Minutes
of
CHAIRS/DEANS’ MEETING
On
April 2, 2002
IN ATTENDANCE: Darlene Sellers, Janice
Brady, Will Rawn, Trish Goudie
(by telephone hook-up from Miles City, Montana), Greg Kegel
and Roger Barber.
GUESTS: Melody Bentz.
The meeting was called to order at 9:02
a.m. in the Cowan Hall Conference Room.
The minutes of the March 19, 2002, meeting were approved without
any corrections or additions.
A Conversation with Melody Bentz.
Melody Bentz, the grants writer for MSU-Northern, met with the
chairs/deans to discuss the work of her office and her interest in
building closer ties with the academic programs on the campus.
Melody distributed several documents to the chairs/deans, and those
materials are attached to these minutes.
To emphasize her reason for coming to the
meeting, Melody focused on several of her individual goals which were
included in the materials she shared with the group.
Those goals include:
--to more effectively and
efficiently serve the campus community.
--to actively engage faculty and
staff in the pursuit of external
funding.
--to ensure projects/programs
meet the goals and objectives of the
the University and Departments, coincide with the University Master
Plan; do not overextend University personnel and/or resources; develop sustainability plan.
The conversation, which lasted about 25
minutes, resulted in the following suggestions:
**Melody will meet with the chairs/deans every month or two, to
discuss grant opportunities and to determine the sorts of projects
that might
be possible with grant dollars;
**those meetings could take
place at the regularly-scheduled
chair/dean session on Tuesday mornings; or it could be a separate,
special meeting dedicated just to the topic of grants.
The chairs/deansseemed to agree
that a special meeting, on a frequent basis, would work
better;
**the chairs/deans were somewhat
supportive of a Grants and Research
Council, which is outlined in MSU-Northern’s policy manual.
Darlene
suggested, for instance, that
that Council could serve as the
Institutional Review Board for
some grant and research activities. It
might also be an appropriate
group to evaluate grants from the
perspective of the Master Plan,
to insure that they mesh with MSU-Northern’s
goals and objectives;
**Will expressed some concern with a Council that does not have a
good representation of
administrators. Non-administrative
personnel
do not have the experience or the campus-wide experience to
evaluate
grant opportunities from a
resource perspective, he said. Roger
strongly agreed with Will, and
said that one of his biggest concerns with
grants is the commitment of
resources and the hidden costs that often
accompany grant awards.
It’s hard to bad-mouth grants, Roger said, but
they sometimes have a negative
impact on the campus, because of
“institutional match”
requirements, the need to sustain the program when
the grant money runs out, and
the drain on already-limited human
resources to administer the
grant. Those questions, and
others, need
to be evaluated before a grant
application is submitted, Roger argued,
and an administrative
perspective is important in doing that evaluation.
**Darlene suggested that the
faculty in each of the Colleges should
be polled to determine their
interests. That list could
then be shared
with Melody as another source of
communication and direction.
Melody thanked the chairs/deans for their
time, and said she would look forward
to working with them on grant opportunities.
She also urged the chairs/deans to give her any feedback on the new
MSU-Northern website for grants, and the other materials that Melody
distributed at the meeting. All of the chairs/deans commended Melody for her efforts in
working with the campus community, and said they welcome the opportunity
to meet with her on a regular basis about grant possibilities.
Recommendations on New Faculty Lines.
The chairs/deans have been discussing new faculty lines for at
least two (2) meetings. At
this meeting, the group members reviewed the entire list of 18 positions
and ranked the requests by priority.
Those rankings were as follows:
--Will said that he was prepared to suggest at least
three (3) new
faculty positions, based on the
information provided by the chairs/deans
at previous meetings.
Those positions, in order of importance, were:
the education line for tribal
colleges, the master’s prepared faculty
position to teach composition
and speech, and a business line to help
with the new technology
management degree program. Will
said that he
would like additional discussion
among the chairs/deans before he could
suggest a longer list.
--Trish said that
she attempted to rank all 18 positions, but the
list was long and she shared
Will’s concerns about the need for more
information before she could
make a knowledgeable recommendation.
