April 2000 Minutes

Minutes
TCU Faculty Senate
6 April 2000

Members present: Sheila Allen, Chuck Becker, Clayton Brown, George Brown, Art Busbey, Carolyn Cagle, Ernie Couch, Nowell Donovan, Bruce Elleman, Andy Fort, Sally Fortenberry, Gregg Franzwa, David Grant, David Jenkins, Pat Kinkade, Ed Kolesar, George Low, Nancy Meadows, Linda Moore, Alison Moreland, Ellen Page-Garrison, Roger Pfaffenberger, Sherrie Reynolds, Dick Rinewalt, Mike Sacken, Ron Watson, and Melissa Young.

Members absent: Joe Bobich, Pat Bradley, Lynn Flahive, Nadia Lahutsky, Don Nichols, Pat Paulus, Bill Ryan, Gloria Solomon, Greg Stephens, Carol Stephenson, and Peggy Watson.

The 6 April meeting of the TCU Faculty Senate was called to order by Chair Roger Pfaffenberger at 3:35 p.m. in the Sid Richardson Board Room.

Chair Pfaffenberger introduced the new Vice Chancellor for Finance, Carol Campbell, and presented her with a small gift in token of the Senate‘s appreciation of the many hours of work she did in getting the University‘s financial information ready for the Board meeting last week.

Senator Busbey moved that the minutes of the 2 March 2000 meeting be approved as distributed. The motion carried.

New Business

Report from Faculty Governance Committee. Clayton Brown presented the report from the Faculty Governance Committee. (A copy of that report is attached as Attachment A.) Three recommendations from that report were brought to the floor for Senate action:

1. The Senate Student Relations Committee incorporate as part of its standing charge a meeting each semester with the Vice-Chancellor for Student Affairs. At the end of each semester the Committee shall report to the Senate regarding its activities.

2. The Senate Governance Committee recommends the creation of additional Faculty Senate Committees to meet with the following Vice-Chancellors: Administrative Services and University Advancement.

A. Each committee shall have three faculty members. The Senate Executive Committee shall appoint a Senate member as the chair. The other two members are not required to be Senators.

B. These committees shall be included in the list of committees to which the Committee on Committees makes assignments.

C. Duties and concerns of committees:

1. identify issues and concerns of greater TCU faculty appropriate for that committee

2. forward these issues to the University Deans and Senate Chair for comment

3. the committees shall then meet once each fall/spring semester with the appropriate Vice-Chancellor

4. at the end of each semester each committee shall report to the Senate regarding its meeting with the Vice-Chancellor

D. Each committee shall serve in an advisory capacity.

3. The Faculty Senate pass a resolution supporting the current relationship between the Faculty Senate and Board of Trustees and state its expectation that contact will continue at the present level.

Recommendation #1 was moved by Senator Reynolds and was adopted.

Recommendation #2 was discussed. Senator Moore raised the issue that Larry Lauer has now been appointed as a Vice Chancellor and asked if a committee also should be formed to work with him. Senator Fort wondered whether the mechanics of so many small committees would be difficult, and Senator Reynolds expressed concern that these committees would take people away from other senate committees. Reynolds suggested that there be only one committee to meet with all the vice chancellors. Senator Franzwa suggested that this would be good in that the same faculty would get to hear from all the vice chancellors. Senator Reynolds moved to table the second recommendation and ask the Faculty Governance Committee to bring to our next meeting a modified recommendation for a single committee to meet with the vice-chancellors. The motion carried.

Recommendation #3 was discussed. Senator Kolesar asked if the Executive Committee thought that there was enough interaction between faculty and the Board. Chair Pfaffenberger indicated that at this time he thought so. Senator Fort raised a concern that, though the Executive Committee of the Senate met with the Academic Affairs Committee of the Board, there was no mechanism for faculty to get feedback from the deliberative sessions of the Board. He suggested that the recommendation formalize a post-Board meeting report to the Executive Committee. Senator Reynolds moved to table this recommendation and let the Executive Committee work on rewording to include a formal post-Board meeting report from the Academic Affairs Committee to the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate. The motion to table was adopted.

Report from the Tenure, Promotion, and Grievance Committee. Senator Fortenberry gave the report of the Tenure, Promotion, and Grievance Committee, highlighting the survey of department chairs made in fall 1999 (see Attachment B). The committee brought before the Senate the following recommendations.

1. The University should provide the opportunity for all department chairs to receive assistance and support in order to be successful. This would include, but is not limited to, the following:

a. initial orientation about job expectations;

b. periodic training in the application of policies and procedures about legal issues, financial planning, personnel management/evaluation, and grievance problems;

and,

c. necessary financial resources to obtain training not provided on the TCU campus.

2. A departmental handbook should be prepared by the Dean‘s office within each college outlining the responsibilities of the chairs within that college. The Dean’s office should update it annually with input from the chairs.

