UNL ACADEMIC SENATE

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MINUTES

PRESENT: Albrecht, Past-President Bleed, President Ford, President-Elect Kennedy, Baum Kuska, Japp, Latta, Mayo, Sartori, Scheideler

ABSENT: Shoemaker, Williams

DATE: January 28, 1998

PLACE: 1227 R Street, Academic Senate Office

___________________________________________________________________________1.0 Call to Order

Ford called the meeting to order at 3:09PM.

2.0 Announcements

2.1 Chancellor Moeser's Letter to Faculty

The committee discussed Chancellor Moeser's letter to the faculty calling for academic rigor on campus and commended him for this action..

3.0 Vice Chancellor Omtvedt

3.1 Issues on the Horizon

3.1.a. NN21 Project

Vice Chancellor Omtvedt reported that Pat Kennedy had been chosen to serve as a member of the NN21 Strategy Team. Het reported that the NN21 project was moving away from the perception of being strictly an East Campus project to one encompassing the entire campus. Vice Chancellor Omtvedt reported that there are currently 7 action teams and that 8 demonstration projects have been funded. He reported that the Strategy Team was expanding and that the team will be playing a key role in the NN21 project. Vice Chancellor Omtvedt reported that a new initiative out of the Kellogg Foundation will be Leadership Development. He stated that the Leadership Development program was a faculty oriented program and he believed that UNL had a good chance of being funded for this initiative. Albrecht stated that she attended a NN21 meeting on January 14^th which she stated was well put together. Ford asked for some examples of the pilot projects. Vice Chancellor Omtvedt stated that Culture & Gender Diversity, Distance Education and Outreach, Scholarships, Evaluations and Rewards, Sustainable Communities and Food Systems in 2020 were some of the pilot projects of NN21.

3.1.b Planning the Future with UNL

Vice Chancellor Omtvedt reported that discussions were currently being held with the Community of Visitors to discuss the future of UNL. He stated that changes within UNL must be academically driven and that the program must first be reviewed. Vice Chancellor Omtvedt stated that there was a misconception that merging departments would immediately result in saving money. He stated that before the reallocation process takes place again administrators need to look at what has been done in the past and learn from any mistakes that may have been made. Vice Chancellor Omtvedt stated that no head way would be made if the process was viewed as top-down management. He stated that the Board of Regents and President Smith were looking at the restructuring of the University and that President Smith has indicated that we have too many administrative units on campus. Bleed suggested that we should point out the growth of funding and personnel for administration as compared to faculty. Scheideler stated that while some departments could be merged it was important to keep in mind that there are different levels of merging. Albrecht stated that some of the service activities may be duplicated.

3.1.c Implementation of Diversity Plan

Scheideler asked Vice Chancellor Omtvedt if he had talked with the Deans of IANR about implementing the diversity plan. Vice Chancellor Omtvedt stated that the administrative council discussed it and that Glen Vollmar, Dean and Director of International Programs of IANR, was in charge of the implementation of the plan. Vice Chancellor Omtvedt stated that 8 positions were currently available in IANR. Scheideler asked if they were targeting specific goals. Vice Chancellor Omtvedt responded that they were most concerned with hiring minorities and stated that if a minority is not included in the final list of candidates for a position that they ask the search committee for justification. He stated that with the help of Keith Parker, Director of the African American & African Studies, the graduate programs of IANR have been able to attract a number of minority graduate students. Mayo stated that a problem in hiring was the very specific nature of some positions and that as a result there was a very limited pool of candidates. He stated that it would be helpful to be able to plan further ahead. Vice Chancellor Omtvedt stated that strategic planning for departments was important and that there was the possibility of using reallocated funds for hiring minorities. He stated that he discussed with department chairs the importance of keeping discussions going with possible future minority candidates.

4.0 Approval of 1/21/98 minutes (Albrecht)

Bleed moved and Kennedy seconded approval of the minutes as amended.

5.0 Draft Letter on Florida Bank (Latta)

The committee discussed changes to the draft letter which will be sent to Chancellor Moeser from the Senate on the Florida Bank System. The committee agreed that a copy of the draft letter should be given to the Academic Senate.

6.0 TKE House

The committee discussed the move of the Senate office to the TKE house and decided to suggest to Chancellor Moeser that the office remains where it is currently housed until another location can be found. Bleed stated that this would alleviate the space pressure at the TKE house.

7.0 Replacement of Tim Gay on the Research Council

David Jackson, Food Science and Technology, was nominated to replace Timothy Gay.

8.0 Faculty for Teaching and Learning Center

Item tabled until next meeting.

9.0 Rescheduling April 28th Senate Meeting

The committee decided to discuss the rescheduling of the Senate meeting with Chancellor Moeser at the February 4^th Executive Committee meeting.

10.0 Classroom Climate Survey (Baum Kuska)

Baum Kuska reported that the Intercollegiate Athletic Committee conducted a class climate survey and the perceptions are that student athletes are being discriminated against. An example is the appearance of the missed class policy only being applied to athletes. She stated that the committee wanted a resolution from the Senate to state adherence to the policy for all students. Albrecht stated that it was the role of the Office of Academic Affairs to articulate the policy. Baum Kuska stated that the issue had apparently been taken to Academic Affairs but that nothing had been done about it. The committee will investigate whether the policy endorsed by the Senate applies to all students.

11.0 ASUN - Teaching Evaluations

Curt Ruwe, President of ASUN, reported that the ASUN passed a resolution calling for "ASUN to work with the Academic Senate to develop a short University-wide evaluation form to accompany the departmental evaluations in order to give University-wide input concerning teaching and learning, and to help identify areas of improvement for the University." He stated that the motivation for this resolution was to provide comparative data on teaching and to give students more confidence in the evaluation process. Ruwe stated that he was speaking to the Executive Committee to find out what process the students should take to implement the evaluation. The committee discussed the problems associated with creating a questionnaire. Albrecht stated that there may be a need to examine the policy on teaching evaluations and whether or not this policy is being carried out. Ruwe stated that the students would be in favor of a uniform university-wide policy that was applied and that disseminating the information closer to the time of teaching evaluations might be helpful. Bleed suggested that the policy be put in the Daily Nebraskan. Scheideler suggested that the ASUN report to the Academic Senate in April the concerns of the students. Ford suggested that ASUN ask Senior Vice Chancellor Edwards to gather information from the departments on their teaching evaluations. Bleed suggested that a committee of faculty and students be formed to review the issue and suggested that Delivee Wright, Director of Teaching and Learning Center, be a member of the committee.

12.0 Unfinished Business

12.1 Faculty Governance

Ford stated that he needed the names of 30-40 faculty members who would be interested in attending a discussion group on faculty governance with administrators and asked committee members to supply him with 4-5 names within the next few days.

12.2 Faculty Data

Scheideler circulated information on the summary of the telephone survey of peer institutions on the reporting of library and nursing faculty provided by the AAUP. Scheideler asked why AAUP data should be used when the Legislature is looking for broader data than what AAUP provides. Sartori stated that the IPEDS data includes non- tenure track faculty which can skew the data. Bleed stated that there is an agreement on campus that we need more diversity so that the focus of our efforts should not be on the data, but on hiring and retention of female and minority faculty. Mayo stated that all tenure track positions should be counted the same regardless of what college they are in and Kennedy suggested that faculty numbers shold be compared by college.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:14 PM. The next Executive Committee meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, February 4, 201 Canfield Administration Building. Respectfully submitted, Julie Albrecht, Secretary.