committee recommends that Chancellor Gow sign the Talloires Declaration, indicating that UW-L embraces the spirit and intent of this declaration.

2.     Consistent with Action 10 of this declaration, the committee also recommends (a) that Chancellor Gow commission a Joint University Committee to continue to build momentum and support for creating a sustainable future for the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and its associated partners and members, (b) that this committee should report to the Chancellor, and (c) that this committee be comprised of faculty, students, administration, academic staff, classified staff, and appropriate external and community stakeholders.

 

VI.   SEC motion, Foundation Priorities & Activities

M/S/P 

The Faculty Senate supports all of the projects in the UW-L Foundation's comprehensive campaign.  Based on future financial needs of the University and the UW-L Foundation, we strongly recommend that the Foundation avoid borrowing funds beyond those pledged to support these projects.  Furthermore, we encourage faculty and instructional staff to support the Foundation’s comprehensive campaign through financial contributions, contacts with alumni, or any other methods deemed appropriate. 

 

This motion will be forwarded to:

 

 

VII.      Old Business.

VIII.     New Business.

 

IX.       Adjournment.

            The meeting adjourned at 5:10 p.m.

 

Respectfully Submitted,

Susan Kelly, Secretary