Meet and Confer Notes
WSU Faculty Association
Monday, September 16, 2002
0. Additions or deletions
Previously Scheduled:
1. IFO/MnSCU state committee appointments (information item)
2. Assignments of supervisors of student teachers
3. WSU and new Akita university
4. Final exam policy
5. Rochester and U of M
6. Meetings at Rochester
7. Phelps chiller loop
8. Phone directory
9. Technology items: Photocopy machines, printers, photocopying/printing
policies, Blackboard and server
10. PQI (Teaching Load) Task Force Report
11. New admission standards
12. Learning outcomes document-chea.org
13. Academic Deadline Calendar
14. Revision of WSU Regulation 3-27 and Grants Transmittal Form
15. Library administration
16. Chancellor visit 9/24
Additions:
17. COMTEC Director (IFO addition)
18. Capital Campaign (Administration Addition)
1. IFO/MnSCU state committee appointments (information item)
The administration was informed about WSU Rep's on the following Statewide IFO Committees:
Workload - Gabriel Manrique, (Steve Richardson will be the administration's rep).
Council on Professional Education (COPE) - Jean Leicester
The administration received the above information.
2. Assignments of supervisors of student teachers
The administration was informed that Senate received from the Dean of Education a report describing the assignments of supervisors for student teachers for Fall 2002 and that Senators thanked the Dean for the complete and timely report. Senate questions were:
(a) Have Education Dept faculty seen and approved of these assignments?
(b) What is the meaning of the phrase "special assignments" mentioned in the report?
Responses/Comments by the administration:
1. Yes to (a).
2. The special assignments were in special areas and in Special ED. (explained during meeting).
3. WSU and new Akita university
Senate reviewed the Academic VP's letter (6/02) to the Akita official.
Questions and concerns were:
What are the implications of a "dual degree" in terms of which institution receives credit for graduates, counting FTE students, and other statistical measures?(a)
Adm. Response:
Simultaneous degree from both WSU and Akita U. Both U's will get credit.
(b) Isn't a full-time student or "full load" 32 credits, not 30(top of p. 2 of letter)?
Adm. Response:
Need substantial curriculum taken by student (acceptable to both U's.) on both campuses. 30 or 32 is not certain yet. WSU and Akita need to work out the definition of substantial curriculum.
(c) Should WSU be pressing for two instructors per year, one in Chinese and one in Japanese, rather than one? (A related question: is the instructor of Chinese to be supplied by Akita, or only the instructor in Japanese?)
Adm. Response:
Need to work on this detail in future drafts of proposal.
(d) "Proficiency" may be too strong a claim to make for study of a language through the second year.
Adm. Response:
Will be discussing the term of "proficiency" in future drafts.
(e) What is the cost of bringing Chinese instructors to WSU? What is the source of funding?
Adm. Response:
Expect University in China to send "cash" to WSU. Estimate ~$32k-salary+25%-benefit. WSU is waiting to hear from Akita.
(f) A number of comments revolved around the issue of the competence of the visiting instructor (s) and the role of WSU faculty/departments in vetting them. Can an instructor who is coming to the U.S. in order to further his/her study of English be considered to have enough command of English to teach in English? Should not a department be involved in vetting instructors who have been promised/given appointments in the department, particularly in terms of the instructor's command of English and whether s/he's kept up to date in the discipline?
Adm. Response:
Departments have been given input on this matter.
(g) Should these plans for the supply of Chinese and Japanese instructors be considered stopgap or provisional in nature?
Adm. Response:
Will be studying the nature of this issue in future drafts of proposal.
General Comments/Responses from the administration:
1. State U-Akita will close this year. The new Akita University will begin collaboration with WSU and Metro on several programs.
2. Tentative proposal at this point. More will be forthcoming to M&C and Senate.
3. The Taiwan University will be sending a rep. to visit WSU in mid-Nov.
4. Dean Gorman and VP Richardson will be visiting China to set up exchange proposals.
5. Curriculum will be coming to A2C2 (quite slowly).
4. Final exam policy
Senate is concerned that the statement in the catalog and on the WebPages ("every class will have a final exam" from memory) is inaccurate. Some Senators recollected that a few years ago it was agreed that "a final experience" would be the requirement.