She
said that she did feel
comfortable suggesting five (5) new positions, in
the following order: the
education line for tribal colleges, the business
line in technology management,
an additional FTE for the College of Arts
and Sciences, an additional FTE
for the College of Nursing, and an
additional faculty position in
diesel technology.
--Darlene said she
was prepared to suggest three (3) new faculty
lines, in the following order:
the education position for the tribal
colleges, the master’s
prepared faculty position in composition and
speech, and the technical
support position to assist faculty in
curriculum development and
instruction.
--Greg suggested four (4) new faculty positions, in
rank order:
the education position for
tribal colleges, the business position in
technology management, the
master’s prepared faculty position in
composition and speech, and the
diesel technology line.
--Roger, perhaps
foolishly, distributed his list of all 18 positions,
in priority order.
On Roger’s list, the top five (5) positions were: the
education line for tribal
colleges, a design drafting position, the
master’s prepared faculty
position in composition and speech, an
education position for cohort
groups, and another education line for the
Havre campus.
Roger’s complete list is attached to these minutes.
Because there was some consensus among the
group, Roger said that he was comfortable in making a recommendation to
Alex and Chuck about new faculty positions.
He said that he would do that as quickly as possible, and get back
to the chairs/deans with a decision.
An Update on the March Board of
Regents’ Meeting.
The March Board of Regents’ meeting was held on the MSU-Northern
campus approximately two (2) weeks ago.
Since this was the first meeting of the chairs/deans following the
Regents’ visit, Roger spent a little time telling the group about
decisions and discussions that are important to the campus.
That overview included the following items:
1)
Conrad Nystrom was granted professor emeritus status, to honor his
long career at MSU-Northern.
Con will be teaching his last classes,
under a post-retirement
contract, next fall.
2)
the Regents approved several student fee changes for the MSU-Northern
campus. The most significant
changes were: a 25% increase in
the computer fee, from $24 a
semester to $30 a semester; and a 17.24%
increase in the equipment fee,
from $34.80 a semester to $40.80 a
semester.
Those fees will be paid by students carrying 12 – 18 credits
a semester, Roger said; if a
student carries less than 12 credits, they
pay a proportion of the fees.
The fee for Great Falls students, to cover
the costs of that distant
campus, was reduced by 50% to $108 per semester
for all full-time students,
Roger noted. In addition, the
Board of
Regents approved several new
course, program and activity fees for the
MSU-Northern campus.
The chairs/deans were familiar with many of those
fees, since they helped Chuck
Jensen and the business office prepare the
request for the Board meeting.
Roger told the group that he would need
Darlene and Trish’s help in
preparing catalogue copy about the new fees,
since the Regents now require
campus publications to carry such
information.
3)
Roger also wanted the chairs/deans to know that the Board of
Regents approved a library fee
of $10/semester for the Montana State
University-Billings campus.
Richard Crofts, the commissioner of higher
education in Montana, spoke
against the fee, and his opposition was
seconded by George Dennison, the
president of the University of Montana
and the University of Montana
system. After considerable
debate, the
Board approved the fee by a vote
of 4 – 3, however, and several members
of the audience immediately
began to discuss the possibility of a library
fee for their institution.
The students at MSU-Northern have already
initiated discussions about a possible library fee at this campus,
earmarked to pay the cost of electronic databases.
The conversations
are just preliminary, however,
Roger said, and no decision has been made
yet about a library fee for
Northern.
4)
Roger also noted that, during the Regents’ discussion of library
fees, it was revealed that the
Great Falls College of Technology already
assesses such a fee.
In justifying the fee to the Board, Mary Moe, the
interim dean of the Great Falls
COT, said that the additional revenue
stream was necessary, in part,
to provide library services for Northern
students in Great Falls.
Cynthia Harrison, director of the library at
MSU-Northern, is interested in
working with the library director at the
Great Falls COT to determine how
that money is being used to assist
Northern students in Great
Falls.
5)
The academic officers also discussed the mathematics proficiency
requirement, briefly, at their
meeting during Regents’ week. The
statewide task force, working on
mathematics proficiency, had recommended
an exemption for the University
of Montana-Western and Montana State
University-Northern, when
students entered two-year programs at those
institutions.
