Kansas State University

Highlights from the May 13 Faculty Senate meeting

Submitted by Faculty Senate

These are the highlights from the May 13 Faculty Senate meeting. Previous minutes are available on the Faculty Senate website as they are approved. 

Guests:

• Provost April Mason discussed her thoughts on the Prior Learning Assessment Guidelines draft that is being discussed in the Board of Regents at its meeting this month. 
• Mandi McKinley made a brief presentation to senators regarding the Guide to Personal Success program and encouraged faculty to participate as a mentor if at all possible. More information regarding the program can be found on its website.

Consent agenda:

• Course and curriculum changes as outlined in the consent agenda were approved.

Standing committee and Student Senate reports:

• Professional Staff Affairs, or PSA: Senator Danielle Brown presented a request for common language to be used in addressing those who are currently referred to as unclassified professionals. The committee's formal request is to remove the word "unclassified" and be identified as professional staff. Motion carried. This request was discussed with university administration, who gave their support. It also was noted that classified employees are no longer referred to as classified, but are university support staff.
• Student Senate: Senator Abby Works is the new speaker of the Student Senate. She reported that Student Senate is finished meeting for the year. Turnover took place on April 3. Reagan Kays and Cody Kennedy are the new Student Body President and Vice President. They are currently working on making committee appointments for the upcoming year.
• FSCOT: Senator Don Crawford presented the Annual Data access report, as submitted by the vice president of information technology services. The report was received by Faculty Senate. This is a yearly report provided to Senate for informational purposes. If you need further detail, contact Ken Stafford. Senator Crawford clarified that K-State Online is not going away, rather it and the Canvas pilot will run simultaneously. He reported that the Content Management System, or CMS, a web design program used by many on campus, will be upgraded at the end of this month. Training sessions are currently being offered by Communications and Marketing. Also, iSIS has new features, such as allowing advising notes. It was emphasized that any advising notes that are added to an advisee's file in iSIS will be visible to other iSIS users who look at that student's advising information.
• FSCOUP: Senator Barbara Anderson moved to approve the Resolution in commendation of Ben Champion, director of sustainability. Motion carried. Anderson reported on items discussed in FSCOUP: Sustainability theme report, city/university fund committee and budget update.
• Academic Affairs: Senator Andy Bennett presented three discussion items: A new minor in math, a new minor in art, and a new Master of Science in personal financial planning. All three items were approved. The Master of Science degree will be sent forward for approval by the Board of Regents before being offered on campus. Also, Bennett mentioned the committee will be discussing next year more guidelines for certificate programs. They are also meeting with the Honors Program director regarding possible upcoming changes, as well as the director of the Honor and Integrity System about changes to their constitution regarding having additional members on the Honor Council.
• Faculty Affairs: Senator Betsy Cauble presented revisions to Section F of the University Handbook for approval. These changes have been through numerous reviews. Motion carried. She also presented changes to the University Handbook, Appendix G for approval. She gave the background for these changes. Motion carried. Senator Cauble and Kelli Cox presented the annual report on the status of faculty salaries for receipt by Faculty Senate. This annual report is provided for informational purposes by the Office of Planning and Analysis. Various comments were made and questions were addressed. Cauble also reported back on the discussion that took place last month with regard to the Professional Titles Task Force report. Faculty Senate Leadership Council met with administration and it was agreed that Faculty Affairs will move forward, hopefully over the summer, with language proposals for the University Handbook for all the titles in the report. In addition to the approval of Faculty Senate of the handbook language, these titles will have to be approved at the Board of Regents to be instituted. Once formally instituted at the university level the departments that wish to use these titles must incorporate it in their departmental handbooks. Due to the required approval processes it should be expected that the titles may not be ready for use until Fall 2015.

Announcements: 

• President Keen announced that applications have been received for the Ombudsperson vacancy and the FS Executive Committee will work to make an appointment at its June meeting. 

Old business: 

• President Keen updated senators on the status of the proposed changes from the Social Media Work Group to the Kansas Board of Regents regarding its Social Media policy, which was passed in December 2013. The proposed changes by the work group were received and some of the suggested changes were incorporated. Additional changes also were made to the proposed revised policy following a five-day period of open comment. The Governance Committee will vote on the revisions to the policy at its meeting tomorrow afternoon, May 14. President Keen encouraged all who can to be in attendance at the meeting where the decision is made.

The final meeting of the 2013-2014 Faculty Senate was adjourned at 5:07 p.m.

The first meeting of the 2014-2015 Faculty Senate was called to order at 5:08 p.m. and two items of business were accomplished. 

Election of Faculty Senate President Elect and Secretary: 

• Faculty Senators elected Fred Guzek as President Elect for the 2014-2015 year
• Faculty Senators elected Loleta Sump as Faculty Senate Secretary for the 2014-2015 year. 

Julia Keen, P.E., HBDP, PhD
Faculty Senate Past President
Associate Professor
Architectural Engineering and Construction Science
Kansas State University
248 Seaton Hall
Manhattan, KS 66506
785-532-3575