FACULTY SENATE MINUTES

APRIL 10, 2007

Present: Bandy, Bolter, Boniecki, Bradley, Bratton, Christman, Esteban, Frederickson, Hirrel, Horton, Johnson, Lance, Lichtenstein, McCullough, Mehta, Mosley, Parrack, Powers, Satterfield, Ceifert, Thiher, Ujah, Wiedmaier

Absent: Holden, Wilmes, Young

Guests: UCA President Hardin and Executive Vice-President Anderson

President Bolter called the meeting to order at 12:45.

Approval of Minutes

On a motion by Mosley and a second by Horton the minutes of the March 13, 2007 were approved unanimously.

President’s Report

President Bolter called the members’ attention to a document titled “Concurrent Enrollment Initiative: Academic Issues & Concerns” which had been distributed electronically prior to the meeting. She asked senators to add any concerns that they have which are not mentioned. Frederickson suggested adding a concern regarding the effect of concurrent enrollment on the Advanced Placement curriculum, questioned whether concurrent enrollment classes actually prepare students for sophomore level courses, and the potential impact on UCA faculty members who may teach such courses.

President Bolter invited UCA President Hardin to address the Senate. The summary of his remarks and the question and answer period which followed are included at the end of this document.

President Bolter asked Bratton and Seifert to explain/comment on the case study which they conducted on the reduction in teaching loads. Bratton briefly went over the report and pointed out that at the current time reducing all teaching loads in the Mathematics Department by 3 credit hours would require over a 31% increase in the salary and benefit budget. Mosley asked if that also included other resources for new faculty or office space and Bratton replied that it did not.

President Bolter reported that she had received a letter from the Staff Senate requesting that Faculty Senate share in the cost of the smoking regulation decals that have recently been placed on the doors of buildings. She noted that the total cost was $600 and SGA had contributed $250. Frederickson moved and Thiher seconded the suspension of the rules for the purpose of a motion on this request. Motion passed unanimously. Frederickson moved and Mehta seconded to transfer $250 to the Staff Senate for this purpose. Motion passed unanimously.

President Bolter reported that she had received a copy of a memo from the Salary Review Committee to the Provost regarding the allocation of new salary money between across the board raises, merit raises, and equity raises. That recommendation was that of the 5% new money going into the salary pool 3% would be used for across the board raises, 1.5% would be for merit raises, and 0.5% would be used for equity adjustments. Provost Esteban added that the administration had accepted this recommendation.

President Bolter recognized Bradley who moved adoption of the resolution listed below. Lance seconded.

Resolution

Whereas all faculty members on campus should be treated in a fair and equitable way under the same set of rules;

Whereas people should be judged in their teaching areas by their peers;

Whereas the Honors College and University College are unaffiliated with a college;

Be it resolved that the Faculty Senate vote on a process that would start negotiations for the inclusion of these two units into a college with the process to include:

1. That the Provost and the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate meet to negotiate the best place for these units in a current college.

2. The deadline for this decision would be set for January 1, 2008.

3. The vote to start this procedure would be taken before the last Senate meeting of this current school year.

A great deal of discussion ensued. The following senators mentioned ideas which have been paraphrased for the minutes. Lance commented that the notion of the resolution is good for faculty. Thiher stated that he recalled that there was a skirmish over tenure issues for the Honors College last year, but that it seemed to him that these entities were functioning well and we shouldn’t try to fix what wasn’t broken. Bratton replied that although he couldn’t speak for those affected, his wife was one of them and in his conversations with her it seemed that the issue wasn’t quality of programs but rather it was equal representation on the Senate and on standing university committees. Christman commented that while there are some advantages to affiliation with existing colleges this resolution leaves the affected people out of the negotiations. Boniecki stated that the language was too vague. Frederickson mentioned that the push is for representation. Bolter added that the Executive Committee has no position on this motion but the committee is trying to facilitate discussion. Parrack congratulated Bradley on opening this dialogue. Bradley stated that the idea behind the motion is to help faculty obtain tenure and treating all faculty fairly. Satterfield mentioned that the issue had many facets that must be considered. Johnson agreed with Satterfield and added that the issue is representation. Mosley thanked the members of the Senate for the high level of discussion on a sensitive issue. Motion failed on a 1-18-2 margin.

Committee Reports

The Executive Committee reported that at lunch today with President Hardin the discussion was on concurrent enrollment.

The Committee on Committees had no report.

Faculty Affairs I had no report.

Faculty Affairs II Chairman Christman reported on and introduced the following resolution.

Whereas the Faculty Senate was charged with the task of examining the formulated review process for conversion of existing courses for electronic delivery;

Be it hereby resolved that the Faculty Senate recommends that the process include review of the proposal by the departmental curriculum committee and approval by the chair, and then proceed as an information item to the college curriculum committee. At the university level the proposal would go the General Education Council, Undergraduate Council, or Graduate Council as appropriate, and got to the Council of Deans as an information item.

