Faculty Affairs Policy Committee (FAPC) Minutes 02-04-2011

Attendance 

Present: Alex Blazer, Ben Davis, Lee Digiovanni, Sally Humphries, Fadhili Mshana, William Risch, Mike Rose, Craig Turner, Mike Whitfield 

Regrets: Sandra Gangstead, Sandra Jordan, Susan Steele

Absent: Charles Ubah

Guests: Tom Ormond, Susan Allen

Activity and Agreements

1.      Call to order:  The committee chair called the meeting to order at 12:30 p.m.

2.      Agenda:  A motion to approve the tentative agenda of the 04 February 2011 as circulated was made, seconded, and approved.

3.      Minutes:  A motion to approve the 14 January 2011 minutes as corrected was made, seconded, and approved.

1. Informational Items: A number of informational items were provided, some generating activity.
   
   
   
   1. Academic Year Faculty Availability in the Summer

The Provost responded by email to report that she will consider the committee recommendation of FAPC Motion 1 (14 Jan 2011) and discuss the ramifications of this motion with collegiate deans, who in turn will be discussing it with academic department chairs.

FAPC Motion 1 (14 Jan 2011): To recommend that the Provost instruct all academic administrators that no faculty member be required to perform duties while not under contract. Further, that refusal by a faculty member to perform tasks while not under contract shall not be considered during the tenure application process, annual evaluations or merit increase decisions.

Continuing committee deliberation of this motion (FAPC Motion 1 (14 Jan 2011)) included the following.

·         Two main issues of curiosity regarding off-contract faculty time:

o   Liability (workman’s compensation insurance):  If faculty who are not under contract yet using university facilities (studios (art faculty), labs (science faculty), offices (all faculty)) are injured, would they be covered by workman’s compensation insurance?

o   University Facilities Access:  What is the standing agreement (legal) regarding the use of university facilities by faculty not under formal contract (during the time between the end of one academic year contract and the beginning of the next contract)?

·         Individual issues may vary from department to department and it would be wise for these departmental issues to be identified, discussed, and resolved at the department level, perhaps prior to the implementation of Motion 1.

The committee deliberation on this item throughout this academic year has found this to be a communication matter.  The ideals identified as desirable are to ensure that faculty (1) are aware of expectations placed on them AND (2) have a voice (the right to accept or decline, the right to negotiate compensation) with respect to work, particularly in the area of service (advising, orientations, availability to students, etc.) that is desirable or necessary during the time when faculty are not formally under contract (most prominently summer).

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   1. Summer Pay Tax Withholdings / Extra Compensation

Consideration of FAPC Motion 2 (14 January 2011) was postponed to this meeting so that committee deliberation could be informed by a consultation with Ms. Susan Allen, Director of Payroll Services, who had graciously accepted an invitation to be in attendance.

FAPC Motion 2 (14 January 2011) The Provost request that pay dates for Maymester, Summer I and Summer II coincide with the end of each term.

Ms. Susan Allen indicated that her department has filed an official request by email with USG Shared Services requesting that summer pay be distributed to faculty on a day in close proximity to the end of each summer session.  The particular pay dates for Summer 2011 that have been requested are.

Maymester 2011  July 1, 2011* (earliest allowed by USG financial policy)
Summer I 2011    July 8, 2011 (normal ADP run July 15 or with Maymester)
Summer II 2011  August 5, 2011 (normal ADP run August 15)

*Note: The Maymester pay date was mistakenly communicated as June 1, 2011 at the 4 Feb 2011 FAPC meeting and was corrected to July 1, 2011 during the review of the minutes following this meeting.

Each date corresponded with the grades requested date for the stated term with the exception of Maymester which is subject to USG financial policy guidelines from which July 1 is the earliest allowable date. Ms. Allen indicated that in regards to ADP, there did not present, as of yet, any indication an extra surcharge would be applied because of the change in dates.

In light of the change in the USG Share Services dates for summer pay, Motion 2 from this committee was withdrawn.

Ms. Allen addressed several other issues before the committee. BOR has not forwarded any additional information (since December 24, 2010) for how USG institutions should amend contracts to account for extra compensation. A question had been raised (with no current resolution) concerning how extra compensation would affect the current 1.33 cap in pay. BOR policy dictates that faculty have a cap of 1.33 from base pay, commonly called faculty overload.

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   1. Student Opinion Surveys Concern - Student Participation Rates

The Chair noted that Provost Jordan had provided an update (including a brief history, findings, and plans) on the observed reduction in participation rates for student opinion surveys as item 6 in her 18 Jan 2011 email update to all university faculty.  This email update provides closure to the action from the 3 Dec 2010 FAPC meeting which reads:

Provost shall ensure that all faculty receive appropriately detailed information about the observed reduction in the participation rates for student opinion surveys since conversion to an on-line collection system and the actions that are planned to address this concern.

