Minutes

LA&S Assembly

Sept. 21, 2007 – 3:30 p.m.

Brighton Lecture Hall,  Science Hall

 

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

II.    Approval of minutes from May 9, 2007.

III.   Jorge Ballester introduced the members of the Advisory Committee:  Secretary—Monica Kjellman-Chapin (Art); At large

       members—Ed Emmer (Soc Sci); Alfredo Montalvo (Soc/Anth); Gary Holcomb (Eng); Past Moderator—Joe Yanik (Math, Comp Sci & Econ).

IV     Dean Brown introduced new faculty/staff in LA&S:  James Ehlers (Art); Pam Harlan (Art); Jungyune Park (Mat, Comp Sci & Econ); Lory Cross (Music); Kevin Powers (Music); Brian Miller (Soc Sci); Laura Moley (Soc Sci); Sara Fisher (Soc/Anthro); Susan Brinkman (Center for Great Plains Studies).

V.     Election of VPAA Advisory Committee members from the areas of Theatre/Communication & the Arts and Humanities & the Social Sciences.

       Nominees from Theatre/Communication & the Arts:  Jan Borst (Soc/Anthro); Eric Conrad (Art); Sheryl Lidzy (Theatre/Comm); Nancy Pontius (Theatre/Comm); Theresa Mitchell (Theatre/Comm).

      Nominees from Humanities & the Social Sciences:  Kevin Rabas (English); Joyce Thierer (History).

      There were no nominations from the floor.

Results:  Theresa Mitchell (Theatre/Communication & the Arts); Kevin Rabas (Humanities & the Social Sciences).  According to LA&S bylaws, Past Moderator Joe Yanik will continue to serve as the representative from Natural Sciences & Nursing.

VI.    Moderator's words

       A.       Chronic Low Performance Pool Announcement—Ballester called upon Joe Yanik to announce the names of faculty selected for the College Level Chronic Low Performance Committee.  The names, in the order in which they were drawn, may be viewed at: http://www.emporia.edu/las/CLCLPCfacultylist.htm.

B.  Ballester explained that the role of the Dean’s Advisory Committee was to provide an opportunity for communication between the faculty and the Dean and to function in an assistive capacity on personnel matters.  The Advisory Committee is also responsible for drafting policies pertaining to LA&S, scheduling assemblies and other events relevant to LA&S, and advising the Dean on matters of policy.  Ballester referred to the published “Purpose and Procedures of LA&S Dean’s Advisory Committee,” which may be found at: http://www.emporia.edu/las/purposeandprocedures.htm.

VII.   Vice-President's remarks

• Promotion & Tenure Processes:  Schwenn addressed concerns regarding new vs. old FRC documents.  Many departments have had to revise their extant FRC documents because of the Chronic Low Performance Bill and the mandatory 5-year review of FRC documents.  This might result in cases where faculty come up for tenure and/or promotion under two different FRC documents.  Schwenn advised faculty to choose one or the other FRC document and to specify clearly in the submitted materials by which document the faculty member wishes to be evaluated.  Currently there is no university policy dealing with this issue, which therefore allows the individual faculty member to choose the FRC document; Schwenn acknowledged that in the future Faculty Senate may change this by introducing legislation.
• General Education:  The Board of Regents (BOR) has requested that General Education standards and requirements be expressed to ensure that students have the basic skills and knowledge they should have irrespective of where they matriculate, attend, and/or graduate.  A question was raised about the perception that the community colleges have lower standards—this should be obviated by the establishment of “core competencies.”  Question about tracking—the long-term goal is to track Kansas students from K-12, into college/university.  Currently such a system is not operative.
• International Students:  Schwenn remarked that under an agreement with Xi’an University in China, students from Xi’an University take a year’s worth of General Education courses in China, two years here, and another year at Xi’an, with the expectation that they will earn dual degrees (ESU/Xi’an).  Schwenn offered that the second group of international students was better prepared than the first, and praised the efforts of those faculty who have been working with the international students to help them transition from studies in their native countries to study here at ESU.  The point was raised that the necessity of taking intensive English language courses cuts down on the number of General Education classes international students can take during their 2 years here at ESU.
• Remediation issues:  Schwenn addressed the concern that not all students come with the skills necessary to do well in upper level classes (such as math); some of those students took their basic courses at community colleges.  The BOR is concerned with this problem as well and Schwenn suggested that the larger issue is what is happening at the K-12 level.  The VP stated that while he recognizes that not all members of the faculty and administration agree with him, he believes that all students who come to ESU should be entitled to a degree, even if that means remedial courses need to be offered.  A concern was raised from the floor that there does not seem to be the necessary infrastructure in place to address adequately the needs of international students/students requiring remedial education.
• Schwenn recognized Betsy Yanik, recently appointed Administrative Faculty Intern.
• Emergency Alerting System:  By next week, a new whistle alerting system will be installed in case of emergency and/or dangerous situations.  If the whistle sounds, faculty should proceed to the nearest computer and check either their email or the university’s homepage for further instructions.  In response to a question from the floor, it was stated that the new whistle should be easily distinguishable from the tornado warning system currently in use by the state.  Q:  Are students, faculty, and staff being informed about this?  A:  There was a half-page article in The Bulletin, information was sent out via Facebook, and there was a campus-wide email regarding the new whistle.  When tests of the system occur, further emails will be sent out.  Q:  How will students off-campus be alerted not to come to campus?  A:  In the case of a lock-down situation, it is likely that multiple law enforcement agencies will be in place, who will coordinate efforts to keep students away.  President Lane mentioned other possibilities, including a text-messaging alert system, dependent on students registering their cell phone numbers with the university.  Lane stated the full system and attendant contingencies were still in development.  

