The
Regular session – September 8, 2008 – 3:30 p.m. – Jacobson Faculty Hall 102
office: Jacobson Faculty Hall 206
phone: 325-6789
e-mail: facsen@ou.edu web site:
http://www.ou.edu/admin/facsen/
The Faculty Senate was called
to order by Professor Cecelia Brown, Chair.
PRESENT: Apanasov,
Asojo, Atiquzzaman, D. Bemben, M. Bemben, Blank, Bradshaw, Brown, Buckley, Callard,
Clark, Conlon, Croft, Eodice, Forman, Graham, Grasse, Greene, Hawthorne, Horn, Kent,
Kershen, Knapp, Lifschitz, Livesey, McDonald, Miller, Milton, Morrissey, Moses,
Muraleetharan, Rambo, Reeder, Riggs, Rogers, Russell, Sadler, Schmidt, Strauss,
Tan, Trafalis, Vehik, Vitt, Weaver, Wyckoff
Provost's office representative: Mergler
ISA representatives: Cook
ABSENT: Basic,
Bass, Brule,
________________________________________________________________________________
TABLE OF CONTENTS
State of the University address by President Boren
Announcements:
Senate members for 2008-09 and schedule of meetings
Faculty Senate and Regular Faculty parliamentarian
2007-08 annual council reports
Faculty membership on committees
Disposition by administration of Senate actions for
2007-08
Resources in Faculty Senate office
Assessment and satisfaction reports
Final Exam Preparation Period
Issues for 2008-09
________________________________________________________________________________
President Boren distributed
several charts to update the senators on where we stand (see http://www.ou.edu/admin/facsen/DLB%20Faculty%20Senate%20Sept%202008.pdf). We were slightly crowded last year when we
had almost 3900 freshmen. Our goal has
been to stay under 4000 and to increase the quality. This year 3803 freshmen enrolled. We had 1400 more applicants for the freshman
class than last year, and we have the highest academically-ranked class that we
have ever had. Last year’s average ACT
for first-time students was 25.8 or slightly below that, and 400 had a 4.0 in
high school. This year’s average ACT of
first-time students is 25.99, which breaks all records, and 470 had a 4.0 in
high school. National merit students
rose slightly, to 176. The president is
really pleased about the freshman class.
It continues the increases in our standards of excellence.
One worry is we received zero
dollars, in essence, from the state for the Norman campus. We were facing in excess of $22 million in new
expenditures. Part of the fixed costs
could not be controlled because we have been trying to grow the faculty to
improve our faculty-student ratio, and offers were already out. Again last year, the percentage of our budget
funded by the state declined, so we had to resort to an increase in tuition and
fees of about 9.9 percent. President
Boren had planned on a minimum four percent salary program, but we were held to
two percent. He was concerned about
losing our ranking in the Big 12 in total faculty compensation, but we were
able to retain our number two place, factoring in the cost of living. (The chart is a composite of all three
faculty ranks.) The
Faculty growth in the past
few years has been substantial. Total
enrollment has held fairly steady over the last four years. Therefore, we are making enormous progress in
our faculty-student ratio, which was 22 in 2005 and is now down to 17.7. Our graduation rate has increased
dramatically, almost five percent. In
1994, the six-year graduation rate was 40.5 percent, for 2006 it was 58.8 percent,
and for 2007 it was 63 percent. It is
the largest one-year jump that the university has ever had. Our first year retention is about 86
percent. A lot of people are involved in
the effort to improve our graduation rate.
Average ACT scores of first-time students have gone from 22.1 in fall
1987 to 25.9 in fall 2008. Our
admissions standards have changed twice over the last ten years. As our standards have gone up, the number and
quality of applications, particularly from good students, have gone up. If applicants do not meet the requirements,
generally they do not apply, and that hurts us some in the rankings because we
accept a large percentage of applicants.
We are now at 539 endowed
chairs and professorships, including presidential professorships. In May the legislature approved a $100
million bond issue to be applied toward the backlog of endowed positions.
The President turned to
initiatives in process. A committee is looking
at health care and recommended a change that should result in better health
insurance, a slower escalation in costs, and better service. Also, a committee is looking at the policy
for retiree health insurance. Nothing
will happen to anyone who is eligible to retire or is within five years of
retiring. The committee’s recommendation
will be brought to the Faculty Senate.
To improve the educational
experience, the president wants to increase the percentage of students who have
overseas study experience. We are up against
parents who do not want their children to go overseas because of safety
concerns. Many families are more
comfortable if faculty members are heavily involved in the programs. We are looking at possible university
partners in places where students can have a good experience and be as safe as
possible. Other problems involve
colleges where restrictions are so tight that students cannot meet courses
requirements if they study overseas. The
president said he welcomes any thoughts on how to encourage and make it
possible for students to have an overseas study experience. We also are trying to increase the interaction
between international students and our own students on campus. The Cousins program has been relatively
successful, but we need to have more involvement with international students in
housing. For example, the Greek system could
make international students honorary members.
The
President Boren said so far,
the year could not have gone better in terms of graduation rates,
faculty-student ratio, the quality of the freshman class, and endowed chairs
and professorships.
