Faculty Finance Committee – Annual Report, 2003-2004
The Faculty Finance Committee (FFC) met at least monthly throughout this academic year. Committee members were John Barr, Brenda DuBois, Rob Faulkner, and Arvella Lensing. Bill Parsons was appointed to fill in for Arvella during the spring semester. Lori Rodrigues-Fischer, Vice-president for Academic Affairs participated in meetings as an ex-officio member. FFC representatives participated in the SAU planning process, and met with President Ed Rogalski and Vice-president for Finance Ed Henkhaus concerning salary increases and early retirement options.
Specific FFC accomplishments during this year included:
1. A Retirement Options proposal that was presented to the faculty, approved with modification by administration, and reviewed by legal counsel. Administration will announce implementation of this plan.
2. A Wellness Program proposal that was approved in SAU planning.
3. A proposal for a salary increase of 4%, that was reduced to 3.1% in planning.
4. Funding for a Merit Awards proposal that was approved for its first year in SAU planning, initially funded for $5000. This proposal will be distributed to the faculty and discussed at the Faculty Assembly in April.
5. Meeting with the Handbook Committee to discuss revisions related to the FFC.
Our request for FFC representation on the Board of Directors Budget Committee was not approved by President Rogalski. Based on his discussion with other Board members, the president felt that it was not necessary to have a specific representative from FFC since faculty members are already represented on the Board by Rachel Serianz.
During the remainder of this
semester, the FFC plans to focus on developing a model for assessing academic
program fiscal viability. Ed Henkhaus
is to provide more detailed cost-out data to assist determining indirect
costs. Additionally, in follow-up to
its 4/2/04 meeting with Academic Affairs and Services Committee of the SAU
Board of Directors, the FFC will explore how other Council of Independent
Colleges members have successfully implemented merit pay plans.
Submitted by John O. Barr, PT, PhD
Chair, Faculty Finance Committee
Student Life Committee Annual Report
Committee members:
Nancy Hayes, Ted Woodruff, Lynn Clark, Katie Van Blair, Stan Kabat, Dave Buss (student chair), Breann Malik, Kristine Witcraft (graduate student).
The committee met November 4, December 3, February 4, March 3, and April 7 to discuss student life issues of mutual importance to faculty, administration and students. Two issues concerned the committee the most: alcohol policy and the usefulness of the Student Life Committee. As we have not quite completed our business, the committee has scheduled a final meeting for April 28. Dave Buss acted as chair and Bre Malik as secretary in an attempt on our part to focus on student participation.
Major Items of Discussion
1) Alcohol Policy: Dave Buss and Bre Malik brought this issue forward, along with Stan Kabat, as a top priority. Since the issue does affect students’ academic performance, we agreed that our committee was a good forum for discussion about it. A step toward reducing excessive under-aged drinking at the townhouses was considered: disallow drinking on patios. The merits of this approach are to be discussed further at our final meeting.
2) Nature of Student Life Committee: Discussion is being continued along with the Faculty Handbook Committee concerning the most effective role for the SLC. Faculty generated issues have not been as forthcoming as we would desire, and strategies leading to more involvement from faculty are being sought. An e-mail forum will be held April 21-23 to ascertain faculty views about the best use of the committee.
The Student Life Committee is committed to making its mission more explicit, and although the committee of the previous year attempted to do just that by devoting much time to redefining itself, we feel that we have not accomplished the task completely. The reason for the forum announced above is to seek input about the proposed redefinition, and to enable the committee as it resumes work next fall to address formally proposed changes to the committee’s description in the Faculty Handbook.
The Academic Support Committee met formally for 12 scheduled meetings in the 2003-2004 academic year.
August 21st – Election of Chair, setting of meeting times
September 9th – Meeting with Dan Zeimet on Beeline capabilities.
September 16th – Meeting with Lew Sanborne on reports for at-risk students.
October 7th – Meeting with Meg Halligan and Becky Stremlow on Admissions
October 28th – Recommendation on transfer student requirements to Maureen Baldwin
November 11th – Meeting with Ed Henkhaus on Business Office
December 2nd – Changed method for IT report to faculty Assembly
January 26th – Irene Kremer discussed changes in the Information Technology Dept.
