Mid-Summer Updates
Good June/July to you,
Hope your summer is going well and that June was productive. We've still got July and part of August to make progress on all our summer projects. I keep telling myself that "there is still time!" so that I don't keep "lamenting" that the summer is almost over. In keeping with that notion that there is still time, I've got a couple of items for your consideration.
1. For full-time faculty, your 2008-2009 salary statements are here and have been placed in your mailboxes!
2. GOOD NEWS: Stephanie Norander has successfully defended her dissertation as of June 24. If you get a chance, do drop her a congratulatory email: snnorander@yahoo.com or sd829494@ohio.edu
MORE GOOD NEWS: Russ Keeling again scored among the highest honors teaching evaluations for COM 115 last spring, according to Art Spisak. Congrats to Russ for posting some of the highest evaluations in all honors courses for fall 2007 and spring 2008!
**Russ will be inducted in the PSU Wall of Fame this October. The entire 2008 class of inductees will be honored during a special ceremony at 3:30 October 10 in the Plaster Student Union's West Ballroom. The event will be open to the public. We should show up en masse to support Russ in this recognition of his service to MSU. Russ joins Holt Spicer, a 2002 inductee.
3. As you work on your syllabi for fall classes, please be sure to include the required boilerplate info from the Provost. Here is the link the that information: http://www.missouristate.edu/provost/syllabi.htm
Also remember that if you are using Turnitin (the plagiarism detection system), we recommend that you inform students via the syllabus. Suggested wording is as follows, and this could be included in the section on academic dishonesty:
“Students’ papers may be submitted to Turnitin, plagiarism detection system. Students will be allowed to submit their own papers, and the instructor may also submit a student’s paper. Please visit the Turnitin website at http://turnitin.com.”
4.August 22 is the date for our beginning of the year faculty retreat.
The CDR is hosting us in their downtown space this year. Some of you may remember the old Bank of America building. It’s now called the PCOB (Park Central Office building) and the CDR is now located there and has some great space there for training and other programs. We have three dedicated classrooms for COM 115 there as well.
We will meet in PCOB, 2nd floor room 209 for a continental breakfast and tour. So, please schedule 8:30-4:00 for our retreat. As the summer progresses I’ll send you draft agenda items.
5. A couple of items for your calendars:
• The COAL all college faculty meeting is set for Thursday, August 21, 9-11 a.m., in Karls 101.
• NCA panel information has now been posted for your review. You are advised to register immediately for the conference, if you plan to attend. I would also recommend that you reserve your hotel space and start checking on flights as soon as possible. Hotel space is at a premium this year, so reserve early. You may contact Karen to reserve your hotel room centrally on our departmental budget. Please keep in mind that your travel allocation will be roughly $750 from the dean, and likely another $350 from the department for a total of $1000 for one major conference this year. I will be asking for your travel requests again at the first faculty meeting.
6. Two Upcoming Issues for consideration this year:
• Plus/minus grading approved at June Board of Governors Meeting
The plus/minus grading proposal passed by Faculty Senate (VD BOG Resolution Plus Minus Grading System.pdf) was approved by the BOG in June, specifically:
• This new grading system will be slated for implementation in Fall 2009 and should be included in syllabi statements.
• The grade C- is defined as “slightly below satisfactory work” and is assigned a point value of 1.7.
Two very practical implications of this:
• Students with a cumulative “C-“ average fall below the 2.0 threshold of academic
eligibility.
• A course grade of C- will not satisfy course and program requirements to earn “a C or
better.” This means we will have to discuss how this affects our core and overall gpa requirements for admission.
Also important to note: Faculty have the choice of whether to use pluses and minuses or not, but your choices must be explicitly noted in course syllabi.
• There will be an appeals process created for students whose eligibility for scholarship
renewal is adversely affected by plus/minus grades.
• There will be a study of the impact of plus/minus grades after two years to determine any
effects on GPAs and scholastic honors at graduation (cum laude, etc.), the results to be
shared with both Faculty Senate and SGA
• SB389
Senate Bill 389 requires that state colleges and universities publish certain “quality” information, ncluding information about their faculties and student evaluations. Based on the preference of Faculty Senate, MSU is attempting to comply with the student evaluation requirement by having students voluntarily answer online five global questions for each of their classes. However, out of over 4000 sections offered this spring, fewer than 1% of those sections had at least 10 student responses. ALC has asked Senate Chair Pauline Nugent to approach the Senate Executive Committee about endorsing the idea of administering these five standardized questions as part of the written, in-class evaluations that students already complete.
Take care and we'll be in touch soon,
Kelly