College of Education
Leadership Council
June 4, 2020
9:00 – 10:30 am
Agenda
Zoom
In attendance: David Hough, Russ Brock, Jef Cornelius-White, Denise Cunningham, Kim Dubree, Janice Duncan, Karen Engler, Deanna Hallgren, Stephanie Huffman, Dennis Lancaster, Travis Marler, Juli Panza, Barri Tinkler, Ron Snodgrass, Rose Lee, Sharon Lopinot
Dean Hough welcomed everyone and reminded the group that Sydni Moore, our shared graduate assistant with University Communications, is still available to work on social media for programs as needed. Department heads agreed to work through the Dean’s Office to request Sydni’s assistance with projects. Dr. Cunningham pointed out that CEFS is completing its web redesign with her help.
The Dean pointed out the need to revise / create COE policies in support of University policies specifically tied to issues created by the coronavirus pandemic. He said the University is not currently changing the Faculty Workload Policy, but department heads expressed a need to address several COE policies. Dr. Lancaster said West Plains changed the faculty workload policy on their campus as of the 2019 Fall semester. The workload for all fulltime ranked faculty at West Plains increased to 30 credit hours of teaching each academic year plus 6 equated hours for advising, department, and service activities. He did say this took a lot of work and was done for budget reasons. Anyone hired Fall 2019 on must adhere to the policy. Faculty prior to that were allowed to opt in or out with specifics. Dean Hough noted that COE will continue to follow currently University and COE policies on faculty workloads but agreed to broach the issue of the COE workload policy with the Faculty Advisory Committee. He said if the College chose to change its workload policy it should only be done temporarily, semester by semester until the COVID-19 crisis and budget cuts are managed. This would be consistent with our new polices such as “Return to Campus,” for example.
The department heads responded:
Stephanie: Yes, we need to adjust the workload policy.
Denise: Yes, we have grounds to look at this since Faculty Advisory Council stated that they would rather see more classes taught (temporarily) rather than take a pay cut or lose a faculty position.
Jef: Overall, the idea of flexibility within the college makes sense.
Barri: Yes, we need to manage the crisis.
The Dean asked Juli and Kim if they had any employees who would rather become part-time and assigned 20 or 30 hours, instead of 40 hours per week, since several staff in the Office of Professional Education Services have already chosen that option prior to the pandemic. Both said they thought they did, in fact, have some staff who would like this option in lieu of a furlough or layoff. The Child Development Center and Greenwood Laboratory School must manage their budgets based on revenues generated from tuition and necessary expenditures. Both must break even. Deanna said the CDC has to follow guidelines that are required regarding the ratio of staff to children. Janice said she can hire fewer part-time faculty at Greenwood if student numbers are down.
Prior to LC, the Dean meet with Rhonda Bishop regarding the Bear in Every Building project. After the BIEB program was featured in the MSU Alumni Magazine last month, COE alumni began contacting us expressing their interest in participating. The Dean said we received 137 requests over a two-week period. The goal is to have 2,020 BIEBs by the end of 2020. Some buildings will have multiple Bears. Dean Hough and Rhonda agreed to focus on recruitment efforts throughout the summer, as this might be an opportune time. The Dean asked LC if they would commit to this and work with Rhonda. Everyone agreed to do so. Marian Green had been entering the new BIEB information, but will be turned over to Rose and Sharon. Sharon and Rose will also be working with Rhonda as far as assembling packets, and anything else needed. Bear packets could be put in boxes and delivered to school districts throughout the summer months. Russ said ATLL works with teachers all the time and could recruit through their workshops. The Dean will email Rhonda after this meeting to let her know we will work with her and what he would like to see happen. Sharon will copy the email to LC members after it is sent.
The Dean has everyone’s reopening plans which were also sent to LC members. Some still need some tweaking. Send him and copy Sharon updated plans if you make any changes. Kim asked if the date for everyone to be in the building fulltime is July 20 or 27. Dean Hough said we will use July 27; however, all units need to have their reopening plans posted on doors by week’s end.
Janice wants to have kindergarten orientation the week of August 3. She will send her information via email to David Hall and copy the Dean.
An email was sent to some people regarding Welcome Week. Juli will check it out further and get back to the Dean. She thought they were asking for virtual help.
Send any information for the next Hough Post to Sharon tomorrow. It will go out early next week.
Juli said Summer Visit Days are June 26 (virtual) and July 24 (in person). She has had some faculty volunteer to participate on for the virtual session. Katie Hash will moderate.
Sharon, Rose and Barri have been working on the COE Policy Library. Summer school policies need to follow the breakeven plan developed a number of years ago. After summer enrollment numbers are provided, department heads may need to adjust some PAFs. Some policies need to be tweaked due to COVID-19 changes. The Dean asked for suggestions on how to proceed.
- Put in Share Point and let everyone comment on them.
- Since FAC is the first group to review/approve policies, see if they will meet and look at them.
The Dean and Barri met with Clif and Dr. Einhellig to discuss future directions with CAEP. The Dean recommended the University drop CAEP immediately, citing the extraordinary amount of resources expended each year. He and Barri will survey faculty and present to the BOG at the June meeting. Past surveys, formal and informal, have indicated almost unanimous support for NOT continuing with CAEP. Denise stated that many national organizations have pulled away from CAEP. They will include this information in their document.
Around the Zoom Table
Barri Tinkler
The Provost asked colleges to look at summer/fall courses and see where students could not get in due to class size limits. He would like to know how these students could be added.
Russ Brock
He is in the process of checking on references for an administrative assistant applicant they are looking at hiring. He is also close to having the professional developer position posted.
Stephanie Huffman
Two of her new faculty members are coming in June to look for housing.
Ron Snodgrass
He and Janice are meeting with David Hall next week regarding the reopening of Greenwood. They are looking at what the school day will be like. The Dean asked them if practicum students and student teachers could be placed there in the fall. Also, if observations room could be used for students that do not want to be in with the students. Janice said they could work with them, but depends on how Greenwood opens. Also, some of the microphones no longer work in observation rooms.
Karen Engler
The Field Experiences Taskforce created a draft of recommendations for different scenarios for FA20 field placements. The taskforce will reconvene following DESE/EPP representatives work on field placements. There is a focus on frontloading of practicum experiences (starting earlier and accumulating more hours earlier) for courses that are used to meet DESE’s required field experiences clock hours. The culminating experience in Scenario 4 was the most challenging. In this scenario, PK-12 schools are in session face-to-face, but, a student is not comfortable with being present in the school. At this time, we think it is best to use what is already in place regarding graduating BSED non-certifiable with the option of returning to MSU at a later date to complete student teaching/certification requirements.
Travis Marler
He is working on student Task Stream accounts.
Deanna Hallgren
The Child Development Center has been open for four days. It is good to be back and has been a great week so far.
Kim Dubree
The Student Teacher Supervisor meeting will be held through Zoom in August. She needs to get a permanent Zoom link. Barri will send her the link. They are ready for Fall semester and working on practicum placements.
Jef Cornelius-White
They are having a meeting with administrative faculty next week. They also have a number of grant proposals to look at. COU practicums are ready to start for summer.
Denise Cunningham
They have 36 people interested in the Student Mental Health Certificate. Once the certificate has been established in the Graduate College she will be able to give them more information. She would like to discuss at another time their formula for student teacher hours equaling credit hours. Jef would also like to discuss this.
Meeting adjourned at 10:15 a.m.
Submitted by Sharon Lopinot, Executive Assistant II