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MINUTES UMKC FACULTY SENATE
January 21, 1997 (Approved 2/4/97)
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3:00 PM Jean Braun called the meeting to order.
3:05 Minutes of January 21, 1997 were approved as written.
Role of the ombudsman: Dr. Gary Widmar, Deb Lewis, Nate
Chouteau
UMKC Ombudservice pamphlets and longitudinal study sheets were distributed
to the Senators. The student ombudsman position was created in 1991 to answer
questions concerning a variety of topics. The Vice Chancellors met and agreed to
contribute money to create this position. Since there was a vacancy in Vice
Chancellor Widmar’s office, the position was housed in that office, though it is
a campus-wide position. It is administrated by Deb Lewis.
The services of the ombudsman are advertised through, posters, flyers, etc.,
particularly in the Student Services building. It is also promoted on the UMKC
home-page, under the “Help” selection, “New employees and faculty orientation.”
This position requires a person with strong interpersonal skills, customer
service experience, and an understanding of the process of “going to college”.
The majority of questions come through phone calls initiated by students. A
small portion of the calls come from staff, faculty, and the community. The
ombudsman does not take on the role of negotiator or arbitrator. Instead, he/she
refers people to the correct locale. There is very little contact with faculty
members. The ombudsman person can be involved in an appeal. In these cases, it
is the ombudsman’s role to make sure issues are correctly identified. Many calls
to the ombudsman are anonymous. More undergraduates than graduate students use
the service.
English Proficiency:
Mel George wants a finished copy of the recommended policy by end of month.
A friendly amendment was passed on Section 1, the first sentence of the first
paragraph. The sentence will read: “After the effective date of this policy, all
persons who are applying for or appointed to a regular faculty position
... “. Two exceptions were made to the recommendations: Section 2, No.3, p.3.
Academic Affairs wants the annual report kept on each campus and not sent to
Central Administration; Section 1, No.1, p.1. Hiring of faculty. It was not
recommended that a Dean pick the second person to make an informal evaluation of
a candidate. Instead, the recommendation will state that the second person to
review the candidate will be selected by Dr. Agapito Mendoza’s office
(Affirmative Action/Academic Personnel). In recommendation No.2, p.2, if either
a dean or designee felt that a candidate has problems which affect student
learning, there was to be an appointment of a “3rd person” to review the
candidate’s English language proficiency. This clause was removed from the
process. Instead, the candidate will be directed to provide a speak score and/or
go through a training session in English. There was much discussion about
skipping this third person who was proficient in English as a second language.
It was moved and seconded that the Faculty Senate accept the policy with the
above changes. The motion passed. Should the attached form be part of the
policy? It was decided not to include the form at this time. The questionnaire
will be adjusted and the Senate will look at it later. It was agreed to strike
the first three questions on the form. The vote on this recommendation (what to
include on the form) was 17 ayes, 4 opposed, and 1 abstention.
Chancellor’s Memorandum No.77:
Les Chafetz distributed a memorandum he had written concerning Chancellor’s
Memorandum No.77. Senators still did not have a current copy of Memorandum
No.77, but one was found and it was copied and distributed. The current document
and Dr. Chafetz’s comments will be discussed at the next business meeting.
Discussion of agenda items for UMKC/IFC Faculty/Curators' Breakfast
meeting (March 20-21) when it meets in Kansas City
This meeting is being held in Rolla, not in Kansas City. We will have time
to discuss this before the May meeting.
Faculty Welfare Committee:
Rich Hamilton passed out a table that noted leaves taken by departments from
1994 through 1997. The table generated by Central Administration did not
accurate reflect leaves taken on our campus. Even the figures our own campus
gathered do not appear to be accurate. Since Human Resources has to mark the
PAF’s with leave information, it was thought that this may be a better source
for these statistics. The committee will be meeting on February 12, at 7:30AM
(First Watch in Westport).
The Future of Tenure: Robert Unger has sent the Faculty Welfare Committee a
disk that has 150 pages of annotations to articles discussing the demise of
tenure. Many of the articles cited have already been researched by the Faculty
Welfare Committee.
Administrative Affairs: No report. The review of deans
process is moving forward. Letters to the faculty will be coming out shortly.
The question came up again as to why Deans are reviewed and not other
administrators?
COPE Representative: The Faculty Senate needs to appoint a
replacement for Pat McSwegin. This body will meet with Dr. Marvin Querry to
discuss its charge. This involves selecting from each unit, one or two
committees for which a person would be a COPE evaluator. The COPE report is read
and the committee spends about one-half day reviewing it and then it writes up a
report. Khosrow Sohraby volunteered to be the representative. This is an annual
appointment. The first COPE meeting is tomorrow from 3:30-5:30 in Mag Conference
Room in the Bloch School.
4:45pm Adjournment
Present: Greg Arling, Jean
Braun, Jane Carl, Les Chafetz, Robert Cleary, Ray Coveney, Alfred Esser, William
Frederickson, Rich Hamilton, David Harris, Joseph Hughey, Kathy Loncar, James
McKinley, Janet McKinney, Dennis Pyszczynski, John Rapley, David Schwarzer,
Khosrow Sohraby, Nancy Stancel, Hans Uffelmann, Jakob Waterborg, David
Yourtee
Excused: Valerie Blanco, Rafael Espejo-Saavedra , Steve
Krantz, , Gary Pettett, Jan Russell
Absent: Julie Cheslik, Barbara
Glesner-Fines, Ed Mills, Jerry Place
Respectfully,
Nancy D. Stancel
Secretary, Faculty Senate
© UMKC Faculty Senate