February 9th – Meeting with members of Handbook Committee on ASC description
February 23rd – Irene Kremer presented information on Help Desk. Student concerns were outlined by Jim Stephens.
March 22nd – Meeting with Dan Zeimet on classroom space and time assignments.
April 2nd – Meeting with Paul Koch on assessment of academic offices.
Recommended actions include:
Expansion of Beeline capabilities.
Extension of Information Technology staffing to evening and weekends
Complete revision of grade report form and procedure for student-athletes
Change in academic warning notice format
Development of realtime online budget access for departments
Change in the Faculty Handbook section dealing with the Academic Support Committee
Copies of the minutes of the meetings and reports submitted to the committee are kept on electronic reserve on the O’Keefe Library website http://library.sau.edu/faculty.htm .
From: Kirk B. Kelley
Sent: Monday,
March 29, 2004
To: Ryan
Dye
Subject: BOS
committee final report
Board of Studies
2003-2004 Annual Report
The following is a list of actions taken by the Board
of Studies in 2003-04:
|
ISSUE |
DECISION |
|
Requesting substitution for
Gen Ed Reqmts |
Tabled |
|
Requesting retro-active
withdrawal from EDUC-205 |
Denied |
|
Requesting permission to
take MATH-152 for no GPA hours while still receiving letter grade |
Denied |
|
Requesting retro-active
withdrawal from Fall 2002 |
Approved |
|
Requesting GEOG-205 to be
used for Gen-Ed science reqmt |
Approved |
|
Requesting retro-active
withdrawal from IE-315 Fall 99 |
Denied |
|
Requesting re-admission
after previous term dismissal |
Approved |
|
Requesting to allow Children’s
Lit to satisfy Lit/Lang reqmt |
Approved |
|
Requesting BIOL-109
w/C- to be accepted to satisfy
science Gen Ed reqmt |
Denied |
|
Requesting 2 yr of Span and
1 yr of Germ in high school to satisfy language reqmt |
Denied |
Big
Board decisions (107 students reviewed):
5
received no action
1
tabled
1
received a letter of concern
12
removed from probation
22
placed on probation
14
continued on probation
52
dismissed
1 dismissal was overturned by
the VP of Enrollment Mgmt
30 expressed interest in
appealing
6 did not show up at appeals
hearing
17 allowed to return on
probation
7 denied appeals
Our work will continue in May with a second “Big
Board” meeting. At this meeting we will
review students who have been previously placed on probation as well as
students with GPAs that have fallen below the University standards. Our work will conclude with an appeals
meeting approximately two weeks later.
The chair wishes to thanks the members of the
committee for all their hard work.
Members are:
Jim Van Speybroeck
Dee Wellman
Carol DeVolder
Amy Hakeman
Ben Kiel
Evan Young
Dan Zeimet
Respectfully submitted:
Kirk B. Kelley, chair
Annual Committee Report (2003-2004) from the
Advisory Committee of the Center for Teaching Excellence
Advisory committee meets about every two weeks throughout each semester
Weekly “News from the Center” sent on campus email
Subscriptions to 3 publications stocked in three wall pocket locations on campus
Sponsor and underwrite the cost of faculty using the IDEA Form for assessment of teaching in any one section of their courses—at the end of each semester (fall and spring)
Co-sponsored (with FDC), helped to plan and implement the fall faculty in-service program offered by Dr. Stephen Brookfield
Sponsored Oct. 23 panel on writing course syllabi
Sponsored a November panel on commenting on student writing
Sponsored Feb. 19 panel on communicating bad news to students
Will sponsor April panel presentation by faculty on writing letters of recommendation
The Center will sponsor a presentation by Jon Stauff and James O’Gorman on integrating a collection of documents into general education and major’s courses
Co-sponsored with FDC the orientation for new faculty in August
The CTE has a web site maintained by Barbara Muenster and maintain a series of “Teaching Tips” on the web site
Develop and maintain the Center’s library in the Ambrose Room of the Library
Sponsored an March visit by Dr. Clyde Herreid of the University of Buffalo. He presented two 1 1/2 hour sessions on group learning/testing and using case studies as well as meeting for lunch with one of the teaching circles.
