Sept 22, 2010 Minutes
Members present: Senators Melzer, Brown, Huling, Hazlewood, Wilson, Furney, Feakes, Payne, Warms, Morey, Martin, Stone, Conroy
Guests: O’Connor (Star), Coolidge (Star), Sanders, Korenek, Waggoner, Stewart
Meeting called to order at 4:00.
Announcements:
1. At the recent CAD meeting, a memo was distributed outlining the kinds of published books that will lead to a faculty member being invited to the President’s reception for those who have published books in the previous academic year. The memo explained that textbooks, lab manuals, and such texts are not considered scholarly publications. The Chair of the Senate will share the memo with the Senate so that Senators can discuss the possible implications of the definitions being used.
2. The Chair distributed the current list of Senate Liaisons, noting that liaisons should be tenured faculty members and have at least three years of service at the University. She asked Senators to insure that all liaisons in their colleges are eligible to serve.
Mace Bearers: Mace bearers are needed for fall commencement ceremonies in the colleges of Liberal Arts, Education and Health Professions.
AAUP Conference: The Chair will attend the November 12-14 AAUP conference taking place in Washington DC. Senator Melzer was elected by the Senate to accompany the Chair.
Workload Analysis F09-SP10: Dr. Bourgeois visited the Senate to outline his research on current workload policies, as well as potential changes to the policy and the relevant PPS. Using data from Spring 2010, Dr. Bourgeois visited with each Dean to discuss sharing information and concerns with Chairs so that more uniformity in reporting and assigning workload credits could be insured. In particular, Dr. Bourgeois wants Deans and Chairs to be more consistent in reporting workload credits for such situations as graduate courses, assigned time, independent study, thesis and dissertation hours and directed study. He also hopes to insure consistency in the definition of large classes, as well as workload credits assigned for teaching those large classes. Dr. Bourgeois explained that there is no way to insure uniformity across the University, but he hopes there will be consistency within each college.
Dr. Bourgeois argued that all graduate classes should be worth three workload credits, with Chairs reflecting the extra work required in such courses by assigning faculty extra assigned time for scholarly / creative activity; this would be a change to the current policy, which allows Chairs to assign graduate courses 4.5 credits.
He also explained that the 12-hour workload is the minimum for full-time faculty, rather than the maximum, and hopes that the reporting of workload credits will reflect the actual amount of work faculty perform. If faculty earn more workload credits than the required minimum, workload reports should reflect this.
Dr. Bourgeois is assembling a task force to revise the relevant PPS, and asks that Senators share their concerns with him and the members of the task force.
A major concern expressed by Senators was the need for the policy to reflect the significant extra work required to teach graduate courses; making all organized courses worth three workload credits will not document the actual work faculty perform in graduate courses.
Faculty Definitions: The Chair noted that current policy ties voting status on personnel committees to “funds budgeted for faculty salaries.” Dr. Bourgeois admitted that this policy does not accurately portray current procedures, particularly regarding the initial transfer of funds to departments. Now, money is tied to faculty lines rather than individuals. Indeed, under the current definition, a faculty member who receives grant funding that covers 51% of her salary would no longer be a voting member of her department’s personnel committee. Both the Senators and Dr. Bourgeois believe that these policies need to be revised so they document current procedures and realities.
Senators argued that another problematic issue when defining voting faculty is that a number of faculty are now hired with tenure. Do such faculty have the teaching experience necessary to vote on tenure and promotion decisions? Should policies require new faculty to serve at Texas State for at least one year before they become voting members, insuring they have first-hand knowledge of their colleagues’ work, the culture of their departments, and the expectations of their colleges?
BREAK
Review Workload Charge: The Chair distributed a draft memo of a charge asking liaisons to explore the awarding of workload credits in their departments. On November 17, Senators and liaisons will meet to share their initial findings and begin discussions on the topic. The Chair asks that Senators meet with their college liaisons to coordinate this charge. Reports and policies are posted on the Senate’s TRACS site.
Review Proposed Modifications to Faculty Definitions: This item was tabled until a future meeting.
New Business:
1. Last year, the administration decided that any retired faculty member seeking recognition as a Distinguished Professor Emeritus must have previously been named a Distinguished University Professor. Unfortunately, a number of recent retirees were not able to apply for this new award, and so are now ineligible for recognition as Distinguished Professor Emeriti. At CAD, the Chair asked if such faculty could be granted a waiver of the new requirement, but the Provost said there would be no exceptions. The Chair asked Senators to consider whether this situation might be an item for the next PAAG meeting.
Minutes of 9/15/10 were approved.
Adjournment.