University Faculty Meeting Minutes

April 27, 2005

President Bell called the spring general faculty meeting to order at 3:35 p.m. on Wednesday, April 27, 2005, in Derryberry Hall Auditorium. Copies of the Flower and Gift Fund report and ballots for Council elections were distributed at the door.

President Bell expressed deep appreciation for the contributions of the retiring faculty members and asked them to come forward and be recognized. Gifts or certificates were presented to the following faculty members: Joseph Anderson, Electrical and Computer Engineering; Prit Chowdhuri, Electric Power Center; Gloria McGee, Curriculum and Instruction; David Narrie, Agriculture; and Steve Williams, Sociology. Also retiring but unable to be present was Jeffrey Riemer, Sociology and Philosophy.

Strategic Planning Report

President Bell thanked all those who participated in putting the strategic planning document together. The plan will be presented to the Board of Regents on May 12 when representatives from the Board and Board staff will be on campus, and it is expected that the plan will be approved at that time. The strategic plan can be viewed on the web.

SACS Self-Study

Dr. Leo McGee said the self-study process was started last year and will be finished next April. He thanked everyone for their work so far, and he recognized Barry Stein who is charge of the quality enhancement plan and Glenn James as our compliance person. He expressed special thanks to Curtis Armstrong and two undergraduate students in the College of Business for a great job in computerizing the process. The first phase—compliance—is due in September, the QEP is due in January or February, and the site visit is scheduled for April 11-13, 2006.

Council Elections

Academic Council

John Harris, Biology, and Brian O’Connor, Mathematics, were nominated by petition, and Darrell Hoy, Mechanical Engineering, was nominated from the floor for the three vacant at-large positions on the Academic Council. The motion was made and seconded that nominations cease, and the motion carried. It was moved and seconded to elect the three nominees by acclamation, and the motion carried.

Administrative Council

President Bell pointed out that there are four vacant at-large positions on the Administrative Council—three for 3-year terms and one for a 1-year term. President Bell said that the three persons with the most votes would be elected to 3-year terms, and the person with the fourth largest number of votes would be elected to the 1-year term. No petitions were submitted for the open positions on the Administrative Council. Nominated from the floor were Kurt Eisen, English; Vince Neary, Civil and Environmental Engineering; David Huddleston, Civil and Environmental Engineering; Rafal Ablamowicz, Mathematics; and Fred Vondra, Manufacturing and Industrial Technology. Ballots were distributed.

Committee and Council Reports

Flower and Gift Fund Report
Copies of the Flower and Gift Fund report were distributed at the door. After expenditures/adjustments of $2,165.50, the balance on hand on April 25, 2005, was $3,928.01.

Academic Council

Jeff Roberts, chairperson of the Academic Council, reported that the Council met on January 26 and received a report on disruptive classroom behavior, but no action was taken. The Council approved allowing departments to experiment with an alternate Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule, clarified the 30-day time limit to appeal a grade, and approved expanding the tests for admitting international students. The Council did not meet in February but did approve by electronic ballot a proposal to eliminate the English Qualifying Exam. The Council met again on April 6 and approved annual reports from committees reporting to the Academic Council and approved a motion to have changes in the procedures of those committees subject to approval of the Academic Council rather than the Administrative Council. The Council also approved changes in the tenure and promotion policy and approved a compensation scale for part-time instructors. Jeff Roberts was re-elected as chairperson for 2005-06.

Administrative Council

Linda Giesbrecht-Bettoli, chairperson of the Administrative Council, stated that the report from the Administrative Council was distributed at the door. She said that ITS is in the process of simplifying the process for purchasing hardware and software. She announced that the chairperson of the Administrative Council for 2005-06 is Paula Hinton. (A copy of the Administrative Council report is attached to the file copy of the minutes of this meeting.)

Faculty Senate

Linda Null, President of the Faculty Senate, reported that the Faculty Senate for the past year has been involved in reviewing and revising the TTU tenure and promotion policies. The Senate approved a new textbook policy that will go into effect in the fall and approved guidelines for compensation levels for part-time faculty. David Larimore was elected as President of the Faculty Senate for 2005-06, and DeLane Stewart was elected Secretary.

