Faculty Affairs Policy Committee (FAPC) Minutes 12-03-2010

Minutes: 

Attendance

Present: Alex Blazer, Ben Davis, Sandra Gangstead, Sally Humphries, Sandra Jordan, Fadhili Mshana, Bill Risch, Mike Rose, Craig Turner, Charles Ubah, Mike Whitfield

Regrets: Lee Digiovanni

Absent: Susan Steele

Guests: None

Activity and Agreements

1.      Call to order:  The committee chair called the meeting to order at 12:37 p.m.

2.      Agenda:  A motion to approve the tentative agenda of the 3 December 2010 as circulated was made, seconded, and approved.

3.      Minutes:  A motion to approve the 5 November 2010 minutes as circulated was made, seconded, and approved.

4.    Informational Items: A number of informational items were provided, some generating activity. 

1.  
   
   
   
   1. Academic Year Faculty Availability in the Summer: Update on reviewing of letters to students with respect to the inclusion of language regarding summer faculty service work (advising, availability at orientations, summer accessibility of faculty to students, etc.) action from the 11-05-10 meeting.

The Provost provided copies of two letters from Admissions & Enrollment Management for review. Neither of the letters sent to recently admitted students made mention of the need to contact advisors. As mentioned in the November 5^th meeting for FAPC, the Provost was asked to have Deans and Chairs review letters going out to entering or transfer students with respect to the inclusion of language regarding summer faculty service work (advising, availability at orientations, summer accessibility of faculty to students, etc.). In particular, Deans and Chairs are requested to ensure that faculty in their respective academic unit (college) or department are aware of the contents of such letters, especially if there are expectations for summer availability and accessibility of faculty by students. 

Another possibility discussed for this issue was that faculty have been contacted by students for advising during the summer months because of an advisor hold.

1.  
   
   
   
   1. Student Opinion Surveys – Discrepancy in Calculation of Average Ratings: An email update regarding the resolution of the discrepancy in the calculation of rating averages for Student Opinion Surveys has been sent out by the Provost, received by the Deans and should have been disseminated out to all faculty. Members of the committee that were present reported having received this information from their academic deans.
   
   
   2. Faculty Awards:  The 2009-10 Faculty Affairs Policy Committee (FAPC) brought to completion a review of the Faculty Awards language in the GCSU Academic Affairs Handbook that emerged as a concern at the 1 Feb 2008 FAPC meeting. At its 5 March 2010 meeting, the committee endorsed a final draft of the proposed revisions. Dr. Lee Digiovanni, 2009-10 FAPC Chair, forwarded this final draft to Provost Jordan as FAPC exercised its advisory role to the academic administration. As a follow-up to this work, the Provost emailed the current committee chair indicating that the 5 March 2010 document submitted by FAPC had been reviewed by two current committees that review faculty award nominations and had undergone some content modifications. The most substantive content modification was a streamlining of the language for the GCSU Excellence in Scholarly Activity Award(s). In addition, for each of those faculty awards where the recipient would receive a nomination for a corresponding Regents’ award, there was a sentence added to allow for appropriate deadlines to be set at the local level to allow the portfolios to be submitted in compliance with the Regents’ award deadlines.This revised language on faculty awards is now present as section 2.09.04.2 of the GCSU Academic Affairs Handbook.  Those interested in comparing the current language to the former language of 2.09.04.2 may find the former language linked from the agenda of the August 2009 meeting of FAPC.
   
   
   3. Summer Pay Tax Withholdings / Extra Compensation:  No new information was available on this matter for this meeting.  This item will be placed on the agenda for the committee meeting scheduled for 14 January 2011.
   
   
   4. Low Participation Rates for the Student Opinion Survey (SOS): The committee asked the Provost to 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.
      
      Student Government Association (SGA) made a recommendation to the Provost that all classes with more than ten (10) students be surveyed with the SOS. There was no indication that any distinction was made for whether the class was an undergraduate or graduate class. A first motion was made and seconded. Members suggested several modifications that were accepted by the mover and the motion passed unanimously with minimal discussion. Additional discussion of SOS and how they are unevenly administered across colleges was generated. A review of the Academic Affairs Handbook provided some guidance as to how there may be a selection of classes to be surveyed with the SOS. A second motion was made concerning the need for standard language for all course syllabi. This motion was seconded, modifications were accepted by the mover and it passed unanimously as well.

Motion 1: To recommend that Student Opinion Surveys be administered to all classes with ten or more students.

The committee charged the committee chair to report Motions 1 to ECUS for steering.

Motion 2: 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 was present at the meeting to receive Motion 2.

