Agenda
Faculty Senate
7 October 2011, 9 a.m. M211

I.	Call to order

II.	Approval of Agenda

III.	Approval of minutes from 9 September 2011 meeting

IV.	Chancellor Bennett

V.	Update from the Dean

VI.	Old Business

a.	Collection for Lee Denim Day if you have not already donated 
b.	SAAS-Mirra Anson
i.	By-Laws state the Coordinator of SAAS is the Chair. Since that position is being eliminated when Janice retires Jan 1, we will need to make a change to the By-Laws
c.	RPT Committee - 
i.	Addition of CGP department and  Business department members
ii.	English
iii.	Math
iv.	Nursing
v.	4 Open Positions
d.	Advance Placement Credit-Leigh Adams / Connie Morgan
e.	Handbook Committee – Barbara Nyden 
i.	Requiring a vote:
1.	Effective Date for new Faculty Senate Executive Committee
2.	Codification of Per Course load
ii.	Will be reviewed as part of the full Handbook review
1.	Intellectual Property-No longer an issue
2.	Travel Policy 
f.	Search committees
i.	Economics
ii.	Director of Nursing
iii.	Instructional Design 
g.	Student Learning Objectives
i.	See e-mail discussion comments attached

VII.	New Business
a.	Standing Committee Reports
i.	Curriculum – Joyce Jennings-Pineda
ii.	Assessment Committee—Gary Phillips
iii.	Developmental Education-Jay Towell
b.	AD Hoc Committees
i.	IAC-Kathy Morrison
ii.	On-Line Offerings Task Force – Dean Dyer
c.	Placing textbooks on reserve for every course each semester

VIII.	Announcements
a.	 Tech Talk –
i.	10/7- Socrates meets the Oracle by the Grizzly Statue at noon today
ii.	10/14 - "Education in the Age of Disruptive Innovation (the Tech Talk inspiration from Lee Crockett)," noon Friday, Oct. 14, Melton Lecture Hall).  This is a very insprational keynote address and we will play it on the big screen in the Melton auditorium
b.	Library Book Order Requests Due by Monday 10/17

IX.	Faculty Concerns (voting Members of Faculty Senate only)
a.	Kathy Morrison
b.	Jerry Trick
c.	Debra Mayers

X.	Adjourn

Important Dates:
•	Friday 10/7
o	 Friends of Garnett Library Meeting & Luncheon, Noon to 1 p.m.; Panel Discussion by the International Students
•	Retirement Reception for Jay D Martin October 11th at 2:00 p.m. in Kellett Hall. Please drop off  donations for a gift to Donna Bird or Margie Griffin.
•	 Biometric screenings will be offered on the West Plains campus in Looney Hall 203 on Tuesday, October 18th and on Wednesday, October 19th from 8:00-11:00 a.m. each day. You can register online for biometric screening through My Learning Connection:  "How do I register for my Biometrics Screening" 
•	Scholarship Luncheon 10/25 noon at the Opera House– Please allow all students to attend.
•	Cafeteria Plan Open Enrollment October 1 – November 30th

E-Mail discussion Regarding the Student Learning Objectives Proposed by Dr. Dyer 9/12/2011

Joyce Jennings-Pineda

All,
I understand that perhaps the language of some of our goals could be “tweaked”, but please let’s don’t reinvent the wheel again.  Remember any of these changes if great enough could defeat the process we have already worked so hard on. Personally and from out last accreditation visit the primary weakness was the “tie” between student learning outcomes and budgeting were the larger issue. 
                              
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Kathy Morrison

All concerned:

I agree with Joyce. 

Our existing General Education goals are solid, and we have been building a body of assessment data based on them for some time.   Plus, they are  woven into our course objectives, syllabi, coursework and assessment processes.  Explanatory phrases may need some clarification but I think the 5 goals stand on their own.

Also, I note some redundancy among the listed SLOs.  Complexity is not in and of itself better than what is simply and, some would say, elegantly stated.

Especially so close to our next accreditation review, only compelling empirical evidence that these changes are essential to our mission should cause us to undertake such a drastic change in our stated general education goals.

Change for change sake may mean a lot of paperwork that does not enhance student learning by any meaningful measure.  I think we can all agree this should be avoided.
                          
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Jerry Trick

 Joyce and Kathy make excellent points.  However, haven’t most of us had issues with assessing “valuing” and “understanding of a global society”?  I know I have.  I don’t know if the proposed new SLO’s provide a better option (I haven’t tried them yet!) – if we don’t go this route does anyone have any better suggestion?

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Jay Dee Martin, emeritus

All,
I no longer have any standing on the faculty, but here is my $0.02:  Any change in the General Education goals would require a significant revision of curriculum to match those goals.  You do not have time to do that revision before the HLC visit.  I think the suggested SLO's are good and would be fine revisions after the HLC visit.  If I were still on the faculty, I would recommend waiting for those changes until after the HLC visit.  I believe it would be a good thing to give a close look at General Education and make significant changes.  I would not do that now. 

