Faculty Affairs Policy Committee (FAPC) - January 13, 2012

Faculty Affairs Policy Committee (FAPC) Minutes - 13 Jan 2012

 Next meeting: Friday, 3 February 2012, from 3:30 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. in Arts & Sciences 1-16

Present:  David Connolly, Carrie Cook, David de Posada, Victoria Deneroff, Provost Sandra Jordan, Karynne Kleine, Mary Magoulick, Leslie Moore, Holley Roberts, Mike Rose, Craig Turner, Mike Whitfield.

Absent:   None.

Regrets:  Dean Baker.

Guests:   None.

 Activity and Agreements

1. Call to Order: Craig Turner, committee chair, called the meeting to order at 3:31 p.m.
2. Agenda: A motion to approve the 13 January 2012 agenda, as circulated, was made and seconded. During the deliberation, a motion to amend the agenda so that item 5.A., “Student Opinion Survey Work Group Recommendation,” become item 6.C. and to limit deliberation of this item to at most ten minutes was made, seconded and approved. A motion to approve the 13 January 2012 agenda as amended was made, seconded and approved.
3. Minutes: The committee secretary, Carrie Cook, requested guidance from the committee regarding the level of detail for committee minutes. She specifically requested committee feedback on the attribution of comments to individuals when documenting meeting discussion and deliberation. Members of the committee indicated a preference for no attribution of comments to individuals with exceptions when appropriate (e.g., attributing a statement made about operating procedures to the committee chair, etc.). Given the presence of concerns of some of the attributions in the circulated draft of the 02 December 2011 minutes, a motion to postpone consideration of the 02 December 2011 minutes to the 03 February 2012 meeting was made, seconded and approved to allow Carrie Cook time to amend the draft as necessary to address the attribution concerns.
4. Informational Items:

     A. Report on the 13 January 2012 joint meeting of Standing Committee Chairs (SCC) and Executive Committee (ECUS): Craig Turner, FAPC Chair, attended this meeting and provided an update to the committee. Craig provided members of the committee with a copy of his notes from this meeting and offered to supply clarifications on the notes. A few clarifications of the notes were requested by members of the committee. Following the meeting, the notes were linked to the meeting agenda at the FAPC web presence. For details of the 13 January 2012 SCC/ECUS meeting deliberations, see the minutes of that meeting.

     5. Action Items:

     A. FAPC Student Opinion Survey Work Group Recommendations: During the aforementioned committee review of the agenda, this agenda item (FAPC Student Opinion Survey Work Group Recommendations) was moved to become item 6.C on the agenda with deliberation limited to at most ten minutes.

     B. Tentative agenda items for FAPC for the 2011-2012 academic year that remained after the 07 October 2011 meeting:

     i. Pre-tenure review language (review language in university policies, procedures, and practices manual): Committee members discussed whether to form a work group to examine this agenda item. There was discussion about the purpose of pre-tenure review and distinguishing the process of pre-tenure review from the process of post-tenure review. A motion to form a FAPC Pre-Tenure Review Work Group consisting of at least one faculty member of each academic college and the library and charged to review the pre-tenure language in the university policies, procedures, and practices manual and prepare recommendations on proposed revisions (if any) to the pre-tenure language for FAPC review was made, seconded and approved. During the deliberation of this motion, some of the FAPC members volunteered to serve on this work group. Specifically, Victoria Deneroff (College of Education) volunteered to chair this work group while Leslie Moore (College of Health Sciences) and Mike Whitfield (College of Business) volunteered to serve as members. Victoria Deneroff will seek at least one representative from the College of Arts & Sciences faculty and at least one representative from the Library faculty to serve as members of this work group.