Sponsor and support two ongoing “teaching circles” continuing from last year and one new circle (Organizers of the circles are: Carol Lyon, Christine Urish, Terry Schlabach and one circle that is forming at present being organized by Allison Ambrose.
Members of the Advisory Committee of the Center for
Teaching Excellence:
Keith Haan, Music Sarah Vordtriede
Katherine Lampe, Physical Therapy Ann Preston, Communication
Kevin Farrell, Physical Therapy Paul Jacobson, Philosophy
Barbara Muenster, Mathematics
EPC Summary
Members:
Kris Eitrheim, Ragene Gwin, Bill Hixon,
David OConnell, Randy Richards, Lori Rodriguez-Fishser, Nathan Schlueter, Barb
Wiese, Brenda Peters, Dan Zeimet, Corinne Winter, Nate Mundy Barbara Wiese,
Miranda Nelp, Jeremy Burke, Brenda Peters,
Bill McAleer
Approved
September 2,
2003-Randy Richards elected chair and Corinne
Winter volunteered for secretary
October 7, 2003
1) Occupational Therapy proposal to reduce number of
Social Science pre-requisites for entry into the program
2)
Formal approval of the
change in course designations:
MATH390, Operations Research I be designated as:
IE409, Operations Research - Mathematical
Programming
MATH391,
Operations Research II be designated as:
IE391, Operations Research -
Probability Models
3) Approval of accelerated BCJ program.
a. fewer credits in CJ itself (39 compared to 54 in the BACJ offered on-campus) and includes
two new courses that address interests expressed in a focus group
4) Review of Portfolio learning – review submitted by
Hope Gardina from ACCEL
a. In the portfolio process, students are asked to define
the course for which they believe they have met the learning objectives and
then to have a discussion with a faculty member in the relevant department to
determine the viability of their request.
If the request seems viable, the student must outline the ways in which
the learning objectives have been met and show examples of their work. The faculty in the department has the final
decision as to the amount of credit to be awarded. This is credit for learning – not for life experience.
5) Approval of
new MOL course – MOL 625 Leading Organizational Change.
October 21, 2003
1) Program Review – Physics
a. decrease the Math requirement for the major in
Engineering Physics from 18 to 15 semester hours
b. delete course ENGR 310
c. switch the 300-level WI course from PHYS 317 (Modern
Physics) to PHYS 306 (Electronics)
2) Program Review:
Finance, Economics, and Decision
Sciences
3) Proposed new major – Exercise Science. Proposed by the department of Health, Physical
Education, and Sport Science
November 11, 2003
1) IE Five Year Review
2) Proposal to make Survey of International Business from
Managerial Studies available for General Education Credit (except for business
majors)
January 27, 2004
1) Motion to Approve English Department Five-Year Review
a. Adding three new courses to the curriculum
b. Dividing a previously joined course
c. Changing the requirements for the English major,
English Education major, English minor, and Writing minor
d. Changing one course from 200 to 300 level
e. Revising titles and descriptions for several courses
(noted on 4-point forms)
2) The SPED Dept. proposes changes to the Licensing and
Masters programs based on changes in State mandates
February 17, 2004
1) History department proposal to move the course on Viet Nam from a “topics” (115/315) to a
regular course to be listed as History 350
a. The course has now been offered five times as a topics
course with general education status, and each time it has been considered a
successful course by faculty and students.
Students explore a broad spectrum of ideas even though the course covers
a rather narrow timespan. They look at
Asian history and French Colonial history.
Moreover, they develop important skills in the study of history. Therefore, the course does address general
education goals. The history department
would like to cut down on the number of
“topics” designated courses carried by majors.
2) History department proposal
to maintain a 115 (100-level topics) designation for the course along with the
350 led to a friendly amendment calling for the course to be listed as 150/350.
