EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MINUTES

Present:          Alexander, Beck, Bolin, Fech, Flowers, Hoffman, Moeller, Rapkin, Shea, Stock

Absent:           Alloway, Peterson, Scholz

Date:               Wednesday, October 5, 2005

Location:        Academic Senate Office, 420 University Terrace

Note:   These are not verbatim minutes.  They are a summary of the discussions at the Executive Committee meeting as corrected by those participating.

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1.0       Call to Order

            Beck called the meeting to order at 3:01 p.m.

2.0       Announcements

            2.1       Interview for Director of Employee Assistance Program

Beck reported that she participated in interviews of the four candidates for the position of Director of Employee Assistance Program.  She noted that it was a strong pool of candidates.  She reported that the current Director is taking another position within the University.

Beck reported that she raised the question of the possibility of the office serving in some partial ombudsman capacity for the campus. 

3.0       ASUN – Omaid Zabih, Lyndsey Redding, Meghan Lyons

Zabih stated that one of the issues that ASUN would like to discuss is having a syllabus policy which would require all faculty members to distribute a syllabus for a course.  He noted that not having a syllabus can cause problems for students, particularly if a student tries to appeal a grade or has issues regarding coursework.  Lyons stated that the ASUN looked at the UNL Bylaws and the Academic Services Handbook but was not able to find any existing policy.

Beck stated that she is unsure if there is a policy requiring a syllabus but she stated that the Senate Office would check it out.  She noted that if there is not a policy the issue will be discussed by the Executive Committee.

Zabih stated that another item the ASUN is considering is on-line teaching evaluations.  He asked if anyone has used them.  He noted that the teaching evaluations could be placed on Blackboard. 

Hoffman reported that the College of Engineering and Technology has been using them but the results are not good.  He stated that one professor reported as having received only 3 out of 20.  He personally received only 1 out of 9.  Stock wondered whether there was a way to require the students to fill out an on-line evaluation.  Lyons stated that in a computer science class the students received numerous email reminders about filling out the evaluation on-line. 

Moeller stated that teaching evaluations are an important venue for providing feedback to the instruction.  She noted that the evaluations are often used as a compelling piece of evidence for annual performance evaluations.  She pointed out that doing evaluations in class typically results in 100% feedback.  She also noted that on-line evaluations may not be anonymous. 

Beck reported that there will be a workshop about on-line teaching evaluations.  She noted that the workshop will be strictly informational and will deal with how on-line evaluations can be done and how they can be made better. 

Moeller stated that on-line evaluations could probably be put into a database which would allow an instructor to do an analysis of the results.  An analysis could be done by department, college or even campus-wide.  Beck noted that the evaluations would need to be mandatory if the analysis was to be accurate.  Lyons suggested that one way of making the evaluations mandatory would be to not release the final grade until the evaluation is completed.  However, the issue of anonymity is raised in doing it this way. 

Zabih stated that he did not know whether on-line evaluations is an issue that students are greatly concerned with.  He pointed out that students will probably need some kind of motivation in order to do the on-line evaluations.  Stock stated that there should not be some kind of punitive action taken to ensure students complete on-line evaluations. 

Zabih stated that the ASUN is pleased with the process of developing the campus master plan.  He stated that he believes the concerns of the students were heard and incorporated into the plan.  He noted that the child care center is part of the plan.

Lyons reported that she is on the committee to revise the general education program.  She noted that the students have been unhappy with the ES/IS program for a long time.  She stated that the committee membership is diverse and all colleges are represented on it.  She noted that there are some good discussions occurring on Blackboard about revising the program and the committee hopes to publicize the plans to the students. 

Lyons noted that some students are concerned that some of the courses required in the ES/IS program do not apply to them.  She stated that many students feel they are here to take courses that will get them a job.  She noted that some students see the ES/IS program as more of a liberal arts education.  She stated that the biggest issue on Blackboard is the purpose of the program.  Students don’t seem to understand what the purpose is. 

