Minutes of the Wichita State University Faculty Senate

Monday, November 26, 2012
CH 126 3:30 pm

Members Present: Barut, Bergman, Besthorn, Brooks, Bryant, Celestin, Close, Decker, Driessen, Horn, Hull, Johnson, Kagdi, Klunder, Kreinath, Lewis, Liu, Lu, Markovich, Matveyeva, Miller, Moore-Jansen, Mosack, Oare, Pulaski, Rillema, Rokosz, Ross, Smith, Solomey, Yeager, Yildrim
Members Absent: Alexander, Anderson, DeSilva, Mukeerjee, Toops
Members Excused: Baker, Jacobs

Summary of Action

I. Call to Order
President Bob Ross called the meeting to order at 3:30 pm

II. Informal Statements and Proposals None

III. Approval of the Minutes
The minutes of the Faculty Senate meeting of Monday October 22, 2012, were approved. The minutes are available at: https://wichita.edu/?u=facultysenate&p=/m102212/

IV. President's Report
President Ross reported on the following recent activities:
A. November KBOR Meeting - The Council of Faculty Senate Presidents (COFSP) meets in conjunction with the KBOR meetings each month. In November, the COFSP meeting dealt almost exclusively with Post Tenure Review.
Early in November the University of Kansas adopted a five point “Statement of Principles on Post Tenure Review” which they presented to KBOR during the KBOR visit to KU's Lawrence campus. The COFSP modified the KU position to the following:
“Following discussions among the various faculty senate presidents, it is very evident that currently our universities employ robust, regular, working forms of faculty evaluation following tenure, which include annual reviews of faculty performance and goal setting. There are also measures in place to prevent, identify and remedy chronic low performance.
The COFSP believe that tenure is fundamental to the success of the university; it carries both rights and responsibilities. Tenure is essential to attracting and retaining exceptional faculty and fostering the marketplace of ideas.
Yearly appraisals of faculty performance are an integral part of a tenured faculty member's ongoing professional development and contribution to the university. We believe post-tenure review could potentially augment this process.
That said, we believe that post-tenure review must be developed and carried out by faculty, and each campus should create and implement its own plan. Post-tenure review should be developmental in nature and not infringe upon academic freedom and (the concept of) tenure. It needs to support professional development and responsibility. In the spirit of shared governance, it would be more efficient to envision a seven-year review interval rather than the proposed five-year assessment of faculty.
Beyond the present, robust and effective faculty review process, we acknowledge the Regent's call for a post-tenure review process that complements the current procedure at the Regent's institutions.”
The Regents discussed Post-Tenure Review in more detail at their Thursday morning session. The major modification to their proposal (which will be voted on in December) is to change the frequency of review to “5-7years.” The proposal, if passed, would take effect in June 2013, with implementation planned for fall 2014.
President Bardo has asked for the Senate to task a committee to develop Wichita State's policy on Post-Tenure Review. Guiding principles for his policy are as follows:
1. Unique to WSU
2. Developed by the Faculty and approved by Administration
3. Designed in such a way as to minimize effort involved to implement
4. Designed to be complementary to the Regent's Policy
This committee will begin its work following the Regent's vote in December.
B. Strategic Planning - Town Meetings with various constituent groups, and individual meetings with key University managers are being conducted, and the Steering Committee is working on development of the University Mission.
C. VPAA Search - WSU President Bardo asked the Senate to take on a significant role in the selection of faculty for the Search Committee for the vice president of academic affairs. The selection of the search committee is nearly complete. It will include ten faculty members, the president of the Unclassified Senate, the president of the Classified Senate, an academic dean, a representative from Student Affairs, and a student member. The search committee is being co-chaired by Faculty Senate President Bob Ross and Mary Herrin, Vice President of Administration and Finance. The advertisement for the position has been placed in the Eagle, the Chronicle of Higher Learning, and in other relevant locations. Evaluation of applications will begin January 7th, and
It is expected that the chosen VPAA will be announced by late April.
D. College of Engineering Task Force - A task force has been formed to evaluate a proposal developed by the senior faculty of the College of Engineering, dealing with the creation of a new Department of Bio Mechanical Engineering within the College of Engineering. This “College of Engineering Task Force” has met five times over the past month, and interviewed twelve current and retired faculty members. It is expected that the Task Force will meet one more time to finalize its recommendations.

V. Committee Reports
Victoria Mosack, Chair of the Rules Committee, nominated Janice Ewing, College of Education, for the University Admissions and Administration committee. The Senate voted to accept the nomination from the Rules Committee.
Senator Mosack informed the Senate that the following vacancies remain: member at-large on the University Tenure and Promotion committee, LAS Humanities representative on the University Research committee, and a representative from the Library on the University Research Committee.

VI. Old Business –
Senator Besthorn asked for a report on the status of the “twelve-month spread of nine-month salaries.” President Ross reported that President Bardo supports the action and that Mary Herrin is responding to the request. She is currently addressing the only known complexity associated with faculty with summer salary from research grants. President Ross thought that the Procedures should be in place soon, but he was not sure if there would be a lag time before implementation.
Interim Provost Pickus announced that the planning for the new residence hall complex was moving forward rapidly. The RFQ has gone to developers, and the top three firms will be identified in January. The new residence hall will be located between Morrison Hall and Cessna Stadium. Alumni will be closed to vehicle traffic permanently and the space within Alumni Drive converted to “green space.”

VII. New Business
A. Proposed revision to the composition of Grievance Committee (attached to meeting notice) -- Victoria Mosack, chair of the Rules Committee, distributed proposed changes in the composition of the Grievance Committee for a First Reading. The main thrust of the proposed changes focused on creating a non-voting alternate member that could be called into service if a member of the committee is unable to continue to serve. The first reading of the proposal created a great deal of discussion that Senator Mosack was going to pass-on to the Rules Committee. She will bring the revised proposal to the next meeting of the Senate for a second reading.
B. Discussion on Post Tenure Review procedures –President Ross announced that the task of developing the WSU Post Tenure Review procedures could be assigned to either the Planning & Budget committee, the Faculty Affairs Committee, or to an ad hoc task force. The mood of the discussion that followed seemed to lean towards assigning the task to the Faculty Affairs Committee.

VIII. As May Arise
President Ross announced that the Faculty Senate would have a Holiday Celebration before final exams and that he would email the details to all senators.

IX. Adjournment
The meeting of the Faculty Senate was adjourned at 4:37pm.
Submitted by Walter Horn
Secretary of the Faculty Senate