The
Regular session –
office: Jacobson Faculty Hall 206
phone: 325-6789
e-mail:
The Faculty Senate was called
to order by Professor Mike McInerney, Chair.
PRESENT: Abraham, Baldwin, Barker, Biggerstaff, Bozorgi,
Bradford, Brady, Brown, Burns, Caldwell, Catlin, Davis, Devenport, Dewers,
Dohrmann, Driver, Forman, Frech, Halterman, Hartel, Havlicek, Hayes-Thumann,
Huseman, Kauffman, C. Knapp, R. Knapp, Liu, Marcus-Mendoza, McInerney,
Megginson, Mendoza, Milton, Penrose, Rai, Ransom, Rupp-Serrano, Scherman,
Schramm, Sharp, Sievers, Striz, Watts, Wyckoff, Yuan
ABSENT: Cintrón,
Henderson, Houser, Newman, Pender, Raadschelders, Russell, Wheeler
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Announcements:
Renewable term faculty.................................................................................................. 1
Faculty tribute................................................................................................................ 2
OTRS, health insurance.............................................................................................................. 2
Senate Chair's Report:
Parking fines.................................................................................................................. 4
Research compliance...................................................................................................... 4
Essay editing service...................................................................................................... 4
Grading policy—academic renewal.................................................................................. 4
NEH awards.................................................................................................................. 4
Post-tenure review......................................................................................................... 5
Regents’ policy manual................................................................................................... 5
Faculty Senate charter.................................................................................................... 5
Regular Faculty meeting................................................................................................. 5
Faculty Senate reapportionment....................................................................................... 5
Good practice for courses and programs.......................................................................... 5
Budget/legislation........................................................................................................... 5
Faculty development awards........................................................................................... 5
Good practice for courses and programs...................................................................................... 5
Faculty Senate reapportionment for 2004-07................................................................................. 6
Faculty Senate charter................................................................................................................ 6
________________________________________________________________________________
The Faculty Senate Journal
for the regular session of
President Boren approved the change
in the definition of regular faculty, relative to renewable term faculty, that
the Faculty Senate passed at its February 9, 2004 meeting (see 2/04 Senate
Journal).
The faculty tribute is
tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, April 13, at
Ms.
Elizabeth Heath, executive director of
Ms.
Heath talked about the internship program through OU and the job opportunities
for OU students. The philosophy of
Middle Earth is to provide developmentally appropriate programs so that
children develop physically, intellectually, emotionally, and socially through
play. The staff looks for ways to be
unique and better serve its clientele.
Children 12 months of age through kindergarten are served, and infant
care will be included in the new building.
Recently, the center scored 6.75 in one class and 6.41 in another class
out of 7 on the Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale. With the new building, the staff will seek
the next step in accreditation--NAEYC.
Middle Earth was founded with parent involvement and continues to have a
lot of parent and community involvement.
The center is well known for its quality food, and it has summer cooking
classes. One of the plans when the new
facility is built is to create an intergenerational program, working with
Senior Adult Day. There are many
similarities between child and adult day care and reciprocal needs. An intergenerational facility prevents age
deterioration and keeps people at home and not in a nursing home. Quality child
care is an issue in faculty retention and recruitment. In September, the OU Board of Regents voted
to authorize the University to contract with Middle Earth for a long-term low
cost land lease on south campus for the construction of a new facility. Part of the agreement was to allow OU access
to the facility for evaluation, research, and internships. Ms. Health said the faculty could help by
identifying Middle Earth alumni or other people who might be interested in the
project.
Prof. McInerney said the lack
of infant care had been a concern on campus, and it would be helpful for Middle
Earth to provide that kind of care. Ms.
Heath said that was part of the University’s request, and Middle Earth was
looking forward to expanding its numbers.
Persons
who want more information or wish to assist Middle Earth as it works to build
its new facility should contact Ms. Heath at middleearthcdc@aol.com.
