Committee Minutes

February 1, 2017

Date/Time
Wednesday, 02/01/2017
Location
8th floor Mary and John Gray Library
Submitted By:
Judy Smith

Faculty Senate Meeting

Lamar University

February 1, 2017

8th floor Mary and John Gray Library

 

Presiding: Sarah Tusa

Attending:  Arts and Sciences: Christian Bahrim, Valentin Andreev, Judy Smith, Cheng-Hsien Lin, Jennifer Daniel, Kami Makki, Stacey Knight, Michael Beard, Yasuko Sato, J.P. Nelson, Joseph Kruger, Randall Terry, Ted Mahavier, Gina Hale, Tom Sowers,  Jennifer Ravey, Adrienne Blackwell, Michael Beard, Ozge Gunaydin-Sen, Martha Rinker, Business: Karyn Neuhauser, Purnendu Mandal, Vivek Natarajan, James Slaydon, Education: R.J. Davis, Anna Nguyen, Ken Young,  Janice Kimmons, Belinda Lopez, Vanessa Villate, Mamta Singh, Cristina Rios, Engineering: Paul Corder, Xinyu Liu, Xuejun Fan, Nicholas Brake, Fine Arts and Communication: Nicki Michalski, Xenia Fedorchenko, Zanthia Smith, Joel Grothe, Bryan Proksch, Sherry Freyermuth, Vinaya Manchaiah Library: Michael Saar, Sarah Tusa  College Readiness: Melissa Riley, Lamar State College Port Arthur: Mavis Triebel,

Absent: Arts and Sciences: Ana Christenson, Charles Popp, George Irwin, Business: Seokyon Hwang, Tim McCoy, Education: Rick Carter, Engineering: John Gossage, Gleb Tcheslavski,

Call to Order: 3:32 p.m.

 

Approval of Minutes: December 7, 2016

  • Ted Mahavier moved to approve the minutes
  • Jim Slaydon Seconded
  • Approved by consensus

Guest Speaker:  Dr. Stefan Andrei and Research Assistant Mr. Vaidya

  • Was asked to and with the help of the Research Assistant had developed a standardized template for syllabi that contains all of the standardized statements such as Academic Honesty, Disability, Emergency procedures, etc. policies already embedded in the format. Within the formatting there are spaces that faculty can cut and paste in their departmental specific information
  • Has set it so faculty can access different formats of the syllabus depending on what governing body’s mandates they follow such as ABET, SACS, or Quality Matters
  • Evans and Dr. Marquart have seen the formatting and like it at this point.
  • University Undergraduate Curriculum Committee has also seen the template.
  • Will need to include a breakdown of content by either units or modules in a table format.
  • The template will convert to a Word document and you can pdf. the final copy
  • The templates automatically updates to put the correct time and date stamp of when the syllabus was updated.
  • At this time is not mandatory that the syllabus template be used for all syllabi but rather it will be available for anyone desiring to use it.
  • Jennifer Daniels thanked Dr. Andrei and his Research Assistant for all of the work they have put in to creating a user friendly template.
  • The Faculty Senate expressed general approval.

 

Faculty Senate President’s Report:

Not all faculty representatives are meeting the requirements for attendance at Senate Meetings and sub-committees. Because you made the commitment to be a member of the Faculty Senate, you need to be sure to attend all of the meetings. Therefore, all Senate members are responsible for notifying the respective chairs and president if they cannot attend a scheduled meeting. Sarah also requested that if you cannot attend senate committee meetings, please find some way to contribute to the work of that committee. According to the By-laws, excessive absences can warrant dismissal from the Faculty Senate.

  • Sarah reminded senators that Faculty Senate is a commitment and requested senators who cannot attend committee meetings to find some way to contribute to the work of the committee. Sarah also reminded senators that the By-laws call for the dismissal and replacement of senators after a third unexcused absence.
  • Elections for the next year for Faculty Senate are normally started in March, but Sarah would like to see preparations begin in February to ensure all Senate slots are filled by the end of the semester. Sarah has a copy of the roster indicating when Senate appointments will expire, to help facilitate the election process in each College/Department/School. The College of Arts and Sciences will need at least two members to help facilitate the process. Valentin volunteered to help with the elections.
  • There is a Library survey being distributed at today’s Senate meeting to help the Library develop a strategic plan for the next five years. If you complete the survey today please turn it in at the front of the room.
  • A Onedrive for Senate has been set up.  Sarah has the e-mail account information for anyone wishing to use the Onedrive account.

