UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-EAU CLAIRE

UNIVERSITY SENATE MEETING

VOL. 37, NO. 5

 

November 28, 2000

 

 

Members Present:

 

Marcia Bollinger, Dick Boyum, Jack Bushnell, Linda Carpenter, Terry Classen, Gene Decker, Stephen Drucker, Joel Duncan, Rodd Freitag, Mitchell Freymiller, Andrea Gapko, Marc Goulet, Margaret Hallatt, Jeannie Harms, Susan Harrison, Sean Hartnett, Karen Havholm, Erik Hendrickson, Tim Ho, Ann Hoffman, Larry Honl, Steve Katrosits, Debra King, Carol Klun, Lisa La Salle, Kate Lang, Robert Langer, Tim Leutwiler, Barbara Lozar, Barbara MacBriar, Maureen Mack, Mona Majdalani, Donald Mash, Joanne Mellema, John Melrose, Rick Mickelson, Mark Olsen, Jane Pederson, Cleo Powers, Donna Raleigh, Lori Rowlett, Richard Ryberg, Kathy Sahlhoff, Ronald Satz, Kathie Schneider, Robert Scott, Roger Selin, Mehdi Sheikholeslami, Nick Smiar, Lori Snyder, David Steele, Todd Stephens, Paula Stuettgen, Jodi Thesing-Ritter, Roger Tlusty, Tom Wagener, Michael Wick, Jean Wilcox, Karen Woodward, Steve Zantow

 

Members Absent:

 

Randy Beger, Gretchen Hutterli, Fred Kolb, Tim Lane, Jane Linton, Damian O’Brien, Jeanine Rossow, Nola Schmitt, Sheila Smith, Cecilia Wendler

 

Guests:

 

Margaret Cassidy, Laura Dean, Bernard Duyfhuizen, Meg Dwyer, Matt Evans, Jonathan Gneiser, Justin Hentges, Robert Kuschler, Adam Nelson, Steve Richter, Connie Russell, Andrew Soll, Steve Tallant, Ted Wendt

 

The regular meeting of University Senate was called to order at 3:03 p.m., Tuesday, November 28, 2000 in the Tamarack Room of Davies Center.

 

1.        Minutes of November 14, 2000 meeting of University Senate approved as distributed

2.        Chair's Report – Chair Harrison

·         Details on open forum items discussed at last Senate Executive Committee meeting in report

·         Includes notes from Student Senate discussion last night on Service Learning for Veterans

 

3.        Report of Academic Staff Representative – Senator Hallatt

·         Feel free to call if questions on written report previously distributed

·         Much of material in Academic Staff Rep’s Report affects faculty as well

 

4.        Chancellor’s Remarks – Chancellor Mash

·         Foundation has received large gift leading in reasonable time to endowed chair in Education

·         Faculty development and student scholarship are short-term focus as build toward capital campaign

·         Enrollment for Winterim ahead of last year at this time

·         UW-sponsored Economic Summit opens tomorrow in Milwaukee

·         Chancellor, Provost, Senator Fred Kolb, and students will attend

·         Summit to call attention to central role of higher education and critical need for support of work of UW-System

·         Impact on Wisconsin’s future

·         Framed, as budget request was, to increase backing of regents and legislators

·         To include businesses, local jurisdictions, community development organizations, and others

·         No disconnect between this and work we do with liberal arts education

·         Provides adequate support to continue work

·         To attract and retain people and to maintain level of quality

·         Will soon send copy of opinion-editorial piece recently published in Leader-Telegram to six or seven legislators in region as way of initiating discussion

·         Continually working on strategies to position us to get adequate support for work doing here

·         Past cases for support based on comparative funding and how far behind neighboring states and inflation may get attention, but contain no vision for future and no action outcome

·         In this budget request and legislative session those elements included

·         Requires some training and reeducating of legislators about how investment in higher education fits with work they try to perform daily in Madison

·         Fred Kolb to report back following summit

·         On matter of faculty workload, administration very much aware everyone working very hard