3) Language department proposal to add French, Spanish,
and German 103 courses – these courses to be intensive courses covering 101 and
102 material in one semester.
a. The 103 courses would be intended for student with
some previous experience in the language and with an acceptable score on the
placement exam. A student who completed
the 103 course in a language could then fulfill the general education requirement
in language by taking 201 either on campus or abroad. The Language department hopes this, along with available
scholarships, will help encourage study abroad.
4) Discussion of the pre-requisites for admission to 103
led to a friendly amendment describing the pre-requisites as “a passing score
on the placement exam or instructor permission.” This description will be added to each syllabus.
5) Education proposal to add a 1-credit hour Internship
Seminar course. (EDLS 651)
6) ACCEL Proposal
to add a certificate program in Organizational Leadership
7) ACCEL second proposal: Change the core courses for the BBA and add a marketing major
within the BBA
March 2, 2004-
1)
Program
Review-Student Success Center
2)
Proposal
to exempt from the writing placement exam students who are fully admitted to
SAU and who have at least a 24 in English on the ACT
a. This would exempt 20 to 25 % of a typical incoming class of first
year students. Experience shows that
the placement exam is not an effective instrument for these students. In fact, top students sometimes write the
most problematic essays at orientation.
The hope is
that a reduction in the number of papers to be read will allow each paper to be
read twice in the placement process.
3)
The
Education Dept is requesting to move their 5-year Program Review from Spring of
’05 to Spring of ’06 because their state accreditation process will take place
at the latter time. They might also be
applying for National accreditation.
4)
Denied
March 2, 2004
1) It has been decided that transfer students coming from a
Community College without having completed an AA degree will not be deemed to
have fulfilled the ENG 101 requirement by taking one semester of English composition
at the Community College. This was
already true for students from most CC’s, but it will now apply to all such
students. There is a proposal that such
students might be exempted for ENG 101 by a portfolio process in which they
would present samples of their experience of writing a well-documented research
paper and of the process they used in developing the paper(s). Is this proposal something that should be
discussed by EPC.
Consensus
of the committee is that the English Department should make that decision and it
does not need to come before EPC. It is
similar to decisions that all departments make about accepting courses as
equivalent to our requirements.
Report of The Faculty Affairs and Grievance Committee
2003-2004 Academic
Year
Prepared by: Dr. Rachel Serianz, Chair
1) During the summer of 2003 which fell in the interim period between the filing of the report for the 2002-2003 academic year and the start of the current academic year, the Faculty Affairs and Grievance Committee completed one formal grievance procedure and reported results to the complainant, the respondent, and the Director of Personnel.
2) The Faculty Affairs and Grievance Committee worked closely with the St. Ambrose University Faculty Handbook Revision Committee to revise the section of the Handbook pertaining the responsibilities and procedures of this committee. The revisions were presented to the Faculty assembly for a first reading on April 15, 2004.
Promotion, Tenure, and
Standards Committee in 2003-2004
The
first meeting of the committee in the fall semester was September 2nd,
the last December 10th, the committee meeting fifteen times in the
course of the semester. The first
meeting of the spring semester was January 22nd, and as of April 8th,
the committee had met eleven times. The
committee will probably meet several more times in the spring semester before
business is completed.
The
work of the committee for the year will have been as follows: interviews with
six first-year faculty; review of twenty-six probationary faculty; three tenure
decisions; five-year review of twenty tenured faculty; eight requests for
sabbatical (two from faculty in Arts and Science, three from faculty in
Business, three from faculty in Education and Health Sciences); nine requests for
promotion (six to full professor, two to associate professor, one to assistant
professor).
The
President must make decisions on second-year faculty by December 15, on
first-year faculty and faculty who have been at SAU for three or more years by
March 1st. All three tenure
interviews were scheduled for the spring.
For all of these decisions members of the committee review voluminous
materials: in the case of probationary
faculty, a letter of self-evaluation, a letter from the chair and dean, and syllabi
from two courses; in the case of faculty applying for tenure, a letter of
self-evaluation, a letter from the chair and dean, all syllabi, and all course
materials for two courses. Tenure
interviews range in length from twenty minutes to almost an hour.