Shea noted that this is a primary problem even among faculty.  He stated that some faculty members believe that they are here to impart technical information to create experts in various fields.  Others believe they are here for the overall educational purpose.  He stated that he does not think UNL should be considered a technical school.  He pointed out that students have a major and may obtain technical skills that will prepare them for a certain profession but the academic purpose of their education is much broader.  Rapkin noted that both types of instructors are needed.  He stated that for students it is different because they have to fulfill requirements at various levels of the academic career. 

Shea stated that the faculty members need to reach an agreement about the purpose of the university.  He believes all faculty members should be willing to accept the broader view of education. 

Moeller stated that a question that could be asked is what constitutes an educated person.  Does an educated person possess habits of mind that makes them successful at life?  She stated that 70% of parents feel that their children go to college to get job training. 

Shea stated that there needs to be a discussion about what education is.  Some define it as learning skills but for others it is more.  He noted that some people don’t come to college to become educated but come here to learn skills in order to be able to compete for a job. 

Stock noted that the goals of the general education revision committee are good and that there is a thorough list of goals.  He pointed out that no one can really argue against the goals. 

Hoffman noted that when he went to Iowa State undergraduates were required to take an exam at the end of their final year.  He stated that students only graduated if they passed the exam.  He noted that the exam was based on an English exam and the student had to be able to write in order to pass. 

Zabih stated that efforts are underway to try to raise money to build a new cultural center.  He stated that he believes students are going to have to take the initiative in order for the center to be built.  He noted that no donors have come forward to provide money for the center.  He stated that the center would be built just east of the student union. 

Moeller stated that the diversity issue is huge.  She noted that the five largest K-12 schools in the state have a student population where the majority of the students are from a minority culture. 

Shea suggested that the building of the center could be approached as a connection to enrollment.  He noted that the demographics of the state are changing and minority cultures are rapidly growing.  He pointed out that if the University wants to increase enrollment with students from Nebraska it would be good to have a new cultural center. 

Moeller asked what a new cultural center will do for the overall campus.  Zabih stated that it will make the center more visible.  He noted that currently the center is located on the edge of campus and the building is not large enough.  Moeller asked if the mission of the center is to provide a gathering place for minorities.  Zabih stated that this is correct but it also would provide space for administrative services related to minorities.  Moeller noted that a new center would help in recruiting and retaining students as well. 

Zabih stated that the students will vote in the spring whether or not to approve an increase in student fees that would help to build the new center.  Fech suggested that the ASUN should articulate the specific advantages of why the University would be better with a new cultural center. 

Hoffman pointed out that construction costs are going up considerably and the cost of building will be more than what is currently being projected.  Zabih stated that ASUN is hoping that some donors will help provide funds to cover some of the cost.  Hoffman asked why people would want to give money to UNL instead of UNO since Omaha has a larger minority population.  Rapkin suggested that the ASUN might want to ask former student athletes who are now professional athletes to help support the center. 

Alexander stated that raising funds can be approached from a recruiting aspect as well.  He noted that many companies are only going to universities with a large minority population.  He stated that in order to get big companies to recruit here UNL needs a diverse population.  He pointed out that diversity is good for everyone at the University.  He noted that Kansas State is doing a very good job of recruiting Hispanic students. 

Zabih reported that ASUN is working on two projects that are going well.  Redding stated that the Big Event program deals with student relations with the surrounding neighborhoods.  She stated that she is co-chairing a group that is working with community agencies which will team students up with organizations like Community Impact.  She reported that the program will begin in April.  She noted that UNL is one of the last of the Big 12 schools to pick up the program.  She pointed out that at other schools approximately 12,000 students participate.  She noted that this is entirely a student community project.  Lyons stated that ASUN is looking for faculty and staff members to help out with the program.  She noted that ASUN is hoping that student organizations on campus will help out as well.  Redding pointed out that participating in the program will allow faculty members to interact with students on a social level rather than just on an academic level.  Fech asked what kind of service activities will be provided.  Redding stated that all kinds of service activities will be done but students will not be allowed to use power tools.  She noted that Texas A & M was able to get 10,000 gallons of paint donated. 