Human Resources Director
Julius Hilburn said he was asked to give an update on House Bill 2226, which is
working its way through the
The bids are back on the
medical and dental insurance request for proposal (RFP). A committee made up of people from the
Employment Benefits Committee (EBC) is evaluating the proposals. Bids for medical insurance were submitted by
Prof. Megginson asked whether
the interest paid at the end of the new five-year OTRS vesting period was at
100 percent or phased in. Mr. Hilburn
said the amount of benefit was determined by when an individual started drawing
the benefit. What is different about the
vesting is the individual now has a right to some benefit from the amount the
university and the state put in on his/her behalf. Prof. Burns asked what it meant for someone
in the 45-55 year range to withdraw without vesting. Mr. Hilburn answered that the option of not
participating in OTRS for someone age 45 and older applied to new
employees. Prof. Burns asked whether
someone who was vested could withdraw.
Mr. Hilburn said that was possible only if the individual
terminated. In an early withdrawal
situation, the only way to protect the money from being taxed and penalized
would be to roll it into another qualified plan. Prof. Burns questioned whether someone who
left the university before retirement age would be able to draw benefits from
OTRS once s/he retired. Mr. Hilburn said
that was correct.
Prof. Barker asked whether
OTRS members could withdraw the money they paid into OTRS and roll it into
something else if the proposed bill was passed.
Mr. Hilburn said OTRS would not allow people to take out dollars that
were already there because OTRS’s interest is to preserve the financial
stability of the program. Prof. Barker
asked what the alternative system would be.
Mr. Hilburn said people could leave what was in OTRS there and start
building a new defined contribution plan.
Prof. Huseman noted that one concern about the
Prof. Striz asked whether
individuals could roll their OTRS into another plan if they went to another
university. Mr. Hilburn responded that
the state and university contributions to OTRS must stay in OTRS until the
individual is eligible for retirement.
Mr. Nick Kelly, benefits manager, clarified that an individual could
withdraw his/her personal contributions and roll them into an IRA, but they
would not count for any service in another state’s defined benefit plan. Prof. Hartel commented that people would have
to wait until they retired to withdraw from OTRS, even if they were
vested. Mr. Hilburn said that might
sound restrictive, but previously OTRS did not even pay interest until after
seven years. Prof. Hartel asked whether
he could take the money he contributed to OTRS if he left the University. Mr. Hilburn said he could take his
contribution plus nominal interest. Mr.
Kelly added that the interest was reasonable after a year of participation.
Prof. Barker asked whether the interest was applied retroactively. Mr. Kelly said the interest was an issue only
if someone left the university and withdrew from OTRS. Mr. Hilburn said he would check on whether it
was effective as of July 2003 or when the person joined OTRS. He pointed out that the changes he mentioned
about vesting period, age 45, and interest were enacted last legislative
session and took effect July 1, 2003.
Prof. Marcus-Mendoza inquired
whether the faculty at large would get to see the health care proposals and
have some input. Mr. Hilburn said the
evaluation committee would share the details with faculty and staff before a
final decision was made. His plan is to
visit with a broad group of faculty at the meeting on April 29. At that point, he should be able to lay out
the options in even more detail.
“Theta
Dempsey met with the Executive Committee to discuss parking fines on campus.
UOSA sponsored a forum on parking, and one of their recommendations was to
increase parking fines. President Boren recommends that parking fines be raised
to the Big 12 average. The two fines that are far below the Big 12 average are
parking in a fire lane (we are at $20 while the Big 12 average is $58) and
displaying a lost or stolen permit (we are at $65 while the Big 12 average is
$129). There are a number of other fines that are less egregious where we are
about $5 below the Big 12 average. There was also discussion of instituting an
appeal fee. There are about 1000 citations that are upheld on appeal each year,
and the fee would be assessed on those fines only. This would help recover
administrative costs associated with unwarranted appeals. The time required to
pay outstanding citations may also be reduced from 30 to 15 days. The Executive
Committee thinks parking fines should be at an appropriate level to discourage
illegal parking. If the fines become an effective deterrent, revenues from
citations could decline. Because of this, it may not be a mechanism to offset
the increases in parking permits.