Interviews
for first-year faculty were usually about fifteen minutes; the point of the
interview is to familiarize new faculty with the committee. Interviews with faculty who are undergoing a
five-year review range from twenty to forty-five minutes. To prepare for five-year review interviews,
members of the committee review a letter of self-evaluation, a letter from the
chair, and course materials.
Probationary
faculty and faculty undergoing their five-year review receive feedback forms
from members of the committee, which are written by two-person teams, then
revised by the rest of the committee.
The committee will have written twenty-nine feedback forms this year.
The
committee tries to be open and flexible.
Most importantly, it tries to remain respectful of the needs of its
colleagues on the faculty. The chair
and the members of the committee invite questions and comments from the
faculty.
Submitted by Owen Rogal, Chair
FACULTY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
Year-End Report Spring 2004
Members: Bea Jacobson, Paul Jacobson
(Ex-Officio), Leslie Bell, Cathy Daters, and Arun Pillutla (Chair).
Faculty Development Committee for 2003-04 included three continuing members and two new members (Cathy Daters and Les Bell). The committee began working early last summer in preparation for the New Faculty Orientation Program scheduled for the end of August. The New Faculty Orientation Program included an orientation packet, a bit of the history of St. Ambrose University, a tour of the library including a presentation by the librarians, and a formal dinner. Follow-up workshops on registration, the student success center, general education, and advising were also provided for the new faculty throughout the Fall semester. In addition, the committee sponsored a speaker, Dr. Stephen Brookfield, for the afternoon session of the Presidential Assembly. The title of his presentation was “Being a Critically Reflective Teacher.”
During the Fall semester, the committee also reviewed 18 grant applications from faculty for full grants worth up to $17,000. Approximately $11,000 was allocated for the purpose of supporting faculty grants. One application was rejected and the Committee approved the remaining.
In Fall of 2003, the Committee conducted a workshop on how to write grant applications for major and mini grants awarded by the Faculty Development Committee. The workshop attracted a large group of faculty members who are interested in finding funding for their scholarly activities. During Fall, the Committee also sponsored a workshop for faculty on how to work with international students on campus. Michele Pontarelli, Director of Global Affairs, conducted this workshop. During the Spring semester, the committee co-sponsored a workshop with the Center for Teaching Excellence. The workshop by a group of faculty members from Coe College explored writing intensive courses. Please see the list of other co-sponsored workshops and panels at the end of the report.
In the Spring semester, the Committee reviewed 16 mini-grant applications from faculty for grants up to $400. Approximately $5000 was allocated for the purpose of supporting these mini-grants. The Committee rejected three mini-grant applications, while awarding the other thirteen applications. Currently, the committee is organizing a recognition reception for faculty and academic staff. Nominations are due by April 16th. The event will take place on April 20th at 2:30 p.m. in the private dining room.
Finally,
the mentoring program initiated by the Committee has received support from
mentors and the new faculty. The Committee will survey the new faculty and
established faculty who participated in the mentoring program this past
academic year. We are interested in
suggestions for the program. The goal of the mentoring program is intended to
ensure a successful transition for new faculty members by introducing them to
the culture of St. Ambrose University, and encouraging them to make connections
with colleagues. This mentoring program should help supplement the guidance and
assistance provided to the new faculty member by the Department Chair. The
committee will be sending out an e-mail in the near future asking for
volunteers to serve as mentors for Fall 2004 semester. The Committee is making
plans for opening-of-the-year
speaker in Fall 2004 by Dr. Craig E. Nelson, Indiana University, on the topic
of teaching critical thinking in the classroom.
The Faculty Development Committee met several times during the past year, usually on Mondays at 9 a.m. I would like to thank all of the committee members for their hard work and dedication this year as well as all of the presenters and participants who helped make our faculty development workshops successful. If anyone has any suggestions for future faculty development events, please contact me.
Respectfully Submitted,
Arun Pillutla