That exemption was overruled by the Office of the
Commissioner of Higher Education
in February, however; and an admissions
proficiency in mathematics, at
least at this point, will be required of
all students entering all
programs at the four-year units of the Montana
University System.
Steve Hulbert, the chancellor, and Karl Ulrich, the
vice chancellor for academic
affairs at the University of Montana-Western,
have taken strong exception to the decision, and a memo setting
out their objections was
distributed to several people in the Montana
University System.
Joyce Scott, the deputy commissioner for academic
and student affairs in the
Commissioner’s Office, mentioned that memo as
part of the meeting agenda with
the MUS academic officers. Karl
Ulrich reiterated
some of his objections at the meeting, and Roger said that he
seconded. . .and elaborated on.
. .those concerns. Joyce
indicated that
she might consider a softening
of her original position, but no definite
decisions were made at the
meeting.
6)
As a follow-up to Trish’s query, Roger also confirmed that Joyce
Scott has recommended a
moratorium on new nursing programs in Montana. Transfer
between existing programs is chaos, and Joyce is frustrated by
the situation, Roger said.
She has asked the academic nursing community
to resolve those problems, Roger
said, but from Joyce’s perspective, very
little has been done.
As a consequence, Roger concluded, Joyce has made
the recommendation to limit new
nursing degrees. The Board of
Regents
did not take formal action on
the recommendation, Roger said, although it
was greeted with some opposition
because Montana Tech of the University of
Montana wants to begin a bachelor’s program in nursing.
The May Board of Regents’ Meeting.
Since the chairs/deans were discussing Board of Regent activities,
Roger shifted the focus to the May meeting in Dillon since MSU-Northern
will have several items on that agenda. Those items include:
a)
a preliminary plan for the writing proficiency exit
requirement at
MSU-Northern.
Joyce Scott has asked all of the campuses to prepare an
initial draft of their proposal for an exit writing assessment; the
due date
for that draft is April 26, Roger said.
The composition faculty at
MSU-Northern, with the support
of the College of Arts and Sciences,
proposed a possible process for
Northern’s campus earlier this year. That plan was
discussed by all of the Colleges on the campus, with
mixed reviews, Roger said, so
the chairs/deans have some work to do
before the April 26 deadline.
Roger said he would put the topic on the
chairs/deans’ agenda for the
next two (2) meetings.
b)
a preliminary plan, from the College of Education and Graduate
Studies, describing the
admissions process for teacher education
programs.
Earlier this spring, the Board of Education eliminated the
PPST examination as the
licensure test for teachers in the State of
Montana.
Since that PPST test was also used as the admissions
examination for every education
program in the Montana University
System, new assessments will
have to be developed. Darlene
and her
education colleagues have
already come up with a portfolio process,
Roger said; and he happily
shared their ideas with Joyce Scott at
the March Regents’ meeting.
Joyce was so impressed with the idea,
Roger said, that she asked
Darlene to share it with the other academic
officers in the Montana
University System. Darlene
did that this week.
c)
a Level I request to terminate the graphic design minor.
That
minor was eliminated by
MSU-Northern last year, Roger said, at the
recommendation of the faculty in
that program. The time has
come to
process the paperwork with the
Board of Regents, Roger said, so the
minor can be removed from
Northern’s degree inventory.
d)
the Shelby nursing proposal. Trish
said that that proposal should
go to the State Board of Nursing
sometime this month; and the necessary
documentation for Regent review
and approval should be ready for the May
meeting.
Approval of New Degree Programs.
Roger also reminded the chairs/deans that paperwork will have to be
prepared for the Board on Regents on any new academic programs at
MSU-Northern. Although the
process for review and approval of
academic programs is still being reworked in the Commissioner’s office,
Roger said the paper trail will probably go something like this:
--a memo or letter, summarizing
new academic offerings at MSU-Northern,
will be distributed to all of the MUS campuses in late
April or early May;
--formal and extensive
documentation will be submitted to the Board
of Regents in July;
--that paperwork will be
reviewed. . .and hopefully approved. . .by
the Board at the September and
possibly the November meeting.