“Ms.
Debra Chionopoulus, Director of Compliance, and Mr. Joe Harroz, Vice President
and Legal Counsel, met with us to discuss hot line reports, as requested by the
senate last year. Both Debra and Joe emphasized that the function of the
compliance office is educational rather than an internal auditing group. There
was concern last year when we passed the compliance policy that hot line
reports could be used as a means of retaliation. They reported that there were
no hot line reports material enough to investigate last year. Hot line reports
are a federal mandate.
“Ms.
Debra Chionopoulous gave us an update on the progress of implementing our
compliance policy. HIPPA rules are fully implemented, and we may be one of the
first universities to receive full accreditation. They have received a grant
for an Internal Review Board education coordinator. Environmental Health and
Safety is run by Trent Brown. Occupational Safety Officer is Michael Goodwin.
There is a new position for a hazardous materials technician. They are
searching for a replacement for Steve O’Geary in Human Resource Protection.
Dick Trim is the Radiation Safety Officer. Animal Research is headed by Bill
Shelton. Funding is not currently available for a grants and contracts person.
There is an advisory committee composed of faculty that regularly meets with
Ms. Chionopoulous. This allows faculty input.
“Professor
Striz brought to our attention advertisements for an electronic essay editing
service to make writing assignments perfect. Provost Mergler suggested that
faculty members articulate guidelines in their syllabus so students are aware
of what they can and cannot do. I also referred this to UOSA President Millben
as something that the Student Honor Council can help us with, as to what is
appropriate behavior and what is not.
“The
Dean’s Council passed a resolution to institute an academic renewal policy for
the Norman Campus. This policy was recommended as an optional policy for state
system institutions by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education Faculty
Advisory Council. The renewal policy allows students who have had trouble in
the past and who have been out of higher education for a number of years to
recover without penalty and have a fresh start. All course work taken prior to
a date specified by the University will be excluded from the retention/graduation
GPA, assuming a student makes a request. All courses will remain on the
transcript and be used to calculate the cumulative GPA. To apply, five years
must have elapsed since the last semester to be renewed and the student must
have earned 2.0 in a minimum of 12 hours, with no grade less than a C. Academic renewal is similar to academic
reprieve but could include several semesters, not just one semester.
“I
have established a committee to look at university policy regarding faculty
that receive awards from National Endowment for the Humanities. We will meet at
the end of March with Dean Williams. The Committee on Committees will establish
a committee to review post tenure review. The Senate policy recommends that
this policy be reviewed at this time.
“Professor
David Levy and I met with Provost Mergler to discuss the final changes to
Section 2 of the Regents’ Policy Manual. We both feel the changes in this
section are acceptable and recommend these be placed on the Regents’ agenda.
“The
change in the definition of regular faculty that was passed by the Senate last
month means that the Charter of the Faculty Senate also has to be updated. In
addition, the Senate passed a resolution several years ago that allows the
Secretary to be a member of the Senate. Thus, the sentence on page 2 is
deleted. The three areas of interest mentioned in the Charter have been updated
to match the current definition of faculty responsibilities. Other changes are
editorial in nature to reflect the current definition of faculty and correct
titles of individuals or organizations.
“Changes
to the Charter are made by a regular or special session of the General Faculty.
Two-thirds vote of those in attendance is required. We will organize a meeting
of the General Faculty, probably April 29. At this meeting, we will vote on the
amendments to the Charter and reapportionment. We will also invite Mr. Julius
Hilburn and Mr. Nick Kelly to make a presentation on the Request for Proposal
on health benefits and changes in the retirement system if the University is
allowed to leave Oklahoma Teachers Retirement System.
