College of Education
Faculty Advisory Council
February 12, 2016
1:30 – 2:30 p.m.
Hill Hall 314
Minutes
Dean Hough called the meeting to order at 1:30 p.m.
Attending: David Hough, Roberta Aram, Deanne Camp, Denise Cunningham, Kim Finch, Annice McLean, Jim Meyer, Eric Sheffield, Becky Swearingen
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Draft Policy – Program Support Request & Request Form: Program Development, Start-up, Redesign, Recruitment & Retention Support
Dean Hough discussed this document with the group. Becky Swearingen had also discussed it previously at the January 22nd COE faculty meeting. After discussion, FAC unanimously approved the document. The document will be posted on the COE website under policies when funds become available.
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COE Student Travel Policy
This policy was approved by the Budget Committee on January 15, 2016. FAC unanimously approved the policy with the stipulation that the dean would add a link to the graduate college to the document. The document will then be posted on the COE website under policies.
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Staff Hiring Plan Update
Becky reported that the document is now in a draft form. The two staff meetings have been rescheduled from March 22, 23, to April 12 and 19. Half of the staff will attend each meeting so most offices can still be covered. Becky Swearingen, Roberta Aram and Cindy MacGregor will attend both meetings to discuss the document, which will be emailed to staff one week prior to the meeting. Both groups will then vote on the document.
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Faculty Hiring Plan Revision Subcommittee Update
Jim Meyer discussed a few items regarding revisions. Since Requests for Positions (RFPs) will start with FAC, he asked if there may be a time when an excessive amount would be turned in. If so, he suggested having a smaller group look at them and then report to FAC. It was recommended to take “Strategic” off the document. RFPs would be submitted FAC as they were initiated. It could be written in the document to include a statement about strategic RFPs that could be looked at every August. Department Heads could be strongly encouraged to submit them after consultation with their faculty. Finally, if there are more than five RFPs submitted at one time instead of each FAC member to have to review all of them, a subcommittee could be formed who would review the documents and report back. After the final document is approved, FAC will be in charge of the document as far as revisions.
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COE Work Groups
The dean met with work group chairs on Tuesday to discuss submitting a summary from their discussions at the January 22, 2016 faculty meeting. Each chair will email the information to the dean and copy Sharon. All of the information will then be merged in one document. It was suggested that FAC would then review the merged document prior to having the work group chairs email the document to their committee and discuss if action plans could be formed on one or two of the ideas.
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Partnerships and Community Engagement
Video: How to Make Public Engagement a Priority at Research Universities
Before viewing the video, Dean Hough informed members that he viewed it previously when Provost Einhellig showed it at one of the ALC meetings. President Smart has also shown it to his leadership group. The video was about being engaged and that part of our jobs should include community / university partnerships. It also stressed the need for IHEs to partner with community organizations, agencies, and groups – especially P-12 schools – as a critical component of engaging communities and adding value to the community in a partnership manner. The video was a dialogue between Sara Hebel from The Chronical of Higher Education and Dr. Robert Jones, President, University at Albany. Highlights included the fact that Higher Ed Institutions need to build public trust and should play a major role to help solve issues. There has been a mistrust with IHEs that they haven’t always been good partners with communities. Communities need to be approached as equal partners. The starting framework includes commitment from the top down at IHEs. It should also include students who are an asset and K-12 school systems. It should be declared a priority to work with K-12; “cradle to career” strategy. FAC members discussed that faculty do need to be more publically engaged and that it fits in with the university’s public affairs mission. It needs to be articulated better, possibly through promotion and tenure documents.
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Request for Position
Denise Cunningham reported that she had completed a RFP quite a while ago and questioned why it hadn’t been brought up by the department. She is going to look in to it and follow up with the next steps.
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Assignment
The dean is going to email FAC information regarding the Missouri Learning Standards which will replace the Common Core State Standards when the State Board of Education implements them for grades K-12 in the 2016-17 school year. The State Board was asked to solicit comments and feedback regarding the proposed standards. The dean will send a response next Friday, February 19th, and would like everyone to look at the document and email him any comments by Wednesday, February 17th. Copy Sharon on the email.
The meeting was adjourned at 2:30 p.m.
Submitted by Sharon Lopinot