Call to Order

Senators in Attendance: Kaye Biddy, V.P.A.A. Phil Buckhiester, Noel Campbell, Carl Cavalli, Barry Friedman, Robert Fuller, Anne Gaillard, Ahmad Ghafarian, President Nathaniel Hansford, Kristi Hislope, Aaron Lu, D. Brian Mann, C. Michael Powell, Bud Reiselt, Andy Schaffer, Bill Shaw, Jeff Sommers, Ann Stucke, Ann Sumners, C.E.O. Jimmy Woods

September 12, 2002 Minutes

President's Report: Dr. Nathaniel Hansford

The President passed out leadership pins and gave and update on the leadership initiative.He then mentioned the Faculty/staff leadership roundtable under Bob Thomas' direction. Comments have been very positive, he said, adding that the group has 12 members, that there have been more applications than places on the roundtable.He then explained that those who have not served but would like to should be able to in the future - the opportunity will carry over.

Hansford then explained that there are faculty/staff grants in process for leadership initiatives, and that student groups too can explore the initiative through ODK under the direction of Donna Gessell and Bob Thomas. In addition, said Hansford, there is a leadership group. He also discussed the Presidential Scholars class to be offered in the spring by Bob Thomas. Apparently, it is a 4000-level class in which there has been a lots of interest, and under its rubric, he explained, students can also apply for 6 summer scholarships in service leadership.

Scott Irwin inquired as to who could be approved for what kind of project, andthe President answered that anyone could apply, but it had to be with a leadership-related project in mind.

The President then pointed out that the new Strategic Planning Committee had met last month and would be meeting again today. Its first issue of discussion will be the duration of the new strategic plan.Explaining that the current plan ends in 2003 and that our other plans have been 2-year plans, he indicated that the committee is considering a plan of longer duration. The decision will be made today, he said, remarking that a 2-year plan is more like operating plan or a "to do" list, while a 5-year plan allows for more vision.

Once the committee has decided on a duration, he said, it will set up subcommittees to look at the mission statement, institutional core values, and planning assumptions, both internal & external, using old plans to help shape the new ones.Once these documents are in place, he went on, the committee will take input from all elements of the university, setting up subcommittees to correspond with the following organisms: Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, Physical Environment & Fiscal Affairs, and Community & External Affairs. The purpose of these subcommittees, Hansford explained, is to assist in the free flow of information. Everyone will have access to the information, he said, and anyone can provide information to any subcommittee, because all information will end up back with the Strategic Planning Committee. There will also be public forums.

The information will be used to determine what the institution will look in 3, 4, or 5 years, and will amount to 8-12 "strategic directives" (vision statements) that address faculty concerns and offer a portrait of potential faculty and student bodies. These directives will then go back to individual academic units, who will then develop more detailed individual strategic plans. It's a new two-tiered procedure, said Hansford, explaining that unit strategic plans will be more concrete and action oriented, but that they must augment the institution's more general strategic plan. He then said that some units already have such action plans; some don’t, and all should.

Individual plans will then be reviewed to see if they fit the scope of the institution's plan, the President continued. He hopes to have the plan completed by June of 2003, assuming 6 weeks of subcommittees gathering information, getting the general goals out to units by end of January, and units spending 2 months to develop their individual plans.

There are two things to remember, explained Hansford: One, that there is no particular "recipe" for these plans, but that ours has to fit our institution. The process, he said, is as important as the plan.The other thing is that there’s a lot of ambiguity & flexibility built into these plans - dynamic documents that will change in response to exigencies. It is important, he declared, to seize this time to see where we will position ourselves rather than be pushed along by events.

C.E.O.’s Report: Dr. Jimmy Woods

Woods apologized for making the Senate miss the guitar program, recommending attendance at this evening's 7:30 performance. Then, reprimanding those senators who don’t attend meetings or ask to be excused, he asked that we please let executives know if they are going to be absent.Effective 10/7, said Woods, Donna Gessell has resigned from the Senate. There will need to be an at-large election, he explained, as well as selection procedures to replace her on 2 committees: Academic Advisory Committee and the Committee on Committees. In the latter case, he continued, we have to replace her with a senator, so a nomination/election procedure must take place first.Before next meeting, then, an election will take place to replace Gessell on the Senate, after which we can replace her on the Committee on Committees.

Agenda Item (Old Business) – Motion to appoint a committee to study ‘Cultural Events Credit’ followed by a motion on ‘Cultural Events’ (if the preceding motion fails): Dr. Jimmy Woods

Woods reviewed and Mann reread the motions (cf. 9/12 minutes). Woods asked for discussion on the motion to remand the proposal to committee. Bud Reiselt recommended against the motion, a vote was taken, and the motion to remand failed. Woods then took up the motion on Cultural Affairs itself (cf. archived motions) and asked for discussion. Bud Reiselt related discussions that took place in his department, adding that he thought the concept was great, but that we should let instructors determine whether or not to require attendance at cultural events. With no further discussion, a vote followed, and the motion was defeated unanimously.

Announcements and Adjournment:

Amid positive comments both on and off the record about the meeting's brevity, and in lieu of further announcements, Woods adjourned the meeting at 12:56 P.M.
 

Respectfully submitted,

D. Brian Mann, Secretary, NGCSU Faculty Senate