At this point, Roger said, the new academic
programs at MSU-Northern are the associate of arts (transfer) degree and
the history minor. If the
technology management degree is approved by the faculty, that will also
have to go through the approval process.
The faculty in the College of Technical Sciences have also proposed
an extensive revision of the curriculum in the Industrial Technology
degree program, Roger said; and because the revision is extensive, it will
have to be reviewed by “higher authorities.”
That review can probably be accomplished as a so-called Level I,
Roger concluded, which is a one-meeting process.
Roger said he would work with the chairs/deans to help them prepare
the necessary documentation.
Termination Notices to Probationary
Faculty.
Roger asked the chairs/deans to give him their feedback on
probationary faculty. According
to section 6.2 of the faculty collective bargaining contract at
MSU-Northern, probationary faculty are entitled to notice of
non-reappointment. That
notice must be at least 12 months prior to the end of the academic year,
in the case of third, fourth, fifth or sixth year employees.
That deadline is about a month away, Roger
said, and the chairs/deans need to make a recommendation to Roger if they
think a probationary faculty member should be terminated. The group members said that they would get back to Roger with
their recommendations.
An Update on Faculty Changes.
The chairs/deans also discussed other “changes” that have
occurred in the faculty ranks. Those changes included the following:
--Duane Klarich has formally
announced his retirement from the
College of Arts and Sciences;
that retirement will take place at the
end of summer session in August.
--Randy Waln has apparently
accepted a teaching position in
Nebraska.
Randy sent an e-mail to Roger earlier this semester,
notifying him of that decision.
The e-mail was not a formal letter
of resignation, however, since
Randy was still waiting for a contract
from his new employer at the
time of the message. Several
weeks have
passed since that e-mail,
however, and Randy’s plans are public knowledge
throughout the campus.
The College of Arts and Sciences has also
initiated a search to replace
Randy. As a consequence,
Roger asked Will
to check with Randy on a formal
letter of resignation.
--Mickey Kolis has apparently
accepted a job in Wisconsin. Again,
Mickey has not formally resigned
his position in the College of Education
and Graduate Studies, Roger
said, but his decision to leave Northern is
also public knowledge across the
campus. Darlene said that she
would ask
Mickey about some formal notice
of his status with the institution.
--Trish Goudie has been
recommended for reappointment as the chair/dean
of the College of Nursing. Her
colleagues in nursing unanimously
supported Trish for the
position; and Alex and Roger were happy to act
on the recommendation.
An appointment letter has been sent to Trish; and
her signature on that letter is
all that is needed to make the
appointment official for three
(3) more years. The
chairs/deans
congratulated Trish on her
appointment, and welcomed her as a continuing
member of the chair/dean group.
Professional Development Money for
Faculty.
Will asked the chairs/deans to discuss professional development
money as part of the budget submissions process.
Chuck Jensen, the vice chancellor for finance and student affairs,
has asked each of the departments on campus to prepare budget requests for
next year. Those requests were due in late March.
Will suggested that the chairs/deans should
ask for a separate, individual budget for professional development.
He made that suggestion to emphasize the importance of such
activities for faculty, and to insure that the institution is committed to
the professional growth and enrichment of its employees.
The new Master Plan emphasizes the need for such a commitment, Will
said, and a separate budget line would dramatize its importance.
Trish asked why a separate budget line was
necessary, when professional development money could be folded into an
overall operating budget. Will
and Darlene suggested the following reasons:
**a separate budget line for
professional development is a strong
institutional statement about
its importance; as Will said,
“rhetoric
is important” with this issue;
and
**a
separate budget line would help to track expenditures, for both
planning and accreditation
purposes.
The chairs/deans agreed that $500/faculty
member is a good target amount for faculty development.
While the dollar amount is still not adequate, they said, it is
reasonable for an institution the size of MSU-Northern.
Everyone agreed that they would request that amount in their
individual College budgets to demonstrate a united front on this issue.
Some Follow-Up Items.
