Faculty Senate Minutes 10/20/09
Meeting called to order at 3:05pm.
The Minutes from September 15 2009 were approved
with corrections.
Senators present: Jane Wallace, Mike Blackwell,
Chuck Ramer, Gail Smith, Leigh Brovaird, Richard Brown, Linda Cowan, Matthew
Harder, Robert Gall (Senate President), Leonard Rinchiuso, Susan Herrick
(Senate Vice-President), Tammy McClain, Corey Reigel, Teresa Faykus, Hollie
Buchanan, Bob Fliess, James Vopal, Erik Root
Invited Guests: John McCullough, Mike Turrentine,
Donna Lukich, Tom Michaud, Robert Kreisberg, Keely Camden
Dr. McCullough’s report.
JD Carpenter resigned last week. Scott Cook has
been appointed as Dean of Students and continues his role as Registrar and
Financial Aid Director.
Marcella Snyder and Brenda King were appointed Associate
Deans.
A “Retention Specialist” position announcement has
been advertised.
The General Studies and Assessment Committee is
compiling a rubric. Rob Kruse chairs the committee. Assessment effort is as
strong as it ever has been.
NASM response has been submitted by the Division of
Music before to October 1.
Open House will not fall on a holiday in the future.
Bachelor of Music degree was approved by Curriculum
Committee and will be presented to the Senate during the current meeting.
“Digital Media Design” Intent to Plan is also being
authored and will be submitted for approval soon.
2009-2010 Salary Increases:
New info from HEPC: WLU was the only 4-year school that gave increases of this
type.
Improved Academic Performance Data from 2009 Frosh
class is due to quality recruiting efforts:
GPA % increase: 3.12 to 3.22. ACT composite: 19.7
to 20.3. 41 Elbin Scholars.
Faculty Emeritus reception will be held in Jan or
Feb 2010. All who were recommended for Emeritus status were approved by the
President.
Dec 4th in Student Union: Employee
Appreciation Luncheon. 11 – 12:15pm
Compact update was submitted to HEPC. Deans and
Paula Tomasik worked on it. All enrollment goals have been revised.
CAPP module training in the Registrar’s Office is
being planned.
Fliess: Question about reorganization of the
Administration. Re: JD’s resignation.
McCullough: Can’t say any more than “he resigned”.
Herrick: Seems like a lot of new work for Scott
Cook.
McCullough: Cook will have two Associate Deans
working under him to share the load.
Fliess: Someone should address rumors about JD’s
resignation to dispel such rumors and improve student and faculty morale.
McCullough: Can’t say any more.
Fliess: Registrar and Dean of Students should be
separate. Again, decisions are made arbitrarily without consulting the
faculty.
Gall: How do you reconcile the new numbers about
ACT and GPA with the fact that 25% of our freshman are in developmental
(remedial) English.
Fliess: Many Freshman are also in remedial Math
classes.
Herrick: DO we give feedback to the public schools.
McCullough: WLU cannot hold public schools
accountable.
Lukich: WESTEST has been revamped. If students do
not achieve what they need to achieve on the WESTEST, they still have their
Senior year to take additional classes.
Gail Smith: WV WESTEST scores were fairly good, but
not compared to the Nation as a whole. There is work being done.
Tammy McClain: The best way to send a message to
high schools is to not accept their students.
Jane Wallace: If they can‘t write or read, then how
can they take online courses?
Gail Smith: Students love online classes, but are
students learning from them? Very low numbers of students are rejected.
McCullough: HEPC sets the standards.
Fliess: Can we raise the standards?
McCullough: We would need approval from HEPC to do
so.
Mike Turrentine’s Board of Governor’s report
Herrick: Mike does a good job at conveying BOG
messages to the Faculty Senate. But can he convey Faculty Senate ideas to the
BOG?
Turrentine: If the Executive Committee wants me to
do so, I will be happy to discuss it. I have approached the BOG and even
objected to some of the BOG proposals. I have made my voice heard at meetings.
Off-Campus meetings will not be held in the future. Special accommodations
were made for that particular meeting, but it’s shouldn’t happen again.
Erik Root. ACF representative report.
WLU was singled out by Chancellor Nolan (Highlands,
and “Try College”) as exemplary.
We’ll meet at Fairmont on Friday (Oct 23).
