Executive Committee of the University Senate

Present: Ken McGill, Dean Baker, Tanya Goette, Provost Jordan, Karynne Kleine, Christine Zuger

Regrets: President Leland, Jan Clark

Absent:

Guests: Lee Digiovanni, Macon McGinley, Amy Pinney, Matt Rogers, Catherine Whelan

Reports were given by the Standing Committee Chairpersons and the Provost:

RPIPC Catherine Whelan

Dr. Whelan reported that the committee has not had a great deal of business to conduct of late but that she had recently received a policy on shared leave from Staff Council. Shared leave differs from a “sick leave bank”. Dianne Kirkwood, Director of Human resources, will attend the next RPIPC meeting to help determine how the issue that Dr. Whelan hasn’t been able to answer.  She will contact Mark Bowen, Project Director, for an update. Finally RPIPC members were expecting a report on strategic goals and wanted to place the item on the upcoming agenda should information be forthcoming. It was determined that the item is not on the near horizon.

SAPC Macon McGinley

Dr. McGinley reported that she was made aware there is misleading and inaccurate information in the Student Handbook that suggests that students can be dropped from courses by instructors. She clarified that although legally students may fail courses and professors may enter failing grades for heavily weighted assignments early in the semester that will result in the student failing the course, professors do not have authorization to drop a student from the course. Students are contractually able to attend a class because they have paid fees; dropping is an action only a student may take. In the case of safety of the professor and/or students the matter should be turned over to Paul Jahr, Associate Vice President of Student Affairs. The item is to be steered to APC where the committee is asked to look at the policy as well as clarify how issues of student attendance that compromise safety are to be handled.

APC Amy Pinney

Dr. Pinney reported that SAPC held no meeting this month because the committee is awaiting further word from Dr. Jordan as to whether GCSU will be allowed to pursue implementation of a plus/minus grading scale. She also reported that there was a very healthy discussion over the issue even if clarification as to how to proceed proves to be negative.

FAPC Lee Digiovanni

Dr. Digiovanni reported that the issue of expectations of 9 month faculty who teach in the summer continues to be discussed although it is clear that faculty may decline to fulfill any additional duties (e.g., are not obligated to teach). She also reported that Susan Allen attended the last meeting and the committee has requested the dates of 1 July (Maymester), 8 July (Summer I), and 5 August (Summer II) as the pay dates for summer teaching. It was also verified that faculty may earn no more than 33% of their base pay in extra compensation over the contractual year. Dr. Digiovanni also informed the committee that Student Opinion Surveys will be administered for all courses where 10 or more students are enrolled. However there is ongoing discussion as to the purpose of SOS for faculty information to improve teaching or as evaluation tools. The issue of how the information would be utilized and to whom it would be made available need further discussion. Some participants felt it would help foster a culture of meaningful assessment while others were concerned about “survey fatigue” diminishing the usefulness of the assessment data. Others felt the content of the survey rendered it minimally useful. The Provost reported that a sub-group is becoming informed and working on the issue of SOS as this was a recurring concern she had heard since first arriving at GCSU.

Provost Sandra Jordan

Provost Jordan preceded her report with Thin Mints, for which she received much appreciation! She shared insights she had gleaned from the SACS accreditation visit from which she recently returned. The main point is that the Quality Enhancement Plan should be very specific and focus on a single change that will improve teaching and learning and positively affect the quality of the institution. She will keep ECUS apprised to help her puzzle about how best approach the development of the QEP in light of new standards, the desire for campus-wide input as well as informing Senate. She also reported that she, the President, the Dean of the CoB, Dr. Liao-Troth, and Ms. Angie Gheesling, Executive Director of the Milledgeville – Baldwin County Development Authority, will be in India for 10 days to meet with officials from several universities as well as business people in several cities to further develop the exchange of students and enhance economic situations in both locations. The provost will ask the Associate Provost, Dr. Tom Ormond, to make a report for her and the President at the upcoming US meeting.

Agenda was approved. Minutes from the 28 January ECUS were completed and approved.

The agenda for the 28 February US meeting was set.     

Unfinished Business

1. Senate Survey: There have been several questions asked about the survey. Ken McGill asked for committee feedback on how to address these questions. The questions will be discussed at the next senate meeting.

1. Governance Calendar- Tanya Goette reported that she is waiting on the academic faculty meetings and convocation dates.

3.        Bylaws editing committee: Karynne Kleine reported the bylaws editing committee will be meeting at 4 pm on February 22nd. The items on the bylaws editing agenda are the calling of an emergency meeting and the UCC becoming a permanent committee. The bylaws editing committee is waiting on the survey results before discussion about term limits.   

Adjournment 12:05