VIII.    President's remarks—Lane stated that he had no prepared remarks and preferred to address questions and concerns raised by faculty.

• Q:  Given the recent drop in enrollment, how big should ESU be?  A:  Lane stated that the answer depends on where and when.  In the past there have been 6,400 students on campus; Lane cites 6,000 as an ideal figure.  Including the Metro Learning Center (with 1,500-2,000) and distance education, 10,000 students would be a good goal.  Graduate programs were included in his consideration of enrollment numbers.
• Q:  What about the 1.8% drop in enrollment?  A:  Lane commented that part of the drop is due to Flint Hills Technical College’s recent accreditation to the Higher Learning Commission (initiated October 2006); another component was a less than competitive scholarship program, which has subsequently been restructured.  Lane also suggested that other markets need to be explored, particularly Nebraska and Texas.
• Q:  Future of the Metro Learning Center?  A:  The MLC is targeted for growth; there are currently five programs before the BOR awaiting approval.  The BOR is concerned about program duplication, but ESU is in an advantageous position relative to programs.  Any program is viable at the MLC and ESU should try to offer as much as possible there.
• Q:  How will MLC programs be staffed?  A:  Staffing depends on how fast programs are implemented and how large they grow, but Lane anticipates that eventually the MLC will have fulltime tenure track faculty in place.  How to assess their service component will then need to be addressed.
• Q:  Marketing of ESU—what is the future?  A:  The university needs to come up with a clear idea of what “student-centered” means.  General consensus is that it indicates a high quality education and personal attention to students, and ESU needs a tagline that identifies those qualities.  Lane suggested that a recent consultant’s visit and telephone surveys with past and presents students and parents of students yielded “generically positive” results, but he would like more input from faculty on ways to market the university.
• Q:  “Guests” and categories of coverage—what about people who are not students/faculty/staff, especially research collaborators/what are the legal ramifications of inviting people to campus?  A:  Lane responded that he knew of no obstacles to inviting guests to campus, and that there was a necessity of balancing university policies, BOR policies, and state law.  “Guests” need to be defined to ensure compliance with state law and/or ESU/BOR policies; difficult to have a blanket policy given the fluidity of the term “guest” and legal ramifications. 
• Q:  Are privacy issues being reviewed at ESU?  A:  As a result of BANNER implementation, ESU is reviewing its policies on access to information and privacy.  The university is finalizing its policy on the use of Social Security numbers:  Social Security numbers for students and all employees will be restricted.  They will no longer be used on Hornet cards; if faculty have Hornet cards with their Social Security number on them, they should request new ones.  Only Human Resources and Payroll will have access to faculty/employee Social Security numbers; for students it will be limited to intercollegiate athletics, the registrar, and financial aid office.  Lane further stated that “fine-grain access” will soon be implemented—this is an overlay access to BANNER that allows for targeted accessibility based on individual need. 
• Q:  Now that Lane has been at ESU for a while, what would he say we are doing well and what are we not doing well?  A:  Lane stated that his initial good impressions have been confirmed and that he has not seen any [negative] changes.
• Q:  Restructuring of scholarships?  A:  The scholarship program has been restructured to be more competitive; now based on a combination of high school GPA and ACT scores, and range from $500-1,800 for incoming students.  Students can reapply for these scholarships and they are awarded based on a sliding scale dependent upon their GPAs.  There are also applied department scholarships and in the cases of departments that do not have individual monies, there will be back up scholarship funds available. 
• Q:  Naming opportunities and fundraising?  A:  Very little is named on campus, and there are many possibilities, especially for the naming of individual rooms.  Also looking for endowed professorships, and intends to offer giving opportunities ranging from $25,000 to $10 million.  Lane briefly outlined the pricing structure:  $7-10 million to name a building/program; $500,000 for an endowed professorship; $1.5 million for an endowed chair.  Naming of individual rooms would be less, and the proposed renovation of the Memorial Union will offer plenty of opportunities, and as well as improve the ability of ESU to recruit and retain students.  The anticipated cost of the MU renovation is $24 million, with the expectation that $12 million can be bonded from student fees.  Lane also addressed future plans to build a maintenance facility at the bottom of Highland St. (where the Art Annex and Compound are currently located), and to remake the existing Stormont building into an art building, including a gallery overlooking Wooster Lake at an anticipated cost of about $5.5-7 million.  

IX.    For the good of the assembly

•  Joe Yanik mentioned the sense of community generated by Dr. Ronald Keith and asked the Assembly to think of ways to continue that spirit of collegiality and community.
• Jan Borst announced that the United Way campaign is under way and encouraged faculty to participate as many students benefit from this effort.

X.     Adjourned at 4:45pm

 

Last Updated February 8, 2008