What happens when stimulus money runs out? Many Governments
have used the money as a stopgap instead of being used to create jobs. Money
will run out soon. Chancellor Nolan said, “Tough choices are going to have to
be made.”
Chuck Ramer – Academic Policies and Procedures
Committee:
Evaluation of online courses by Chairs. Student
evaluations of faculty being done online.
Jane: Evaluation forms will be emailed to students
for online classes. Distance Education committee is developing a new
evaluation.
Linda Cowan – Personnel Policies and
Procedures Committee:
Will be discussing Policy 214 – Faculty
Evaluation.
Tammy McClain – Student Advising Committee:
Catalog concerns. New Faculty concerns. Each
program or department should develop a plan of course offerings, etc. She will
send out a survey for comment.
Herrick: Some departments are reluctant to provide
info about when courses are offered. This should come from the Deans and
Chairs.
Cowan: Many departments have 4-year plans.
Fliess: Doesn’t every program have to have a 4-year
plan done?
McCullough: Not all.
McClain: May be a communication issue. New advisers
don’t have much to refer to for advising questions.
Lukich: “Fall only”, “Spring only” is not reflected
in the catalog. Should it be?
Blackwell: Business course cycles are all planned
out on our advising sheets.
Baronak: In Banner, “Spring only”, “Fall only” is
indicated. Faculty should ensure that this info is put into the course
schedule.
Blackwell: The onus is on the faculty to provide
planning for students.
Cowan: In first-year experience class, she told
students to bring in the four-year plans as an assignment of the class.
Fliess: All departments should do what Education
does in Ed 100: write four-year plans as a 2nd semester freshman.
McClain: Problems will arise when we have too many
students.
Fliess: Problems arise from Admissions – when
students aren’t advised correctly as incoming students.
Blackwell: We have added adjuncts to accommodate
extra sections.
College Policies up for 30-day comment:
They are not online yet (as of the meeting).
McCullough: These policies will not be online.
University Policies are not placed online. Only BOG policies are required to
be online. University policies are not posted for 30-day comment. University
policies come to the Faculty Senate, but not online.
Cowan: Can these be posted on the Faculty Senate
website?
Harder: Yes.
Gall: The Senate website: senate.westliberty.edu
Any comments about these policies should be sent to Bob Gall. He will distill
them and send them to the BOG.
Turrentine: The Faculty Salary policy is set by
HEPC, so not much can be done there. The Faculty Load policy should receive
the most attention.
Gall handed out copies of Memorandi regarding
Granting Tenure upon Appointment.
Action items:
Erik Root – ACF Legislative Goals
HERRICK moves to accept ACF agenda – Fliess
2nded.
Motion Passes.
Bachelor of Music degree proposal.
Harder moved to approve.
Motion Passes.
Erik Root – Professional Development Funds.
WLU beats every other school in the state in terms
of funding – $80,000.
Motion to increase Faculty development funds .
Fliess calls the question.
Motion carries.
Fliess motion: Faculty Emeritus Status list be
provided to the Senate from the Administration.
Motion passes.
Faculty Forum
Fliess: Should faculty Emeritus keep their WLU
email address? This should be a part of the Emeritus requirement.
McCullough: Certain individuals who are not
employed (former employees, retirees) but who have their WL email have done
nefarious things. This is the reason why some email accounts are cut upon
termination of employment.
Erik Root – Writing Center
Dean Camden has the floor. Students who are poor
writers are also poor readers. Learning Center – includes many different
facets of student learning. Student services, special needs, and students who
just need assistance, supplemental instruction IN the classroom,
discipline-specific stuff too.
Jane Wallace: How is it different than the tutoring
center? Peer tutoring is the only thing offered.
Root: The learning center would need a Director.
Camden: The Learning Center would facilitate and
coordinate a whole host of services – training for faculty as well as
students, etc.
Root: This should be a faculty-controlled thing.
This should come from the faculty.
Camden: Grant-writing and donors would be needed.
Baronak: Faculty members are encouraged to talk to
their constituents about this idea.
Herrick: I would support this if it were tied into
Professional Special Education.
Root: Most colleges already have this, we don’t.
We need it, because “They’re here!”
Camden: Preparedness will always need to be
addressed – because we’re a State School.
Fliess: The Executive Committee will discuss this
issue and it will be a discussion item on a future meeting.
Meeting adjourned at 4:39pm
Minutes respectfully submitted by Matthew Harder,
recording secretary