Prof. Hawthorne said the
information in the charts was really interesting. He asked if the charts would be available
online. President Boren said the charts
would be available by the next day because he thinks it is good to share with
each other and with people outside of the university. We have been trying to improve our web site
and put more information about the university out there. He noted that we are among the ten most wired
campuses in the country.
Prof. Milton said it was
surprising that Texas A&M was so far down on the list with regard to money
coming into their institution. President
Boren said their endowment includes state lands and state government, not just
endowment. One reason may be that they
have had a lot of leadership changes at the presidential and dean levels. He pointed out that over a fourth of the U.S. News ranking is reputation. Usually the reputation factor is 5-10 years
behind, which hurts schools like us.
Prof. Forman asked whether
President Boren had a longer view of where our funding will come from. President Boren replied that funding from the
state is down to 18 percent; the medical school is at 8 percent. That means we are relying on private
donations, earnings by the faculty in research, and tuition/fees far more than what
is coming from the state. The good news
is our scholarship drive is now approaching $140 million. Scholarship availability in dollars rose
slightly more than tuition and fee increases.
Some of our upper mid size and larger gifts are starting to come from
more recent graduates. With the financial
pressures at the federal level, it is likely that the federal government will
keep pushing medical care and costs onto the states. There is no way for us to maintain excellence
if we do not get more funding from the state or if tuition is ever frozen. When President Boren was governor, funding
for higher education was above 40 percent.
He commented that he is now the senior serving president in the Big 12,
and Provost Mergler probably is the longest serving provost in the Big 12. There is enormous turnover at some of the
institutions, which makes it difficult to set long-term goals. Our goals are to work hard on private giving
and expand our research, but not compromise our teaching mission. Mentorship to students is more important than
ever, and our faculty do that well.
Prof. Vitt asked about the
president’s point concerning regional development. He remarked that the university had a real
opportunity to involve environmental-related departments in regional planning such
that the growth in cities is done in an environmentally sound manner. President Boren said we are creating within the
Prof. Muraleetharan suggested
that maybe we should push for different metrics in the U.S. News & World Report
rankings. President Boren agreed that U.S. News should look at metrics such as
the increase in graduation rate, improvement in student-faculty ratio, academic
excellence of the freshman class, and number of endowed faculty positions
instead of polling university presidents and provosts. The Princeton Review and others have done
right by us. Rankings are frustrating,
though, because people can manipulate the standings.
Prof. Livesey pointed out
that the Sooner Heritage Scholarship is one of the notable successes. He asked if there were programs on the
horizon that would do the same for graduate scholarships or fellowships. President Boren said we had expanded fellowships
somewhat, but we need to do more. Graduate
fellowships, undergraduate scholarship and the study abroad scholarships are all
part of our campaign for scholarships. Prof.
Livesey said it goes to the question of rankings of the university as a
whole. President Boren agreed and said
we need to continue to bring top-quality graduate students here. However, donors generally designate where
they want to donate money. We do not have
a lot of discretionary money.
President Boren closed by
saying he appreciates the faculty. The
improvements to the University represent a tremendous amount of talent and
commitment. The regents recently
extended his contract five years. He
encouraged the senators to pass on suggestions to the Senate Executive
Committee. His relationship with the
Executive Committee is a tremendous help to him because he can share problems
he is facing with the university and get suggestions. He learned from former President Cross that
it is important to get unfiltered advice from the faculty.
The Faculty Senate Journal
for the regular session of May 5, 2008 was approved.
A
list of the Faculty Senate members is attached. Prof. Brown introduced the Executive
Committee members and new Senate members.
The
regular meetings of the Faculty Senate for 2008-09 will be held at 3:30 p.m. on
the following Mondays in Jacobson Faculty Hall 102: September 8, October 13,
November 10, December 8, February 9, March 9, April 13, and May 11.
The
Senate Executive Committee elected Prof. Jon Forman (Law) as parliamentarian of
the Faculty Senate and Regular Faculty.
The
compilation of the 2007-08 annual reports of University councils was e-mailed
July 10 to the Faculty Senate members and to chairs, directors and deans to
make available to the general faculty.
The reports are available online at http://www.ou.edu/admin/facsen/cnclrep08.htm.
The
2008-09 list of faculty appointments to committees is available on the Faculty
Senate web site at http://www.ou.edu/admin/facsen/commem08.htm.
The summary record of the disposition by the
administration of Faculty Senate actions for September 2007 to August 2008 is attached.
The
Chronicle of Higher Education, Academe
and the Norman campus budget are available through the Senate office.
The OU Assessment Report,
Undergraduate and Graduate Programs Outcomes Assessment Reports, Student
Satisfaction Report and the Student Satisfaction Comment Report for 2006-07 are
available in the Senate office.
