Faculty Senate

Merrill-Cazier Library, Room 154

3 October 2005
3:00 - 4:30 p.m.

 

AGENDA

 

3:00    Call to Order

 

Approval of Minutes from 29 August 2005

 

3:10    University Business—Stan Albrecht

 

3:20    Information Items

 

                        Wellness at USU—Lindsey Lovell

 

                        Honorary Degrees and Commencement SpeakerGary Straquadine

 

3:25    Consent Agenda

 

            EPC BusinessJoyce Kinkead

 

            Libraries Advisory Council Report—Lisa Berreau

 

            ASUSU Report—Spencer Watts

 

            Graduate Council Report—Larry Smith

 

3:40    Key Issues and Action Items

 

Resolution—Derek Mason

 

4:20    New Business

 

4:30     Adjournment

 


Honorary Degrees and Commencement Speaker

Letter

 

 

Minutes

Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes

August 29, 2005

 

Derek Mason called the meeting to order at 3:03 pm.

 

Minutes

Approval of Minutes May 7, 2005 moved by approve by Dallas Holmes, seconded by Bruce Miller, passed unanimous.

 

Announcements

John Kras is to keep time.

 

Eden Summers new Faculty Senate Secretary.

 

Introduced the Faculty Senate Executive Committee Members.

 

Faculty E-News will be a monthly newsletter, 120 seconds of reading.

 

Presidential Inauguration Events:  Week of October 10

Inauguration: October 14 at 10:30 am

 

University Business

 Stan Albrecht Presented University Business.  Presidential Inauguration week will focus on celebrating Utah State University and the way it has transformed lives for over a century.   C. Peter Magrath will be the first what will be an annual Presidential Lecture Series.  He will talk about the future of the Land-Grant University.  A ribbon cutting ceremony for the new library will take place that week, along with other student activities.

 

College of Natural Resources Deans position has been filled by Nat Fraser effective January 1, 2006. 

 

Three Provost candidates will be at USU throughout the month of September.  They will be doing a number of public presentations.  The candidates and their schedules are as follows: 1) “Gus” Plumb, Dean of Engineering, University of Wyoming will be here September 8-9; 2) Raymond D. Coward, Dean of the College of Health and Human Development, Penn State University will be here September 20-21; 3) Belinda McCarthy, Dean of the College of Health and Public Affairs, University of Central Florida will be here September 28-29.

 

Legislative Agenda for USU:  The University’s first priority is compensation.  Last year we received 2.5% state funds and 1.5% from Tier Two Tuition.  The state’s economy is doing better than expected.  This year USU is going forward with a request for a 4% salary increase plus additional support for benefits.

 

A second priority will be retention money.  Last year USU’s share was $421,000.  The Dean’s are developing a formula for distributing these funds. Actual distribution will occur January 1, 2005.  Retention money will remain a priority funding request for the next three years. 

 

Next, USU is again dealing with the tuition waiver issue.  Student enrollments are down, in part, because of House Bill 331. USU has a waiver bill that passed the House and was on the floor of the Senate, but was not passed.  The president has talked to Jeff Alexander, the initial author of House Bill 331, and has agreed to co-sponsor legislation that will help mitigate the impact of HB 331 had on USU.  Prior to HB 331, enrollment numbers of Southeast Idaho and Eastern Wyoming compared to post House Bill 331 are dramatic (example 30 to 2).  USU must be aggressive getting the waiver bill through and increase its recruiting efforts..  Instead of doing the Roads Scholar, we will be doing a tour of these schools involving students and staff.  Time will be spend time talking to counselors and students and holding alumni events in the communities.  The tuition waiver bill is meant to assist students with the out-of-state portion of tuition.

 

 Fourth, USU still needs $5 million for the relocation of the north agriculture area to the South Farm area.  Last year USU received $5 million for funding this initiative on their visit to Cache Valley, some legislators had difficulty understanding the need for the additional funds.

 

Fifth, the USTAR economic development initiative is an important priority for USU, and the outlook for its being funded is good. 

 

Attention also needs to be given to other initiatives such as improving student access, retention, student advising and mentoring. 

 

Finally, the Board of Regents proposes funding initiatives developed by all schools in the state’s higher education system.  Interim Provost Noelle Cockett asked Deans to come forward with one or two initiatives that may be submitted for this funding.