FAPC members sought clarification as to how narratives (written student comments from the surveys) were being managed and disseminated. Reportedly, the Chairs have been receiving a CD with narratives on it and they may or may not have been passing the raw information on to faculty. The committee asked the Provost to address the apparent inconsistency of passing on SOS narratives within colleges. In a related comment, the Provost cited a need to look into benchmarking surveys in the future.

1.  
   
   
   
   1. Recent Meetings and Updates:

1.      University Senate passed the proposed motions from RPIPC (Motor Vehicle Use, Red Flags Rule [Identity Theft]) that were required for compliance with state and federal regulations.

2.      SAPC Motion passed to clarify language for the Student Amnesty Policy. The policy was meant to provide amnesty only from the GCSU student judicial board and was never meant to provide amnesty from legal authorities.

3.      The Academic Policy Committee will host a pair of forums on the plus or minus grading issue. These forums are scheduled for 24 January 2011 in A&S 2-72 at 12:30 for faculty and at 5:00 for students. The stated purpose of these forums is to obtain information from attendees and to ensure that accurate information is disseminated on the plus and minus grading issue.

4.       President Leland noted that Governor-Elect Nathan Deal has appointed a transition team. Additionally, there is a chancellor search in progress. Craig Turner from GCSU has been named as a member of the chancellor search committee.

5.      A University Senate Bylaws Drafting Committee has been populated by the Executive Committee.  Among the likely issues for proposed bylaws revisions are term limits for University Senators and the addition of the University Curriculum Committee into the University Senate committee structure.

5.   Post-Tenure Review Work Group: An early draft proposal was reviewed by the work group members (Martha Colvin - CoHS, Nancy Davis Bray - Library, Lee Digiovanni - CoE, Ken Farr - CoB, Mike Rose - CoAS, Craig Turner - CoAS) and a recommendation was made to consult with the GCSU Counsel (Marc Cardinalli)  In short, his response to the request to review language regarding the disposition of information for pre-tenure (final repository of all documentation is the candidate) and post-tenure (destroying the documentation of an unfavorable review in the presence of a subsequent favorable review) was "This is not a legal question, but rather a policy question.” In other words, no decision or comments were warranted by Legal Affairs at this time. The work group will meet again in January to consider several recommendations and comments made by members concerning the initial draft document.

6.   Faculty Evaluation, Triggering Reviews of Department Chairs Work Group: Nothing to report.

7.   Desk Copies: ECUS steered this issue to the committee. Given that Board of Regents Policy 3.10 includes language to “disallow faculty to resell sample texts provided by publishers or to take advantage of any financial incentives offered by publishers in the assignment of specific texts,” the committee was asked to propose a procedure for the disposition of textbooks provided by publishers. The Provost clarified this request by asking that the committee make recommendations for alternatives to reselling the books. Committee members were asked to consult with their constituencies for suggestions and will continue this discussion at the next FAPC meeting, scheduled for 14 January 2011.

8.      Unfinished Business:  There was no unfinished business.

9.   New Business:  There was no new business.  

10.  Tentative Agenda:  Six items were added to the tentative agenda of the next meeting.

11.  Adjourn:  There being no further business, a motion to adjourn was made, seconded and approved. The meeting adjourned at 1:48 p.m.

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

4A.      Coordinate with deans and department chairs to ensure that letters sent to students by departments or academic units regarding matters involving summer faculty service work [such as advising, availability at orientations, summer accessibility of faculty to students, etc.] are reviewed at the appropriate level. In particular, deans and department chairs should ensure that faculty in their respective academic unit (college) or department are aware of the contents of such letters, especially if there are expectations for summer availability and accessibility of faculty by students. One possible mechanism for this awareness is to provide faculty a copy of such letters.  (Provost Jordan)

4E.1     Review how Student Opinion Survey narratives are being managed and disseminated to faculty. (Provost Jordan)

4E.2     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. (Provost Jordan)

4E.3     Share Motion 1 with ECUS for steering. (Craig Turner) 

7          Consult with constituency for suggested alternatives to reselling textbooks provided by publishers. (all committee members)

Tentative Agenda for the next FAPC meeting (14 January 2011 in Arts &Sciences 1-16)

1.  Post-Tenure Review (work group update)

2.  Faculty Evaluation, Triggering Reviews of Department Chairs (work group update)

3.  Desk Copies

4.   Informational Updates (Academic Year Faculty Availability in the Summer (Provost to request that Dean/Department Chair reviews letters), Summer Pay Tax Withholdings / Extra Compensation (Provost update if available), update on two committee motions on Student Opinion Surveys from 3 December 2010)