Faculty Affairs Policy Committee (FAPC) - April 29, 2011

 Faculty Affairs Policy Committee (FAPC) Minutes - 29 April 2011

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

Absent: Jason Huffman, Sally Humphries

Activity and Agreements

1. Call to Order: Dr. Karynne Kleine, designated by the 2010-2011 Executive Committee to serve as facilitator of this organizational meeting and conduct the officer elections, called the meeting to order at 12:30 p.m.

1. Identify Minute Taker: The first agenda item was to seek a volunteer to draft minutes for this organizational meeting. Dr. Carrie Cook graciously volunteered.

1. Introductions: Each committee member who was present was invited to introduce her/himself and indicate her/his status as elected faculty senator or volunteer as well as her/his department and academic unit designations and any other information she/he wished to provide.

1. University Senate Overview: Dr. Kleine provided an overview of the University Senate including the scope and composition of the Faculty Affairs Policy Committee (FAPC).  She advised that the work of senate is primarily completed by standing committees that provide reports and recommendations to the senate for its review.

1. Election of Committee Officers: Dr. Kleine referred to the supporting document entitled “Standing Committee Officers” that provided eligibility requirements and responsibilities for committee officer (chair, vice-chair, secretary) positions. She then conducted the election of officers in compliance with applicable University Senate Bylaws by secret ballot including open nominations. Officers elected for the 2011-2012 academic year:

            Committee Chair: Craig Turner

            Vice-Chair: David de Posada

            Secretary: Carrie Cook

1. Transfer of Presiding Role: Dr. Kleine transferred the presiding role of the meeting to Dr. Craig Turner, the newly elected committee chair.

1. Agenda items:
   
   
   
   1. Committee Operating Procedure: The chair indicated the operating procedures for the 2010-2011 Faculty Affairs Policy Committee were included in its annual report, a supporting document for this meeting. After a brief discussion, the committee agreed to postpone consideration of 2011-2012 committee operating procedures to the next committee meeting. This would provide all committee members an opportunity to review the operating procedures of the 2010-2011 Faculty Affairs Policy Committee.
   
   
   2. Meeting Location: The chair asked the committee members to propose a location for meetings of the committee scheduled for the 2011-2012 academic year. The current location (Arts & Sciences 1-16) was proposed and endorsed by those present. The committee chair was charged to follow-up and request Arts & Sciences 1-16 as a meeting room for 2011-2012 committee meetings and report back to the committee.
   
   
   3. 2010-2011 FAPC Recommendations: The 2010-2011 FAPC offered the 2011-2012 FAPC some recommendations in its annual report. The recommendations that were explicitly discussed by the committee include the following.

                                                              i.      SOS Statement on Course Syllabi: The 2010-2011 FAPC recommended to the Provost that all course syllabi require the inclusion of a standardized statement regarding the administration of Student Opinion Surveys. The Provost indicated that this proposal was accepted and that this statement has been added to a recently collected archive of all required statements for course syllabi, indicating that a link to this archive will be distributed to faculty during the time that course syllabi are in preparation.

                                                            ii.      Post-Tenure Review: The 2010-2011 FAPC had formed a work group to review the language in the institutional academic affairs handbook on post-tenure review. Mike Rose, chair of this Post Tenure Review Work Group, provided a report to the committee (supporting document to the meeting agenda) of the status of the effort. In short, the work group had not completed its review but had made good progress.  A lively discussion ensued regarding the supporting document and report and the discussion offered the work group feedback on its work to this point. Specific guidance included that its purpose be both formative and summative and that upper academic administration, specifically the dean and provost, should receive detailed reports rather than just notification that the process has been completed. At the conclusion of this discussion, the committee endorsed the work group continue its work during the 2011-2012 academic year in consultation with the committee and ensuring that its membership remain in compliance with the membership requirements from 2010-2011 which were the inclusion of at least one member from each academic unit (colleges, library).

