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April 16 meeting follow-up

Thanks everyone for a productive meeting Wednesday. I apologize for not getting this follow up sooner, Thursday filled up for me. 

Below is a brief summary of the discussion we had about program review, followed by the remaining faculty meeting agenda items. PLEASE review this entire post because there are items that were not discussed at the faculty meeting that I want everyone to be aware of. One particular item of note: the next Faculty Meeting has been rescheduled to Wednesday, April 30 at 2:00.

Program Review Discussion

We asked the dean and provost to visit with us at Wednesday to respond to our program review.  With respect to the dean's response, I'm attaching the written response Carey provided me right before the faculty meeting. It is his "formal" written responseDean_program_review_response_COM_2008.docx .   He has committed to funding the CDR  position fully next year, which means we are "relieved" of our 1/2 salary committment. However, as he indicated in the meeting, permanent funding is not yet a possibilty. He DID say that he is committed to funding it year to year until something does shake lose.   It's clear from him comments, to me at least, that he and I have yet to come to an agreement about how to proceed with the CDR position beyond next year. I thought that when we offered to leverage the 3 year salary savings that he would find a permanent position. So, I'll discuss this further with him next Tuesday. 

The Provost's comments were more general. She's not put herself in a position to attach any money to programs based on their reviews at this time. She has gone through a bit of a change with how she's approaching the process and outcomes of program review. She has said repeatedly that we put together a fine program review, and that we're one of the strongest departments in the college. And as we accumulate more years from this first program review and we continue to make progress towards our self-selected goals, we approach the dean for support of our initiatives.  The support for program reviews and their outcomes is now college bound.  She was also very direct in saying that while we have the "civic engagement" aspect of public affairs nailed down, she challenged us to look at ways to develop ethical leadership or cultural competence more fully. These are the three elements she has articulated as embodying public affairs. There are public affairs grants, curriculum grants, and other RFPs that we can tap into for resources to support any of these endeavors. In the end, she ended up agreeing to some extent with Carey that while there are more pressing needs of the college for overall staffing, and despite our priority being the CDR, we may have to live with the decision that "not this year, but maybe next year while we address more accute needs in the college."

After that Gloria asked a follow up question about the CDR position being not permanently funded and the problems associated with year to year funding. Other questions were posed relative to the link of merit to T&P, senior instructor rank, and overall impression of how merit plans and implementation went this year.  Regarding merit, Carey reported being relatively happy with how the process went in COAL. Belinda is less positive about the overall compensation plan, saying that it's the most complex process she's ever seen. She believes there are other simpler models that departments can explore and she's supportive of that flexibility as long as criteria are rigorous and justifiable.

I would appreciate any comments, questions or follow up concerns you have on the basis of the facuty meeting or anything I've outlined above.

Other Agenda Items from Faculty Meeting

• Heather Carmack successfully defended her dissertation on Monday!  It would be great if you emailed her a quick note of congratulations. Her email is hc200403@ohio.edu
• Allison Coltharp spoke about her trip to China. She indicated that any faculty member who wanted to do a teaching workshop from the MSU faculty they could be supported in their travel. Allison can get you in touch with those who plan such trips.  The current instructor there, Chuck Eastman, is leaving after this year and they are looking for a replacement. If you know of a recent MA grad who would do well teaching public speaking at the Dalian campus, let Allison know. She can pass that info along as well.
• Senior Instructor Criteria being developed. Thanks to our instructors, we are starting to develop criteria for the promotion to senior instructor. After the faculty meeting, we had an ad hoc college committee meeting to review criteria coming from the departments. There was an interesting issue that came up relative to whether a specific merit composite score (teaching + service) should be identified in order to apply for promotion. This was debated and it was agreed that individual depts should develop that criteria but that the college would not specify that.  Based on feedback we received on COM's plan (from dean, the personnel committee, and the dean), I will work with the instructors to fine tune our criteria. We will forward that to all faculty for your review prior to our final faculty meeting. It is expected that a set of criteria are in place in each dept by the end of the semester.
• I provided a call for applicants for an Assistant Basic Course Director. Applications are due by May 5. If you have any questions, check with John. We plan to have this position filled by the end of the semester. 

OF NOTE: I have scheduled a meeting of the COM departmental advisory committee for next weekend, April 24 and 25.  There is an informal dinner Friday night, hosted by Don and Vicki Stanton for the members and they've also invited the debate team to celebrate their spectacular season.  Saturday is the working meeting.  My goal is to develop membership criteria, discuss areas of the department in need of funding/support, identify ways to increase membership, and brainstorm strategies for encouraging more alums to be involved in the department. As soon as I get the agenda finalized this weekend, I will forward it to you as an FYI.  I want to thank Char, Heather, and Eric in advance for agreeing to visit with the council on Saturday. I am highlighting their programs basedon recent successes.  Current members of the council are John Ashford, Jim Anderson. Debbie Branson, Jackson Harrell, Lynn Harter, Melinda Arnold, Jill Pace, Matt Sellmeyer, Dayna Stock, and Scott Titsworth.

REMINDER: Next faculty meeting is Wednesday, April 30 at 2:00 in Craig hall 337. Items will include review of all banner changes agreed to so far, discussion of the merit system (tweaks we can make this year as well as envisioning other plans for 2009), a few committee elections, and summary of dept conditions survey discussion. I think there is something else, but I can't recall it now. I will email you as there are additional items.

CONGRATS 

• Congrats to Kelly Tenzek who finished 4th in the second round of oral presentations at last weekend's Graduate Interdisciplinary Forum. 
• Congrats to Katie Striley who won the Graduate Teaching Assistant award at the IDF.
• And, special recognition to Kristin Kirchoff and Lindsey Harness who were nominated for the teaching award as well!

That's all for now.

Kelly