FM+-+September+23,+2009

Present: N. Burnett, R. Koegle, D. Martin, L. Martin, L. Chase, J. Zhang, V. Kidd, J. Stark, C. Stitt, M. Dugan, D. Zuckerman, E. Gale, M. Ludwig, B. LaVally, M. Foss-Snowden, G. Smith, M. Williams, J. Williams, K. Ah Yun, X. Xie, J. Parente, R. Humphrey, J. Mason (Dean) Confirmation of COMS Department class evaluation policy—required by HR - Due to a grievance at another campus we have been asked by HR to take a vote on whether or not to change our evaluation policy. - The whole motioned and seconded to maintain our current evaluation system - Kimo points out that our policy needs to be updated, some of the stuff in the manual doesn’t reflect our newest changes.

4:30 time certain—Dean Jeffery Mason- - Here in the meeting to talk about the Spring semester and the types of cuts we will be facing. - Asking chairs about not taking what we have and chipping away at it, what needs to happen is a reconfiguration based on the resources we anticipate having - The Dean has been going around to faculty meetings to pose the question if you had to start over and create a college based on the reduced resources we will have in the spring what changes would you make to the curriculum. - He’s been advise by the provost that there will be a reduction next year that will be the same as this year. - We should plan for the same types of cuts for the next two years. - We’ll have 1/3rd of the teaching capacity (how many classes we can offer) than we had a couple of years ago. - The college of Arts and Letters is facing a 4.1% cut, and we’re taking almost all of that hit in spring 2010, since we’ve already got fall off and rolling. o Don’t know what the cuts mean in terms of hiring yet. o Things we can try to cut include reducing OE—which are operating expenses or supplies and services. o Faculty development is already small, so there isn’t much to reduce there. o Bottom line is will this even get us more part timers? - Curricular change- a blank slate based on what we can do with the number of faculty we already have. We can consider: o Changing the curriculum to be less specialized, or have few requirements o We __will__ have less resources in the next couple of years, which means less faculty and classes. o Unless we (as a faculty) fix this problem, the Dean is afraid someone else will step in and make the changes to our curriculum for us. Someone who likely knows little about communications. - The provost has said if we’re going to reduce FTE’s by 2000-3000 that’s 1 in 8, that he wants to plan it rather than let it happen. We need to manage our FTE’s so that we push them into concentrations we want to grow/maintain, and which we would like to reduce, possibly eliminate. o Are there ways that we would prefer to reduce concentrations to promote or focus on others?

Q & A with Dean Mason (summarized) - Dave Martin- We’ve already done more by podcasting and we’ve increased caps, it seems as though we’re already getting hit hard, when we do more than most of the departments. - Dean Mason- There has never been as cut since he started, and every department has been trying to help with the situation. If we think that the 4’s and 5’s are no longer beneficial for us to teach we can take it up with the university and stop teaching them. - David Zuckerman- Caps have gone up significantly and we want to remind the college & university that we have made tremendous efforts at the costs of the students. Further costs will kill pedagogy. - Dean Mason- We don’t have the resources to maintain the pedagogy - Mark Williams- o I don’t see the value in redesigning since we’re tied into GE and other departments. o Rethinking from the college level, we will establish quality and efficiency will follow. How is what we’re being asked to do efficient? - Dean Mason- I am asking everyone to think about how we can adapt to this budget. The more thinking the faculty do the better, higher administration doing the thinking for us would be bad. - Ray Koegle- COMS has done a lot, while it seems as though smaller departments have done very little, can we look at college governance so that we may possibly have more of a voice, when making decisions at the college level? - Dean Mason- having more representation would not make a difference, we rarely take a vote on issues, we try to work with a consensus rather than a majority vote. Also all types of classes get categorized (i.e. studio, or lecture) these categories are allocated the same way. - John Williams- are you being asked to reconfigure Arts and Letters as a college the same way you are asking the departments to do? - Dean Mason- No, because you don’t want me to have to make your decisions for you on how we would work on curriculum.

Comments (after dean has left) - Dean mason is more autocratic than any other dean that has preceded. - Kimo believes that regardless of what the dean says, we actually should look at the department curriculum to find out if we should reduce classes and prioritize. We need to put in order the things that we value as a department and build a curriculum around those values. o How does this idea affect video and journalism? - J Williams points out that part of the reason we have so many classes is program reviews have suggested we add more required options. - We should create a list of 3-4 agreed on priorities and try to look at the curriculum - L. Martin is disappointed about how much Dean Mason wants us to meet the budget rather than create a model of student, and work with that model to create a program that builds a person. - J. Stark suggested to create a committee which finds out what it would take to make these kinds of curriculum changes, because it’s going to be an in depth process. - D. Zuckerman- believes that for too long we’ve reacted and we need to be more proactive. What do we want to do, how do we want the department to look in the future. - M. Williams we should start at the end of the curriculum and work backwards. We need a clear vision about what we want at the end. Methods will come after the vision is clear. But we need to have the autonomy to do it, otherwise the effort becomes futile. - Joe Sheley is not going to pit accredited against non accredited. Costs of educating a student design, music, art, theater are far more expensive than others. - J. Williams - We should create a committee to work on the issues covered. o Should be a committee consisting of people representing each concentration. o Some junior and senior faculty should be represented o This committee will either be meeting on wed during faculty meeting slots on weeks in between faculty meetings, or on Mondays at the same time. o If interested in being on the committee, email Nick Burnett. We’re looking for between 5-8 people. - N. Burnett- Don’t expect to hire, this will force us to restructure how much are we willing to teach in the curriculum?

Handout Evaluation Re-Affirmation September 23, 2009

Human Resources has asked that each department re-affirm their policy for requiring student evaluations of their faculty. As you know, departments may set requirements that differ from the MOU in requiring more than the minimum number of class evaluations. This department has for many years had a policy that requires all untenured and all part time faculty to evaluate all courses they teach. The policy requires tenured faculty to evaluate at least two classes per year.

For full time faculty, the policy reads as follows:

Standardized written student evaluation questionnaires are required for all untenured candidates annually in all courses excluding RCE-sponsored courses. Tenured candidates are required to collect student evaluation questionnaires in a minimum of two courses per academic year excluding RCE-sponsored courses.

For part-time faculty, the policy reads as follows:

B. Student Evaluations

Standardized written student evaluation questionnaires are required for all current candidates annually in all courses. The committee is responsible for the administration of evaluation questionnaires, for insuring that the distribution and collection of questionnaires maintain student anonymity. Summaries of the results of the questionnaires shall be placed in the files of the faculty. The results of the student evaluations shall be given to the instructor and department chair after grades have been assigned.

Faculty Meeting Agenda Wednesday, September 23, 2009 4:20 pm MND 4000

Academic Affairs Graduate PTFEC FEC Curriculum Faculty Senators Assessment Human Subjects Hiring Faculty Development
 * Announcements by Committee **


 * Announcements by Individual Faculty Members **

** Chair Announcements **

** Items for Today ** 4:30 time certain—Dean Jeffrey Mason Confirmation of ComS Department class evaluation policy—required by HR Rethinking our curriculum to reflect budget realities