Administration Response:
1. If the IFO could come up with a phrase, the administration will consider it.
5. Rochester and U of M
Senate reviewed the Rochester agreement. Specific questions were:
(a) Why do both the U of M and WSU have BSN programs in Rochester?
Adm. Response: Mayo requested the dual listing.
(b) Is this a source of concern?
Adm. Response: Mayo wanted it, so that was it! It was not a huge concern for WSU.
(c) Is there competition for clinical sites?
Adm. Response: There must be equal access to the clinical sites.
(d) Is the influence of Mayo part of the reason the U of M has a Nursing program in Rochester?
Adm. Response: Yes.
(e) Why is WSU listing B.A.S. (Bach. of Applied Science for Health Sciences)?
Adm. Response: It was listed in anticipation. This degree has not approved yet. It will be removed if WSU disapproves the B.A.S. proposal this year.
6. Meetings at Rochester
Senate endorsed the idea of having the FA President and University President periodically attend the regularly scheduled meetings that Associate VP Clements holds with Rochester faculty. Needless to say, these meetings should not be viewed as opportunities to share information, not as Meet and Confer sessions.
Might the Administration from its flush coffers pay for refreshments or lunches? Or go halves with the Senate?
Adm. Response: The administration will set the schedule and the administration will have no "trouble" handling the refreshments (or lunches) single-handedly!
7. Phelps Chiller Loop
The administration was asked regarding the status of the chiller loop in Phelps, presumably installed some years ago? Faculty mentioned health hazards in Phelps, especially with fumes in the Film Development areas. High humidity also makes it unsafe to walk on wet floors. The high volume of students in Phelps also creates air circulation problems.
Administration Responses: The money ($1.4M) for the Chiller loops was vetoed by the Governor. Will be requesting it again at the next Capital Bonding session.
8. Phone directory
Senate commented and asked questions about the phone directory and phone service:
(a) Last year, Senate requested a hard copy directory with heavy paper cover. Will this be supplied this year?
Adm. Response: The Administration will NOT be making a hard copy directory! VP Whetstone said WSU is moving the directory to on-line mode. It can be printed easily!
(b) Printing a copy from the network will use more paper, particularly because the document is reported to be "not printer-friendly", and won't have a heavy cover.
Adm. Response: According to VP Whetstone, it will be printer-friendly (just like the printable Web Class Schedule...yah right!). VP Whetstone also promised it would be reader-friendly! Might send a few faculty a sample before finalizing.
(c) The Faculty/Staff directory is reported to have the Email addresses in the wrong format.
Adm. Response: The administration is working to correct the inconsistencies.
(d) Faculty requests to provide phones for new colleagues (June) still are not completed.
Adm. Response: They are working on it...by mid February, just like the phone directory!
9. Technology items: Photocopy machines, printers, photocopying/printing policies, Blackboard and server
Senate considered the new copy machines, ID cards, and printing and copying policies. Many of the comments reflected the (unstated but implicit) beliefs that (a) problems could have been avoided if users had been asked about the changes and (b) users' convenience and legitimate needs are taking a back seat to the convenience of the Business Office and/or Tech Services.
The basic question: If Plan A isn't working (or won't work), and we're now using Plan B, then, in light of "problems", below, what might Plan C or Plan D be?
Adm. Response: Plan A should be working soon!
Specific Questions/Problems:
Relying entirely on copy machines that are tied to the network is a fearful thought--when the network is down at 5 am the day before my 8 am exam, for instance. We need to retain some of the old machines as backup (and faculty should know where they are if they're to be any use in a 5 a.m. emergency).(a) Individual faculty can no longer be held accountable by their departments for excessive copying (because they can't be identified)
Adm. Response: Plan A can be used to track individual usage.
(b) Formerly, faculty could buy individual copy cards to use when departments thought their copying was inappropriate; now they cannot
Adm. Response: When Plan A is working (which will be soon...promises...promises), faculty can use individual ID cards, departments can get more cards, and individual faculty can request individual cards for individual accounts.
(c) If color printing is to be restricted to certain sites (e.g., Media Services), students who are required to do color assignments (Mass Comm, Art Graphics Design) will be restricted in terms of hours, software compatibility, presence of the appropriate fonts, etc. The amount of usage by Mass Comm is quite high. However Media Services has not been prepared for class usage. For example, special font loading is required for Mass Comm. Media Services need more advanced preparation with special fonts and different platforms. Is it possible to get a universal card-paying system for color printing?
