University Governance
FACULTY EXECUTIVE COMMITTEEOctober 13 – 3:00 p.m. – Provost’s Conference Room
Approved 10/27/09
PRESENT: Ben Eggleston, Lisa Wolf-Wendel, John Stratton, Barbara Phipps, Steve Maynard-Moody
EXCUSED: Jim Daugherty, Ada Emmett
ALSO PRESENT: Molly Mulloy, Governance; Kathy Reed, Governance.
Chair Lisa Wolf-Wendel called the meeting to order.MINUTES for September 29, 2009 were approved.
REPORT OF THE FACEX CHAIR
Lisa Wolf-Wendel noted that the Board of Regents will meet tomorrow. Steven Maynard-Moody commented on the anomaly that KU faculty and staff are employed by the state rather than by the university, but this is not the case for public universities in most states.
Wolf-Wendel said that the university library deans in the Regents system are in a consortium that wishes to be formally recognized by the Regents so that they may negotiate with publishers as a group. Hodgie Bricke, Assistant Vice Provost for International Programs, will be sending a response to FacEx concerning the two concerns raised at the Faculty Senate meeting in regard to the new TOEFL requirement for undergraduate international applicants. The Furlough Planning Committee has submitted its recommendations to the Provost.
RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE SPPT COMMITTEE (Standards and Procedures for Promotion & Tenure).
Wolf-Wendel explained that the FY09 SPPT Committee forwarded recommendations to the Faculty Senate late last spring to amend several sections of FSRR Article VI (Promotion and Tenure). Their three main changes involved: (a) inserting standards to be used in teaching evaluations as recommended by the Task Force on the Assessment of Teaching and Learning, (b) clarifying whether scholarly work that originated in one’s dissertation may be used for promotion and tenure evaluation, and (c) requiring a position description for every new appointee. Last year’s faculty president postponed discussion of the amendments to the fall semester because many faculty voiced concern or requested clarification about controversial aspects of the proposal. As background for today’s discussion, Wolf-Wendel has visited with the FY10 SPPT chair Bill Keel and with Vice Provost Mary Lee Hummert about the proposed amendments.
SPPT Handout Section “B” (scholarly work)
Wolf-Wendel said the most controversial amendments pertain to scholarly work begun before a new faculty member comes to KU. SPPT recommends that scholarly product developed for the terminal degree shall not be considered part of the work evaluated for promotion and tenure. FacEx members did not agree, and following much discussion Ben Eggleston/Steven Maynard Moody moved that the proposed new text in FSRR 6.3.3.2 and 6.3.3.3 be deleted. Passed without dissent. Eggleston/Moody moved that the new phrase “by vote of eligible faculty” in FSRR 6.3.3 be approved. Passed.
SPPT Handout Section “A” (evaluation of teaching):
FacEx members recommended changing the 4th sentence in FSRR 6.2.2 (“Candidates will submit… who have graduated.”) to: “Candidates will submit a statement of their teaching philosophy and goals and how their teaching has developed over time. Additional evidence may include public representations of teaching such as online portfolios, reviews of demonstrated student learning, published articles on teaching, external evaluations, systematic feedback from former students, and other accepted methods of evaluating teaching.” Additional edits to this section will be drafted by Wolf-Wendel.
FacEx agreed with SPPT’s amendment to USRR 6.2.2.1 to add the phrase “that enhance student learning” in the first sentence.
FacEx agreed that Ben Eggleston and Steve Maynard-Moody would draft new text for USRR 6.2.2.2 to replace that proposed by SPPT. Among other things, members mentioned that collaborative peer reviews are not required for promotion and tenure, and that the proposed 6.2.2.2 does not distinguish between teaching and non-teaching faculty.
FacEx agreed with SPPT’s amendment to USRR 6.2.2.3 to add the phrase “efforts to improve teaching skills over time.”
FacEx also agreed to delete the complete last sentence of USRR 6.4.1 (“For teaching faculty, the plans will also include the methods used to conduct collaborative and evaluative peer reviews of teaching in more than one year.”)
In FSRR 6.5.3.1, FacEx deleted the words “respected and established” in the first sentence and deleted the last five sentences (beginning with “The committee shall provide procedures”…. and ending with “…standards for promotion and /or tenure in Article VI.”). Wolf-Wendel suggested more simplified language such as: “The Committee should provide for the candidate to suggest potential reviewers and to identify individuals they wish to preclude as external reviewers.” FacEx will draft new language for this section.
FacEx agreed with SPPT’s proposed new language for FSRR 6.5.3.2.
SPPT Handout Section “C” (job description)
Wolf-Wendel stated that a new faculty member’s appointment letter describes overall responsibilities, though not specific details, and faculty receive a job description at the 3rd year and when going up for tenure. Consensus of FacEx was to delete the two final sentences added by SPPT to USRR 6.2.1.1 (“A statement of the particular responsibilities… following appointment.” and “Each unit…. as circumstances change.”
A sub-committee of FacEx composed of Lisa Wolf-Wendel, Ben Eggleston, and Steven Maynard-Moody will draft changes as discussed today, meet in the Governance Office at 2:00 p.m. on Oct. 20th to discuss, and forward to FacEx on Oct. 27th.
No further business.
Respectfully submitted,
Molly Mulloy