Mr. Kurt Davidson, Chair of
the Undergraduate Student Congress of the
Mr. Davidson reported that last
April, the entire student body voted on proposed revisions in pre-finals week (http://www.ou.edu/admin/facsen/uosaprefin.htm). Students are particularly concerned about the
special deviation clause within the current policy (section 4.10 of the Faculty
Handbook, http://www.ou.edu/provost/pronew/content/fhbmenu.html). The student proposal would reduce the weight
of projects from 10 percent to 5 percent and strike the special deviation
clause. The student leaders understand that
professors need wiggle room to make their classes successful, so they are considering
compromise proposals. With the ever increasing
number of night classes that have finals in pre-finals week, the fear is there
will be more and more special deviations.
The students realize they will not be able to strike the entire
clause.
Prof. Milton said his problem
with the proposal was faculty could not teach anything in the last week. What the students are asking for is a reading
week in which faculty could not cover any new material. Mr. Davidson explained that the current
policy states that nothing can be due on the last two days of pre-finals week,
interpreted to be Thursday and Friday. They
realize they cannot get rid of an entire week of teaching, but they do not want
major assignments due while students are taking two or three finals. Prof. Strauss asked, “Are students really
asking that if I teach them something on Monday and Wednesday, they would
rather have it directly on the final without ever turning in homework and
knowing whether they have learned it or not?”
Mr. Davidson replied that students have conveyed that the final two days
should be for review. He pointed out
that there are about four separate policies within the document and that it is
worded poorly. Prof. Brown said that was
because it had been added to and added to.
Mr. Wood commented that students want to understand the material. However, graded work could be due
earlier. One way to help students
understand the material would be to give them the questions and then post the
answers a couple of days later. Then
students do not have to worry about turning in daily assignments, but they can
study everything before the final. Mr. Davidson
said the students would like to have the requirements clearly stated in the
syllabus at the beginning of the school year and to have slightly more
restrictions on the special deviations.
They want the information before the end of the drop period, and they do
not want syllabi changed mid term.
Prof.
Prof. Rambo pointed out that
if the problem was the overlap with non-traditional and evening classes that
have finals during the last week of class, perhaps those finals could be moved
to finals week. Provost Mergler replied
that there was a complication in terms of classroom availability during finals
week. She noted that the proposal was
similar to the OSU policy. Most campuses
in the Big 12 have a slightly greater generosity than OU. Mr. Davidson reiterated that students are not
trying to tell faculty how to teach; they just want everything straightforward from
the first week of classes and not have changes made mid term.
Prof. Apanasov echoed the
previous opinions that there were no data supporting the change. He said he thought students would be against
the proposal if they knew they had one week less to finish projects. Mr. Davidson said students had a potential compromise. They want to clarify what the last two days
of pre-finals week actually means. In
addition, instead of deleting section C, they are willing to revise the language
to read, “Special case deviations from the policy must be clearly stated in the
initial course syllabus and approved
by the chair of the department through which the course is offered.” He said that many professors change their
syllabus mid stream, even though the first one is a binding contract. Faculty would not have to go any further than
the department chair to get approval for these deviations. It just needs to be clear from day one that students
are going to have a paper worth 30 percent, for example, due in the last week
before finals in case they have three finals during that week.
Prof. Muraleetharan said the
most important issue for him is the learning process. He said he wanted to see some data; the vote
was not enough. He said he lists an
assignment at the beginning in the initial syllabus and has it due before
pre-finals week, but students want to delay as much as possible and submit it during
pre-finals week. He said Mr. Davidson
should bring some testimonials from students.
Prof. Bradshaw asked whether the issue was when there was a deviation
from the initial syllabus and the assignment was not scheduled 30 days in
advance. If there is the option of
turning it in early, is that all right?
Prof. Strauss answered that no assignments can be due on Thursday or
Friday even if they are in the initial syllabus. Prof. Bradshaw asked if the policy applied to
all students and whether we had classes that met only on Thursday. Prof. Brown replied that the language needs
to be changed to specify that the last two days are Thursday and Friday, not
Saturday and Sunday, and there are Thursday-only classes.
Prof. Vitt said the students
needed data to show that faculty members are changing their syllabus mid
stream. Prof. Milton said the students should
come back with their new proposal so the Senate would have what they are
proposing in front of them. Prof. Brown
said the students had submitted a compromise proposal to the Executive
Committee, but it did not fly. Prof. Strauss
said he actually was in favor of not changing syllabi, and that is what we need
to focus on. If students know throughout
the semester that something worth 30 percent of their grade is due, then it is
up to the students to get it done. What
he disagrees with is the restriction on Thursday and Friday. Mr. Davidson reminded the group that the Thursday
and Friday restriction has been in the policy.
The students’ primary push has been on not changing the ground rules. Prof. Brown said the proposal was just for
discussion at this meeting; no vote would be taken. The students will come back next time with possible
revisions.
Due to time constraints,
Prof. Brown postponed her chair’s report.
She advised the senators to send any items of concern to her or to the
Senate office, and she will discuss them with the Executive Committee.
The meeting adjourned at 5:00
p.m. The next regular session of the
Faculty Senate will be held at 3:30 p.m. on Monday, October 13, 2008, in
Jacobson Faculty Hall 102.
____________________________________
Sonya Fallgatter, Administrative Coordinator
____________________________________
Paula Conlon, Faculty Secretary