October 2008

FACULTY REPRESENTATIVE ASSEMBLY MEETING
October 10, 2008

Attendance: Jackie Berning, Pamela Shockley-Zalabak, Andrew Czaplewski, Pam Carter, Michele Companion, Josh Dunn, Kelli Klebe, Bob Durham, Morgan Shepherd, John Harner, Andrew Ketsdever, Charlie Shub, Sue Byerley, Travis Peterson, Andrea Hutchens, Sylvia Martinez, Jenenne Nelson, Ron Fitz, Eddie Portillos, Suzanne Cook, Sonja Tanner

Call to Order / Approval of Minutes:

Motion to approve the minutes from September 12, 2008 meeting by Kelli Klebe
Seconded by Bob Durham
Motion passed unanimously

Reports of Visitors:

Pam Shockley-Zalabak:
A basic update of the financial situation was given off the record.  It was noted that budgeting was done more conservatively this year and that the current situation is much better than it was in 2002.

Officer Reports:

President’s Report
No report

Vice-President’s Report
No report

Past President’s Report
No report

Reports from Standing Committees:

All committee reports were suspended for this session.

OLD BUSINESS

Old business was postponed until the November session.

NEW BUSINESS

An open discussion of the Reappointment, Promotion and Tenure Task Force report took place off the record. After a lengthy discussion and agreement to change some of the wording, the motion was put to a vote. Text changes are highlighted in red.

MOTION:

Faculty Assembly moves to recommend that the following motion concerning the Reappointment, Promotion and Tenure Task Force Report be sent to the tenured and tenure-track faculty for a confidential (added) vote:

“The tenured and tenure-track faculty recommend that the Report from the Reappointment, Promotion and Tenure Task Force Committee be adopted in full and that the Provost and Faculty Representative Assembly develop procedures and policies so that the RPT Task Force recommendations are implemented.

Approval of this motion implies that:

• Research may (was will) be broadly defined as scholarship and includes the following five areas: Discovery, Integration, Application, Teaching & Learning and Creative Works.
• Areas of evaluation for tenured and tenure-track faculty may (was will) be changed from Research, Teaching and Service to Scholarship, Professional Teaching, Professional Practice and Service.
• Each tenured and tenure-track faculty member may (was will) have a Faculty Responsibility Statement that delineates the percentage of time that will be spent in each area.
• Each primary unit will be able to decide which areas of scholarship are relevant to their mission/role/criteria.
• Each primary unit decides on whether professional practice will be included as one of the evaluation areas.
• Although it is expected that all tenure and tenure-track faculty should have scholarship, teaching, and service as part of their work load, each primary unit decides on the standards of evaluation and any minimum and maximum workload percentages that can be assigned to each area.

Prior to implementing this new evaluation system the following tasks will need to be completed.

• Approval by the Regents
• Development of policies and procedures
• Revision of primary unit criteria to reflect new scholarship definitions

A simple majority of votes by tenured and tenure-track faculty will be needed for approval of the motion.”

The motion passed unanimously.

Adjournment:

Motion to adjourn the Faculty Assembly Meeting
Motion passed unanimously
Meeting adjourned at 2:05 p.m.