Minutes of the Meeting of the Deans Council
Tuesday, December 5, 2006 – 9 a.m.
Warner Conference Room
PRESENT: Lois Flagstad, Bruce Forster, Frank Harrold, William Jurma, Ed Scantling, Kenya Taylor, Janet Wilke, Dusty Newton and Mary Sommers
ABSENT: Finnie Murray
GUESTS: Ken Nikels and Cheryl Bressington
- Dusty Newton RE Undergraduate and Recruitment Updates: Dusty reported they had to cancel all of the "Go for the Gold" receptions due to low numbers. He also reported that they are starting to see an increased number of high school student groups visiting campus due to Eduquest sponsoring this program. Mary and Dusty recently visited with the Lexington and North Platte high schools regarding the new "Kearney Bound" program. Dusty also reported that the Sisler Room is being renovated.
- Annual Evaluations of Faculty on phased Retirement: Ken discussed that he had an inquiry from Don Kaufmann regarding whether or not student evaluations are still needed for half-time faculty and also when faculty members are on sabbatical. Discussion was held and it was decided that if they will be receiving any kind of an increase in salary they should be evaluated. Another question was can these people serve on committees--such as Promotion and Tenure Committee? It was decided that as long as they have tenure this would be acceptable. It was also stated that possibly the evaluation process should be inserted in the phased retirement contract.
- Gender and Ethnic representation on Promotion and Tenure Committees: Cheryl Bressington explained that there is a need to make sure when setting up committees that you make sure there is the proper gender and ethnic representation.
- Teaching Continuity Committee Report & Pandemic Flu Update: Frank distributed and discussed the "Recommendations on Scheduling Policy in the Event of Avian Influenza Pandemic" handout.
- Faculty participation in grant-writing skills workshops: Kenya announced she has money for faculty to attend a grant writing skills workshop so please let your faculty know to get in touch with her office. These grants are for partnering in small business and she would like to send some people in the spring to Washington, D.C.
- Longer hours in the Library (or elsewhere) for finals week: Janet reported that the Library will not have longer hours and has asked the Library staff to take exit counts. She reported most of the students requesting longer hours are from off-campus.
There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned. The next meeting of the Deans will be on Wednesday, January 17, 2007 at 9 a.m. in the Warner Conference Room.