College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

LA&S Assembly

January 31, 2008 – 3:30 p.m.

Brighton Lecture Hall,  Science Hall

 

• Called to order at 3:30pm by Jorge Ballester, Moderator

• Approval of minutes from September 21, 2007.

• Dean’s Remarks
• Dean Brown voiced his appreciation for ESU and remarked that he is honored to serve the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences as its Dean for two reasons:  1) the outstanding legacy of leadership of LA&S; and 2) the extraordinary level of educational, scholarly, and professional work taking place here.  Dean Brown further commends LA&S for its dedicated professionals and collegiality.
• Regarding President Lane’s comments at the General Assembly of January 22, 2007—Dean Brown remarked that President Lane’s vision for ESU raises issues but also opportunities for LA&S; after enumerating achievements on the part of LA&S students and faculty, Dean Brown noted that ESU’s LA&S programs rival those of other Midwest institutions, and concluded that exceptional student work is the norm rather than the exception.
• Virginia Endly Memorial Scholarship—The deadline for the Virginia Endly Memorial Scholarship has been extended from January 18 to February 15, and Dean Brown encouraged faculty to have their students apply.  The Virginia Endly Memorial Scholarship is ESU’s only “full-ride” scholarship; the award is equal to in-state tuition and fees, residence hall fees with meal plan, and the average cost of books for a fulltime student.  Further information can be found at http://www.emporia.edu/finaid/scholarships/index2.htm#Endly.
• Leadership—Dean Brown stated that LA&S must continue to maintain a leadership role in Faculty Senate, which may mean an additional commitment to service.  He encouraged faculty members to consider making what he acknowledged was a sacrifice of time to service, and noted that departments must figure out how to facilitate such escalated service commitments.
• Restructuring of ESU—The changes outlined in President Lane’s address at the General Assembly of January 22, 2008 will result in changes, but functionally there will be little change and the restructuring will have virtually no effect at the department level.  The Vice President for Academic Affairs will become a Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, and there will be the creation of a Division of Enrollment Management, under which will be housed the following offices and services:  1) Admissions; 2) Financial Aid; 3) Registrar; 4) Off-Site and Distance Education [formerly known as Lifelong Learning]; 5) International Programs; 6) Graduate Programs; 7) Advising.  The grouping of these offices and services under the new Division of Enrollment Management will begin February 1, 2008 and will be overseen in its transitional phase by Dr. Jim Williams.
• Institutional Assessment—Dean Brown remarked that there is a often a sense that one’s time and effort could be better spent on teaching and professional activities, but that assessment is here to stay.  The better planned and more thoroughly suffused in a program assessment is, the easier and less time-consuming the process will be.  Avoidance of assessment would be to the detriment of a program.  Assessment must begin within individual departments and must be of the efficacy of our programs of instruction.

• Update on General Education Proposal—Dr. Jim Roach reported that representatives from the General Education Council met with the Academic Affairs Committee on Tuesday, January 29 to answer questions about the proposed General Education Program.  Academic Affairs will solicit comments from individual departments, and conduct an up/down vote to endorse/not endorse the proposed curriculum at their next meeting, to be held February 12, 2008.  If Academic Affairs votes to endorse the proposed program, it will go to a full Senate vote.  If Academic Affairs votes not to endorse the proposed program, it will be sent back to the General Education Council with suggestions and comments.  Neither Academic Affairs nor Faculty Senate will vote on a line-by-line or item-by-item basis; both votes will up or down on the totality of the program as it is currently proposed. 

• Questions and Answers:

Q:   Will the General Education documents be distributed to all LA&S faculty?

A:   Yes; Dr. Gary Bleeker will send the proposal, as well as other pertinent documents including a timeline, in electronic form to department chairs for distribution.  Dr. Bleeker noted that Dean Brown has endorsed the current proposal, and that the Gen. Ed. Council tried to present a well-balanced, fair program.

Q:   There are rumors that President Lane and the Board of Regents (BOR) are interested in external assessment; is that true?

A:   Dean Brown has heard nothing about this, but if it is true, one sure way to stave that off is to do strong internal assessment.  Dr. Joe Yanik noted that his understanding was that the drive from BOR applied only to performance agreements.

Q:   Concerns were raised over the composition of the search committee for the Provost & Vice President for Academic Affairs position—LA&S is underrepresented on this search committee.  Dr. Gary Wyatt, who is serving as the sole faculty representative of LA&S on that committee, remarked that the criteria for the Provost & VPAA seem promising.  The criteria stress that the person be an accomplished scholar in her/his field, and mandates that she/he has at least four years experience at the Dean’s level.  Dr. Elizabeth Locey asked whether there was any cognizance of international issues; Dr. Wyatt affirmed that was brought up by the search committee.

Q:   Program Capacities

A:   Dean Brown stated that he needs to know where LA&S needs are so we can target recruitment, but acknowledged that the criteria for reporting of program capacity and program needs can be interpreted broadly.  The fundamental point is to give a basis for understanding where LA&S programs are currently in terms of numbers.

Q:   Travel Money—Does LA&S have any?

A:   Not much, but the Dean’s office will try to fund travel; there is not, however, a great deal of money, so an increase in travel stipends is unlikely.

Q:   Will LA&S regain the $200,000 lost out of the part time faculty budget?

A:   Dean Brown answers that there will be an attempt to make up the loss of that money from the part time instructor budget, but it is uncertain whether all of it will be regained.  He also comments that the summer allocation is based upon the enrollment numbers of the previous few years and because of low enrollment figures LA&S was only given 94% of what it had last year.  Discretionary money has been used for summer teaching allocations where necessary.  Dean Brown also assured the Assembly that part time and adjunct faculty hired to teach in off-campus centers would be hired by LA&S faculty; they will not be appointed.  Off-campus faculty will be vetted by departments and their faculty.

Q:   President Lane wants to double the size of the Teacher’s College—true?

A:   Vice President Schwenn said that President Lane wishes to double the size of the teacher education program and is going to leverage some funding from BOR in order to increase the number of teachers.

• For the Good of the Assembly

A.   There were no comments or announcements from the floor.

B.   Dean Brown reiterated his respect for the members of LA&S and encouraged

faculty to stop by his office to say hello.

• Adjourned at 4:48pm.

 

Last Updated May 16, 2008