3. Paperwork for department chairs should be kept to a minimum. Department chairs and Deans should meet on an annual basis with a re-engineering consultant, to review the administrative processes and systems of the institution with the goal of eliminating inefficiencies. According to the survey respondents, an average of 20 to 25 hours each week are devoted to department related work compared to the 5 hours that are posted on their monthly pay stub. (See results of survey)

4. Department chairs‘ stipend should be raised to $6,000 and then it should be increased by the percent that is set aside for merit pay. (See results of survey)

5. Department chairs should be provided the following benefits in order to reward and assist them in fulfilling their responsibilities more efficiently:

a. an administrative assistant assigned exclusively to the chair;

b. a paid, reserved parking space;

c. a research and/or teaching assistant; and

d. a mentor program.

Chancellor Ferrari asked about the resources required in that he estimated the cost of implementing these recommendations at roughly $1,000,000.

Provost Koehler indicated a willingness to provide more training if chairs will take advantage of it. He will send chairs to the annual ACE training for new chairs. Chair Pfaffenberger suggested that we ought to do this training on campus. Senator Fort expressed a concern that we take seriously the budgetary implications of these recommendations and moved that the Senate ask the administration to entertain considerations of these recommendations. Senator Fort‘s motion passed.

Senator Fortenberry indicated that also the committee had looked into the process of student evaluations of teaching. They discovered that Mike Sacken had chaired a committee last year about the evaluation process and the TP&G committee would like to endorse that report made last year. Senator Becker moved that a report be made to the Senate about progress being made on those January 1999 recommendations.

Senator Fortenberry also reported that the committee endorsed the suggestion from Senator Franzwa that teaching be included in the TCU Vita format. No motion was made but senators are encouraged to get feedback on this suggestion to Senator Franzwa.

Executive Committee Report. The Executive Committee brought the following motion to the floor:

That (1) the Staff Assembly Committee on Committees elect for a five-year term the co-chair of the Retirement, Insurance and Benefits Committee with the current faculty Co-Chair; and (2) the Chair of the Staff Assembly Policy Review Committee also be added as a member of the RIB Committee.

Chair Pfaffenberger indicated that this was recommended by the Staff Assembly as a modification of a motion we passed on 7 October. Senator Jenkins moved approval of the motion and it was adopted.

Chair Pfaffenberger introduced Assistant Vice Chancellor Susan Adams who brought to the Senate a draft of a revised Sexual Harassment Policy (See Attachment C). She asked senators to send her any comments or suggestions they might have.

Chair Pfaffenberger announced the topic for the Faculty Assembly would be AThe Centrality of Academic Excellence in Achieving Excellence as a University.@ The Executive Committee will get back to the senators with details.

Report from the Chancellor. Chair Pfaffenberger introduced Chancellor Ferrari who made a report on the recent Board of Trustees meeting.. The focus of this meeting was the expense budget for 2000-2001. The Board projected a 7% increase in net revenue.

Strengthening of academic programs was the first and most critical priority. There was a special initiative with the school of business. A large allocation was given this time to Business. This won‘t be the case every year, but it was the case this year. Library acquisitions and academic support were also increased. Academics were essentially the only units getting operating adjustments this year. Monies were also committed in the area of non-exempt support, moving starting salaries up to $7.25 an hour. A 4% increase was made to the salary pool allocated for faculty and exempt staff merit increases. Almost 1/3 of new monies went into compensation issues. There was a 16% increase in financial aid allocations. which is basically a pass through, given tuition increases. About 4% of the new monies went into marketing initiatives to make ourselves more visible. Five per cent of the new dollars is allocated to athletics and student services. About 20% of the new dollars went into debt service. So roughly 3/4 of the new money went into academics programs, compensation, and debt service. The Chancellor announced that the Board also approved the building of the Tucker Center as well as design studies for the Student Center and Recreation Center. The Academic Affairs Committee toured campus and improvements in instructional spaces will be a major thrust in the future. The Commissions on the Future are progressing. He wants to appoint a small working group of faculty and students to look at the reports from the various commissions before they go before the Board. Then the Board will work mainly on funding issues. There will be a new school for children with Down‘s Syndrome established in conjunction with Starpoint. He also announced that the Board approved Senate recommendations for honorary degrees. We are about to host a major conference on inclusiveness starting tomorrow. He announced that Sandy Ware is stepping down as Dean of Admissions. The Provost is initiating a national search. He also announced that Professor Linda Hughes is the new Chief Marshal of the University and will serve a three-year appointment beginning after the May commencement.

Announcements: 1. Chair Pfaffenberger asked that senators get feedback to him concerning the new examination schedule being proposed by the SGA.. 2. Pfaffenberger announced that Sheila Allen will fill out the remaining term of Peggy Bennett, who has resigned from the Senate.

Senator Reynolds moved that the Senate go into Executive Session to discuss nominees for honorary degrees. The motion passed.

Chair Pfaffenberger adjourned the meeting at 5:18 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

C. David Grant

Secretary