February 24, 2009
OFFICERS: John Palmer, Mark Jaede, Judy Kilborn, Michael Connaughton, Michael Tripp
IFO BOARD: David Warne, Debra Leigh
NEGOTIATOR: Michael Connaughton
BUSINESS: (Unit Representative) Bill Hudson; (ACCT) vacant; (BCIS) Susantha Herath, Ray Tsai; (FIRE) Li Zhang; (MGMT) Larry Roth, vacant; (MKGB) Rajesh Gulati, James C. Johnson
EDUCATION: (Unit Representative) Frances Kayona; (CFS) Fati Zarghami; (CEEP) Trae Downing, Michael Mills; (HPERSS) Hector Antunez, Caryl Martin; (HURL) vacant; (ELCP) John Rapp, Chaturi Edrishinha; (IM) Fred Hill; (SPED) vacant, Janet Salk (TDEV) vacant, Steve Hornstein, vacant
FINE ARTS & HUMANITIES: (Unit Representative) vacant; (ART) Nancy Levy, Kathryn Gainey; (CDSI) Cindy Lofton; (CMST) Traci Anderson, Eddah Mutuo-Kombo, Jen Tuder; (ENGL) Judith Dorn, Kevin Moberly, vacant, Carol Mohrbacher; (FORL) Maria Melgarejo, Luz Triana-Echeverria; (COMM) vacant, vacant; (MUSIC) Al Moore, vacant; (PHIL) Paul Neiman, Andy Platt; (THFD) Jeffrey Bleam
SCIENCE & ENGINEERING: (Unit Representative) Balsy Kasi; (AVIA) Steve Anderson; (BIOL) vacant, vacant, Matt Julius; (CHEM) Mahin Sadrai, Lakshmaiah Sreerama; (CSCI) Andrew Anda, Donald Hamnes; (EAS) Bob Weisman; (EE) Sura Lekhakul, Mahbub Hossain; (ETS) Tony Akubue; (ME) Steve Covey; (MATH) Ravi Kalia, Janis Cimperman, Carol Theisen; (NURS) Patty Bresser; (PHYS) John Liu; (STAT) Leonard Onyiah
SOCIAL SCIENCES: (Unit Representative) Robert Johnson; (CMTY) Rona Karasik; (CJS) Mario Hesse, Mary Clifford; (ECON) King Banaian, David Switzer; (ES) Jeanne Lacourt; (GEOG) HungChin Yu; (HIST) Jeff Mullins, Maureen O’Brien; (POL) Morgan Nyendu; (PSYC) Chris Jazwinski, Jody Illies; (SW) Sandra Chesborough; Cathy Stilwill (SAN) Tracy Ore, Robert Lavenda; (WS) Elizabeth Berila
SPECIAL SERVICES: (Unit Representative) JoAnn Gasparino; (Academic Support) Geoffrey Tabakin; (COUN) Steve Jenkins; (LR&TS) Chris Inkster, Sandra Q. Williams, Tom Hergert; (MEN’S ATHL) vacant; (WOMEN’S ATHL) vacant
GUESTS: Jim Sherohmann, Les Green, Lisa Heinrich, Elaine Davis, Kurt Stelten
1. Call to order at 3:15 p.m.
2. Approval/Filing of Minutes
Motion to approve Professional Development Committee minutes of February 16, 2009—(Inkster/Williams). Passed
Motion to approve Faculty Research Grants Committee minutes of February 10, 2009, as amended—(Lacourt/seconded). Passed
Motion to amend by approving when the FA EC receives a list of what all the grants are for—(Roth/Kilborn). Passed
Motion to approve International Studies Committee minutes of February 18, 2009, plus Proposal for Pilot Program in Alnwick, England Summary—(Lavenda/Williams). Passed
Motion to approve completed and uncompleted proposals of February 20, 2009—(Hill/seconded). Passed
3. Treasurer’s Report (FS022409 3.a.1)—approved in EC.
4. Consent Agenda—none.
5. Special Elections—none.
6. Call for New Agenda Items—none.
7. Announcements
a. Local Meet and Confer
1. Departmental and College practices with regard to course scheduling, room assignment, and class size—not discussed.
b. Negotiations Report—not discussed.
8. Unfinished Business
a. Pictures on Class Lists (FS 040108 9.g.)—sent to Student Government.
b. Email as a means of communication (FS120908 10.a.1)—referred to TPR.
c. Electronic Voting (FS112508 9.d.1) (Dorn)—Motion referred to IFO.
d. Student Academic Code of Conduct—referred to Academic Affairs Policy Working Group.
e. Sabbatical Leave Grievance—not discussed.
f. Architecture at SCSU (Dorn 02/10/09)—not discussed.
