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MINUTES OF THE UMKC FACULTY SENATE
October 21, 1997 (Approved 11/18/97)
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3:00 PM The meeting was called to order by Chair, Kathy
Loncar
Minutes Minutes of October 7, 1997 were approved with minor
corrections.
Announcements
*President Manuel Pacheco has approved the second honorary degree to be
awarded at the Mid-Year Commencement in December.
*The Faculty Senate will represented by Nancy Stancel on
the search committee for the position of Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs.
*Eight faculty members agreed to be nominated for possible selection on one
of the four subcommittees of the NCAA self study which will begin in December.
*The annual United Way Campaign starts tomorrow, October 22, 1997. the
chairs of the Staff Assembly and the Faculty Senate are co-chairs of the
campaign. We are hoping to increase our level of participation this year. The
unit with the highest level of participation in the 1997 campaign will receive a
“thank you” reception and a plaque. Senators were encouraged to remind
colleagues that they can direct their dollars to charities and agencies of their
choice.
*The plan to implement a system-wide e-mail delivery software had been
apparently been put on hold. It was understood that the software had been chosen
and an implementation schedule developed.
Old Business
*New Senators - The Chair reminded the Senate that we need to have senators
seated from the School Pharmacy and the School of Law. The Senate agreed
unanimously that the Chair should invite The Coordinated Engineering Program to
seat two senators beginning in Winter Semester 1998.
*Attendance at Senate meetings - The Chair reminded senators that attendance
at senate meetings is important. The administration is making a significant
effort to include faculty representatives from the senate in campus wide
planning and decision-making. We need active senators willing to help with the
representation of the full faculty, so attendance at senate meetings is
increasingly important. The chair reminded senators to call if they are not able
to attend.
*Standing Committees - The Senate’s standing committees will be chaired this
year by the following:
Ed Mills - Academic Issues Committee
Valerie Blanco - Faculty Welfare Committee
Alfred Esser - Administrative Issues Committee
Senators were encouraged to serve on one of these committees and chairs were
reminded that any faculty member is welcome to serve on a committee not just
senators. Each of the committees was given a folder with the documents relevant
to the issues needing to be addressed by each committee.
*Ad Hoc Committees - The Senate will need to form two ad hoc committees this
year. One committee needs to consider issues related to the uses of technology
on campus and to interact with and respond to the work of the Information
Technology Executive Council (ITEC) which is currently developing a master plan
for technology for UMKC. The second committee will serve as a focus group in the
North Central Accreditation self study which will be continuing for the next two
years. Any faculty member interested in serving on either of these committees
should call the Senate Office at 235-1027 to volunteer. The chair will welcome
any willing participants.
*ITEC Update - The master planning process is still in the SWOT analysis
stage in which strengths and weaknesses, threats and opportunities are being
assessed for all components, processes, and employee groups involved. In the
discussion, senators expressed a need for caution in selecting software to be
supported campus-wide and in the decisions about upgrading of hardware and
software.
*North Central Accreditation - Joan Gallos, the coordinator
of the NCA self study will be invited to visit with the Senate in an up-coming
meeting to provide an overview of the self study process. The senators were
given a draft of the plan of the self study.
*Health Care Coverage - Senators expressed concern that employees on our
campus may not get information about the health care changes for 1998 in a
timely fashion. The chair will invite Mike Paden from the Systems Benefits
Office to come to the next senate meeting to provide the rationale for whatever
changes have been made. that we have not been involved in the decision making
process on health care issues.
*Thank You to Jean Braun - The chair read and circulated a letter for
signatures from the entire Senate to Jean Braun, who served
ably and successfully as chair of the Senate from May 1994 to May of 1997. The
letter included the text of the resolution of commendation read into the minutes
of the Senate’s previous meeting.
*Evaluation of Deans and Directors - The Senate considered the process of
evaluating three deans and/or directors each year. It is important to know how
valuable the evaluation conducted by the Senate is to the administration and to
the dean or director being evaluated. It is also time to review the form used
and the process of collecting and distributing the information. The
Executive Dean, Marvin Querry will be asked at the next meeting
with administration to discuss these issues with the Senate.
New Business
*RFP’s for a UMKC Travel Management Services - An RFP will soon be
circulated to interested agencies to provide the services of a travel agency on
campus. Two Senators had done a review of the RFP and expressed some concerns
about the document and the plans to “outsource” this process. The most pressing
concern was about the value of an on campus travel agency to faculty. The
quality of travel arrangements for faculty, guest speakers, and others using the
service was questioned. The Senate was given a handout prepared by Jerry Hornig
for presentation to the deans and directors explaining the rationale for the
RFP. The Senate will monitor this process carefully.
*Late Textbook Orders - The Chair shared with the Senate that a concern
about the number of late textbook orders has been expressed by the
administration recently. The Chair had been provided with a collection of 345
“late” orders from faculty for Fall Semester 1997. An analysis of these “late”
orders indicated a need to meet with the bookstore to develop some mutual
understanding of the processes and factors involved in getting texts selected
and on the shelves at the beginning of each semester. The Chair will arrange a
meeting with the bookstore personnel involved and faculty representatives. The
Chair expressed disappointment in the response of the administration to this
problem. There was more concern about fixing the blame on the faculty than in
working together to fix the problem.
*Intercampus Collaboration Program - There is a program approved recently by
the IFC to encourage intercampus collaboration among faculty members. There are
three categories of eligible activities: intercampus faculty retreats,
intercampus colloquia, and faculty exchanges. The Vice President for Academic
Affairs has a $50,000 set aside to fund proposals for this academic year.
Interested faculty should address inquiries to the Academic Affairs Office.
*Educational Assistance Effort by Staff Assembly - The Senate Chair met with
two representatives of the Staff Assembly regarding the possibility of bringing
the issue of expanded educational assistance for system employees to the new
president. IT was decided that President Pacheco should be presented this
request late next summer or early fall since he is new and is busy establishing
his administration. This academic year will be spent gathering data about
similar programs in comparable universities. The UMKC Staff Assembly will work
with the staff assemblies on the other campuses and have asked if the Faculty
Senate would help with the drafting of the proposal when it is time to prepare
it.
Adjourned 5:00PM
Attendance - Not available
Respectfully Submitted,
Nancy D. Stancel
Secretary, Faculty Senate
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