                                                          iii.      SOS Language Under Review: The 2010-2011 FAPC had recommended to the Provost that the Student Opinion Survey language in section 3.07.03.3 of the institutional academic affairs handbook be reviewed with particular emphasis on items 1 and 5 of Section A and all of Section C and that the results of this review be reported back to the 2011-2012 FAPC. In particular, the language to be reviewed is not timely with respect to the current format of Student Opinion Surveys and indicates that they are paper/pencil rather than administered on-line.

                                                          iv.      SOS Form: Committee members expressed a concern about the psychometrics of the questions in use in the on-line administration of Student Opinion Surveys (SOS). The Provost indicated that the institution’s University Chairs Council, consisting of all department chairs on campus, has a work group that is reviewing the questions on the on-line SOS form that is presently in use as the official university form and is also seeking alternatives to the current questions. This work group is expected to complete its work during the 2011-2012 academic year and circulate its recommendations and findings to appropriate governance committees including FAPC.

1.  
   
   
   
   1. Extra Compensation Procedure: During the 2010-2011 academic year, the University System of Georgia (USG) provided directives to USG Chief Academic Officers regarding a change in extra compensation procedure. These directives came in multiple versions and the most recent directive included language to allow some of the details to be determined at the university level. President Leland has recommended these details be identified in a manner that would provide the best benefit to employees. This work is still in progress.

1. Tentative Agenda Items 2011-2012: The chair invited committee members to propose tentative agenda items for consideration by FAPC during 2011-2012. The following items were proposed for consideration.
   
   
   
   1. Pre-Tenure Review: Review pre-tenure review policy & procedure language in the Academic Affairs Handbook.
   
   
   2. SOS review: A recommendation that FAPC have a work group that work in consultation with the University Chairs Council work group (chaired by Lee Gillis) to provide an academic year faculty voice to the conversation. Karynne Kleine, Craig Turner, and Carrie Cook volunteered to serve on this work group. This work group will report back to the committee. In addition, the committee might consider making a recommendation to the Provost about a process of  providing a voice to academic year faculty in the review of the psychometrics of the Student Opinion Survey.
   
   
   3. SACS Review Representative: The Provost indicated that SACS work will be gearing up in the summer and continuing in the 2011-2012 academic year. Each University Senate committee will be asked to provide nominations from its membership to serve on the committee(s) working on SACS re-accreditation issues.
   
   
   4. Twelve Month Pay: The possibility of academic year faculty being given the option to have their compensation dispersed over the entire calendar year (twelve monthly paychecks) rather than the current system of ten monthly paychecks is an item that has been considered over many years. Given that a University System of Georgia committee is reviewing compensation of faculty and staff and that the recently implemented ADP system is still in flux, it might be meaningful to continue the dialogue to explore the feasibility of introducing the “12-month pay” of faculty as an option to the “10-month pay” that is presently the ONLY option available to academic year faculty.
   
   
   5. Other Issues: The committee members were invited to continue to be proactive in seeking other possible issues to represent their constituencies and advocate for faculty. Such issues can be added to the 2011-2012 tentative agenda at any future committee meeting.

1. Clarifications for Minutes Preparation: Carrie Cook was provided an opportunity to clarify any matter with the committee to assist her in the preparation of minutes for this organizational meeting. She required no clarification.

1. Tentative Agenda: There were no items explicitly identified by the committee members to be added to the tentative agenda for the next committee meeting.

1. Adjourn: There being no further business, a motion to adjourn was made, seconded and approved. The meeting adjourned at 1:45 p.m.

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

2.        Draft minutes for the 29 April 2011 organizational meeting. (Carrie Cook)

7.a.     Draft committee operating procedures for committee consideration. (Craig Turner)

7.a.     Read the 2010-2011 FAPC operating procedures. (All committee members)

7.b.     Reserve Arts &Sciences 1-16 for 2011-2012 committee meetings. (Craig Turner)

7.c.ii   Chair the Post-TR work group and ensure its appropriate composition. (Mike Rose)

7.c.ii   Read the workgroup’s post tenure review draft (All committee members)

8.b.     Serve on FAPC work group for SOS review. (Carrie Cook, Karynne Kleine, Craig Turner)

8.e.     Seek tentative agenda items for 2011-2012 FAPC meetings. (All committee members)

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