October 4th, 2024
ARKANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY
FACULTY SENATE MEETING
October 4th, 2024
Reynolds 222
Attendees: Amanda Mohler, Rob Williams, Alexandr Sokolov, Audrey Folsom, Katie Camden, Savannah Cormier, Jessica Curtis, Julie King, Kim Vickrey, Rashele Wade, Scott Mangan, Trinity Pullam, John Hershberger, Ed Salo, Stephanie Hoeckley, Donna Caldwell, Kristen Sumler, Jamie Passmore, Guolei Zhou, Karen Graham, Suzanne Melescue, Hao Yang Teng, Hung-Chi Su, Richard Segall, Toccara Carter, Mark Lewis, Eric Dry, Gary Edwards, Bert Greenwalt, Veena Kulkarni, Khem Aryal, Ibrahim Duyar, Rollin Tusalem
Proxy Attendees: Rob Williams for Ibrahim Duyar; Steven Muzatko for Dwayne Powell, Karen Graham for Sarah Scott,
Absentees: LTC J. Morgan Weatherly, DayDay Robinson, Shanon Brantley, Pradeep Mishra, Paul Finnicum
The meeting was called to order at 3:00 pm.
Order of the Day: Motion to approve the order of the day by Alexandr Sokolov, seconded by Donna Caldwell, all in favor, motion carried.
Approval of Minutes: Motion to approve the September 20, 2024 meeting minutes by Rashele wade, seconded by John Hershberger, all in favor, motion carried.
Chancellor Q&A
The Provost was not able to be at this meeting due to a family emergency.
- We were told a few times last year that a workload policy was being drafted and would be brought to the Faculty Senate for discussion. Any progress/ update on it?
The committee is formed and has put things together, the vet school requirements caused it to take a turn and be delayed, it is needed, policies across campus are very different. It is in the works. The new system President wants to look at it.
- With the plan to move to centralized advising, will there be any concessions for programs who have specific qualifications for advising per the program's accreditation?
Yes, I am not aware of accreditation that mandates registration. Centralized advising is for registration, not for faculty-student interactions or mentorship. Rules change at the federal level and at the state level, the professional advisors stay on top of that. Getting students registered quickly gets them ready for returning the next semester, psychologically. Faculty should follow up with their students as they are matriculating through their program. The number of hours per semester rules for the challenge scholarship is set. Students should have to take 15 hours per semester, minimum, for the lottery scholarship. They are allowed to take 12 the first semester but can take 15 or more. There is no appeal for the lottery scholarship. For institutional scholarships, the hours have to be taken at A-State (not ASU-N). Degree plans in each major are vastly different. Degree works should guide the students as to what to take next, and if they don’t pass a course it should change the plan in accordance. The change of major process will be changed to automate (with immediate update). We want the info we give them about registration (hours needed, etc.) to be the same (consistent) if they change their major. We don’t want faculty to be liable for telling the students something wrong about the number of hours they need and lose their scholarship. FAFSA is being delayed again this year. We should still meet with our students to guide them through their college career and teach them to be professionals. Make sure Chris Boothman knows your degree rules so they are set right in degree works, like if you need a C in a certain class(es).
- Explain why we can no longer use outside services for t-shirts? Printing services have limited colors, sizes, and designs that are not accommodating for all programs or students. Furthermore, small business owners have now lost a significant portion of their business becausestudent organizations and programs are no longer allowed to use them.
This is a miscommunication. We are asking people to go to our campus printing services first, if we can’t do it, go to a local business. It is not forbidden to go off campus. There is still a university styling guide that must be followed, so use local print shops that are approved vendors.
- Who can examine the University’s contracts with Rise Point (faculty, HLC, the AR Legislature, all of the above)? Does the contract with RP stipulate RP’s payment is equal to 50% of tuition per student recruited?
The Chancellor checked with Legal. RP feels that if that info is known publicly it would be a competitive disadvantage for RP. If someone wants to see the contract you can look at it (if requested) but you can’t disclose any info about it. It is 50% of the tuition that comes back to us.
Centralized scheduling for the classroom – what if you have health issues and can’t walk across campus?
If you do have accommodations due to mobility issues, they can be considered. CS will allow you to be more familiar with the rest of campus and get to know other people. Knowing where you are in case of an emergency will be immediately available to UPD/first responders.
Academic colleges will get input to consider needs and technology that are specific to your teaching (lecture and lab). Instructors will get a preview of the schedule.
Maximum use of the classrooms in each college is the goal. The intent is to put people in the place they should be first (their college/building) and only move them elsewhere if needed because all the spaces are full in their college/building. Our most filled time is still only at 60% capacity. We are not full. Classroom spaces are being underused and underfilled.
The system is not designed to hurt you or make you walk across campus. Keeping you in your building or close to your building is the goal while matching you to the right classroom size for your needs. This will allow us to see what the needs of each college/building are.
The Coursedog software has had great reviews from the faculty. It considers historical data and proximity when making decisions about classroom assignments.
New Business
Chris Boothman – Vice Chancellor for Distance Education & Technology & Chief
Information Officer
The new Pack Support.
Pack support stays. Its software changed from Starfish to SLATE. SLATE is for centralized advising/registration and student success. It is used by Nikesha Nesbitt’s group. It populates from Canvas too. Automated triggers can be set up, like messages if they haven't logged in for a few days, and it also sends message to Nesbitt’s team.
How do faculty raise flags?
The Early alert form was set up in Canvas. It is a short form, it can be sent for many different issues with automatic notification to Nesbitt’s team so they can reach out. Also, it allows to close the loop on any report. You can edit the report if you made a mistake. You get an email when the loop is closed that action was taken.
From Canvas, click “Help” (bottom left) and you will get the Early Alert form. In Spring, all courses will have it in the left-hand side menu. You still have to fill out all the student’s info, eventually (down the road) the program should integrate so the student data can be populated.
SLATE will allow advising notes to be made by the professional advisors (Nesbitt’s team).
Faculty mentors could be set up to get notifications about flags, down the road.
Eventually, each student will have 3 people assigned to them: a professional advisor, a faculty mentor, and a student success advisor.
You can bookmark the Early Alert form, if you want to. It works that way too.
Can we have student photos in Banner or Canvas for our rosters? Students can upload one, so you can encourage them to do so.
Simple syllabus will go campus wide in the Spring. The pilot in CNHP has been going great. Training will be available in November.
Summer 2025 – new website will go live.
Grade Repeat Policy
Currently the limit for repeated hours for GPA recalculation is 18 hours. Should we open this up to unlimited hours?
Discussion: We should allow repeat of any classes for any grades. CPOS will prevent issues with a cumulative grade recalculation. Financial aid will only pay for a passed course twice. Because we have competitive programs, students want to be able to retake courses to improve their GPA. Both grades will show.
CPOS – course program of study – government only pays for courses on the program of study.
Students are currently being penalized for concurrent credit courses with bad grades with the current limit on recalculation. The limit for recalculation is at 18 hours currently.
Chairs want the C s that were retaken included in the recalculation as it will help students right now.
The highest grade would be used in the recalculation, but all grades will show on the transcript.
Old business
Committee reports
Equity committee is being formed.
Faculty handbook draft has moved from the Provost to the Chancellor’s desk.
Motion to adjourn John Hershberger, seconded by Donna Caldwell
Minutes uploaded to KB 10/14/2025