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DAFVM
Faculty Senate
MINUTES
April 13, 2006
1:00 P.M.
Attending
Members: Kirk Swortzel, Greg Ibendahl, Clifford
Hampton, Hamid Borazjani, Bill Evans, Linda Andrews, C.P.
Coyne, Sharon Grace, Robert Meyers, Linda Andrews, Dan Brooks
for Tom Kneckt, who replaced Marty Brock, and Jimmy Avery
who replaced Steve Nichols
Excused
Members: Al Rankins, Harvey Gordon, Deborah Gaddis,
Wes Burger, Laura Grace, Wes Schilling, Mike Kidd, Shane
Burgess, and Tom Knecht
Absent
Members: Wayne Wilkerson, Joe Fratesi, Ken Willeford,
Michael Caprio, Dan Poston, and Mark Shankle
Cliff
Hampton, chair called the meeting order. Minutes from the
March 9 and March 23 meetings were combined due to the
cancellation of the March 9 meeting caused by impeding
thunderstorms. Senators unanimously approved the minutes
of the March 23 meeting. Hampton introduced new members
of the Senate including: Jimmy Avery, of the R&E
Center in Stoneville, replacing the vacancy of Steve Nichols,
and Dan Brooks, Extension Computer Services, representing
Tom Kneckt, Agricultural Communications, who replaced Marty
Brock as Agricultural Communications/Computer Application
Senator.
Chair Report
Replacement
of Department Representatives - Hampton updated Senators
on the status of representatives whose terms expire in
2006. He noted that notice had been sent out to all departments
with expiring members regarding the need to hold departmental
elections. At present, he has been informed that Wes Schilling
will serve another term. Michael Kidd’s
and Dan Poston’s replacements have been identified.
Hampton also informed members that Forestry had two senators
and due to size of the department, Deborah Gaddis' position
will not be filled. Hampton stated that his seat representing
Program and Organizational Development will likely not
be filled due to that department being a part of Human
Sciences, but he will seek clarification.
Senate
Officer’s election - Hampton reminded Senators
of the procedures for officer’s election. He noted
that the Ag Faculty Senate By Laws state that the chair will
inform members of the senate about who is a candidate for
election. There was a general feeling that the same policy
should be exercised for the position of vice-chair even though
that position isn’t specifically addressed in the By
Laws. He acknowledged a list would be sent out in the next
few weeks of faculty members that qualify for filling the
officers positions. Outgoing members of the Senate cannot
vote for new officers. Once the notices have been sent out,
senate members should send in their nominations. If one or
fewer names are forwarded, nominations will be solicited
from the floor during the next meeting. The last action of
the May meeting will be the election of new officers. Two
members are currently filling unexpired terms. It was expressed
that they would likely not vote in the upcoming election.
Robert
Holland Faculty Senate Report
Cody
Coyne, Vet Medicine’s new Holland Senate representative
reported in Laura Grace’s absences. Coyne stated that
President Charles Lee addressed members of the Robert Holland
Faculty Senate for the last time. Dr. Lee suggested to those
in attendance to exercise diligence in persuading the state
legislature to increase support for the Mississippi State
University campus in the years to come, in part because it
has been under-supported for such an extended period of time,
and because it is the largest university in the state of
Mississippi. Provost Peter Rabideau also discussed general
aspects of several topics including the policy of closing
the campus on occasions of inclement weather and slight modifications
that had been made in the tenure and promotion document.
He discussed the positive, but mostly the negative aspects
of scheduling a Thursday night football game on the Mississippi
State University campus and the positive and negative aspects
of campus gated parking were discussed. Concerns were expressed
about certain P&T guidelines and performance expectations
being perceived or adopted on campus as P&T policy. Related
to this topic were concerns expressed by members of the Ag
Faculty senate about declines or static levels of federal
support allocated to the USDA for their annual budget and
how this will affect the growth and viability of the nation’s
Land Grant University System.
Coyne noted that opinions would be sought from other Ag
Division faculty members. Depending on the information obtained,
members of the Ag Faculty Senate may request that a Position
Statement be drafted that will be forwarded to Dr. Watson,
Vice President for Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine.
Faculty Affairs Committee Report
Hamid
Borazjani reported that feedback was compiled from faculty
members regarding the Robert Holland Faculty Senate approved
Promotion and Tenure Document for Non-Tenure Track Faculty.
The document is being reviewed by MSU Administrative Council
and the Division Senate was given an opportunity to make
comments. Input from Division Senators and their department’s
faculty were:
1): Elected Representation:
Currently, there is no representation by Extension/Clinical/Research
Faculty of Professorial Rank.
Recommendation by the committee:
Allow elected representation on the University Promotion
Committee.
2):
Complexity- “College level” Committees:
MSU-ES does not fit into any of “joint” committees
within division.
Recommendation
by the committee:
Allow faculty member, department head, and college administrator
to determine the “appropriate” college level
committee at time of initial appointment or annual review.
3):
Service Component:
The language on service for promotion of non-tenure track
promotion is not fully defined.
Recommendation
by the committee:
Service should be a part of non-tenure track promotion document.
4): Responsibilities of department heads:
The documents still do not clarify the roles and responsibilities
of center
and academic heads.
Recommendation
by the committee:
This subject needs to be addressed and proper clarification
should be added to the current document.
5):
Criteria for evaluation:
The mission of research at R&E centers are more applied
than basic compared to departmental mission.
Recommendation
by the committee:
Experiment Station Bulletins and Trade Journal articles should
be measured equally or as important as refereed articles
in promotion considerations.
These
recommendations will be forwarded to Vice President Watson
for his consideration.
New Business
General Discussion
Several faculty members inquired regarding the criteria for
salary increases. Several concerns were expressed by members
including: new faculty being employed with higher salaries
than faculty with higher rank and longer service; equity
of salaries due to lack of salary increases;
wide variation of increases from department to department;
salary increases based on merit using only one year of evaluation.
Although no official vote was taken, there appeared to be
general interest in an across the board 5% increase in salary
to all staff and faculty due to extended period of time since
the campus received allocations for across the board salary
increases. Senate members were especially resistant to any “formula” that
would be applied where individuals within a department or
college received no salary increases in July 2006. A Position
Statement letter expressing the concerns and possible options
shared by members of the Ag Faculty Senate will be forwarded
to Vice President Vance Watson.
Meting Adjourned 2:30 p.m.
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