The Faculty Senate of Murray State University met in regular session on Tuesday, September 2, 1997, in the Barkley Room of the Curris Center. Twenty-nine senators were present. Jay White will represent Senator At-large Guin this semester while he is in Germany teaching.
Chair Rudolph represented the Department of Agriculture. Sandra Jeanquart-Barone will represent the Department of Management & Marketing; Tim Miller; the Department of Accounting.

Departmental Senators Aguiar, English; Campbell, computer science & information systems; Hulick, elementary & secondary education; Jones, mathematics & statistics; Richerson, business administration, office systems, & business education; Foreman, philosophy & religious studies; and Wiggins, health, physical education, & recreation were absent. Ms. Marion Posey, Director of Institutional Planning, and Dr. Joel Royalty, Professor of Psychology, were guests. Mr. David Ramey will cover senate activities for The Murray Ledger & Times this year. Mr. Jason Kemp represented The Murray State News. The minutes of May 6, 1997, were approved.

REPORTS

Senior Survey--Marion Posey updated faculty on the process of surveying graduating seniors on various items; an on-going effort of assessing the university's work meeting the needs of students. The process is continually evolving to meet the needs of departments and the individual colleges. She asked faculty to help deans and chairs respond to the process by the end of the month so that it can be a useful assessment of performance. As state accountability standards are updated, kinds of questions will change. With these changes at the state level, it is a good time for the university to update its assessment.

Evaluation of Instruction--Ms. Posey also helped update the senate on evaluating instruction. Provost Booth had been on the agenda but was called to Frankfort for a meeting in the Governor's Office. Last year she had asked Dr. Booth to look at national trends in evaluating instruction based on MSU's increased ratings. He asked Dr. Royalty to develop a new instrument that might eliminate some of the current problems in an effort to develop a MSU standard rating scale of instruction. His summary represents every course offered in humanities during the fall 1994. He summarized several correlations with the same pattern emerging in several areas. Items looked at included course content and instructor's contribution and effectiveness. Interactive courses were not included. A problem in these findings can be the number of students rating classes. Forty-five hundred students in 21 departments used this instrument last spring. One hundred twenty five classes replicated these results. These ratings will be used to pilot a test form with approximately 38 new items based on the university's mission statement and Characteristics of the MSU Graduate. A lot of the University of Washington instrument will be rephrased and restructured in an effort to make an evaluation more student oriented. Six independent factors will be isolated and students will be encouraged to try to answer items individually. Some students will be given both instruments for comparison. It will be up to the colleges to judge additional items for validity and reliability of these assessments of teaching. Senator Beasley (history) pointed out that money could be saved. Senator Gray (graphic arts) asked why Murray's ratings rose differently from other schools. Our mean ratings went up every year faster than other schools using the University of Washington instrument. Senator Maddox (physics) asked if grade inflation could be determined. The findings have been forwarded to Provost Booth and no suggestions for changes have been made. Only content validity has been done; Dr. Royalty hasn't tried to factor analyze. Senator Wattier (political science) suggested that these findings should be shared with the University of Washington. Dr. Royalty has published an article based on this study.

Board of Regents--Regent France reported that the main focus of a recent board retreat was university growth. President Alexander asked how big should the university grow. Regent France initiated discussion on how growth should take place. The board outlined three areas for growth: 1) out of state students; 2) graduate enrollment, which would help with resources; and 3) outside gifts. She cautioned faculty to remain informed and respond to proposed growth. MSU faculty don't compare with other faculties in the state in areas of workload and compensation. Murray faculty have continually taken on more with no significant increase in salaries and benefits. She encouraged the senate to help in the determination of how data, such as Dr. Royalty's, is handled. She sees the potential for some board members misinterpreting such information. It is the responsibility of the President and his cabinet to study trends or patterns in evaluating instruction and implement processes associated with this and inform the board.

President Alexander has presented to the board potential courses in each college that could be proposed to the state as "programs of distinction" adding more allocation from the state.

Regent France believes the board will look at the salary policy this year. She will discuss this with Dr. Alexander prior to the September 12 meeting and encourages the senate to continue assessing the view of faculty.

Senator Dressler (music) asked what the board's response was to increased student enrollment. She sees varied opinions among the board to increase admission standards with the same number disagreeing that Murray should remain accessible to the region and continue giving students an initial opportunity by admitting them into the pre-baccalaureate program. No action has been taken.  

There was concern from senators regarding the increased number of VP's, associate, assistant, etc.; and whether these appointments had gone before the board. Regent France will discuss this with Dr. Alexander. Senator Tillson (speech, communication, & theatre) asked if there was any relation between the "programs of distinction" and a virtual university. Regent France has explained to the board problems associated with a "virtual university" across the state.

Dr. Alexander is staying on top of this.

Academic Policies--No report.

Finance--No report.

Governmental Affairs--Chair Rudolph reported that he met with the insurance and benefits committee and presented the proposal for faculty to count sick leave towards retirement. The committee fully endorsed it and it has been sent to Vice President Denton.

Handbook & Personnel--Vice President Call reported that handbook amendments approved at the May meeting have been forwarded to Provost Booth.

Rules, Elections, & Bylaws--Vice President Call also reported that a letter has gone out to all university standing committee chairs to convene committees and elect chairs.