Roger asked the group to fill him in on a couple of “loose
ends”:
--the decision to list methods
courses with both an EDUC prefix and
a discipline-specific prefix is
still unresolved. Darlene, Will and
Greg said they were all working
on it, and would have the situation
wrapped up this semester.
The College of Arts and Sciences and the
College of Technical Sciences
will apparently deal with the issue this
week at college-wide meetings.
--Cameron Worstell’s emeritus
status is on-track. According
to Greg,
materials have been gathered on Cameron’s career at MSU-Northern
and the faculty in the College
of Technical Sciences have recommended
Cam for the honor.
Those materials need to be forwarded to Roger for
his review and recommendation.
Greg said that he would do that.
--Roger reminded the group that
the Student Awards Convocation is
scheduled for Wednesday, April
17, from 10 a.m. to 12 noon. He
asked the
chairs/deans if they wanted to continue the practice of assisting
with the awards; or go back to
the old method of having Roger announce
the recipients.
Everyone agreed that they wanted to be part of the
ceremony, although both Will and
Darlene said that they would be off-campus
that day. They promised to
find worthy stand-ins to help with
the specific scholarships in
their Colleges, however.
Announcements. The chairs/deans shared the following information with the group:
--fund-raising is going well for the new Applied Technology Center,
according to Greg.
Several industry partners have expressed interest in
helping with the Center, Greg
said, and he will continue to make the
pitch whenever the opportunity
arises. Greg said he was
feeling
confident about the project; and
his contacts with industry have also
helped to define the details and
infrastructure of the building. Roger
told the group that Greg had
made a Power Point presentation on the ATC
building at the Board of
Regents’ community breakfast, which was well-received.
The Economic Development Administration was also on campus
last Friday to present a
$1,000,000 check to Northern for the building,
Roger said.
Greg also participated in that ceremony.
--the Sweetgrass Society will
host its annual powwow on MSU-Northern’s
campus this weekend, Darlene said. The
College of Education
and Graduate Studies will be
honored at the celebration, Darlene said,
because of its successful
elementary education collaboration with area
tribal colleges.
The College of Education is also hosting the Saturday
night meal at the powwow,
Darlene said, and she invited the chairs/deans
to help out as servers.
Both Roger and Trish said they would be happy
to assist.
--Greg reminded everyone that
the statewide VICA contest will be
held on MSU-Northern’s campus
next week. Northern has
hosted that
contest since its inception, and
Greg urged everyone to support the
contest in any way that they
could.
--Darlene announced that
MSU-Northern will also host the next
CSPAC meeting on April 10, 11
and 12. A public reception
will be held
on Thursday, April 11, from 5
– 6 p.m., and she asked the chairs/deans
to attend the gathering.
--Roger announced that the
Writing Proficiency Project in the
Commissioner’s office would be
conducting another round of workshops
to train composition faculty as
“scorers” for the proficiency essays
written by high school students.
Steve Hesske, a member of MSU-Northern’s
English faculty, attended a training session last year and
qualified as a “scorer.”
Roger asked Will if anyone else planned to
participate in this year’s
training. Will said he had
distributed the
announcement to the appropriate
faculty, but so far, no one had
volunteered to attend the
sessions. He said he would
follow up on the
announcement.
Future Agenda Items. Darlene asked the chairs/deans to discuss Great Falls and
Lewistown at a future meeting. She
is apparently quite concerned about the administrative structure, as it
relates to those two distant communities, and she would like to discuss
the situation with the group. Roger
said he would include the item on a future meeting agenda.
The meeting adjourned at 10:53 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Roger Barber
Roger's PRIORITY LIST of faculty positions.
. .
1)
education line for tribal colleges
2)
design drafting line
3)
master's level line in composition & speech
4)
education cohort line
5)
Havre education line
6)
diesel line
7)
education in Great Falls line
8) .5
FTE in nursing for Havre campus
9)
business line
10)
education in Great Falls line
11)
education cohort line
12) .5
FTE in nursing in Lewistown
13)
mathematics line
14)
LPN/BSN nursing line
15)
business line
16) .5
FTE for technology education
17)
earth science line
18)
foreign languages line