Adm. Response: A cost-benefit study was made and was determined that it's best to remove color printers from common printing areas and move them all to one place, Media Services. Having color printers in general areas is simply too costly. 8-10 a.m. are the hours available for color printing in Media Services.
WSU also investigated how other University's policy on color printing. WSU is the only U that provides free printing.
Dean Gow will be consulted and will work with Mass Communication to come up with a solution. Perhaps some of these tech issues should come through the Deans, instead of IT first! Although having tech issues come through Meet and Confer is very useful also. Perhaps one should consider the E-Learning Center for some of these issues. Perhaps VP Whetstone should look into getting a color printer to Mass Comm.
(d) Faculty with offices in a certain building cannot take their laptop to the library and use the printers there.
Adm. Response: When Plan A is working, then faculty can do so!
(e) In an effort to avoid the proliferation of ID cards, etc., flexibility has been unduly reduced: faculty with grants that cover copying, for example, would need a separate ID card.
Adm. Response: No getting around this!
(f) Formerly, loss of a copy card limited one's loss to the number of copies on the card; now, someone who gets access to a card (and number) can use them longer.
Adm. Response: Did not address.
(g) Is the Blackboard Server working properly? There appears to be a problem with updating of student lists on the Server.
Adm. Response: Any student with trouble with Blackboard should go to the E-Learning Center. The Server is a high-end production server. It can handle a lot of users (as it appears to be doing)! It should be able to handle the present number of students and faculty using Blackboard. The updating of student-list changes was done one-at-a-time this fall semester. This problem is being worked on daily and the software will be updated, and it's promised that this manual processing of student lists will not happen this spring...promises...promises!
Suggestions by Senate included:
(a) Reduce the students' Tech Fee slightly, and use ID cards to charge them for printing.
Adm. Response: See above.
(b)
Adm. Response: Did not address.
10. PQI (Teaching Load) Task Force Report
The administration passed out a draft document on the PQI Task Force report. Senate and A2C2 will be reviewing this draft.
11. New admission standards
The administration forwarded a document on new Admission Standards.
12. Learning outcomes document-chea.org
A copy of Learning Outcomes (by Dennis Jones) was given to D. Bratt. The document costs $25 per copy. Jones is being invited to WSU for a presentation.
13. Academic Deadline Calendar
D. Bratt notified the administration that the Academic Deadline Calendar for 2002-2003 was never brought to Meet and Confer last year for Senate comments/approval.
Administration Responses:
1. Here it is now! A few changes were noted for 1st year probationary on top of page 3. A clean copy will come to the next Faculty Senate meeting.
14. Revision of WSU Regulations 3-27, 3-28, and Grants Transmittal Form
New federal regulations required changes in some statements in WSU regulations. Copies were given to Faculty Exec's.
15. Library administration
Recommend that "interim" be removed from Associate VP Clements title for (Interim) Dean of Library. Library faculty have been consulted on this change.
16. Chancellor visit 9/24
An announcement flyer for Chancellor James McCormick visit on 9/24 was given to Faculty Exec's. The Tau Center is on the tour list for the Chancellor. A bid for the Tau Center is being pursued by WSU. Is Faculty Senate in agreement? WSU needs to move quickly. The Tau Center can be used for more dorm beds. The system's Revenue Bonds could still be available if WSU gets the bid. There might be another bidder for the Tau Center.
17. COMTEC Director (IFO Addition)
D. Bratt queried the administration on the NOV posting of a COMTEC Director, in the MSUAASF area. This was a half-time position listed as
2 reassigned time for an Engineering faculty. The Engineering faculty has returned to full-time teaching. The NOV listed a full-time appointment with both teaching and Director duties.Adm. Responses: Will study this issue and return with response(s).
18. Capital Campaign (Administration Addition)
WSU hired a firm for the feasibility of the WSU Capital Campaign. A small focus group gave good feedback. The next meeting will re-visit some of the items in the Capital Campaign. So far, the focus group really liked Endowed Chairs, but not so sure about scholarships, perhaps only targeted scholarships. The next meeting could wrap up the feasibility study. Some names for $-solicitation have also been mentioned in the feasibility study.
19. Adjunct/Fixed term/Overload/reassigned-time Reports (Additional Addition)
The administration will be sending the lists in the future.
Adjourned 4:40 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Bill Ng.