4.0 Approval of 9/28/05 Minutes

Moeller moved and Rapkin seconded approval of the minutes as amended.  Motion approved. 

5.0       Unfinished Business

5.1       Demonstration of Quality Indicators Survey

Flowers and Griffin demonstrated the survey on Zoomerang.  The Committee reviewed and suggested some changes to the survey but overall was very pleased with it.  Griffin stated that she will make the corrections to the survey and then send them out to the Committee for them to test it out. 

5.2 Domestic Partner Benefits

Beck reported that she met with Professor DiBernard and Emeritus Professor Wolf to discuss what work has been done in the past regarding domestic partner benefits.  She stated that they discussed various strategies for trying to get domestic partner benefits.  She stated that Professor Wolf will be speaking with President Milliken to see where he stands on the issue. 

Beck reported that the Montana Supreme Court recently ruled that the Montana University system must provide gay/lesbian employees with the option of getting health care benefits.  She reported that she received this information from two sources (Wolf, Bradford) and that Bradford indicated in his email that he did not know what the impact here would be but she noted that the ruling does set a precedent in the country. 

Hoffman asked about heterosexual domestic partners.  He noted that many people live together but are not married.  Beck stated that they are in the same situation as gay couples. 

Moeller asked about family members.  She pointed out that there are many people who have a family member living with them.  She asked if they would qualify for receiving benefits.  Griffin noted that Universities which provide domestic partner benefits often have a set of criteria that people must meet in order to be provided with the benefits. 

Moeller asked how many University employees would be affected by the domestic partner benefits.  Beck did not know.  Hoffman stated that some universities allow domestic partners to participate in the health care coverage but they must pay the full price to belong to the plan. 

Fech asked how many employees participated in the health care plan.  Alexander stated that he believed Greg Clayton, Director of Benefits & Risk Management, reported about 5,000.  Beck read from a report that in September 2001, 10,000 employees were covered. 

5.3       General Education

The Committee discussed some of the problems with the general education program and the outcomes that should come out of a good general education program.  Alexander pointed out that one of the criticisms of companies and corporations is that students graduating from the universities cannot write well.  He stated that all students need to learn how to write better.  He noted that English courses need to give more repetitive assignments where the paper has to be written over numerous times until it is written properly.  Rapkin pointed out that this can be very labor intensive for the instructor, particularly those with large classes.  Alexander pointed out that the University is producing an educated set of people but they don’t know how to write.  Shea noted that there is a lot of pressure on faculty time and it takes a lot of time to do more repetitive assignments which he feels are necessary.

6.0       New Business

6.1       Review of Senate Meeting

Beck reported that she received one phone call from a woman in western Nebraska who was upset with the Senate’s approval of the resolution calling for Regent Hergert’s resignation.  Shea pointed out that he was glad to see that it was the Senate body that pushed for a stronger statement.  He suggested in the future the Executive Committee might want to put an issue out there and then let the Senate decide how it wants to handle it. 

The Committee agreed that a letter should be sent to President Milliken and the Board of Regents simply stating that a resolution has been passed and includes a copy of the resolution. 

6.2       Special Fees Committee

Beck stated that a committee that reviews special fees needs to convene in December.  She noted that three faculty members are needed to serve on this committee that typically just meets once.  She asked that the Committee forward names of faculty members who would be interested in serving on this committee.

6.3       Faculty at 5 Reception

Beck noted that flyers about the Faculty at 5 reception were presented as a handout at the Senate meeting.  Moeller stated that she sent an email message to the faculty in her department about the reception.  She noted that she forwarded the email message to Griffin and if people are interested in using the email as a template they are welcomed to do so. 

The meeting was adjourned at 5:04 p.m.  The next meeting of the Executive Committee will be on Wednesday, September 14th at 3:00 pm.  The meeting will be held in 201 Canfield Administration Building.  The minutes are respectfully submitted by Karen Griffin, Coordinator and Pat Shea, Secretary.