Mesa State College Faculty Senate

MEMBERS PRESENT: Tom Acker, Barbara Borst, Jim Buckley, Mike Gizzi, Phil Kavanagh, Doug O'Roark, Eric Schruers, Gayla Jo Slauson, John Sluder, Cindy Thomas, Brian Udermann, Russ Walker, Carrie McVean Waring, Mary Zimmerer

GUESTS: Ken Davis, Sam Gingerich, Bill Horstman, Gary Looft, Pat Schutz, Hasson Tavossi

The meeting was convened at 3:30 pm by Senate President Doug O'Roark.

I. Announcements

Senate President Doug O'Roark reported that Senator Ron Teck will meet with the Senate on October 11 in the Fletcher Room, provided that the special session of the legislature doesn't interfere. Representative Gayle Berry will attend the October 18 meeting of the Faculty Senate. Representative Matt Smith and CCHE Director Tim Foster will also be invited to attend future Senate meetings.

Gayla Jo Slauson said that the current faculty representative to the Trustees, Gene Saxe from Metro State College, will be visiting Mesa on October 18 to learn more about our college and attend the Senate meeting.

Mike Gizzi announced that the Technology Council would be sending out a survey to all faculty and asked that we encourage our faculty to respond.

II. Meeting Minutes

A motion was made to approve the minutes of the September 20 meeting (Gizzi/Zimmerer). The motion passed.

A motion was made to receive the minutes of the September 27 meeting of the Curriculum Committee (Buckley/Udermann). The motion passed.

III. Report on Salary Raises from Dean Janine Rider

Janine Rider, Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, explained how faculty salaries for 2001-02 were determined. All faculty receiving the Merit I designation were awarded a 4% salary increase. Additional increases of up to 2% were awarded to those whose work was especially effective at advancing our mission, as judged by the dean and the department chairs. Roughly half of the faculty in each department received this additional award, with those at the assistant and associate levels receiving raises at the higher end of the 2% range. Long-term lecturers were also awarded raises of 4% to 5%.

IV. SUPP 101 Introduction to Higher Education

SUPP 101 Introduction to Higher Education is a 3-credit course organized by Academic Services. In addition to being offered over the entire semester, SUPP 101 was offered as a one-week course just before the start of the current fall semester with two follow-up sessions during the semester. Some faculty expressed concern that the special format may not allow enough time for in-depth assignments and enough rigor to justify 3 credits. A few of the faculty present are teaching a section of SUPP 101 in this format. They felt that the course can have value, but that there are both advantages and disadvantages to the special format. Other faculty present stated that they have observed growth and improvement in students taking SUPP 101 in this format. Bill Horstman of Academic Services said that he is preparing a proposal to the Curriculum Committee for a variable-credit option for the course that would allow a different number of credits for different formats.

A motion was made to recommend that Academic Services pursue a variable credit option for SUPP 101, with less than 3 credits applying to the course in special formats, as appropriate (Slauson/Gizzi). The motion passed.

Additional discussion centered on whether or not SUPP 101 should be offered through an academic department. Representatives of Academic Services questioned the need for this change and expressed concern that the course would not be nurtured properly if it was housed elsewhere. Some Senators noted that a common approach at larger schools is for individual disciplines to have the discretion to offer their own version of a course like SUPP 101. No action was taken on this point.

V. Recommendations from the Academic Policies Committee

Ken Davis, Chair of the Academic Policies Committee, presented the Senate with three recommendations.

The committee recommended that students transferring to Mesa with an A.A. or A.S. degree from an institution outside of Colorado should not be considered to have completed the general education requirements unless the original institution is accredited. A motion was made to accept this recommendation (Zimmerer/Thomas). The motion passed.

The committee recommended a change to the description of its responsibilities in Section 4.2 B of the MSC Professional Staff Policy Handbook. The Senate agreed to consider this request after having a chance to look at the existing committee descriptions in the handbook.

The committee recommended that the Senate request the Tenure and Promotion Committees in each school to create guidelines for information that faculty should provide to them. Sam Gingerich noted that the guidelines prepared by the deans and submitted to Senate earlier this semester were based on the input of the tenure committees. Discussion ensued regarding the guidelines prepared by the deans, and in particular whether these guidelines should become a part of the Policy Handbook. A motion was made to include the guidelines prepared by the deans in an appendix of the Handbook (Gizzi/Thomas). The motion passed.

VI. Letter from the Faculty Senate at Western State College

Doug O'Roark distributed a copy of a resolution drafted by the faculty at Western State College calling for state officials to address faculty salary inequities affecting Western Slope four-year colleges. The Western faculty have invited us to sign on to the resolution. The Senate recognized the value of acting jointly with faculty at other institutions, but felt that the timing of this resolution was poor. Mesa will not join the resolution at this time.

VII. Report on the Faculty Development Conference

Mike Gizzi reported that the Faculty Development Conference sponsored by the Office of State Colleges went well and was well received by faculty. Mesa State has the responsibility of being the primary coordinator for next year's conference, which will also be held in Frisco.

VIII. Senate Committees for Implementation of the Academic Master Plan

Doug O'Roark reminded the Senate that the new Academic Master Plan included provisions for prioritization of academic programs and annual review and revision of the plan itself. The establishment of committees to implement these provisions will be covered at future Senate meetings.

A motion was made at 5:00 to adjourn the meeting (Walker/Slauson). The motion passed.