 

The major capital development project will be the new classroom building that will be built where the Merrill Library now stands.

 

Some major challenges we face this year will be mentioned during the Inauguration address.  Top priority will be stabilizing student enrollment numbers and revenue. Issues also need to be addressed regarding Continuing Education.  The President stated that more details on the Comprehensive Campaign will be forthcoming. He also reported that the Lilly White gift of $4.5 million will fund an endowed chair and scholarships.  At the reception for students from the Dominican Republic, one couple committed to provide another million dollars towards scholarships.

 

The President also commented that the improvement of Romney Stadium’s south entrance is completed with funding from students and private donors.  The next phase in construction will be the North End Zone Complex.

 

Information Items for Consent
The EPC Report and EPC Business were presented by Joyce Kinkead.  The School of Graduate Studies Update was presented by Shelley Lindauer.  Stephen Bialkowski moved to approve the consent agenda, Kim Openshaw seconded, passed unanimously.

Key Issues and Action Items

The progress of the Academic Rights and Responsibilities Committee was presented by Lynn Dudley. The ARRC was charged with reviewing and enhancing policy that protects the academic rights of the faculty, while at the same time, providing students with a means of resolving course content and their strongly held personal beliefs.  The Committee members are Karen Beard, Brock Dethier, Lynn Dudley, Julie Gast, Dennis Hassen, Dallas Holmes, Judy Johnson, Jennifer MacAdam, Quinn Millet, Peter Ruben, Steve Simms, Gilberto Urroz, and Spencer Watts.  The Advisory Members are Juan Franco, Norm Jones, Gary Kiger, and Craig Simper.

 

The committee has reviewed USU Student and Faculty Code sections pertaining to academic rights and responsibilities and the University of Utah Accommodation Policy.  The University of Utah Policy is a good template.  The students on the committee are reasonably supportive, but their main concern is disclosure, and request disclosure on syllabi.

 

Procedure Schedule:  A first draft will be completed by October or November for presentation to department heads and students, after this, it will go to FSEC and then to the full senate by February..

 

Benefits Advisory Model

Renee Payne described the Benefits Advisory Board. Composition of the board is proportionate to the numbers of faculty, classified and professional employees campus-wide. Employees at Space Dynamic Labs will have one representative to the Board.  She requested faculty support for the implementation of the Benefits Advisory Board.

 

Stephen Bialkowski, chair of Budget and Faculty Welfare Committee, has been attending the meetings.  He stated that the new system seems to be working well.  He commented that in the past, faculty senate would get a plan, give input, and the inputs never seem to be taken into account. The new plan gives employees the more direct input into the benefits decision-making. . 

 

Bruce Miller moved that Faculty Senate support the Benefits Advisory Model and delegate the appointment BFW committee members to serve on the Board. The motion was seconded by Pat Lambert, and it passed unanimously.

 

Caucus

Derek Mason opened the floor to meet with caucus leaders.  Caucus leaders will be reporting at the next FSEC meeting.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 4:20 pm. 


EPC Business

 

Introduction: Educational Policies Committee
Report for Faculty Senate 10/3/05

Joyce Kinkead-Chair, Stanley Allen-Agriculture, Scot Allgood-Education and Human Services, Todd Crowl-Natural Resources, Richard Cutler-Science, Jennifer Duncan-Libraries, Quinn Millet, ASUSU President, Spencer Watts, ASUSU Academic VP, Kathy Fitzgerald-HASS, David Luthy-DEED chair, Ronda Menlove-Extension, David Olsen-Business, Jason Pickup-GSS President, Jeff Walters-ASC Chair, Darwin Sorensen-Engineering

Meeting Dates:
September 1, 2005, October 6, 2005, November 3, 2005, December 1, 2005, January 5, 2006, February 2, 2006, March 2, 2006, April 6, 2006—all at 3:00 p.m. in Champ Hall, following Curriculum Subcommittee, which commences at 2:00 p.m.


Curriculum Subcommittee
In August meetings, the Curriculum Subcommittee approved the following proposals pending approval from the Budget and Faculty Welfare Committee:

Action Items

A proposal for a Major in International Business within the Department of Business Administration.

 

A proposal to offer an Agricultural Communication and Journalism Major in the Agricultural Systems Technology and Education Department leading to a Bachelor of Science degree. 