·         Everyone has full teaching loads and other responsibilities

·         Full means full

·         New or different things being talked about cannot make teaching load more full than now

·         Will have to do other ways

·         Need additional positions and flexibility to add positions if we can fund

·         Also need better funding

·         Response to questions from floor

·When speak of faculty development, am including what is called academic staff here

·         Come from culture where all professionals, teaching or working in support offices, were faculty

 

5.        Committee Reports

¨       Academic Staff Personnel Committee – Senator Hallatt

¨       Budget Committee – No Report

¨       Compensation Committee – Senator Wick

·         Formal motion will come forward next Senate meeting

¨       Executive Committee – Chair Harrison

·         2002-2003 Calendar approved to be presented at December 12, 2000 Senate meeting

·         Official files of faculty to academic staff ratio reviewed

·         Did not change more than 5%; Senate representation unchanged

·         Agreed to leave at-large academic staff representation as stated in bylaws

·         Next meeting December 5, 2000

·         Discuss assistance available to disabled faculty and staff

·         Questions from floor

·         Course availability as discussed in chair’s report

·         Many students coming to Counseling in last few days complaining about course availability and general frustration that causes

·         Listening to begging and pleading day after day gets in way of faculty completing other responsibilities

·         Concerned about issue thought we were addressing a year ago

·         Hurts us and hurts students’ education

·         Retention issue as students leave UW-Eau Claire because it doesn’t keep promises

·         Provost comments

·         Long-term attempts to solve course availability problems in working group stage

·         Need to look at GE requirements and related issues

·         Will come through shared governance process

·         Working on different way to allocate resources for courses

·         Front-loaded courses at beginning rather than adding during registration process this time

·         Respect efforts to address issue

·         Unfortunate freshman class most heavily affected

·         Many 100-200-level courses unavailable because students at higher levels taking them

·         Not a new problem

·         Major retention issue when freshmen cannot get anywhere close to what they need second semester

·         Chancellor noted freshman registering for second semester and registering for fall semester of sophomore year are university’s biggest retention issue

·         Why Provost taking some of these initiatives

·         Administration sees as serious matter

·         See no improvement over last year

·         Question of appropriate courses out the door

·         Now question of getting any course, many of which are not appropriate for given student

¨       Faculty Personnel Committee – Senator Mack

·         Nepotism policy

·         Revision of procedures for evaluation of department chairs

¨       Nominating Committee – No Report

¨       Physical Plant Planning Committee – Senator Stuettgen

·         Lot vacancies and bus ridership

¨       Technology Committee

¨       Academic Policies Committee – Senator Lozar

·         Certificate programs in Social Work

·         Appropriate requirements for class audit

 

·         Important Applied Physics Emphasis acted on today so can be published in catalogue if approved

 

Report on Applied Physics Emphasis – Senator Lozar

·         Attempt to meet recognized need for some majors

·         Physics liberal arts major prepares students for graduate study (about 1/3 of majors)

·         Teaching major prepares for teaching (about 1/3 of majors)

·         Students seeking employment after baccalaureate not currently as well prepared

·         Put together collection of courses to provide kinds of things needed for employment

 

Motion 37-AP-03

Moved and seconded by committee (8-0-0) to recommend the proposed addition of the Applied Physics Emphasis to the Physics Liberal Arts Major be approved

 

Vote on Motion 37-AP-03: Motion PASSED by University Faculty Senators

 

Report on Service Learning for Veterans – Senator Lozar

·         Veterans felt activities they participate in where stationed, in addition to military service itself, much like activities required in non-credit service-learning projects

·         Response to questions on content

·         Line drawn for high school, but not sure whether anyone has tested that line

·         Heard from veterans that years in service left long time for reflection

·         Heard from faculty with veterans in classes that contributions to those classes indicate some reflection

·         Church Corps possible because civilian

·         Peace Corps, VISTA and Americorps just examples, could be others

·         Civilian service corps connected with federal government better phrase

·         Not comfortable with church service groups

·         Otherwise implementation difficult

·         Would cover all veterans regardless whether participated in this type program in the military

