SOS Steering
Committee Meeting 1/11/2002
Minutes
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Attending: Pam Crowell (Biol), Beth Neal-Beliveau
(Psych), Ray Chin (CSCI), Kathy Johnson (Chair), Jon Luke (Math), Fritz
Kleinhans (Sec), Joe Kuczkowski (Assoc Dean), David Malik (Chem), Kim Nguyen
(Assist Dean), Gautam Vemuri (Phys); Kathryn Wilson (Assoc Dean)
______________________________________________________________________________
Chair Kathy Johnson opened the meeting at 10:30 AM.
We are missing a Geology Rep. KJ will check out.
IUPUI Faculty Council Report (KJ):
The IUPUI 'One Start Web Portal' was demonstrated (<onestart.iu.edu>. It provides a customized entry point for members of the IUPUI community. Among other things, it is supposed to provide a better way to maintain contact with people as they transition, e.g. from student to alumnus. KW reported problems getting in..
Enrollment Data: Platter reported that enrollment is up 3.6% and credit hours, 2.6 %, this Spring. The Med School has recently reduced the credit of some of their courses to get in line with national trends. Science is up overall for Spr 2002 although Math and Psych are both down.
A revised plan for the future of Allied Health Sciences was presented. The plan calls for the AHS departments to find new homes within other schools after which AHS will cease to exist as a school. The final decision is up to Bepko.
Platter updated the faculty on our Student Housing issues. We will continue to press the urgency and appropriateness of our housing needs. The hope is that the current hold on student housing reflects the generally contentious nature of the current legislative session and will be resolved in our favor in a timely fashion. The Student Center continues to move forward.
The SOS need to find a Unit Rep to the Faculty Council. A volunteer is needed.
Academic Deans
Meeting (DS):
A shortage of 5 M$ is projected for the 2002-2003 IUPUI year. This will be 'paid for in several ways including a 0.39% cut (=74k$) in this years SOS budget and a reduction in computer life cycle funds. The current expectation is that 3% salary raises can be protected.
School Finances (DS):
David wants Departments to look carefully at the Income/Expense Tables he has circulated. These show which Depts earn more than they spend and vice versa. David would like to visit Dept Meetings this spring to talk about these budget calculations and issues.
Summary of Essential School of Science Activities (DS): David also briefly discussed some of the issues he thought important for us as a school. Efficiency of teaching was mentioned, by which DS means (i) remove unnecessary material from courses and (ii) remove unnecessary courses from degree programs. He also stressed the importance of experienced teachers to the school, particularly in our gateway courses and, more generally, in all our courses.
(KJ) Mid semester course evaluations are being developed. The objective is to provide for more rapid feedback to instructors so that problems and issues can be addressed in a timely fashion. A pilot study is in progress (or so the secretary thinks he heard). The plan, eventually, is to use the OnCourse system to poll the students for their input. The system will be set up to protect the identity of the students responding. OnCourse will be used to avoid the use of valuable class time.
OnCourse is currently used by about 50% of the faculty. JK expressed the concern that students are sending email via OnCourse which faculty are not reading. OnCourse email can not automatically be forwarded to faculty (at their regular address). KJ reports that it is possible to get a daily message reporting OnCourse email activity.
Spring Faculty Assembly: We plan to have Mark Brenner and Nancy Chism present in early April. Everyone thought we have a good presentation at our Fall Assembly by KW and VB but we are concerned about low faculty attendance at these Faculty Assemblies.
Administrative
Evaluations (KJ):
1. DS has agreed that we may use material from his just completed University administrative review and not try to re-gather the same data over again.
2. We will use a short list of open ended questions for chairs and assoc deans.
3. There continues to be concern about the appropriate frequency for these Chairs and Deans reviews. The ByLaws call for a review every two years. There is some sentiment for less frequent reviews. We will put this on the Faculty Assembly agenda for discussion.
4. KJ has looked at possible mechanisms for gathering the review data. It could be done using the Web but would require the assignment of special passwords to the faculty who might question their anonymity even so.
5. We decided to email the questions to faculty. They can cut and past the questions into their word processors and print out their responses which can then be submitted by mail. The Deans will be asked to provide thumbnail activity reports to be distributed with the questionnaire.
6. The goal is to complete all the above by Spring Break. At our next Steering Committee Meeting we will work out the details of 'processing' the faculty reviews.
The meeting ended at 11:45.
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FW Kleinhans
SOS Faculty Secretary
1-11-2002