 

 

Information Items

Cindy Moulton submitted the EPC deadlines for 2006-2007 (See below)

 

Semester

Submission Date

Curriculum Sub-committee Date

Summer 2006

November 14, 2005

December 1, 2005

Fall 2006

December 12, 2005

January 12, 2006

Spring 2007

March 23, 2006

April 6, 2006

Summer 2007

November 13, 2006

December 7, 2006

Fall 2007

December 11, 2006

January 11, 2007

 

John Mortensen distributed an updated list of inactive courses listed in the General Catalog.  Departments need to complete the course approval from for courses they wish to delete and/or inactivate. 


Recommendations
EPC recommends approval of above changes by Faculty Senate.

 


 

Libraries Advisory Council

 

Library Advisory Council

FY 04/05 Annual Report

 

 

The University Libraries Advisory Council advises the Vice-Provost for University Libraries and Instructional Support in (1) meeting the learning, instruction, and research needs of students, faculty and staff; (2) formulating library policies in relation to circulation, services, and the collection development of resources for instruction and research; and (3) interpreting the needs and policies of the libraries to the University. The Council membership will consist of nine faculty members, one from each College and Extension with one undergraduate and graduate student appointed by the Provost. Faculty members will serve three-year terms and are renewable once. The Vice-Provost for University Libraries and Instructional Support serves as an ex-officio, non-voting member. The chair will be elected from the Council membership on an annual basis.

 

Members:

Byard Wood, Engineering (06)

Ed Stafford, Business (05)

Lisa Berreau, Science (07)

Gary Straquadine, Agriculture (07)

Carl Cheney, Education (05)

Len Rosenband, HASS (06)

Extension – vacant

Ronald Ryel - Natural Resources (06)

A.J. Rounds, ASUSU GSS

Linda Wolcott, ex‑officio

Darin Humphreys, ASUSU

 

Overview:

The Council met three times during the academic year (Oct. 2004; Feb. and April 2005).  Much of the discussion focused the construction of the new library. Steven Harris was introduced as the new collection development and management librarian. Kim Winger was introduced as the public relations and events specialist. The Council was also given updates on: (1) journals review for the 2004/2005 academic year, (2) development activities, including results of the phonathon, furniture naming mailing, and room naming, (3) a summary of new collections/materials received (e.g. van der Pas collection; Jack London materials), and (4) the naming of the new library.

 

2004/05 Action Items:

1.  An ad hoc committee comprised of representatives from the Library Advisory Council, Faculty Senate, Friends of USU Libraries, University Advancement, and the community met to discuss the naming of the new library.

2.  Librarians presented a “road show” display at several places on campus to provide information on changes associated with impending move to the new library. This action stemmed from discussion in the Library Advisory Council.

3.  A.J. Rounds suggested that ASUSU had funds that they would be willing to donate toward furnishings for the new library. This proposal has since been approved by ASUSU. They will provide $5000 to in part fund the acquisition of a state-of-the-art projection system for the main atrium. This system will be used to announce ASUSU activities, library events, and other information for students.

4.  Kent Clark accepted the position as Director of Foundation and Corporate Relations with the University Advancement office and is no longer serving as Library Development Director.

 

2005/06 Agenda Items:

1. Library dedication

2. Fund-raising and the library's capital campaign

3. Promoting library services and awareness of the new building

4. Ongoing discussion regarding scholarly communications and journal acquisitions

5. Faculty and librarian collaboration and engagement in the curriculum

6. Programming of the Faculty Seminar Room

 

 

ASUSU

ASUSU Report

 


Graduate Council

 

Report to the Faculty Senate

The School of Graduate Studies

2004-2005

 

The School of Graduate Studies reports here that graduate student enrollments for the 2004-2005 academic year saw record highs in both total enrollment at 2584 and in doctoral enrollment specifically, with an increase from 539 to 591 students.  The number of masters students decreased slightly from 2014 students in 2003-2004 to 1993 students last year.  This report will also provide information on initiatives of the Graduate School during last year and where major effort will be placed during the upcoming academic year.  Primarily, we intend to continue major efforts to recruit students into USU graduate programs, generate additional support for graduate education, and we continued to strive to make the Graduate School more responsive to the needs of USU’s students and faculty.    