Motion (Dorn): That architects and designers for all future SCSU buildings be instructed to not attempt to imitate existing buildings on campus but rather to design buildings that have architectural integrity in their own right.
Rationale:
Aspects of the exterior design of the Miller Center designed to tie together other architectural elements on campus were not as successful as those designed in their own right.
For example, the original entrance lighting for the Miller Center was designed to copy the shiny chrome work of art in the center of campus, with such compromising results that the shiny covers were replaced by the current dumpster-like gray.
In addition, the building’s exterior appears to yoke the yellow brick of ECC with orange from other buildings on campus, with color-clashing results.
While the architecture at SCSU lacks unity, it is a mistake to copy or blend in with an assortment of colors where no single design standard has so far proven satisfactory for all purposes.
9. New Business
a. Contract Ratification (Pat Arsenault) 3:30 time definite—Pat Arsenault gave the faculty information on why the union went this route of contract negotiations. There was a question and answer session. Issues of partner benefits, salaries of Administrators, workload issues were discussed.
b. D2L (Dorn)—not discussed.
Motion
that SCSU representatives to MnSCU discussions on switching from D2L to another
instructional software be cautioned:
* Since the cost at stake isn’t the total price of D2L but the difference in
price between D2L and new software to subtract “opportunity costs”, a common
business accounting principle, from the price difference.
Explanation: Enormous investments of faculty and staff hours have been made
into D2L thus far, from extensive de-bugging labor to the process of teaching
and learning how to operate D2L. These costs would likely be repeated with any
transition to new software, taking away faculty and staff time and ability to
conduct research, creative activities, and professional development, to teach
and advise their classes of students, and to serve people in other ways. Even
doing serious research into new software is a time investment. The process of
launching new software appears to be so labor-intensive, furthermore, that it
should be considered taking extraordinary measures. Faculty should not be asked
to take on these responsibilities all over again, so soon after the lengthy
process of debugging D2L.
* To consult with LR&TS faculty and staff regarding the viability of
alternatives.
* To consider that problems with D2L at the beginning of the present year
resulted from the MnSCU mandate of a common start date, which overloaded the
system.
* To consider that faculty seeking alternatives currently can make use of
existing “freeware.”
c. Conforming with MN Transfer Curriculum fall 2009 (FS022409 9.c.1, FS022409 9.c.2)—Palmer gave background on this information. Jaede spoke to the item since he attended the meeting.
Motion to delete the first two paragraphs of the document 9.c.2 in the catalog—(Kilborn/Tripp). Passed
Motion to accept the 2nd two paragraphs of the document with “all”—(King/Kasi).
Motion to amend by inserting the word “all.” Passed
Motion to divide document into three sentences. Roth/seconded. Passed
Amend by deleting “it” and adding “General Education Committee—Lacourt/seconded. Failed
Motion to substitute first sentence—Lacourt/Kasi. Passed
Motion to amend—Jaede/Hergert. Passed
Motion to add “the FA recommends that”—Ore/Hill. Passed
To achieve compliance with MnSCU policy and procedure regarding its general education program, the Faculty Association recommends that SCSU will, through the regular curricular process, provisionally assign the current university general education courses to the goal areas of the MTC for implementation for Fall 2009. Passed
Motion to approve 2nd to last sentence without amendments. Passed
Motion to delete “the provisional assignments will be finalized and”—Jaede/seconded. Passed
Motion to add “the normal curriculum process”—Ore/seconded. Passed
Original Divided:
To achieve compliance with MnSCU policy and procedure regarding its general education program, Saint Cloud State University proposes that through the Meet and Confer process, will provisionally assign “all” the university’s general education courses to the goal areas of the MTC for implementation for Fall 2009.
The list of courses and their alignment with the MTC goal areas will be distributed to students so that all Saint Cloud State University general education courses will meet specified goal areas of the MTC.
During the 2009-2010 academic year, (delete: the provisional assignments will be finalized and) the university “the normal curriculum process” will adopt a single general education program that meets the requirements of the MTC, with courses assigned to each of the goal areas.
Final approved:
To achieve compliance with MnSCU policy and procedure regarding its general education program, the Faculty Association recommends that SCSU will, through the regular curricular process, provisionally assign the current university general education courses to the goal areas of the MTC for implementation for Fall 2009.
The list of courses and their alignment with the MTC goal areas will be distributed to students so that all Saint Cloud State University general education courses will meet specified goal areas of the MTC.
During the 2009-2010 academic year, the university the normal curriculum process will adopt a single general education program that meets the requirements of the MTC, with courses assigned to each of the goal areas.
10. Adjournment at 5:30 p.m.
Submitted by Polly Chappell, SCSU FA Administrative Assistant