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Debra Mayers

Following the Faculty Senate discussion about keeping the "Global Awareness" title to our Gen Ed list as opposed to changing it to "Global Well-Being" (GWB), I think the reasoning for the change goes like this:
GWB is quantifiable- one can measure poverty levels, cancer levels, pollution levels, illiteracy levels, etc. as well as trends in those areas. 
 
Here was the wording that I had for defining GWB - To realize that natural processes occur in, around and on Earth and also within and between organisms, specifically humans  Those processes can be measured and mathematically used to view trends and changes which may need addressed for well-being.  Our previous definitions linked with "Global Awareness" may suffice.

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Gary Phillips

I intended to wait to respond until I had seen the last assessment report.  I remember discussing the idea of changing the goals, but don't remember what the report said, and haven't pulled it yet.  I did look at the March minutes where we discussed taking Higher Order Thinking and Global Awareness to the faculty and the Faculty Development Committee for discussion.  I don't remember specific suggestions for action. 
 
If Changes are made, they should come from specific suggestions for action which close the loop in the assessment cycle.  Initially I thought we should wait until after HLC's visit, but if change needs to be made, we should make it when (and if) the case becomes clear.  That demonstrates that assessment is an ongoing process, not something we do for an HLC visit.

I think that if a faculty member used Global Well-Being in a class, that would meet Global Awareness.  You certainly can not measure those without being aware of them first.  For my intercultural communication capstone, it is a little restrictive.  There are other elements of communication that I think are important that are not so quantifiable, and I am OK with that.

I agree that some tweaking of the definitions may need to be made, but I favor broader rather than more narrow.  I also favor changing slowly rather than quickly.  We have the structure for the five we have now, from web, to charts on every wall to syllabi/objectives, and the core competencies around which my capstones are built.  How about looking at the definitions and applications?  Here is my idea:
CO: Communicating Could require both oral and written, rather than either as now.
HOT: Higher Order Thinking Could be limited to Critical thinking if other forms of higher order thinking should come later (Junior/Senior years)
MI: Managing Information Should include use of Technology to manage information
VA: Valuing Should include aspects of Ethics, and Ethical Leadership (Public Affairs), Community Engagement (public Affairs) and Experiential Learning (Service Learning and Internships).  All of these help you value another group, or understand their values (vague, but I use both).
GA: Global Awareness Define to include Global Well-Being, Interdisciplinary Studies and Thinking, and Cultural Awareness (Public Affairs)

Faculty Handbook Committee
For Vote October 7, 2011
1.	Change to By-laws Article 1, Section 2, paragraph E “Time for Taking Office”
 Rationale`
1-The current academic year’s Faculty Senate Chair leads the Spring Commencement so for consistency the new officers will take over after commencement.
Recommendation to F/S will be to change the language:  
Current :
Time for Taking Office

Newly elected officers of the Faculty Senate shall take office following the annual elections.
Proposed Change:
Time for Taking Office

Newly elected officers of the Faculty Senate shall take office following the Spring Commencement.
2.	Change to Faculty Handbook Section 2.7.6 “Per Course Faculty”
Rationale`
a.	Springfield is changing their policy to “per course faculty are to teach no more than twelve credit hours per academic year”. We have the difficulty of finding enough per course faculty in our area for a number of disciplines so we feel that restricting the West Plains campus to the Springfield policy would cause further problems hiring qualified per course faculty.
b.	18 credit hours in a year equals the 1000 hour part time labor hour requirement
c.	Current West Plains policy does not address the number of hours
Current Policy   
2.7.6 Per Course Faculty members always receive a one-semester term contract only, and employment terminates automatically at the end of the semester. Per Course Faculty should possess a master's degree or the equivalent professional experience in a field determined acceptable by the Dean. Per Course Faculty members receive no retirement or insurance benefits. However, they may be allowed the use of campus facilities. Per Course Faculty have only the duties associated with teaching and are not required to perform committee work nor assume other responsibilities required of ranked faculty.
However Current Procedure based on a 2002 memo signed by then chancellor Kent Thomas establishes a maximum 18 hour load per 12 month period and a 10 credit hour maximum per semester, with the Dean at his/her discretion seeking per course faculty to teach classes
Proposed revision:
Per Course Faculty members are appointed on a semester basis only. Per course faculty are to teach no more than eighteen contact hours per academic year with no more than 10 contact hours per any one semester. Per Course Faculty should possess a master's degree or the equivalent professional experience in a field determined acceptable by the Dean. Per Course Faculty members receive no retirement or insurance benefits. However, they may be allowed the use of campus facilities. Per Course Faculty have only the duties associated with teaching and are not required to perform committee work nor assume other responsibilities required of ranked faculty.