Insurance & Benefits--Chair Powell reported that two sub-committees met over the summer and that VP Denton had called her to ask if the committee supported the tuition waiver transfer increase to six courses recently passed by the board. She told him that the committee would support any increase but that faculty still look to a full benefit and that the committee will continue work to achieve this. One sub-committee is working on other ideas on waivers. A summary of activities and the status of proposals is on file in the senate office.

Health insurance coverage will be rebid for 1999. Faculty should take a keen interest in this process. Proposals will be sent out to manage our insurance; remaining self-insured. Any change in this would come before the employees; none are being considered. It is unlikely that dental plans will be added due to high costs; if offered, employees would pay entire premium.

Residential Colleges--Senator Horwood, residential college head, reported that "Great Beginnings" again helped a great number of students. He encouraged faculty to contact the colleges for information on homecoming activities. Faculty and staff are eligible to play in soccer and softball leagues. The colleges are advancing towards faculty teaching some classes in the halls. Trips are being planned to Nashville in September and October to see shows and plays. The cost will be around $40.00 and faculty are welcome to attend. They continue to recruit coaches and players for debate and other clubs. Dr. Horwood anticipates things happening in the colleges that didn't last year.

Academic Council--President Landini announced that she would ask for reports from Academic Council. The senate has six representatives on the council and three are chairs of committees: Marlene Campbell, chair, undergraduate studies; Oliver Muscio, chair, graduate studies; and Ron Gulotta, chair, library and academic support. The Faculty Senate can make recommendations directly to the Academic Council. Senator Gulotta welcomes any input.

Executive--President Landini told the senate that she and the executive committee are here to work for the faculty. She would like to see the committees becoming more active and encourages faculty to attend board meetings. VP Denton also called her for input to the increased tuition waiver transfer hours. She too told him that the Faculty Senate is on record wanting a full benefit. In late July, Buddy Buckingham, state liaison, forwarded a state tuition waiver policy to her. It is a temporary policy allowing state employees to take courses at any university in the state. A final policy will be approved during the 1997-98 year. This policy was pushed by community college faculty during the special session in June. She told VP Denton that this does not replace our policy; it doesn't allow for transfer of benefits to dependents or spouses. The Faculty Senate will remain diligent to increase our policy no matter what happens with the state policy.

Jay White will be proxy for Senator At-large Guin during the fall semester. Dr. Guin is teaching in Germany. President Landini also announced the resignation of Senator At-large Carstens. With the endorsement of the executive committee, she has appointed Steve Horwood to this vacancy. He will continue to report on residential colleges to the senate.

President Landini asked senators to get questionnaires back to Donna. Data will be compiled and sent to committee chairs early so that the senate can explore concerns.

President Landini and Vice President Call met with Dr. Alexander after the executive committee meeting. This allowed them to bring up concerns from the meeting and the board retreat. They discussed reevaluation of missions in light of the higher ed reform act. Based on the reform, a portion of funding for all universities will be based on performance excellence; programs of distinction. The Governor will be asking for reviews and self-studies. They discussed health insurance coverage. The BCBS contract will expire in January. Murray has asked for an additional one year extension while the university investigates different options. UK offers 10 cafeteria plans while U of L offers five. Changes to the self-insured program to include variations will be studied. The Faculty & Staff Insurance and Benefits Committee (FSIB) will be very active in this process and faculty input will be sought. Ms. Gordon, Assistant Vice President for Human Resources, will investigate possibilities with different groups across campus.

Concerns still exist in the amount of appropriations from the state allotted for salaries at MSU. Eastern and Morehead receive more.

The Faculty Senate has a home site (http://mursuky.edu/qacd/facsenate/index.htm). May 1997 minutes are posted and will be replaced with current minutes after they have been approved. The page will be linked with the MSU site when the design is finalized. The university community will be apprised of this when complete. The site now and will continue to offer e-mail access to senators and will also contain committee rosters and reports. This will be a better way to communicate with faculty across campus. Please check out this site as it continues to be developed and updated.

President Landini hopes that the senate will continue to be proactive and more active within committees. She told the senate that the executive report will be just that; not support or condemnation of the administration and that she will give her opinion as a departmental senator or as an independent faculty member when asked. She asked faculty to feel free to call or e-mail any member of the executive committee in sharing governance.

Old business--Senator Tillson reported on the ad hoc committee assigned to study the number of mid-semester reports required of faculty. The committee has reduced the number of times during the semester that these are required from three to two. They are developing a uniform form that can be used by athletics, first year experience, and minority affairs. Lori Dial, records manager, says this will allow different departments access.

Senator Maxwell expressed a concern that the College of Business & Public Affairs had no representation on a committee studying summer pay. He says that the proposed policy will adversely affect retirement benefits of BPA faculty. He would like to see the Faculty Senate state a position on this. President Landini will assign this to the finance committee.

New business--Charles Maxwell, Ron Gulotta, Mark Wattier, and Betty Powell were nominated for three at-large positions on the executive committee. Senators Powell (21), Gulotta (20), and Maxwell (20) were elected. Dr. Wattier received 13 votes but will serve on the executive committee as elected chair of the governmental affairs committee. Sally DuFord will serve as chair of the academic policies committee and Dewayne Driskill, handbook & personnel. [Since the meeting, Dr. Jay White and Dr. Chuck Hulick have agreed to co-chair the finance committee during the fall semester]

The meeting adjourned at 5 p.m.