“The
Committee to recommend reapportionment of the Senate has made its
recommendation. Prof. Valerie Watts will discuss these recommendations today,
and the Senate will vote on these recommendations at our next meeting.
“The
Academic Programs Council has endorsed the “Principles of Good Practice for
Courses and Programs” that was developed by an ad hoc committee established by
the Provost to review on line delivery of courses and programs. Prof. Kevin
Grasse will discuss these recommendations today, and we will vote on them at
our next meeting.
“The
Executive Committee and Prof. Ron Kantowski, Chair of the Budget Council, met
with President Boren to discuss next year’s budget and the salary program. The
university must receive about $9,635,000 in new revenues to cover increases in
fixed costs (health care, retirement, utilities and energy, building
maintenance, etc.) and to fund the salary program. The salary program will
include an across-the-board raise as well as funds for merit raises and to help
correct compression and inversion problems. The budget is still uncertain
pending what happens in the legislature. The House passed a 27 million dollar
increase for higher education. With OHLAP funded by the gaming bill, this would
leave more funds for disbursement to state institutions. The cigarette tax
would help fund cancer and trauma centers at the
“UOSA
is sponsoring a forum on higher education today from 5:00 to 6:00 PM in the
Scholars Room of the
“Please
encourage your colleagues to volunteer for university committees. The Senate Committee on Committees will meet
at the end of March, and volunteers are most welcome.
“The last item is the faculty
development awards. Three awards have
been made. There were not a lot of
applicants this time. There is money
left for next year. The award provides
support for activities that would not be funded by the Research Council, and
teaching is covered.
The document, “Principles of
Good Practice for Courses and Programs” (attached), was developed by
a task force established by the Provost to review online delivery of courses
and programs and was endorsed by the Academic Programs Council (APC). Prof. Kevin Grasse, Chair of the APC,
explained that the impetus for the document came from the task force and that
the APC was just endorsing what was produced.
The three main assumptions are principles should be applicable to all
courses and programs, the institution has a responsibility to review all
courses and programs for quality, and departmental policies remain consistent
across all modes of delivery. The third
item, though not explicitly stated in the task force document, was something APC
wanted to emphasize. APC’s role was
simply to endorse a document that was working its way up the chain of command.
The APC thought the document made a lot of sense and supported it, but also
decided to append an NCA document, brought up by Arts & Sciences Dean Paul
Bell, which details best practices in electronically offered degree
programs. The task force thought quality
control should apply to all programs and courses, independent of the particular
mode of delivery. For online courses,
consideration should be given to resources faculty may need to do a good job of
delivering online courses. Prof.
McInerney noted that it was important to treat online courses the same as other
courses so people would not get overwhelmed by someone saying three online
courses were the same as one classroom course.
Prof. Grasse added that the guidelines would prevent the hiring of one
web developer to replace 15 faculty.
Prof. McInerney said the Senate would vote on the document at the next
meeting.
Prof. Watts explained that
every three years, a committee is formed to come up with a proposal for
reapportionment of Faculty Senate seats (attached--http://www.ou.edu/admin/facsen/fsapporrep04.htm
and http://www.ou.edu/admin/facsen/fsappor04.htm). Prof. Watts, a member of this year’s
committee, reported that the Faculty Senate has 50 members. According to the Faculty Handbook, one
member each is allocated to the
Prof. McInerney said the
proposed revisions in the Faculty Senate charter (attached) would
redefine faculty. “General faculty”
would be called “regular faculty” in order to include renewable term
faculty. Based on a 2001 senate
resolution, the Secretary could be a member of the senate. Various other editorial changes needed to be
made. The Senate will vote on the
document next month. Prof. McInerney
asked the group to make sure their colleagues were aware of the April 29
meeting of the faculty to discuss health care and retirement issues.
The meeting adjourned at
____________________________________
Sonya Fallgatter, Administrative Coordinator
____________________________________
Karen Rupp-Serrano, Secretary