APOLOGIES: Dean, Eberhart, Honeyman, Mehta, and Mitcham (on sabbatical until 3/04)

VISITORS: Nigel Middleton - Vice President for Academic Affairs (V PAA), Phil Romig Jr. - Associate Vice President for Research and Dean of Graduate Studies, Tom Boyd - Associate Dean of Academic Programs, and Dan Lewis -Athletic Department Observer

Harrison called the meeting to order.

COMMENTS FROM VISITORS:

1. V PAA Nigel Middleton
   1. The results of the National Survey of Student Engagement were presented. As part of the "charter" agreement, CSM agreed to participate every three years in a national survey. The results will also be presented to the board of trustees, the department heads and division directors and possible at a faculty forum.
   2. CSM administration anticipates that 2004 will be a very active legislative year at both the national and state level for higher education.
2. Phil Romig and Tom Boyd reviewed a draft of the Graduate Studies presentation that will be given at the January Faculty Forum.
3. Dan Lewis gave a presentation on the athletic faculty having representation on Faculty Senate. The Athletic Department reports to Student Life for operations, but the staff also teaches and gives academic grades as well as mentoring approximately 750 students per semester. The Athletic Department also has a voting representative on the Undergraduate Council. After much discussion, the Senators agreed that this is a complex issue and requires more information. Ross, who is the Senate's representative on the Faculty Oversight Committee on Sports and Athletics, thought that this committee could provide the Senate with additional information. Eberhart is also consulting with Ann Walker in CSM's legal department on the changes that would need to be made to the Faculty By-laws and the Faculty Handbook for the athletic faculty to have representation on the Faculty Senate.

REPORTS:

1. Board of Trustees Meeting (December 2003) -Voorhees reported that the Board of Trustees approved the campus master plan and the December 2004 graduate and undergraduate lists as approved by the Senate on December 2, 2003.
2. Handbook Committee - Ross presented the following meeting notes for the December 4, 2003 Faculty Handbook Committee so the Senate could see the complexity of clarifying temporary, part-time, full-time, instructors, lecturers, senior lecturers, adjunct and eligibility of benefits for these positions:

   Faculty Handbook Committee Meeting Notes December

   In attendance: Rod Eggert, Phil Ross, John Speer, Heather Boyd, Sam Romberger, Mike Dougherty, Anne Walker, Julie Coakley (staff)

   Absent: Nigel Middleton, (chair), Jerry Higgins, Dave Munoz

   At the last meeting, the committee discussed Section and whether or not we should add a paragraph on transitional appointments. Anne Walker will do a draft paragraph.

   The committee also discussed offer letters versus contracts. The current contracts say that they are the whole agreement, which isn't technically correct, since there are other offers in the accompanying offer letter. This needs to be resolved. It was suggested that the letter(s) be attached as exhibits to the contract. Anne and Mike Dougherty will review current offer letter templates and draft a proposed change.

   The committee decided not to move the "Performance of Additional Work" paragraphs from Section to Section 4. Section 5 will need to be renumbered.

   Concern was expressed over the term "temporary adjunct faculty" in proposed section 5.2("Eligibility of Benefits"), since some adjunct faculty are re-hired each semester. It was suggested that the phrase "Temporary Faculty" and the parentheses be removed, so that the sentence reads, “Adjunct faculty, temporary administrative faculty, and temporary athletic faculty are not eligible for CSM benefits. " However, then we would need to change the proposed change to 4.1.2B and not define adjuncts as temporary. Concern was expressed that this could have benefit implications and risks to the school, so we may need to leave this as it is proposed.

   It was suggested that we change 5.5 so that it refers to faculty that are 50% or greater and have a contract for a full academic year.

   It was suggested that we specifically say that adjuncts are treated like temporary faculty and are not eligible for benefits.

   Concern was expressed that we are blurring the lines between instructors/lecturers and adjuncts, since instructors/lecturers can now be part-time.

   It was suggested that we define benefits eligible faculty as x% or greater, period. However, then we would need to make the levels of effort consistent. Also, this doesn't solve the budget committee's request that we not offer benefits to any adjunct. If adjuncts are benefits-eligible, do we want them to not only have health benefits, but also have leave benefits? Mike Dougherty will review the CHEIBA eligibility requirements.

   The next meeting of the Faculty Handbook Committee will be held on Thursday, December 18 at 9:00 am in the Guggenheim Board Room.

3. Strateqic Planninq Committee - Honeyman presented the following written report:

   As far as the Strategic Plan is concerned, I met with Nigel the week before the break to edit Goal #3; Phil Romig also was present. I've attached the draft that was the starting point. We essentially agreed on the points and Nigel reworded the draft for v.3 of the SP.

   The main task before the SP Comm. will be creating timelines, milestones, etc., to flesh out the SP. One substantial issue is the availability of resources to carry out the plan development (e.g., will there be release time for people to work on the plan?). It also remains unclear as to the fate of the plan vis-a-vis the Board.

   Goal 3.

   To become a university with a world-class reputation for research quality and impact in the School of Mines focus areas of energy, the environment, the earth and materials. The generation of knowledge will be a principal product of the efforts of the School of Mines; it is essential to the advancement of humankind and central to creating the intellectual environment required for the highest quality learning to occur within an academic community.

   Supporting Objectives

   1. Invest in research capacity and capabilities aligned with this goal that result in increasing levels of externally-sponsored research and the development of new technologies that are relevant to societal needs.
   2. Develop the facilities, technology and administrative/financial infrastructure necessary to promote quality and competitive research and scholarship.
   3. Support and foster faculty and staff development in scholarly activities, including targeting membership in the national academies, and national and international scientific and engineering committees.
   4. Establish a research, teaching and service work-load that promotes faculty accomplishment in scholarly activities that is commensurate with other universities known for their world-class research and education.
   5. Recruit and retain a body of high-quality academic faculty who are oriented to, and capable of working to achieve this goal, while also keenly interested in, and able to, bring knowledge gained from research into the classroom and to the benefit of CSM students.
   6. Place as a first priority achieving a top twenty-five status in research quality and impact among comparably sized colleges of engineering and science.

4. Committee on Committees - Thiry informed the Senate that Paul Santi agreed to serve at chair of the Faculty Senate Evaluation Committee for the 2003-04 academic year.

   Thiry announced that Uwe Greife, resigned as an Academic Faculty representative on the Safety Committee. A motion was made by Voorhees and seconded by Ross to nominate Timothy Ohno, Physics, to fill the unexpired term of Greife on the Safety Committee. The motion passed unanimously. Harrison will notify President Trefny of the Senate's desire.

   The Senate suggested that Arthur Sacks, Chair of the ad hoc Energy Management committee, contact the Safety Committee for a nominee to fill the vacancy on this ad hoc committee.

The meeting adjourned at 3:55 PM.