·         Fact that survived military service is enough – it’s all service learning

 

Motion 37-AP-04

Moved and seconded by committee (10-0-0) that the following statement be added to the University Catalogue description of the Service-Learning Requirement:

 

It is presumed that the service-learning requirement has been met by past and present members of the

U. S. armed services and of the civilian service corps (e.g. Peace Corps, VISTA, Americorps)

 

Discussion:

·         Could take out parenthetical phrase at end if desired

·         Steve Richter, President of Veterans Club on campus supported motion

·         Veterans can be transferred to Middle East at moments notice

·         Have put in time serving community, state and country

·         Military satisfies service-learning requirement by meeting one or more of baccalaureate goals

·         Issue is to provide service for veterans who are attending school here

·         Consider it perhaps returning the favor; not looking for easy way out

·         Precedent exists because any student with bachelor’s degree presumed to meet service learning requirement

·         Any nontraditional student can seek to use prior experiences to meet service learning

·         Issue of timing of military service relative to timing of college

·         Students often graduate with one year of military obligation left

·         Military great way to pave way for college, both financially and through personal growth

·         Veterans bring experience to college everyday

·         Will benefit minority of students, but does not have negative impact on majority

·         Presently any student can use prior service to meet service learning requirement

·         Must seek approval from dean as well as adviser

·         Wish to expedite process for veterans

·         Simply have student show documentation of military service

·         Avoid chance request would be denied

·         Encourage vote in favor as service to our veterans

·         Not to discriminate against those students who have not served

·         But to show support for those who have

·         Justin Hentges, President of Student Senate

·         Similar resolution before Student Senate last evening defeated by vote of 12-16-1

·         Pros

·         Armed services and civilian corps are great service to this country

·         Also great sacrifice we should recognize

·         Cons

·         Should not mean an automatic release from service learning

·         Should go through channels for release from service learning like every other student so not two-tier system

·         Question of retroactivity

·         Many questions about civilian service corps

·         Who they are?

·         What they are?

·         Who recognized them?

·         What kind of list are we going to have?

·         Who decides on list?

·         Blanket waiver inappropriate

·         Confusing service to church, community, and country with service learning

·         Service learning is application of discipline-based knowledge for addressing issues and problems in community

·         Will have impact on critical thinking and other activities appropriate for baccalaureate level students

·         Many students have extensive backgrounds in community service and an array of service activities

·         Saying have reflected not like participating in coherently-designed service-learning project

·         Other students can also go to deans, although understand not very readily done

·         Thought students could not meet service learning by working for such organizations as Habitat for Humanity

·         Apparently do allow returning adult students (which most of our veterans are) to petition to have service learning requirement credited for whatever work they have done

·         Line was drawn for high school students though

·         Not granted service learning, but don’t know what happens if they try to request it

·         Second degree students exempt from service-learning requirement

·         Yet no evidence they have in fact completed service

·         Done to make entrance into university easier

·         Don’t understand basis for saying no to high school students

·         Any nontraditional adult student can request waiver from this requirement

·         If there are few circumstances under which request refused, are we just creating paperwork when everyone will get passed through anyway?

·         Reported last evening that any veteran request to this point has been granted

·         Favor recommendation

·         Service-Learning Director has recommended it

·         Already precedent for veterans in that physical education requirement automatically waived

·         Think by definition, their service in military would meet our service learning

·         Catalogue copy seems to indicate service learning should occur during academic process

·         To include applying academic knowledge and reflecting and integrating their community experiences

·         Student Senate debated about this for 75 minutes

·         Seen as temporary solution for larger problem

·         Maybe should look at service learning as a whole; hear lots of concerns

·         Create new policy rather than band-aid for problem

·         Favor of motion because parallel to nontraditional students and second degree students

·         Favor of motion but think language regarding civilian experiences needs to be better defined

 

Motion 37-US-11

Moved by Senator Olsen and seconded to table Motion 37-AP-04 until the next meeting

 