 

  • Faculty Senate Committee Chair Reports:
  • Academic Issues-Melissa Riley
    • There was no December meeting.
    • Next meeting will be February 8, 2017

 

  • Distinguished Faculty Lecturer: Jennifer Ravey
    • No December meeting
    • Next meeting will be in Rm 717 of the Library at 3:30pm next week February 8, 2017
    • The deadline for submitting nominations for the Distinguished Faculty Lecturer has been moved to this Friday February 3, 2017

 

  • Faculty Issues: Jennifer Daniels
    • Next meeting February 8, 2017 in Parker Room 105 at 3:30 pm
    • Will be looking at a concern regarding an edit that has been made to the F2.08 in a specific College.

 

  • Research and Development: Faculty Developmental Leave (FDL): Cheng-Hsien Lin
    • Those who have applied for FDL leave this year will receive notice if they have been approved on 2-6-17.
    • At present only about 6-8 faculty per year apply for FDL. Dr. Evans and Dr. Marquart would like to see that number hopefully double.
    • The committee has developed a survey using Survey Monkey regarding R and D to help determine why the numbers of applicants are so low and if there are barriers as to why more Faculty are not taking advantage of the opportunity to do R and D. Awaiting Dr. Marquart’s approval to disburse the survey.
    • Will open the window for proposal applications in April and December to encourage more faculty to apply for half year FDL if desired.
    • The committee is currently working on the policy. The revised draft is awaiting Dr. Marquart’s approval. The policy will be posted on line for easy access to assist faculty in filling out the application.
    • It has been suggested that there could be incentives implemented to encourage applications.
      • One suggestion was trading prior overloads for credit towards FDL If desired. Because some departments are so short staffed, overloads with and without compensation have been occurring more frequently which may be a cause for the low numbers of FDL requests.
      • Some possible problems identified with using future overloads in exchange for FDL included: because of heavy class load in a given semester: course conduct may suffer. Attempts to do research and other scholarly activities may suffer. It is potentially hazardous to the individual’s health if doing frequent overloads. Some departments due to their number of vacant positions may never be able to bank overloads for FDL.
      • Cheng asked that if any of the Faculty Senate members have other ideas for possible incentives to increase applications for FDL, to let him know your thoughts.
    • The committee’s next meeting will be on February 8, 2017 @ 3:30 pm, location TBA.

 

  • F2.08 Task Force: Nicki Michalski
    • No Report

 

  • Faculty Salary Equity: James Slaydon
    • Has finally received the remainder of the CUPA data last night but it is essentially useless with regard to salary equity.
    • Has also been notified that there is currently a hiring freeze in place throughout the University.
    • Current policy for equity adjustments to be made: the chair of the department must send a request to the Dean of the respective College, who forwards after their approval to Dr. Marquart for his approval. However, at this point, It is unlikely that there will be any equity disbursements this year.
    • The term Market Adjustment is being added to the faculty handbook with a policy.
    • Next Meeting will be 2-8-17 at 3:30 pm in Galloway Room 238.
  • Budget and Compensation Committee: Rick Carter
    • No report

 

New Business:

  • Question was raised regarding how new programs get approved.
    • A form is filled out and a proposal is developed at the departmental level which is submitted to the departmental curriculum committee for review. If approved at that level it will be forwarded to the College Curriculum Committee for review. When approved there it goes to the University Curriculum Committee. Once approved at the University level it will go to the President, then to the Board of Trustees, and finally to any regulatory bodies distinct to your specialty area.
    • The proposal may be returned at any point to the initiating department for revisions or clarifications to be made before progressing on.

 

Adjournment:

  • Valentin motioned to adjourn the meeting at 4:25
  • Vivek seconded
  • Approved by acclamation.

 

  • Respectfully Submitted:

Dr. Judy Smith