 

            We have organized this report into three sections.  Part one outlines activities and achievements for 2004-2005.  Part two provides general information about the mission of the Graduate School and information concerning last year’s actions by the Graduate Council.  Part three consists of statistics about USU’s graduate education system.  The appendix to this report contains tabulated data about last year’s graduate students. 

 

I.             Changes, Achievements, and New Initiatives

 

A. Changes and Achievements for 2004-2005

 

There were several changes in senior personnel of the School of Graduate Studies.  At the beginning of the year Dr. Tom Kent left USU and Dr. Laurens Smith replaced him in an interim capacity.  Dr. Shelley Lindauer was named as Interim Associate Dean.  Pete Morris was hired to replace retired Diana Thimmes as Admissions Officer.  KayDawn Israelson replaced Jeannene Nielson who retired in May.  In the face of these changes the priorities for the School of Graduate Studies during the 2004-05 academic year continued to focus primarily on aspects of the Graduate School’s compact plan.  Specifically, we sought to improve graduate recruitment efforts, continued addressing financial issues of graduate students through fellowships, awards, waivers, and tuition remissions, and moved forward on other program matters.

 

1. Graduate Student Recruitment

 

Dr. Shelley Lindauer made major efforts to advance and improve graduate student recruitment during 2004-2005.  For example, Dr. Lindauer organized visits to a larger number of regional and national graduate student recruitment events and involved USU faculty and graduate students, awarded funds to improve unit recruitment efforts to departments, expanded advertising of USU graduate programs, implemented GRE screenings to identify and acquire contact information for prospective students and accumulated a total of over 5500 referrals, ten times more than in any single previous year.  New efforts were made to begin tracking students through the recruitment process to analyze the effectiveness of our recruitment strategy.   The Graduate School also continued to visit departments to discuss recruitment strategies and provided support for departments to access recruitment training opportunities.

                         

2. Graduate Student Funding

 

The Graduate School was able to continue financial support of graduate students with a variety of mechanism including new fellowships available through the Inland Northwest Research Alliance (INRA), a COS/COE diversity fellowship, and the largest number of dissertation fellowships.  We provided substantial numbers of tuition waivers and remissions, and continued support for Native American students, and a fellow for the Western Historical Quarterly. Data provided later in this report will show that graduate student support for 2004-2005 increased 17% to over $4.2M.

 

In addition to funding to support travel by graduate students presenting at professional meetings and conferences offered through the Graduate Student Senate, for the first time the Graduate School offered travel funding for students to advance their scholarly efforts.

 

3. Graduate Council Activities

 

Although described in more detail in a later section of this report, the USU Graduate Council act on new acted on new graduate program proposals and a variety of graduate issues.

 

4.  Graduate Application Processing and Student Training

 

With the university’s implementation of elements of Banner, it was necessary that the Graduate School offer an on-line graduate application, which was launched on December 22.  To facilitate department access to graduate application information and all applicant materials, the Graduate School established an electronic records keeping software system, eDrawer. 

 

The Graduate School offered a mid-year opportunity for the mandatory training of graduate students employed as graduate teaching assistants.  An on-line teacher training workshop was created and offered in December for graduate TAs starting in January. 

 

 

II.        MISSION OF THE SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES

 

A.  Graduate Council

 

            The Graduate Council reviews and approves the policies and regulations for graduate studies at USU and advises the dean on their application.  Listed below are the Graduate Council Members who served in 2004-2005.

 

 

Representative

Representing

Term Expires

 

 

Kenneth L. White

Agriculture

2006

 

 

Glenn McEvoy

Business

2005

 

 

Susan Crowley

Education

2006

 

 

Chuck Swenson

Engineering

2005

 

 

Mark Zachry

HASS

2006

 

 

Todd Crowl

Natural Resources

2006

 

 

Richard Cutter

Science

2004

 

 

Douglas R. Ramsey

Faculty Senate

2006

 

 

John Elsweiler

Library

Ex Off

 

 

Thomas Kent

School of Graduate Studies

Ex Off

 

 

A. J. Rounds

Graduate Student Senate President

2005

 

 

Cory Davidson

Graduate Student Senate Vice President

2005

 

 

A.    Major Graduate Council Actions:  2004-2005

 

A proposal to increase the 12-month base amount for a graduate assistant from the current maximum of $40,000 to $60,000 (or a maximum total salary at .50FTE fo $30,000) was approved (9/8/04).