Vote on Motion 37-US-11: Motion PASSED

 

Motion 37-US-12

Moved by Senator MacBriar and seconded to move any additional business to the next meeting

 

Vote on Motion 37-US-12: Motion PASSED

 

8.        Open Discussion on Faculty Workload (scheduled to begin at 4:00 p.m.)

·         Introduction by Senator Mack, Chair, Faculty Personnel Committee

·         Referred item late last year by Academic Policies Committee

·         Decided before proceeded too far, wanted to open up for greater dialogue with wider community

·         Have been advised no current UW-System policy on workload


·         Existing local policy

·         12-credit teaching load for faculty

·         15-credit teaching load for academic staff

·         Workload specifics determined by department in four categories: teaching, scholarship, advising, and service

·         Questions from Faculty Personnel Committee:

1)       What is the goal of discussing faculty workload?

2)       Are there inequities across departments? How do we compare across departments/schools?

3)       Who establishes a policy for faculty workload (in lieu of no UW-System policy)?

4)       Have expectations changed for tenure … for tenured faculty … for promotions?

5)       If workload is a problem, what contributes to the feeling of being overworked?

6)       How do we deal with credit hours vs. contact hours?

7)       What would a policy on faculty workload look like at UWEC?

8)       Are there inequities within departments and what is best practice to resolve?

·         Also referring to teaching academic staff, looking at instructional workload

·         Personnel policies for teaching academic staff partially under faculty personnel 

·         Policy several years ago was 12-credit teaching load or equivalent

  • Science chairs got together and determined equivalent to be contact hours

·         Only one-half of laboratory hours count toward credit load

·         Absurd with additional requirements of research, advising and service

·         Frame of reference for professional departments – many contact hours with our students each week (e.g. clinicals)

  • Only credited partial time as part of workload
  • Complexities of issue magnified depending on teaching format for difference disciplines
  • Not enough FTE’s in world to fix

·         Studio courses in Art Department – 12-credit load would be 24-contact hour load

  • Gravitated to compromise situation – 9 credits, or 3 lab courses, or 18 contact hours
  • Doesn’t account for other things going on

·         Don’t understand rationale behind counting two-hour labs as only one credit

  • Many introductory labs have 32 students working individually on experiments or dissections
  • Labs much more labor intensive and intellectually intensive than lecture
  • Where did policy originate?

·         Foreign Language Department also required to teach 12-credit hours

  • Often go beyond because of curricular requirements and lack of FTE
  • Two changes affected university in last ten years

1)       Advent of extensive technology requiring more and more time to keep up

·         Has not made life easier; in fact, made it harder

2)       Increased competition between colleges and universities, for students as well as funding, requires competitive research

·         Earlier generations not expected to do research to such extent

·         Not question about validity of doing research

·         Do not have resources to maintain a 12-or-more-credit schedule, an aggressive research schedule, service performance on committees and ever-increasing advising charge

·         Must be addressed or may harm faculty morale in long run; in fact, may have already

·         Personally actually see wisdom of not having policy

  • Every department has unique or eccentric circumstances applying to issue of workload
  • Policy trying to impose universal model, given different modes of instruction in classes, laboratories, seminars, and in different disciplines, would be one of those classic compromises with which no one would be happy because it could not account for the diversity represented on campus
  • Good no policy other than 12-hour teaching load as defined by individual departments

·         Issue is not just policy or no policy, discomfort comes when people feel work assignments are not equitable

  • Tremendous number of variables to take into consideration
  • Feels like emphasis in terms of scholarship requirements has changed over last ten years

·         Makes people more distressed about 12-credit workload

·         Yet expected to do more in other areas also

·         Asked by people in English Department to note that many people integrally involved in specific programs, such as American Indian Studies and Women’s Studies, teach overloads on an almost constant basis

  • Usually teaching at least 15 credits
  • No support for these programs in terms of hiring people, or having dedicated lines
  • Need to truly get behind programs used to entice students to come here
  • Lack of support hurts program and affects morale
  • Probably paid overload, but trying to do everything else also