The Chair reported that at the 21 Jan 2011 joint meeting of ECUS and Standing Committee Chairs, FAPC Motion 1 (3 Dec 2010) was presented to ECUS for steering.

FAPC Motion 1 (3 Dec 2010) To recommend that Student Opinion Surveys be administered to all classes with ten or more students.

A summary of the deliberation at the 21 January 2011 joint meeting of ECUS and Standing Committee Chairs follows.

1.      ECUS indicated its position is that the policy for student opinion surveys is that they are administered and that the details (how frequently, to what classes, how they are administered (on-line, paper and pencil), how the Student Opinions Surveys used for annual faculty evaluations are selected, etc) are procedural matters.

2.      In light of this position, ECUS indicated that this motion was procedural and recommended that FAPC apply its advisory function to offer advice to the Provost on this matter.

3.      There was an additional recommendation that the language in the GCSU Academic Affairs Handbook regarding the use of Student Opinion Surveys for faculty evaluation be reviewed by FAPC for consistency with current practice given the recent transition to on-line administration of these student opinion surveys. [Student Opinion Survey language from Section 3.07.03.3 of the GCSU Academic Affairs Handbook]

4.      Finally there was a lengthy conversation with no consensus on how soon this motion should be implemented.

a.       One observation offered was that the practice of administering Student Opinion Surveys to (essentially) ALL classes would be administratively simpler.

b.      Another observation was a recommendation that the practice of administering Student Opinion Surveys to ALL classes might be delayed until the current review by the Council of Department Chairs of the current survey instrument concludes.

FAPC Motion 2 (3 December 2010) regarding SOS was discussed in terms of actions already begun.

FAPC Motion 2 (3 Dec 2010) To recommend to the Provost that standard language be developed that will appear on all course syllabi to inform and encourage students to participate in completing Student Opinion Surveys;

The Provost reported by email that Motion 2 on this subject (from the 4 December 2010 meeting) would be implemented in the near future.

It was noted as an information item that the Council of Chairs has assigned a work group, headed by Lee Gillis, to seek a nationally-based student opinion survey that could provide departmental level comparisons and benchmarking of ratings.

A number of discussions were generated by the two issues before the committee, SOS participation rates and the viability of the current student survey. Several committee members provided similar opinions that increasing student participation for the existing SOS instrument was problematic, whether completion become mandatory or a system continue in place where students who fail to complete the existing SOS online are required to complete a longer survey prior to receiving their grades.

After lively discussion regarding whether or not to link the two related issues, a motion to split the motion for consideration (separate the administration of the SOS from the use of the SOS in faculty annual evaluation) was made, seconded and approved. 

The committee chair indicated the time for adjournment (1:45) had been reached and that the meeting could continue only if there was a motion to extend the meeting time.  A motion to extend the meeting time to vote on each of the split motions was made, seconded and approved.

A motion to endorse FAPC Motion 1 (3 Dec 2010) as originally formulated was made, seconded and approved with the understanding that the committee chair direct this motion to the Provost within the scope of the advisory function of this committee.

A motion to postpone committee consideration of the second motion (FAPC Motion 1 (4 Feb 2011)) to the 4 March 2011 FAPC meeting was made, seconded and approved with the agreement that FAPC members would seek feedback from their constituencies to inform the committee deliberation on this motion.

FAPC Motion 1 (4 Feb 2011) To recommend to the Provost that all student opinion survey results be used for faculty performance evaluation purposes.

5.   Tentative Agenda: As the time designated for the meeting was exhausted, the remaining items on the 4 Feb 2011 agenda were postponed to the next meeting.

6.   Adjourn: There being no further business, a motion to adjourn was made, seconded, and approved.  The meeting adjourned at 1:49 p.m.

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

4.C.1   Forward FAPC Motion 1 (3 Dec 2010) to Provost Jordan. (Craig Turner)

4.C.2   Ensure that FAPC Motion 1 (4 Feb 2011) is on the tentative agenda for committee consideration at the 4 Mar 2011 FAPC meeting. (Craig Turner)

5.1              Share informational updates (if any) received with the members of the committee. (Craig Turner)

5.2              Ensure that the items postponed from the 4 Feb 2011 meeting are on the tentative agenda for the 4 Mar 2011 FAPC meeting. (Craig Turner)

5.3              Set the tentative agenda for the 4 Mar 2011 FAPC meeting in consultation with the committee members. (Craig Turner)

Tentative Agenda for the next FAPC meeting (4 March 2011 in Arts & Sciences 1-16)

1.         Items postponed from the 4 Feb 2011 committee meeting.