Time:            3:15 p.m.  

Place:          Hulman Memorial Student Union 227

Present:       Chairperson S. Lamb, Vice Chair V. Sheets, Secretary Sr. A. Anderson

                    V. Anderson, B. Evans, B. Frank, C. Hoffman, J. Hughes

Ex-Officio:     B. English

I.  Administrative Report

B. English:

            Review of sabbatical leave requests is done; letters should be mailed to applicants today; 27 applicants—20 accepted, 6 denials, 1 withdrawn.

II. Chair Report

Chair Lamb:

            1) commented he was pleased that the process for review of leave requests followed last year was again used this year;

2) referenced his report to the Board of Trustees. He reported that he asked the administration and Board “to have an open mind concerning opportunities in Nursing Education.”  He reported the merger of the Colleges of Nursing and Health and Human Performance was discussed by the officers with the Provost at yesterday’s meeting. He asked the Provost to keep an open mind concerning the wisdom of the merger. The Provost asked that the Nursing College and HHP also keep an open mind concerning this merger;

3) noted the web site reconfiguration for the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs has resulted in a loss of information available to faculty—current membership for the University Leaves Oversight Committee and the Promotion and Tenure Oversight Committee; important procedures such as those for faculty promotion and tenure should be included; all University Committee memberships should be accessible;

4) voiced concern that the Fall and Winter Greetings have been discontinued—this was the campus “bible” for much information;

5) asked that information regarding consultants hired by the University be provided to the Administrative Affairs Committee for fulfillment of a Committee charge;

6) expressed concern about the lack of representation of minorities in the administration as well as within the faculty.

III. Fifteen Minute Open Discussion

1) the College of Nursing (CON) approved today a White Paper on the College of Nursing merger with the College of Health and Human Performance that has been forwarded to the Provost; copy was given to Chair Lamb; text follows:

          “The ISU CON faculty & professional staff, having as their priorities (1) the maintenance and enhancement of their nationally accredited, quality programs and enrollments and (2) excellence in service to their students, and in realistic recognition of the following facts and trends:

1.       the severe threat to the state of Indiana posed by the nursing faculty shortage

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2. the dramatic loss of resources sustained by the CON in recent years

3. the impending and accelerating further erosion of resources through faculty retirements and, a recent phenomenon, the aggressive recruitment of our faculty from outside the state

4. the absence of any assurances of increased resources

5. the unquestionable enrollment potential of our several programs

6. the absence of evidence that a reorganization through merger would improve the CON resources

7. the CON estimation that a merger at this time would result in a further decrease in resources for its programs

8. the absence of evidence that reorganization through merger would improve programs academically

9. the omission of the CON faculty and students in any discussions of the academic consequences of a merger (contrary to AAUP principles) and

10. the scarce time available to CON faculty for inevitable additional meetings, negotiations, policy revisions and the like that a merger would impose (time that would have to be taken away from that needed for students and teaching)

  at this time oppose a merger of any kind. 

       Should there be, in the future, evidence and reasonable assurances that a merger would result in the following enhancements to CON programs and an appropriate process through faculty government is followed, the nursing faculty would be open to discussion of accommodation to any reorganization proposal presented for consideration:

1. The addition of 11 tenure-track faculty lines (to partially restore the number of faculty to previous levels and in keeping with enrollment/program potential and AACN recommended faculty-to-student ratios of 1:20).

2. The institution of an equitable teaching load policy that reflects the actual value and intensity of clinical teaching, that is, one hour of teaching equals one hour of teaching. This is in keeping with an ordinary principle of justice that provides nursing faculty with opportunities for scholarly endeavor and service that are equal to that of their academic peers and is commensurate with an obvious and irrefutable need to improve the CON market position for attracting qualified, new faculty.

3. The preservation of our current administrative and support positions.”

Comments: historically, growth does not occur in Nursing Schools when there is submersion within another unit; the CON has increased enrollment during the last few years with declining faculty resources; the high contact hours lessen newer faculty’s ability to perform scholarship activities—jeopardizes tenure decision; faculty to student ratio is not keeping with national recommendations; under present conditions a foreseeable solution would be to limit enrollment; process for merger conveys a climate of deception; all affected deans and faculty have not been notified in a timely manner; timeline to accomplish merger is unrealistic and does not recognize

faculty governance; savings achieved should be kept within area; appearance that decisions have been made before program prioritization has been completed; bad effect on community perception.

2) demands on faculty for committee service has been tremendous this year leaving little time for other work needs.

IV. Approval of the Minutes

            Minutes of the February 14, 2006 meeting were approved. (V. Anderson, Hoffman 8-0-0)

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V. Old Business

                 Faculty will be solicited for service on the Dean Evaluation Committees for the College of Business and the Library respectively; nominees will be forwarded to Chair Lamb and voted on electronically.

VI. New Business

                 AAC response to the review of the “Image and Awareness Survey Report” prepared by EMG.

                 After discussion, tabled until next meeting to permit guests to attend. (Hoffman, Evans 8-0-0)

VII. Standing Committee Reports

            Executive Committee liaisons provided updates on respective standing committee activity.

VIII. Motion to move into executive session.  (8-0-0)

     Motion to move out of executive session.  (8-0-0)

The meeting adjourned at 5:07 p.m.

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