·         Like comments allowing colleges and departments to design what works best for them

  • Eliminates discrepancies and need to compromise from department to department
  • Bothers me that load is 12 credits for faculty and 15 credits for academic staff

·         Faculty advise; academic staff unofficially advise

·         Faculty serve on committees; academic staff serve on committees

·         Faculty do scholarly research; academic staff often do scholarly research

·         Academic staff teach large classes; faculty teach large classes

·         Academic staff drive to Cornell and Cadott and Arcadia to supervise student teachers; faculty do too

·         Academic staff do awfully close to what faculty are doing, but teaching academic staff, according to proposed pay plan, get paid $28,000, faculty get paid $35,000

·         University-wide standard may not be reasonable because of differences in instructional settings in different disciplines

  • Are commonalities in other areas
  • In professional programs, great deal of clinical work

·         Leaving to each department leads to more discrepancies across similar kinds of instructional settings

  • May need guidelines to address similar kinds of instructional set-ups

·         Problem for small departments where both opportunity and obligation to serve university fall on very few shoulders

  • Can chose to limit involvement and risk losing opportunity to influence what goes on at university
  • Can chose to plunge ahead at considerable cost to ourselves
  • Support notion that cannot have university-wide standard for workload

·         Would like to talk about workload rather than just teaching load

·         Perhaps could have some guidelines with regard to how faculty are compensated, how rewarded for activities

·         For example, considerable advising load – 60-120 students

·         Effort not fully recognized in way rewarded now

·         Reality is that workloads are increasing across entire economy; everyone working harder, not just academia

  • Frustrating because don’t get support from UW-System for increased work
  • Cannot continue quality
  • Intensifies feelings about workload

·         Would like to know teaching hours for departments across campus

  • Size of classes important part too
  • Chair Harrison thought data would be available; will try to get

·         Most concerned because over 30 years have seen quality of instruction deteriorate immensely

  • Undergraduate students suffer every time we decide to do something new

·         When use resources, compensate by increasing class size

·         Can do a much better job with class of 20 or 30 students than with class of 50

  • Rooms in Schneider Hall now filled with wall-to-wall students
  • Haven’t seen effort to increase number of faculty or decrease workload
  • Doing things costing time and effort on part of faculty unfortunately takes away time to spend with undergraduates
  • Beginning to suggest correspondence courses to students who can’t get Business Law course
  • Delivery systems are going to change; technology will be different; classroom approach will be different
  • Can give same lecture, only now to 60 students instead of 30, and now don’t have any time for them

·         Issue squarely focused on faculty roles and rewards

·         Enormously important topic in higher education circles last several years

·         Appear to define faculty roles in terms of credit or contract hours rather than work actually done

·         University System doesn’t support, either spiritually or financially, wide array of roles engaged in

·         On this campus in particular, need focused discussion on what faculty roles, including academic staff, we all engage in and which roles held accountable for

·         If define faculty load as credit load, talking about time in class, clinic, instruction

·         When comes to evaluation time, DPC says fine, that is what you were hired to do, but what have you done for us lately, where is your research, where is your advising, where is your service?

·         Even though we don’t count that, it counts for promotion and raises

·         If institution concerned with instruction, why don’t more faculty show up at NET Council events, at faculty development events, at professional development events?

·         Rather than doing same thing we have been doing for 20 years but just with more kids

·         Faculty and staff need to be proactive in addressing rather than just sitting back and saying we are not being supported

·         Need to build case

·         Conceptualize what actually do and set reasonable rewards for those roles

·         Make it clear to administration, to System and to others

·         One of advantages for students coming to Eau Claire was access to faculty and relatively small classes

·         Surprised to hear about classes of 150 students

·         Deprives them of access to faculty and relationships that develop in small classes

·         Thought that was what was valued and what makes us center of excellence for scholarship

·         Background for Academic Policies Committee referral to Faculty Personnel Committee

·         Kept encountering policies where discussion revolved back to campus priorities and why considering in first place

