Minutes of the Meeting of the Deans Council
September 26, 2006 – 9 a.m.
Warner Conference Room
PRESENT: Finnie Murray, Lois Flagstad, Bruce Forster, Frank Harrold, William Jurma, Ed Scantling, Kenya Taylor and Janet Wilke
GUESTS: Ken Nikels, Jerry Fox, Peter Levitov, John Lakey & Dixie Larson
- Ken Nikels RE APR Process and Honorarium: Ken discussed the possible need to increase the APR honorarium. He reported that he had collected information from our peer institutions and as expected the APR process and honorarium are different for each institution. He found that 50% of our peers do not do program reviews in the traditional sense, and the other half have various forms of an APR process and honoraria. Ken discussed that some of them only do internal reviews, some have no APR process at all, some do internal/annual reviews as part of the HLC/AQIP process and some only do external reviews for new programs, and in that case don’t have a campus visit. He also noted that a reviewer is paid $500 to look at an electronic portfolio. For those that do utilize external reviewers, the honoraria range from $600 to $1000. Another point Ken discussed was that since we have a lot of departments and programs now on an accreditation cycle we might look at changing our 5-year cycle. Discussion was held on raising the honorarium. It was the consensus to raise the honorarium to $800 with the potential to supplement from the Deans.
- Rank and Tenure Guidelines Clarification Committee Issues: Frank discussed that the committee is making progress and is on section 6, The Criteria for Tenure and Promotion. He reported there was an issue raised regarding section 6, part F. It currently reads: “For promotion or appointment to associate professor, the faculty member should possess the terminal degree (or its appropriate equivalent) and present clear evidence of significant contributions, consistent with one of the standards in VI.D. above, beyond the level of accomplishment for promotion to assistant professor. In addition, promotion to associate professor normally requires five years of full-time experience in college-level teaching or its equivalent and three years in the rank of assistant at UNK. The year of the promotion review process counts in meeting these requirements.” The proposed wording is as follows: “For promotion or appointment to associate professor, the faculty member should possess the terminal degree (or its appropriate equivalent) and present clear evidence of significant contributions, consistent with one of the standards in VI.D. above, beyond the level of accomplishment for promotion to assistant professor. In addition, promotion to associate professor normally requires five years of full-time experience at the assistant professor level in college-level teaching or its equivalent and three years in the rank of assistant professor at UNK. The year of the promotion review process counts in meeting these requirements.” Discussion was held on wording changes to the second sentence and they are as follows: “In addition, promotion to associate professor requires a minimum of five years of full-time experience at the assistant professor level in college-level teaching or its equivalent and with three years in the rank of assistant professor at UNK.” This sentence was also added: “Any exception to this requirement must be agreed upon and incorporated into the faculty member’s initial letter of appointment.”
- Programs of Excellence: Finnie reminded everyone that there was a meeting scheduled to rank the Programs of Excellence proposals on October 5, 2006, and that he had sent out a note with the proposals attached. Also, remember to show how your proposals follow the Strategic framework.
- Pay as you go Summer Session & Tuition Flexibility for circumstances like Dual Enrollment: Finnie reported that the proposal regarding summer school had been taken to the Vice Chancellors for their review. Discussion was held.
- Dual Enrollment Classes for High School Students: Finnie reported Kenya, Dusty and Mary met to discuss a pilot program to teach high school students. The proposal is for one or two faculty members to teach a course by Distance Education and invite students across the state to take these classes. Financial Aid is willing to offer a tuition discount for the High School students.
- Jerry Fox RE World Affairs Conference: Jerry discussed the proposed format changes to the World Affairs Conference. Discussion was held.
- Peter Levitov, Special Council for Immigration, RE Hiring Foreign Faculty: Peter Levitov, Special Assistant for General Counsel of Immigration, explained guidelines for hiring foreign faculty.
- Other items:
Discussion was held on the minutes of the September 12, 2006, Deans Council Meeting. The minutes were approved with several slight modifications with all present in favor.
There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned. The next meeting of the Deans will be on Tuesday, October 5, 2006 at 9:00 a.m. in the Warner Conference Room.