 

A proposal to use an “I” grade for ongoing thesis/dissertation research, and a P/F grade once the thesis or dissertation is completed was approved (9/8/04).

 

A proposal to increase the limit on the nonresident tuition waiver for a master’s degree from 36 credits to 40 credits was approved (10/13/04).

 

A proposal to change the application fee structure to $55 for both domestic and international students (effective 12/22/04 to accommodate the switch to Banner [electronic] applications) was approved (11/10/04).

 

A proposal from the Department of Computer Science to offer a specialization in Bioinformatics was approved (2/16/05).

 

A proposal from the Department of Sociology, Social Work, and Anthropology to change the name of the Social Problems specialization to Social Problems and Inequality, and the Sociology of Development specialization to Social Change and Development specialization was approved (2/16/05).

 

A proposal from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering to create a one-member supervisory committee (major professor) for students in the Master of Engineering program (plan C, coursework only) was approved (3/23/05).

 

A.    Funding for Graduate Students

 

The following funds were made available for student support through the Graduate Dean’s office in 2003-2004

 

$180,000

Presidential Fellowships

165,000

Research V.P. Fellowships

96,000

University Fellowships

17,137

Seely-Hinckley Scholarships

3,805,799

Out-of-State Tuition Waivers and Doctoral In-state Tuition Remission, and Instate Tuition Scholarships

$4,263,936

Total

 

 

B.     Graduate Student Travel

 

The Graduate Student Senate (GSS) administers funds from the School of Graduate Studies and from the Vice President for Research for travel cost for graduate students who present papers at professional meetings.  Master’s students are eligible for one $300 award and doctoral students are eligible for two $300 awards during their degree programs.  Students can receive funding for USU-generated papers presented up to three months after graduation, with appropriate recognition of USU on the paper. 

 

Of the 119 graduate students who applied for travel funds in 2004-2005, 116 were approved and traveled, with a total expenditure of $34,800.  There were 11 fewer awards than in 2002-2003.

 

 

 

III.  Enrollment Information

 

A.  Applications

 

Applications for graduate study at USU during 2004-2005 is difficult to determine exactly because of the recent conversion to Banner reporting systems.  Some applicant information was compiled in SIS prior to Banner application processing.  However, we will report the data as it currently exists.  The total number of Fall 2005 applications when SIS and Banner data are combined was approximately 2700.  We do not have data for spring 2005 or summer 2005 which would increase the total for the year above 2700.  Total applications for 2003-2004 was 2994.  Another way to assess total applications is the application revenue during the course of the year.  According to this figure, total 2004-2005 applications was about 1% greater than 2003-2004.  Table 2 gives a history of application numbers for recent years.

 

B.  Enrollments

 

Total matriculated graduate student enrollment for Fall 2004 was 2,584, 12.7% of all USU students and a 2.0% increase from Fall 2003 (Table 3).  The total of matriculated graduate students plus post baccalaureate, nonmatriculated students was 3,914, an increase of 5.7% over last year.

 

The number of master’s students for 2004-05 decreased by 1% from 2014 to 1993 students (Table 4).  There was an increase of 52 doctoral students to a total of 591 in Fall 2004; a 9.7% increase from Fall 2003 and a new record high.

 

C.  Degrees Awarded

 

Numbers of degree types and their department distribution is unavailable at present because of database accessibility.  However, 370 masters and 34 doctoral students attended December commencement.    456 Masters and 30 doctoral students attended spring 2005 commencement.

 

D.  Student Diversity

American ethnic minority students continue to be a relatively small percentage of USU’s matriculated graduate students.  The total for the principle minority groups decreased about 4% in 2004-05 (Table 5). 


 

TABLE 1

 

 

 

Scholarship In-State Tuition Waivers

2004-05

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

College

Resident Semesters

Nonresident Semesters

 

 

 

Agriculture

6

1

 

 

 

Business

10

1

 

 

 

Education

12

5

 

 

 

Engineering

9

5

 

 

 

Family Life

0

0

 

 

 

HASS

9

4

 

 

 

Natural Resources

4

4

 

 

 

Science

10

10

 

 

 

 

60

30

 


TABLE 2

 

 

Graduate Applications for Admission

to Graduate Study

1989-90 to 2003-04