·         Just one more thing for faculty to do when don’t really have time to do what do already

·         Examples include service learning and distance learning

·         Say we are traditional liberal arts institution, but afraid to be left behind in this other stuff

·         Were supposed to evaluate strategic planning documents but didn’t have any priorities

·         Trying to be all things to all people; just don’t have resources, time, or energy

·         Concerned in some cases get reduced class size at expense of people not on permanent staff

·         Some teaching 15 hours so others can have freshmen experience classes of 20 students

·         Very nice, but don’t feel good about it

·         Trying to do so many different things

·         Experience with freshman experience class has been students expect all this to be given to them; apply that to class work as well

·         Scattered in different directions trying to be everything to them

·         They start resenting doing extra work that doesn’t have to do with class

·         Not sure we should be trying to retain everybody

·         Workload issue in relation to compensation serious enough to affect ability to recruit outstanding candidates to replace individuals retiring

·         May become serious enough that will be unable to retain very qualified people

·         Recruitment and ability of faculty to compete another very important issue

·         UW-System does not have a policy on workload; but Madison has 6 credit-hours, Parkside and Green Bay, 9-credit hours, rest of state 12-credit hours

·         Another side of that is length of calendar

·         Eau Claire has longest calendar in UW-System

·         Three weeks longer than Madison

·         Affects summer research activity

·         Result of attachment to 50-minute period

·         Others have gone to 55-minute or 75-minute classes

·         May restrict the number of classes, but worth looking at

·         Significant impact on type of research environmental scientists can undertake or get funded

·         Our cup definitely fuller than other places

·         Everyone here is full; unless more positions, don’t know how to fix that

·         Are things we can do

·         In department where like to come to work every morning

·         Know everybody in department appreciates how hard everybody else is working

·         Everyone has sense of humor

·         Other ways to address morale issue

·         Part of the reason stay here is because too busy to figure out how to leave

·         Chancellor comments

·         Helpful for me to hear this sort of conversation; I want to fix things

·         Smart enough to realize

·         Some things are within my capacity to fix

·         Other things, someone else has to fix, but we can assist

·         At December Board of Regents meetings, I will be part of panel talking about implications of position control that State of Wisconsin imposes

·         Very unusual for governor to count faculty along with other state government employees doesn’t want to see increased on his watch

·         Trying to clearly point out what we cannot do because of position control and what would be able to do with more flexibility

·         System seems to understand this issue; believe regents also coming to know position control situation not good

·         Question of getting state’s attention and get them to change it

·         One example - $1 million generated in differential tuition cannot be used to hire additional faculty as part of initiative to enhance undergraduate experience

·         Could talk about calendar issue

·         Other schools changed time of each session and changed their work year

·         Did not come to this position overnight

·         Need adequate funding as well as management flexibility

·         One without other doesn’t help us very much

·         Got some legislative help with management flexibility last session, but very little relief on position control

·         Very careful about what we say we are going to do in future given resources in place to do it

·         Administration understands that clearly

·         Enrollment plan does not talk about growth

·         Only growth is part-time students

·         Would have to find some ways to do that

·         Focus on things we can do well

·         Not looking to exacerbate in any way an already difficult situation

·         Somehow as a result of tough decisions made in the mid-1990’s have been able to maintain admirable level of quality

·         Will not erode level of quality by trying to stretch too far without ability to deliver

·         All on same page with challenge in place for us in terms of improving our work situation

·         These conversations can iron out misconceptions when you think there is a disconnect between what university appears to be trying to do and how administration sees us doing that

·         Also in department feel good about being in; nice place to come to work

·         But here we are in thinking business, and I feel I have very little time to think

·         So little time to actually reflect on things

·         No time to just follow little problems through to see where they lead

·         Out in industry, was time for productive chatting, not just about getting a task done

·         Here feel like spend most of my time getting tasks done

·         Doesn’t seem like work I would expect to do here

 

Meeting adjourned at 4:58 p.m. without objection.

 

Respectfully submitted by,

 

 

Wanda Schulner

Secretary to the University Senate