Be it hereby resolved that Faculty Senate recommends that this and other procedural information be posted on the Provost’s website where it is easily accessible by faculty.

Bradley moved adoption of this resolution and Seifert seconded. Johnson commented that there should be review above the departmental level, that is these proposals should proceed as action items not information items. Parrack moved this amendment and Johnson seconded. Bradley and Seifert accepted this as a friendly amendment. Seifert asked who would put together what information would be needed and Bolter answered that the Provost’s Office would do that. Bradley called the question and Parrack seconded. Call of the question passed unanimously and the amended resolution passed unanimously.

Academic Affairs reported on its work regarding academic misconduct. Chairman Boniecki reviewed the draft of changes in the Student Handbook which had been provided to the members earlier and indicated that a motion to this effect would be introduced at the April 26, 2007 meeting.

Announcements and Concerns

Johnson questioned whether or not athletes had been allowed to register early for the fall semester of 2007.

Christman commented that some of her constituents felt “bullied” by the requests for UCA Foundation contributions by faculty as a part of the Centennial Campaign.

On a motion by Mosley and a second by Horton the Senate adjourned at 2:27.

Remarks by President Hardin

The document below summarizes the remarks made by President Hardin and were provided to the members of the Senate by him.

FACULTY SENATE MEETING PRESIDENT LU HARDIN APRIL 10, 2007 12:45 p.m.

$5.3 million ($300,000 from IT) will be allocated to faculty salaries for the 2007-08 academic year. This money is not one time money and will go into the base and reoccur every year. The represents more than twice the amount of new money the faculty at the University of Central Arkansas has been granted in new money. Consistent with the concept of shared governance, the administration will ask the faculty to decide on this distribution, involving merit pay, per cent across the board faculty pay increase and equity .

./ Concurrent Enrollment is a reality for both two and four year colleges and

universities nationally. ·Ten years ago this was an exclusive domain of two-year colleges. While serving as director of the Department of Higher Education, I felt there was a problem of academic integrity and personally drafted a set of regulations that was adopted by the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board requiring college level textbooks, college level personnel and checks on the academic content of the course .. Weare totally committed to academic integrity as indicated by the $250,000 that has been allocated as an acceptance of the faculty senate's and the subcommittee's recommendation to send existing or new faculty to teach 1310 and 1320. This is money out of the president's budget, separate from existing commitmentto the academic budget. We will now have about 300 students enrolled.

The administration had concerns about students with a 12 on the ACT being accepted to UCA. The cross index allowed the lower ACTs to be accepted. The administration met with the Faculty Senate executives and asked a sub-committee to deal with this matter. The University of Central Arkansas increased its admission requirements, becoming one of the toughest in the State of Arkansas. Based on our applications we are down 300 students that otherwise would have fallen in this category the previous year. However, our enrollment will still be up this fall. Our minimum ACT requirement for a tuition scholarship has increased from 25 to 27 in the last two years as we continue to attract the best and the brightest.

Attached is a quote from an article that appeared four years ago in the Chronicle of Higher Education. We continue to be committed to the concept of shared governance. Nothing has changed. Some misunderstanding exists on concurrent enrollment, but the recommendations of the Faculty Senate have been taken and the dialogue will continue.

Questions and Answers

Frederickson: What impact will concurrent enrollment courses have on Advanced Placement?

President Hardin: That is unresolved. Senate and House Education Committees are to study it prior to the 2009 meeting of the General Assembly.

Hirrel: Are there territories for concurrent enrollment offerings?

President Hardin: Courtesy.

Mosley: Are we establishing standards and controls for concurrent enrollment offerings?

President Hardin: That’s right.

Bradley: Can we offer concurrent enrollment courses at private schools?

President Hardin: Yes, we can. As long as we stay academic.

Seifert: Are we in the process of outsourcing our general education program?

President Hardin: It’s a moving target. If we didn’t get involved in concurrent enrollment last year we would have been out of it for the long haul.

Johnson: What is the role of our academic departments in deciding on concurrent enrollment offerings?

President Hardin: We negotiate with the schools and that will involve the academic departments. But, we owe it to the high schools to exhaust all avenues for resolving conflicts.

Lichtenstein: Is what you are saying the we want to do it right or someone else does it somehow and we have no control?

President Hardin: That’s right. But, if we do abdicate, others may do it right.

Satterfield: What about the concurrent enrollment committee? Is the Director of General Education directly involved?

Esteban: Originally it was the chairs. The assumption was that they would get sufficient input from their faculty. No the Director of General Education is not directly involved.

The session closed at 1:30 and President Hardin concluded with the following:

“Dialogue will continue. This has been a good year. We’re one of only 2 schools in the state with a graduation rate of more than 50%. That would not be possible without you.”