April 4, 2002

Dale Clifford announced that students planning to go to Paris this summer were having a bake sale outside the meeting. She urged faculty to contribute.

The World Affairs Council of Jacksonville and UNF will present "Diplomacy in the Age of Terrorism." Ambassador J. Stapleton Roy will be the distinguished lecturer. The program is scheduled for Monday, April 1, 2002 at 7:30 p.m. in the University Center.

James Collom, Division of Sponsored Research and Training, reported on the revision of UNF's policy "Research Involving Human Subjects." The purpose is "... to ensure the University of North Florida is in compliance with federal guidelines by assuring that human beings exposed to research procedures are adequately protected." The written policy and the terms of the review board are under review. The current policy states that no one can serve more than three years on the review board. Because of the learning curve and the need to keep people, that provision has been eliminated. The proposed policy is on the Faculty Association Web site. Faculty should read and voice any concerns to him.

Faculty members on the Parking Committee are soliciting input from faculty. Steve Shapiro, Diane Tanner, and Judy Perkin are committee members and you may send questions, comments or concerns to them or to Kathleen Cohen and she will see that they receive your questions.

Kathy Cohen reminded faculty to please be good citizens and erase blackboards in classrooms.

The Committee has items on today's agenda. The next meeting is March 28 at 10:00 a.m. in FAMA

The Committee met February 14 with Provost Kline and again on February 28. It has one agenda item in today's packet. The next meeting is scheduled for March 14 at 12:00 noon in FAMA.

No report.

The Committee has two items on today's agenda. Members will meet Friday, March 15 at 12:15 a.m. in the Library conference room. The campus climate survey is on the Faculty Association Web site. Dr. Solano urged people to respond. She noted that some of the questions will dovetail with the Strategic Planning Committee questions being asked to gather information for President Hopkins.

No report

Voting for committee members will take place next month. Dr. Patterson noted the list of nominees was on the Faculty Association Web page. He asked for additional nominees from the floor.

Nominees:

Dr. Patterson said he would post the complete list on the Web page this afternoon.

It was moved and seconded that the nominations be closed. The item passed.

Dr. Al-Rubaee reported that the Committee forwarded its results to Provost Kline.

9 candidates for associate professor 8 recommended
4 candidates for full professor 2 recommended
11 candidates for tenure 8 recommended

Provost Kline accepted all the Committees recommendations.

Absent. Ellie Scheirer reported. The Committee met February 28. Members are continuing to revise the application process for summer research grants. They expect one more edit. Members feel the process will be streamlined and more user friendly. The Committee will have its final meeting of the year this month and finalize any business by email.

Dr. Kline reported that Dr. Hopkins is doing very well.

He wanted to clarify one thing about the Promotion and Tenure Committee report. He agreed with all the Committee recommendations except for those pending. Those are all cases where the applications have been withdrawn by the applicants.

Dr. Kline noted that he has been acting president four times. He told faculty they should try it because it is very encouraging. He talked about the enormous support that UNF has in the community. He said that in this position he gets to see the breadth of student accomplishments. He doesn't normally see athletes and clubs, etc. He noted that people in the community hold us in high regard.

He reported that the budget situation is getting a little better. There are funds from the tuition increase and enrollment growth. He feels things are getting better.

Absent. No report.

Ellie Scheirer noted the emails and benefit updates by Stan Swart. They are trying to keep a knowledge base about long term care. She said that it looks as though health care packages will remain the same. There is a bargaining forum scheduled for March 13. The invitation is open to all, not just UFF members. Lunch will be provided. Please RSVP to Vicki Stanton. Nominations are now being accepted for UFF officers and senators for next year. She commented that UFF needs to be very active next year. It promises to be a watershed year.

Judy Solano asked Dr. Kline about the Promotion and Tenure report. She wanted clarification about the positive and negative and pending statistics. She wanted to know if "pending" meant "not approved". She asked specifically about candidates for tenure. Faiz Al-Rubaee said that 11 minus 3 were approved. She asked how can you withdraw from tenure? If you are not approved, aren't you out?

Dr. Kline said it is not quite that simple. He said that some people have credit toward tenure, and they had the opportunity to withdraw their applications.

Faiz Al-Rubai clarified his report. For associate professor there were nine applications, eight were recommended, one was not recommended. The Vice President agreed with all these recommendations. For full professor, there were four candidates. Two received positive recommendations, two were negative. The Vice President agreed with both the positive and the negative recommendations.

Item #1 -- FA 02-02: Submitted by the Executive Committee.

Request from the Department of Nursing to change its designation from Department of Nursing to School of Nursing

Cheryl Frohlich moved the item. Mary Borg wanted to know if there was some criteria that made a department a school. She wondered if any department could decide to call itself a school. Pam Chally responded that usually a school has a well-thought-of baccalaureate program and a masters program. She pointed out that throughout the state, nursing programs are called schools of nursing.

Item passed.

Item #2 -- FA 02-03: Submitted by the Academic Programs Committee

Biology Department

Len Roberson moved the item. The item passed.

Item #3 -- FA 02-04: Submitted by the Academic Programs Committee

Health Science Department

Len Roberson moved the item. The item passed.

Item #4 -- FA 02-05: Submitted by the Academic Standards Committee

Recommendation: Statement of Good Standing

Pal Sen moved the item. The item passed.

Item #5 -- FA 02-06: Submitted by the Faculty Affairs Committee

Instructional Satisfaction Questionnaire

Judy Solano moved the item.