University Assembly

President Bell reported that the University Assembly met on April 20 and approved spring semester reports from the Academic and Administrative Councils and approved annual reports from the Information Technology Committee and the International Affairs Committee. The Assembly also approved amended revisions to the tenure and promotion policies.

Hearing no questions regarding the reports, the President accepted the reports as presented.

Proposed Revisions to the TTU Tenure and Promotion Policies

Linda Null pointed out changes made by the University Assembly in the tenure and promotion policies and procedures that were previously approved by the Academic and Administrative Councils. TBR has stated a five-year probationary period for most faculty members, so the tenure process would start at the beginning of the sixth year of service. A faculty member could apply for tenure only once. Also, there is the opportunity to have a reduced tenure probationary period if a faculty member has extraordinary accomplishments, and this process would begin with the peers and go through channels to the Chancellor for approval. If a faculty member chooses a reduced probationary period, the person must come up at that time; and, again, a faculty member could apply only once.

It was moved and duly seconded to approve all the tenure and promotion documents. The motion was duly seconded.

A correction was made under the criteria for promotion to professor; Dr. Null said that10 years “as associate professor” should be stricken.

Andrzej Gutek had a concern about No. II Definitions on the first page of the Faculty Promotion document. He questioned “innovative approaches to instruction” under the heading of “Teaching” and “innovative approaches to teaching” under “Research.” Dr. Null said the headings indicate different activities. Dr. Gutek asked for clarification of the statements and made a friendly amendment to that effect, and it was accepted. Dr. Null said she would clarify the statements, but this would not change the policy.

In response to a question from Brian O’Connor, Dr. Null said that the five-year probationary period would apply to all faculty hired after July 1, 2004. Dr. O’Connor said that it appears that this would change the contract after the faculty member was hired, and Dr. Null responded that this is TBR policy. In answer to a question about whether tenure-track faculty hired prior to July 1, 2004, must select an option about which schedule to follow—the four-year or the five-year probationary period—Dr. Null said there is nothing in the policy about this issue. It was pointed out that the different schedules for tenure-track faculty members would be a transition issue for only a year or so.

President Bell said that because of the friendly amendment, Dr. Null and the committee will work on clarification of the wording. A voice vote was taken, and the motion to approve all the tenure and promotion documents passed by a unanimous vote. President Bell thanked Dr. Null, the committee, and all those who worked on the documents. (The final version of the revised tenure and promotion policies and procedures will be attached to the file copy of these minutes.)

Results of the Administrative Council Election

By secret ballot, the faculty elected Kurt Eisen, Vince Neary, and David Huddleston to 3-year terms on the Administrative Council. Fred Vondra was elected to a1-year term. S. Deivanayagam, Glenn James, Roy Loutzenheiser, Beth Mannle, Leo McGee, Virginia Moore, and Rebecca Tolbert served as tellers for the election.

Announcements

Dr. Bell congratulated Wayne Leimer, recipient of the THEC Howard Love Award for Service. Outstanding Faculty Award winners are Dan Swartling and Bonita Barger for Teaching and Gene Kline for Service. President Bell announced that commencement will be held on Saturday, May 7, with Regent Edgar (Buddy) Bowers as the speaker. The fall semester will open with new faculty orientation on Tuesday, August 23, and the opening faculty meeting and luncheon on Wednesday, August 24. President Bell gave an update on the condition of Coach Mike Sutton.

Other Such Matters
Rebecca Tolbert announced that the Third Annual TTU Advisor’s Round Table will be Monday, June 6, and information regarding the event will be sent electronically next week. She said that fall enrollment is up 4.2 per cent from this time last year, and we have 500 more acceptances. We have already had one SOAR session, and several are scheduled for June and July and another right before school starts.

Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 4:30 p.m.

Pat Gilbreath, Recorder

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