November 2001, Minutes

Mesa State College Faculty Senate

Minutes for November 1, 2001 Meeting

MEMBERS PRESENT: Tom Acker, Barbara Borst, Jim Buckley, Jill Cordova (for Brian Udermann), Mike Gizzi, Phil Kavanagh, Doug O'Roark, John Sluder, Cindy Thomas, Russ Walker, Carrie McVean Waring, Mary Zimmerer

GUESTS: Susan Becker, Clare Boulanger, Mike Gallagher, Sam Gingerich, Valerie Horton, Bryan Howard, Gary Looft, and Hasson Tavossi

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

I. Announcements

Mike Gizzi (FACT representative) reported that much of the discussion at the October Board of Trustees meeting focused on the state's budget problems. Dale Mingilton (chair of the Board) asked that faculty be involved in developing each college's response to the budget problems. Increases in insurance costs were also announced.

II. Meeting Minutes

A motion was made to approve the minutes of the October 4 meeting of the Faculty Senate (Sluder/Zimmerer). The motion passed.

A motion was made to approve the minutes of the October 18 meeting of the Faculty Senate (Buckley/Gizzi). The motion passed.

A motion was made to receive the minutes of September 25 meeting of the Graduate Council (Zimmerer/Thomas). The motion passed.

It was noted that the September 27 minutes of the Curriculum Committee were missing an attachment on proposed new curriculum approval procedures, and that the date on the header of the last page needed to be corrected. A motion was made to approve the minutes as amended, excluding the proposed new curriculum approval procedures that were missing (Gizzi/Gizzi). Gary Looft (Curriculum Committee chair) will distribute the proposed procedures to Senators before their next meeting.

III. Draft Statement of Role and Mission

President Mike Gallagher distributed the latest revision of the Mesa State College Role and Mission Statement, which was prepared at the request of the Governor's Blue Ribbon Panel on Higher Education. Existing documents (such as the Academic Master Plan) provided a good start for the statement, which was revised to reflect comments solicited from faculty and staff in October. Given that the panel's recommendations will probably establish roles and missions for the next ten to twenty years, it is crucial that this document reflect our vision for the future of MSC.

The ensuing discussion touched on several points:

· In the context of Colorado higher education in 2001, the term "regional educational provider" implies the flexibility associated with the formerly popular term "charter school".

· Broadly speaking, Gallagher sees our region as western Colorado, eastern Utah, and perhaps southern Wyoming.

·MSC currently has responsibility for fulfilling a community college role, but has no access to community college funding. It would be beneficial to have a closer relationship with the community college system, hence the proposal to reorganize the School of Applied Technology as the Western Colorado Community College. In a sense, this would merely be formalizing an arrangement that already exists. It is possible that at some distant time, new faculty will be hired exclusively for either the community college or for Mesa State. He also reported that some members of the Grand Junction and Montrose communities would like to see a new community college that is completely separate from Mesa State.

·Gallagher noted that the proposal to expand our graduate offerings in selected professional fields is an initial attempt to lay the foundation for starting a second graduate program.

·Gallagher believes that changing our name from college to university may help our enrollment, our recruiting for faculty and staff, and our success at obtaining grants. He noted that each state college except for Metro State was making the same request, and that about 90% of former state colleges nationwide had already made the change. It is unlikely that there will be any immediate benefits to salaries.

·Gallagher will present the Role and Mission Statement to the Panel at a November 16 meeting. He will emphasize MSC's high productivity, high performance, and low administrative costs. Gallagher has asked Senate President Doug O'Roark and ASG President Bryan Howard to accompany him.

A motion was made to endorse the Role and Mission Statement (Gizzi/Thomas). The motion passed.

IV. Course Evaluation Forms

The forms used for surveying student opinion on faculty performance have been revised so as to be usable by a new scanner. There is no change to the questions or the choices for answers. The Senate requested that item 2 in the optional data section be amended to include master's level students, and that the letters be removed from inside the bubbles that go with each choice in the required section. A motion was made to approve the new form as amended (Sluder/Thomas). The motion passed.

V. Survey of Library Services

Valerie Horton (Director of Library) informed the Senate that students and faculty will be surveyed about library service in late November. She asked faculty to volunteer to distribute and collect surveys during their classes. She distributed a report on the last survey of library users, which took place in 1997.

VI. Report from the Faculty to Faculty Conference

CCHE's goal for the recent Faculty to Faculty Conference was to have faculty working groups develop general education competencies that would be common to all Colorado colleges and universities. Clare Boulanger reported that results were mixed. Most of the faculty that attended felt that this effort was unnecessary, unwise, and may reduce academic freedom. It's not clear what CCHE's next move will be. Apparently, there is also some dissension among the community colleges regarding their common competencies, which have been advertised by CCHE as a successful model.

VII. Faculty / Staff Club

Hasson Tavossi distributed a proposal for a Faculty Staff Club. Discussion was deferred to a future meeting.

A motion to adjourn was made at 5:00 pm (Walker/Sluder). The motion passed.