Minutes - November 27
Governance Restructuring Committee
Meeting Minutes – November 27, 2007
All committee members present.
Minutes of previous meeting approved.
FTE – It is difficult to get FTE figures. We have been told that figures for the Library and Military Science, along with Professional Development and Study Abroad, have not been collected in the annual census since at least 1997. Julie Lochbaum is apparently counted in Education’s FTE; we can ask Military Science and the Library for full-time faculty positions in those areas. We have some doubt about the figures for Accounting and Business in the Business School, and FTE figures in Education seem to be off as well. Split appointments are another issue. We must understand the system for counting FTE’s better so that we know the impact of any recommendations we might make about proportionality and representation. The committee decided to make a direct request to the Provost/VPAA office for clarification.
We are currently seeking information from faculty senate at the University of Missouri-Rolla (soon to be Missouri University of Science and Technology) about their recent governance changes. Likewise, we are working with the head of reference at Pickler to search faculty handbooks in a list of peer institutions.
A report was made from discussion at Graduate Council. Graduate Council has recommended that it be retained, that each graduate program should have one representative and that the library have one representative. Inactive graduate programs (e.g., counseling and history at the present time) do not have representatives. It is recommended that the Graduate Dean serve ex officio. Two non-voting representatives from Student Senate should also serve.
The comment was made that there are no representatives currently on Graduate Council for departments that contribute partial or full positions to the graduate program in education. Those departments are represented within Education; further details will follow for the next meeting
UGC has not yet held such a discussion. It might be easier to do that when we have actual models to discuss. One proposed model has been received from the School of Business, for a senate with 11 voting members (3 from HS&E, 5 from CLAS, and 3 from Business) and one non-voting administrator which would rotate among the Associate Deans of CLAS and Business and the Dean of HS&E. This model will be posted on the committee website for comment. A letter will be sent out to faculty emphasizing the process that the committee is involved in, and asking for initial comments and concerns by the end of the semester.
Our informal discussion centered around issues of size and representation. Some members feel that size should facilitate constituent contact but also maximize efficiency in getting work done. We brainstormed ways of facilitating constituent contact, including email written ballots, campus mail, meetings by building, combining small departments into larger meeting, departmental meeting, open meetings or forum arrangements, use of web cams, etc. Whatever methods are used should encourage the give-and-take of talk and engage the faculty in discussion of issues. We acknowledged that not all issues are matters of intense interest to faculty, but that certain issues require the deliberation of as many faculty members as possible.
Our next meeting will be held on December 4. We will coordinate calendars for Spring 2008 so that we can set meeting dates for next semester.