University of Nebraska Kearney

Minutes of the Meeting of the Deans Council
Tuesday, April 10, 2007 – 9 a.m.
Warner Conference Room

PRESENT: Finnie Murray, Lois Flagstad, Bruce Forster, Frank Harrold, William Jurma, Ed Scantling, Kenya Taylor, Janet Wilke

GUESTS:   Kim Schipporeit

1. Kim Schipporeit RE Class Schedule Production:   Kim discussed changes which were made to the fall schedule and the timeline for early registration. 
   
2. Course Releases for Chairs:  Frank discussed questions he had regarding the process of finding a new chair for a department and how course reduction should be granted.  Discussion was held.
   
3. Selection of General Studies Council:   Frank distributed a portion of the minutes from the March 1, 2007, Faculty Senate meeting regarding changes to the General Studies program and also the General Studies Governance Policy, 1993.  He stated that the governance policy and the Faculty Senate minutes don’t coincide.  Finnie stated that there is a new policy in place that needs to be updated on the website, once the current governance policy is in place the Deans can discuss again. 
   
4. Faculty Leave of Absence approval policy from Varner Hall:  Frank explained that the Council of Chairs felt the new policy from Central regarding the timeline for approval of Leave of Absences does not give them adequate planning time for scheduling.  Finnie stated he would discuss the concerns raised with Provost Pratt. 
   
5. Student Attendance and Conduct Policies:  Lois distributed the Student Attendance and Conduct Policies with changes.  The black wording shows the current policy and the red shows the changes the committee is suggesting be made.  There will be a Student Attendance Policy Committee formed.  Lois stated that when the committee is formed their instructions will be to concentrate on cleaning up language and working with John Lakey and Jerry Fox regarding travel liability issues. 
   
6. Student Life Updates:  Lois discussed student issues, furniture bids for the new residence halls and freedom of speech on facebook accounts.
   
7. Pandemic Flu Updates:  Frank distributed and discussed handouts titled Pandemic Flu Levels used by Emergency Operations Team, Avian Flu Plan Human Resources-UNK (Draft), and Avian Flu Plan Emergency Operation Team-UNK, Draft. 
   
8. Approval of Minutes:  The minutes from the March 6 and the March 27 Deans Council Meetings were approved unanimously.

Other Items:  The Deans Council Meeting scheduled for Tuesday, May 8, 2007, will be changed to Thursday, May 10, 2007. 

Lois and Kim gave a brief overview on the UNK Student Academic Dishonesty Policy.  Discussion was held and it was suggested the policy needs to be reevaluated by the faculty.   

There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned.  The next meeting of the Deans will be on Tuesday, April 24, 2007 at 9 a.m. in the Warner Conference Room.