Fac Meeting 11-10-16

College of Natural Science
Faculty Advisory Council

Meeting Minutes
November 10, 2016

Present: S. Balasubramaniam, S. Beceiro-Novo, D. Bello, M. Donahue, F. Downes, S. Levental, M. Linabury, D. Long, K. Olson, D. Spence, M. Steury, M. TerAvest

Approval of Minutes

The minutes from the October 13, 2016 meeting were approved as written.

NatSci Student Advisory Council Report

K Olson attended meeting. The dean search was announced.

University Council/Faculty Senate Committee Report

D. Bello reported that cyber security issues will be addressed at the Faculty Senate level. Also, that the Wall Street Journal released a new ranking that evaluates instruction as a new indicator of quality. 30% of this ranking uses student evaluations. Michigan State University ranks 65 out of 1,011 institutions overall.

Discussion with Terry Curry, Associate Provost & Associate Vice President for Academic Human Resources, Regarding the NatSci Dean Search

T. Curry provided an overview of the search process. The main task of the FAC will be to decide the makeup of the search committee, which will be spelled out in the Search and Rating Procedure document that must be put together by FAC members. The document used in the previous NatSci dean search and other college dean searches will be provided. It will be a national/international search but also open to internal candidates. T. Curry asked to have the document revised by the December FAC meeting. D. Bello proposed a special meeting be held November 17. The regular December meeting will be attended by Provost Youatt.

University Committee on Faculty Affairs Report (patent policy—contacted Matt 10/19)

M. Comstock was not in attendance, so the item will be on the agenda for the December meeting.

Old Business

Alternative SIRS

S. Balasubramaniam, S. Beceiro-Novo, and D. Bello will form a subcommittee to review alternative SIRS. The subcommittee will coordinate with Student Advisory Committee.

Establishment of an Undergraduate Learning Assistant (ULA) Award

The revised document was emailed to council members before the meeting. However, the item was postponed and will be on the agenda for the December meeting.

New Business

Assign Sections for KBS Bylaw Review

The following people agreed to review the KBS Bylaws and report back at the December FAC meeting. F. Peterson will send the marked up bylaws and instructions.

Composition of Faculty and Voting/Other: S. Balasubramaniam and F. Downes M Linabury

Chairperson/Director Appointment/Review/Duties/RPT: M. Donahue and S. Levental

Unit Committees and Councils/Grievance Procedures/Bylaw Review: K. Walker, D. Long and M. TerAvest

Review Named Faculty and Endowed Chairs Policy

Council members had discussion about the possibility that the entity funding endowed chair may not be focused in research. In that case, different criteria would need to be used in the review. It was proposed that a footnote be added to the document. D. Bello will add changes to the document and discuss those with Dean Kirkpatrick.

 

College Faculty Meeting: November 11, 2016

Next Meeting: December 8, 2016