December 7, 2000 Meeting Minutes

Academic Council Minutes
2:00-3:30 Hunter Hall

Present: Faye Vowell, Jerry Harmon, Randy Niederman for Katherine Woodard, Larry French, Lou Ollivier, Cynthia Bettison, Nancy Picthall-French, June Decker, Terry Heiner, George Muncrief, Junius Logan, Bertha Benavidez, Deb McCormick for Donna Rees, Al Milligan, Greg Rolfe, Richard Pease, Michael Metcalf, Judith Lawrence, Tony Macias, Julie Miller, Gwen Cassel

Dr. Vowell called the meeting to order at 2:04 p.m.

1. Adjunct Faculty Proposal-
   
   1. Rank and Salary Increase-Some of the comments made on these two issues were as follows:
      • That the adjunct faculty needs ways to be recognized for good work and years of service.
      • That there will be a difference in pay between adjuncts and overloads for full time faculty.
      • There should be no ranks but different levels of compensation.
      • That pay for adjuncts is the most important issue for adjuncts.
      • That there needs to be some type of quality assessment before an increase in pay given.
      • That the adjunct titles could be Instructor, Lecturer I and II to avoid confusion with full-time faculty.
      • Several suggested a matrix plan for adjuncts to be developed.

      After the discussion on this issue, Dr. Vowell stated she would like to implement a raise for the adjuncts beginning in the Fall 2001 semester based on the number of semesters taught by each individual adjunct. The rate of pay will be as follows:

      • 0-6 hours excluding summer school or 0-9 including summer school

        $650-Baccalaureate Degree
        $700-Master’s Degree
        $750-Doctorate/Terminal Degree

      • 7-12 hours excluding summer school or 10-15 including summer school (based on recommendation of department chair)

        $750-Baccalaureate Degree
        $800-Master’s Degree
        $850-Doctorate/Terminal Degree

      • over 12 hours excluding summer school or over 15 hours including summer school (based on recommendation of department chair)

        $850-Baccalaureate Degree
        $900-Master’s Degree
        $950-Doctorate/Terminal Degree

      These amounts should be increased each year by the standard percentage raise given to faculty by the legislature.

      Dr. Vowell will work on obtaining a list of adjuncts and their years of service as an update to this discussion at the next meeting.

   2. Job Security and Professional Stature

      On this issue the council felt:

      that adjuncts should not be given priority when a new faculty position becomes open, but will have first consideration for continuing and new adjunct positions.

      MBOs should not be required of adjuncts.

      that adjuncts are already given access to tuition waivers and faculty development opportunities.

   3. Material and Service Support

      Even though the adjuncts are only temporary staff, we need to give them support. Some departments already provide adjuncts with offices (depending on available space), access to phones, copy cards, etc.

      On the issue of phone pins, it was decided to have one general pin number for all adjuncts in each department or have no pin numbers for adjuncts at all.

      Adjuncts as campus club advisors-Dr. Milligan questioned if there is a legal issue with person who are not full-time employees signing purchase requisitions. If there is no legal issue, the department should have the final say on who can or cannot be a club sponsor.

   4. Grievance Procedure

      The university must provide everything that federal law provides them. The council feels that these section needs clarification on this issue and input from the Human Resource office would be needed for clarification.

   5. Other

      Gwen Cassel would like some type of assessment of adjuncts other than student evaluations.

      Dr. French told of a handbook given to adjuncts in the Social Science department. He will try to get a copy of this handbook to everyone.

2. Funding Priorities Handout for Legislature

   Dr. Vowell handed out the Funding Priorities for fiscal year 2001-2002. The Teacher Prep Appropriations will be used for web based teaching. For the Phelps Dodge/

   Martinez renovations, Dr. Vowell requested that faculty be thinking about renovation ideas.

3. Vending Machines

   Chris Casey is exploring the possibility of granting exclusive rights over the vending machines on campus. A committee is looking at the feasibility of doing this. The money given to WNMU will be given back to Student Government for distribution to the clubs, instead of the money going directly to the clubs.

4. Role of Secretaries

   A committee was formed to decide what the core duties of department secretaries should be. The committee will be composed of June Decker, George Muncrief, Deb McCormick, Kathy Cordo, and Adele Springer. Dr. Vowell would like the committee to meet before the January chair’s meeting. Dr. Decker will convene the meeting.

5. Sabbatical Leave Requests-No requests were received by the committee.
6. Hiring Update-
   
   1. Lorri Stary has resigned. The university will hire someone to finish the compensation study with Human Resource and higher education experience. Charlene Ashburn will continue to head the Human Resource office and at the end of the year a decision will be made on whether to have one or two directors. Several on the council felt the constant turnover in the HR office is a big downfall to the university. Formal education and experience are a big issue when looking for a Human Resource Director.
   2. Faculty/Staff Hiring Procedures:

      Search Committees are are being proposed to be called Screening Committees. The council felt that the faculty positions should still require a search committee, while staff (such as secretarial) positions should be filled by the department or the department hiring authority.

      Dr. Vowell would like for feed back on the Faculty Hiring Procedures. Please e- mail her any comments. Dr. Vowell will get the hiring procedures for staff to you as soon as possible.

      Please send Dr. Vowell advertisements for faculty positions that need to be filled for the 2001-2002 year. She would like to do one ad in the Chronicle of Higher Education instead of several smaller ones.

7. Building Security During Break/Packages Being Opened by Purchasing Department
   
   Dr. French brought up the fact that the buildings need to stay locked during the Holiday Break. Please informed those in your building to make sure that door are locked when leaving the building.

   Dr. French brought up the issue of packages being opened when they are received on campus. He felt there should be no intermediaries between the department and the vendors with whom the order is placed.

8. Grades on Banner
   
   Judith Lawrence passed out a handout to be used for those wishing to enter their own grades into the Banner system.
   
9. Other

   MBO Meetings-Dr. Vowell passed around a copy of her calendar. She asked that department chairs sign up for review of their MBOs.

   20% off sale at the museum.

   Free concert at the Fine Arts auditorium this weekend