     ii. Individual Faculty Report (IFR) from academic year to calendar year: There was some discussion among the committee members that the University Chairs Council was engaged in discussion about this item, specifically in the context of their administrative duties and calendars. Committee members discussed some options for addressing this item. Some suggestions included: surveying faculty to determine which reporting year (academic or calendar) they prefer and why, reporting to faculty the advantages and disadvantages of both reporting year (academic and calendar) options and soliciting feedback, etc. There was a suggestion that Tom Ormond may be able to provide some specific information to the committee as he has been working with department chairs on this matter. Although the matter will ultimately take the form of a recommendation to the Provost, the committee members discussed the benefits of offering faculty voice to those who are currently considering the matter. There was some discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of both the academic year and calendar year IFR. Though some committee members have consulted with their respective constituencies, not all departments at the institution are represented by members of the committee. Some of these members reported that the faculty they talked to are in favor of revising the process to be based on the calendar year. A motion to charge the FAPC Chair to inform the University Chairs Council Chair that the members of the 2011-2012 FAPC (and not necessarily their constituencies) favor basing the IFR on a calendar year instead of an academic year was made, seconded and approved. A motion to draft a statement of the FAPC position and to have academic deans solicit faculty feedback from the faculty members in their respective academic units (colleges and the library) was made, seconded, and approved. Mary Magoulick agreed to prepare a draft of this position statement in consultation with Lee Gillis, University Chairs Council Chair, and circulate it by email to FAPC members prior to the next FAPC meeting.

     iii. Faculty pay (12 month pay for academic year faculty/ alternatives to 10 monthly checks): The committee was reminded that there is preliminary consideration by centralized payroll administrators that all USG employees (faculty and staff) be paid twice a month. There was some discussion about whether it would be productive for FAPC to take a position on this matter if it is being considered at the system level. There was a suggestion that FAPC request information from the institutional administration regarding this matter. A motion to charge the FAPC Chair to send to Interim President Stas Preczewski a statement that the Faculty Affairs Policy Committee recommends that academic year faculty have the option of being paid according to a 10-month schedule or a 12- month schedule was made, seconded and approved. Following the meeting, a 10-month faculty pay question and answer document prepared by President Leland in 2005 was linked to the meeting agenda at the FAPC web presence.

     6. Updates from FAPC Work Groups:

     A. Student Opinion Survey Form: Before consideration of this item started, the time (4:45 pm) for adjournment was reached. The Chair reminded the committee that the committee operating procedures called for adjournment unless the committee votes to extend the meeting. In response, a motion was made to postpone further discussion of this item and postpone discussion of the remaining items on the agenda to the next meeting and to adjourn this meeting. This motion was seconded and approved.

     B. Post-Tenure Review Work Group: During the deliberation of item 5.B.i, Mike Rose, chair of the post-tenure review work group, provided a report to the committee that the work group had to be reconstituted as they lost some members who had served during the 2010-2011 academic year. The work group is presently seeking and reviewing models for post-tenure review that are being used at other institutions in the University System of Georgia.

     C. FAPC Student Opinion Survey Work Group Recommendations: Consideration of this item was postponed to the next meeting.

     7. Tentative Agenda for the next FAPC meeting: The tentative agenda for the next meeting includes discussion of postponed agenda items (see items 6.A. and 6.C. above).

     8. Opportunity for the FAPC Secretary to clarify any matter with the committee: Carrie Cook, committee secretary, was provided an opportunity to clarify any matter with the committee to assist her in the preparation of minutes for this meeting. She required no clarifications.

     9. Adjourn: As indicated in 6.A. above and in compliance with committee operating procedures, a motion to adjourn (before all items on the agenda could be considered) was made, seconded and approved. The meeting adjourned at 4:47 p.m.

 Actions Some activities lead to actions to implement the committee agreements.

     3. Draft revisions for 02 December 2011 FAPC minutes for FAPC review. (Carrie Cook)

     5.B.i. Serve on FAPC Pre-Tenure Review Work Group (Chair: Victoria Deneroff ; Members: Leslie Moore, Mike Whitfield)

     5.B.i. Seek at least one representative from each of College of Arts & Sciences faculty and Library faculty to serve on the FAPC Pre-Tenure Work Group. (Victoria Deneroff)

     5.B.ii. Forward FAPC position on Individual Faculty Reports - favoring they be based on a calendar year rather than an academic year - to the University Chairs Council Chair (Craig Turner)

     5.B.ii. Draft FAPC position statement on Individual Faculty Reports in consultation with University Chairs Council Chair Lee Gillis and circulate it by email to FAPC members prior to the next FAPC meeting. (Mary Magoulick)

     5.B.iii. Forward the FAPC recommendation on academic year faculty pay - that academic year faculty have the option to be paid according to a 10-month schedule or a 12-month schedule - to Interim President Stas Preczewski. (Craig Turner)

     7. Set the tentative agenda for the next FAPC meeting in consultation with the committee. (Craig Turner)