Pat Plumlee asked about Question 4 on page one. He noted that it mentions business practices. He said that some departments have nothing to do with business. Judy Solano said it was an oversight and she could accept striking "business practices" as a friendly amendment.

Pat Plumlee admitted that he did not attend the open hearing held to discuss the questionnaire. He begged indulgence, but felt that since the document is very important, he wanted to ask some questions. He said that, overall, he thought the questionnaire was a good document. Most of the questions were pretty straightforward and he thought students could do a good job of assessment, but he noted his concern with several questions.

Question 11 asks if the professor fosters an environment conducive to critical thinking. Dr. Plumlee said he doesn't think students know what critical thinking is and doesn't think they can assess a professor's competence in this area. He moved that the document be amended to eliminate Question 11. The motion was seconded.

Mary Borg registered her reservation about the critical thinking question. There was considerable discussion by faculty about students' ability to assess this. One person asked if critical thinking skills were discussed and/or taught in general education classes? Another person pointed out that in some places there are entire courses on critical thinking. Others felt is was a good question. The question was called.

The amendment failed by a vote of 18 to 29. Question 11 remains on the questionnaire.

Pat Plumlee wanted to make another minor point. He wondered about the word "challenging" in Question 15. He wondered if challenging meant hard or, possibly, stimulating. There was discussion about the meaning of "challenging" and whether it is a good measure of evaluation. Dale Clifford said that most of the questions were teacher-centered. She liked having a question about engagement of students.

Pat Plumlee moved that "challenging" be replaced by "stimulating". The motion was seconded.

Dale Clifford asked if "intellectually stimulating" might be better? Pat Plumlee accepted that. Mina Baliamoune spoke in favor of retaining "challenging." Dr. Kline said he agreed that the word had some ambiguity, but he thinks it would be good to have some question that would get at the idea. Verna Urbanski suggested using "intellectually challenging." Someone else recommended two questions – one to measure difficulty and one to measure "stimulating".

The question was called. The amendment failed. Question 15 remains as is.

Steve Shapiro called the question on the whole item. The measure failed.

Ellie Scheirer said she wanted to add " not applicable" to the possible answers. She feels there should be a "no response" column. The motion was moved and seconded. There was discussion about this. Scott Hochwald registered his disapproval of the motion. He said he felt the document had structural problems throughout. He especially did not like Question 12 concerning professors treating all students in a consistent manner.

The item passed by a voice vote. "Not applicable" will be added to the answer column.

The question was asked if this document is to become part of the formal evaluation? Judy Solano answered yes, it would be administered with the SUSSAI.

Discussion turned to the overall need for the questionnaire and how it would figure into teacher evaluation and promotion and tenure implications.

Royal Van Horn thought that the administration of the questionnaire should be at the discretion of the department. He wants to make it an elective process. He feels there are times when it is good to use a larger set of questions and times when a simple set is sufficient.

Mary Borg moved that the questionnaire be sent back to Committee to have time to hold another open forum. The motion was seconded.

Terry Bowen spoke against the motion. He pointed out that people had the opportunity to attend the hearing and should have done so. He noted that people probably wouldn't come to the second one. Scott Hochwald said this instrument has too many problems in it to fix it now. Bill Wilson pointed out that if it goes back to Committee, no one will offer any constructive criticism.

Judy Solano said that COBA spent a year doing extensive research – they did focus tests with students and used pilot tests. She doesn't think another test would do much better. Royal Van Horn supported the motion to send the document back to the committee. He said he thinks each department should have its own documents.

Pali Sen said she supports the motion but she wanted to point out that the open hearing was not advertised well – that it only appeared on the Web site.

The question was called to vote on the motion to send the questionnaire back to the committee. The vote failed - 16 to 32.

Scott Hochwald moved to strike Question 12. The motion was seconded. Pat Plumlee asked if it would be better to read ..."treats all students fairly?". The motion failed. Item 12 will not be stricken.

The question was called. The item passed.

Item #6 -- FA 02-07: Submitted by the Faculty Affairs Committee

Support for Administration of SIR Assessment Instrument

Judy Solano spoke in favor of the item.

The Committee recommends that University support for the administration of the SIR assessment instrument be discontinued. Dr. Solano pointed out that the University is no longer administering the instrument. Al Tilley spoke against the motion. He thinks the SIR assessment is a fairly sensitive instrument and gives a much fuller profile of a classroom experience. He thinks UNF should use SIR. Pat Plumlee said if UNF does not discontinue SIR, we would have it in some departments, the SUSSAI in some and the new document in all. Judy Solano pointed out that the SUSSAI is required of all. She said the reason the Faculty Affairs Committee put this on the agenda is to discontinue the use of SIR. UNF does not have the resources to continue to administer the test.

Dale Clifford noted that the SIR is prohibitively expensive. Kathy Hughes talked about the costs to gather, scan, print and report back to departments. She said if people want SIRS, are departments willing to pay? There was more discussion about the cost of the test.

Royal Van Horn said he thinks it is useful to have the instrument available. He thinks it has some good points. He wonders why we want to remove it. Bill Wilson said the test is valid only if it is used by the whole university. If only a few use it, it is no longer a basis for a norm. Pat Plumlee asked if it is such a valuable tool, why not bring it back and use it in lieu of the instrument just passed . Al Tilley said he much prefers SIR but the state requires the use of the SUSSAI.

The motion was made and passed to return the item to the committee for further study.

The meeting adjourned at 1:25.

Respectfully submitted,

_______________________
Barbara Tuck
Secretary